Nano cube question

[koolyce]

Hi,

 

Probably the question is already posted, but I didn't find answer on the forum so sorry if I reask the question.

 

I want to buy a nano cube and I want to know if it's better to not use the built-in 3 stage filtration and put some LR to get a refugerium and also put the thermal inside?

 

Also I want to know general comment about this product?

 

thanks folks

[nalbar]

i tore the plastic out and put a hang on back filter on. because of that in my opinion your better of to just buy a stand alone tank without all the other stuff and go from there. it makes the lighting a little more difficult to go this route.

 

 

 

comment about what product?

 

 

nalbar

[koolyce]

My mistake, the JBJ 12gal nano. I want to buy this one.

[rapier0]

well i wish i could show you a pic of mine i have

1 fire shrI'mp

1 skunk shrI'mp

1 coral beauty angle

frog spawn coral

1 patch of maidens hair

1 blue baby maxI'ma clam

1 scallop

1 bta

1 tomato clown

1 cleaner wrasse

galaxia coral

cabbage coral

shrooms

feather dust

shaving bush

flower pot coral

Xenia

and some other stuff i cant think of their names right now

but owning a ncube i would tell you to buy something els

you have very lI'mited space for retroing lights

the filter bites even if i wanted to use it i couldnt its not really a true wet dry

the sump in the back gets completly full it doesn't trickle

the design is bad theres openings on the bottom

i just use a phosphate pad and chemi pure

replaced the pump

to slow even though it has a speed control on one sides of it looks like a thumb grip (somewhat flat lever)

it is pretty good has lots of issues with heat if you change the lights mine stays at 84

has room for fans in the back though

its ok but you can do more with a open top tank like you can add a skimmer or a fuge currently I'm going to build a skimmer out of some tubbing and pvc to fit back there it has to be very small and efective since they dont make one that small

its pretty good all my stuff is still alive but i wouldnt buy it again

i would prob just do a rectagular tank and spend the money on lights

good luck:

take all the stuff out specially the sponges when i took them out they spewed so much crap out it looked like i got water from the la river

[maroonclown]

rapier0, you have too many big fish for a 12 gallon. Coral beauties are bad nano fish, and to put it in a 12? That's cruel beyond belief. Why do you have a cleaner wrasse? Do you not know how difficult it is to keep them alive? They're one of those fish that should stay on the reef. Sponges don't do that unless they have died or are attacked (coral beauty's handy work). And learn how to use punctuation!!!

 

koolyce, don't use the wet/dry, upgrade the pump, and add a fuge if possible. I can't help you on the lights, sorry about that. HTH

[rapier0]

its a temp holding it goes in my 200 tank wen it grows to size born in nano wrasse same baby abot 1/2" cb angel 3/5" i know what im doing angel eating flakes raiseing him cant really tuype with one hand holding my 9 day old little girl :

ewww she pooped whooo who knew milk made this smell:x :*( :| oh well once its doing fine time for move were it wont get eatencontrary to my other posts lolgtg baby woke up

[koolyce]

maroonclown: What you mean by a fuge? you mean refugerium? If yes, If I only put LR I'm ok right?

 

thanks

[maroonclown]

Yes, I mean a refugium. And why not put in LS? LS and a few small chunks of LR and caulerpa algae; some people use the soft coral Xenia too (don't ask me how this works, I'm at a loss for this one.) Then just put a 13 watt PC on it; 18 or 27 watt PCs if you plan on a large fuge. HTH.

 

rapier0, thanks for clearing that up. I still don't like the idea of a coral beauty in anything less than 30 gallons, or any centropyge angel, with the exception of the argi and yellow tail (pacific pigmy). But again, thanks for clearing that up.

[rapier0]

no prob dude, i dont like it either but its only about the size of a quarter. In a larger tank it would'nt survive, there are to many aggresive fish in there. But dont wory once it gets about an inch long it will be moved. It even seems more docile, its not niping on anything in there not even the feeder sponge its eating flake and even brine once in a while. Its going to be sold though shame i almost want to keep it. aw well....

[koolyce]

Heheh

 

Hop you have fun. About your BOWFRONT 16, it's like the nano? with a chamber for filer (using for a fuge), did they come with a top and light? And, do you have the site web of the compagny to see if the sale it in my area (montreal).

 

thanks

[cartophilus]

I don't have the bowfront, it's what I would have gotten. It's made by AGA. No, it doesn't have a sump. It does come with a hood and light, but you'll have to upgrade that if you want to do reef. Overall, the Nano-Cube isn't that bad if you want a tank with a sump. There's a guy with a nice cube on the forum that he got off of ebay.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...light=pier+cube

[JasonRP]

Koolyce:

 

If you like the NanoCube, buy it! I've been off and on into saltwater aquariums since 1990.. I have successfully run nano tanks before, and I just bought the Nano Cube and I am currently cycling the tank. I don't find anything wrong with this tank as it comes out of the box.

 

Remember, no matter WHAT tank you buy, someone out there will always be suggesting the following:

 

"Man, that tank sucks.. Here's what I had to do to mine just to get it WORKING: upgrade the lights to 100 watts/gallon, then you need special micro chiller/pc fans or else the tank overheats.. Oh yeah, and while we're talking about upgrading the tank, lets add a 55gallon sump, a monster protein skimmer, and take a drill and make a whole bunch of holes in the hood and the tank so that you can glue on a REAL skimmer box!"

 

Not to bash the guys that like to supe up a tank with top notch stuff, but for me, I like to buy an "all-in-one" tank, plug it in, and use it. The lighting is pretty good- it's a 50/50 power compact flourescent at 24 watts. The tank's capacity is actually 10 gallons max, but I found that for me, under 9.5 gallons of saltwater plus my livesand was enough water (I defy ANYONE to actually fit 12 gallons of water into one of these!!! ). That gets us about 2.5 watts per gallon. That's fine for fish and low-light soft corals.. *Hard corals and clams WILL require more light.* If that is what you want to be your tank's specialty, you probably will want to upgrade or an even more cost effective choice is to buy something else, like an AGA 10-gallon with custom MH lighting, etc.

 

If, on the other hand, you want a succesful nano tank that has fish, live rock, and mushroom corals, etc., then this tank will work fine stock.. I bought one and have just started cycling it. The lighting is fine for what I want to do, and this saves me from chopping up the hood to stuff in lights. Also, my tank has no overheating problems whatsoever.

 

I'm also using the stock filter compartment exactly how it came outta the box. My LFS has been running theirs like this for months, and it looks great. I can't believe so many people complain about the pump. It's plenty powerful, and tank circulation is good. It's not completely silent, but it's not loud either- any computer's cooling fan is louder. The sponges that come with the tank will catch the big stuff (and house beneficial bacteria eventually), the charcoal bag that comes with the tank is generous, and should help to chemically filter the water for a few months. The only thing that I might remove are the bio-balls.

 

Remember, if you use aroud 10 lbs or so of live rock, and live sand, your tank will have enough filter with that alone. The tanks built-on sump filter is in my mind equivilant to having a very large (for this size tank) powerfilter on the back. Plus, I put my submersible heater in the same compartment with the pump, so it is hidden and heats my tank perfectly..

 

Again, I don't want to put down anyone who chooses to upgrade these tanks, but I don't think it is fair to say that this is not a good tank for a Nano- It depends on what you want to do with your tank. For example, a ferrari would suck if you needed it to be your family car, and you have 5 kids. On the other hand, it's a great car if you just want to cruise the street and have fun. In my opinion, I think these tanks make excellent nano tanks right outta the box, and for 100 bucks, it's a good value too.

 

Jason

[koolyce]

thanks for your comment dude.

[rapier0]

Ok, you got it all wrong I dont want to install a big giganto sized skimer. As far as heat issues go it depends on where you live and the temp outside the tank, it tends to over heat easaly. That is not a problem though as long as it doesnt go over 90 or fluctuate alot. The filter in the back is fine the carbon is great, but the sponges do collect to much crap. When i went to clean them out i found that it released some of the stuff it collected back in to the tank that's not a problem but it doesnt look great either. Fish seemed to mind that too. As far as the lights go they are fine for simple creatures xenia, zoos, ect. they are all doing fine but i need more i house 4 baby maximas in there and they need more light. Just plan it out and find out what you can house and what you can't. The pump works fine too its not necesary to upgrade.

I wouldnt trade the tank for another but i wouldnt buy it again for a nano reef. Dont get me wrong its a great tank great look, however it does have some small somewhat irelevant issues. go ahead and buy it its a great all in one hell ive spawned fish in there kind of.

 

Ohh and Jason im not a nut that has to modify evrything not that you said i was , but i keep baby maximas in there like i said and they need more light when i can ill post some pics for yall going to build me a canopy to fit it. Oh and for you guys who think that keeping a coral b. in there was cruel you should be glad to know that its getting moved to a 300 g tank today!

Now to raise me some black and white percs or something els:

[Frontier]

It's fine for a small fish and some low-light softies. Heck, my open brain likes it in there better than my 90 because he doesn't get picked at all the time.

 

I pulled out the ceramic rings and bioballs, but left the sponges to catch the big stuff. I use a regular filter bag with my own carbon. Other than that I didn't change a thing.