Bio cube 29 gallon NEED HELP

[Tj Jenkins]

Hey guys this is my first post!!!

I need a little help bc my filtration looks like complete crap. I really want to change my whole filtration system( u no like take the bio balls out and all that stuff) can anyone give me a guide on how to do this on a budget??!!

 

[borgie]

Best option would be remove it all and by the intank media baskets. I have them and love it best upgrade to do plus the return pump and the tunze skimmer

 

[recess62]

My bio cube 29 has a protein skimmer in chamber1 Chamber 2 has a media rack with filter pad on top, chemipure in the middle and Purigen in the bottom. Chamber 2 also houses a Refugium

 

[Dtackett]

to start, pull out the bio balls... then BAM its already massively improved. you can buy media baskets or make them out of pvc or acrylic rods and egg crate. but remember, at times, less is more. a simple setup would be a skimmer, a small fuge with chaeto and a light, a filter sock (can be made at home with simple felt and rigid airline or acrylic rods, and upgrade your return pump. none of this will cost you much and will vastly improve your system. if you chose to run chemipure and purigen then that's great! but you can get away with the less is more method with great results.

 

[cmcoker]

What's the budget? I made a media rack out of egg crate for my biocube, but an in Tank rack would be nicer.

As far as removing the bioballs, you could throw an ammonia badge on the tank and remove a handful every few days. If ammonia goes up, water changes/prime until it stays down, then take out some more. If you have plenty of live rock and a light to medium bioload, you should be fine.

 

[sundog101]

This may help
http://blog.marinedepot.com/2015/03/BioCube-Hacks-6-Easy-Ways-to-Upgrade-Your-Nano-Aquarium.html

I have an in tank rack and set up an algae scrubber in chamber 2.

 

[omykiss001]

search for a guy called reefthuz on YouTube, he does a number of videos on moding thebviocube 29 including simple and fairly cheap filter update using sponges and media bags, also installing a skimmer etc.

 

[Reefrookie220]

Removing all the bioballs at once is a terrible idea in a system that small. The majority of your bacteria is in these. Remove a few at a time (2-3) which allows for your rock to handle more load.

Remove them all at once and it's spike city.

 

[silva218]

I believe that if you plan to stick with Lps and soft corals than your best option would be to buy 2 of the large eshops square sponges. You can then throw a bag of chemi-pure on top of that if you would like chemical filtration. I believe the sponges cost around $8 a piece and then the chemi-pure.

This upgrade should quiet down the water coming into chamber 2 as well

 

[mikesilverado8888]

Use live rock

 

[Bayou City Reefer]

Like others have pointed out ,only remove a hand full of bio balls at a time.
In Tank media /fuge trays are nice but not needed if you're only going to have soft corals like mushrooms and zoanthids, even some easy LPS.

The key is weekly or bi monthly water changes IMO

I've ran my bio cube for over 3 years , 2 1/2 years with only a few small pieces of live rock in chamber two, cheato and dragons tongue macro algae with a Fluvel PC light. kept the sponge between chamber two and three, I clean it out ever water change.
Up graded my return pump with a Cobalt MJ 1200 , bag of Chemipure as passive media.

Invest in a heater for chamber one and a good power head for flow. I used one Jebao RW 4.