Biocube 32 refugium help

[canoman]

Just a quick question. I would like a refugium in my 2nd chamber. I already have a intank media rack in there. Can I just put cheato in the 2nd chamber or do I need a intank Fuge rack?

[biofool12]

I have a Biocube 16g and I have filter floss on top, 1st chamber is empty, 2nd chamber has chaeto and 3rd chamber has chemi pure elite.

 

You’ll be fine. Just make sure your water level is above the second chamber so the chaeto is always submerged. 

[FISHnChix]

If you removed the sponge between chamber 2 and 3 and you put chaeto in the second there is a chance it will get sucked into the pump.. in my experience the intank rack was nice bc it makes it easier to pull out and rinse any detritus from it.. I rinse mine once a week.. the rack keeps most of the cheato from being sucked into the pump but not all of it.. I decided to run a skimmer but wanted to run the Marco too so I ended up pulling the fuge basket , installing the skimmer, and put the macro in the in tank media basket.. that has worked well for me so far.. I run filter floss on top, carbon on second , and cheato on bottom..

[canoman]

16 minutes ago, Weikel said:

If you removed the sponge between chamber 2 and 3 and you put chaeto in the second there is a chance it will get sucked into the pump.. in my experience the intank rack was nice bc it makes it easier to pull out and rinse any detritus from it.. I rinse mine once a week.. the rack keeps most of the cheato from being sucked into the pump but not all of it.. I decided to run a skimmer but wanted to run the Marco too so I ended up pulling the fuge basket , installing the skimmer, and put the macro in the in tank media basket.. that has worked well for me so far.. I run filter floss on top, carbon on second , and cheato on bottom..

This sounds like a good idea. What are your po4 and nitrates at? I have a Tunze 9001 in the 2nd chamber at the moment. 

[Reefaddiction]

I have a biocube 14g.

  first chamber I have the coralife protein skimmer ( it works even though most ppl say it’s crap).

  Second chamber from top down I have filter floss on top of a homemade media basket, then Chemipure blue in one part of the basket and chaeto in the second part of the media basket. The refugium is light by. Jbj Nano light that attaches to the back glass.

    Third chamber is heater, thermometer and my return pump. 

 

I vote for using a basket just to ensure everything stays in place. I do not have a sponge between chamber 2 and 3 and have not had any issues with chaeto traveling from my media basket to chamber three and clogging the return pump. Hope this helps!

[Reefaddiction]

[FISHnChix]

1 hour ago, canoman said:

This sounds like a good idea. What are your po4 and nitrates at? I have a Tunze 9001 in the 2nd chamber at the moment. 

Both are zero but the po4 test kit I use is salfert, sometimes hard to read between 0 and .03... I have been battling some gha so I must have some p04 I suspect that between the macro and gha that's why I'm getting zero po4.. 

[FISHnChix]

Oh i forgot i had a pic of my basket . I just removed 3/4 of the cheato.. do that every 4 weeks or so

[canoman]

34 minutes ago, Weikel said:

Oh i forgot i had a pic of my basket . I just removed 3/4 of the cheato.. do that every 4 weeks or so

Looks like I’m going to pick up some cheato. What skimmer are you using? Do you see an increase in copepods?

[FISHnChix]

1 minute ago, canoman said:

Looks like I’m going to pick up some cheato. What skimmer are you using? Do you see an increase in copepods?

Tunze 9001.. I dunno about the pods maybe a few more. I don't really do it for the pods.. that's the thing about running cheato in the media basket  a lot of flow goes through it so it gets some gunk in there. That's why I rinse it once a week. Yes there is pods when I do so but there was more when I had it in the fuge. Maybe bc I didnt rinse it as often I dunno...  

[OPtasia]

You can do it with or without another refugia basket. The basket is a nice addition and if you can afford it and you think it'll make life easier, go for it. I set mine up with the stock media shelf. I yanked the filter floss and carbon media out of the stock top tray for sump #2 so that all that's left is the black plastic tray. On that tray, I put some 50 micron coralife filter pads that i'd cut out for a mechanical filter but you could just as easily use poly-fil filter floss from walmart. I swap those pads out once a week to prevent them from becoming nitrate engines.

 

Level one of the stock media shelf has a small bag of purigen and a small bag of phos-guard. Those get removed and replaced every month and are doing very nicely at removing organics and phosphates from the water. I've removed the other two shelves and the rest of sump #2 is chaeto space. So, approximately 3/4ths of sump #2 is space for chaetomorpha growth and pods. I have a magna-fuge light on the back lighting up the refugium for 12 hours a day, opposite of the main tank lights. By putting it on an opposite light cycle you can help prevent pH swings from CO2 buildup when your main tank lights are turned off for the night.

 

One thing I did do was I pulled out the black filter sponge between sump #2 and sump #3 where the return pump is. I did that to eliminate another nitrate factory, but I was getting a lot of pieces of chaetomorpha blowing into the main tank. To fix this problem, I found a piece of plastic mesh that's usually used for crochet and needlework in the crafting section and cut out a little 4" x 4" square of it with some scissors. I put that mesh square right down into the slot where the sponge usually goes in that overflow and that's working pretty well at keeping the strings of chaetomorpha in place inside sump #2. I think I paid like $2.00 for six sheets of mesh.

 

I don't run a skimmer. I do 15% water changes weekly with RO/DI water and red sea salt. I use liquid 2 part as needed, usually once or twice a week. I add about 1 ml of potassium iodide about four days after the water change. I stimulate coral feedings twice a week with Aqua-vitro Fuel, then spot feed with reef roids nano a half an hour after the dose of Fuel. Acans and bigger polyp corals get mysis or ocean nutrition's small sinking color pellets. 

[Flexin]

43 minutes ago, OPtasia said:

I don't run a skimmer. 

The purigen is your skimmer (chemical), and I agree with everything you said.  I may mess around with a fuge in my 32 biocube, I'm still having fun with the one on my 65.  I wish there was a way to display the fuge area on the cube but it's an AIO so O.o

 

[OPtasia]

Yes! It's a chemical filter and it serves the same purpose as a skimmer, only better and more efficiently (and yes, more expensive).

12 minutes ago, Flexin said:

The purigen is your skimmer (chemical), and I agree with everything you said.  I may mess around with a fuge in my 32 biocube, I'm still having fun with the one on my 65.  I wish there was a way to display the fuge area on the cube but it's an AIO so O.o

 

Yeah, part of the fun of having a refugium is being able to see how it works and what you're keeping in it.

[canoman]

So I did a water change and added chaeto to my intank basket. Since I had some left over and I mean a lot left over I put the rest in my display. It actually looks nice sitting in the back. 

[FISHnChix]

17 minutes ago, canoman said:

So I did a water change and added chaeto to my intank basket. Since I had some left over and I mean a lot left over I put the rest in my display. It actually looks nice sitting in the back. 

Post a photo of the display I would like to check it out.. what kind of light did you go with for the cheato in the back?

[FISHnChix]

I used this light the two brackets slide right off . Threw those in the trash and just used a couple peices of Velcro to stick it on the back.. grows cheato(and other alage ??) like crazy. I actually covered to rows of leds with tape to try and cut back on the green alage that grows on the media basket.. 

[OPtasia]

Mhmm about the same as a magna-fuge, which is what I use. I must say the chaeto max light is a sexy refugium option for AIO tanks.

[FISHnChix]

1 hour ago, OPtasia said:

Mhmm about the same as a magna-fuge, which is what I use. I must say the chaeto max light is a sexy refugium option for AIO tanks.

The light I use is just a cheapo with white and blue leds.. I remember reading one of your posts saying the red light help promote growth.. I don't have any problem with cheato growth but have a lot of nuisance algae. Does the light you have give you the same troubles.. any pics of your fuge set up

[OPtasia]

Well, considering nuisance algae use the same light wavelengths as beneficial macro-algaes. It's possible. The best way to deal with it in an AIO is through using some members of your CUC in the refugium and/or physical removal.