Biocube

[Sea_Me]

Hello All,

I am new to M.R's as well as kind of new to the hobby, and I was wondering a few things. I have recently have been getting nitrate spikes in both of my BC 8 & 14 (reef tank) tanks. I have been doing some research on the topic and I have found that a lot of people have gone the route of discarding the bio balls, due to spikes in nitrate measurements. I was wondering if anyone could confirm this or not, as well as steer me in the right direction. The 14 has:

BC pro skimmer
10 lbs of LR,
10-15 lbs of live sand
2 crabs
1 camel shrimp
2 turbo snails
2 small ocellaris


Also I was wondering if anyone could recommend better lighting in the 14 gal? Everything is pretty much stock in it now. I would like to do some soft corals in it, but I know that I need to do something with the lighting.

Any/all help is very much appreciated..

LETS GO METS!!!

:thanks:

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Ditch the bio balls. I would also add Chemi Pure Elite and a bag of Purigen to the rear chamber.
Also remember to clean the sponge filter when you do a water change. Once a week.
The lighting will be fine for softies and most LPS. Even SPS if you place it high enough. But that is all down the raod. After you get the tank stable.
Good luck
Welcome to MR

 

[CONSTANTNE]

I agree with the above post. Definitely ditch the bioballs. When I had a biocube I used chemipure elite and/or purigen too. If those two things dont help it may be other things. I also made a tray for the first chamber and had filter floss to polish and clean the water and discard that every few days to weekly.

Also, if you have the power compact (PC) bulbs you can keep softies with no problem.

 

[ryangrieder]

Simple process to upgrade the bio cubes.

First chamber, remove the false floor/shelf. If you stick your hand in it, you will feel a tray, siliconed in, with slit marks in it. Grab a pair of pliers of some sort and break the silicone seal. ALOT of crap gets stuck and built up under that tray. Aka nitrates.

From first chamber to second chamber, where water flows into the second chamber, cut off the top lip so the plastic baffle is level across the top of it. By doing this, it will increase flow of filtration. Aka decrease nitrate build up.

Second chamber, get rid od bio balls. Throw either q bag of ESV carbon in it, or chemi pure, or something in that nature. OR what I did, get the bio balls that are filled. Blue bioballs were filled with a sponge, black bioballs were filled with carbon, and white bioballs were filled with phosphate remover. LOVED these bio balls. One box fills the chamber perfect. Or, even better, pick up a media rack.

Second chamber, remove hollow shelf just like section one. Same reasoning. Getting rid of nitrates.

Third chamber, if you want, either remove that sponge and disguard of it, OR clean it once a week with cool water. Also, optional, replace return pump with a Marineland euro pump. Increase flow back into system.

Inside tank, where the return pipe flows the water put, replace that with a Hydor rotating return pipe. Works awesome. Spins in a complete 360 degree so flow is equalled out everywhere.

Look up YouTube videos by intankllc.

Cutting plastic baffle
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?v=8Rpr4asbIL8

Here are links to those bio balls and the hydor piece and the media rack...
http://www.marinedepot.com/Lifegard...dia-Lifegard_Aquatics-RB1391-FIFMBOBB-vi.html

http://www.marinedepot.com/Hydor_FL...or_Aquariums-Hydor_USA-HD01401-FIWMIW-vi.html


Hope this helped. Good luck

 

[Sea_Me]

Ok.. Thank you everyone for the replies. I need to be quick here, getting ready for work. So getting rid of the bio balls seems to be the overall chosen answer. Now the question that I have is should this be done over time, or can it be at once, since there is live ones in the tank??

Thank you for the help.....

 

[Reef Reaper]

no bio balls

 

[ryangrieder]

Ok.. Thank you everyone for the replies. I need to be quick here, getting ready for work. So getting rid of the bio balls seems to be the overall chosen answer. Now the question that I have is should this be done over time, or can it be at once, since there is live ones in the tank??

Thank you for the help.....

The bioballs are proving nothing. Toss them when ever, and you can add the carbon the same day. No big deal.

 

[Sea_Me]

The bioballs are proving nothing. Toss them when ever, and you can add the carbon the same day. No big deal.

Ok.. Thank you all for the advice. I will be getting rid of the bio balls in the coming days and let you know how I made out.

Thanks again...

:thanks:

 

[Sea_Me]

Since the last post I have replaced the bio balls in both tanks with the intank media baskets. Within a day or two the nitrate levels are around zero in both tanks. Thank you for everyone's help...
:smile: