What do you think of the 29 Gal Oceanic Bio Cube?

[kjordan]

I have never had an aquarium, but I want to buy the 29 gal oceanic bio cube. I only want to purchase additional equipment like a heater and a thermometer. Cured live rock (I guess about 30 lbs). What would be the best substrate for it and how much? Also do I add the substrate, the rock and then the water? And is this bio cube good enough to keep some coral in? Need all the information that I can get.

[mdisalvo55]

The biocube is a pretty nice tank, I have the 14 and I'm very pleased with it so far. It's nice having everything built in and the lighting is just as good as any other nano you're going to buy (that hasn't been modded). You'll need to buy a heater and a thermometer (I would just buy a digital one they're accurate and temperate is pretty important in reef tanks). You can get quik rete playsand for the substrate, it's like 3 or 4 dollars for a 50 lb bag, you just need to wash it off before you use it. Under the PC lighting in the biocube you can keep soft corals like xenia, zoanthids, star polyps etc. etc. I would add the water first, then the substrate by putting it in big plastic bags and opening them in the bottom of the tank and pouring out the sand. Then I would add live rock and let the cycle begin...

[kjordan]

Thanks for your help. Do I fill the water to the fill line or less. Remember, I have to add the rock. Won't adding the rock increase the water level?

[mdisalvo55]

Yea, I would fill below the water line and add the rock to see how high it rises, you don't want to have water spilling everywhere its a huge mess trust me.

[Mark426]

Seems to be on par with all the other "all-n-ones" oy there.
My only gripe is the hood is not hinged and has to be taken off to do routine maintenance.

[mdisalvo55]

Mine's hinged....I don't know about the 29 though

[slumpysix]

The 29 is not hinged and yes can be a pain. But it is a great tank for the price. Use the search tools on the main page to get alot of info on the Bio cube

[scotia-reefer]

I agree, the 29 BC is a great tank but the lack of a hinged top can get frustrating. Also, with the large bio-ball conpartment you can make a nice fuge with little mods.

[Jasonf08]

Yeah i have one and the only downside is the lack of hinges for the hood. But its a great tank. Despite the hinges it has the larges chambers for the filtration, Plus the larges gallon size compared to the other 24g's. The extra 5 gallon is worth it because im sure you konw taht when they say its 29 g it means the whole thing holds 29g not just the display. So your display is alot smaller gallon wise.

I have the tunze nano skimmer and heater in chamber 2 which just fits with some minor dremmeling & a fuge going in chamber 1. Then the thermometer probe going in chamber 3 and a bag of purigen. I plan on getting the light upgrade here shortly so i can keep my LPS once the tank is done cycling. But definately a quality tank.

[kjordan]

Which chamber are the bio balls in? Do you use the bio balls and if not what do you put in its place?

[scotia-reefer]

I threw out the bio balls, they're just a nitrate factory. Right now I have a blue filter sponge and some Chemi-pure but I eventually plan on turning it into a refugium.

[slumpysix]

I have my sapphire nano skimmer in the middle chamber and that takes care of any space to use for anything else in there. I have my heater in chamber 1 with the BC filter cartridge. I bought a few and until I decide how to filter off the debri some other way, I'll keep using those or mod something for the cartridge. Also I have installed the 4.36 light kit from NT.

[kjordan]

I think that rather than paying $450.00 for the 29 g bio cube with stand that I might go with a 36 g bow-front and use the Freedom Filter and the Coralife Aqualight HQI Hang-On 150w 14,000K. Does anyone know if the filter is too powerful for a 36 g and what type of corals can I keep with this lighting? The representative at the lfs said if I get a larger tank, I would have more room for error. Comments please!

[bigtank]

I think the Freedom Filter is just a mediocre skimmer at best. You don't need bio filtration in a reef tank anyway. If you must go with an HOT skimmer, I would recommend something along the lines of a Remora Pro or PM HOT-1. IME the Remoras are kind of cheesy but will work much better than the Freedom Filter probably will.

[Mark426]

ditto what bigtank said