My 2 FT Cube Tank

[OooFishFish]

Hi to all bros,

Recently i started a 2 ft cube tank and currently doing the ANN cycling. Just finished my rockscape last week and will post up some pics soon and please help me with your wonderful advices to better improve my tank. Thanks!

[OooFishFish]

Here r the pics.

Front view

Front view from the right

Front view from the left

Closer front view

Another front view

I'm not really good with rockscaping so seniors please give me some advice. THanks!

[OooFishFish]

Hi all bros,

I put in 2 big market prawns for cycling and cycle for about 1.5 weeks now, left with 1 prawn still floating around. Today, i did some water tests, Ammonia is 0ppm, Nitrite almost 0ppm(hard to see the colour, so not sure) and Nitrate 40ppm. Seems like the cycle is ready but will carry on the cycle for another 1.5 weeks as to allow more cope-pods to grow. Will post more pics when the tank is ready and once LS starts to go in.

Happy reefing to all

[OooFishFish]

Hi all. Regarding the remaining 1 prawn which is floating around, should i remove it or just leave it inside till it's gone? Advices would be greatly appreciate. Thanks!

[raydiative]

since you've used 2 big prawn and one of them has already decomposed, i think you can remove the other one.. =]

great scaping too! but i would leave more space at the bottom to see more sandbed and also to allow more space for corals which requires to be placed on the sandbed or for lower lightings..

mind sharing your equiptments?

[OooFishFish]

yeah agree . should leave some sand bed space for corals like plate. Will try to do some adjustments.

Anyway i'm quite budget with equipments so kind of bought as a whole set from a bro here and using what is include in the set.

lightings i'm using 4 x T5 and a Dymax skimmer. For return pump i'm using Rio 26 and chiller Resun CL450. Only can afford just the basic equipments

[raydiative]

yeah agree . should leave some sand bed space for corals like plate. Will try to do some adjustments.

Anyway i'm quite budget with equipments so kind of bought as a whole set from a bro here and using what is include in the set.

lightings i'm using 4 x T5 and a Dymax skimmer. For return pump i'm using Rio 26 and chiller Resun CL450. Only can afford just the basic equipments

what you have is good enough! You have all the basics already!

i would recommend you to upgrade your skimmer though.. take you time and save till you can afford to go for a better skimmer.. its one of the most important equiptment to have..

also adding moonlight will be nice to the eyes too! =]

[OooFishFish]

THanks for your advice bro. Dymax skimmer looks big and looks like it's good but never have i heard any reefer saying it's good. Nice to see but useless i guess haha But is Dymax that bad? Cause don't think anytime soon i can change cause of budget. Can still like use it for the time being without having much bad water perimeter problems?

Considering Reef Octopus or Bubble Magus in future as these 2 brands have good remarks but yet still affordable. Also thinking of getting the Dymax robot LED marine light which i think can act as moonlight?

Anyway Thanks again for ur advice.

[raydiative]

THanks for your advice bro. Dymax skimmer looks big and looks like it's good but never have i heard any reefer saying it's good. Nice to see but useless i guess haha But is Dymax that bad? Cause don't think anytime soon i can change cause of budget. Can still like use it for the time being without having much bad water perimeter problems?

Considering Reef Octopus or Bubble Magus in future as these 2 brands have good remarks but yet still affordable. Also thinking of getting the Dymax robot LED marine light which i think can act as moonlight?

Anyway Thanks again for ur advice.

Sure.. no worries.. i'm surprise that the gurus in the forum have not spoken yet! haha..

I'm not saying Dymax is bad.. just that i'm sure of some other brans which are definately better.. such as deltec?! as long as the skimmer is able to churn out nice and thick skimmate, even a no brander would be good as well... if you're not to sure about the performance just do a higher % of water change everytime. I would recommend water change AT LEAST every 2 weeks... Pref every week!

as far as i know, moon light doesnt really do much but its just makes the tank nice to look at.. haha.. as long as the lights are blue and not too strong any light can be moon light.. i would recommend LED though..

you can go on to ebay and look for moon light.. actually i may have one lying around at home. can sell it to you if you want..

[OooFishFish]

yeah heard alot about deltec skimmers but for the price, don't think i'm able to get it anytime soon. What about Reef Octopus? is it good?

I read ur pinned up thread on the balloon stick target feeding method. Cool n smart.

[raydiative]

yeah heard alot about deltec skimmers but for the price, don't think i'm able to get it anytime soon. What about Reef Octopus? is it good?

I read ur pinned up thread on the balloon stick target feeding method. Cool n smart.

wait till you hear from those who SWEAR by Deltec.. i think reef octo is good as well.. =]

well the balloon stick is just one of the few methods reefers can try to save $$

so far i know of afew reefers who appreciate it and a couple who doesnt.. hahah..

its your call dude! =]

[OooFishFish]

wait till you hear from those who SWEAR by Deltec.. i think reef octo is good as well.. =]

well the balloon stick is just one of the few methods reefers can try to save $$

so far i know of afew reefers who appreciate it and a couple who doesnt.. hahah..

its your call dude! =]

Yeah saw alot alot of good comments on Deltec. To me ur balloon stick method is a very good one as it gets the job done with such low cost, but overall i'm still pretty new to this hobby so will try your method in future when i get to put in corals.

Haha so far only u interested in my thread so thank you bro my first audience

[mitlancer]

Nice rockscape....

[OooFishFish]

Nice rockscape....

Thanks bro for ur nice comment. Was a little worried and reluctant to post this thread at first because my rock scape is quite simple and nothing special compare to a lot of bros here.

Is ur setup wall-mounted? Is it done by the lsf in some shopping centres? i think i saw theirs is wall mounted, correct me if i'm wrong

[BFG]

I was once a reefer who swear by Deltec BUT after using them, I swear not to use them again. There are better skimmer brand out there like Reef Octopus XP series. Deltec was once the brand to go for but now, due to rising electric tariff and efficiency wise, I would personally choose the Reef Octopus XP series. But if you got money, Bubble King are great. Only thing is got to 'look out' for the pump. I'm a "Once bitten twice shy" kind of person.

[OooFishFish]

I was once a reefer who swear by Deltec BUT after using them, I swear not to use them again. There are better skimmer brand out there like Reef Octopus XP series. Deltec was once the brand to go for but now, due to rising electric tariff and efficiency wise, I would personally choose the Reef Octopus XP series. But if you got money, Bubble King are great. Only thing is got to 'look out' for the pump. I'm a "Once bitten twice shy" kind of person.

Yeah thanks so much for ur review bro. I personally like reef octopus alot. Seen my friend's one which is working so good. Is the XP series the latest one?

[BFG]

Yeah thanks so much for ur review bro. I personally like reef octopus alot. Seen my friend's one which is working so good. Is the XP series the latest one?

Yes, 2010 model. I help a friend set up a 3ft tank using Reef Octopus skimmer. The next one I will recommend the XP series. I was told when I started reef keeping that Deltec skimmer do not overflow, so I set up the skimmer to be placed out sump. Guess what, it overflow and water spill onto the floor. 2nd, the bubbles forming on the collection cup cover also touch my co2 solenoid, shorting it , a lot of co2 goes into the calcium reactor, turning the tank water milky. 3rd, the rating for my Deltec skimmer is not accurate imo, a APF600 is definitely not enough for a 422 tank. Have to clean the collection twice a week, kopi o skim mate. This all happen back on 2006 then.

[marinakid]

how about trying out Skimz? the new series seem good and i find the price reasonable.

[OooFishFish]

Yes, 2010 model. I help a friend set up a 3ft tank using Reef Octopus skimmer. The next one I will recommend the XP series. I was told when I started reef keeping that Deltec skimmer do not overflow, so I set up the skimmer to be placed out sump. Guess what, it overflow and water spill onto the floor. 2nd, the bubbles forming on the collection cup cover also touch my co2 solenoid, shorting it , a lot of co2 goes into the calcium reactor, turning the tank water milky. 3rd, the rating for my Deltec skimmer is not accurate imo, a APF600 is definitely not enough for a 422 tank. Have to clean the collection twice a week, kopi o skim mate. This all happen back on 2006 then.

Ur friend must be happy with reef octopus performance. I'm not really sure about the Xp series, is it all cone design? whats the difference between cone design and the usual one? Sorry, don't know much about skimmers. Learning now.

Yeah agree that u had a very bad experience with deltec. Not giving them a second chance?

[OooFishFish]

how about trying out Skimz? the new series seem good and i find the price reasonable.

Hi bro. yeah missed out another good brand. R u using skimz skimmer? Good reviews?

[BFG]

Ur friend must be happy with reef octopus performance. I'm not really sure about the Xp series, is it all cone design? whats the difference between cone design and the usual one? Sorry, don't know much about skimmers. Learning now.

Yeah agree that u had a very bad experience with deltec. Not giving them a second chance?

I moved on. I do not know about their latest line of skimmer. For me, performance should go along as what is advertised.

The XP series is the latest from Reef Octopus. It is a conical design with bubble plate. Bubble plate skimmer are the 'IN' thing nowadays.

[OooFishFish]

I moved on. I do not know about their latest line of skimmer. For me, performance should go along as what is advertised.

The XP series is the latest from Reef Octopus. It is a conical design with bubble plate. Bubble plate skimmer are the 'IN' thing nowadays.

I see. So it's the conical design that is bringing this series better than b4 or the bubble plate. Sorry cause i'm confuse as some skimmer which is not conical also has a bubble plate, so just trying to find out which is the factor so as to know which type of skimmer should i get in future.

[peacemaker]

If you're on a budget, you might wanna consider Bubble Magus skimmers. Lots of good reviews for its efficiency vs price. You can contact our sponsor, DE Lightings (Dr Evil), as they are one of BM's local distributors for a recommendation of a skimmer to suit your needs.

[Solo77]

for skimmer, set your criteria and then go sourcing. The brands mentioned are proven to be effective. To me, the cone design has cooled down quite a bit and if you observed the trend.....low power consumption with high volume flow pump being used, internal cone, bubble plate...are common in all brands....especially bubble plate. For the old deltec, they use ehiem....a very reliable brand but trade off high power consumption. The next brand that ppl go for is aquabee but maybe too many users and thus higher chance of failure......those reputable brands then all use aquabee....now other brands are coming out their own pump.....the body design remain much the same....hence it will take some time to guage the reliability of the pump. Thus, do note after sales service..i think is one important factor in this hobby.

[OooFishFish]

If you're on a budget, you might wanna consider Bubble Magus skimmers. Lots of good reviews for its efficiency vs price. You can contact our sponsor, DE Lightings (Dr Evil), as they are one of BM's local distributors for a recommendation of a skimmer to suit your needs.

Hey thanks bro for letting me know DE lightings brings in BM skimmers, cause been looking for online sites which sell equipments but none selling BM. If lets say i want efficiency but at a low or reasonable price i think it's only BM.