Marina HOB Breeders

[Mr. F]

I started using these about 6 months ago after being given an extra small one by a friend. Now I have 3, one in each size, and two of them are home to shrimp. I've also heard of people using them for drip acclimation-- which I did for the first time a few nights ago. It works very nicely, but in the large one you end up adding a lot of foreign water, because its base has a pretty large area.

But I was wondering, besides isolation, what are some other good uses of these things? What about using them as a small emersed planter? Or even a sort of mini "sump"? Anyone tried something like this?

[seaj]

I love these things! I've seen them used as HOB refugiums when a light is placed on top. If you could keep out babies, you could then freely remove plants. Finnex has a similar item, as well as options for lights and a water pump instead of using air. I like the idea of using it as a planter for emersed plants, if you can situate the box in a well lit area. You could probably fill up the box of with some kind of filter media to anchor plants roots to provide additional surface area for bacteria to grow. I would like to use them as an air driven HOB filter, but I don't think it's possible to get enough flow through the box with the included intake tube. With the large box, and the included dividers, you could put in lots of different kinds of media in there. I like to put in foam HMF style to provide a nice grazing spot for the shrimp. I'm using a cut up AquaClear 70 foam insert right now. The pore size allows babies to freely move through the foam. I don't like that, so I plan on switching to a finer foam to contain babies in the box. I've had issues with the included grates getting clogged, so the foam is also like a giant strainer to keep everything inside, without impeding flow.

 

[Mr. F]

I love these things! I've seen them used as HOB refugiums when a light is placed on top. If you could keep out babies, you could then freely remove plants. Finnex has a similar item, as well as options for lights and a water pump instead of using air. I like the idea of using it as a planter for emersed plants, if you can situate the box in a well lit area. You could probably fill up the box of with some kind of filter media to anchor plants roots to provide additional surface area for bacteria to grow. I would like to use them as an air driven HOB filter, but I don't think it's possible to get enough flow through the box with the included intake tube. With the large box, and the included dividers, you could put in lots of different kinds of media in there. I like to put in foam HMF style to provide a nice grazing spot for the shrimp. I'm using a cut up AquaClear 70 foam insert right now. The pore size allows babies to freely move through the foam. I don't like that, so I plan on switching to a finer foam to contain babies in the box. I've had issues with the included grates getting clogged, so the foam is also like a giant strainer to keep everything inside, without impeding flow.

 

I don't think the flow would be an issue with a large enough air pump, shrimp don't need a HOB filter anyway. It usually ends up causing too much current.

I use the foam sleeves for the fluval edge filter to cover the intake. They're very fine, no babies will go thru. There are 3 packs on Amazon for like $6. Then I put a small piece of foam in between the tube and the hose.

I was also thinking of modifying the included grates with a media bag or replacing it with plexi in order to do the sump idea. But I am keeping shrimp in there now, so I probably need some dense foam to divide my large one.

[seaj]

To increase flow, more air can be used, though it will make a gurgling noise. The noise also increases when the water level in the main tank gets lower, and flow will decrease.

 

I've had best results when I put the intake tube of the marina box down the outflow tube of a sponge filter. I use the 3 inch sponge filters from Swiss Tropicals. The tubes fit together nicely. Their airline tubes have a built in diffuser which makes smaller bubbles. The smaller bubbles increase flow, and make operation barely audible while the sponge keeps out babies. I've measured the flow at 7 gallons an hour, though at the time the water level was 3 inches below the top of the the tank, and it further decreased as water was pumped out. The sponge filter + breeder box intake tube makes removing tank water easier for my 10 gallon tank which is only 4 inches above the floor.

[Vpier]

Here is way to make the marina silent. No gurgling, its near the bottom of the page

 

 

[ShrimpP]

Here, you can link to the specific posts (top right of the posts, click "Share this post" (3 connected dots symbol)

 

[Vpier]

1 minute ago, ShrimpP said:

Here, you can link to the specific posts (top of the posts, click "Share this post" (3 connected dots symbol)

 

thanks shrimple, had no idea about the three dots.