Restart of my 12gal bio cube and fix for a druppy AI Prime

miamiangler · May 22, 2015

My bio cube has been running for 2 years now and on my Birthday I decided it`s time for a redo . I ordered the AI Prime and bracket (Birthday present to me ). It was time anyway since my Hollywood stunner took up 1/3 of the tank . The Royal Gramma has a new home in my 29 gal reef . Right now my live rock and clowns are living in a big container with a Reef Radiance DM132 for lighting .

I have made some mods to the aquarium by taking part of the rim off .I just left the back part on the Tank . I also made a screen top .It`s not the best ,but this is what it looks like after a couple hours of work .

I got my Prime from Saltwater aquarium .com and thanks to them it arrived in two days !
I have seen the druppy lights in action when I was at Rap in Orlando . After seeing the problem I found a fix that works for me . I took some 3/8 & 1/2 tubing and cut it to the size of the shaft that gets screwed onto the light .

The rubber parts are put on after the shaft is screwed on to the bracket . So Far the light is holding nice and level .

As of now the tank is up and running I added NSW and clean sand . I moved the Protein skimmer to the first compartment and to my surprise it`s actually working (Coralife biocube skimmer). Later on I will be adding a ATO and maybe GFO . I am planning on having this tank with SPS and Zoa`s .

Well that`s all for now .I am hoping on putting some live rock in the tank this weekend . BTW the AI Prime is awesome !

spspirate · May 22, 2015

Cool little nano!!

miamiangler · May 23, 2015

Thanks ! I forgot to add the before shot. I know it looks ugly but the coral grew on the glass .

glb · May 23, 2015

Good luck! My coralife skimmer actually works great too. Who knew?? I'll be watching as your build progresses.

miamiangler · May 23, 2015

Thanks GLB,

Today I started with putting one live rock back in , I`m not putting mushroom corals back in this tank since they will take over . Most will be donated to Plantation High school since they have a marine biology program . So most of the softies are going there on Tuesday . The live sand came from my 29 gal tank which has been cleaned and sitting for a month . I am using Dr.Tim`s One and Only so it should be good to go . Today I went to Haulover Cut and got 70 gals of sea water . I will be going out in the boat tomorrow and do some collecting since the water is clear and flat calm !

I watched some of the U-tube vids about the skimmer and got it to work .I also replaced the wood diffuser which made a big difference . I can`t believe there`s foam in the cup ! I am really liking the AI prime light ! No more power compacts

. I just have to figure out how to do the weather effects

. I will post some Pic`s as soon as more rock go`s in the tank .

glb · May 23, 2015

miamiangler said:
Thanks GLB,

Today I started with putting one live rock back in , I`m not putting mushroom corals back in this tank since they will take over . Most will be donated to Plantation High school since they have a marine biology program . So most of the softies are going there on Tuesday . The live sand came from my 29 gal tank which has been cleaned and sitting for a month . I am using Dr.Tim`s One and Only so it should be good to go . Today I went to Haulover Cut and got 70 gals of sea water . I will be going out in the boat tomorrow and do some collecting since the water is clear and flat calm !

I watched some of the U-tube vids about the skimmer and got it to work .I also replaced the wood diffuser which made a big difference . I can`t believe there`s foam in the cup ! I am really liking the AI prime light ! No more power compacts . I just have to figure out how to do the weather effects . I will post some Pic`s as soon as more rock go`s in the tank .

Marine depot has replacement diffusers for not too much. Mine is doing great! Good luck!

miamiangler · May 24, 2015

A few pic`s from today:

Exodus · May 29, 2015

Looking good, after have been using the AI prime for 2 months now I would suggest dropping the light closer to the water surface, the AI Nano bracket was 5 1/2 inches from the water surface (Which i had great success with) and since I dropped mine all the way down (Aquapod 12g) I am seeing better results.

Texas Reefer · May 29, 2015

I'm getting the AI Prime today for my 14 g Biocube! I plan on installing it inside the hood, but may cut a hole in the hood and have it pretty much flush. Anyone have any comment on this idea?