BattlesReef
Community Member
After taking a brief break from the hobby. Mainly due to moving and being busy with work, I am starting my new project. I had a Biocube years ago, hence the name, and always wanted to mod every thing on it. Well I have started to build my "dream" biocube, If you can dream about a biocube lol. This time I told myself I am doing it right. Everything new, everything exactly the way I want. I started off with a standard Coralife biocube and stand and began from there. I want the final result to look like a completely stock biocube, but perform like a top notch reef tank. I have done a fair amount of work over the past few weeks and still have a lot more to do. I am open to any ideas or suggestion you guys might have so please feel free to comment, good or bad. Let me know what you guys think.
List of plans:
1. Convert lighting to T5 &LED
2. Drill tank for overflow and return
3. Build custom sump that will fit in stand
4. Have essential and advanced equipment (vortech, calcium reactor, ATO, Skimmer, etc)
Here is the tank bone stock. Got it from Moby Dick's
T5 parts. GLO ballast kit and 2 18" bulbs. Will most likely go to 4 in the near future
Reef Octopus NW-110 skimmer
The start to the light conversion. ripped out all the old equipment, including the crap LED's they provide. Installed 2 12" stunner strips. Actinic and 10K+Red
All wired up with the two bulbs and ballast.
Upgrade fits under the stock plexi with no cutting.
Drilling a brand new tank is allways fun........
Finished drilling. Used a 1" for overflow and 3/4" for return
Got some of the plumbing done until the custom sump is built
Here is the aquascape. I think it turned out quite nice. Lots of shelves for coral.
Overview shot of the tank. I like that looking at the picture you would think it is still a 100% stock biocube.
Here are the plans for my sump. I have since modified them a bit. I am no longer going to have the two holes in the side. originally was going to be used to make water changes easier, however I did not want to sacrifice the size of the sump to save me 30 seconds during a water change. I also made the dimension 18x17 instead of 18x15. will hopefully have the sump in the next week or two. will post pics when it is done. As far as the refugium goes. I am going to use the second chamber in the back of the tank as my refugium. that way the sump has plenty of room for equipment. Mainly a oversized skimmer.
Also going to be going with a bare bottom in the tank. I have been thinking a lot about it and after seeing a few in person thats the way im going to go.
Like I mentioned before, this is just the start of the project and still have a long way to go. I have big plans for this tank and think it will turn out nice. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas for me. Thanks for looking!
List of plans:
1. Convert lighting to T5 &LED
2. Drill tank for overflow and return
3. Build custom sump that will fit in stand
4. Have essential and advanced equipment (vortech, calcium reactor, ATO, Skimmer, etc)
Here is the tank bone stock. Got it from Moby Dick's
T5 parts. GLO ballast kit and 2 18" bulbs. Will most likely go to 4 in the near future
Reef Octopus NW-110 skimmer
The start to the light conversion. ripped out all the old equipment, including the crap LED's they provide. Installed 2 12" stunner strips. Actinic and 10K+Red
All wired up with the two bulbs and ballast.
Upgrade fits under the stock plexi with no cutting.
Drilling a brand new tank is allways fun........
Finished drilling. Used a 1" for overflow and 3/4" for return
Got some of the plumbing done until the custom sump is built
Here is the aquascape. I think it turned out quite nice. Lots of shelves for coral.
Overview shot of the tank. I like that looking at the picture you would think it is still a 100% stock biocube.
Here are the plans for my sump. I have since modified them a bit. I am no longer going to have the two holes in the side. originally was going to be used to make water changes easier, however I did not want to sacrifice the size of the sump to save me 30 seconds during a water change. I also made the dimension 18x17 instead of 18x15. will hopefully have the sump in the next week or two. will post pics when it is done. As far as the refugium goes. I am going to use the second chamber in the back of the tank as my refugium. that way the sump has plenty of room for equipment. Mainly a oversized skimmer.
Also going to be going with a bare bottom in the tank. I have been thinking a lot about it and after seeing a few in person thats the way im going to go.
Like I mentioned before, this is just the start of the project and still have a long way to go. I have big plans for this tank and think it will turn out nice. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas for me. Thanks for looking!
