Specifically, a Biocube 28 HQI... There's a lot of awesome nano's on here and the ingenuity some people have with their mods is amazing. I'm hoping to benefit from the wisdom. My BC has been running for about two months now. I just have live rock, live sand and some hermits at the moment. I'm new to all-in-ones but not new to the hobby, for sure. Last week I added an inTank media basket. My main pump is also upgraded. For the life of me I can't remember the gph rating, but it is a bit higher than the stock pump.
My concern is about the fluctuating water levels in chambers 2 and 3 (chamber 1 being the intake chamber). I haven't installed it yet, but chamber 2 will house a Tunze 9002 skimmer in addition to the media basket. I'm pretty sure I have the basket overfilled with Purigen and Chemipure. I also didn't tie the bags through the holes to suspend them so that water flow is optimized. I didn't read about that till after I set it up. For the first few days, the levels in chambers 2 and 3 seemed fine. As time has gone on, they are getting lower and lower. The skimmer won't work well in a low water level and if I add float valves to either #2 or #3, the unstable water levels will cause a problem. I am planning on two float valves. One for a JBJ ATO and one for a Blueline Pump Protector - which will shut off the main pump in the event of a falling water level. The reason for the Blueline is that the main pump will be feeding water to an external chiller before returning it to the main tank. If a leak develops, I want it to shut down before 20 gallons of water is pumped onto the floor. I see that a lot of people who aren't running a sump are putting their float valves in chamber 3 with the pump. Is anyone having a problem with fluctuating water levels in that chamber? I think properly filling the media basket will make a difference, but I'm also considering putting the float valves in chamber 1. The potential drawback to that is that chamber 1 is pretty turbulent and I also want to put the heater in that chamber (not running a heater at the moment because my house is a steady 80').
Any advice or helpful comments would be appreciated! Thanks!
My concern is about the fluctuating water levels in chambers 2 and 3 (chamber 1 being the intake chamber). I haven't installed it yet, but chamber 2 will house a Tunze 9002 skimmer in addition to the media basket. I'm pretty sure I have the basket overfilled with Purigen and Chemipure. I also didn't tie the bags through the holes to suspend them so that water flow is optimized. I didn't read about that till after I set it up. For the first few days, the levels in chambers 2 and 3 seemed fine. As time has gone on, they are getting lower and lower. The skimmer won't work well in a low water level and if I add float valves to either #2 or #3, the unstable water levels will cause a problem. I am planning on two float valves. One for a JBJ ATO and one for a Blueline Pump Protector - which will shut off the main pump in the event of a falling water level. The reason for the Blueline is that the main pump will be feeding water to an external chiller before returning it to the main tank. If a leak develops, I want it to shut down before 20 gallons of water is pumped onto the floor. I see that a lot of people who aren't running a sump are putting their float valves in chamber 3 with the pump. Is anyone having a problem with fluctuating water levels in that chamber? I think properly filling the media basket will make a difference, but I'm also considering putting the float valves in chamber 1. The potential drawback to that is that chamber 1 is pretty turbulent and I also want to put the heater in that chamber (not running a heater at the moment because my house is a steady 80').
Any advice or helpful comments would be appreciated! Thanks!
