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Originally Posted by mikellini  I want to switch out the stock return pump for a number of reasons...
1. The stock pump is quite noisy. |
I have a Bio-Cube 14, and a Bio-Cube 29, I do not find it noisy. I bought an 8 for my wife's neice and it is sitting on her her nightstand, I have not heard any complaints yet. Perhaps you are very sensitive to noise, or maybe it is not sitting properly...causing vibration or flutter?
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2. I've heard from many others that it is unreliable and has failed at inopportune times.
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I just phoned my
LFS buddy and asked him about this. He said he must have sold over 100 Bio-Cube 8's and have not had a single defective pump. He is a good friend and have no reason to lie. He did say that he had a lot of problems with Cube Master's pumps failing.
One possible scenario that I can see is perhaps some people got sand or other abrasives into the pump chamber.
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3. The display in this little tank is roughly 8x10x10, and adding a powerhead would greatly intrude on the all-in-one look of this nano (even a Koralia nano, I've seen it done in a few pictures).
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I understand, the concern that I would have is the increase suction forces through the intake slots. Secondary concerns would be the compromise of filtration with excessive flow through the chambers.
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4. Right now, I haven't decided on filtration in the back chambers. I have removed the bioballs and haven't yet used the stock filter cartridge. I'm thinking about possible making a small refugium out of the second chamber, but I may just put a bag of chemipure elite or some other such adsorbant in there. Alternatively, I could either make of buy a protein skimmer to go in that chamber. Others have put 2x2 chunks of LR in there for added filtration, so that may be an option as well. But in any case, I'm not sure an increase of 60-100 gph of flow through the rear chambers will have an adverse effect....
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It is not just the flowrate increase, as that is factored into the entire volume of the Bio-Cube, but the turnover ratio in that small compressed area of the chamber.
Will pods and other things tolerate such flow.
Will water have enough contact time with certain filtration media?
Will excessive particulates make it's way into the pump chamber, causing mechanical failure? (Hmmmmm..........maybe that brings us back to your point 2.
