Still trying to find ideal stuff for my bio cube

[WisconsinReefing]

I have a 40 gallon aqua top bio cube. I’ll try to explain what I’m looking for here, I suspect some of you reef wizards will be able to interpret my rambling.

The back of the tank is blocked off and there are 4 compartments. The first one that has an intake for the water is a big sponge, the 2nd one is a protein skimmer, the 4th is the pump and heater. The 3rd is where I need advice. It has 4 rectangular boxes with handles that when installed all sit on top of each other and obviously the water goes through them. I’m looking for advice on what to put in the boxes.

Right now I have the bottom 2 with ceramic rings and bio balls. The 3rd one is tidal 75 seacham matrix carbon, and the top one is just a blue filter pad. Should I have anything else in there? I’ve read so much that I can’t get a firm handle on what if anything else should be in there.

Tank info:
40 gallon
AI prime light
Vortech MP40
2 clownfish
1 peppermint hog fish
1 dwarf angel
1 royal gramma
1 BTA (currently MIA )
Clean up crew
And a decent amount of coral all soft and LPS and a chalice.

Overall chemistry is good. I seem to be fighting high nitrates so have been doing 2x week 5 gallon water changes. Only other reading of note is calcium is a bit high.


Thanks for reading and/or helping a new guy!

 

[Frey]

I wouldn't change anything you are doing. I assume you have live rock in the tank? I would be curious as to what others will say but i know in the past we would not run bioballs etc in a reef tank, however everyone is now adding these biobricks to their sumps now.
But i would keep doing small water changes weekly or bi weekly and the tank will settle out. You probably have had some ammonia spikes since your tank was set up and new fish added. The ammonia in the end turns to nitrate, which is less a problem for the fish just feeds algae. The water changes will lower it.
I would not stress so much on the equipment. Many people have kept very successful tanks with a good filter, heater lights and a powerhead. Just water changes and thats it. You already have all of those things.

 

[lapin]

For right now I would not change anything.
You say you have high nitrates. This can be fixed by more water changes.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

I’m already doing 2x per week. I don’t know that more would be beneficial. Would it?

 

[Frey]

No. Once a week or every other week 5-10 gallons is plenty. 5 gallons is over 10% for a 40 gallon, wouldn't stress to much over it. Maybe feed just a tad less and your levels will start going down with the water changes.

 

[Auquanut]

I agree about not changing anything right away. How high are your nitrates? Are your phosphates detectable? Do your corals seem to be happy? Lets see a pic.

 

[Frey]

Also are you using rodi water or just tap water for the salt you are mixing?

 

[Saltyreef]

When i owned a biocube, i only ever put carbon in the media basket. Fundementally, the rock in your system has plenty of biofilteration, so the ceramic media and bioballs arent needed. And quite possibly can add to nitrate load by harboring detritus. Very unmotivating cleaning the rear compartment every month.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

I agree about not changing anything right away. How high are your nitrates? Are your phosphates detectable? Do your corals seem to be happy? Lets see a pic.

Corals close up sometimes but overall seem happy. Nitrates Have spiked higher than 20.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Also are you using rodi water or just tap water for the salt you are mixing?

I get saltwater from my LFS

 

[Frey]

Check that for nitrates before adding to your tank. It may be the issue. Because they should be going down each time

 

[Auquanut]

You might consider investing in your own RO/DI unit. For the most part, it's hard to trust the quality of LFS water batch to batch. If you're making your own water, you know exactly what you're using.

 

[Saltyreef]

+1 on making your own RODI. Last year when i found out my water store bought DI was at 4ppm, i invested in a spectrapure max cap standard system and havent looked back. I go thru 10-15 gallons a week of RODI between my auto top off and water changes, so the savings has already broke even @ the 50 cents per gallon they were charging!

 

[John3]

I’ve been run a 29g biocube for 3 years now. My top has been removed and the only filtration I have is a good skimmer in the second chamber. I’ll throw a bag of carbon in a chamber periodically if I suspect coral warfare. I do have about 30-35# of live rock which I also believe provides the most benefit. This setup is now pretty mature and maintenance is easy.

I actually think less is better. It’s easy to go overboard and fill those compartments because they are there. Every time I tried adding some kind of extra filter or chemical like chempure I always got negative responses from the corals in my tank.

 

[Malifry97]

I wouldn't change anything you are doing. I assume you have live rock in the tank? I would be curious as to what others will say but i know in the past we would not run bioballs etc in a reef tank, however everyone is now adding these biobricks to their sumps now.
But i would keep doing small water changes weekly or bi weekly and the tank will settle out. You probably have had some ammonia spikes since your tank was set up and new fish added. The ammonia in the end turns to nitrate, which is less a problem for the fish just feeds algae. The water changes will lower it.
I would not stress so much on the equipment. Many people have kept very successful tanks with a good filter, heater lights and a powerhead. Just water changes and thats it. You already have all of those things.

Just curious, why no bio balls?

 

[Frey]

I have no scientific backing on this just that back in the day. I was told not to run bioballs, ceramic media etc like you would in fish only system on a reef tank. "It would cause nitrates to raise"....it has never made sense to me but something i just don't do because i was told this buy a very successful reefer. I do add them to my tank a month or two before if i know i want to purchase a fish and i want bacteria to colonize for use in qt. That is the only time i use them.
In my mind the more bacteria the better, but i don't really have anything to support this claim.

 

[FunnierThanUThink]

I use seachem matrix and marine pure cubes. I find my nitrates have been 0 since using them after they were seeded with bacteria. Bioballs just dont support denitrifing bacteria. I also think the addition of bio media is a great home for pods. Realistically a skimmer and some basic carbon is all you should need to filter a saltwater aquarium.

 

[Malifry97]

I have no scientific backing on this just that back in the day. I was told not to run bioballs, ceramic media etc like you would in fish only system on a reef tank. "It would cause nitrates to raise"....it has never made sense to me but something i just don't do because i was told this buy a very successful reefer. I do add them to my tank a month or two before if i know i want to purchase a fish and i want bacteria to colonize for use in qt. That is the only time i use them.
In my mind the more bacteria the better, but i don't really have anything to support this claim.

Thanks, I was just curious!

 

[Frey]

It may be due to what funnier said above due to the structure they are good at making nitrates out of ammonia but because there isn't an anaerobic area they just create and do not remove nitrates like the inside of live rock and the new export bricks etc do.... makes more sense

 

[Malifry97]

It may be due to what funnier said above due to the structure they are good at making nitrates out of ammonia but because there isn't an anaerobic area they just create and do not remove nitrates like the inside of live rock and the new export bricks etc do.... makes more sense

Thanks!