Refugium Setup in a Biocube 14?

Hey everyone! In the past month or so I've had an ongoing cyano/hair algae problem in my Biocube 14. My Xenia, zoas, and mushrooms are doing just fine as well as my two false percs sixline wrasse, cleaner and peppermint shrimps. However, despite the fact that I keep using chemiclean and doing water tests (results of which seem normal) the problem still persists. I'm using the standard Biocube setup with skimmer but I am lacking a uv sterilizer and refugium. I'm interested in a refugium and since its my first one, Im wondering if you guys had any suggestions for setup or modifications.
If its possible, I would like to keep the refugium on the ******** of the biocube, maybe using the middle compartment? I dont have a ton of room for a separate tank altogether.
Thanks in advance for all your help!
 

chain

Member
Im not very familiar with the 14 gallon; however that being said anything is possible. This is what I would do; however alot of people will have other opinions and most will probably be better then mine. The issue with the refugium is the light source you will need to grow the cheato and where to put that light source. I would scratch a small square of paint off the back and buy a magnetic refugium light which will attach over this scratched off area. This will allow light to penetrate into the middle chamber to grow the macroalgae. I can't link a specific site as to avoid issues here on the forum, but you can google 'magnetic refugium light' and you can find what you are looking for. The only real mod you will need to do is scratch the paint off the back just enough to attach the light and allow it to shine. Be warned it seems you would probably lose the surface skimming ability by using the middle chamber as a refugium and it might not be worth that.
 

btldreef

Moderator
I have a refugium setup in my middle chamber in the back of my 14G BioCube stuffed with Chaeto. I have a little LED strip in there for light that I had to mod in to work properly. I think they make a waterproof LED light for nano refugiums now, but not sure.
The one thing you have to be careful of is getting too much flow from the first chamber, through the middle, and into the third where the return pump is, if you get too much flow, the chaeto will break apart and clog your return pump.
 
Sounds great! Would you guys reccommend a combination of live rock and chaeto in the refugium? I also read about potentially having the bioballs in there as well (which are in a plastic bag below my tank at the moment). Would having some sort of pad blocking/slowing the flow output from the first chamber help out the "non-clogging" process? That's what I'm thinking.
On another note, what is the price range for those magnetic LEDs? Money don't grow on trees, haha. Thanks for all the help!
 

btldreef

Moderator
I don't have live rock in mine because it was collecting detritus and causing a spike in nitrates. I'm not sure how much the LED's cost.
 

blackjacktang

Active Member
I have an IN-Tank refugium in my 28g reef. It has live rock, deep sand, and chaeto in it. But it is proboly too big for a 14g
 

chain

Member
The Magnetic LED runs from anywhere around $50-65 depending on the place you purchase it from. But as BTL said you could opt to use completely submersible lighting and it would probably be cheaper. Im not for sure on the price of it but im sure BTL would be glad to help you there. The magnetic light is specifically made for the JBJ 28 gallon, although it will work just fine with any of the biocube systems. You could throw some live rock rubble in there (just a little bit) to provide some safety for any pods if you were planning on keeping any, but truthfully the compartment is so small any live rock you place back there really isn't going to help with filtering. The live rock in the main display (provided you have enough) will handle the filtering with no issues. Im not entirely versed in the setup of the back section of the biocubes so im not sure if you can even begin to incorporate any kind of a sand bed back there, but if it is possible, a deep sand bed would definitely be beneficial for your system as a whole. But as I said im not sure how the baffles are setup back there so it might not be a possibility.
 

btldreef

Moderator
You can't put sand in the back of them, it clogs everything, been there, wasn't fun.
The submersible LED's I think are $25, but I could be completely off on this.
 
I swear I already posted something.... but anyway thanks for all the advice. I guess I'll go with no sand or live rock, just chaeto, and the submersible LED to go along with it, if I can find one. Also I've heard that chaeto is one of those really fast growing algaes, right? So I'm assuming that's going to be another part of the maintenance process.....
 

chain

Member
It does grow fairly quickly compared to alot of others; however its not something thats going to take alot of work to keep in check. The more nutrients in your system the faster it is going to grow as it takes these in and uses them. All you have to do is trim it back every few weeks or as needed. I just throw my excess cheato away; however if there is a demand for it in your area then you might be able to get some type of credit for it. I highly doubt it, but I have seen LFS give credit for macro because there was such a high demand in that area.
 

blackjacktang

Active Member
I live neer Denver so there is alot of people in the hobby. My LFS buys chaeto for around $2.50 for a baseball size.
$5 for a small stock of xenia.
 
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