14g Oceanic Biocube mod help

Sorry all - I'm on a roll today.

After doing some research I decided to remove the bio-balls from the Biocube chamber to avoid giving nitrates a place to build up. I have plenty or LR and LS to take care of biological filtration. The problem is, when you remove the bio-balls the water now has nothing to trickle on to and free falls 6-7" to the bottom of the chamber. Its now annoyingly NOISY!!!! Any suggestions on what i could put in the chamber in place of the bio-balls that would break-up the free falling water but not acumulate Nitrates?

 

For my biocube 29, i just filled up the water all the way in the filter area, ignoring the max sign indigator.
So there is no pee noise any more

 

Rubble rock

 

a small piece of filter floss but you have to remember to change it

 

those rubble rock builds up nitrate just like bio-balls I hear.

 

Nope, if they are submerged they act just like the LR in your tank.

 

I've read the same thing but don't understand how that could be?

Mkizla - I like your suggestion of adding additional water, as that would surely solve the problem, but wouldn't you lose the benefit of skimming and aeration without givung the water a place to tumble? It seems like that would create a closed type system? I could be way off-line with that thinking so someone please correct me if I'm wrong

 

Do you lose any aeration and skimming benefit if you fill the tank to the point needed to fill the chamber to have the LR rubble submerged?

 

100% correct. They won't be submerged and so will have to be cleaned, unless, you have the pre-filter tray with filter media in it. Here is another alternative that I have in the middle chamber of my 14 gal. Biocube; http://shop.mediabaskets.com/product.sc?categoryId=15&productId=10 In the top I have filter media, in the second I have ceramic and in the botom (submerged) I use the small bag of Chemi-pure elite.

 

Live Rock houses anerobic bacteria which can break down the nitrates in nitrogen, where bio-balls can only break down ammonia to nitrates.