JBJ 28 gallon owners thread.

IMO you are not going to see much waste in a tank so young. Detritus takes some time to build up enough to really see it.

I think it is much more important to let the visual appearance of inverts and fish be your guide to how the system is functioning over all. And second the parameters, within reason of course.

I probably wash my sponge out every 2 weeks, but it is cut to cover the entire area of the filter compartment. Anything that goes over the spill way is going to have to go through the sponge, and underneath the sponge is chempure elite, serving as both chemical filtration and biological filtration.

If you choose to add additional live stock in the way of fish than you may need a skimmer to take up the DOC created by increased feedings and bi-products of metabolism.

Have you considered addition of chaeto as a way to export nutrients?

 

is there really a point to using the filter at all? if you are doing water changes, and you have the live rock, what is the point of having the filter and sponges to collect debris?

 

Yes,thats one reason,i also use it for running chemipure elite and carbon as well.Others also use them as mini refugiums.

 

I use the mechanical filter solely for catching detritus, when I do water changes and stir up the tank.

The carbon for chemical filtration, it allows for a small margin of error and has never done me wrong. I am a big believe in carbon as long as you are using in the right amounts.

Both become biological filters so that is an added benefit, but the largest filtration for my tank is the live rock.

 

yea, i would put chaeto in there with a light and maybe do some carbon, but the rest of the filter stuff and cleaning sponges seems like a pain and more trouble than its worth. assuming you can get the sponges out and don't get air bubbles. i didn't have any when all the sponges were out.

 

That's another great thing about these cubes-there is no one way to do it,but many combos have worked out great! I run filter floss in my top chamber to catch the debris mainly to keep from clogging my chemical media bags and my return pumps,but I also agree with Corailline that my lr is the largest part of my bio filter,but both the rock and the filter media's play there own part.

 

so I have had my Remora skimmer running all day yesterday and today. I just got back from class and it is no longer producing enough foam to collect anything. Is this normal?It was doing fine yesterday and this morning!

 

Yes they take a week or more to break in, so give it a week and adjust the water level if need be. Also if you add food to the tank they may stop producing skim for awhile.

 

takes a few days to break in. You can try adjusting it so more air is mixed in. That should get the bubbles going.

 

i bought it used. does it still have to break in? how do i adjust the air? it didn't come with a manual. Thanks for the responses!