Help with new build

H

hedgeclipper2

Hello all,?I used to have a BioCube 29 years ago and it was pretty successful until my anemone went rogue and got sliced and diced in a malfunctioning power head (unbeknownst to me) and the tank crashed. I was so disheartened I broke it down and haven't had any tank since. Fast forward to today and my spouse got me one of those EcoQube C things which are cute for a little Betta maybe and it got me thinking about setting up another reef tank as I greatly enjoyed it (won't be fiddling with that anemone this time around, ha).I am considering 4 different builds and was curious to see what everyone thought about the direction I am thinking so far, here we go (sorry if this is a long read):For livestock we would like to limit to maybe 2 small fish (pair of clowns maybe), the CuC and lots of corals.Option 1: LED BioCube 32 w/stand, Jager 100w heater, InTank media basket running filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure elite (no skimmer for now), Koralia Nano 425 and all the other goodies (refractometer, digital thermometer, mag cleaner, test kit, dry sand seeding with live sand, base rock, thinking about upgrading return pump to MJ1200Option 2: LED BioCude 16 w/stand, Jager 75w heater, stock basket with filter floss, purigen, chemi-pure elite (no skimmer for now), Koralia Nano 425 and all the other goodies (refractometer, digital thermometer, mag cleaner, test kit, dry sand seeding with live sand, base rock), thinking about upgrading return pump to MJ1200Option 3: IM NuvoFusion 20, Jager 75w heater, unsure about light (kit comes with Skkye light but not sure about its effectiveness for corals, could upgrade to AI Prime HD with arm, InTank media baskets running filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure elite (no skimmer for now), Koralia Nano 425 and all the other goodies (refractometer, digital thermometer, mag cleaner, test kit, dry sand seeding with live sand, base rock)Option 4: JBJ Nano Rimless 30 w/stand, AI Prime HD light with arm, Jager 100w heater, InTank media baskets running filter floss, purigen and chemi-pure elite (no skimmer for now), Koralia Nano 425 and all the other goodies (refractometer, digital thermometer, mag cleaner, test kit, dry sand seeding with live sand, base rock), thinking about adding Tunze Osmolater since this is open topWe like the BioCubes because we had one before, but we love the look of the JBJ Rimless. Not sure if the 16 or 20 gallons are too small and/or require more maintenance due to small size.I hope we are headed in the right direction, trying not to break the bank with this set up as well. Thanks in advance.?
 
Personally I would stick with the 32?Biocube (or similar). I'm on second. My brother has a 15 gallon rimless and has to do about 4-5 times the top off of the enclosed Biocube. He also has an issue keeping fish from jumping out while keeping the rimless look. ?I had a rimless 90 gallon plumbed into my other display for a few years. Turns out I'm way to lazy to keep up with the increased maintenance. I would always have water go over the side when cleaning the glass with a magnet. It always looked dirty. The rimless look nice but do take more effort in my experience.?
 
I don't know about the 32 gallon. I have no experience. I had a 29 gallon I retrofited Steve's LEDs on that I grew everything no problem. I also put a Koralia Nano in it as the only other upgrade.Now I have the normal 29 gallon that I gutted and just put one white and one blue Trulumen on and can grow softies well. Haven't tried LPS or SPS because of the seahorses.?
 
I would go with your option 1 since you want to have lots of coral, it would give you the room and comes with alot features from what I see. I love my older biocubes. Let us know what you end up with. Would love to see your build thread.
 
I've had both 14 and 29 gallon Biocubes. ?Not a huge difference, but after swapping everything from a 14 to a 29 it was easier. ?By this I mean for the same work the coral and nems (foam on your circulation pump) looked notably better after a week of settling in. ?I now have one of each and while set up differently the 29 is easier*.Don't bother with the media basket. ?Raise the water level so the back chambers are flooded, throw chaeto in the middle chamber, and put a clamp light on the back. ?Works great in mine and it's cheap.No experience with the non-Biocube options, so can't speak to them.*I used the Rapid LED aurora puck upgrade to the 29 eventually, it was a HUGE upgrade. ?I got the dimmable one, but honestly never mess with the dimmer. ? The purple/UV LED's have yellowed and cracked the clear splash shield so I'd either avoid that channel, get one of their other kits, or get the Steve's kit. ?Mind you this isn't Rapid's fault in any way, any LED in that color will damage the splash shield. ?Not sure if the new splash shields are the same material or not. ?It was a bit of a price hit (my first foray into LED's), but simply not having to spend $60 replacing the light bulbs every 6 months pays for it very quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top