What to do with empty compartment on CPR Bak Pak?

Heres the picture, I got a bunch of chaeto and pretty much put all of it in there so its holding its self in place. If there was less I would put some eggcrate or something to keep it in the compartment rolling and not falling out in the DT. Since its kind of stuffed like it is, I will rotate it every couple days or so to get the light to all the surfaces regularly. The flow through it is good. Theres no microbubbles anymore. I read somewhere that too much chaeto all at once can be a bad thing. I hope this is not too much and there are no issues but I'll keep the thread updated as things develop and/or if I make any changes.

Nightstick, did you do the mod yet?

 

I hope it doesn't come lose in the middle of the night and clog the output. Any way you can get your hands on some eggcrate to put above the cheato but below the output to make sure it doesn't break free?

 

Its pretty snug in there. I got quite a bit, hopefully theres no problem with adding too much all at once and jus to be safe I'm gonna get some eggcrate or something similar. Since there is no tumbling but good flow through it. I'm gonna just rotate it ever couple days or so.

 

hopefully it will work. Better safe than sorry in this hobby.

 

DaDaAtlanta this is an interesting idea I might have to try this. What will this help do though by putting cheato in there is it better then biobale?

 

Chaeto will decrease the nutrients like nitrate and phosphate so there none left for nuisance algae and diatoms. in your tank and also being a plant using co2 it will increase your redox especially if you use it on a reverse lighting cycle it will help with fluctuations in ph after lights out on the tank. It also can serve as a home and breeding area for pods. Bio Bale is useless if you have live rock and eventually just become nitrate factories. That is why most people remove the stuff.

 

I didn't do the mod yet, but put some screen over the overflow/return that way water can still flow!

 

K, so after a week or so I noticed that every couple days flow would slow because of accumulation of stuff in the chaeto, which probably happens with the bio bale stuff. Anyway, it was annoying having to rinse it and turn it around every other day plus it was reducing the efficiency of my skimmer and because of the light on it I was gettin some brown algae on the skimmer side also which made it worse. I took out the chaeto and stuff it in a hob filter which i converted into a refugium and stuck the light on it. Its alot easier to turn the chaeto in there and I cleaned the skimmer with a large wire brush and its workin like it was new again. End conclusion was the idea would probably still work if there was less chaeto (enough to tumble around and not cause intrusion and a screen over the outlet but would still be kind of annoying and the light may cause algae growth so probably better left empty and as a stand alone skimmer..

 

I believe you can probably alleviate the slowing flow by loosening up the chaeto (maybe take some out so it's not so snug) and adding the egg crate or black fish screen as metal fan suggested.

CPR's Bio Bale is added to the Bak Pak loosely so overflowing does not occur. I usually never let my Bio Bale sit in the filter too long without being rinsed, but I'll be honest when I say I have let it sit for over 3-4 months without rinsing :-X (eek!) and have never had a problem with lack of flow and/or overflowing.

Just my .02¢...:sweethear

 

I did the air stone mod today, will update how it works out. The water level on the skimmer is bout an inch higher so will have to probably adjust the cup height.

As for the chaeto, its doing well in the HOB refugium, much easier to access to rotate etc and light is closer. Have been seeing some pods in there already.