Fiji cube 108 or 142 quality

[painter1982]

Anyone have an opinion about Fiji cube 108 or 142 build quality? The tank and stand. They are a contender in my research for an upgrade to my reef. They have good prices but sometimes it’s “you get what you pay for”. I have their sump and over flow on my 60g cube. But the sump I can see some iffy glue joints. The overflow box is excellent.

 

[ndrwater]

In this hobby, the "you get what you pay for" is very true.
You won't ever hear someone compare Reef Savvy with Red Sea... Are they both tank manufacturers, yea...are they the same... No.
Any time you are buying a budget option, which isn't necessarily a bad thing at all, dont try to compare build quality to higher priced options.
Know going in that you are buying a less expensive option. If it works for you, and you are realistic with your expectations, be happy with your purchase.

 

[UncommonSense]

Anyone have an opinion about Fiji cube 108 or 142 build quality? The tank and stand. They are a contender in my research for an upgrade to my reef. They have good prices but sometimes it’s “you get what you pay for”. I have their sump and over flow on my 60g cube. But the sump I can see some iffy glue joints. The overflow box is excellent.

I recently built out a Fiji 95INT, in fact!



Stand: PVC laminated plywood is quite nice! Assembly instructions? Terrible! Worse than ikea!

The push to push latches require significant care/test fitments to install correctly, but other screw hole locations were spot drilled well!

The stand has 14 leveling feet, each of which is maybe 1/2” wide… I’d estimate roughly 100PSI on each of the feet! (I had to make 14 x 1.5” diameter custom D-shaped discs of aluminum with felt on one side to install under each of the stand’s feet to protect the hardwood floor…)

— 12 of the 14 leveling feet are accessible around the perimeter, two are in the middle… I made a custom tool composed of a dulled utility razor electrical taped to a 2ft long strip of 1/4” acrylic to use as a feeler gauge, and to spin the two center feet <=1/4 turn at a time…

— all in all, it took two skilled reefers, one of which has significant carpentry experience/etc, 11 hours straight to go from a pallet delivered out front of the house to a fully assembled, perfectly leveled stand with the tank on it… no plumbing even started yet…


Tank:

4 out of 10 silicone quality… I touched up three separate voids in corners… and shaved off two residual silicone spikes! — it seems like they really use an absolute minimum of silicone! The exterior of the vertical seams only had silicone wiped over ~50% of the seam length, indicating that they used JUST enough to fill the structural glass:glass seams…

Here’s a photo I took of the cool logo etched within the glass, showing a silicone defect in that corner!

Plumbing:

All aliexpress special off-brand parts; returns are not true loc-line, and will not connect to true loc-line when you attempt to extend them for RFGs…

The “flowcolour” brand fittings, to be fair, are remarkably nice considering how cheap they are!

Note; this complete system came with plumbing for the tank itself, and sump itself only; no plumbing to connect the two together aside from a gate valve…. — we had to order plumbing for me to install custom to the application…

Sump:

Reasonably well designed, adjustable weirs are convenient, but water definitely channels around the moving weir plates during operation! — the filter floss holder’s design is very good, I will say!

Some of the fasteners were cut down at the factory to mount a bracket in the return chamber, they were cut too short; I hade to make a replacement bracket out of thinner polycarbonate to make the fasteners work…

Sharp edges on pretty much every single cut part; no edge finishing after laser/router cutting…


Overflow box lid:

Really pretty matte and chrome paint, either acrylic or UHMW plastic; very dense…

Unfortunately, it doesn’t even fit the overflow box… (squared corner on lid, radius corner on overflow box: Fiji cube sent radius corner replacement!)

Final thoughts? Not terrible for the money, the plywood stand is at least a nice step up… I’d like to see a bit better fit and finish quality (on the actual important things), though…

Edit: I should add that either the top plate of the stand, or the tank itself is around 1/16-1/32” off perfectly square… — I spent almost an hour chasing alignment of tank to top of stand the next day before realizing that the error wasn’t my doing!

 

[ndrwater]

Final thoughts? Not terrible for the money,

A better review has never been written..

 

[Mas0n]

Just took delivery of an EXT 108 today. Unfortunately, I did not receive the plywood stand that was advertised to me at the time of purchase, and mentioned above. They have switched to a very thin 3030 aluminum profile design (literally 1mm thick...). I was lucky enough to get one with manufacturing defects as well lol! The base for the stand that ships preassembled was over 1/4inch out of square due to poor aluminum cuts.

I am looking to return it and go with something else that is tried and true.

 

[painter1982]

This is enough for me not to go with Fiji cube when I upgrade in November. My Fiji sump is poor quality. There are glue joints that look like they should leak at any moment. Fortunately I had some acrylic cement that I used like silicone and sealed the sump.

 

[Mas0n]

This is enough for me not to go with Fiji cube when I upgrade in November. My Fiji sump is poor quality. There are glue joints that look like they should leak at any moment. Fortunately I had some acrylic cement that I used like silicone and sealed the sump.

Smart thinking! The sump they shipped looked nice, but I have seen various complaints like yours on forums/reddit. Sucks.

I think I will bit the bullet and go IM like my current tank, the stand and quality have been awesome.

Here are some pictures of the fijicube 108 EXT "v2" stand.

Nice 3030, 1mm extrusion!


Tons of these marks, nicks, and rough cuts through out.


I'm sure this has the compression strength to hold 1200-1300lbs, but it has AWFUL shear strength. Its a wobble mess, empty lol.


There are two side panels that should help with some rotation, but nothing on the rear or front large span as support. Additionally, the front center brace does not have compression support at the corners, and relies on a gusset.

 

[UncommonSense]

The base for the stand that ships preassembled was over 1/4inch out of square due to poor aluminum cuts.

Interesting… the plywood top plate of the 95INT I did was around 1/16” out of square…

I chased flush tank/stand walls for nearly an hour before I finally realized that the darn stand wasn’t square!

 

[jphilip813]

I purchased the 108EXT (Black kit, Aquarium, Stand, and Sump) in 2022 (New Home Build, No Tank) here in Texas. I would say the stand came with missing parts, the customer service is a bit sketchy...be ready for them not answering your questions promptly...the sump was "OK"...So I ditched the sump since it was NOT large enough for me...you are limited to 34 inches in length if you want a full SUMP like me. I do like the Aquarium itself... but as for the Stand, if I could do it again, I would go with an aluminum stand that would give me MORE flexibility and space to hide EVERYTHING at the bottom. I finally switched from the Fiji Sump to a Synergy Reef 34R and, as of recent (June 2025), a Trigger Titanium 34 Sump with a new skimmer ...I had a custom lid made to keep the fish safe and happy as can be.... See attachment and previous videos.

 

[Mas0n]

Interesting… the plywood top plate of the 95INT I did was around 1/16” out of square…

I chased flush tank/stand walls for nearly an hour before I finally realized that the darn stand wasn’t square!

Sheesh man…. What did you end up doing? Split the difference and live with it?

 

[Mas0n]

I purchased the 108EXT (Black kit, Aquarium, Stand, and Sump) in 2022 (New Home Build, No Tank) here in Texas. I would say the stand came with missing parts, the customer service is a bit sketchy...be ready for them not answering your questions promptly...the sump was "OK"...So I ditched the sump since it was NOT large enough for me...you are limited to 34 inches in length if you want a full SUMP like me. I do like the Aquarium itself... but as for the Stand, if I could do it again, I would go with an aluminum stand that would give me MORE flexibility and space to hide EVERYTHING at the bottom. I finally switched from the Fiji Sump to a Synergy Reef 34R and, as of recent (June 2025), a Trigger Titanium 34 Sump with a new skimmer ...I had a custom lid made to keep the fish safe and happy as can be.... See attachment and previous videos.

Looks slick!

I purchased the 108EXT (Black kit, Aquarium, Stand, and Sump) in 2022 (New Home Build, No Tank) here in Texas. I would say the stand came with missing parts, the customer service is a bit sketchy...be ready for them not answering your questions promptly...the sump was "OK"...So I ditched the sump since it was NOT large enough for me...you are limited to 34 inches in length if you want a full SUMP like me. I do like the Aquarium itself... but as for the Stand, if I could do it again, I would go with an aluminum stand that would give me MORE flexibility and space to hide EVERYTHING at the bottom. I finally switched from the Fiji Sump to a Synergy Reef 34R and, as of recent (June 2025), a Trigger Titanium 34 Sump with a new skimmer ...I had a custom lid made to keep the fish safe and happy as can be.... See attachment and previous videos.

That sump looks great! Very nice.

Sorry to hear about your experience, at least the old stand has panels and a back for mounting things and keeping equipment in a separate area.

 

[Mas0n]

Thought I’d share this video! This is the Fiji cube 108 EXT stand after assembly. Leveled the base, and also the supports. Side panels attached, and retorqued all the hardware. I’m not an engineer, but that’s some serious oscillation.



Atleast the fiancé got a kick out of it!

 

[UncommonSense]

Sheesh man…. What did you end up doing? Split the difference and live with it?

Precisely! It’s all you can do, really…

Thought I’d share this video! This is the Fiji cube 108 EXT stand after assembly. Leveled the base, and also the supports. Side panels attached, and retorqued all the hardware. I’m not an engineer, but that’s some serious oscillation.



Atleast the fiancé got a kick out of it!

That’s honestly a bit alarming! I’d consider reaching out to Fiji Cube in your position with that video!

If they aren’t willing to do anything about it, why not add some plywood shear to the back of the frame?

 

[Mas0n]

Precisely! It’s all you can do, really…


That’s honestly a bit alarming! I’d consider reaching out to Fiji Cube in your position with that video!

If they aren’t willing to do anything about it, why not add some plywood shear to the back of the frame?

I sent it over. They said they will discuss it with their team. I would not feel comfortable using the stand. Likely going to return the setup and go with something else.

I took a look at a bunch of other aluminum stands and they appear to use 15, or 40 series. This single 30 series is worrying.

On a positive note, I will say that the aquarium itself has super thick glass and a nice silicone job. Very consistent. The holes for the overflow and return are drilled nicely as well.

 

[BryanM]

What a timely post, build, and review!

 

[Fiji Cube_Lisa]

Mason,

Thank you for your feedback and for the kind words about the aquarium — we’re really glad to hear you’re pleased with the glass tank quality!

We sincerely apologize for the mix-up with the stand that was initially sent. The original aluminum stand design is structurally strong and fully capable of supporting the aquarium setup. However, in some cases, factors such as unlevel flooring or joints not being fully tightened can contribute to minor movement. We’ve since made updates to the design, and all future aluminum stands will include reinforcement pieces to further enhance stability and prevent similar concerns.

We are glad we were able to come to a resolution to your issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

 

[Mas0n]

Mason,

Thank you for your feedback and for the kind words about the aquarium — we’re really glad to hear you’re pleased with the glass tank quality!

We sincerely apologize for the mix-up with the stand that was initially sent. The original aluminum stand design is structurally strong and fully capable of supporting the aquarium setup. However, in some cases, factors such as unlevel flooring or joints not being fully tightened can contribute to minor movement. We’ve since made updates to the design, and all future aluminum stands will include reinforcement pieces to further enhance stability and prevent similar concerns.

We are glad we were able to come to a resolution to your issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Glad to hear that the reinforcement kit will be included for everyone moving forward, I think that additional bracing will definitely help improve the design.

Just to clarify, my concern isn’t about vertical load capacity, I have no doubt the stand can hold the weight of the tank. The issue is with lateral rigidity and racking, which comes from the lack of triangulation or shear structure in the current design. The small corner gussets alone didn't provide sufficient resistance to side-to-side movement, especially on a stand of this size.

I also want to note that my floors are level (the home is only a few years old), and all fasteners were torqued properly. I even verified with a torque wrench. So the movement I’m describing likely isn’t related to setup conditions, but to the geometry and stiffness of the frame itself.

I’m glad future versions will be reinforced, that’s absolutely the right direction. Thanks again for working through this with me.

 

[painter1982]

Mason,

Thank you for your feedback and for the kind words about the aquarium — we’re really glad to hear you’re pleased with the glass tank quality!

We sincerely apologize for the mix-up with the stand that was initially sent. The original aluminum stand design is structurally strong and fully capable of supporting the aquarium setup. However, in some cases, factors such as unlevel flooring or joints not being fully tightened can contribute to minor movement. We’ve since made updates to the design, and all future aluminum stands will include reinforcement pieces to further enhance stability and prevent similar concerns.

We are glad we were able to come to a resolution to your issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Glad to hear that the reinforcement kit will be included for everyone moving forward, I think that additional bracing will definitely help improve the design.

Just to clarify, my concern isn’t about vertical load capacity, I have no doubt the stand can hold the weight of the tank. The issue is with lateral rigidity and racking, which comes from the lack of triangulation or shear structure in the current design. The small corner gussets alone didn't provide sufficient resistance to side-to-side movement, especially on a stand of this size.

I also want to note that my floors are level (the home is only a few years old), and all fasteners were torqued properly. I even verified with a torque wrench. So the movement I’m describing likely isn’t related to setup conditions, but to the geometry and stiffness of the frame itself.

I’m glad future versions will be reinforced, that’s absolutely the right direction. Thanks again for working through this with me.

Crazy that several thousand dollars can be spent on this and they blame you for their lack of engineering. Hopefully they fix the issue and take responsibility before a child is involved in an accident with thousands of pounds crashing over sideways.

 

[JoeG370Z]

Anyone have an opinion about Fiji cube 108 or 142 build quality? The tank and stand. They are a contender in my research for an upgrade to my reef. They have good prices but sometimes it’s “you get what you pay for”. I have their sump and over flow on my 60g cube. But the sump I can see some iffy glue joints. The overflow box is excellent.

If you’re still wondering about Fiji I just bought a 142g ext and I’m completely satisfied with the quality

 

[painter1982]

Anyone have an opinion about Fiji cube 108 or 142 build quality? The tank and stand. They are a contender in my research for an upgrade to my reef. They have good prices but sometimes it’s “you get what you pay for”. I have their sump and over flow on my 60g cube. But the sump I can see some iffy glue joints. The overflow box is excellent.

If you’re still wondering about Fiji I just bought a 142g ext and I’m completely satisfied with the quality

Good to hear. I have one of their sumps and fleece roller. I went with an eshopps Mariner for my new setup.