Need advice on filtering

[New hobbyist]

Ok so yes I'm brand new at this and probably just research and worry too much. I have a biocube 29 that is very established and doing great. All water parameters are perfect. I have run across some research that said that bio balls are not good for filtering. Then I ran across something that said to replace the bioballs with cheatomorphia algae. I do not have a sump so this would be in the back of the aquarium in one of the filter compartments with some live rock at the bottom. Is this a good idea? Or since it's doing great do I just need to leave it alone. I love the idea of the algae and live rock being natural!!! Here is a picture of the concept that I ran across.

 

[Sniperhank]

If you have 1 lbs per gallon of rock, you won't need to add the rubble at the bottom. If you are trying to grow macro algae to assist with nutrient control, you want as much room as possible for the potential algae growth.
Using macro algae, refugiums, and algae turf scrubbers are good ways of assisting with nutrient management.

 

[54seaweed]

with such a very small compartment to put any macro 1 it most likely wont survive as it will decompose as it is bundled up in the small box and this can cause issues with water quality , macro needs to be able to tumble to be effective for nutrient removal also no light would be another factor ,

macro needs light to grow this allows you to trim off the ends as it grows , your macro acts like a sponge removing nutrients , frequent trimmings will both help remove nutrients and also encourage new growth .

even though I run a sump I do run hobs I keep them packed with rubble rock the only reason I run them is extra circulation they really are not needed for my set up .

 

[Sniperhank]

There have been a handful of members in the past that have modified the compartments in the past so that they could grow macro algae. Hopefully someone with experience will chime in, but it not I'm sure it is something that can be looked up easily. There is a big following of people who make modifications to biocubes.

 

[New hobbyist]

Thank you all very much. I hope somebody that has done this does chime in. As for the light issue I also found this.

 

[skrapeNKA]

If you're just looking to replace the bio-balls with something, have you considered SeaChem Matrix? It was recommended by a local reef store to the wife and she replaced a lot of the media in her Fluval Evo mini-reef tank with it.

 

[New hobbyist]

I will check that out. Thank you