BioCube 14 chamber flow mods?

[jason the filter freak]

The days of me spending hours combing threads on nanoreef, wamas, 3reef etc are gone. I just got a BC14 and was looking at the back chamber flow, from exp with a BC8 the flow from the middle chamber going over to the return pump chamber via a slot on the bottom is problematic and tends to jam up the return pump with cheato getting sucked from the middle chamber.

 

Long question short: Is it a bad idea to block the bottom over transfer from the center and have it spill over to the return chamber instead, any

problem with this idea?

[El Camaron]

there is more of a chance of overflowing your tank that way and may be not even spilling in the right compartment, to avoid that you could drill some holes about 2-3 inches from the top of that wall and have the water spill through that.

[jason the filter freak]

Not a bad idea, I didn't think you could overflow an all in one tank since the volume is contstant

[El Camaron]

if you have an ato hooked up to it it is possible, as for that idea, you could either drill enough holes to keep the same flow or cut away part of that wall, about two inches.

[jason the filter freak]

I didn't think about the ATO and yes thats something I want to do

I would put the ato in the last chamber where I think the water level would be most constant.

That being said I'll throw a bunch of cheato in there and see how it goes, its just such a bear to clean the return pump out often.

[Reefoholic]

I put the cheato in the second chamber of my BioCube 14 and used to ATO the third chamber where the return pump is. For the Cheato I bought an LED light pendent from the Home Depot and placed it lighting thru the window (2nd chamber). Also my heater and my chemical filteration were in the fist chamber. It is a tight fit, but not impossible.

 

I also had the UV filter for biocube in the third chamber. Attached it to the return pump and used it as part of return tubing.

 

Everything is a little tight and mushed together but when you do the mod correctly and close the lid, it is "Reef in a Box", lol!

 

Worked like a charm for me...

Edited May 20, 2011 by Reefoholic

[jason the filter freak]

How well is the LED pendant doing for growing cheato? I think i'll skip the UV unless algea becomes a problem its an exrtra expense and lots of extra heat.

[jason the filter freak]

Not but 5 minutes after adding cheato to the middle chamber the pump jammed repeatedly until I just took the cheato back out, I put some needle point screen in and tried again, it decreased the jamming of the pump some. But I'm afraid slime algea is going to jam up the mesh/screen. Any thoughts?

[killrblue]

I have an intank mediabasket with submersible light and cheato. I don't have any problems with the pump being clogged. Did you remove the sponge that was in chamber 3?

[jason the filter freak]

I have an intank mediabasket with submersible light and cheato. I don't have any problems with the pump being clogged. Did you remove the sponge that was in chamber 3?

 

Hmm there wasn't a sponge in there when I got it. The needle point seems to be working ok at the moment, though little pieces still get though and don't clog the pump, but they litter the sand bed.

[spankna]

I personally have and like the inTank mediabasket. In my basket, I have purigen on the top shelf, chaeto with a submersible light in the 2nd chamber, and rubble rock in chamber 3. With this setup, have had no issues with chaeto blocking the return pump intake.

 

If you don't have a media basket, buy enough rubble rock to have about 2-3 inches in the bottom of chamber 2. This acts and a screen for the chaeto and a live filter(you can add something like Microbacter to help it start). I know people with BC14's here locally that run just rubble rock and have enough live filtration that they don't need anything else.

 

IMO, not having the sponge is a good thing as you don't have to remove and clean it periodically. Replace it a bag of Chemi-pure Elite.

[jason the filter freak]

LIVE ROCK RUBBLE... of course I can't belive I didn't think of that myself, thanks!

[spankna]

I would also remove the false floors in chamber 1 & 2 if you haven't done so. The removal of the false floor in chamber 1 is a MUST. I put my heater as low as possible in chamber 1 so the heated water rises creating a bit more flow/suction through the lower intake (I like to think it creates more flow).

[jason the filter freak]

How do you pull out the false floor in chamber 1? it was already out of the second, i tried with forceps and no luck

[BowieReefer84]

How do you pull out the false floor in chamber 1? it was already out of the second, i tried with forceps and no luck

 

 

I jammed a butter knife in, and pushed down, twisted up, to the side... It takes some force.

[spankna]

The 1st chamber is the harder of the two chambers. The key to doing it is to break the silicone seal all the way around the floor first. Then like Bowie said, don't be afraid to use some force.

[jason the filter freak]

I'll try and use a scapal first, what function does the false floor serve? I know what it does in chamber two but not one?

[spankna]

I can only assume it is because the chamber is so narrow that if you were to drop anything(example: pin for the hood) you could get it out easier. Once you take the floor out, it's a very tight fit to get pliers down there to grasp anything.