careefer
Community Member
History:
I started out late last summer (2017) with a biocube 32 I purchased thinking I would just dip my toe into the reef waters again. I had a FOWLR tank 15 years ago that was small (well small for those days, I forget how big, but maybe 40 gallons) it housed a Clarkii clown and his nem which was a challenge in 2002. Anyway, back to the present, after looking at the biocube in its box for a week I decided it just wasn't going to work. I think they are awesome in their own way, but I wanted more of a buffer for mistakes which meant more water volume, so I returned the biocube and started scouring craigslist.
I lucked (this is not what my wife calls it) into a 120 gallon complete setup minus lights and power heads for a song (like the cost of a new skimmer) and that's my setup now. The guy I bought if from had worked in the industry and so had all the bells and whistles but was moving out of state and needed to sell up and stop paying for the Public Storage locker. I am slowly learning the shortcomings/compromises that he made and ironing some of them out as well as replacing a few items that were at the end of their life, but I'll detail those below:
Setup:
120 Gallon Aqueon megaflow tank with dual drain (1")/return(3/4") setup and oak cabinet/hood
AGA Megaflow 4 Sump with filter floss, carbon and phosban above bioballs in the first compartment.
Reef Octopus classic 200 skimmer in the second compartment
Blueline HD70 return pump, hard plumbed into sump with a check valve and plenty of ball valves to isolate everything for maintenance
return pump feeds Aqua UV classic 57w
Current powerheads are jebao pp15 and pp8 at opposite ends of tank in the first wave mode. However the pp15 has a lot of pulsing noise that persists despite repeated cleanings and will be replaced shortly with an icecap 3K gyre. I have also found the Jebaos to be somewhat unreliable, getting locked in modes like night mode that require resetting the power to get them working again and so forth. At the price point this is hardly a surprise and yes I know, I know I would rather try the maxspect xf250 too and if that didnt work hit it with dual vortech mp40wqd's, but we're on a budget here!
120lbs marcos rock (now live rock, but wasnt when it started!)
1.5" sand bed
Current Projects:
Replace Blueline pump which has serious high pitched whine with Reef Octopus VarioS6 I have on hand. Medium sized plumbing job going from 1" to 1.25" lines since everything is hard plumbed. I should say its an easy plumbing job but working on an active tank is always a bit tricky.
Replace quartz sleeve and bulb on UV sterilizer. Not really sure UV is a necessity on my system, but since it's there it might as well be working, currently sleeve is clouded and bulb is shot.
Get some sort of aquarium controller in place for monitoring system and alerting via text, email whatever. Probably Apex Classic. Anyone selling?!!
Replace all bulkheads with more rugged versions and add gate valves to both drains to quiet sump noise and match inflow with outflow
Long term, remove the need for phosban and other chemical 'helpers' by bringing the system to a more natural balance.
I'll get some photos in the next couple of days and post them here!
I started out late last summer (2017) with a biocube 32 I purchased thinking I would just dip my toe into the reef waters again. I had a FOWLR tank 15 years ago that was small (well small for those days, I forget how big, but maybe 40 gallons) it housed a Clarkii clown and his nem which was a challenge in 2002. Anyway, back to the present, after looking at the biocube in its box for a week I decided it just wasn't going to work. I think they are awesome in their own way, but I wanted more of a buffer for mistakes which meant more water volume, so I returned the biocube and started scouring craigslist.
I lucked (this is not what my wife calls it) into a 120 gallon complete setup minus lights and power heads for a song (like the cost of a new skimmer) and that's my setup now. The guy I bought if from had worked in the industry and so had all the bells and whistles but was moving out of state and needed to sell up and stop paying for the Public Storage locker. I am slowly learning the shortcomings/compromises that he made and ironing some of them out as well as replacing a few items that were at the end of their life, but I'll detail those below:
Setup:
120 Gallon Aqueon megaflow tank with dual drain (1")/return(3/4") setup and oak cabinet/hood
AGA Megaflow 4 Sump with filter floss, carbon and phosban above bioballs in the first compartment.
Reef Octopus classic 200 skimmer in the second compartment
Blueline HD70 return pump, hard plumbed into sump with a check valve and plenty of ball valves to isolate everything for maintenance
return pump feeds Aqua UV classic 57w
Current powerheads are jebao pp15 and pp8 at opposite ends of tank in the first wave mode. However the pp15 has a lot of pulsing noise that persists despite repeated cleanings and will be replaced shortly with an icecap 3K gyre. I have also found the Jebaos to be somewhat unreliable, getting locked in modes like night mode that require resetting the power to get them working again and so forth. At the price point this is hardly a surprise and yes I know, I know I would rather try the maxspect xf250 too and if that didnt work hit it with dual vortech mp40wqd's, but we're on a budget here!
120lbs marcos rock (now live rock, but wasnt when it started!)
1.5" sand bed
Current Projects:
Replace Blueline pump which has serious high pitched whine with Reef Octopus VarioS6 I have on hand. Medium sized plumbing job going from 1" to 1.25" lines since everything is hard plumbed. I should say its an easy plumbing job but working on an active tank is always a bit tricky.
Replace quartz sleeve and bulb on UV sterilizer. Not really sure UV is a necessity on my system, but since it's there it might as well be working, currently sleeve is clouded and bulb is shot.
Get some sort of aquarium controller in place for monitoring system and alerting via text, email whatever. Probably Apex Classic. Anyone selling?!!
Replace all bulkheads with more rugged versions and add gate valves to both drains to quiet sump noise and match inflow with outflow
Long term, remove the need for phosban and other chemical 'helpers' by bringing the system to a more natural balance.
I'll get some photos in the next couple of days and post them here!
Last edited:
