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hey guys, what do i need??????


icyoud2

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im thinking about purchasing a 6 g cube from ebay to put in the work space. i have a well esablished 30g tall im planning on raping for the cube (water,live rock,hitching posts, frags, sand etc)

i've surfed the forums, and the more i read the more im lost.lol

 

so i put it to you guys- 6g cube- im planning to have zoos,shrooms, and other lower light critters(nothing real needy as far as corals). (id really like to put a small sea horse inside-but not willing to, until i do a little more research) id suppliment with live copepods and mysid shrimp on a regular basis so the poor little guy wouldnt starve (both avail through my lfs-reefcrew.com)

 

anyway-the cube itself- what upgrades/light upgrades/ (and other things i've forgotton), should i purchase/d.i.y/consider to ensure a happy tank.

there seems to be so many options, i dont know where to start. some cube basic starting points would be great. if you can include brand names,suppilers etc, id greatly appreciate it.

thanks

leigh

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maybe i should be alittle more specific- lets start with lighting.

compacts? i've never delt with them, i've read count less posts stating compacts are useless for most corals. i dont want to waste my money on the wrong thing, and it seems i have more than a few options. 70 mh on a 6g? do i need to go this far for the critters mentioned? is there a compact that will meet my needs? maybe 2. moonlights? necessary? or not.

so confused!

leigh

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artarmon42

With what you mentioned, you certainly don't need a 70W MH.

 

But 18W in the stock 6G isn't going to be enough either.

Look up nanocustoms.com and see about upgrading to more PC lights.

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actually, 18w of pc over a 6 gallon(since this is a nc, it's more likely that there is 4 gallons of actual water volume or so) should work very well if you're planning on keeping shrooms, zoos, xenia, etc.

 

please show me what 'countless posts' you've read that stated power compacts are useless for most corals!! that is utter BS and someone needs to smack whomever said that! i had my eclipse12 set up with only a 32w 50/50 pc for about 4 months and never had any problems keeping low light corals(shrooms, zoos, leathers, xenia).

 

if you're gonna be using this tank at work, i'd just keep it simple. don't add anything that doesn't need to be there. you already have decent lighting for the corals you're planning on working with. just make sure the flow is up to par and you should be fine.

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artarmon42
Originally posted by yoshiod9

please show me what 'countless posts' you've read that stated power compacts are useless for most corals!!  that is utter BS and someone needs to smack whomever said that!

 

Hope you're not referring to me yoshiod9.

I didn't say or mean anything like that.

 

I know 18W is enough for shrooms and other low light corals.

But you know how this hobby goes... next thing you know, they'll be an anemone and a tang in there (sorry, just trying to add abit of humor)... I mean next thing you know, they'll be some frogspawn, hammer or torch in there.

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lol...no not you! he said that he read countless posts stating that compacts are useless for most corals. :D

 

i know exactly where you're coming from with the newbs overloading a new tank though... :D

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i should have said i've read many posts about campact lights being useless for the task at hand. with no mention of coral.the most resent post that comes to mind is a post about a 6 gal tank and an anenomy. the end result was a post something to this line, " take the anenomies back to the local fish store, it will die" not enough light, too small a tank. its not the only one, hang out on the beginners forum for a while.

there are corals that require as much light as anenomies. i made the jump in my mind, (aneomies/corals that require brighter lights.) i just didnt let you in on the secret. i realize the ones i listed were lower light, thats why i listed them.sorry for the poor wording on my part about the posts, my bad.

 

ok so where do you draw the line? how many watts/per gallon is ok

(cause we all know this isn't the best way to measure light in a tank) intensity is everything! and what will i get flamed for putting in my tank with this lighting? next level of light? what upgrades arent worth the money? which ones are? again read the beginner forum, you'll see all sorts of advise about poor product selection vs inhabitant.

i dont want to fall into this catagory.

basicly im looking for info, so i can weigh up the pros/cons vs $$investment costs$$ vs critter selection.(although i will probably stick to zoos etc for ease. ya never know) id like my tank to thrive, not just meet requirements.

i was hoping to hear first hand experiences, opinions seem to differ greatly.

 

if all the stock nano cubes are so wonderful, how come everybodies modding them? they must have drawbacks or there wouldn't be a need to upgrade/modify. 70 watt h.i.d.? why would you bother if compacts did the trick? heat has to be an issue? that post says to me, "compacts arent bright enough". (if you read the thread , the members doesnt actually say that)

if you read a d.i.y. light upgrade thread, that to me screems, the old lighting wasnt cutting it!

i dont have a nano, i've never owned one. its hard for me to believe that a tiny little compact, could ever stack up to the h.i.d. in my 30 gal that is required to support the inhabitants in my tank. (no matter how small a tank) my 30 g is only twice the depth. maybe 20 gals of water. but i have alot more than just zoos and shrooms.

i wasnt looking to start a riot, just clear the fog. sorry

still confused leigh: : : :

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audiocontrol

well, the only difference i have noticed between metal halide and pc "besides the shimmer" is that clams and SPS thrive better with metal halide....however, I have 2 different SPS corals that are doing quite well, retained their color ({orange and brown)) and are growing (slowly....due to the PC's) but growing none the less...

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artarmon42

Good questions.

As you're talking long term, I'll address long term issues...

 

Firstly, if you're talking long term, I wouldn't get a 6G. 12G minimum, 24G perhaps. A ®BTA is the "smallest" mainstream anemone and will need at least a 12G. Why such a large tank? Because RBTAs grow big (6+ inches across, which accounts for more than half the width of the 12G) and you need to remaining space to put corals (RBTAs touching corals will sting/kill corals).

 

On the topic of lighting. PC lighting is fine for "most" mainstream corals. You will need more (think lumens/par, not watts of electricity) for more demanding corals. With PC lighting, you will be restricted from high light demand creatures (e.g. SPS, almost all clams greater than 3+ inches). If you're going to stick with PC lighting, you should have >90W in a 12G to have any chance of sustaining an anemone (the highest light demanding creature in the "PC lighting" category).

 

Metal Halide lighting provides a different and better spectrum of light for some of the harder to keep creatures. SPS and clams need the spectrum put out by metal halide to thrive. It is all about lumens/par (not watts of electricity) and color spectrum. If you don't want limits on what type of corals you can keep in your tank, MH is a better way to go.

 

Caveats:

1) T5-HO (high output) is the new trend, better than MH for shallow (<24 inches) tanks. However, at present there are no T5-HO bulbs that can fit in a Nano Cube, so there's no point talking further on this point.

2) There are creatures you should not put in a Nano Cube, even with Metal Halide. Some quick examples of no-no's in a Nano Cube are: carpet anemones (they grow way way big), tangs (they need lots of room to swim) and mandarins (they eat a large number of pods... and you cannot fit enough live rock in a Nano Cube to propogate sufficient pods).

 

That's a quick summary, I'm sure others will chime in...

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Thank you, artarmon. ;) Saved me a lot of typing. I'll sum it up... Watts per gallon means absolute crap to corals. They care about the intensity of lighting that's actually hitting them. The difference between my 250watt MH, audiocontrol, and anyone w/ 250watts of PC is that I can keep a crocea at the bottom of my tank and keep him "happy as a clam" ;) Because a MH is far more INTENSE than a bunch of PC lights... You couldn't keep a nice tri-color acropora in your tank... Water quality is 1st priority w/ corals, then comes the light, IMO.

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audiocontrol

i wonder, has anyone ever built a special magnified, reflective enclosure for a single PC to quadruple its intensity? I wonder if that would even work...any thoughts?

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thank you! im a little less confused about lighting. but how about circulation. dead spots, i dont want them, im aware of the mods, but for a 12g nano(ya talked me out of the 6, good job) what size pump/powerhead/combo might i consider for optimum effects.

again i want my tank to thrive, i figure if im going to do it, to do it right the first time. what did you guys do and what where the effects. hey if ya havent got anything good to tell me, tell me what not to do/didnt work for you.

again thank you for all your help guys.

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audiocontrol

well, I have dual minijet 606's in the rear chambers at full throttle. Remember, u need lots of current (indirect of course)! 1 pump probably will not do it, unless it has really strong GPM ratings

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wouldn't a magnified light create hotspots in the tank, much like the sun through a magnifing glass. the light wouldnt be brighter, just focused. (i really dont know, just adding my 2 cents)

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audiocontrol

well, i was figuring if you balance out the reflectivity using a wide angle reflector with magnified angled reflectors behind the housing, much like a "projection" beam on headlamps...uh oh, better go patent this idea lol....any other cents floating around?

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RBTA's can get to 12" across (even more). don't put one in a 12g. besides physical space needs, RBTA's require very stable water params, which are harder to achieve in smaller volumes of water.

 

you'll see better coloration in zoo's w/ MH's than w/ PC's.

 

work towards 30x volume turnover for some good circulation. so for a 12g, 360 total gph would be ideal (achieved thru powerheads; not HOB filter).

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lmao! so if you did your tank over, would you change your powerhaeds to something different?

btw fantastic tanks guys, i was just looking at the pics attached to your post, amazing love the 70w bb.

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artarmon42

As in any tank, you'll get dead spots unless you have lots of powerheads or crazy piping/tubes going everywhere. With the stock Nano Cube (presuably you're buying it because everything is "hidden" behind the wall), it is especially difficult to get rid of dead spots.

 

I currently run 2 pumps (MJ606 for the return, and Rio 90 in Chamber 1)... I'm sure you can find the many threads with people doing the same thing. The only thing I do differently is to put the Rio on a chase timer to create wave effects for my SPS. You can click on my tank links in the signature if you really want to see my tank ;)

 

When my custom tank is delivered, I will move all my SPS to the new tank. Only my Onyx pair will remain in the Nano Cube, at which time I'll add a RBTA. Besides live rock and clean up crew, that will be all the livestock in that tank. At that point in time, I will remove the Rio 90, put in the cassette skimmer mod and put in a Hydro Flo for wave effects. 70W MH dedicated to one anemone B)

 

If you want a really valuable advice in this hobby...

Take it slow.

When you think you're ready to do something, wait another week.

Patience is a virtue.

 

But don't worry, almost every newbie ignores this advice and learns the hard way :P

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im not in a rush to purchase this tank. when i do purchase it, id like to buy it all at once (not the inhabitants) and like to aviod purchasing items i dont need. comercial starter packages etc.

actually the hidden filter system didnt sell me on the tank at all, i've made many a drip/bio filtration systems hidden in the back/corner of both fresh and salt water tanks. im sure there a little out dated, but not that different. now dont laugh, but its the rounded seamless tank that really got me thinking about a nano cube. thats it, the only reason. my 30 gal, im about to upgrade to a 54 bowface corner unit for the same reason, the look of the glass.

im planning on building an intank bio filter system.

 

i just dont want to find myself with a tank full of dead inhabitants, reading a post that says, stubid noob, what were you thinkin.lol

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