Filtration for Oceanic 29 HQI

[twowordz]

Hi,

Recently, I've decided to get back into reef aquariums. I planned to slowly purchase all the pieces of my system and take my time to get it setup.

I plan on getting a 30x30x24 cube from Miracles and I want to light it with two Radions.

I found a deal on an Oceanic HQI 29 that had a Radion included and the price was good for the light alone and everything else was bonus. The kit had 20 lbs of rock, two clowns, two shrimp, two blenny, a frogspawn and two mushroom patches.

So I took it all home including the water and put it back together temporary until I can get my tank. I worked well for 2 weeks but not I have green algae growing and some cyano as well.

The previous owner had white, green (phos) and black (carbon) pads for filtration, nothing else. It had a coralia nano, I changed it to a bigger one I had just because the flow seemed to be lacking.

I've changed the filters twice so far (once a week) and did 10-20% water changes using pre-mixed water. I topped it off with R/O water.

I will run out of filter media next week so I would like to know what you suggest I should do to keep the tank running until I get my new one? Should I keep running the media pads or is there another inexpensive solution? I have a big skimmer but I'm not willing to drill the tank and build a sump at this point.

I didn't plan on working on this tank much but I do want it to look good and make sure the livestock stays healthy. I'm setting up my old reefkeeper now to do ATO.

Any advice appreciated.. I've been out of the hobby for 3 years, I feel like I don't remember anything I've learned!

 

[ReefKeep66]

You could make a make shift sump. I use to have a biocube and I remeber how much I didn't like the chambers in the back. Not really much you can do with them. My biocube cracked a couple months ago and I had to set up an emergency 20g long tank which I'm still running until my 75 is up. Pretty much I have a 30g hob filter and a 10g sump to the side. I'm using 2 maxi jet 400 , one as the drain, one as the return.

I have a reef octopus 150sss in the sump for now (it's for my 75) but it's working so much better than my last skimmer.

it's not really astheically pleasing, but it gets the job done for now.

 

[twowordz]

This is in my dining room so buckets and shift sumps are not really an option.

 

[VAReefDog]

I run intank media racks in back of my Biocube 2nd chamber- with chemipure elite and purigen in them with filter floss in top of rack.
Chamber 1 - I use Aquaticlife 115 skimmer- see mods online/youtube for airline.
Chamber 3- heater and upgraded return pump.

 

[ReefKeep66]

^^^Sounds like a good choice

 

[twowordz]

Is this the product you mention?

I guess it goes in a bag?

Thanks

 

[Billybatz9]

You could make a make shift sump. I use to have a biocube and I remeber how much I didn't like the chambers in the back. Not really much you can do with them. My biocube cracked a couple months ago and I had to set up an emergency 20g long tank which I'm still running until my 75 is up. Pretty much I have a 30g hob filter and a 10g sump to the side. I'm using 2 maxi jet 400 , one as the drain, one as the return.

I have a reef octopus 150sss in the sump for now (it's for my 75) but it's working so much better than my last skimmer.

it's not really astheically pleasing, but it gets the job done for now.

How did your biocube crack?

 

[ReefKeep66]

I took the rim off and had a hang on mh fixture which put too much pressure on the glass and cracked it

 

[twowordz]

I'm getting a bunch of algae in the tank right now. I've done a big water change Sunday and checked all my parameters today. I have only some ammonia, everything else seems fine.

What should I do? My frogspawn looks like he's seen better days, the mushrooms are all wrinkled and shrunk.

 

[Billybatz9]

I'm getting a bunch of algae in the tank right now. I've done a big water change Sunday and checked all my parameters today. I have only some ammonia, everything else seems fine.

What should I do? My frogspawn looks like he's seen better days, the mushrooms are all wrinkled and shrunk.

What do you have in your chambers

 

[twowordz]

live rock pieces, a white pad, a green pad, and a carbon pad.

 

[Nina51]

if you left the original sand in the tank when you moved it, you might have stirred it up enough to cause an ammonia spike. lots o' water changes to bring it down.

 

[twowordz]

I'll try a 5 gallon change tonight. Thanks for the advice.

 

[twowordz]

I've done a 5 gallons change last night. All my levels are good now. The frogspawn seems happier.

Still, I cleaned up the glass three times today and algae still grows on the rocks... Maybe my light is too aggressive?

I've set up the radion g2 to 11h/day on a 4 week acclimatization schedule starting at 40%. Could it be too much?