nano cube questions

I have 2 questions. First, I tried to put a maxi jet 1200 in the back of the cube. Wouldnt fit in the last pump chamber, so I had to put it in the first portion. The stock hose is also too short and the pump is about 2 inches off the floor. Do I need the return nozzle to be all the way down, under the false floors, or can the pump be up a few inches in the chamber. Is there a problem having such high returns in chamber 1 instead of the far right chamber. Lastly, The stock media basket seems like it lets alot of water go around it. All that non-filtered water just gets pumped back into the tank. Has anyone else noticed this, or does it not matter? Eventually the water will all cycle past the filter media, it just doesnt catch the entire flow at once.

 

The only problem I see is you may get some area with no flow on the side were the pump should go.Having it raised up off the bottom shouldn't be an issue as long as its fully submerged. I would use the 1200 as a powerhead inside the tank and get a smaller pump to go in the correct chamber.

 

ive noticed that the water flows around the carbon filter -- ive pretty much removed the false bottoms, replaced with a few lg. lava rock pieces -- i have two ph's one facing the bottom back of the tank and the other pointed down into the middle, the return flow s pointed up for surface agitation and so far everything in my tank seems pretty happy (fingers x'ed) i just do frequent 5g wc's and everything stays normal

 

FYI Lava rock is quite bad for saltwater, contains lots of minerals to leech into the water.

 

thats what i have heard but at the same time my LFS recommended it for me as a cheap alternative to buying LR. I have a stone crab living in the back of my biocube and he seems happy back there, and everything in the tank has been fine. I've had the rock in the tank for 3-4months?

Other than silica what minerals would it leach in to the system? Has there been any tests on this? I would imagine PVC would be worse for a tank then using lava rock :-/

"Volcanic rocks are among the most common rock types on Earth's surface, particularly in the oceans"
Quote from Wikipedia

 

There are two types of "lava" rock. The first is volcanic in origin and is very bad for reefs. The second, is light in weight and found at LFS. It is a by-product of smelting. Due to the high temps the "lava" rock impurities that can leach into the water are baked out of this material. This is not to say that all man-made lava rock is the same, however, some can be used as base rock with no ill effects.

Having said all that... I agree that if you don't know 100%, don't do it.
Volcanic lava rock would probably be high in concentrations of sulphur and phosphourous.It is also true that volcanic rocks are found all over the Earths oceans but there dissolved materials are mixing with billions of gallons of water dilluting them significantly. Hardly comparable to the closed system that is a fish tank.

 

because we do not know the composition of the lava rock. who knows what metals and minerals you are leeching into the tank could be anything from copper, zinc, magnesium, and iron and who knows what else.

Its true what you say about the earths surface and the ocean depths, but the ocean is also like 1000000 billion gallons to the tenth power in water volume, the ocean also has the strongest form of skimming not to mention a biosystem that can handle huge alot. The ocean can break down and turn that rock into what it is today but that took millions of years to do. your reef tank is a much smaller biosystem that may not be able to handle amounts of those elements found in your rock that could be leeching into the water. This wont just show up randomly but through testing of particular metals you may see you have some harmful ones building up. Ive read a lot of bad stories and a general consensus about lava rock typically being a no in the reef tank.

But its your tank and your choice. Just trying to offer a helpful tip you may have been unaware of the lava rock.

 

so you think i should swap it out for a ugly but healthy piece of LR at my LFS? Would probably be a lot better to do it that way regardless of the pourousness of the rock

 

I would! Better to be safe then sorry. I just want to apologize to the o.p. for getting off topic.Now back to your regularly scheduled program.lol;D;D;D

 

omw to LFS to pick up a piece of live rock that hopefully will fit in a 3"x8" space in the back of my biocube, and out with the lava rock -- this may be why my fighting conch hasn't been himself lately? but everything else seems okay, even ceriths snails and my chalice is doing well