Solana or eco cube owners please help

[coachtjm]

We are getting ready to set up a new eco cube....ie small solana...as soon as a replacement gets here...the first one arrived shattered...

My question is can you all tell me how you have your filtration setup?
are you running liverock instead of the bioballs?

basically how / what do you have in your chambers...for now I will be running the stock skimmer was hoping to do a sapphire but they appear to be defunct....thanks

[tess&ellie]

Hi I have a 25 gal running now for only 4 months I started using the bioballs but after 2 months took them out and replaced them with PURA Complete and ALGONE then I fill the rest of the chamber with fiber filter. I am a heavy feeder I have all types of corals Carper anomone 2 clown fish and all are doing well. I do change the water every week 10% of so but i have found with the fiber filter it keeps the nitrats down and it is very easy to see if they are dirty. I am new to saltwater fish but old hat at fresh water. I am also running the stock skimmer to be honest I did not think of replacing it but I am open to all information you have on this system as i said i am new and trying different things to keep my system clean and happy.

Chris

[garrick]

I'm running zeoliths (Brightwell Aquatics) in the second chamber.
In the third chamber I have just the return and a sack of activated carbon.
You might want to look at the Tunze Nanodoc skimmer if you decide to upgrade. I haven't tried to wedge it into the skimmer chamber, but I suspect it would fit there.
I'm also running the 25 gallon ecocube.

[Belamywamy]

in my old 24 gal, instead of the bioballs, i used lots of live rock and a sack of carbon. everything worked out great and all the corals and fish did very well.

[rreed]

in my old 24 gal, instead of the bioballs, i used lots of live rock and a sack of carbon. everything worked out great and all the corals and fish did very well.

I have the Tunze 9002 Skimmer in my first chamber on my solana. Second chamber I have the bottom drip plate in to hold small seeded live rock an have a cryptic zone there. Sponges grow loving the dark area back there and it offers a great balance with a sumpless tank. Creates a very stable enviroment!

[coachtjm]

so is the consensus get rid of bioballs first?

how does this sound?
filter floss then chemipure then liverock in the bioball chamber?

[garrick]

Sounds good to me. I was never a fan of filter floss. Maybe a poly-filter of some kind? They have big sheets you can cut to fit the top of the grate.

[garrick]

Whatever you do, good luck. It's an awesome tank.

[MVlk]

I doubt you will find many who do not advocate ditching the bioballs first. Too easy for them to start causing issues. Same with sponges and pads, but they can be a necessary evil and are fine if cleaned regularly.

I got some dense padding to put in the small overflow chamber. Without a pad there, the noise is very loud. I clean or replace that pad weekly. The stock pad clogged within a few days and was a pain to keep up with.

Before adding a sump to mine, I had the second chamber setup as a refugium / reactor. From top to bottom it was:

- Filter floss sitting on top of the black divider. Mainly for micro bubble trapping. Replaced at least once a week
- Cheato lit by a JBJ Nano Light
- A sandwhich of a Purigen and Chemi Pure bags zip tied to the bottom divider to keep them from moving around.

This worked very well for me for 5+ months till I had the sump running and moved all that stuff into it. More details on this can be found in my homepage.

Good luck! They are nice tanks.

[demeyer2]

In my 25 Gallon Solana I have a fluval sponge in the overflow box, Tunze 9002 in the first chamber, chemi-pure pure above the separator in the second chamber with chaeto below it being lit by a JBJ Nano Glo and my ATO sensor in the third chamber with the stock return pump.