shrimphombre Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Hey there i am wanting to take my boring 3 year old 12 gallon nanocube to the next level. Right now i just have 3 med. sized pieces of live rock, a CUC and a pink/yellow dottyback. I am wanting to have some nice corals i.e. zoas, softies, lps and would really like to be able to keep some easy sps like montipora. I've been looking to find a used nanocustoms upgrade. Also, i've seen that the metal halide upgrades are basically either the sunpod or the viper, but this tank is going into the living room of my apartment and i don't want it to look jerry rigged. I guess what im asking is, is there a way i can upgrade to MH on my cube with out it looking like crap, and do i even need metal halide with what i want to keep (seems the 96w might be enough)? Also, i'd prefer to not have an "open" top due to jumping fish and again the aesthetics of it. I've seen the MH hood upgrade from nanocustoms but for 400 i could get a whole new system lol. Is there a cheaper way? I also finally got around to taking out everything in the back compartments of the tank. Bioballs etc. had been in there for 3 years straight (with the occasional cleaning of the sponges)! For some reason i never had any kind of nitrate problems but just last week switched to liverock rubble and chaeto. I also upgraded the pump to an MJ900 and utilized the classic cassette skimmer mod. Are there any other easy mods i can do that i'm forgetting? Any other general suggestions for my cube? Any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!! Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php...products_id=254 96 watts of PC is plenty for what you want to keep. Link to comment
masterbuilder Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 +1 I have had both the 4.24 PC mod and the 1.70MH mod. Go with the 4.24, as nice as the MH mod is ...it has its own special requirements that outweight the ease and reliability of the PC's Link to comment
shrimphombre Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Okay great, thanks for the replies. So do you think i could keep some branching/plate montipora with the 4.24 upgrade? Has anybody else kept sps with this upgrade? Its almost 10 watts per gallon of PC lighting (not counting the back compartments). Any other suggestions?? Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Montis will live, but not thrive. If you want an SPS that will do best under your lighting, I'd say go with Pavona. Link to comment
CorvetteJoe Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 I modded mine myself. My 12gal nano came with a single PC light. I had bought a dual 12" Coralife PC light for my last tank and gutted it out and mounted it all up in the hood of my nano. I even used the hood's stock reflector and plastic cover and got the entire coralife system crammed under there. its plenty bright enough now I think its 36w 50/50 My zoas are thriving, my xenya is doing well, my daisy polyps are loving it and I even have BTA that is doing great under the lighting (he sits up high on the rocks right under the light, so my clown has hosted with the BTA's foot instead LOL) Link to comment
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