BioCube Troubleshooting

[kkgaskin90]

BioCube 29g set up in June. Was running fantastic until about a month ago when we started having algae issues. First it was red slime, now its green hair. I did a massive overhaul yesterday and cleaned/scrubbed all three back chambers and removed the bioballs from chamber 2. The back wall of chamber 2 was COVERED in detritus. It was gross. Then I went to the LFS convinced I should ditch the bioballs and make chamber 2 a fuge but they were out of chaeto and didn't have any lights I wanted. I explained the issues I was having with the algae, and added that I am losing a previously thriving Anthelia colony, can NOT keep Zoas no matter what I try, my Galaxea is struggling, and I suspected that my bio-load was too high (see below for descriptions). He insisted my problem was my lights are on too long and my bio-load is fine, then showed me his display biocube that has been running "stock" for 3 years and he has never touched the bioballs... I could see through the back window so he obviously didn't have the detritus build up I had. He also insisted I needed to change my light bulbs. And add 10 more hermits (my cuc is probably 10-15 snails/hermits all together)
Long story short, I feel like it's more than a "I need new lights" problem. Only parameters that ever test higher than 0 are Nitrates, and they test BARELY high. Everything else stays spot on. Until this morning. Also, I DID buy new lights and he assured me that I would be "shocked" at how bright the new lights appeared compared to my old ones... There's NO difference. My lights are only 6 months old (and BARELY 6 months at that...), shouldn't they be ok longer than this??? Here's what I have and my set up:

Stock Biocube with 10,000 Actinics and Daylights
Biocube skimmer (sub-par, I'm sure, but better than nothing?)
Biocube filter/bioballs in chamber 2
Stock pump
Heater
Additional Biocube Powerhead
30 pounds live rock
30 pounds live sand
2 Snowflake Clowns
Melanarus Wrasse
Bar Goby
Bangaii Cardinal
Blue-Green Chromis
Fire Goby

This morning my parameters are as follows:
SG: 1.025
Salinity: 34
Temp: 77
*pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
*Nitrate: 160
Calcium: 420
KH: 9
Phosphates: 0.25

*Remember I did a MASSIVE clean-out yesterday (probably more than I should have done at once, but I was really disgusted and "over it") so my pH is lower than it has ever been and my Nitrates are WAY higher than they have ever been. Should I go ahead and do a 5gal water change to reduce Nitrates? What can I do about the pH?

Light schedule: 10 am Actinics on, 12 pm Daylights on, 7 pm Daylights off, 9 pm Actinics off Moonlight (LED) on, 12 am Moonlight off.



Any suggestions on what I can do about this (Detritus build up, losing Anthelia and Galaxea, high(ish) Nitrates) would be greatly appreciated. My gut says turn chamber 2 into a fuge but I'm fairly new to saltwater (this was our first salt tank) so any input would be fantastic! If there's anything I've learned, it's to not trust the LFS :/

 

[kkgaskin90]

Any thoughts?

 

[Gauge]

By new lights did you just buy new bulbs? If you stirred up a lot of stuff it could be the cause of your nitrates , but you need to do several large water changes. 5 gallons won't cut it, you need 10-15 gallons at a time.

 

[cMan5]

You're 10k MH, I'm guessing will grow algae quickly.. Especially being on for 7 hours.. Intank media baskets make a great in the back system that can support filters, carbon, purigen, and another compartment for chaeto. It's what I run. I went for the 20k XM bulbs. I leave those on for 4 hours and then actinics LED's deep blue for 11 hours.. Make sure you're keeping up on regular water changes and biweekly or monthly good cleanings. It sounds like those maybe fell through the cracks and it got a little out of hand, happens to us-life gets busy. When I clean I suction out what I need to in five gallon changes and I don't stir up the sand bed, just syphon off of the top. Hope this helps.

 

[cMan5]

Looks like you have quite a bit of fish in there also, make sure they are eating all of their food and you aren't over feeding. You can also do a tank black out, throw a couple towels over the tank and no lights for a couple days. This should kill of a lot of algae, follow with a water change. This should help as well.

 

[kkgaskin90]

Thanks so much! They are not MH's, they are compact Fluorescents. And yes, I just got new bulbs didn't do a lighting upgrade. I changed the middle chamber into a fuge today, so I'm hoping that does some good as well. Since I just removed the bioballs and all the junk, should I wait until the weekend to do a big 10-15 gallon waterchange?

My husband DEFINITELY overfeeds (when he feeds) - it's an ongoing battle. Maybe I'll let him clean up his mess next time and he will cut down on food. On that note, An LFS last week told him we need to feed small amounts twice daily,... I was under the impression that every other day was preferable. Any thoughts on this?

 

[kkgaskin90]

Here's what it looks like today (sorry for the crummy quality)

 

[McAllyn]

I ran the inTank upgrades as mentioned above, they worked very well. I also removed the rear center cover and used an eShoppes PSK-75H skimmer instead of the Biocube skimmer. WAYYY more efficient. I removed the stock L tube on the return pump to increase flow from back to front and put in a Hydor 425 powerhead. All these upgrades allowed me to feed whatever I wanted whenever I wanted as any extra was sucked up and broken down very quickly.

I would suggest shrinking your lighting schedule a bit. I'd do the actinics for 9 hours and daylights for 6. See if that helps slow the algae growth. (Run the moonlights all you want.)

I wouldn't do a 10-15gallon water change all at once, since even though your tank is rated at 29g, you probably only have about 20-21 gallons of water volume in the system. Personally, I'd break it up into something like 5g a day for 3-4 days. Water changes will help reduce your nitrates and allow your pH to normalize.

Stirring things up with the sandbed and removing the bioballs all at once released a lot of nasty in your system, but vigilence and patience will bring everything back to normal soon.

Mac

 

[kkgaskin90]

Thank you so much! How did you connect the pump without the L?

 

[McAllyn]

There's a couple ways to do it, but the "best" is 1/2" ID reinforced vinyl tubing. Remove the L with the old tubing. New tubing connects to pump as normal, but other end gets heated (REALLY HEATED) then stretched over the fitting on the back wall. (It's 5/8" so the tubing is good and stretched.) Then wrap a zip tie around the tubing over the fitting as tight as you can possibly get it and it will not come off. Pretty sure when I did this, I also upgraded the pump to a MaxiJet 1200 as well. Most times, the reinforced vinyl has a natural bend in it, since they package it rolled up, so if you work within the bend, it shouldn't be trying to back itself off.

Without that 90deg bend in the tubing, you will actually notice the increase in flow even with the stock pump. Normally, you wouldn't think it would be that much. Tried to do the same thing with my Nano-Cube, but the pump compartments are smaller and the fittings are the wrong size, so I just put bigger pumps in with the L's in place.

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

FWIW, there's all kinds of great mods you can do to the BioCube, even thought it's a really good tank as is.

1. False floor removal to open up the first chamber
2. Cut the overflow wall to remove flow restriction between 1st and second chambers
3. Removing ALL the bioballs and sponges (nitrate factories as I understand it, but there are differing opinions)

How to do these and why you would do them are all available via Google. Some mods are done with step by step pics or videos. Just Google "biocube mods"

Mac

 

[kkgaskin90]

Thank you! I've done all of these now and tank seems to be doing GREAT! Bringing the nitrates down with water changes, but algae is no longer an issue! Awesome! Anthelia and Galaxea look great, the few remaining zoos are opening... Yay!