JBJ 12 gallon nano questions for owners!

[yOyOYoo]

I just got my JBJ 12 gallon Nano and I had some general questions for the other JBJ owners.

 

1) The tank seems to heat up rather easily with the combination of the pc lighting and the general summer heat. How do you guys cool it down? Do I need a chiller? Or can I get a simple small fan and blow it over the top of the tank? My tank seems to be at a stable 81 degrees. I can't get it to go down! Is this too hot for a nano reef tank?

 

2) Realistically, what kinds of corals, if ANY, can I keep under the stock 24watt lighting. I was thinking of doing a retrofit for some more powerful lighting, maybe an extra 24watt setup. Can I keep Zooanthids and Mushrooms safely? What about bubble coral, frogspawn, or pulsating xenia?

 

3) While the stock filtration offers a mini tube moving the water current, do I need something stronger like a powerhead? I don't want to cause way too much and too strong current, can I just keep the stock setup?

 

4)Anyone thought of connecting a small refugium or a seperate tank to the JBJ? I was thinking how small 12 gallons is, and was thinking of buying a glass 10-15gallon tank, then somehow connect the two tanks together with a pump. This way I can effectively give my tank more volume and make it more stable. Is this possible? Anyone care to point me in some directions or links? I could put my heater, some extra live rock and sand in this spare tank and hide it from the open.

 

5) General question, but how many hours of lighting a day should I do? And can I set the lights to turn on later in the day, say 3pm to 11pm? Will ambiant room light affect my tank at all?

 

6) I have a few air bubbles trapped under some sand. Is it okay to leave them be? I think I read somewhere a while back that this can be detrimental to a tank because the air can get stale or poisonous or something. Should I just pop it out?

 

 

7) And lastly, what about topping off with RO water? Do you guys make a DIY dripper? How much evaporation are you guys noticing daily? I was thinking of just adding a few drops to the back, near the filter, daily, but was hoping someone had something set up.

 

Thanks and so sorry for all the questions. please help! Attached is a photo of my tank! Check it out. I'm going to cycle this tank for a good month to a month and a half before I really get started..

[dafullerman]

I actually have the exact same tank on order and I also am new to nano reefing, and I also have many of the same questions. Here are a few of my questions:

 

1. The nano cube comes with "Bio Balls", I have read many times on forums that these can be detrimental to a reef tank. Should I take these out and replace them with a Carbon bag or will the Bio Balls be fine?

 

2. I was also concerned about the water flow issue. Should I get an additional power head, like the Rio 50 or 90, and if so should I point it across the tank, (left to right) or towards the front (back to front).

 

Any help with these questions along with the other posted questions would be greatly appreciated by this very new nano-reefer!!

[JLTRUK]

I really don't have time to itemize each question for you guys since I am at work but I have the same tank and can probably give you a little feedback.

 

Yah it gets hot, open the front flap of the lid and blow a fan to the tank. Yah water evaporates more...take some filtered water from home and pour it in.

 

It has the built in back part with the filter...just use it.

 

Get soft corals for the low light levels, there are tons of beautiful ones, you are not as limited as you think.

 

Try not to make this thing into a hack job...I have so many friends with those Eclipse tanks and you'd swear they were trying to setup mission control with the amount of things they have hooked up to them.

 

I am by far no expert on these little tanks, I have had extensive experience with big tanks...my little JBJ Nano Cube being my first experience with little ones.

 

If I can give you one piece of advice, dont dose with Iodine. Weekly water changes should replenish anything you may feel you need to dose. I learned this the hard way.

 

*oh and after looking at the pic of your tank on the granite ledge of your kitchen there...nice pic...we redid our kitchen a little while back similar to that. All the more reason to keep the tank looking as clean and without weird gadgets as possible since its in such an exposed area*

[ELGORDOINAVW]

ok dafullerman, first get rid of the bio balls, then check the flow of your filter you want at least 10x water circulation so if you got a 12 gallon then you want your filter to circulate 120 gallons per hour. some tanks circulate 20x per hour but that is more with sps.

 

yoyoyoo,

 

? 1. yes you should install some fans say one 4" cpu fan will work remember air blowing in.

2. reallisticly none, the reason i say that is coral no matter what type are expensive and really you don't want to invest all this money only to experiment, i say double your wattage and then add some shrooms, xenia

3. yes you want at least 10x water circ. per hour

4. a refugium or fuge for short can be connected but you would have to either use an overflow or a bulkhead and frankly not worth all the work. instead use a aqua clear 300-500 converted into a fuge or just buy the cpr fuge, a fuge is well worth the investment imo

5. ambient light will have no real effect, i set my light so it's on when i get home, that way i enjoy the tank i run mine for 10-12 hours depending which tank and what the requirements are for the specific corals, also use a timer

6. pop the bubbles now it might lead to problems later as your sand bed gets established you will see bubbles there but thats just a sign of your sandbed working.

7. there are top off units you can buy basically you fill a container with ro, the top off unit senses the water is low and will pump from the container into your tank, as for how much water we add it depends alot from tank to tank, things that factor in are amount of fans, how much lighting, room temp.

hope this helps

[Sltwtr4lfe]

hey JL,

y should i not dose iodine?

[dafullerman]

Alright, first of all thank everyone for their help.

 

The rated flow on the filtration system on the back of tank is rated for 103gph, so from what your saying I should get a little power head?

 

Also if I get a little power head which direction should I point the flow of water.

 

Thanks Again

[JLTRUK]

Originally posted by Sltwtr4lfe

hey JL,

y should i not dose iodine?

 

from what a few LFS stores told me, by changing the water once a week (1-2gals) I should not need to dose it, and they said that overdosing in such a small tank is easy. So to reduce the risk its best not even to dose with it. Then he pointed to the 2 tanks they had all 10 gal tanks and he said all he ever dose is change the water once a week and hes had those tanks running for about 4 years or so on the counter.

 

this is contrary to what I previously was taught in school...we had a freakin cabinet with a bottle labled Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday...but that tank rarely got water changes

[sukeband]

JLTRUK in several threads, you always said soft coral will do ok in this tank with stock lighting

 

BUT

 

ELGORDOINAVW says "reallisticly none, the reason i say that is coral no matter what type are expensive and really you don't want to invest all this money only to experiment, i say double your wattage and then add some shrooms, xenia"

 

 

so the lighting is a gamble with even the most low light corals?

 

 

-Rob

[yOyOYoo]

Are you guys keeping the bioballs, carbon, and the white cylindrical things (it escapes me right now what it's called)? I hear that the bioballs can be a nitrate factory, but since my tank is new I don't think i'll have to worry about that for another month or so.

 

and what if I don't get a powerhead? Will my water get stale? Could I get an aeriation stone instead? Thanks again.

[JLTRUK]

here is the thing, I am never going to give anyone BS advice or tell them something that "I read in a book" or what someone with a 10,000 budget would do. I maintained salt tanks for 5 years in a row...all 4 years in HS and then in year in college. (after that 1st year in college I lost touch with the High School and stopped helping with their tank) YOU CAN have soft corals with the lighting in the JBJ just like that. This tank WILL run just the way it is.

 

I have had success with soft corals in a tank with just those garage light fictures you can get at home depot. It was the highschools tank and was on a budget.

 

Anyone that wants to counter this can take a trip to El Segundo High School and look at her tank in the Bio room, Me and my friend Alan set the whole thing up about 5 years ago.

 

With that said, YES you can have soft corals in this tank.

[fishbabies]

24w is low, but I have seen these tanks all over countertops at LFS in my area. they seem to be the prefered method of coral aquarium seduction for stores. i have seen lots of colorful stuff in 'em. shrooms and trumpet corals will be your best bet. the shrooms in my tank are MUCH brighter in low light under lr slopes and in crevices. the ones closer to the light use a dull coloered algae as their sunblock. you can put zoos on the peaks of your lr closest to the light. Ricordia too. Xenia is a popular coral that will do well near the top of the tank too....right near the powerhead nozzle. shrooms, trumpets and zoos will be cheapest in most cases...so you can start with those and see how they respond. all the corals i mentioned are often farmed....trumpet not so often, but can be. i think you'll be fine

[sukeband]

JLTRUNK,

 

I'll have to check it out this weekend then, i'm 20 mins from there.

 

 

-Rob

[JLTRUK]

yah check it out...should be the classroom near Main street. (its next to the shop class) Also go check out the salt tank in the ES library, if the school is closed. The tank in the library is maintained by the same fish store I buy my stuff from, Jims Exotic fish, excellent store.

I hope they have not let the tank run itself into the ground. Alan and I took a whole week just cleaning that tank before we could even set it up. The previous teacher let it go down big time...man I hope they are keeping it up. That was a lot of after school time in there cleaning it and maintaining it. If all else go to look at the library and for sure look at Jims Exotic Fish...btw Jims has a NanoCube on his counter top FILLED with corals...looks awesome!

[sukeband]

sorry yoyoyo for hijacking

 

JL, you ever see this place?

 

http://www.aquaticoutlet.com/

 

i'm going this way this wekend, i went to jeffs exotic fish last weekend to check them out. had some preety good quality LR for cheap.

 

http://www.exoticfish.com

 

where's jims?

 

-Rob

[fishbabies]

here's an awesome feature...this aquarist has relatively low light considering the size of his tank(70gal).....great example of what you can do with "beginner corals"...excluding the clam, anenome and brains

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/totm/index.htm

[JLTRUK]

Originally posted by sukeband

sorry yoyoyo for hijacking

 

JL, you ever see this place?

 

http://www.aquaticoutlet.com/  

 

i'm going this way this wekend, i went to jeffs exotic fish last weekend to check them out. had some preety good quality LR for cheap.  

 

http://www.exoticfish.com

 

where's jims?

 

-Rob

 

yah Aquatic Outlet in inglewood on Hindry ave...I am a Member...got salt water there this morning for 19 cents a gal

 

never been to Jeffs though...oh and Jims is on Sepulveda on the corner of Mariposa and Sepulveda Blvd in a shopping center

 

 

www.jimsexoticfish.com (this is my fav store)

 

and Dude, I just called Alan...Ms Richards the teacher who had that Bio class moved to Kansas and now he said the tank is in sad sad shape...this is soooo lame. But hey for sure go look at Jims Exotic Fish and if you can go to the El Segundo library and look at their beautiful salt tank on the bottom floor in the Kids book section

[dafullerman]

So what about the power head? I know you are saying it will run fine as is, but will it bge beneficial to have one? At this time I am only planning on keeping some softies and some clowns.

 

Also if a power head is installed where should it be placed in the tank?

 

Thanks Again

[dafullerman]

Also if you guys think the Bio Balls should not be used in a reef setuo, is there something I should replace it with, like a sponge or another bag of carbon, etc? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[JLTRUK]

Originally posted by dafullerman

So what about the power head?  I know you are saying it will run fine as is, but will it bge beneficial to have one?  At this time I am only planning on keeping some softies and some clowns.  

 

Also if a power head is installed where should it be placed in the tank?

 

Thanks Again

 

most of the soft corals I am familiar with require a medium current...right now your tank is giving a medium current. If you look at the tank from the bottom up you see it circulates water perfectly...it goes in a circle around the top...water shoots out from the right and enters on the left making a perfect circle

 

Adding the powerhead into this tank will make too much current for the corals that you want to have with the lights that you have.

 

Just leave the bio balls, if it aint broke now dont fix it. If the bio balls dont work out for you later then change it.

[dafullerman]

Thanks for the insight!

[yOyOYoo]

Did anyone notice that when you flip up the cover, there seems to be some built in holes underneath the heat vents? I am assuming that a CPU cooler fan can just sit right on top of these holes and be screwed in.

 

I went ahead and bought a cpu fan at radioshack. I think they ripped me off at $18 so I will check with some local computer shops before i install it.

 

Anyone have any idea how I can wire this computer cpu fan to an outlet without providing a surge of power into the fan? The last thing I want is an electrical short right above my new nano!

[sukeband]

yeah its almost as if they want you to install some fan in there, I gotta get some in mine too. the temp hovers around 81.

 

-Rob

[beerz4us]

yet another reason not to add the powerhead is that they will add heat to you tank. cant help with the wiring sorry

[jrlim]

you can get an AC adapter with the output no more than 12v DC. then just attach the fan's wire to the AC adapter and plug it in. Home Depot or Target sells the adapter which you can adjust the voltage (ranging from 3v - 12v) this allows you to set the fan's speed (lower voltage = slower speed, higher voltage = faster speed). Make sure you unplug the adapter when you're not using the fan, or else the adapter will heat up and die on you. Happened to me before (darn it!).

[yOyOYoo]

well I just bought a tiny Rio 150 ( I think it's rated at 120gph. I have it set up lower than the stock pump pointing from the back towards the center of the glass.

 

 

Already starting to get hair algae and diatoms.... let the cycle continue!!

 

I'll be working on the fans soon. Gotta lower my 81 deg. temp.