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Warning for all People Thinking of the Oceanic Biocube


Insane Reefer

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Insane Reefer
I think the product is good they said they had a bad batch of ballast- and they are working to get things corrected ASAP, the parts as with everything these days comes from China so sometimes a delelay can happen waiting for a container.

 

Yes, they've been saying that for a year now - just how long will it take to "get things corrected"?

 

My tank is now 14 months old, and now a moonlight is out and I too have a fan starting to sound like a small plane taking off - and I'm out of warranty now :(

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Reef Chicks

Insane Reefer - YOU know that you are out of warranty; they don't. Not to be shady but we have to look out for ourselves sometimes. They don't ask for a receipt or how old your tank is. Call them, tell them the issue you are having and that is it. Rob Moneyhan is the man you need there.

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fsu1dolfan
fsu1dolfan - dont bother putting on the same fans, go to newegg.com and check out the silenx fans.

 

 

Hey thanks for the tip....i was thinking about just upgrading....although i am still farely a noob and not sure which size to get....also are the fans direct replacement, remove the old and plug in the new ones???

Additional info would be helpful...Thanks in advance :)

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Reef Chicks

I dont know if they are direct replacement, but if you know how to match wire colors and tape them up, you should be fine. Lots of people on here have made the switch, so they may be of more help. Most people respond to you if you pm them with questions. Off the top of my head, I know TUDIZZLE, Dooderino, Deano, and JCBiocube29 all have BC29s and may have replaced the fans. Sorry I cant be of more help in telling you exactly how to do it, but I know the change to the silenx fans is an easy and productive one.

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masterbuilder

Ballasts should last longer that 1 year...thats for sure.

BUT...I dont care what fan you get, they all wear out after some time. Thats like saying I want Ford to replace my tires because they wore out. 1 year is about max for any fan, they do just what everone complains about....get loud (bearings). Buy a non-oceanic quiet fan.

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I think they know they have a problem - I had all my proof of purchase ect. but they didn't ask for it - they just wanted to know the shipping information- I'm not sure you even need to be shady just beg a bit and tell them you know they are a company that wants to stand behind what they sell - you shouldn't have a problem!

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Reef Chicks

^ That's what I meant. I hust didn't want to sound "shady". You dont need to lie because they dont ask for your receipts, just your shipping address. In my eyes, they have one of the best customer support departments.

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chuckfullservice

I have had mine for 1 year 8 months and have had absolutely no problems what so ever .

 

What everyone needs to take into consideration is that oceanic designs the tank but sublets certain parts for cost and reliabilty . After all they are a aquarium co. not a light and ballast co. !!! They purchase the ballast from another co. in which they cannot quality control . If the ballast co. puts out a bad batch of ballasts there is little oceanic can do until they know of the problem and then all they can do is issue out replacement parts and then work with the ballast co. to rectify the problem. It happens in every industry none to man!

If oceanic was to manufacture every component for their aquariums the price to make them would probably triple, and that cost would translate into the selling price.

I think the fact that they are fast to act when a customer has a complaint shows this company truely cares about its customer and because of this I do beleive they will resolve the ballast issue in the future ,as well as make it so that new models have an upgraded ballast to prevent this issue from ever happing again . IMO

It sucks when anything goes wrong with any thing you purchase but it happens , hell how many of you have an xbox 360 that had the dreaded orange light??????

Peace!!! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
fsu1dolfan

Just a heads up....Oceanic sent me 2 new fans to replace my old ones that are falling apart. Sent them the email a week ago and received the fans yesterday. Great customer service!!

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Had my BC29 since January 08 and no problems with fans or ballast. QUESTION: how do you know the ballast has gone bad? What do you mean "it blew"? Do the lights just go out or is there smoke?

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Reef Chicks
Had my BC29 since January 08 and no problems with fans or ballast. QUESTION: how do you know the ballast has gone bad? What do you mean "it blew"? Do the lights just go out or is there smoke?

 

No smoke, light just goes out.

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No smoke, light just goes out.

 

I assume you know its not the bulb because a replacement bulb doesn't work? I guess you could swap the two stock bulbs to see if its the bulb or the ballast, can you?

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Insane Reefer
I assume you know its not the bulb because a replacement bulb doesn't work? I guess you could swap the two stock bulbs to see if its the bulb or the ballast, can you?

What do you mean "it blew"? Do the lights just go out or is there smoke?

You can, but since that means pulling the light shield, which is a pain, it is easier just to disconnect the ballasts at the connector and switch them around - if the bulb that didn't fire, does with the other ballast, then it is a ballast - if it still doesn't fire then it is a bulb or socket issue issue.

 

When mine went bad, it just failed to fire when the timer kicked it on. The one at the LFS that blew, made a funny smell and got really hot, but no visible smoke.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just had a problem with my ballast as well and talked to someone there yesterday, I did have to submit my reciept and give them the 4 numbers on the back of the ballasts, they are also sending me a new fan as it's sounding really loud after my tank only being set up for 3 months. Apparently they are on their way to me today. We'll see.

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Sooooo I guess that the warning here is to watch out for Oceanics great customer service?

 

 

BUYER BEWARE!!!! This company stands behind it's product!

 

 

Coming up on 1 year.....problem free for me...........

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Sooooo I guess that the warning here is to watch out for Oceanics great customer service?

 

 

BUYER BEWARE!!!! This company stands behind it's product!

 

 

Coming up on 1 year.....problem free for me...........

 

I agree, I have a bad ballast out of the box, I called and with in 2 minutes I had an email from them and I responded back with a copy of my receipt. New ballast's should be here next week. Great customer service.

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stratosphere

Yes, they were really quick for me, too. One of my moonlights went out a few weeks after starting the tank, and I just finally got around to calling them about it a few weeks ago. They asked for a copy of my receipt, which I PDF'd to them, and they immediately sent me 2 replacement moonlights which I received a few days later--I was very happy.

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Scott Riemer
beatinghorse.gif

Exactly.

 

Why does everyone think it's great that they quickly replace parts that shouldn't go bad in the short amount of they do? I mean the point is, you shouldn't have to get replacement parts that soon to begin with.

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  • 2 years later...

Okay, it's been nearly 2 years since the last post on this, but i felt the need to comment on it.

I have 3 tanks. 2 14g biocubes and 1 29g HQI which i use at my office. Last month my fans stopped working and one of the blue LED night lights stopped working. I called them up and the woman in customer service sent me new fans. An hour later i got a call from tech support and i told them i was having a weird issue with the actinic bulb, LED, and the fans. He sent me new pieces no questions asked including a new bulb!

Last week my 29g HQI cracked over the refugium. Not anything i did or drastic temp change it just cracked and leaked down the stand shorting ALL of my electrical out. At the same time i noticed (because i moved things from the 29g to my 14g) the divider between the tank and filtration was coming away. Again, i called them up. Told them of the 29g crack and they asked for pictures. No questions about the 14g and are sending me silicone for that for free.

A guy named Brian helped me out and at first he was on the ball with things, then i didn't get anything back from telephone calls or from emails. So i just called general tech support and when someone mentioned it to him stuff worked out well. So, he was sending me a replacement tank BUT my pump, skimmer, and lights were totally blown thanks to the water leak (as was the outlet that everything was plugged into at work). I called tech support and briefly talked to a woman who said they will send me a complete system and that i dont have to send anything back. She also went on to tell me how i may be able to find someone to repair the old tank and use it for spare or parts!

Great customer service overall even if not 100% on the ball at all times, but i can only imagine how many people they must deal with ever day. There are only 3 people in all of tech support which i think is now their 'customer service' department.

I will be honest, instead of buying these three tanks at different times i would have held off and bought a RSM or even waited for the new BioMedic tank coming out next month. The only reason i bought these tanks new and not used was because of this forum and it has worked out well for me, thusfar.

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