BC29 Filtration Upgrades....

Hey guys, it's been awhile. Hope all have been well. Been lurking around, but now it's time to upgrade the filtration on the ol' BC29....

Currently completely stock w/ the BioBalls etc... Everything seems pretty happy, but the nitrates are starting to increase so I figure it's time. Will be doing the lights in a few months.

Bioload detailed in sig. Feeling like it's pretty well stocked on the fish, but thinking we need a few more corals to round it out.


I'm looking at:

Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer w/ upgraded cup and 3 stage media basket in chamber 2 and an ATO from mediabaskets.com

Questions:

Are the recommended Chemipure and Purigen pretty worthwhile or a waste of $$$?? What are some other recommendations to put in the 3 chambers (of the media basket)?

Better idea to use one of the chambers for a fuge w/ Chaeto/light?

Do I need to remove the bioballs slowly with this type of set-up (similar to when folks swap them out for LR) or just go for it?

Would media basket + fuge basket be a better idea (foregoing the skimmer)?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts....

--EW

 

I too have a 29 Biocube and over the course of a year I've made a lot of modifications. If it was me I would slowly remove the bioballs. About 20% each week or so. I had chaeto in my middle chamber for a while and it was well but due to evap issues and not getting a constant water level to skim from, I added a fuge. This has helped with evap, cleaning, and skimming more than I even imagined.
I also broke off the plastic blockade from chambers 1 to chambers 2, this gives you a little more flow into chamber 2 from your overflow in chamber 1

 

I personally just went with all live rock rubble in the middle chamber. If I ever needed to run something like carbon, I either used a TLF reactor or just stuck a media bag on top of the rubble, worked well for me. I also used an Aquatic Life mini internal protein skimmer in the first chamber. I would personally go with the rock plus cheato and a light if it were me and you could add a skimmer to the first section. I would phase the bioballs out slowly, less of a shock to the system IMO.