Coralife vs Marine Fusion

[William Morris]

Coming back to the reef after many years.
Thought I had decided on the Coralife 16 Biocube but now having second thoughts.
I like the look of the Marine Fusion as there are more choices with equipment.
In reading the reviews for the MF tanks there seems to be issues with the seams after a while.
The Biocubes seem to built better but have fewer equipment choices for add-ons.

Any advise or words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Wm

 

[lion king]

I have 2 of the older coralife biocubes(14 & 29), they are built like tanks; I really like these tanks. I had a jbj and marine fusion both crack on me, I later learned they were both made by the same people. If you like the design of the rimless that is a consideration, but after my tanks cracked my lfs said that it did happen frequently. As far as accessories go, you can add anything you want to the BCs. I'm only the running the 29 now, I have an InTank media basket in chamber 2 and am running an algae reactor placed in the cabinet below. There are at least 3 makers or skimmers that fit in chamber 2. I am also running an ato in chamber 3, my heaters are hidden in chamber 1. I can't think of anything you could run on the MF that you couldn't run on the BC.

 

[William Morris]

Thanks lion king. Which skimmers will fit the BC16?

 

[lion king]

I'm sorry I did mis-speak concerning the protein skimmers, i was thinking about my bc29. But coralife does make a skimmer that fits, but I didn't find it very effective. Eshopps nano will fit but you may need to make some custom adjustments. I used a tunze in my 29 but I don't think one of theirs will actually fit in the 16. But I'm telling you those small nano skimmers really do very little. Running an algae reactor on the bc29 keeps my nitrates and phosphates so low I could actually not even do water changes anymore, I ditched the tunze and it made a world of difference. Do some research into algae reactors and i promise you, you will really like it. Running an algae reactor on an opposite light cycle also helps stabilize ph and oxygen exchange.

 

[William Morris]

Did you have to customize the reactor to get it to fit in the 29? Would it fit in the 16? Which one did you use?
Maybe I'm better off doing the BC32 because there will be more space in the back.

 

[lion king]

Did you have to customize the reactor to get it to fit in the 29? Would it fit in the 16? Which one did you use?
Maybe I'm better off doing the BC32 because there will be more space in the back.

I don't know what your plans are for the tank, but believe me you will run out of room fast. I got the bc14 getting back into the hobby after several years of a hiatus. I got it on a black friday sale, the next year I got the bc29 on a black friday sale. All you do with an algae reactor is drop a pump in the 2nd or 3rd chamber to feed the reactor under the cabinet. Another option for the 16 would be to upgrade the return pump to like a cobalt aquatics mj1200 and divert the return to the reactor and back through the return nozzle. This is the one I'm running on the 29:
https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_Algae_Reactor_Package_-AquaMaxx-UJ5355-FIFRAS-vi.html
If it's in your budget I'd highly recommend going with the 32, it will expand your options greatly.