Oceanic 30 Cube

[simike]

What does every body think of these, found one new for 200 with stand.

for lighting I would do either a 150w sunpod or a couple of 96w quad sunpaq quad bulbs.

Dont want to have a sump, or over flow. Sump would have to be custom, small stand.

Thinkin a remora and a power filter.

Will keep mostly softies and LPS and some easy SPS

any advice??

 

[zahner]

i love mine! check out my tank thread

 

[coralcrazy]

sounds good, but if you like sps, you might need to upgrade your MH lighting...5 watts per gallon might not make them thrive..or even survive..best of luck..sps are evil..

 

[simike]

What do you think about not having a sump?

Any heat Issues with a 250 watt, how high off the water is it?

 

[drunktank]

oceanic has a sump that fits the 30g cube, i dunno why u shouldnt want it.

i actually think its a great set up. get ssome MH and u can do anything u want w/it. I've seen the complete setup for under 1k

just make sure the tank is built properly. i've noticed oceanics quality dropping recently. i've sent a bunch of tanks back to them

 

[simike]

zahner,
also where sdid you get your sump? Its and odd sixe stand to put a 10 gal in.
Coralcrazy,
I know who am i kidding, I know when I get my first SPS, i'd want all SPS

 

[simike]

I think the one I saw is an older model, It is all black 30 gal cube, Ive only seen the cherry and oak colors b4. The tanks comes with a little card that has the inspectors name and sig on it.. What kind of defects should i look out for??

Can I use an overflow box, instead of drilling it?

 

[drunktank]

does ur stand have glass doors that open on all 4 sides? thats the newer model from oceanic

as for the defects, make sure the glass is lined up. I've seen a lot of their tanks coming in w/ bad silicone jobs and glass not lining/ meeting at the corners

 

[simike]

no the stand , i think ,only opens in front.
arent oceanic usually better than average tanks ie aga

 

[zahner]

i got the sump custom from Glass Cages, $120 shipped. the bulb is about 8" from the water. it does heat the tank significantly, considering adding a fan over the sump

 

[simike]

How about 2 96watt smartpaq quad lamps, anybody use them
how is the color

 

[pecan2phat]

I would stay away from PC lighting if possible. You'll never be happy with them.
Try for a 175 watt PFO pendant with an Ice Cap MH ballast. Stick with a 14k bulb and you won't need blue supplementation unless you want a "dusk to dawn" effect.
A few cubes that I have seen, have DIY built a wooden type of EL coming of the back of the stand to hang the pendant for a clean look with no canopy.

 

[simike]

does a hanging pendant cause any heat concerns, do you run a fan.

 

[pecan2phat]

A hanging pendant not enclosed in a wooden canopy generates the same ambient heat no matter. Just that since it's not enclosed, it will not cause your tank water to heat up as much but rather dissapate a little more with the room temp.

Problems you will encounter is:
No structure for you to mount any supplemental lighting.
No enclosure for carpet surfing fish.

 

[simike]

Is optimal spectum for a lone MH bulb 14-15k
for color
and 10k w actinic pc- do they produce the same look and color, but better growth with the 10k

 

[pecan2phat]

Optimal growth is 6500k, but who wants a yellow/green spectrumed tank.

Next choice is 10k, but without blue supplementation, it tends to look cold to the naked eye.

So most people that do not use supplemental lighting will do anywhere from 14k to 20k.

You need to first plan out what you want to keep and then you can focus on the lighting.

On average with a mixed reef, 14k to 15k is fine.

Your question of comparing 10k halides with actinic PCs to stand alone 14 - 15k halides:
10k halides will produce better growth for SPS corals, might be too much light for your LPS & softies.
Does it produce the same look and color:
Not exactly. The 10ks will be much more intense.

You should go on the reef central forum to lighting and equipment and read up on either Sanjay's or JBNY testing of MH lighting. It'll take you days though.

 

[simike]

So on a 30 gal 250watt 10k might be too intense anyway

am i better off with a 14 or 15 k, Does SE or DE mak a diff

 

[Reefer420]

i've seen many 30g oceanic tanks w/ 250w of MH lighting on nano-reefs.com, but if you aren't going to do all SPS you would prob. want to keep the bulb 12" or so above the water.

You could go w/ a 150w Outer Orbit fixture (MH HQI & actinic bulbs) or just a Sunpod fixture w/ a 150w MH bulb...really good lights.

Don't go PC- you will hate them and want to upgrade. I have PC now on my 16 and wish everyday I had something better.

I'm planning on a 250w 20k Radium bulb on my Oceanic 37g, but I am also going to have it in a hood about 12" from the water...

 

[NYReef]

I have a 30 cube too and love it. I use the 150 watt sunpod for lighting, and due to the cube's small footprint the light covers the whole tank nicely. I keep SPS up top and LPS in the middle and bottom, all are thriving. As a comparison, on my 29 gallon reef tank, I used 130 watts of sunpaq PC's and had zoanthids and hammer coral that were reaching for the light from the middle of the tank down. Forget about SPS with PC's.

 

[simike]

Nyreef how is your growth of your SPS, what spec is the sunpod 14k?
Can you send me some pics
By the way I bought the tank today, pretty much robbed petsmart, got great deal.

I love my softies and lps and dont want to kill them with too much light, but want to keep some SPS also, Confused....