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Planted discus guy's first SW - 28g JBJ nano


Saverio

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Hiya peeps!

 

I'm a freshwater planted discus tank guy who finally gave in to the lure of SW! =)

 

I am currently in the 9th day of cycling my JBJ 28g Intermediate LED nanocube. My plan is to go with soft corals and LPS. My knowlegde of the salt side is still very limited. As far as livestock, besides a CUC, my plan is a red or purple firefish, yellow watchman goby paired with pistol shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, and undecided on what to get for a 3rd fish. Any suggestions welcome! I'm getting mixed reviews on whether to keep a few small hermits with snails.

 

I also know I'd like to get a small nano-safe starfish at some point, but I've been told to wait about 6 months or more for that.

 

As far as the cycle goes, I WAS doing the raw shrimp method for the first 5 days or so, then pulled it out due to the smell. lol. I've since started dosing with Dr.Tim's ammonium chloride. I am cycling lights on for 8hrs and have received some feedback to turn the lights out? I'm already getting a diatom bloom.

 

As far as other specs on this tank:

InTank media basket - intend to run filter floss, chaeto clump with nanofuge light, purigen, chemipure elite

no skimmer plans initially - hoping that weekly 7g WC's will be sufficient

1 Koralia 425 - may add a jebao WP-10

30lbs figi cured LR, LR rubble also in the two chambers next to center chamber in filter compartment.

 

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. I find this all so exciting! =D Attached is a pic of the current hardscape.

 

post-85392-0-61086900-1408606703_thumb.jpg

 

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Nice job so far. Its an attractive scape and it sounds like you've done your homework. I have a pistol shrimp paired with a curlyque anemone and they are cool. A goby would probably be even better I just be prepared for the shrimp to do lots of digging and piling sand all over corals and such. A royal gramma or black cap basselet might be nice, or a clown and nem. You've chosen a tank that offers lots of possibilities. And being a planted tank guy, there are beautiful macro algaes to consider as well.

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Nice job so far. Its an attractive scape and it sounds like you've done your homework. I have a pistol shrimp paired with a curlyque anemone and they are cool. A goby would probably be even better I just be prepared for the shrimp to do lots of digging and piling sand all over corals and such. A royal gramma or black cap basselet might be nice, or a clown and nem. You've chosen a tank that offers lots of possibilities. And being a planted tank guy, there are beautiful macro algaes to consider as well.

 

Thank you very much! =)

I've come to discover one of the problems that seems to be prevalent with the JBJ nanocubes. And that's heat retention. Being in Arizona probably doesn't help either. Tank temp has been peaking at 85F. I really don't want to have to get a chiller, so in the interim I put a fan on top of the hood that blows across the water surface in the filter compartment. The expected increase in evaporation is alarming; will probably get a smaller fan and put it on a timer with the lights.

 

fortunately, I'm still early in the cycle, so no livestock yet, other than whatever is in the live rock.

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Are any of the compartments big enough to hold a 20 oz plastic pop bottle? I submerge a couple of frozen pop bottles with water in them in my sump so my chiller doesn't work so hard in the summer. I know they melt fairly quick though and that might not be a very good solution if you aren't home all day. An ATO system is a very worth while investment to help with the evaporation though. Now that I have one I would never have another tank without it.

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I can fit a 16 oz bottled water bottle in each of the two compartments next to the media basket chamber, but unfortunately, I'm using those for LR rubble at this time. I ran a fan over the rear chamber for several hours today, and it got the temp down to a steady 80F, which I think will be ok. I'll just have a LOT more top off to do. Going to have to think on this a bit. Maybe evaluate getting a Tunze nano ATO ordered. Thanks for the suggestion! =)



Next question. Can I get some recommendations on a CUC for this size tank? I'm not too well versed yet in all the different snails, and what each species is good for, or how many.

 

And I know that hermits are kinda frowned upon for keeping with snails due to predation for their shells. But I might still plan on like two of the small kinds.

 

My parameters are stabilizing and my diatom bloom is in full effect. So once I get this temperature issue resolved, I will be looking at starting to stock a CUC.

 

Any opinions welcome! =)

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I have a 20g high tank and my CUC consists of 6 hermit crabs, 5 Astraea snails, 5 margarita snails, 1 turbo snail and a cleaner shrimp.

 

My tank's been up and running for about 5 weeks now and I only recently added the cleaner shrimp. They can be temperamental (or so I've read) so I waited to add him. He's doing fine though and had no problem acclimating him.

 

So far I have not had any issues with my hermit crabs attacking my snails. I've read that as long as you provide some additional, larger empty shells, they tend to leave the snails alone. They'll kill the snail for it's shell if it doesn't have other options in the tank.

 

The only thing I don't have is any snails that burrow in the sand, I've heard a conch snail is good for this, plus there are some other smaller snails that do the same (names are escaping me ATM).

 

Good luck with you tank!

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I have the exact same setup. Now running for about 4 months and have no problems. Cooling is an issue here but I keep the house at 77F and the tank has been steady in the day timeat 80 - 81F.

 

I got my CUC at reefcleaners.org. I bought the snail package for this sized tank, no crabs. I have been completely happy with the results. I recently got a followup email from them asking if I needed more snails. These things breed like rabbits (or is that snails) in my tank. So, no need for more right now. They send you more than they say is in the package.

 

You can see the tank on a posting in the macroalgae forum.

 

Good Luck!

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