Protein skimmer for biocube 29

[hopperjl16]

I'm about a year into this hobby, and for the past 1-2 months I've been battling hair algae and cyano blooms. I realized I hadn't changed out my filters on my Spectrapure RODI system in 10 months (I was planning to change at 6 mon and just forgot) so I think that was part of my issue. So I fixed that, but based on my research sounds like I should get a protein skimmer. A year ago I was told by the LFS to not bother getting a protein skimmer bc the only one that would fit my biocube was the skimmer made by Coralife themselves and it was worthless. Is this still true? Is there any skimmer out there I can use as a novice that wouldn't require me to configure a lot of stuff?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Reefnewb]

Honestly in a tank that small there really isnt a skimmer that is efficient enough... most will be a hang on back that just plain suck. Unless you have a sump? If not then i would just do normal 15-20% weekly water changes and eventually your problem will go away as long as the tank is not over stocked, and youre not over feeding! Some RODI filters will last a year... Its best to have a TDS meter to measure when you need new filters. But for me my sediment/carbon block get changed every six months and my DI resin every month... RO membranes will usually last a couple years depending on your incoming water TDS. If you or anyone you know has a hanna checker for phosphates I would reccomond testing them because phosphates will fuel algae.

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

Do you have a copy of the spectrapure manual? it explains when to change your filters and membrane.

I have never needed to use a skimmer on a nano tank. keep up with ultra pure rodi, low(ish) nutrients and you'll be fine. a lot of us have had great success with the new product called vibrant for algae issues.

 

[pdt7361]

I used an Aquaticlife 115 in chamber 1 of my BC29 and it pulled a lot of nasty junk out...was cleaning the collection cup out every few days.
I added the airline mod to it, changed it to a magnet mount, and cut part of the rear door off of the BC29 hood so that I could mount it higher and get better junk pulled out.

 

[ksanfranfan]

I've tried a couple of skimmers in that fit into the back chambers of my bc29, Tunze and Coralife.
I wasn't impressed with either one and didn't notice much of a difference in water quality. After I removed my hood for a led setup and to get better light spread than the in hood retrofit kits I ran a JNS vs-1 hang on back skimmer for a few months. It performed much better than the others, it's somewhat compact sitting behind the tank. JNS used to build skimmers for Aquamaxx, so it's a good quality skimmer. However I eventually pulled the skimmer. Overall I didn't and still don't see any difference in water quality with or without a skimmer with regular daily and weekly tank maintainance. My cube had soft, lps and sps corals with 3 small fish. I think the chaeto and filter floss work well in the back chambers along with the biological filtration for my cube.

 

[hopperjl16]

In my manual for my RODI system it says most my filters should last 4-6 months. So I figured since I was 10-12 months out I should just change them out. My TDS was reading 40 before I changed them, it's back to 1 now. I do a 5 gallon water change every week religiously. My tank has 2 clown fish, a firefish, a watchman goby, pistol shrimp, fire shrimp, and a couple snails and hermit crabs. For corals I have a few kenya trees, a toadstool leather, GSP, a few ricordias and a frogspawn. So I don't think I'm overstocked? I def think I was overfeeding for a bit.....I cut back A LOT.....so I've only been feeding every other day for the past 2 months. I have no desire to add more fish, but I'd really like to start adding more corals. But I know I really can't/shouldn't right now with my nutrients out of whack. I stepped up my water changes to twice per week this week hoping that would help get things balanced out again. And I was considering the protein skimmer to help. I don't have a sump set up and I was considering the whole chaeto set up in chamber 2 in the back, but I need to get a separate light set up for it correct?

 

[ksanfranfan]

Yes for the separate light for the chaeto in the back chamber. I have mine come on after the main tank lights are out for 8 hours.

 

[drawman]

Not sure if you can fit in a Tunze 9004 or similar but they are great skimmers!

 

[Water Dog]

I use the Aquaticlife 115 in chamber 1, where the water level stays constant, thus leading to consistent skimmer performance.

Here is several of days worth of skimmate.



Here is a video of the magnet mod to get the skimmer to fit in chamber 1.

 

[izzyishh]

I agree you don't need a skimmer I also have a cube do 5g water change every 2-3 weeks replace the filter every 2 months and if need be on rare occasions add chemipure or phosguard. I have a dominant LPS tank that i feed more than need be since I enjoy target feeding lol Get your self 1 or two zebra snails they will eradicate algae
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+2459&pcatid=2459

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...Fd5wMukZU3Sv4cnQf5AA9XfzD2JsuAYJkcaAmae8P8HAQ

 

[Mike_J]

There are several protein skimmers that will fit into the filtration chambers of a biocube 29g. I ended up using the Hydor Nano-Skim Protein Skimmer that worked very well and pulled a lot of nasty junk from my system. I'm a big advocate of protein skimmers in any size reef aquaria.

 

[TheAsian0328]

I have 6 fish and plenty of different corals in my biocube 29. I'm using a hob skimmer and it's pulling out a bunch of nasty stuff everyday. It's a reef octopus 1000. As for the algae, I recommend turbo snails or something close in size. They normally take care of the green stuff pretty quick.

 

[aythatguy26]

I use the Coralife Biocube skimmer. My tank is almost 4 months old and I've ran it since I first added any livestock. I clean it out regularly but it's constantly getting junk out of the tank. It's always a green slime water in the collection cup. I think it has worked very well in my 29 gallon Biocube.

 

[TheAsian0328]

Ended up buying a reef octopus hob 1000 and it has actually made a world of difference. Skimmer is pulling out about three times as much crap then my tunze. It's also not as temperamental due to water level. Highly recommend it for the biocube29

 

[mjforbes33]

Ended up buying a reef octopus hob 1000 and it has actually made a world of difference. Skimmer is pulling out about three times as much crap then my tunze. It's also not as temperamental due to water level. Highly recommend it for the biocube29

Hey, I know this is an older thread but I came across your comment and hopefully you can help me.

In addition to you're post here, I saw several other people on other forums and also on Youtube that are successfully running the Reef Octopus 1000 on a Biocube.

I am able to get my skimmer running fine, but it almost seems that the skimmer is pumping water into the second chamber faster than my return pump can get it back into the main tank. Did you have this issue? Is there an easy fix I am missing? Would upgrading my return pump to something much more powerful be the only solution?

 

[Water Dog]

Did you pull the sponge in between chambers 2 & 3? Those tend to clog pretty severely. Disrupting proper flow.

 

[User1]

Lots of mods for the cubes. Chamber 1 and 2 - remove false bottoms. Wall divider chamber 1/2 - even out the tab for the overflow by trimming to match lower side. Remove media they send and either run light behind, or inside water proof light, and grow cheato. Can also just add rock for a dark cryptic zone. Upgrade the return pump. Media basket DIY or over the counter for chemi pure or pure gen when required. List goes on. I had 2 29 gallons neither needed a skimmer. However, one of them ended up having a tick higher bio load when I had to move some azure damsels that started to fight all of a sudden. In this case I modified the hood and added my CPR Bak Pak skimmer. Great skimmer worked very well and carried forward to my 40 breeder later. Now it will be used on my QT tank if/when necessary.

But honestly you do not need a skimmer on the cubes or nano's in general like many have suggested.

 

[skim]

I would buy some ChemiPure and use it, instead of a skimmer for that size of tank.

 

[Katrina71]

I have a 29 too. I started in the 8. I agree you'll do great with an InTank media basket and fuge. Chemipure blue is my fave and a ball of chaeto with a nano glo magnetic light. Simple.

 

[mjforbes33]

OK thanks everyone. The only reason I have this skimmer on here is because, 1. it was free (given to me as a gift), and 2. I figured it could only help to have the extra filtration. My tank is brand new anyways so I don't need to make any urgent decisions but I will dig into the mods and see if something will work for me. I think I will start with a stronger return pump, since as I understand it, the stock Biocube pump is somewhat inferior anyways. I might end up deciding to just take it off and running it on the generic tank i have in my basement that I plan to use as a quarantine. Its a basic 30 gallon 18 x 18 cube. Maybe that even becomes a whole separate side project for me to use as an excuse to set up a fish only or coral only tank sooner than I planned on if the girlfriend doesn't kill me...