# Biopod Terra



## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I recently purchased a Biopod Terra from a retail location. Thought some of you might be interested in the experience so far...

After a couple weeks of flawless operation, I was greeted with a puddle of water under the unit yesterday. Almost all the water in the false bottom had drained out of the unit. 

I initially could not locate where the water was coming from. After some investigating I was able to determine it was leaking from under the base the tank rests on. So I moved the unit between two shelves so I could see underneath, and came to realize it was leaking from the control module . 

At this point I have everything shutdown. I have sent two emails to Biopod asking for assistance, but have yet to receive a response. The unit is fully planted and currently occupied, so I'm hoping I get a response soon. 

Here are a few photos of the leak.


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## FrogSnob (Feb 4, 2013)

I received my terra last week but due to many broken parts I have not been able to set it up. Can you be more specific on where the leak is coming from? Is there a crack in the control module or is one of the fittings leaking? Any information would be appreciated so I can troubleshoot mine if needed.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

To be honest I don't know for certain where the leak is coming from. I'm holding off on tearing too much apart, since the Biopod guys seem kind of uptight about the warranty stuff.

That being said from what I can see it seems likely it is either coming from the irrigation pump or the air pump. The air pump has what looks to be a check valve on the line. There was a little water around that valve, which makes me wonder if the air pump was actually pulling the water out of the unit.

Looking at the control module, it is not a great design. It sits at the bottom of the unit (where water is likely to run) and with the pumps sealed inside, if you get a big leak the box can fill with water and get to the control board. Would be better to have the control board mounted at the top of the unit and the pumps at the bottom. Less chance for water to reach the control board. 

Overall, the quality of the unit is really very average. The "living wall" did not align at all, so I had to use silicone to prevent water from running out the back. The top plastic canopy appears to have wrapped from the heat of the lights. And the unit also arrived with damage to plastic base in a bunch of spots. When it was running it did seem to work, though. Just would have expected better quality for $500. The plant pack was also a joke. 

I have some videos I took of the unboxing and the unit running that I will try to get on Youtube. 

At this point I'm just curious to see how they handle things from a warranty standpoint. I have yet to hear from them, which is not encouraging.


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## FrogSnob (Feb 4, 2013)

You are nice in giving them a “very average” rating. At this point I am very disappointed in the product. I have contacted them regarding my broken parts and they have responded. They have told me that they will send me new parts but it may take a couple of weeks due to the backlog from the holidays. Hope you hear from them soon.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I think the only reason I'm giving them an "average" rating is I understand how hard things can be as a startup. I have an MBA and have worked with a few startups, and I think they got way ahead of themselves with this launch. They should have focused on one model to start and really perfected things before adding all the additional models. There is also cost cutting that is very evident throughout the product, and lots of very questionable engineering decisions. 

I really want to like the product because I have wanted a nice looking alternative to Exos that have to be modified for darts, but sadly this is not looking like that product. Hopefully, they can address some of these issues in a Biopod 2.0 that offers a better package.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

It is also concerning that parts are an issue. When launching a product like this you should always have both extra parts and units. There should be no issue exchanging defective units. When Apple releases a new iPhone they keep some inventory for exchanging defective devices. Every product has some units that are bad from the factory, you just ensure your manufacturing and supply chain makes it a small percentage of units.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Still no contact from Biopod support. I have now sent four emails requesting assistance for my broken unit. Going to try the 800-number today and see how that goes. 

Very disappointed in the customer service so far...


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## illucam (Oct 27, 2017)

Give them a shout on Facebook too. They've done well in responding to my messages there in the past. Sorry to hear of your troubles!

My unit was also a little disappointing in many respects - wasn't quite the quality I had expected for the cost and required some jiggery pokery to get it running as I wanted. 
I've found the water reservoir especially to be much smaller than I expected and made of very flexible plastic, meaning it warps out of shape when close to full. The individual components are also of reasonably average quality. Humidity and temperature sensors are pretty unreliable. Camera is low resolution and as a result a novelty -- can't even manipulate its position or angle into the vivarium.

It looks great, but several things could have been done better. I hope app updates in future can help with this too. More lighting control would be particularly nice.

Hope your occupants do alright during the blackout!


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## Yazz (Oct 30, 2016)

I have a Biopod Terra. Didn't share it on DB because it was made for my Cloud Forest orchids.

On the back of the Biopod is a water connector like Mist King's. It's used to prime the water pump. Maybe the connection was not tight enough after priming the pump?






Just wanted to give an idea on where the leak might be coming from...


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

That was my first thought as well. Once I got the unit moved where I could see things better, I was able to determine the water was running out of the black electrical control box underneath (you can actually see the box and the water in the first pic up top). Today I took sometime to get a better look at things. It appears what happened is the check valve failed on the air pump line. So the air pump siphoned all the water out of the bottom. This is a pretty major design issue. The pump should not be below the unit for this reason. Check valves fail all the time. Biopod relying on the valve to prevent this is a bad idea. They need to redesign things and move the air pump up into the canopy.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Spoke with Biopod support team for the first time yesterday. After sending yet another email requesting assistance. The representative was nice in the email and asked what was wrong. I responded in about 5-10 minutes with a list of all the issues. So far today no response...

The lack of communication with Biopod is getting to be a problem at this point. It seems others on the Kickstarter page are having similar problems and have not had problems getting help from the support team, so I'm not sure what is the issue with my request. 

I would be happy with any kind of response at this point. I understand they might not have replacement units or parts available, but just be honest and inform me of the situation.


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## Ibn (Aug 3, 2016)

Check valve? Where was that located? I don't see any check valves on the exterior behind my Terra. They're just mostly quick disconnects (mostly elbows).


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I believe the white circular piece on the black airline is a check valve.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Thought I would update everyone on what happened with my Biopod.

After a lot of back and forth with Biopod customer service, I was told to contact the original retailer. So I reached out to the retailer and they will be sending me a new unit. I don't need to return the original either. The new unit should be shipping today. While I'm very disappointed in Biopod, I'm very pleased with the retailer's response to this mess.

It seems that Biopod is unwilling to send new units to people to fulfill warranty requests. They are willing to send parts, but don't want to address leaks and other issues with the tank. Telling people to silicone things themselves, is not going to fly with many customers after spending this kind of $$$$. 

I plan to look into the cause of the leak inside my original faulty Biopod, now that I don't have to worry about maintaining a warranty anymore. I will likely start by pulling the air pump and opening that up. If there is water inside, that will indicate that it was siphoning the water out of the unit.


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## Ibn (Aug 3, 2016)

Sorry to hear about the issue with your unit and I'm not surprised that they didn't want to ship you a new unit. The company as a whole is very unresponsive and they're way over their head in a number of ways. 

Hopefully we'll learn more about the actual mechanics once you get a chance to tear that unit apart.


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## glenn49 (Jan 27, 2017)

I'm having a problem connecting mine to their server, everything works ok until I put in the serial number, then it comes up "cant connect to biopod server" so I'm not sure what next, I sent them an email.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I never had any connection issues. Others have mentioned that the unit has to be very close to the wireless access point to get a signal. I might open up the cover where the main control box is located. Will be interesting to see what they are using for the main board. If it has an onboard wifi module, burying it inside a metal box, covered by multiple layers of plastic and glass, can't be great for signal. 

I wish I could tell you that they will be helpful, but in my experience they don't seem to admit there is an issue with anything. At least twice they basically seemed to deny that my unit could be leaking. Despite, being sent photos of a Biopod surrounded by a puddle of water. They only seem to be helpful with known issues that they already have solutions for. Like the issues with the screen top everyone is having. Everything else they just stall and keep having you self-diagnose. At one point they were also going to send me a bunch parts to replace components in the control box. The list Biopod had provided was everything but a couple components in the box. A good company would be sending a complete new box with all components installed at that point, not asking customers to take everything apart and install the components themselves.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

Update time!

Took some time out today to disassemble my faulty Biopod and take some photos. In doing so I have located the cause of my "leak"...

The air pump!

Removed and took apart the pump, and sure enough the rubber diaphragm had water inside. When I worked the pump by hand more water came out of the tubing leading to the pump. This is a complete design flaw. It is only a matter of time before this happens to EVERY Biopod. The cheap check valve used will fail sooner or later on every unit, and this will be the result. 

I will give more updates as I continue to look at things. In the meantime here are some photos I took showing the components and the water in the rubber diaphragm and the inside of the air pump.


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## Ningenius (Jan 1, 2018)

glenn49 said:


> I'm having a problem connecting mine to their server, everything works ok until I put in the serial number, then it comes up "cant connect to biopod server" so I'm not sure what next, I sent them an email.


I had the same issue with my aqua. Instead of trying to register it, go to ‘update’ first (on same screen of the app) It will then (hopefully) update the firmware and then the registration should work fine . Hope this helps


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## glenn49 (Jan 27, 2017)

It does let me update the firmware, but from there when I put in serial number is when I get the error. I have it less than 2 feet from my modem. i hope they get back with me on it, tomorrow.


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## Auri (Jan 7, 2016)

I had the same connectivity issue when I first tried to get mine up and running. I reset everything I could (deleted and re-installed app, rebooted the biopod, reset my router etc etc) then sent them a sad email, and got a reply back stating they would check things out from their end, whatever that means. 

That problem seems to have fixed itself though- I left it unplugged for a couple of days and plugged it back in, and magically, everything worked. 

Now I have the same air pump issue- got an email from support instructing me to take apart "the black box" so I could investigate without voiding the warranty. Whatever. 

Hopefully they'll actually send me parts and I can fix this pod. I'm beginning to think I should have named it Kobayashi Maru instead of Podrick Pane. Or maybe just altered it to "Pain" instead of "Pane"....


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## Cameron33 (Jan 13, 2018)

Had a Terra for a week before the power supply died. It took Biopod a month to ship me a new motherboard. Although these units are beautiful, I can't say I'd recommend them - as they are cheaply made and poorly supported. Hopefully this will change. As for the air pump issues - I disconnected mine when I hooked up the new motherboard. Works fine - with no crazy loud noise. Anyone who knows aquariums (another hobby of mine) knows that any running water produces aeration. Thus, the living wall aerates the water. The air pump is a waste - and really noisy. Unplugging it from the motherboard works (although getting to the motherboard isn't easy). Sounds like it's a leak hazard also.


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## Cameron33 (Jan 13, 2018)

Here are the instruction videos that Biopod sent me to swap out the motherboard. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless your Biopod is actually broken (as parts are fragile): 

1. Accessing the metal box: 




2. Swapping the PCB: 




Kinda crazy they are asking consumers to do this level of repair.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I did the same thing. Before I reassembled everything, I just unplugged the air pump and removed it. It seems the reasons they have the air pump is to help raise humidity. Which it actually does seem to do a pretty good job of that. 

I was shocked once I got inside the control box. It is an absolute mess in there. I can't believe they are expecting users to be replacing parts. It is not a simple process of just plugging things in. There is a decent amount of disassembly just to get at the parts.


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Just wondering if you have any updates on the leak from the air pump. One of my aquas is leaking from what appears to be the same spot as yours. It leaks slowly (one drop about every 10 seconds) if I shut off the aeration, but leaks about one drop per second if the aeration is on.

Thanks
Mike


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

I took everything apart and confirmed it was the air pump. There was a ton of water inside the pump when I opened it up. This seems to be the cause of the leaks on almost every Biopod I have seen so far.


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## Auri (Jan 7, 2016)

I got a new air pump in the mail today and replaced the old one..... It's a project. Now we'll see if it lasts, or starts to leak again. 

I suspect it might be ok. In fact, it looks like there is a known problem with defective check valves... If you look at the pic that Karmapolice posted, you can see that he has one type of check valve, and if you watch Biopod's videos posted by Cameron, they show a different type. I had the same type as Karmapolice, and we both had leaks. I actually pointed it out when I emailed the Biopod team, and the reply said "Yes there are two check valve options, you unfortunately got the bad one!" My replacement parts included the same style of check valve as shown in the Biopod videos.

Hmmmm..... Maybe they should have replaced the bad option before shipping?

Oh, and also I'm pretty sure my drip wall isn't working. Which is a) fine by me because I was worried that it was going to keep everything too wet for orchids anyway, and b) probably my fault because I didn't connect something correctly when I assembled it. Although I'm not gonna take full responsibility for that because I wasn't supposed to have to assemble it in the first place (it just fell apart during shipping) and there were no instructions.


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## Cameron33 (Jan 13, 2018)

I think everyone's has arrived with something broken. It's unfortunate...as these things would be beautiful if they were better made. 

As for the drip wall...the water comes up through one connection in the center (at the bottom). If you didn't push it in when you first installed the wall, it might not be pumping water up. There's a male connection (on the wall) that fits into a female connection (on the base). If the center-back base piece is in the right spot, you may be able to still push it back in. I ended up hot-gluing a plastic holder to the top of the Biopod to hold my wall from falling forward - as the attachment pieces were broken (seemingly a common thing).


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## Auri (Jan 7, 2016)

Yeah I'm pretty sure that literally the only thing holding the drip wall together is that water line connection.... At least in the parts jumble that I got, that was the only thing I found. So I know I connected it, or the wall wouldn't have even stayed vertical, but it seems to be leaking. 

Speaking of leaking, my new air pump is flooded already. I tore it back down to check because I noticed it didn't seem to be running. Luckily I didn't flood my house this time. Once again, the problem was with the check valve, which I was able to determine after some searching. 

The new part just came in a box, no instructions. I got it replaced just fine, but if there had been instructions with diagrams I might have noticed that the new check valve was facing the wrong way. Not facing the wrong way like "I put it on backwards" because there was only one way I could connect the tubing to the pump to the biopod due to the length of tubing attached. But like "they sent me a part assembled incorrectly, and if there had been instructions I might have noticed and fixed it" 

The saga continues. Meanwhile my plants are unhappy, and I am no closer to frogs.


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## glenn49 (Jan 27, 2017)

Auri said:


> Yeah I'm pretty sure that literally the only thing holding the drip wall together is that water line connection.... At least in the parts jumble that I got, that was the only thing I found. So I know I connected it, or the wall wouldn't have even stayed vertical, but it seems to be leaking.
> 
> Speaking of leaking, my new air pump is flooded already. I tore it back down to check because I noticed it didn't seem to be running. Luckily I didn't flood my house this time. Once again, the problem was with the check valve, which I was able to determine after some searching.
> 
> ...


 I wonder if I should replace the check valve on mine before I put water in it. I have some new ones here that I know they don't leak.
I finally got mine to register. Do any of you have a problem with the top sagging? Mine is sagged so bad it binds the door, had to put a wire tie on it to open it.


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## Auri (Jan 7, 2016)

Replacing that check valve might not be a bad idea.... Especially if you have the same kind I did. Check Ibn's Biopod Terra thread under the Parts & Construction heading for a perfect photo of the "bad kind" of check valve- it's a cylinder versus more of a disc shape like the kind shown in Biopod's videos.


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## karmapolice711 (Jan 10, 2018)

The irrigation wall is hot garbage to be honest. Both of my units the pieces did not fit together tightly at all, there were huge gaps in-between each level. This was due to the pieces being formed incorrectly. They need to do something about the molds they are using to form these pieces, because they are not working. I had to use silicone to fill these gaps and keep the water from just running out the back of the wall.

I also used silicone to attach my wall to the back glass on both my units. The little plastic clips at the top are not capable of holding it up. Bad design. I can't believe this design made it through testing. Although, to be fair, I'm starting to wonder if there was any testing done at all.

The living wall also seems to make everything too wet. The water drips off the moss in the background and goes all over. To try and combat this I have a layer of gravel surrounding the base of the wall. This extends about an inch all around the base before there is any ABG mix. My hope is this gravel layer will allow the water to drain straight back into the false bottom faster, without soaking the ABG mix. We will see...


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## Yazz (Oct 30, 2016)

My living wall was messy too. It was drowning my orchids and spag moss bits were everywhere.

I put tree fern panels against the living wall. The panels absorb the water from the wall and the orchids are doing better now.


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## Cameron33 (Jan 13, 2018)

My living wall stays wet...but is doing very well. The moss has spread (it's almost all green now), and pokadot plants are thriving in the wall (they are all well rooted now). The sphagnum never gets dry - but the living stuff is doing well. This is 1 month in. 

Note: You can see the plastic piece I've glued on at the top stop the wall from falling forward.


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Found my leak today. It's the check valve is letting water pass through and down into the air pump. I've ordered a new check valve (two actually) from Amazon for about $3 each. I'm also going to add a little extra tubing so I can loop it up so gravity doesn't pull water down into the air pump. Tubing alone would probably work, but I feel like being caution. The other three units are not leaking at all, but I think I'll do the same thing for them as a precaution. Overall I'd say it's a very easy and cheap fix. I did have to use a lighter (as the video said earlier) to get the tube going to the check valve to pull off.


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## Cameron33 (Jan 13, 2018)

After all the talk of leaks, I have put a water sensor under my unit. Sad we have to do this. 

We are essentially the customer service dept. I think the company is sunk.


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## Cj16 (Dec 21, 2020)

karmapolice711 said:


> Update time!
> 
> Took some time out today to disassemble my faulty Biopod and take some photos. In doing so I have located the cause of my "leak"...
> 
> ...


Great information. I just had the same issue. I cleaned my Aqua, and decided to completely re-landscape the unit. As I was filling it with water, I began to see water all over the table and it appeared as if it was literally running through the motherboard. I could not find the leak. I decided to open the valves, drain the water, and completely disassemble the unit(probably not the best decision). I was ready to put the motherboard in rice, but it powered up even after it was removed. I still could not find the leak, so I started searching and found YOU. To nobody's surprise, the airpump is filled with water. 

A couple of questions:
1. How did you resolve the issue?
2. Does anyone know how to replace the compression fittings and the tubing on the unit?
3. I cannot wait for parts from Biopod(been there before- not good), any ideas?
4. Lastly, I have lost a couple of clips on the units plastic ventilated cover, replacement options?

Thank you,

Cj16


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## JamieO (Dec 31, 2020)

Cj16 said:


> Great information. I just had the same issue. I cleaned my Aqua, and decided to completely re-landscape the unit. As I was filling it with water, I began to see water all over the table and it appeared as if it was literally running through the motherboard. I could not find the leak. I decided to open the valves, drain the water, and completely disassemble the unit(probably not the best decision). I was ready to put the motherboard in rice, but it powered up even after it was removed. I still could not find the leak, so I started searching and found YOU. To nobody's surprise, the airpump is filled with water.
> 
> A couple of questions:
> 1. How did you resolve the issue?
> ...


Hey Folks, just got a pristine bio pod that was never really set up, so it's like new. After I bought it, I discovered they'd gone out of business! - Thought my purchase was a dud, then I was shocked to get a response from Biopod which is now Matsan after only a few days. I've upgraded the firmware and got the app synced with the Biopod.

Same leak: I filled the water section to check for leaks and had the same experience with the air pump tube. It was leaking and I wrapped it with silicone tape which stopped the leak, but now it's coming from underneath right where the air pump is, so it must be the same issue. My plan is to cut the air tube and attach a external pump above the waterline.

Update: New pump attached externally. 

Now that it's not leaking, I'm trying to set it up for real. My app sees the Biopod and the scaled back UI shows custom or automatic options. I try and make a change, it say's it's updated, but nothing happens. The light came on a few days ago and it seems like it was more connected, but since I layed the biopod on it's side on the bed (to mop up the water from the leak), the LED lights don't seem to want to come on. The irrigation seems to be coming on and the fan, but not the light. 

I'll update you when I know more. I'm surprised I've gotten this far. Matsan's support has been excellent. After I knew biopod went out of business, I thought I'd have to rig it up with separate pumps etc, which still might happen. Anyone seen a macgyvered Biopod with external pumps etc? 

Cheers,


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## jeffkruse (Jun 5, 2018)

Yes, I macgyvered mine and I have much better control. I let the Biopod control the lights, heat, and sprayers.


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