Anyone in Katy area willing to help me set up nano cube (1 Viewer)

[tvu]

I recently purchase a JBJ 12 gallon nano cube and stand which I am hoping to set up next week. I need some ideas and tips on what to do.

I currently have a 72 Gallon bowfront with fish and some soft corals and wanted to start a little reef tank. I've been doing saltwater for 7 years so i have some experience and want to start out with a small reef tank.

The lighting in the 12 gallons is only 24watts which probably won't support anything but softies but I was thinking of added a 32watt in there and a fan as some people have done in the nano-reef forum.

If someone around Katy would be willing to mentor me in reefing I would really appreciate it.

Thanks All,

tvu

 

[aqua-nut]

you know what, I set up a 20 gallon nano (yeah, It's kinda large to be called a nano, but I do anyway) and I got a lot of info off of some websites devoted to tiny reef systems.

Do a google search on "nano, marine, aquariums" and you find some forums on the subject like this one.

They were as helpful as anyone.

BTW, my 20 gallon has an ecosystem built into the back of it, a probe chiller, 200 watts of PC light and a mag 500 throttled way back for circulation. I have one bag of live sand in it and about 15 lbs of live rock.

Click on the web link in my sig line and you can see the basic setup

 

[tvu]

i've pretty much read anything there is on the web. i was hoping for hands-on-training you could say.

i'd like to go to some people's houses check out their tanks and talk to them about reef tanks. it may be a little too much to ask i guess.


thanks,

tvu

 

[Guest]

Well I don't mind giving the advice I have, but then you actually have more real xp than I do. haha

You read up on what kind of DIY mods you plan on doing to the cube? What kind of refugium do you think you will go with, a AC300 or AC500, thinking most go with the AC300 for the cube. This is to have some macro algae to help keep micro algae under control.

I say get your sand, and rock, and let that start cycling as soon as you can. Are you going to use sand and rock out of your other tank? Was your other tank a FOWLR? Did you ever medicate it with copper? If so you can't use anything out of that tank with this tank.

For Nano I have the largest one can have: 29 gal with a one gal refugium for a total of 30. But been thinking of getting a smaller one, just trying to figure out what lights I would put on it.

 

[Guest]

TVU are u my twin bro ...my name is tvu too

 

[tvu]

I wasn't thinking about a refugium on the nano unless I needed one later on. I do have a refugium on my 72 gallon bowfront though with 3-4 inches of sand and some macro.

From what I've read there are more people not using refugium on their nanos(nanos around 10 gallons and under that is). There is even someone putting LR frags into the back chamber of the jbj nano which I was thinking I may do.

I'm decided whether I want to start from scratch or just use some of the LR and LS from my other tank since I never use medication in it. I'm a believer in fresh water dips with formalin which I've not had to do much.

I guess you can say 29gallons is a nano but I think of nanos as being much smaller. I've read you can put pretty much any type of light on your refug. Lots of people are just going to home depot to get the outdoor landscape compact fluors there for their refug.

 

[Guest]

I got a 10 gallon nano i started i'm new to this but my tank is doing well. I wouldnt mind helping. I dont have a refugium but I want to make one just for looks and the fun factor. You help me with a refugium for my 10 and i'll help you start off your 10. Hows that sound.

 

[cparka23]

tvu, you definitely have a lot more experience than I, so perhaps you are already aware of this. JBJ nanocubes have had a lot of complaints about their lighting. I believe the ballast was the most common culprit. If you plan on upgrading the lighting, I'd read up on other JBJ cube owners' opinions and experiences first. You might want to replace the lighting rather than supplement it.

*addendum*
sorry, i do not remember where I read the complaints about the ballasts. maybe it was reef central, but it possibly was something i've encountered by clicking on links in posters' signatures.

 

[Guest]

Jerm, what kind of 10 you have, a regular rectangle?

What kind of water movement?

 

[tvu]

i've read a few people had problems with their ballast going out i think from nano-reef.com. There's also some other guys who've added a 32w in addition to the 24 in there making a total of 56w which i think would be perfect for me also.

I don't have ay experience making a refugium. I do own one that i purchased off of ebay which seems to work fine except for the center brace which causes the surface water on one side to be stagnant. I just drilled a hole to the other side and everything seems to work better.

After about 2 weeks my refugium started showing tons of pods(i think that's what they are... they look like little lice crawling in the refugium). I purchased a shaving brush plant and some Chaetomorpha which is dark green and doing great. I've seen a CPR refugium in action and that setup looks really good. I've seen the CPR run on an Eclipse 12 system.

jerm, i don't mind helping you build a refugium. do you have any experience with acrylic? refugiums are pretty simple in concept and design i think. it's just getting everything needed to build one that could be the pain.

 

[Guest]

Some people modify AquaClears to be refuges, so that way they don't really have to build it themselves.

TVU and Jerm, do yall have handles on nano-reef.com?

 

[tvu]

Narkon,

No i don't have handle on nano-reef.com just here.

Do you have a refug yourself?
----------------------------------------

I guess we are getting away from the original post.
Any other suggestions on setting up my nano cube?
I'm planning:

3-4 inches fine sand(should i do white,pink or black?).
8-12lbs of live rock

possible mod(s):
adding 32w cf light for total of 56watts.

 

[Guest]

I am going to try a TetraTec as my refuge, and see if I want to go without the wavesurge option, and just have 2 outlets. But TetraTecs are quite space hogs when you think about the space you have on the backglass compared to AquaClears.


Ok, why 3 to 4 inches of sand? Nano-reef discourage deep sand beds for nanos, since you don't have enough surface area, and you should be doing a weekly water change.

Live rock, depending on the shape of the rock and your aquascape, you might get 3 more pounds.

I would mod the lights, that is the most common mod done to a NanoCube. Nano-reef.com has quite a bit of info on that mod.

Sand, depends on what you want to grow. The black will not reflect the light back up, and will absorb the heat, but you don't have Metal Halide so that doesn't matter really.

What kind of corals were you wanting to grow?

As far as my 29 being a nano, I just going by Nano-reef definition, which they had to set at something, just like most consider "large" tanks to start at 180 gal.

The refuge was mostly a place to put some macro to help excess nutrient export, and a place to put your heater outside of the tank display.

 

[incysor]

I'd suggest not going with the black sand. I set up a 10 gal a few months ago with black sand, thinking that it would be a neat contrast with the couple critters I wanted. Turned out that it always looked crappy. Detritus and rubble from the LR made it almost salt and pepper looking.

This was something I hadn't really considered beforehand. Thought I'd point it out.

Other than that I'd say replace the lights on it. Others have pointed out that there are tons of pages showing what people have done in this regard on nano-reef.com

Good luck. It sounds like a fun project.

 

[tvu]

Thanks everyone for your help.

I'm just going off of what others have successfully done. I've read lots of good info on reefs.org also besides nano-reef.com.

I'm still in the information stage and have not decided on anything yet. Its kinda is tough to have the tank and not use it yet. i'll continue to absorb information until next week then setup.

Does anyone have pics of their setup and tanks?