29 gal Biocube questions

[Curlsoc]

I'm working on getting back into the hobby after 5 years out. Budget and time wise, I need to start small and simple this time. I previously had a 90 gal reef with sump and all the bells and whistles built by my husband and me. I'm looking at a 29 gal Biocube this time to start and if you have one, can you answer a few questions?

1. How do you do your filtration? Did you stick with the bio balls or do something better/different?

2. Do you have the protien skimmer, and do you like it?

3. How difficult is it to add a sump and or refugium to it?

4. Building a custom cabinet is no issue for it, so if there's something I should add or plan for to the stand, that would be great to know too.

Thanks so much!

 

[soulpatch]

you should read some of our build threads like mine, homer's, or reef's.

That said:

1 - Do not use the bioballs or any of the included filtration they give you. First step for most is to get the intank media rack and run floss, purigen, and chemipure. If you go to a reactor like many of us do for step 2 you can skip that as the gfo/carbon would do same as the purigen and chemipure.

2 - The biocube skimmer is garbage. If you want a skimmer to be in the rear chambers look into the aquatic life. DO NOT GET THE TUNZE 9001

3 - The difficulty is up to you. You can drill the rear and remove the back divider if you wish giving you more room and utilize a sump. Or you can still remove that and use a HOB overflow. I havent had an issue getting all of my equipment on the tank and only reason I wanted to potentially go to the sump route was for a bit more room for a refugium. I have a large tank coming along instead so shelved that idea.

4 - That all depends on how advanced you want the unit to be. You will want space for an ATO container, reactor (most add one eventually), electrical components. If you chose to go sump then you have to build around that and ensure you make it tall enough to handle any skimmer you would have in the sump.

 

[ReefWreak]

Welcome back! I went into a 29g cube after a 4 year break, coming from a 120g SPS tank.

1. Empty. Skimmer only. Mechanical (filter floss changed weekly) or chemical (GFO/Carbon) as needed or desired.

2. I have A protein skimmer, but not THE protein skimmer. Aquaticlife 115. Requires cutting the hood, but it has been a beast and I've been happy. I'm actually running now with it just entirely off for the last 2-3 weeks, just to see if my nutrients would rise (they haven't). I strongly recommend starting your tank with a chaeto refugium in back AND a skimmer, until the tank is matured.

3. Refugium is easy, peel off back vinyl, put lamp behind tank, ???, profit!

4. Plenty of holes for running wires down into the stand, but other than that, not really. Maybe make sure to put a soft surface between the tank and stand to keep any pump vibration isolated in the tank.

Let us know how else we can help! Check out some of our build threads for more ideas and info, and welcome back!

 

[Curlsoc]

Thanks guys. I've posted the same question on a Facebook group too and I'm getting a lot of thumbs up for the Intank with a fuge light, and the IM reactor and the Aquaticlife115. I didn't have a reactor before. I seem to see people having a reactor or skimmer. But not both? Is that correct? My brain is trying to bring up knowledge that hasn't been used in 5 years.

 

[soulpatch]

reactor and skimmer used here. Skimmer is for removing dissolved organics and the reactor I use mainly for carbon at this point to clean up small particulate matter in the water as well as some other benefits. When I run GFO that is for phosphate control to aid in algae.

I would ensure you look at the operation of the im reactor as you need to set it and tweak it in the tank which can be a pain. Many of us have BRS reactors.

 

[soulpatch]

I should note that a successful fuge can replace the need for a reactor though it is hard to get one to run well in the small chambers in the biocube. chateo has issues tumbling and other macro can also be a pain.

 

[ReefWreak]

chateo has issues tumbling and other macro can also be a pain.

Very true. While I say to use Chaeto, following the usual rule of "do as I say, not as I do". I actually just stuck a light outside the back of my tank shining into the middle chamber, and it just grew prolific amounts of hair algae and cyano. Then when I was doing water changes from the back (because the back holds just shy of ~7 gallons maybe?) I would scrape the walls of the chamber, siphon the scraped algae out with the water change, and the algae would grow back in a week or two, then I'd repeat the process with the next water change.

I couldn't get chaeto to tumble, it just got sucked into my return pump.

 

[Curlsoc]

Well. The tank and a bunch of other items are missing from my Amazon wish list, so it looks like a build thread is coming. I went a little low end to not freak out the gifters, I'll just do some upgrading later.

 

[Haggisman14]

Hey everyone, I'm starting up a 29 gallon biocube myself, and am in the process of cycling the tank. I've removed the bio-balls and am going to get the InTank media basket so I can run filter floss, but I've been reading up and maybe since this post there is a new product called chemipure blue. If I've read correctly it seems like chemipure blue takes the place of both chemipure and purigen, and puts them in one combined package. Is this true?

Quite a number of years back I had a 50 gallon tank with a fuge, and protein skimmer....never ran a skimmerless tank, so my understanding is that using a product like chemipure blue and/or chemipure and purigen, works to keep the water clear, but also takes the place of having a protein skimmer on a lower load tank? Would my assumption of that be correct?

Thanks so much!

Marc

you should read some of our build threads like mine, homer's, or reef's.

That said:

1 - Do not use the bioballs or any of the included filtration they give you. First step for most is to get the intank media rack and run floss, purigen, and chemipure. If you go to a reactor like many of us do for step 2 you can skip that as the gfo/carbon would do same as the purigen and chemipure.

2 - The biocube skimmer is garbage. If you want a skimmer to be in the rear chambers look into the aquatic life. DO NOT GET THE TUNZE 9001

3 - The difficulty is up to you. You can drill the rear and remove the back divider if you wish giving you more room and utilize a sump. Or you can still remove that and use a HOB overflow. I havent had an issue getting all of my equipment on the tank and only reason I wanted to potentially go to the sump route was for a bit more room for a refugium. I have a large tank coming along instead so shelved that idea.

4 - That all depends on how advanced you want the unit to be. You will want space for an ATO container, reactor (most add one eventually), electrical components. If you chose to go sump then you have to build around that and ensure you make it tall enough to handle any skimmer you would have in the sump.

 

[soulpatch]

chemipure blue adds purigen sure but in such a small amount I would not consider it a direct replacement.

I also do not consider them to remove enough organics to take place of either water changes or a skimmer. It is hard though to say which path to go down without knowing what livestock and such you intend to keep.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks for the response. I don't plan on having a super bio-load heavy tank.

I'd plan on doing a monthly 5 gallon water change, since I won't be using a skimmer, and using the purigen and chemipure combination. It's cheap enough and lasts long enough for a 4 month period to use both.

Thanks!

 

[soulpatch]

Not sure what you plan on having in there but I would think you need larger and more frequent water changes. The chemipure and purigen are great but they need changed out frequently especially when relied on for the majority of your water cleansing.

You plan above is setting yourself up for serious issues. also remember that once purigen and chemipure are full of capturing things they also begin to leach them back out.

 

[Haggisman14]

Maybe I'll plan on doing 5 gallon water changes bi-weekly instead. I'll also keep an eye on levels and possibly change out the chemipure/purigen combo every 2 months or so. I"ve got a test kit, so I"ll keep an eye out on the levels.

Probably going to do a pair of clowns, cleaner crew, maybe a bangi cardinal. No corals for the time being, just fish to start.

 

[JVan82]

I do 4 gallon water changes weekly on my 32, and replace Chemipure and purigen ever 2 months. Currently running a fuge with chateo, and it doubles in 2 weeks. I went back to running the purigen a few weeks ago as I noticed algae and sponge growth...

 

[woodguy]

weekly water changes!, when your only changing 5 gallons, theres no need to dread it