anyone have a 12" cube?

[nofilter]

i'd love to see pics.
i got one from my bro-inlaw, right now it has a queen skimmer, powerhead 402, mini-mite, and 50w heater. 2in sand bed, red mushrooms, green mushrooms, pom pom xenia, green star polyps, lr rubble, lots of pods, and 1 blue-leg hermit. i plan on adding a 2nd mini mite (i have it, just haven't gotten around to putting it on yet).
i'm thinking about ditching the skimmer - the bioload is low, and it doesn't pull out alot of gunk anyway.
i also was thinking about plumbing it with a sump, i have an old 5 gallon AGA sitting on the back porch.
what do you guys (and gals) think?

[kennerd]

I have a 7 gal cube. currently running a 27w CSL PC and I will be adding either a single or double 13w actinic.

Currently a bunch of different macros, 2 each scarlet reef and blue leg hermits, queen conch, three small ricordia florida colonies, neon green goniopora, an arrow crab and a few red shrooms.

My unit has built-in wet-dry & skimmer, and the skimmer actually pulls a nice color of gunk out of the tank, although not a lot of it. 25w visi-therm heater in the sump.

It will eventually transfer to out bedside table, after I move the 12 gal from that spot.

http://home.earthlink.net/~obrienken/_uimages/7galcube.jpg

[Corpus Callosum]

I have a 9" cube , which I just turned into my 2.5 gallon sump for my 10 gallon tank.

[brandon429]

This is my setup and has no skimmer OR filter of anykind, just strong circulation. LR does more than most people think in terms of nitrogen cycling. It does so much that after becoming well-cycled my tank goes twice as long as it used to between water changes with all necessary specs still at zero. A fish load is the only thing that makes us reefers need a skimmer. LR and coral, no matter how densely stocked, will never need skimming (with strong circulation of course) unless I guess you just want to go super long times in between water changes. Even then you may not have to--LR is the best filter IMO for low maintenance setup.

If you have fish you could reduce them down to one or two and still not need a skimmer... Im about to!

[tstone]

I say ditch the skimmer and plumb in the sump. Than put some live rock in the sump and add any and all the sponges and or sea squirts that you can find. They will actualy do a better job of filtering the water than a skimmer. Check out this site. http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com/getzoned

I have my 13 G acrylic plumbed to a 10 G sump and use 2x32 watt PC, no skimmer just sponges and squirts, live rock and DSB. Water quality is great with minumal water changes. I have auto topoff for evaporation.
Tstone

[nofilter]

thanks for your input ken, brandon and tstone. here's what i've done so far...
added 2nd minimite, but using only 1 blue, so 18w blue and 9w white. ditched skimmer, added aquaclear 150 (no filter or carbon - on the lowest flow setting), and a powerhead capable of 80-125 gph (on 80 right now). xenia is adjusting to increased light and flow. mushrooms and gsp are happy, i added another piece of lr with green and brown/orange button polyps.

anyone else with pics? or do i just drool over the 7g bowfront pics (nice nanos, btw)?