Media Basket Question

[dethridge]

Greetings:

I'm new to the hobby. But extremely excited. I have a biocube 29 now cycling for two weeks. My LFS advised me to remove the bio balls and placed crushed live rock into chamber two. Is there an advantage to having a media basket insert, rather than the LR? Thanks:splitspin

 

[kenny2064]

filling the media basket with live rock is an option i would suggest ditching the carbon filter for the bc 29 as you will quickly find out its crap use filter floss in the second chamber and also think about getting a new protein skimmer at some point the bc 29 one is crap as well you will find a ton of mods that are beneficial to the bio cube you should post some pics sometime you can run som chemi pure elite in the third chamber for carbon and your heater in the first chamber once you have gotten rid of that stupid false floor alot of crap gets caught down there

 

[Widdy]

+1 to ditching the carbon floss, it'll be useless very quickly. Remove the false floors as mentioned by Kenny2064, if you need room for equipment. I ran my BC29 in several configurations:

Chamber 1 - Heater/pH probe/Temperature probe
Chamber 2 - SteveT's Mediabasket (filter floss/Purigen/Chemipure Elite) (Tunze 9002 also fits with Mediabasket)
Chamber 3 - Return

Chamber 1 - Heater/pH probe/Temperature probe/Sapphire Aquatic Nano Reactor with Rowaphos
Chamber 2 - Sapphire Aquatic's BC29R skimmer
Chamber 3 - Return / Chemipure ELite

Check nano-reef.com for BC29 FAQ and http://shop.mediabaskets.com/BioCube-29_c16.htm for some BC29 mods. G'luck!

 

[dethridge]

Thanks for the information!

What is your opinion on the Odyssea 20" 72W (4x 18W) T5 HO Light Fixture Extendable Series. I have read so much about lighting, now I'm in the dark. What would be an affordable upgrade to the Bio29. Some Sunpods, Retros, etc. are more than the tank itself. I know this is an expensive hobby. But, I have to budget were I can. I am still reading LPS, Leathers. Softies, etc, for my tank. I am willing to wait until everything is setup. Corals and fish might appreciate the thought. :bablefish

 

[Widdy]

Sorry, I don't have any experience with Odyssea fixtures. You can Google around, I think I came across a few threads about 2 years ago with major problems with some of their products. I ran 20" Sunpod and Nova Extreme Pro on my BC29, both worked well... Sunpods are discontinued, but you can find some pretty good deals on used ones.

 

[basiab]

I use the Odassea 24 inch T5. My tank is only 20 inches but the legs slide so it can fit a wide range. It is a cheap fixture/bulbs from China. I have it a year with no problems but the bulbs don't last long. 1 bulb burned out in 3 months, another in 7 months and the other 2 gave very little light after 10 months.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Are we talking about Stevie T's basket?Floss on top,purigen then Chemipure.