H20's Nano-Reef AquaPod 24

[paca444]

Bump,

 

Any advice on the option of $170 for cf versus $320 for mh? Is it really worth it?

[H20]

Bump,

 

Any advice on the option of $170 for cf versus $320 for mh? Is it really worth it?

 

 

Everyone says pay the extra and get the MH, as you will eventually want to upgrade in the future. I chose to go with the compacts as I found that I could keep alot of great corals under it. Also, I did not want an open top, and like the closed lid look. With that being said, now that I have had it a few months, I am starting to wonder how much better MH would be and if it would really color up the corals, and allow me to get some things that I can't get now. The PCs are fine for me for now, but I could see me wanting to dabble with the MH down the road. I am kinda glad I started with PC's to get started, to see how they work, to learn to get started, etc., then later, I will be able to see the difference in MH, and what they can provide. It will allow me to compare and contrast. I really like the JBJ 28g Nanocube with the MH closed top lid. You can get one at nanotuners.com with additional actinic lights added. I am thinking about getting one of those sometime down the road. I would probably have to get a chiller for it, but it would be a cool tank to have, in my opinion.

[RC51 in SD]

Everyone says pay the extra and get the MH, as you will eventually want to upgrade in the future. I chose to go with the compacts as I found that I could keep alot of great corals under it. Also, I did not want an open top, and like the closed lid look. With that being said, now that I have had it a few months, I am starting to wonder how much better MH would be and if it would really color up the corals, and allow me to get some things that I can't get now. The PCs are fine for me for now, but I could see me wanting to dabble with the MH down the road. I am kinda glad I started with PC's to get started, to see how they work, to learn to get started, etc., then later, I will be able to see the difference in MH, and what they can provide. It will allow me to compare and contrast. I really like the JBJ 28g Nanocube with the MH closed top lid. You can get one at nanotuners.com with additional actinic lights added. I am thinking about getting one of those sometime down the road. I would probably have to get a chiller for it, but it would be a cool tank to have, in my opinion.

What about the lighting upgrades that nanotuners has. Are those an option? Nanocustoms 4.36 for 24g Aquapod (144w) light upgrade?

[eric_weiss]

Everyone says pay the extra and get the MH, as you will eventually want to upgrade in the future. I chose to go with the compacts as I found that I could keep alot of great corals under it. Also, I did not want an open top, and like the closed lid look. With that being said, now that I have had it a few months, I am starting to wonder how much better MH would be and if it would really color up the corals, and allow me to get some things that I can't get now. The PCs are fine for me for now, but I could see me wanting to dabble with the MH down the road. I am kinda glad I started with PC's to get started, to see how they work, to learn to get started, etc., then later, I will be able to see the difference in MH, and what they can provide. It will allow me to compare and contrast. I really like the JBJ 28g Nanocube with the MH closed top lid. You can get one at nanotuners.com with additional actinic lights added. I am thinking about getting one of those sometime down the road. I would probably have to get a chiller for it, but it would be a cool tank to have, in my opinion.

 

FYI on the 28MH upgrade (reply to a question I asked from H7Brandi):

 

I got the upgrade hood for mine about 2 weeks ago. Looks good so far. One thing I have noticed, is that even with the 4 fans, it does heat up your water 2-3 degrees. I was running cool anyway, so this was great for me. If you are running on the high side though, think about the possibility of also needing a chiller. Also, because you can't really adjust the level of the hood from the tank, I cut down the photoperiod and I also used vinyl screen in layers to cut back some of the light for the first week.

 

The 4 nite lights really light up the tank. But the MH bulb it comes with is really white. Consider a new bulb in the near future costs also. Another thing.. no actinics. Nanocustoms has an upgrade for actinics if you are a DIY. There is also a lot of condensation on the hood. When you lift it up, water drops everywhere. Make sure your cords and power strip/s are neatly arranged out of harms way (speaking from experience...I just blew out a GFCI!). Ok... one last thing... there are no notches for extra cords to come through the hood. I drilled mine and picked up some grommets from the depot though.

 

I bought my hood from here: http://www.jbjnanocubes.com/index1.html Shipping came out to about 50 dollars (think big heavy ballast!) to IL, but at least I didn't have to drive an hour up to the only store that has them here just to pay 299.99.

 

 

On another note, how's that chaeto doing?

[H20]

On another note, how's that chaeto doing?

 

 

Chaeto is doing great! Still a good green color. Growing well. When I first put it in the sponge holder about a week ago, it fit neatly inside. Now it has grown out of the top of it and is touching the top of the water. I may have to trim it soon. My nitrates had gone from 0 to between 5 and 10 after a re-aquascape a couple of weeks ago, but after adding the chaeto and a bag of Purigen under my filter floss, nitrates are now down to 0 again. (well, I don't think you can ever get to a 'real 0', but it is low enough that my test kit doesn't detect it)

Props to the chaeto so far!

[eric_weiss]

Chaeto is doing great! I may have to trim it soon. but after adding the chaeto and a bag of Purigen under my filter floss, nitrates are now down to 0 again.

 

Good deal. After you trim, if you don't have room and you need to get rid of some, PM me and maybe we can work something out.

[H20]

New Coral:

 

 

I added a new coral, a piece of GSP (Green Star Polyps). I did alot of research on this before I bought it, and I understand that this is a fast growing coral, and can quickly take over your rockwork if you are not careful. I decided to put it by himself in a corner, the front left corner specifically. It is not touching any rocks, and has a little room to grow. As it nears my rock, I can frag it and place a small clump elsewhere in the tank, or trade the frags back to the LFS for credit on something else. I really like the GSP, as it gives the tank great color and also gives it some movement, as it sways with the current, looking like long grass blowing in the wind.

 

This GSP is really bright, and glows under the actinics really well. I have not quite figured out how to capture the 'neon glow' of some of my corals on the camera yet, but I am working on it.

 

The GSP clump came loaded with hitchhikers. Coming off of this clump were 6 or 7 'asterina anomala' starfish, 3 medium size bristleworms, and a couple of tiny snails (pinhead size).

 

 

The GSP unopened:

 

 

Opened and under the actinics: (you can see it here blowing sideways with my current)

 

 

2 of the Bristleworms:

 

One of the Asterina Stars:

 

[spanko]

Looks nice opened up. Yeah keep a close eye on it because it can grow out fast. Nice green color, can just imagine it swaying down there it it's corner. Good score........

[xADUBx]

Great stuff so far H20!

 

I recently purchased an AP24 gal. and have done many of the same mods to my tank that you have (MJ1200, Koralia Nano, eggcrate shelf, filter floss, soap holder with chaeto).

 

Reading this thread is like seeing into the future a couple steps ahead of my tank, lol.

 

Can't wait to see how our tanks develop and grow. This definitely is an addiction.

[H20]

Great stuff so far H20!

 

I recently purchased an AP24 gal. and have done many of the same mods to my tank that you have (MJ1200, Koralia Nano, eggcrate shelf, filter floss, soap holder with chaeto).

 

Reading this thread is like seeing into the future a couple steps ahead of my tank, lol.

 

Can't wait to see how our tanks develop and grow. This definitely is an addiction.

 

 

Thanks. Hopefully things will develop for the better....lol It really is an addiction. I like to 'tinker', and I feel this is a great hobby for people that like to 'tinker'. I always like to adjust this or that, try to make things a little better. Thats part of the fun of it for me.

[H20]

New Aquascape:

 

 

In the past week, I made an executive decision. I had been studying my aquascape for awhile, and while I loved it, the way it was built really didn't leave alot of room for corals. If it were going to be a fish only tank, or a tank with only a couple of corals, it would have been great. But with what I am wanting to do with it, I just didn't think it was going to work out. I had built my rock really steep, and had a huge arched rock on top, that was steep on all sides, and didn't really have any place to put coral on it. As well, not much room at the bottom with the way the rock was stacked.

 

I talked to a LFS, and he was kind enough to swap out some rocks with me for free. I took out the big arched rock from the top (it was 7 lbs.) and exchanged for one big flat rock and a smaller rock to prop under it on the left side (also came out to 7lbs.)

 

This will take some getting used to, as I was fond of my old setup, but this will allow me alot more room to place coral.

 

 

Old Aquascape:

 

 

 

New 'Scape:

 

 

Right Side:

 

 

Left Side:

 

 

 

As well, I originally had left alot of room behind my rocks to get good flow back there, but that ate up some valuable real estate. So I also slid all the rocks back another couple of inches, giving me more room on the substrate up front. I can still clean behind my rocks, and get flow back there, which is what I wanted, but now I have a little more space up front.

 

The new big rock on top will take a little while to color up to match my other rocks, but in time, it will blend in. I have alot more room for coral now, as shown in the circled areas that are very receptive for placing coral.

 

My Tail Spot Blenny would not come out much for a day or two after I changed the rocks out, but now, he comes out like normal, swimming all over the place. Guess he just had to adjust.

 

 

You can see in the picture in the places that I circled, are areas that I feel I can better place coral.

 

[xADUBx]

H20 have you noticed the coralline algae bleaching on your LR closer to the top of your tank? My LR that is up near the top has bleached. Just curious as to what your light cycle is.

 

I have my Actinics on for 10-12 hrs a day and my Daylights on for 8 hrs a day.

[H20]

H20 have you noticed the coralline algae bleaching on your LR closer to the top of your tank? My LR that is up near the top has bleached. Just curious as to what your light cycle is.

 

I have my Actinics on for 10-12 hrs a day and my Daylights on for 8 hrs a day.

 

 

My coralline on my old rock that was on top was doing fine. The coralline on the rock up top right now is bleached/dead, because I just got it from the LFS store last week, so now I have to wait awhile for the coralline to grow back on it. But on my old rock, it was fine. You can see in the above pic of my old aquascape that there was good purple coralline on it.

 

At any rate, my lighting right now is dual daylights from 2pm-9pm, and my Actinics are on from 12:30pm to 10pm. LED moonlights are on 24/7. Just a light cycle that I am tinkering with right now.

 

As I get more coral, I will have to bump up my photoperiod I would imagine.

[Sushi]

I miss the old scape... it was flawless IMO.

[H20]

I miss the old scape... it was flawless IMO.

 

 

I agree. I miss it too. I wanted to make some more room for coral though, so I had to make a sacrifice. It still looks funny to me, I was so used to looking at the old scape for months......... Who knows, I may redo it again, as I am still not satisfied with it...

[Crawf71]

Its sooo Hard to be satisfied with your acuascape, imo!!! Everytime I change mine I feel its just not "right"....

 

But yours does look good!

 

Danielle

[c est ma]

Unfortunately, often when one starts adding corals the 'scape can be completely "lost" anyway...I wouldn't have been brave enough to change it, H20, but it's very likely that you've done the right thing vis a vis future additions...

 

--Diane

[H20]

A few new additions: (coral and inverts)

 

 

Added a couple of new corals, and a few new inverts.

 

Decided to give PacificEastAquaculture.com a try, as they have some nice stuff on their website, and I have gotten to where I like Aquacultured corals. I also like getting these small frags, so I can watch them grow and progress. I don't expect my tank to look like it has been established for 5 years after only 3 or 4 months, nor do I want it too. I am enjoying watching things progress, and will get enjoyment out of watching it grow.

 

Green People Eaters:

 

 

 

True Blue Mushroom:

 

 

 

Also added 5 Nassarius Snails. These guys are small, and funny to watch. They stay buried in the sand for the most part, but when food hits the water, they all pop up out of the sand and start scurrying around looking for food. Quite comical.

 

I walked over to the tank right now to see if I could get a good picture of one of them, but they are all buried right now.

 

I am still working on trying to use the correct settings on my camera for taking photos under aquarium lighting. Some turn out great, but in others, the colors don't come out just right. For example, the True Blue mushroom picture turned out great, but my Green People Eaters came out slightly the wrong color. They have more of a purple skirt, and neon green centers. But in the above picture, they came out with kinda lime colored centers. The pink/purple colors in the palys in the background look good though. Oh well, maybe over Thanksgiving holidays I will get time to fool with the camera and learn the different settings.

[spanko]

if you look really close sometimes you can see the snorkel of the Nassirius sticking up from the sand. I am not sure which scape I like the best yet. both have their own advantages. Good work though.

[H20]

"We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery." - Samuel Smiles

 

 

 

I guess if I am going to post my successes and some pretty pictures, I have to post my failures as well. Two or three weeks ago, I decided to make my first frag. (Details are somewhere in the previous page(s)). My Trumpet Coral had one small head that was getting squished by the larger heads, and was losing its flesh and had exposed skeleton. I decided to make a frag of that head and a few more around him, and all went well.

 

New Frag:

 

 

 

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the flesh continued to recede, and the Peppermint shrimp was vigorously attacking it every day. I am not sure if it was eating the dead flesh, or if it was picking at the live stuff, but he would get down into its mouth and looked to be pulling hard with his claws, and ripping an tearing and eating. That head went fast, and the ones next to him started to decline too. After a week and seeing that they were not going to make it, I cut those couple of heads off at their base, and tried to save the other two. After a week of just them on the base, they proceeded to die off as well, with the Peppermint shrimp there eating them the whole way. I am still undecided if he was eating the live flesh or dead flesh. They receded so fast down to the white skeleton, he had to have been pulling the live flesh off.

 

At any rate, here is a picture of what I just removed from the tank. You can see on the left side, where I cut off the previous dead heads, and tried to save these two. Guess it was an unsuccessful attempt at a frag. I am not sure what went wrong. I am wondering if using the SuperGlue Gel and the Epoxy to hold it to the the base could have affected them in some way, but I did the same to glue down the mother colony to a piece of rock and it is doing great. Big, full heads on her still.

 

The Remains:

 

 

 

 

I hate to lose it, as it was my first frag, but I am sure I will try again in the future.

[Krayon]

wow, i just finished reading your tank thread and i think it is amazing H2O! it is definently an insperation to me as i start my new AP24 , i am sry to hear about your first frag:( hope it recovers.

[shaz1971]

H2O, havent been following your progress for a while. Your tank looks awesome and like always full of details and tips. I am currently battling (sp) with micro bubbles when I replaced the stock pump with MJ1200 as well as trying to figure out the power center (same one you have). Did you experience the bubbles when you replaced your stock pump?

 

BTW, I like your new scape. Good thinking ahead.

[wingwah2003]

What say you?

[spanko]

IMO sounds like you MJ is sucking air someplace. Check all fittings especially to hoses. Also check water level.

[shaz1971]

spanko, I think when I zip tied the tube from the stock pump to the MJ, it might not been to tight. Will buy new tube and see how that works out.