Got Dem Chamber Two Blues

Yesterday I decided to do something about chamber two. For other BioCube owners out there, this may be familiar.

I had a Tunze 9002 with an InTank collection cup that had mixed success over a year of different experiments with water height and positioning, but I have given up on it. I think a skimmer is something that really needs perfectly constant water height and a fraction of an inch difference can cause a problem with the Tunze. I do my best to fight evaporation with RO (manual top-off) but the Tunze itself is part of the problem; once it pulls up some dark tea colored water, it's already affecting the water height and I can't babysit this thing 5 times a day to make sure all of its needs are met.

I have also been battling some nuisance algae for the better part of a year. It's not at plague proportions (some may disagree) but it is unsightly and forms a mat on my sand. Some of it is hair algae, some film, and most is one type of Cyano or another - green, mostly.

This mod is something that I've been considering for at least 2 years now - basically ever since this post. The container that I had scrounged to grow chaetomorpha next to the Tunze has served me well for many years and has grown literally pounds and pounds of chaeto, but it's time to upgrade! And by upgrade I mean Upgrayedd:

Now that the Tunze is out of the picture, almost the whole volume of chamber two is available for chaeto growth. This is hopefully the solution to my nuisance algae problem (along with partial water changes - PWCs).

Here is the plan. I threw this together in Visio since I am not proficient with any sort of 3d modelling CAD or SketchUp.

This is to be an insert that takes up all of the usable space within chamber 2, and has a large space for growing chaetomorpha. It should double or triple the current refugium volume and will be much easier to clean since the whole thing lifts out. It will also serve as a resting point for the filter pad that collects particulate as it flows over the first chamber wall.

I went to TAP plastics and got all of this material (including cutting) for about 15 bucks. That's a hell of a deal. I also picked up a syringe applicator and some acrylic cement. The guys at TAP were quick and I left with the materials, and then assembled them tonight. They are currently curing in the garage, and I'll post pics soon.