Oceanic 29 Bio Cube

Set up a 29g Bio Cube for a fresh water planted tank almost two months ago.
Shortly after setup, the filter where the exhaust pump runs almost dry bringing air into the output. I stopped everything, let the water levels equalize then restarted the filter, a few hours later same thing.

After doing some googling, I see the filter issue is sort of a common problem.
Also, yesterday one of my ballast went bad, and also see many post on ballast goig south on Oceanic BioCubes.

When I first began setting up the tank, I noticed stickers "Made in China" on most of the parts, including the fixture.


I overcame the filter problem by adding a small eheim ecco cannister filter. I drilled a 1/2 hole in the plastic middle bioball area which allowed me to run the ehiem ecco filter output into the bioball area. Since I did not want a wet dry type filter anyway this keep the water level Maxed in the filter area.

In the event I want to return to the broken original setup, I can simply plug the 1/2 hole i drilled.

However, now with the ballast blown out, I am begining to think Oceanic Systems did not quality control the bio cubes. Sort of what the TOY companies face with lead paint on children toys that are made in China.

Straight from China to the customers with no assurance on quality.

Buyer beware.