BioCube 32 vs Red Sea Max E-170

[John3]

My first tank was a Biocube 29g. I removed the top, added a Radion XR-15 and a Aquamaxx WS1 skimmer. I still run this setup and it has done really well. I just started up a Reefer 350 because I wanted more room. I plan to keep both tanks running. I believe I have close to 50 different corals in it.

I would only ask do you think you will want a bigger tank? It’s a big jump in price up front but may keep you from wanting to upgrade a year or 2 in.

 

[SwiftStorm]

My son I started with a biocube 29 and a nuvo 40 fusion a couple years ago. Both nice tanks. We found these tanks limiting after a year and combined both into a 75 with a sump. Having the sump under the tank is so much easier to clean and maintain than either aio with sump in the back. Always go bigger, always use a larger sump.

We made a our stand a little larger than the tank, so all the extras can hide under the tank. Controller, ato, reservoir, dos, and the commonly used cleaning tools.

 

[CavalierReef]

I can't help you decide what tank to go with since I have no experience with the Red sea. However I can tell you with a 32 Bio cube you don't need any fancy bell and whistle upgrades unless you get into SPS. You can grow softies and LPS with stock everything. No need for a single upgrade with proper husbandry. My 11 year old daughter has been growing LPS for over 2 years now with more growth then the tank is big enough for. Only Filtration is change out filter floss once per week. She has 4 fish in the tank 1 firefish, 1 green chromis, 1 clown and a royal gramma. the Bio load is easy to take care of this way. We might do a water change once a month. IMO I think it is a great first tank or a great tank for anyone not wanting to spend a ton of money.

The voice of reason! Congratulations to you and your daughter for her success. I was gathering equipment for my new 32 LED Biocube and it occurred to me that I bought an AIO because I didn't want to spend a lot of money or mess with a lot of ancillary equipment to have a simple softie/fish aquarium. I think you are going down the road for which Biocubes were intended.

 

[Roxpics]

The voice of reason! Congratulations to you and your daughter for her success. I was gathering equipment for my new 32 LED Biocube and it occurred to me that I bought an AIO because I didn't want to spend a lot of money or mess with a lot of ancillary equipment to have a simple softie/fish aquarium. I think you are going down the road for which Biocubes were intended.

Thank you for this information!

 

[Roxpics]

The voice of reason! Congratulations to you and your daughter for her success. I was gathering equipment for my new 32 LED Biocube and it occurred to me that I bought an AIO because I didn't want to spend a lot of money or mess with a lot of ancillary equipment to have a simple softie/fish aquarium. I think you are going down the road for which Biocubes were intended.

My first tank was a Biocube 29g. I removed the top, added a Radion XR-15 and a Aquamaxx WS1 skimmer. I still run this setup and it has done really well. I just started up a Reefer 350 because I wanted more room. I plan to keep both tanks running. I believe I have close to 50 different corals in it.

I would only ask do you think you will want a bigger tank? It’s a big jump in price up front but may keep you from wanting to upgrade a year or 2 in.

Beautiful!

 

[Roxpics]

I was looking in the 40-50 gallon range for something in between all in one and with enough grow out potential for a little more than a biocube could handle and found SCAquariums. I've been nothing but happy with everything so far. The price was great for a basic all in one setup and the owner Steve has been beyond amazing for customer service. There are a lot of threads here you can search for about them and you'll generally see that people are happy with them if its a direction you consider going.

Thanks I'll look at this

 

[Mattman1977]

Ok ill throw my $0.02 in it for what it’s worth.

i recently moved cross country before the move i had a 90, 150 and 125 gal reef tanks plus qt tanks set up. Sold most everything before we moved, livestock and tanks. Only took some chunky frags of a few softies and lps along with a few fish. that all got tossed into my old qt setup for a few months. Well after we settled i started getting depressed with my tank so i told my wife i was gonna start looking for a tank between 20-30 gals to setup for my coral and fish. I too was looking at the biocube, redsea reefer 170, jbj nano cube along with a few others.

Well my wife found a jbj24 aio on letgo for $50 with stand that she surprised me with. Now all in all there a good tank but just like the biocube the lights are junk and the bulky top frame really takes away from the look of the tank. I honestly didn’t think it would bother me so much but it does, that and the curved front corners sometimes causes a weird light effect with my hydra 26.

i was really excited about the aio part but quickly realized how little room i had for anything. I have to stack stuff in the chambers just right or it doesn’t fit. Between the media basket, return pumps, heaters, ato unit, apex probs and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things theres no room left at all. Oh and i miss a skimmer. Theres no way ill have a hob or nano skimmer in the little compartment. Talk about a eye sore and then the first time it over filled yeah that would smell lovely in the dinning room.

Im not searching hard but am keeping a eye out for a used RedSea Reefer 170 or maybe the next size up. If i find one at the right price I’ll be replacing the jbj, which by the way looks very similar to the biocube.

well hope this doesnt make it worse. Good luck on your decision.
Matt

 

[Roxpics]

Ok ill throw my $0.02 in it for what it’s worth.

i recently moved cross country before the move i had a 90, 150 and 125 gal reef tanks plus qt tanks set up. Sold most everything before we moved, livestock and tanks. Only took some chunky frags of a few softies and lps along with a few fish. that all got tossed into my old qt setup for a few months. Well after we settled i started getting depressed with my tank so i told my wife i was gonna start looking for a tank between 20-30 gals to setup for my coral and fish. I too was looking at the biocube, redsea reefer 170, jbj nano cube along with a few others.

Well my wife found a jbj24 aio on letgo for $50 with stand that she surprised me with. Now all in all there a good tank but just like the biocube the lights are junk and the bulky top frame really takes away from the look of the tank. I honestly didn’t think it would bother me so much but it does, that and the curved front corners sometimes causes a weird light effect with my hydra 26.

i was really excited about the aio part but quickly realized how little room i had for anything. I have to stack stuff in the chambers just right or it doesn’t fit. Between the media basket, return pumps, heaters, ato unit, apex probs and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things theres no room left at all. Oh and i miss a skimmer. Theres no way ill have a hob or nano skimmer in the little compartment. Talk about a eye sore and then the first time it over filled yeah that would smell lovely in the dinning room.

Im not searching hard but am keeping a eye out for a used RedSea Reefer 170 or maybe the next size up. If i find one at the right price I’ll be replacing the jbj, which by the way looks very similar to the biocube.

well hope this doesnt make it worse. Good luck on your decision.
Matt

Thanks Matt! No, this really helped. I think I've ruled out the biocube. It's a great price but I just don't think I'll be happy for the long run. I think I'm going to do the red Sea Max E I like how clean it all looks and that I can put in a sump/refugium later if I want to. I honestly don't know if I need a sump but least I'll be able to do it if I find I do need it.

 

[Roxpics]

I was looking in the 40-50 gallon range for something in between all in one and with enough grow out potential for a little more than a biocube could handle and found SCAquariums. I've been nothing but happy with everything so far. The price was great for a basic all in one setup and the owner Steve has been beyond amazing for customer service. There are a lot of threads here you can search for about them and you'll generally see that people are happy with them if its a direction you consider going.

Thanks! I'll look at that.

 

[Mattman1977]

Hey @Roxpics have you looked at the waterbox aquariums yet? A guy from my local forum got one and loves it. There slightly cheaper then RedSea and look just as nice and they use AI prime and hydra lights which i like for leds.
Just figured i would throw more choices at ya lol

Matt

 

[Roxpics]

Hey @Roxpics have you looked at the waterbox aquariums yet? A guy from my local forum got one and loves it. There slightly cheaper then RedSea and look just as nice and they use AI prime and hydra lights which i like for leds.
Just figured i would throw more choices at ya lol

Matt

I will again!. I'm also looking at SCAquariums also referred by someone on this forum thread. Thank you for the suggestion

 

[Mattman1977]

Just look close to what the stand is made of. I just looked at the SCAquariums website and there stands are mdf, really mdf in this hobby. I checked some of the redsea stands are mdf and some are plywood. Looks like all of the waterbox ones are plywood. But i would definitely pay attention for longevity purposes i will get plywood.

 

[Roxpics]

Just look close to what the stand is made of. I just looked at the SCAquariums website and there stands are mdf, really mdf in this hobby. I checked some of the redsea stands are mdf and some are plywood. Looks like all of the waterbox ones are plywood. But i would definitely pay attention for longevity purposes i will get plywood.


So what do I need to look for?

 

[Mattman1977]

Definitely not mdf, medium density fiber board, the cheap stuff that falls apart when it gets wet. Usually the cheap furniture you get from box stores is mdf. Look for plywood. This is why so many hobbiest choose to build there own stands.

Good luck with your choice
Matt

 

[Mark]

I have an e-170. The only issue I didn’t like was the noisy skimmer. I replaced it with a tuner comline with DC pump. Other than that it’s a nice package.

 

[Roxpics]

Definitely not mdf, medium density fiber board, the cheap stuff that falls apart when it gets wet. Usually the cheap furniture you get from box stores is mdf. Look for plywood. This is why so many hobbiest choose to build there own stands.

Good luck with your choice
Matt

Thanks Matt!

Rox

 

[ELL23]

Here’s my Biocube 32 with Steve’s Led.



1st chamber
> Aquamaxx Fr-s Carbon Reactor
> Eheim heater


2nd chamber
> inTank media basket with Filter floss, chemipure and refigium
> Aquatic life 115 protein skimmer
> Seachem matrix


3rd chamber
> sicce syncra 1.5 357gph Return pump
> coralife uv sterilizer
> Tunze ATO 3152
> Aquamaxx Fr-s Biopellets Reactor

Accessories:
> Steve’s LED
> Jebao 4 dosing pump using BRS 2 part
> coral box aquarium pump extender backup battery
> icecap 1k gyre flow pump