In February 2007 I happened across a 140 gallon acrylic aquarium. Once I made the decision to make it a saltwater tank I quickly realized that building the reef aquarium I wanted was not going to happen overnight. For my birthday my wife wanted to buy me whatever it was going to take to "fill the tank with water". It was hard to convey to her the reality that I was just starting to understand. It was that there was no one thing that I needed to get the tank ready. There were a multitude of components that would be required for a 140 gallon tank designed to keep stony corals. Everything needed to happen before water ever touched the tank. What this meant was that filling the tank with water, at least for the time being, was out of the reach of a single birthday present. So from this realization came the 29 gallon Oceanic Biocube.

The 29 gallon Biocube embodies the most critical characteristic of a good birthday present; instant gratification. Actually let me step back a bit. When it comes to reefkeeping instant gratification needs to be clarified. As they say "in a reef only bad things happen fast" or in an instant. With the Biocube I was able start the cycling process within a day of buying the tank. The best thing about this present was that it took the pressure off of the 140 gallon build. With the 29 gallon tank I could start the long process of learning how to maintain a reef so that by the time the 140 gallon build was done I would at least have some understanding of the process.

I have been very happy with the Biocube. My tank configuration is stock except for the 12 gallon refugium I plumbed above the tank. I mostly have zoanthids, hammer, torch, and green grass. They have grown a great deal under the stock compact fluorescent lights. I have bout 30 pounds of figi live rock and 2-3 inches of live sand.

If you would like to read the specifics of the setup process click here.