14 Biocube....

Mine has been up for about 5 months after a reset..some little tricks.
If you are going to go fully stock system, agreed, ditch the bioballs. The BC carbon filter pad that goes in chamber 1 is inadequate given the flow in chamber 1. When I first started the BC without modifications, I added a bag of carbon and some filter floss to that second chamber...carbon on the bottom, floss on top of the grate. That gave me a little more agitation and better captured any of the larger particles prior to the water going through the carbon.
Now, when I reset the tank, I did some modifications based on a lot of extra research and these were relatively simple.
1. I took out the false floors in both chambers 1 and 2. This opened up chamber 1 more for a heater and I bought and use a media basket in Chamber 2.
2. I changed out the stock pump to a Mini-jet 900. This increased the flow from the return which enabled me to keep some higher end corals. I also added a Koralia Nano 240 powerhead to the display area to increase flow.
3. Stock lighting will work for low to middle light requiring corals. I made the choice to upgrade the lighting using a retrofit kit which increased the light t0 72Watts vice the stock 48 so I could keep some of the higher light requiring corals...eventually.
I don't have either a protein skimmer or anything else and all is running well. I do weekly water changes which seems to allow all parameters to remain steady.
A couple of shots of the tank ...the first is on Day 17 and the second was taken the other night, 5 months into it.