Bio Cube home make over

[smitty]

I took my BC29 & tore it down & re did it. It was getting overgrown. I don't have any tank before & after shots but I have after pics of the sump setup. I had a local reef club member build me a sump (beautiful job, hated to hide it!) then I drilled the back for a 3/4" bulkhead & made a external durso. I really screwed up trying to paint it black :doh: (at least it's hidden from view) since the back is not real thick glass I made a gusset for the bulkhead hole to reinforce it. Probably not needed but what the heck, kept me entertained. On the pump return, I tee'd the line & put a gate valve so that if I needed to throttle the pump back I can open the valve & just return water to the sump with no strain on the pump (read that on Melvsreef.com) then when I want to do a water change I just rotate the 90 degree so it points straight out attach the pipe to it & open the gate valve & the water goes into the bucket(read that on RC) I replaced the sand so I'm just waiting to see if I have a mini cycle before bringing the critters from the Q/T tank.

 

[10gnano]

that's a sweet idea for water changes

 

[noworries]

Is that plexi or glass you used to reinforce the hole? Also what adhesive did you use? I have a hairline crack down the backside of one of my biocubes I need to reinforce. I was thinking of sandwiching plexi on both sides but wasn't sure what adhesive would work well, and what you did looks like it is doing well.

 

[smitty]

Is that plexi or glass you used to reinforce the hole? Also what adhesive did you use? I have a hairline crack down the backside of one of my biocubes I need to reinforce. I was thinking of sandwiching plexi on both sides but wasn't sure what adhesive would work well, and what you did looks like it is doing well.

Ya it was just an old sheet of acrylic I had lying around & I used silicon caulking as an adhesive.

 

[rukis]

any updates?

 

[smitty]

I did go through a mini cycle. I'm also having a small problem. I'm not getting the water to return back into the rear chambers like I'd like, so I've knocked a couple of teeth out of the return grill to let water flow better. That's helped a bunch. I ordered two 3/4" bulkheads & some loc-line stuff for my return from the chiller to replace the stock return fitting. It's just too small to get a good return flow(too restrictive) also I've noticed chamber #3? (left one when looking from the front) is not getting water movement in it so when I drill the back for the bulkhead I'll notch it so water will flow over the baffle. I also had a ICH outbreak so the fish are in the Q/T tank going through a hyposalinity treatment & the cube is going fallow for 8 weeks. Ah the joys of this hobby eh?