Suggestions for new filter

nport19 · Apr 19, 2017

hello everyone,
I currently have a 29 gallon biocube aquarium with an upgraded light. The current filter is a canister filter that's close to 4 years old. I am 100 percent sure at this point that it's the case of all my alge out breaks. I am looking to get rid of that and replace it with a easier one to clean. Anyone have any suggestions.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

nport19 said:
hello everyone,
I currently have a 29 gallon biocube aquarium with an upgraded light. The current filter is a canister filter that's close to 4 years old. I am 100 percent sure at this point that it's the case of all my alge out breaks. I am looking to get rid of that and replace it with a easier one to clean. Anyone have any suggestions.

I would look into some of the mods for a really good HOB skimmer. Might as well try something new.
If you want to stay canister try just running floss only and changing it regularly. A can not well maintained can become the proverbial nitrate factory, po4too. In all fairness a dirty sump is the same.

rockhead51 · Apr 19, 2017

When you say "biocube", do you mean a Coralife/Oceanic BioCube, or something else? Because if it is the Coralife one, my first question would be why you are running a canister instead of something in the AIO sump?

Jarhead-CO · Apr 19, 2017

nport19 said:
hello everyone,
I currently have a 29 gallon biocube aquarium with an upgraded light. The current filter is a canister filter that's close to 4 years old. I am 100 percent sure at this point that it's the case of all my alge out breaks. I am looking to get rid of that and replace it with a easier one to clean. Anyone have any suggestions.

I'm running a fluval 106 in my 29g and it keeps it nice and clean and it's a breeze to unhook and clean takes 10 minutes total.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

Yea I haven't seen an in tank aio thing that works as well as the vol a can will do. Maybe a tnze skimmer and tunze filter(the reef pack) but I don't know that itll fit. a 9001 will I believe.

nport19 · Apr 19, 2017

rockhead51 said:
When you say "biocube", do you mean a Coralife/Oceanic BioCube, or something else? Because if it is the Coralife one, my first question would be why you are running a canister instead of something in the AIO sump?

I do mean coralline: oceanic biocube. I have a skimmer in the one compartment that isn't filled with bio balls. I really didn't have any where else to hook one up so I went with the canister filter.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

nport19 said:
I do mean coralline: oceanic biocube. I have a skimmer in the one compartment that isn't filled with bio balls. I really didn't have any where else to hook one up so I went with the canister filter.

In my experience with a jbj cube. The back chambers fill up with muck pretty quick. I took out everything but floss and carbon and only did WC from the back. Could be worth looking in to.

rockhead51 · Apr 19, 2017

Nport19, I have the BC32 LED. I run my heater in chamber 1, ATO and return pump in chamber 3, and in 2 I have the stock media rack (I don't think the 29 came with a rack?) with floss, Purigen, carbon, PhosGuard, and then ceramic matrix on the bottom. All media is bagged. My understanding is that the bioballs get grungy but don't really promote beneficial nitrifying bacteria as much as ceramic matrix does. Point being, I don't think you need an external filter- just use what you've got. And even if you don't want to Shell out the big bucks for an InTank media rack, you can build one yourself really easily. Google it or search around on here....

nport19 · Apr 19, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
In my experience with a jbj cube. The back chambers fill up with muck pretty quick. I took out everything but floss and carbon and only did WC from the back. Could be worth looking in to.

Now would takeout all the bioballs make the tank recycle? That's why I haven't taken them out yet

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

nport19 said:
Now would takeout all the bioballs make the tank recycle? That's why I haven't taken them out yet

I'd be carful pulling them out and use the canister with to clear up any thing might be stirred up. But. Once a tank cycles. It's cycling. I never re cycles. It can get funk stirred up and bloom cyano algae etc must that can be mitigated. A strong bottled bacteria water changes etc. the bio filter can be reduced to much and the tank will process nutrients less well too. So you get cya no algae growth but again easy. That's is what most folks mean by re cycle or mini cycle. But it's not.

But yea a good question. Go slow. Remove as much funk as you can, feed less etc bottled bacteria etc and you should be fine. Be a nice springclean really.

If the canister is a biological filter for you too I'd pull one or the other first.
I'm one of those just run floss in the canister and clean it once a month. It pulls better particles than the tunze skimmer does. It pull almost none. I personally wish you could get the other half of the tunze reef pack to fit in there. That's thier mechanical filter. It's floss. And cheap relatively. It's stinking cool.
It's actually the tunze design. A great bio skimmer and a great mechanical filter. You can put your chem filter in it to.

rockhead51 · Apr 19, 2017

Do you have live rock/sand in the display? If so, alot of your filtration is going on right there. Still, I'd pull half the bioballs, and replace with a 500ml bag of ceramic matrix. Maybe dose some Stability. Give that a week or two, then do the rest and another bag of matrix.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

rockhead51 said:
Do you have live rock/sand in the display? If so, alot of your filtration is going on right there. Still, I'd pull half the bioballs, and replace with a 500ml bag of ceramic matrix. Maybe dose some Stability. Give that a week or two, then do the rest and another bag of matrix.

It's better bio filter but doesnt it get covered in muck?Honestly curious.
I had better luck letting the rock do the work in the dt and keep everything elese squeaky clean. After the tank running 9mo it was gross. Even once a month there was always stuff in the back. This how I knew it was time to clean. The glass would get dirty faster.

rockhead51 · Apr 19, 2017

No. I give the bags a rinse (without taking the media out, just remove from rack and give them a couple dunks in the old tank water) every other week. They definitely look "lived in", but not gunky.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 19, 2017

rockhead51 said:
No. I give the bags a rinse (without taking the media out, just remove from rack and give them a couple dunks in the old tank water) every other week. They definitely look "lived in", but not gunky.

How deep is the chambers in the back. Mine was deep and collected evertying. Nice

rockhead51 · Apr 20, 2017

Same depth as the tank. I originally had some rubble back there and it was filthy. I still get some hitchers back there every now and again, but near as much as before.

nport19 · Apr 20, 2017

rockhead51 said:
Do you have live rock/sand in the display? If so, alot of your filtration is going on right there. Still, I'd pull half the bioballs, and replace with a 500ml bag of ceramic matrix. Maybe dose some Stability. Give that a week or two, then do the rest and another bag of matrix.

I have 4 nice size live rocks in the Maine display and very little sand. When I go to reset it up I am planning on putting 2 inches of new and putting 1 cup of the old on top of it to seed it.

nport19 · Apr 20, 2017

Quick update guys. So today since I will be moving my setup with in the next week or so I ended up buying a stand and a regular 29 gallon tank. My plan is to just get rid of that other tank and canaster and just have the rock and sand do the filtering. The new setup did come with a hang on back filter so that should work as well. My question is will I be safe by getting rid out all the bioballs and just moving everything into the new aquarium

Jarhead-CO · Apr 20, 2017

nport19 said:
Quick update guys. So today since I will be moving my setup with in the next week or so I ended up buying a stand and a regular 29 gallon tank. My plan is to just get rid of that other tank and canaster and just have the rock and sand do the filtering. The new setup did come with a hang on back filter so that should work as well. My question is will I be safe by getting rid out all the bioballs and just moving everything into the new aquarium

As long as everything in the current tank was pest and disease free it should be fine not to mention should cycle it instantly. At least that's what I've been told.

nport19 · Apr 20, 2017

Jarhead-CO said:
As long as everything in the current tank was pest and disease free it should be fine not to mention should cycle it instantly. At least that's what I've been told.

It does have a lot of green hair alge in it right now but I do plan on cleaning off every rock and heater and fan so that should help. As far as I know there are no diseases in that setup.
I am planing on putting the fish and coral in another setup until in sure the new one is done cycling.

Jarhead-CO · Apr 20, 2017

nport19 said:
It does have a lot of green hair alge in it right now but I do plan on cleaning off every rock and heater and fan so that should help. As far as I know there are no diseases in that setup.

If it's just basic hair algae could always buy a lawnmower blenny and see if he can take care of it for you.