Biocube filtration?

[DAY1995]

Hey guys, I'm wondering what everyone is running in their Biocube back chambers? If there is any other efficient/successful ways to set it up other than using a media rack? I plan on keeping it fowlr. Right now chamber one is empty. chamber 2 has two eshopps sponges for a sump with filter floss on top placed where the water flows over from chamber one. To the left of the sponges I have ceramic rings. And last but not least I took out the sponge in chamber 3 near the return pump and replaced it with chemi pure blue. I hope this makes sense. Does this system sound efficient?  Any thoughts/suggestions on things to do different?

[Clown79]

Filter floss and a good carbon is all thats needed. 

 

 

[catsofat]

On 4/3/2017 at 1:56 AM, Clown79 said:

Filter floss and a good carbon is all thats needed. 

 

 

yup and small frequent water changes.  I clean mine out very frequently.

[DAY1995]

Thanks for the input guys.

[Reefaddiction]

There are many ways to run a good filtration system. Filter floss is probably one of the best/cheapest materials to use. I have a 14 gallon biocube and made my own media basket out of egg crate that you can get from Home Depot. It's in the lighting section under light diffuser or suspended light ceiling panel. Buy that and some zip ties and your good to go. Cheaper than buying it online.

 

My set up is this: 

chamber 1: heater. You could put a protein skimmer there as well, although on smaller  tanks your probably don't need it with regular water changes.

chamber 2: top to bottom is; filter floss, chemipure blue, small refigium with chaeto in it, and finally live rock rubble on the bottom.

chamber 3: is a maxijet 900 return pump.  

 

Do your water changes and consider vacuuming sand bed, watch how much food you feed your critters, use rodi water only and your on your way to a well maintained tank. 

 

[DAY1995]

On 5/13/2017 at 5:08 AM, Reefaddiction said:

There are many ways to run a good filtration system. Filter floss is probably one of the best/cheapest materials to use. I have a 14 gallon biocube and made my own media basket out of egg crate that you can get from Home Depot. It's in the lighting section under light diffuser or suspended light ceiling panel. Buy that and some zip ties and your good to go. Cheaper than buying it online.

 

My set up is this: 

chamber 1: heater. You could put a protein skimmer there as well, although on smaller  tanks your probably don't need it with regular water changes.

chamber 2: top to bottom is; filter floss, chemipure blue, small refigium with chaeto in it, and finally live rock rubble on the bottom.

chamber 3: is a maxijet 900 return pump.  

 

Do your water changes and consider vacuuming sand bed, watch how much food you feed your critters, use rodi water only and your on your way to a well maintained tank. 

 

Thanks for your advice. 

 

Question about the homemade media basket, does the homemade one do a good job of forcing the water through all the media??

[zohar78]

im thinking aslong as the floss fills the chamber up there shouldn't be much room for the water to go elsewhere

[uwharrie]

I have floss and purigen in chamber 2 media rack. Skimmer in chamber two as well. GFO reactor in three . I have had a hell of a time keeping nutrients at bay. First cyano issues then green hair algae 

 

[Reefaddiction]

No problems with water flow. Look at it this way, people run the same set up without a media basket. The basket just makes it more organized and does look nicer when viewed from the back, but I made it because I wanted to have a compartment to hold chaeto for a small refugium, which definitely helps with nitrate control. 

[Reefaddiction]

@uwharrie, there are numerous reasons to have bad algae outbreaks. Are all of your water parameters good? Do you have a high nutrient tank, are you over feeding fish, how long are you running lights for? Has your tank been established for some time or is it a fairly new tank? Are you doing your weekly water changes, only using RODI water? The list goes on and on... hopefully you get it figured out!

[GregEmmitte]

Half a pound of macro algae, a light running 24/7 and 2 protein skimmers.

[Cpl_Wiggles]

On 5/15/2017 at 9:17 PM, Reefaddiction said:

No problems with water flow. Look at it this way, people run the same set up without a media basket. The basket just makes it more organized and does look nicer when viewed from the back, but I made it because I wanted to have a compartment to hold chaeto for a small refugium, which definitely helps with nitrate control. 

How do you manage your chaeto? Small light and a weekly trim? Monthly?

[Reefaddiction]

1 hour ago, Cpl_Wiggles said:

How do you manage your chaeto? Small light and a weekly trim? Monthly?

 

[Reefaddiction]

7 minutes ago, Reefaddiction said:

 

That's my second chamber to the left and my third chamber on the right with my return pump.. just for orientation.  I use a small led light (jib nano glo) for regugium. It is pricey but it's convenient, easy to set up and it works really well.... grows chaeto like a weed. 

   As far as trimming, I at one time was trimming weekly and taking out quite a bit, but I found that my nitrates would creep up, I assume from less surface area of chaeto using the nitrates. So now I keep a good size chaeto mat in there to help keep these down. I trim my chaeto enough to allow good flow, but to help keep nitrates down. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have other questions. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

39 minutes ago, Reefaddiction said:

That's my second chamber to the left and my third chamber on the right with my return pump.. just for orientation.  I use a small led light (jib nano glo) for regugium. It is pricey but it's convenient, easy to set up and it works really well.... grows chaeto like a weed. 

   As far as trimming, I at one time was trimming weekly and taking out quite a bit, but I found that my nitrates would creep up, I assume from less surface area of chaeto using the nitrates. So now I keep a good size chaeto mat in there to help keep these down. I trim my chaeto enough to allow good flow, but to help keep nitrates down. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have other questions. 

Thanks for the reply and pictures -very informative. 

 

Where is the water level on your 2nd chamber? Chaeto half in and out? Why filter floss below? I also have a BioCube16 so I'll have to be a little more conservative with less space?

[Reefaddiction]

So this was an older picture and I did make a few changes. The filter floss below the refugium was to stop chaeto from going to the return pump area... I have since removed that filter floss as well as the filter pad between chambers 2 and 3 ( the blue and white filter pad in the picture). I haven't had any issues with chaeto getting into chamber 3 or clogging up the return pump so it hasn't been an issue removing these. 

    The water level in chamber 2 is at the top of the chamber.  

  My filtration now from top to bottom of chamber two is...  

1. filter floss

 2. Chemipure blue

3. Chaeto refugium

4. Live rock rubble

and it's all in a home made media basket using eggcrate. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

11 minutes ago, Reefaddiction said:

So this was an older picture and I did make a few changes. The filter floss below the refugium was to stop chaeto from going to the return pump area... I have since removed that filter floss as well as the filter pad between chambers 2 and 3 ( the blue and white filter pad in the picture). I haven't had any issues with chaeto getting into chamber 3 or clogging up the return pump so it hasn't been an issue removing these. 

    The water level in chamber 2 is at the top of the chamber.  

  My filtration now from top to bottom of chamber two is...  

1. filter floss

 2. Chemipure blue

3. Chaeto refugium

4. Live rock rubble

and it's all in a home made media basket using eggcrate. 

Great, thanks. Right now I have filter floss top, BRS carbon in media bag middle, and was planning chaeto/rubble bottom. So I think I'm on the right track.

 

I'm using eco-fleece as a filter floss but it might be restrictions flow too much.