Rescued an Oceanic BioCube 14 from the trash, need help getting it working

I've never owned one of these, and when I found it I took it home, filled it up with water, and plugged it in. I don't have cables for the hood, there is a pair of mysterious medium duty screw in sockets I assume are for lights, and a small round plug that I assume would be for the LED lights.

Now, when I filled it up with water, the filter works (makes noise), but nothing is happening. I'm not sure if that's why it was thrown in the trash. I don't even know if there's a specific thing I need to do to get water flowing. I tried taking out the bioballs and the little plastic thing underneath, but there's still nothing happening.

The first chamber has water a little below the maximum line i found on the side of the tank, and the second chamber has the same level, but the third chamber is at water level. I assume the water flows from left to right, correct?

Anyway, if there's a filter problem that I can't fix, I'm just going to salvage and eBay the hood and throw the rest of the tank away. I hate being wasteful.

There may be a special way to get these running; I'm used to regular fresh water filters where you put water in it and let it pump and eventually flow.

Thank you for your help

 

Discontent the pump in the back compartment.

Take it out and remove the impeller (you have to remove some of the housing to get to it), the impeller looks like a wheel and should have a magnetic end.

Rinse the impeller and remove any grim, algae or detritus. Rinse the housing to the impeller. Put the pump back together, place in container of water and see if it begins moving water again. If not just replace the pump with a new one.

The lights I can not help you on.

Welcome to 3reef.

 

I got it working. Thank you; the water flow is so subtle that I didn't notice it was flowing until I looked carefully.

Do you know where I can buy light cables for it?

 

I would start with their site.

Oceanic Systems » BioCube Aquariums | Products

It's most likely a PC fixture, not sure if you all the equipment you need, it should have what appears to be a black box (ballast).

You can find Biocubes at Petco but not sure about replacement parts.

 

I have a Biocube 29 right now so we'll see if I can give you some help. As for the lights, the stock lighting is PC and if I were you, I would ditch the PC setup and go with this kit from Rapid LED:

Biocube 29 Dimmable Retrofit Kit

Up front it's more expensive but believe me, you will love the difference and not having to worry about replacing the PC bulbs, which go bad the fastest and in the end cost you more. I know the link if for a 29 gal setup but email them and they can help hook you up for the 14, amazing customer service. As for the water flow, if you haven't noticed it goes from right to left, as your looking at the front of the tank. Taking the bioballs out was a good idea IMO. I replaced mine with rubble rock. The return pump I ended up swaping up for a RIO 1400. The fit is tight but the increase in flow was worth it for me. As far as the size difference b/w my 29 and your 14, I would double check the dimensions of the pumps first but I've always had good luck with the RIOs, even if you go with a smaller size. If you have any questions, you can always PM me too.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I'm in the Air Force so I'm in no position to maintain an aquarium. I'm going to help it find a nice home via craigslist. Thank you for your help.