Oceanic BioCube 29 - setup and cycling now at LFS..to buy or not to buy???

[jasonic72]

Hey all,

Been trolling now for a while. To be quite honest this is still all a bit overwhelming..lol. I may not have any expereince, but you folks have played a big part in what education I've got to date, and my decision to take the plunge. Though I realise I don't know exactly what I'm talking about yet..I want to thank you guys for what, if anything, I get right in the following descriptions, and apologise for the stuff I get horedly wrong...anyhow, on with the show....

Recently, my LFS added a BioCube 29 to their display lineup. They're a good place with a great reputation locally here in Culver City, CA.

This 1 week young tank is stocked with 15-18 lbs of uncured "premium" LR (mix of Fiji, Marshall Island and tonga) already been cycling for a week or so. Its got plenty of the purple alge growing under the nice lighting...which appears noticably brighter than its nano counterparts. Anyhow, on to the description of what they've put together, and whether you guys think its smart to buy it already put together or not.....

Its been cycling for a week or so, and currently has 0 Ammonia levels, and the Nitrate and Nitrite levels are still off, as i expected to see.

15-17lbs live rock (there should be more, right?? If it needs to be more, can I add cured stuff later??)

1"+ or fine grade Live sand (seeded with sand from one of their larger established tanks...is this too shallow a bed??)

a few strands of "grape like" looking, (commonly used tang food) vegitation to aid in the curing process...as its from another established stock tank in the store, and they say has lots of invisible goodies from the big tank to help the process along)

It also has a slowly rotating head on the outlet port..crap i can't remember the name, lol, but hopefully you guys will know what I mean here.

Just the sponges are in the back chambers 1 and 2, the rest of the tank is stock...no hinges on the hood, and all.

So, it looks great, they put nice pieces in there as it was intended to be a display..and at 600.00 + tax, should i buy it??...would you buy it at any price, or is it a bad setup?? Or just dumb to buy a more mature environment from a LFS...and I should just start from square one, set it up myself, and do the 1.25lbs of live rock from the start with a deeper sand bed.

lol, sorry for the long post, but I told them I'd make my decision tommorow, and theres alot of stuff to put in here.

Looking forward to your input on this one.
Thanks very much!!

-jasonic72

 

[Frostyeel]

Re: Oceanic BioCube 29 - setup and cycling now at LFS..to buy or not to buy???

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8167542#post8167542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jasonic72
Been trolling now for a while.

Lurking would probably be a better term, trolling generally means you make purposely inflamatory remarks intending to upset and make other users mad. On topic, I think that is just too much to pay for it, the most I can imagine it costing to buy each thing individually yourself is maybe $450 before tax, so do you really think that 1 week of patiently waiting is worth $150? Plus you would probably just want to add more rock anyway which could start a new cycle, so there would have been no point getting it in the first place.

 

[jasonic72]

hmmmm... maybe theres other options to consider??....

hmmmm... maybe theres other options to consider??....

Thanks for replying!

lol, yeah, lurking is the propper term sorry about that.

I did the math as well. I guess its the stand at ~170 + 275 for the tank that does most of the damage. Hmmmm, maybe I'll do more research, and ask more questions before diving in. Speaking of more questions....

I was also contemplating a Open Top Finnex tank instead.....

Anyone have experience with the Finnex M series tanks??...would it be a better setup than a cube config in the long run?? It has some extra light power and a skimmer. The one I was interested in was the 30gal M. Also, it would be easier to convert the back area into a refugium down the road if desired with all that extra space back there. Also..wouldn't an open top setup lead to much more evaporation?? I hear up to a half gallon a day is possible in a well lit opentop system. Also, any opinions on the lighting options that come with it...ie:150W HQI (what is this exactly) vs 3x36 PC??

thoughts anyone??


thanks again for the reply

-jasonic72

 

[EnFuego]

Re: Oceanic BioCube 29 - setup and cycling now at LFS..to buy or not to buy???

As for the rotating head thing, I'm guessing you are talking about a hydor flow, can be bought online for slightly over $15 shipped.

-The liverock would probably cost $100, depending on how much you can find it for locally.
-Livesand, I'm guessing about $1/lb. I like a 1" sandbed, some do more, some less, and some none at all. Just different way to do things. (so maybe $25 if you bought it)
-The macroalgae you could probably buy for $10 from here (depending on the variety).
-The 29 gallon tank itself you buy online, shipped for $275, I'm guessing (just looked for one on ebay).
Total=$425 (those are all estimates, so actuals may vary...also let me know if I am missing anything).

So, depending on the corals involved, you may or may not be getting a good deal.

 

[jasonic72]

Yes! The Hydor Flow

I'm guessing the stand at over 150 is what makes it more expensive. Theres no corals involved in the deal as the tank is sill cycling. Also, theres more sand in there at 1"+ than you'd think...so maybe its not so far off afterall.

However, at the 1lb at the least of live rock per gallon rule, 15-17lbs is under par. Also, as adding rock will start a new cycle, i'll probably end up building my own from scratch and do it right from the start.

I'm excited to hear what folks have to say about a cube setup as compared to the M type opentop setup...ie: maintainance, water consistancy (with the added skimmer and more filtering area), and the more powerfull lighting that opentops can offer...ie:the Finnex M series..

-j

 

[Jim Cannon]

Okay, I am a newbie in Nanos too. I got my tank about 6 weeks ago. I save a bunch of money by buying it used. I got the 12G Nano cube, 12 lbs of cured rock, 2" sand bed, upgraded pump, stand for 175 bucks. No livestock, no corals.

Now I can stock it the way I want. It's my tank.

100 pct of the fun is doing all the cycling and stuff yourself. It's not much fun, but surely is educational. And the sense of pride you get when the water is perfect, and you're ready to add livestock is priceless.

I would never buy a tank like that. Maybe from a previous owner because I would be getting a smoking deal from someone who nutured the tank and the inhabitants.

But thats just my opinion.

 

[MarineGirl411]

I've got a 40 breeder and I've got to say that I've spent over that amount just setting this baby up. (makes me a little ill) I still have the LR to go. I bought the Arag Alive sand. It was 25.00 a piece for a 20 pound bag. I am going for the DSB so I had to buy quite a few of those babies. I bought the fiji pink sand extra fine. In my opinion it doesn't really look that fine. There are some larger pieces of sand in it. I liked the look of it on Dr Fosters and Smith. Bought it, then was a little disappointed when I finally got it. I wish I would have went with a white sand instead. Oh well. You should go to drsfosterandsmith.com then click on the fish section. They have some good deals on there. You can also try ebay. I've bought some of my stuff used off there. So far everything has worked. Just started working on the sump/refugium this weekend. If you want a smaller tank you could always use an aquaclear filter then mod it and use it for a refugium. For that tank in particular, that seems like quite a bit of money on something so small. Take into account what type of lighting it has on it. A lot of people on here end up modifying their cubes. I've also heard there are heat issues. Of course there will be heat issues with all tanks though I'm sure. But the hood is fully enclosed I believe. It's your decision completely. If you want it, get it. Still seems like a bit much though. Do you know the lighting specs? 150 hqi lighting is a metal halide light. They produce shimmer effects that are supposed to be beneficial to coral growth. They are supposed to out surpass any type of lighting. Well, that is what I hear. The metal halide lighting had the downfall though of getting your tank too warm. An open top would help keep temps lower, but yes evap will occur. Just plan to add a little make up water daily if you keep an open top. You could always add some clip on fans as well. PC lighting is good to keep heat issues down. They don't produce the beneficial glitter lines though. They are nice because the replacement bulbs are cheap. Everthing has it's downfalls though. PC's loose their full light capacity at about 6 months. Some sooner. Ok. That's what i've got.

 

[MarineGirl411]

I meant that's all I have to say. Sorry about that. Actually I have the Aqualight Pro that has the 150watt HQI light with 2 65 watt pc's and 2 moonlights. If you can find one used, it would be a good deal. Mine produces a lot of light. I can still have clams etc. What types of corals and fish do you want to keep? It really all depends on that. Sorry, I didn't ask earlier. Have you bought any books to help you out yet or done a lot of research online? I feel like these forums are better than most of the books I have bought. Some good books I purchased though are, Natural Reef Aquariums John H Tullock and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist - A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists
by Robert Fenner. They are both pretty good. I have some others but these I've found are the best so far. Let us know what you decide. It's exciting!

 

[fantastic4]

$600 is not bad for a full setup with good lights and good filtration. The key for me is whether the tank is damn hot looking. If the size of the rocks, type of sand, frags of corals look like a show tank... $600 is really not bad.

Think of it like this... during my recent setup of my 33 g Oceanic cube, I spent $500 for two Remora's as I bought the Pro with Mag upgrade and then decided it was to big and went with the regular with maxi (both with skimmer boxes).

Can you take a picture and upload?

Let's see this bad boy

 

[aclos3]

What kind of lighting do they include with that setup? Also, what do they do for circulation? Anyone have any links to the 29g bio cube? I looked at the Oceanic website, but didn't see it... their flash website is a PITA too!

 

[Henry22]

I would go with the Finnex M-tank anyday over the biocube. Nanocustoms has a acrylic refugiam model which is awesome, I jsut wish they made their 22 gallon version in that. You can defiantly still use the back chambers as a refuge. Check out this guys thread, especially if your looking into Finnex tanks(top quality and really good customer service)http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93680

 

[EnFuego]

I personally would go for one of the finnex tanks (the 22 gallon glass one in particular), and upgrade the lighting to the 150 watt MH. I was going to buy one of these, but I had a 30 gallon oceanic waiting to be set up, so I am in the process of finishin up the equipment ordering.