Fiji Cube 22 External Overflow Build

2Sunny · Jun 16, 2020

Not really much of a build since it comes with sump, stand, and tank, but still this is my first "nano" so I'm pretty excited. I've never been one who does those nice plumbing jobs, but this came with a bunch of pvc parts so I couldn't resist, and I admit I am rather pleased with the outcome. The Fluval 2.5 in the picture has a juvenile clown that was getting beaten up, and he is the primary reason for the upgrade as I knew he couldn't stay in the 2.5 forever. Plan is to use the Hydra 26 shown below, a Tunze Silence on a 7092 controller for wave motion, a Tunze 8821 waterproof refugium strip, ChemipureBlue, and bio-plates. I've been using ChemipureBlue in the pico and am really, really impressed. The remaining question is whether to fill this thing "chock-a-block" and aim for a color forest or go minimalist with 3 or 4 corals.
We shall see . . .

Peace River · Jun 16, 2020

Good start to your build thread! You may be surprised how others will find inspiration in your thread - nice work!

adobo · Jun 16, 2020

Dude (or dudette), that is exactly the same tank I have my eyes on.

I assume that is the fiji reef stand. How do you like it? I am personally leaning towards an aluminum 8020 style stand. Not sure what to do for a sump yet.

2Sunny · Jun 17, 2020

adobo said:
Dude (or dudette), that is exactly the same tank I have my eyes on.

I assume that is the fiji reef stand. How do you like it? I am personally leaning towards an aluminum 8020 style stand. Not sure what to do for a sump yet.

Thanks!

Yeah, it's the Fiji Cube 22 combo pakage. So far I'm lovin' it a whole lot. I got it on sale for $769 which seemed to me a HUGE bargain. I had been eyeing the cube and considered building my own stand, but when I found the combo package on sale I quickly decided to go that route instead, and I couldn't be happier with my choice. The primary driver behind my size choice was space in the kitchen and the light I have which is a Hydra 26. I could have gone 24 x 24 but figured that was just a tad too big so 18 x 18 it is.

Joe in NY

RedTheReefer · Jun 17, 2020

I've also been eyeing this tank but what's holding me back is the stand. How is the quality of it? Does it feel like its well made? Is it a nice finish etc? Or does it feel like you bought at ikea?

The tank and sump look very nice. Looking forward on how you scape it!

adobo · Jun 17, 2020

RedTheReefer said:
I've also been eyeing this tank but what's holding me back is the stand. How is the quality of it? Does it feel like its well made? Is it a nice finish etc? Or does it feel like you bought at ikea?

The tank and sump look very nice. Looking forward on how you scape it!

I am getting one of these tanks too but I am getting a custom stand that uses an aluminum frame. The stand that fiji cube sells looks nice but I have a little more space where the tank is going so I am having a bigger stand made. I will skin the stand myself with plywood that matches the furniture I have in the room the tank is going in.

This package looks really good though - sump + top off. I am tempted to buy it as is even if I don't use the stand.

2Sunny · Jun 18, 2020

RedTheReefer said:
I've also been eyeing this tank but what's holding me back is the stand. How is the quality of it? Does it feel like its well made? Is it a nice finish etc? Or does it feel like you bought at ikea?

The tank and sump look very nice. Looking forward on how you scape it!

Most definitely "Ikea" quality, but I expected that for the price, and with my dog chewed kitchen table and worn out floors, it will fit right in

and in keeping with the old adage "you learn something new everyday", I will admit that I never really knew what a "Herbie drain" was until I filled the tank and sump with regular water to do a leak test, ran the pump, and noticed the loud overflow which I then figured out you could silence by sticking my finger in the drain hole to partially block the drain which in turn made me realize why the package came with a gate valve . . . so . . . 10 minutes later after cutting out the main drain line and reinstalling with the gate valve, I had a fully functional Herbie Drain. Wish I'd known about that design when I plumbed my primary reef 19 years ago. I like the design with an emergency overflow way better than what I have now which is a modified Durso style drain. Anyways, I'm heading to Maine for 3 weeks of vacation so not sure if I'll have time to put sand and water in before I go, but maybe??

I was also disappointed to learn that the Goose Neck I bought for my Hydra wasn't compatible. I emailed AI months ago asking if my model was compatible and even sent them a picture of my unit with serial number, and they replied "yes" it was compatible. In the end I drilled two small holes in the wrong end of the unit and installed the bracket. The power plug will show as a result, but at least I'm not out the $68. LOL.

2Sunny · Jun 20, 2020

So got it up and running yesterday, and I changed my mind and decided to add a skimmer. Fortunately I had a big credit at my LFS, Life Aquatic in New Canaan, CT, and got a Ghost Desktop Skimmer for free. I first put it in the box meant for the filter sock/filter media and it fit perfectly, BUT I really wanted a pre-filter so I ended up putting it in the main sump equipment compartment. Of course, then I had a cajillion micro-bubbles . . . so . . . I went back to my LFS and asked if he had extra acrylic scraps and turns out he had a perfect piece that was 16 x 8.5 inches which I cut in half using the scoring method I found on YouTube. Tomorrow I will go and pick up acrylic sealant and install the baffle. I know the micro-bubbles will probably subside once the skimmer breaks in, but I want to use the other 2/3 of the equipment chamber as a refugium. (I already had a cheap refugium light that I used in my Fluval for a while and it too is a perfect fit in the new sump. I had a Bangaii Cardinal in my sump that I moved up to the 22 so now I have a Clown and a Cardinal and that'll be it for the foreseeable future. I ordered a large acan colony to add coral wise, and I'm "activating" some dry rock in my main reef sump that I will add when we get back from Maine. Haven't figured out how to clean up the electrical cords yet, but I figure there's no rush. Anyways, that's the long update for today

RedTheReefer · Jun 23, 2020

2Sunny said:
Most definitely "Ikea" quality, but I expected that for the price, and with my dog chewed kitchen table and worn out floors, it will fit right in and in keeping with the old adage "you learn something new everyday", I will admit that I never really knew what a "Herbie drain" was until I filled the tank and sump with regular water to do a leak test, ran the pump, and noticed the loud overflow which I then figured out you could silence by sticking my finger in the drain hole to partially block the drain which in turn made me realize why the package came with a gate valve . . . so . . . 10 minutes later after cutting out the main drain line and reinstalling with the gate valve, I had a fully functional Herbie Drain. Wish I'd known about that design when I plumbed my primary reef 19 years ago. I like the design with an emergency overflow way better than what I have now which is a modified Durso style drain. Anyways, I'm heading to Maine for 3 weeks of vacation so not sure if I'll have time to put sand and water in before I go, but maybe??

I was also disappointed to learn that the Goose Neck I bought for my Hydra wasn't compatible. I emailed AI months ago asking if my model was compatible and even sent them a picture of my unit with serial number, and they replied "yes" it was compatible. In the end I drilled two small holes in the wrong end of the unit and installed the bracket. The power plug will show as a result, but at least I'm not out the $68. LOL.

Good to know. I sent them an email asking questions about the package. They ended up not responding to my additional concerns after their first reply...

I guess I won't be buying it since all my questions have not been answered...

2Sunny · Aug 15, 2020

Really lovin' this nano more and more every day. I am keenly aware that the corals I put in so far have the potential to outgrow the surroundings so at the moment I'm struggling not to "overfill" the system with frags of zoas. I am wondering though about growth with such a light fish load. I have been target feeding reefroids so hopefully that will help with growth. I've only had the goniopora for two days. Even after two days it's JUST barely starting to open.

2Sunny · Aug 15, 2020

And some pics to go with

2Sunny · Aug 15, 2020

Did I mention I LOVE the Ghost Skimmer. Super silent, tiny footprint and puts out plenty of goop keeping the water crystal clear. Plus the 'fuge is working better than I hoped and the cheato is growing like mad.

2Sunny · Aug 17, 2020

So good news bad news today. I looked carefully at the cheato in my sump and found it teeming with pods . . . yay! . . . but it's also got aiptasia . . . boo. It's funny 'cuz I just watched a Reef Builders video on his Red Sea AIO 20 nano and Jake talked about how he spends most of his maintenance time dealing with "pests". Not sure if its "most" of the time, but it is true pests are a big part of this hobby. Somebody needs to make live rock on land that is pest free. They'd make a fortune.

2Sunny · Aug 18, 2020

Gotta look real close, but you can see some of those teeny tiny pods running around. Pretty cool

Plus never heard of this before, but I caught my emerald crab eating a micromussa. Fortunately it was just a $39 frag. Needless to say the crab is "outta there". Don't know what I'll do if valonia creeps in, we'll deal with that if it happens.

I've decided to shoot for a copy of Elite Reef's nano with a garden of micromussa. I've never had much luck in my main display and now I suspect it was crabs that were my problem. Anyways off to House of Fins in Greenwich to pick up some micromussa. They're not cheap by any means, but they always have a fantastic selection. Day 5 and the goni is still just starting to open. I knew they were tough but sheesh. Everything perfect - 8 dKh, 430 Ca, 7 ppb PO4, 10 ppm nitrate, 100 PAR, and low variable flow. Not sure what else it needs. We'll see . . .

2Sunny · Aug 20, 2020

5 days later and the goniopora is still barely opening. Interesting that when the Conch bumps it on occasion it doesn't retract. Here's hoping it opens fully and does well. Also picked up a primo Micromussa frag and 2 polyps of Sunny D from one of my LFSs, House of Fins. Not sure if the purple chalice frag or the orange micromussa are going to make it, but if they do recover I will be super happy. I'm thinking of adding a piece of Trumpet Coral between the zoa garden and the blasto because I have this feeling that growth in this nano will be super slow. Hope not.

2Sunny · Oct 17, 2020

Definitely growth WAY slower than I'm used to in my 240. The Sunny D's have gone from 2 heads to 5 and just today I see the first new tiny micromussa head. I've been feeding them weekly with Reefroids and aminos. Hopefully as the system ages the growth rate will increase. I did add 5280 pods from Algae Barn yesterday 'cuz I've been cleaning my sump out weekly and was worried that most pod growth was happening there. Not sure I can do much about that except maybe put one of those "pod hotels" in the sump. We'll see . . .

2Sunny · Oct 17, 2020

FTS update as well

Sadly I wasn't able to save the orange acan frag. Not sure now who ate it. It got munched in my 240 and I saw a Emerald on it and assumed that was the bad guy, but that same Emerald is in this nano and he has never bothered the other micromussa so like I said just not sure.

2Sunny · Oct 17, 2020

Once upon a time my Canon was super easy to use and get great photos. Lately not so much. Trouble with the focus and the white balance. Maybe time for a new camera. Anyways, here's a weak attempt at my first macro for this tank.

2Sunny · Oct 24, 2020

Got a new addition to the nano today and what an addition it is. I don't like the hyped naming and pricing of corals, but if ever I've seen a coral in person that deserves the hype and price this would be the one. It's technically on loan to me to see if I can frag and grow some new pieces, but I'm loathe to cut this beauty up. I think I'd rather let it grow out. I did find a piece on Ebay for $150 so I bought that in hopes it's the real OG like this one. It is spectacular!

Did I mention how much I'm lovin' this nano