The Oceanic Bio Cube

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J Migidy

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
57
I don't have any experience with an all in one aquarium set up. I've seen the Marineland Eclipes units in the past but never picked one up. I'm thinking about getting an additional smaller aquarium for the bedroom but I'm a little torn. Oceanic came out with the Bio Cubes and they seem like nice set ups. They even have built in lunar lighting. I'm not sure about the bio in the bio cube? They lack a wheel like Marineland but they use something else. Does anyone have an opinion on the Oceanic Bio Cube or any hands on experience? :idea: :?: :idea: :?:
 
I've never used one, but we got one in a while back here at the store I work for. I have seen it out of the box and t looks awesome. It does lack a Biowheel, but is MUCH nicer than the Eclipse setups... with the price tag to match. :p The filter is built into a box at the back of the tank, with a sponge for mechanical media and bioballs for bio media. There is a submersible pump that is included that fits in the filter box to pump the water through the media. As far as lighting goes, there is no comparison between the Eclipse and Biocube. The Eclipse includes a NO flourescent tube, and the Biocube has fan cooled CF lighting (wattage depends on tank size), plus the moonlight. If you want a planted tank, there would definitely be enough wattage in the Oceanic setup. The Eclipse setups also use plastic tanks (except for the "show" package) and the Biocubes are glass. That's pretty much all the differences I can think of. HTH. :D
 
No personal experience, but there are actaully a few companies out there making the nano style all in one tanks. I have seen them primarily used for Nano SW setups, but the can go either way.

The reason there is no wheel is that in the SW world bio wheels are generally forwned upon as they produce more nitrates than desired. This is why you do not see to many eclipse systems being used for SW at least not with the bio wheel intact.

Overall they all seem like nice little systems that come with enough lighting and filtration that will allow someone to setup a nice lightly stocked SW nano reef or FW nano planted tank.

If you do a search you will see the different varieties and I believe they now come from as small as 8g up to 24g. I think the nano cube was the original. For $110-120 they seem like a pretty good deal considering just setting up a 10-15g tank would cost all of that with the equipment and probably not as good of lighting.

HTH,
 
Oceanic Biocube

I actually was thinking of getting one of these as a second tank, however I read one post where one cracked right down the seem and two others leaking.

Any opinions on this.
 
Re: Oceanic Biocube

Mike469 said:
I actually was thinking of getting one of these as a second tank, however I read one post where one cracked right down the seem and two others leaking.

Any opinions on this.

I'm looking into this as a second tank as well. The Oceanic Bio Cubes are made with glass not acrylic like some other cubes. I think they have a lifetime warranty on the glass craftmanship. I know that most acrylic cubes have the same deal. Oceanic is known for making good stuff but I'm still gathering information on this so I don't know for sure. I think I'm more concerned about the lack of a bio wheel. According to Severum bio cubes use bio balls instead. Anymore information on these would be helpful :)
 
Bio-wheel

I really would not get to hung up on the biowheel. I have not personaly seem the back of the unit but I am sure the others have and can confirm.

You could layer the filtration system to your liking if room provides. Such as the way the AC HOB are. 1st layer sponge, 2nd floss/carbon, 3rd bio-media etc. I am sure there is room for this.
 
It's a way better filtration system than the Eclipse IMO, but it is also much more expensive. The Biocubes come in (I think) 8g, 14g, and 29g. The one I saw was the 29g and it runs about $400 in an LFS. It costs more than the JBJ Nanocube or the Current USA nano as far as I know, although both those brands are also made of glass. It's only the Eclipse that is made of plastic.

Mike469- I think I saw the post to which you are referring. Didn't that OP have problems with the Current USA brand? I didn't recall that it was the Oceanic. At any rate, I thought I heard that most of the problems were with the early nano models, and that the manufacturers have since decided to use thicker glass- I could be wrong about that though. I think the Oceanic brand is relatively new and hasn't been on the market as long as the other brands.
 
It is less than half that price now on Ebay.

That may have been the thread, I am not sure.
 
I just got a 29 gallon Bio Cube and am now in the middle of "cycling" the tank to try and make it habitable. This is my first try without undergravel and/or outside power filters and so far I am not impressed. The tank has been up now for almost three weeks and I still have cloudy water, ammonia too high and not sure what is happening with the "bio balls" that are the middle part of the filtering mechanism at the back of the tank (according to the instructions, that is where all of the "good" bacteria is supposed to be forming). The other problem I am having is when the carbon filter cartridge (1st stage filter) is inserted all the way to the bottom of its slot, it decreases water flow so much that either the pump at the other end does not get enough water and starts hissing air or you have to fill the tank so full that water is literally going over the edge directly into the pump resevoir and bypassing the carbon filter! And that's with a clean filter insert-once it starts getting dirty, water flow is restricted even further. I know I should be patient, but I do not remember ever having to wait this long before water in one of my tanks is ready for fish. If anyone else has some hands on experience with the Bio Cube, any advice for a new user would be greatly appreciated!
 
Personally, I wouldn't put out that much for an all-in-one setup. You can put together a better system for the same (or possibly less) amount of cash, and don't have to worry about finding replacement parts after they change something in a couple years.
 
with a setup like those I often wonder about how easy the parts and necessaties are to get.....around here you can get an eclipse but have to order any thing ya need for them
 
My Nanocube experience

I had just purchased a 24 gallon nanocube about a month ago. My first tank was (and still is) a 6 gallon eclipse.

The reason why I was interested in the 24 gal nanocube was because of the compactness. I live in a smallish dorm room (moving to a bigger one in a month) in graduate school but still wanted to have fish (2 figure 8 puffers and a molly in the nanocube and a dwarf puffer and a pygmy catfish in my 6 gal eclipse). Being a cube, it does not take up as much space as a standard long 24 gall tank. I also was attracted to the JBJ stand that is made for it (big regret, will get to later).

I liked (and still like) the eclipse and can't say I really have had any real problems with it. Being acrylic it is more prone to scratches but also much lighter (all the standard pros/cons of glass versus acrylic). The filtration system is relatively sufficient on the Eclipse but does not give you many options for filtration media. I also began to hear a lot of people say that they just take their boiwheel out because they feel it doesn't do enough good and generates tons of nitrates. Otherwise the filtration on the eclipse is decent. I like the fact that the filter design on the Eclipse is overflow proof. The lighting however is pretty insufficient. You can really only grow low light level plants. For the price, it is a good deal (find a good deal though, for God's sake, some places sell Eclipses for waaaay to much. Dr. Fosters is good).

As far as the nanocube, I was most interested in the fact that I could get a larger tank that was all in one. I have to say I like the design of the nanocube, at the very least in its uniqueness. You do lose some swimming room (volume) as the back compartment where the filter is housed probably occupies around 4 gallons, but of course you still have 24 gallons of water in your system. The back compartment is seperated into through compartments. Water flows into the first compartment from a grating and then must pass vertically through two sponges. At the bottom of that compartment is a slit where water can flow into the next compartment (chemical/biological) where the water must flow up to another slit where it runs over into the compartment where the pump pumps back into the main area of the tank. As Ron alluded to, you have to be careful with the filtration system, it can get backed up. I learned this the hard way, at least 3 times. One of which occured over a weekend that I was not in my room. I came home to the sound of a filter struggling in aerated water and water all over the floor, had seeped under the carpet under the stand, and had soaked into the stand. The JBJ stand being cheap particle board covered in some laminate expands a lot when wet (and remains so when it dries) therefore I can barely open the front door because it jams on the top of the ledge. The stand is pretty badly warped also from the water damage. I am pretty mad about that. I have a post in the DIY section about this problem regarding the pump. If you get a clog in your filters, lets say the first compartment, then your pump is going to start pumping all the water it can out of the remaining two compartments. Well that is going to lead to an extra 2-3 gallons in your main tank. Now you have a tank filled to the brim which if it hasn't already started overflowing will slowly starting trickling over the edge because the powerful flow coming out of the pump will push it over. My proposed solution was to put a float switch in the last compartment (which really doens't house anything except the pump) so that if the water level goes down too low the pump will shut off. This will prevent the pump from running dry and will also keep my floor dry.

Ron, I don't even use Carbon in my filtration. I hear that a lot of guys on here does use it either. However if you were to use it I would suggest putting it in the middle compartment. I have stuff quite a bit of media in that middle compartment (bio balls, bio bag, bag of crushed coral) and have not experienced any clogging related to that. Just don't squish them down too hard. Also did you completely wash your substrate? Also, I am not an expert but I don't think you should bother with Carbon while cycling. Carbon will probably try to absorb some of the ammonia unnecassarily which will just "wear out" the carbon.

Otherwise I really like the nanocube. The lights are definitely sufficient, as I would guess, for pretty much any planting. The pump is powerful and creates a lot of circulation in the tank (this is important, as I herad somewhere, for reefs). The only thing I don't get is, the moonlights are on the same power cord as the main lights. Granted, you are able to turn off the main lights by a button on the power supply, but if you have a timer operating your power supply (to control your main lights) then there is no way to have your moonlights automatically go/stay on when your main lights go out. Do not know how to figure this one out without some serious electrical messing around.
 
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