Our biube when it was first setup
This is a long article, so try to stick with it. The article has hints and tips in it that are not included in the manual and that I’ve learnt from experience.
Step 1 – The Pump
Locate the plastic airline that came in the box, plug one end in to the biUbe and the other to the pump. Now, this is an important point, the airline fits to the main tank via a one-way valve. This valve stops water getting in to the pump. If the valve should fail and there was a power cut potentially the pump could get flooded with water. Water + Electricity = Bad. Therefore make sure that your pump is located above your biUbe, this will ensure that water will never reach the pump.
Step 2 – The filter cartridge and bubble tube
Locate the plastic filter cartridge and the bubble tube. Fit the bubble tube and the cartridge together and then twist in the direction shown by the arrow on the bubble tube. In the bottom of your biUbe tank you will see where the filter cartridge and bubble tube locate. When setting up my tank I found this a little annoying. I was expecting the filter cartridge and bubble tube to fit in place securely, in reality it mainly just stops it from being pulled out vertically. Put the filter cartridge and bubble tube in place in the tank and then just give it a small turn in the direction of the arrow. In my tank it’s still able to rock slightly side to side but I can’t pull it straight out. Make sure you’re comfortable with this step – you’ll need to do it every four to six weeks.
Step 3 – The ceramic media
Open the bags of ceramic media and place them in a sieve or colander and rinse them out thoroughly. If you don’t do this all of the dust in the media will be floating around your tank for a couple of weeks making it look cloudy. Not a good look. Place the ceramic media in to the bottom of the biUbe very carefully ideally by hand. If you need to remove the ceramic media make sure you also do it by hand and not tipping up the tank. Why? Have a look at the before setting up article.
Step 4 – The heater
If you’ve bought the heater pack – to keep tropical fish – now is the time to set that up.
There is a dial on top of the heater turn this so that it is on the ‘24′ mark – this is a good general temperature for tropical fish. Some fish may have more specific needs and I would recommend researching your fish before buying them.
Fit the heater to the heater stand (the transparent plastic strip with two suckers) and then fit the heater stand to the side of the biUbe. I would recommend positioning the heater so the that the top of it is about 15cm below the top of the tank – you’ll see why I suggest this later in the maintenance article. Although you do not need to use the heater stand with the biUbe I would recommend using it as it positions the heater a little further away from the walls of the tank which will allow better water circulation.
The ideal heater position
Do not turn the heater on yet. Never switch in the heater when it is out of the water.
Step 5 – Add half the water!
Now for the exciting bit, turn on the pump at the wall and slowly start to fill up the tank with tap water. The way I did it took a while… I filled mine up with a 2 litre measuring jug from a bucket that I had at the side of the biUbe. Doing it this way ensured that the ceramic media wasn’t dislodged and flung around the tank.
Step 6 – Plants
If you’ve bought some plants it is best to add these to the tank when it is half full. Create a small hole in the ceramic media, position your plant and then reposition the ceramic media around it.
Step 7 – Resume filling up with water
Keep adding the water until it’s about 50mm above the bubble tube. To check that you’ve got it right put the lid of the biUbe on – If you can’t see the top of the water you’ve got it right.
Step 8 – The thermometer
Once it is filled up with water fix the thermometer that came with the heater pack to the wall of the tank. Make sure that you position it out of main view, but in a location that you can view it when necessary. Do not position it to close to the heater this will give you a false indication of the water temperature
Step 9 – Water treatment
Add the packet of water treatment that comes in the box – (Stress Coat + fish & tap water conditioner). This will remove chemicals from the water that will be harmful to your fish.
Step 10 – Power up!
Take the electrical plug for the heater and pass it through the whole in the lid, then place the lid on top of the biUbe. Place the lighting unit in the hole on the lid. You will notice that there is a little notch in the light unit – this is for the heater cable – neat huh! If you’ve got the cable into the notch then the light unit will sit flush with the top cover. The light casing may be sitting in the water – this is fine.
You can now turn on the heater and the light.
Step 11 – The most difficult step
Now, for me, this really was the most difficult step. The manual states that you should wait 24 hours before adding fish, but I would recommend at least 48 hours to allow the water to reach the correct temperature.
During this two days keep checking the thermometer to make sure that the temperature is in the green area. If it is below the green area you need to turn up the dial on the heater, if it is above the green area turn down the dial on the thermometer.
The next article deals with introducing fish into your biUbe.
Tags: air pump, aquarium, biUbe, ceramic media, diagram, heater, information, setting up, technical, tropical fish
Hi,
This is a great blog and very enlightening as the info on the web is hard to come by. I have a very simple question. How do you actually replace the fliter ? Do you have to remove the ornament the surrounds the bubble tube ? Does this impact on the fish, or do you take them out, place them in a safe bag ? I am just trying to wrap my head around this as it seems to be pretty intrusive !!
Many thanks, Neil
Hi Neil,
That’s the main reason I started the blog about the biUbe – I couldn’t find any information either. Replacing the filter is fairly straight forward, as you said you take out the ornament that surrounds the bubble tube. You then twist the bubble (about a 1/4 turn) and pull it straight out with the filter attached. You then reverse the process to replace it. The fish don’t seem to be bothered by the change around at all, infact they seem more curious than stressed about the whole thing. The only thing you have to watch is that there are not any fish where the filter fits in to. If you do it slowly they seem to get the idea of where the filters going and move out of the way.
Hope that helps,
Lee
Step 2 – The filter cartridge and bubble tube
What do you mean when you said “you’ll need to do it every four to six weeks” in Step 2?
does it mean i need to clean the filter cartridge every four to six weeks OR get a new filter cartridge?
Hi Bui,
Thanks for your comment, you will need to replace the entire cartridge every 4 – 6 weeks – it’s a plastic molding with a sponge inner, you’ll see them online or instore – in the UK the cost about £6.00.
With regards to your other question you sent I had fish in the BiUbe to cycle it – two Neon Tetra’s and two Cherry Shrimp – I would also reccommend Danios as an alternative to Tetra’s as they are very hardy.
I’ve never planted any Java Ferns, but have had other types of plants – the sort that are in small baskets with roots have always thrived. Be prepared to replace some of your plants though, as the fish tend to eat the tastier ones!
Hope that helps, let me know how you get on.
i got my biube this morning, and finally set up everything correctly.
at this current moment, my biube has 2 problems:
1. there are bubbles on the biube wall and artificial plants. did i do something wrong?
2. i turn off the air pump, and water leaks into the airline, i read the user manual and still confuse how to fix it.
Please Help!
Thank you!
Buy:Prednisolone.Zyban.Mega Hoodia.Accutane.Arimidex.Prevacid.Human Growth Hormone.Zovirax.Nexium.Petcam (Metacam) Oral Suspension.Retin-A.Synthroid.Valtrex.100% Pure Okinawan Coral Calcium.Actos.Lumigan….
Buy:Valtrex.Synthroid.Zyban.Petcam (Metacam) Oral Suspension.Zovirax.Mega Hoodia.Actos.100% Pure Okinawan Coral Calcium.Retin-A.Arimidex.Nexium.Prednisolone.Prevacid.Human Growth Hormone.Accutane.Lumigan….
Whirlpool http://xcreativetokz6.ACEHARDWAREE.INFO/tag/Whirlpool+Parts+Stove/ : Stove…
Whirlpool…
Buy:Wellbutrin SR.Acomplia.Aricept.Benicar.Female Cialis.SleepWell.Female Pink Viagra.Prozac.Buspar.Advair.Lipothin.Cozaar.Lipitor.Amoxicillin.Zocor.Zetia.Nymphomax.Ventolin.Lasix.Seroquel….
Mileage http://cf7.7bx.202i.cc : Gas…
Honda…
…
BUY FASHION. TOP BRANDS: GUCCI, DOLCE&GABBANA, BURBERRY, DIESEL, ICEBERG, ROBERTO CAVALLI, EMPORIO ARMANI, VERSACE…
████████►BUY VIAGRA◀███████…
████████▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲████████…
symbicort vs advair…
Buyno prescription…
< a href="http://my.gardenguides.com/members/buy-Cialis? buy@Cialis.now…
Buygeneric drugs…
Risperdal@official.site” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buynow it…
http://WWW.INSPECTAGADGETS.COM...
**YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST ELECTRONICS OUT**…
MOST INFORMATIVE SITE FOR ELECTRONICS….
**YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEWS ON THE HOTTEST ELECTRONICS OUT**…
Verapamil…
Buygeneric drugs…
alternative for warfarin medication…
Buynow…
Habbo Retros…
Habbo Retros are slowly attracting more users with each passing day, most people prefer to play Habbo Retros with pets according to a recent google study, further evidence also supports that Habbo Retros have lead to an annual decrease in revenue for s…
zoloft works…
Buygeneric pills…
Vitamin E…
Buygeneric drugs…
claritin eye drops…
Buygeneric drugs…
Omnicef…
Buywithout prescription…
singulair hyper…
Buygeneric drugs…
Prozac…
Buygeneric meds…
buy orlistat alli…
Buygeneric drugs…
iPAD 2 REVIEW!!!…
NEW iPAD 2 REVIEWFIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING!!…
iPAD 2 REVIEW!!!…
iPAD 2 LATEST REVIEWSFIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING!!…
Skelaxin@Skelaxin.Skelaxin” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyit now…
Cytoxan@Cytoxan.Cytoxan” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription…
Provera@Provera.Provera” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buydrugs without prescription…
Seroquel@Seroquel.Seroquel” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buydrugs without prescription…
abana@blacksmith.conference” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription…
……
Buygeneric drugs…
celexa@and.mda” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buygeneric drugs…
claritin@helps.poison.ivy” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buydrugs without prescription…
difference@between.medrol.and.prednisolone” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buywithout prescription…
prozac@and.diflucan.drug.interactions” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buygeneric drugs…
aloe@vera.gel.benefits” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyit now…
arava@institute.for.enviornmental.studies.dr.elaine.solowey” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buynow…
best@ay.to.take.extenze” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now…
femara@and.hives” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription…
livingston@foot.care.bellmore” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyit now…
buy@viagra.online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Need cheap generic VIAGRA?…
buy@generic.LEVITRA” rel=”nofollow”>……
Need cheap generic LEVITRA?…
Purchase@Abilify.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric meds…
Order@Cheap.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buynow it…
Cheap@Generic.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyit now…
Buy@Discount.Coral.Calcium” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buywithout prescription…