New 8G BioCube

FishNutzBoi · #1 01/06/2008, 11:00 PM

I got an amazing deal on this bad boy. $99.99 for an 8 gallon BioCube w/ $25 mail-in rebate! I stopped "reefing" because I had to move to college and thought the expense of taking care of a reef tank would be too much while Im in college but I just couldn't pass up on this crazy deal

Anyways, I plan on modding this tank with all the useful mods before I start running it. So far my plans are:

1. Widen the baffle between intake chamber (chamber 1) and filter chamber (chamber 2)
2. Turn the 2nd chamber into a fuge
- Replace the bioball w/ LR rubbles
- Put some chaeto on top of the LR
- Scrape the back paint of the 2nd chamber and put a small light fixture back there for the chaeto
3. Replace the stock pump w/ a better pump. Is a maxijet900 ok for an 8G BioCube?
4. 50W Titanium heater, filter media (carbon, phosban, chemipure) to be placed in 1st chamber

That's all I have right now.

How am i looking? Any more suggestion?

I really want to get all the mods done before I get it wet because I've heard its a pain to mod after water is in.

Thanks!

ckprax · #2 01/06/2008, 11:08 PM

congrats that is a great deal. I would definitely do the mods before hand, i wish i did but i jumped headfirst into this hobby and started cycling my tank before i saw everything i wanted to do to it. It looks like you are off to a great start

black_majik · #3 01/06/2008, 11:56 PM

Check out the deal in my thread I think its nano sale season or something http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1287440

anyway I think thats a great idea I might turn either A) Turn a chamber into a refuge or B) Put a piece of eggcrate in a corner and have cheato in there. Not sure though

FishNutzBoi · #4 01/07/2008, 10:40 AM

I have a question. How did you guys widen the baffle gap between chamber 1 and 2? I tried a razor and it didn't work out so well XD

thin crust · #5 01/07/2008, 11:27 AM

looks like you're off to a good start. i would use a dremel to widen the baffle. one thing i would do different is the scraping of the back. i prefer the submersible light over having an outside light shining in. i picked up these two 5w LED lights for a pretty decent price. they work awesome under water and they don't heat up your tank.

here's the link: http://www.mainlandmart.com/aquapump.html

do a search for FL02 and you'll see them about half way down the page.

good luck and post some pics of your set up =]

FishNutzBoi · #6 01/07/2008, 11:33 AM

Nice! Thanks for the info on those submergible light. I'm going to look more into that.

I have been taking a few pictures too. I'll upload them tonight after a few mods

I'm also doing the ATO from Melev's page because I leave town for the weekends pretty often. Any tips or precautions?