Nano cube baffles, baffling me.

[sfsuphysics]

Here's a question for you Nano reefers, why the hell do "cubes" have so many chambers in the back? Is it simply to hold various sorts of media and keep them separate? Is there more than the "it helps trap bubbles", seriously I have 4 damn chambers, the first one drains low, the second drains high, the next drains low the last is where the pump is, I'm seriously thinking about making 2 chambers, one where the overflow spills into, and then everything else. Is there any flaw to my plan here?

I do plan on using a float switch to keep water levels up, my baffles are like 3" x 3" which doesn't leave a lot of room for creative design with pumps (i.e. limited), Hell I've even seen someone have a refugium setup (sand and the works) back there as well.

here's a pic of how the baffles are set up... Is there something missing I'm forgetting about.. aka a flaw before I start cutting them out.

 

[WZHANG]

Yeah, nanocubes look overdesigned a bit. It would be better if they just had an open refugium back there. I would definetly chop it down if I ever owned one. Not sure you even really need a baffle back there anyways, but I think the one before the pump is better to save than the one by the inlet. That way you can save your pump from clogs.

I'd be tempted to try one of those small fraggle reef nano pumps back there as well. It would save more space. You could fit a float switch near it maybe. Get the smallest heater you can find and try to size all equipment to scale.

Good luck with your cube. Please post some pics of the mod too.

 

[Brent F]

I have a nanocube 6 and yanked out half the baffles

 

[MikePowell]

What size nano do you have? I cramed alot of stuff in the back of mine. i also cut out alot of the baffles.

 

[efroggies]

I have an Aquapod 12 and spent about two hours removing baffles this weekend because my firefish decided that it might be fun to jump out between the glass and back wall and play hide and seek in the back chambers.

I did not know until this happened that the middle chambers are shorter than the outside chambers and the pump chamber extends back under the middle chambers giving the little guy a place to escape until I came busting in breaking off chunks of plastic. I filled my new open chamber with live rock and a heater that will no longer turn off when the water level gets to low in the chamber since it sits over two inches lower now.

Let me give you a little advice from my little adventure, if you are going to remove any baffles from the back do it while the tank is empty because my critters were not happy about the destruction that had to occur.

 

[MikePowell]

What i used was a "flush" cut off hand saw by stanley. the blade if flexible and works great. cut mine off with water in it in like 30 seconds.

 

[WZHANG]

I imagine that a couple swipes from a sharp heavy duty utility blade will take em out clean and fast too.

 

[efroggies]

It depends on the model, I think. There is no way that I could have cut these panels out of my AP 12 with a utility knife (I tried).