Customizing the Biocube 29!!!!

[jeittreim]

SUCCESS!!!

I figured I would share a bit of success on my current project of customizing my Biocube 29. I purchased the tank a couple weeks ago and had planned on drilling it for a sump, upgrade the fans, adapt a full size skimmer in the back, and build hinges for the lid.

To date, I was able to get the back of the tank drilled. After 3 days of talking to oceanic, I verified that the Biocubes do not have ANY tempered glass in them (to include the bottom pane, although you would have to cut through the bottom plastic for it.

I had the guys over at alamo pets do the drilling for me and we were able to drill a 1" hole at the bottom of chamber 3 (about 4 inches above the bottom of the tank). They also drilled a 3/4" hole at the top of the tank for the return (right behind the existing return in the baffle).

I took tons of pictures of the process, unfortunately my camera corrupted the pictures and I am still in the process of trying to recover them.

In drilling the tank, we did note that the back glass is decently thick (I believe it is 3/8" thick) This means that I don't have to worry about adding any plate glass to the back to strengthen the bulkheads and I will be able to make custom hinge plates that will attach directly to the glass for the top hood without having to rely on the thin plastic that would be almost guaranteed to break after a time.

For the skimmer, I found the CPR SR3 skimmer which fits right into the second chamber perfectly. I had to add some sponge in front of the chamber 1 overflow to minimize noise, but it works great. I also spray painted the back window in the glass flat black to minimize algae growth since I am not going to use bioballs.

in all, I am excited to get this tank up and running. I hope to get the pictures and details of my mods posted as soon as possible. Maybe this will help other Biocube owners with customizing their tanks.

:-)

Jason

[g-ray]

Good luck with the build get some pics up soon I would like to take a look at this.

[polarbear]

I did this same thing to my biocube about 2 years ago. I had a 1" bulkhead added to the bottom of chamber 3 and added a refuigum under the tank. I took the hood and stock lighting off and am currently running a 150W 14K MH light fixture. I have a seaclone skimmer in the refugium as well as a filter sock to catch all the junk. I made my refugium out of a sump that had bioballs in it but had a guy cut things out and add baffels and a bubble trap. It's been running fine and I am glad that I decided to customize it. Hope you enjoy your tank. I can post some pictures if anyone would like to see it.

[ErikH]

I did this same thing to my biocube about 2 years ago. I had a 1" bulkhead added to the bottom of chamber 3 and added a refuigum under the tank. I took the hood and stock lighting off and am currently running a 150W 14K MH light fixture. I have a seaclone skimmer in the refugium as well as a filter sock to catch all the junk. I made my refugium out of a sump that had bioballs in it but had a guy cut things out and add baffels and a bubble trap. It's been running fine and I am glad that I decided to customize it. Hope you enjoy your tank. I can post some pictures if anyone would like to see it.

everyone wants to see pics, lol

[polarbear]

Ill try to get them posted tonight when I get home.