Oceanic Bio Cube vs Red Sea Max

[FaRico]

Hey Everyone,

After an unwanted break from the fish world, I'll be starting up again.....finally. I am looking into either a Bio Cube or a Red Sea 130. Just wondering if anyone out there has input. Is there a major difference between the two? Stuff like that. I'm only going to want the 33 or 34 gal size. Just plan on doing a little reef tank. We are tossing the idea of sea horses, but I don't know if this is the right tank for that. So any help would be excellent.

Thank you guys.

[Borderjumper]

I've never had a bio cube so I can't comment on it, but I loved my RSM130 and my current RSM250. The skimmers pretty much suck on both of them, but the tunze nano is awesome in the rsm130.

IMO either RSM is going to run too warm for seahorses without a chiller.

[ponokareefer]

I had originally got my RSM130 to put seahorses in it, but was having a difficult time with the micro bubbles, so switched to something else. Since then, I put pieces of plastic entending the connections to the pumps, and switched to a tunze 9002, and no more micro bubbles.
I don't have any issues with heat with my tank, even in the summer, as it is in the basement.
As a seahorse tank, the RSM130 would be a very nice set up. It isn't tall enough for the larger seahorses, but for the more medium size species, it will work good. All the plumbing is hidden, and the flow from the standard pumps isn't very strong. You can get an extension to better block the grate from water going into the back chamber as well on the RSM130, which is great for seahorses.

Sorry, I don't have much info on the biocube.

[alouie]

Stock skimmer in RSM is not great, but probably still better than the airstone driven one for the Biocube. Most people switch to the Tunze skimmer, but then you need the media rack from InTank or something similar. Otherwise, probably not alot of diff other than size. 29 Gal Biocube now has MH lighting, but is nolonger the nice cube cover. RSM is not available from factory with MH. Other than that, the basic aquarium is probably not all that much diff. I think both requires similar moding.

[pirate]

I got the 29 Biocube I like it. Is my first salt tank. Very easy to use and to have sucesses with. I got a hqi on top of my tank and wow you can have anything you want in the tank. The only issue I have is the heat in the summer. Never had the rsm ones. Don't get the biocube skimmer its a peice of crap. But a small skimmer will fit in the back. I have a acualife mini will fit inthe back chamber with a bit of tweaking,makes a world of difference.
There is lots of info on the nano tanks on the net look around and see what ones do what you want, or is modable to what you want.