Some general biocube questions...

[DefStatic]

FYI, I have the Oceanic Biocube 29.

 

1. The first compartment. It has a tray that stops everything from going down more than halfway. There was something like this in the second compartment too, but it was removable. In the first compartment, it does not seem to be. Is this true? Or was i just being stupid?

 

2. The second compartment and third compartment only fill up maybe 1/3 to 1/2. About around the maximum mark on the third compartment. Is this normal? I thought the second part would fill up more.

3. Do I really need to obey the maximum lin for the third compartment? Or can I got a little over it? I would like ti sneak an extra gallon of water in the whole thing.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Idaho ken]

Hi there DefStatic,

 

I have the Coralife version of this tank, and I got rid of all the "stuff" in the mid chamber (Or chamber 2)....the bio balls, the bottom plate and the top plate with the floss. There was no tray in the 1st compartment. This tank also has the min-max fill line, however I fill mine up to the top of the see thru glass so that it covers my heater, and seems to work just fine. The first chamber always has more water than the 2nd and 3rd, and those two remain about even. I don't know if the Coralife or Oceanic have the same setups in the back, but I'll attach a pic of my setup.

 

 

[DefStatic]

Thanks for the response!

Yeah, the Oceanic one has almost everything the same (and I removed the stuff from chamber 2 as well) but in chamber one is a tray kind of like the one in chamber 2, but it is not removable.

 

And if I only fill to the MAX line, the second chamber only fills up as high as that line, and then I have to tilt my heater so it is covered all the way. I started adding enough water to go up about 3 inches above the max line. Also, I wanted to get the maximum amount of water in the tank as possible.

[Reefporn]

The tray in chamber one does come out. Definitely gives you more room for heaters or whatever. It's just a little harder to get out than the floor in the 2nd chamber. And no, you don't have to pay any attention to the max fill line. I fill mine up a few inches above that. Just don't go crazy cause when you turn the pump off a lot of the water in the display drains back into the back chambers, but with that said, I think the water level evens out and there's not much risk of overflow unless you tried to fill the back all the way up . And the 2nd and 3rd chamber are usually at the same level water wise, so no worries there.

[ReefWeeds]

Like Idaho Ken, I also have the Coralife BC 29 - I ignore the max line and keep the water up to almost the top of the water window on the side. My chamber 1 has my heater and the water is always much higher in this chamber than 2 and 3 - that's part of the wet/dry filtration part.

[DefStatic]

Thanks everyone! I just thought the second chamber would have been higher by default but it makes sense. And I will try to remove the tray from chamber 1 again, because I really would prefer my heater be over there.

I am still in the cycling stage. I thought it was going to be done this past week because of how it was moving, but there are still some traces of nitrites left over, and the nitrates were near 100. So water change and wait another week!

[DefStatic]

FYI, I finally got the tray out of the first chamber. I thought I was going to break something. I do not know if it was the previous owner or Oceanic but there was a think layer of silicon around the edges. But now I can at least get my heater in right. I had it in a 5 gallon bucket getting it dialed in for 78.

[Idaho ken]

Excellent! Looking forward to your BioCube story!