32 BioCube Refugium - Stock Media Basket

[Flexin]

I personally like the shape of my biocube. So any modification I make, I want to keep the original shape and cover. As time went on a refugium seemed like a good idea to manage my nitrates. As a result, I made a refugium out of the following:

• Stock media basket
• Small zip ties
• Grow light
• Duct tape.
• 3M stick hanger

To get started, light placement and masking the second chamber:

• First thing I did was determine where I wanted the light. Placing the unmodified media basket in the 2nd chamber, I could determine proper placement of the light so it would shine into the bottom chamber of the media basket.
• I used two looped zip ties to get the light at the height I wanted (one inside the other). Place the 3M hanger on the outside glass towards the top, hang the first zip tie and adjust accordingly.
• Mark where the light would be and use the duct tape to cover the rest of the second chamber (not the entire back tank). I did this because I don't like the extra light glowing in the room at night. But I also don;t want to cover my 3rd chamber since I use an auto topoff (Smart ATO)
• Add a piece of tape to the bottom of the light to hold it in place

Next the media basket. I took egg crate (that amazing material) cut three panels to fit the bottom of the media basket so it's enclosed and will hold my chaeto. Get the tabs as close as you can to the cross tab, but they don't need to be flat. The small tabs will help keep the panels in place within the media basket. Keep in mind, the basket already fits snug in the 2nd chamber, so all the panels will fit inside the basket. Also, we are allowing one panel to swing open to remove the extra chaeto.

In the picture:

• The yellow zip ties hold the bottom panel in place.
• The red ones hold the back panel in place.
• The left and right side of the media basket have zip ties in the same place
• The panel at the top of the picture is held by one green zip tie on each side of the basket. This will allow the bottom of the front panel to swing up so you can remove the chaeto as it grows (remember to leave some chaeto and only remove some during maintenance. Leave some in there so it can continue to filter your water but don't worry, it will grow back fast
• The small zip tie heads will allow the basket to slip back in the second chamber. If the zip ties are too large, they may catch. Also, I just used different colors to help illustrate the process.
• I found allowing the door panel to swing up will avoid it catching on the inside wall of the 2nd chamber.
• The zip ties just need to be snug, not too tight. This allows the panels to move up and down on the rungs of the media basket for small adjustments.
• The zip tie on the top of the panel door is two rungs in to ensure the top of the panel does not catch on the inside wall of the 2nd chamber. The inside wall of the chamber has dot the size of a silver dollar that sits out so positioning the panels as described above will allow the basket not to get stuck.

The last picture is showing the panel swinging open to remove the algae.

I remove some every two weeks when performing water changes and have been very happy with the results.

I hope this is helpful and sorry it took so long to post. Happy Reefing!!!

 

[Ranjib]

Neat . I have a 29G and thinking of adding a fuge, this will be useful. Thanks for sharing

 

[BestMomEver]

That’s cool! FWIW, Intank offers a very nice fuge that sits down in the 2nd compartment either alone or next to their media basket.

 

[Flexin]

Oh yes, those baskets look so sharp. I looked at them and honestly, they look so good I refuse to not see them, lol. And for 90 bucks, you can put that into your new light instead