stock nano cube fine?

[slothy]

Hi been lurking for a lil while, and been wanting to get back into a SW with a nano, I got rid of my 40 reef about 2years ago and miss it. Im looking at the 12 or 24 nanocube, but seems people arent leaving this alone hehe. My question is there anything that right outa the box needs to be done to make it much better i.e. pumps ect. I plan just to keep shrooms and zoos. so lighting should be sufice.

 

www.slothyville.com - some pics of my old tank

[Blu50Stang]

I didn't have a problem with the stock lighting on my Nano Cube 12, non DX(single 24w PC). I only ran that for a short time, now have 70w MH.

[Web Guy]

Stock lighting sux. At least get the DX!!

[slothy]

ya ill be going with dx for sure

[sandbunkerblues]

DX for sure,I have many corals in my tank although im changing my pump soon..

[Web Guy]

petsolutions.com shipped me mine for $149.95 and it is the new style. Just mention aquabuys are selling them for that price shipped because they offer free shipping.

[SaltCreep]

I may sound a little freakish when I say this but if you want your NC to maintain a healthy enviroment for an extended period of time there is a couple mods that need to be done immediatly when out of the box.

 

First I'll tell you why they need to be done. The #1 problem with the NC(nanocube) is flow and circulation. No matter how big of a pump you buy you will always have dead spots(detritus collecting zones). It is a side effect of its design. To overcome this buy a bigger pump (380GPH+)and run your return through a "T" and have a return at both sides of the tank. This creates allot more turnover and helps in detritus removal.

 

The second problem is the lack of surface skimming. IMO this is critical for any tanks success. Gas exchange is very important in a marine enviroment and an overflow aides in this. WHat your gonna want to do is cover the stock vent that the water enters the filter through and cut in some overflow teeth. I've seen people take an old cd cover, cut it to fit and glue it on the backside of the wall stopping any flow through that vent. At that point use a dremel and cut out overflow teeth across the top of the entire first chamber. This mod at least for me created a noticable difference in the health of the tank. Surface skimming is essential.

 

The third recco I will make is go bare bottom. Like I said circulation is the problem with these tanks. If you remove your sand bed you can turn over more water which picks up more detritus which improves the health of your tank.

 

All are super easy things to do. Both mods will take you less than an hour but will add years to the life of your reef. Do a 15-20% water change a week with good saltwater and you'll have yourself an awesome little tank.

 

Good luck.

[emoutz]

I've had my nano for a few weeks (12g dx) and couldnt agree more about circulation. I've put the stock pump in the first chambed and replaced a minijet 606 in the third chamber. I've still got dead areas on the bottom of the tank! Not sure how to handle this yet ... but I'm thinking.

 

As for gas exchange - what about a good old fashioned airstone? I havent heard anyone mention using one of these - but maybe if you stuck one in the back chambers somewhere it would be much easier than creating an overflow in the back of the tank?

[slothy]

Originally posted by *********

I may sound a little freakish when I say this but if you want your NC to maintain a healthy enviroment for an extended period of time there is a couple mods that need to be done immediatly when out of the box.  

 

First I'll tell you why they need to be done. The #1 problem with the NC(nanocube) is flow and circulation. No matter how big of a pump you buy you will always have dead spots(detritus collecting zones).  It is a side effect of its design. To overcome this buy a bigger pump (380GPH+)and run your return through a "T" and have a return at both sides of the tank.  This creates allot more turnover and helps in detritus removal.  

 

The second problem is the lack of surface skimming.  IMO this is critical for any tanks success.  Gas exchange is very important in a marine enviroment and an overflow aides in this.  WHat your gonna want to do is cover the stock vent that the water enters the filter through and cut in some overflow teeth.  I've seen people take an old cd cover, cut it to fit and glue it on the backside of the wall stopping any flow through that vent.  At that point use a dremel and cut out overflow teeth across the top of the entire first chamber.  This mod at least for me created a noticable difference in the health of the tank.  Surface skimming is essential.

 

The third recco I will make is go bare bottom.  Like I said circulation is the problem with these tanks.  If you remove your sand bed you can turn over more water which picks up more detritus which improves the health of your tank.

 

All are super easy things to do.  Both mods will take you less than an hour but will add years to the life of your reef.  Do a 15-20% water change a week with good saltwater and you'll have yourself an awesome little tank.

 

Good luck.

 

you have any pics or links to the surface skim mod?

[SaltCreep]

Sure. Here's the original back wall from my nanocube. I have since ripped it out and replaced it completely. It shows what was done though.

[SaltCreep]

here's the back side. I took a piece of acrylic and glued it to the back. Not the cleanest patch ever made but I did it still installed and no one see's it anyway right?

 

Here's how I eventually modified it.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=56734

[slothy]

looks like a simple mod - dremel ?

[SaltCreep]

yep the good ol dremel.

[slothy]

was it done while back was in tank or did it have to be removed?

[Web Guy]

I am doing that to mine in two weeks with the tank set up. Should be fairly easy with covering up the tank with some saran rap or something while I dremel out the notches and glue in the plate.

[TheBear08]

I was wondering about the lighting situation. I have the stock lighting that came with the nano 24g dx. I have already ordered a new lighting system with 1 actinic and one daylight with the ballast. What is involved in installation. I also plan on replacing one of the stock bulbs with an actinic, probably 24 w. Is this a good idea as i have 1 anemone, open brain, and 2 other soft corals in the tank?

[SaltCreep]

Originally posted by slothy

was it done while back was in tank or did it have to be removed?

 

When I did that the tank was up and running. I just shut off the pump, drained out some water, floated some sandwich bags on top of the water to collect any debris and went to town. I took me all of 30 minutes.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the bottom of the teeth need to be cut all the way down to the vent. When I hit that vent is when I stopped. If you dont your water line will be to high and will crawl up over the inner lip of the tank.

[slothy]

did u try running it without blocking the orginal hole ? curious on how well it would work leaving it alone and running the notches with a bigger pump

[SaltCreep]

if you dont block up the vent there is nothign forcing the water up and over the overflow teeth. It will just enter through the screen. Blocking that off is essential to the purpose. Even if you got a pump that would pump enough water to overwhelm the vent to the point water is forced up and over the teeth... your gonna have one heck of a milk shake and a serious fire hazzard.

[dga]

just as effective without modifying the sump wall. thanks to "doriftu" who pioneered this idea back in the early 50's.

 

 

some serious skimming action

[Seanewb]

That's awesome where do you buy one of those?

[slothy]

looks like a typical 1980's cassette cover lol

[SaltCreep]

No offense to anyone who has done the tape cover mod but why would you spend the time modifying a tape cover when you could spend the same time modifying the tank and when finished you'd have a much cleaner install and nothing protruding into your tank?

 

it is innovative though.. I'll give it that.

[trumph]

If you don't have a nibbler or a Dremel & don't want to buy either one, just use a small round file to make the notches works fine.

[dga]

Originally posted by *********

No offense to anyone who has done the tape cover mod but why would you spend the time modifying a tape cover when you could spend the same time modifying the tank and when finished you'd have a much cleaner install and nothing protruding into your tank?  

 

it is innovative though.. I'll give it that.

 

no offense taken. but why would you cut, hack, modify or otherwise a perfectly good partition wall (that cant be put back to oem without replacing) when one can spend 10 seconds on installing one of these replaceable, cleanable, cassette mods. i'll give you the part about protruding into the tank (1/2 inch) but the best part is i have seen both modifications and the cassette mod works much better and is adjustable from little skimming to full blown suck in LR skimming. easy.