An idea for using some bioballs...

I have a breeder box, some suction cups for air hoses and such, and some bioballs. I use an aquaclear 110 on my 75 gallon tank, and I was thinking about suctioning the breeder to a wall of the aquarium where water circulation is high and filling the breeder with bioballs. Does anyone see any issues with this? I was thinking that it might add some type of extra filtration to my tank. I don't forsee any issues myself, but I figured throwing it out there to our awesome community couldn't hurt.
Thanks for any feedback!

 

Good morning,

Adding the bio balls to the breeder box will give you more surface area for beneficial bacteria.


Ken

 

Sounds like it'll work.

 

That's a great idea!

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

 

You could even attach it below the aquaclear's output. It would be an elegant way to guarantee flow through the breeder box and dampen the current into the tank.

 

You could even attach it below the aquaclear's output. It would be an elegant way to guarantee flow through the breeder box and dampen the current into the tank.

I thought that was the plan?

 

Well it says "where circulation is high." I guess it's pretty obvious, but not specifically stated.

 

thank you That crazy fish man gives me a idea for my filter

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, I really do appreciate it. I will try and get some pictures up ASAP of not only my DIY breeder box filter, but of my tank which has just been officially finished aquascaping and plant-wise. To clarify, putting it under the output was not my original plan, but it sounds like a good idea. The filter (if you look at the tank from the front) is in the upper left hand corner on the back wall, and I had orignally placed the breeder box on the left-hand wall, as my filter's output creates a strong circulation throughout that left hand corner. After some thought and fiddling, the bredder box is now directly underneath the filter, and it does receive more flow (it seems). However, I may have to add an additional suction cup to the contraption, as the strong downward flow from the output seems to dislodge the breeder box every so often. On the overall, I think that this has been another successful, useful (and cheap I might add) DIY project. Thanks for the help guys!

 

Ahhh and so I've run into a problem. Two words: algae bloom. High lighting + breeder box full of bioballs in direct light for 12 hours a day... I need to find either a breeder box that hangs on the back of the tank or find a way to cover it.

 

great idea, what about using a bit of smoked plexiglass to cover it? or just a white plastic food container lid or something similar.

 

That could work, only I have no smoked plexiglass. should I be trying to block out the light completely?

 

I wouldn't think it would really matter but depending on what you want it to do....

If you let light in algae will grow, now hear me out, algae can be great at removing nitrogen and other nutrients in the water. If it is kept in check than it can be a benefit for the tank.

If you only want to add to the bio mass then I would keep the light to a minimum because the algae is a very prolific organism and blocking out a lot of the light will help to keep it at bay.

 

I took the breeder box out, there were a ton of little diatoms in the box and even with the box gone there are still a lot suspended in the water, so I think I need to plan it out a little better before I go putting it back in. Hoping all the algae goes away in a few days :/