Biocube 29 mod idea

Downsized my 40B to the coralife BC29. I'm loving it so far! Fish seem to be adjusting great.
I just have the stock pump running at the moment. I'm realizing I will need to add another powerhead. I love the sleek look of the BC with no wires in the tank. So..... My idea was to somehow add another pump into where the return pump is and cut a hole into the wall to put one of those flexible output hoses in. That way I could angle the flow.
Would this idea work? Of course I thought of this after its full of water and livestock.
Does anyone have any other ideas?? I was thinking about the MP 10 but they are so expensive.
For now I can put in my koralia knock offs, but they are big and ugly!
Any thoughts would be great!!

 

Im sure you could make it work, though the chamber may be a bit small to fit 2 pumps. You may want to consider changing the stock pump for something a bit more powerful and just splitting the output. Of course, it will be very difficult to make any mods with the tank full of inhabitants.

I have an mp10 in mine and it is AWESOME. You can often find them on Craigslist for a better price as long as you are ok with something slightly used.

You could also consider an external pump that would draw water out of the last chamber, pump it behind the tank and back to a return on the right side...just another thought. Im not sure how easy that would be but may be a better bet with the tank already full. You could easily turn that same idea into a sump too. Could use an inline pump like this: http://www.marinedepot.com/Cobalt_A...umps-Cobalt_Aquatics-3C00332-FIWPSBUF-vi.html

 

I didn't think of splitting the output! Good idea! I had a larger pump, but it's too big for the chamber
What gph would you recommend?

 

I guess that depends on what you are trying to keep in that tank and what powerhead you want to get as well. I've seen reef tanks have a turnover rate of anywhere from 30x all the way up to 100x (which maybe a little excessive imo) but that's what I have seen and heard.

 

I have my stock output and 1 mp10 at 50% power (reef crest mode) on mine and it does a nice job of keeping, softies, LPS, and SPS. That puts me around 14x-38x (min/max) or an average of about 26x.

Random flow is definitely ideal, so if you do decide to run another output you may want to look into adding a hydor flo onto the end of it.

As I mentioned, if you can't fit a larger pump into the same space as the stock, you may want to just run a U-tube out of the chamber, down to an external pump and back up to the 1st chamber where you can fit a return for the other side of the tank. I don't know what size pump you will be able to fit because you will need some room around it to allow for water to actually flow to the intake.

 

Did some more digging and realized that rather than rerouting all the way to the other side of the tank for a 2nd return, you could increase the pump size and just use a Y and some lockline to create a 2nd return that you can point in another direction. Might be your best bet as you wouldn't need to drill any extra holes, etc for another return.

 

So I'm looking at the eheim compact pump 5000. It has a gph of 1320. I'm thinking of adding a split loc line on the inside of tank so I can point water in different directions


Would this be too much flow for theBC29?

 

The flow would be fine, I believe that pump is actually adjustable, but are you sure it will fit in the back chamber? I looks like it would be too big to me...

 

Yes it's only about 3"x5"! Do you think I would need additional powerheads?