My JBJ Nanocube 28 gallon CF Quad

[CarmieJo]

The bio-film is made up of bacteria, algae and other micro-organisms that adhere one to another. Once your tank is a few months old the bio-film coats everything, especially the sand, and keeps micro particles from being blown about by the pumps. The only filtration I have in my nano is LR, LS and some macro algae in the display tank.

[Gobby]

Thanks Carmie,
Hope all is well. I have a Yellow Watchman Goby and a Tiger Snapping Shrimp on the way. FedEx should be here within the next couple of hours. I'll put up some pics later.

Gobby

[Gobby]

Sorry, but no pictures. Fedex got here at 3:30, but the creatures were dead. Goby is out of stock so they credited my card. They would have been fine if it wasn't for the shipment getting delayed because of the weather yesterday at Indianapolis. So they got here a day later than they were supposed to. I was excited too :-(

[CarmieJo]

Ah man, that stinks.

[Mostly Rock]

That really sux. I really like my Yellow Watchman, he's one of my favorite fish. My Lawnmower Blenny annoys me (because he killed my Starry Blenny) and my Bullet covers my LR and any lower tier corals with substrate, but my Yellow Watchman is always kool.

[Mostly Rock]

How's the tank? How did everything go with the fuzzy chitin? There's another reefer on here with a 28 gal nano, he's having trouble with his skimmer (You have a Tunze, right?) I pointed him in your direction for some help, I figured with what you've experienced with this build you could help him out. I was trying to review the thread to confirm that you indeed have a Tunze, but every time I started skimming over it I just wanted to know more about the current progression I was also wondering how the fuge idea was progressing.

[Gobby]

Hello All,
I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I see some new post in here from you folks that I didn't get email notifications about. Its been a little hectic around here and I'm still off from the surgery.
I haven't gotten around to getting any fish since the botched delivery. I have gotten six coral frags and a featherduster though. I'll put up some pictures soon. Wife has a doctors appointment in a bit. Shes five months now! Man I think its hectic now...LOL.
Anyway, I get these emails from Mr Coral all the time and one day I noticed they were in Frederick, MD which is only about 45 minutes south of me. So I went and got some frags. I'm feeding them every three days using Brightwell's zooplankton and Kent's phytoplex. So now the hair algae is trying to breakout again.
So Mostly Rock, I do not have a Tunze skimmer. I bought the one made for the JBJ 28 which comes with some crappy pump. It hardly produced any skim mate at all. I just replaced the wood airstone and picked up the biggist Whisper pump they had at Walmart and now I'm getting quite a bit more in the cup. It isn't going to do the job though. I am going to have to pickup something better....and SOON! The Fuzzy Chiton is doing very well. The crabs had cleaned the purple fuzz on one end of him, so my daughter named him Fro. Now though, there is GHA growing on that end of him. So now he is purple on one side and green on the other. Who was it that you say is having trouble with his 28? I haven't heard from him. I don't have a fuge, but I do have a Aquaclear 70 down in the basement new in the box ;-)
So as for the current progression, I still have alot of particles in the water column that I am not pleased with. Not sure what to do about the filtration yet. As Carmie pointed out, she only uses LR and LS and doesn't have a problem. I'm not sure where I'm going wrong there. I have filter pad, floss, purigen and chemi-pure, in that order in my basket.
My Sixline Wrasse is a total joy to watch. He has gotten used to me watching him now. He is eating anything I put in there now. I have been using some flake food for him as well as frozen, I hatch out brine and usually freeze what I don't use the day they are ready. I'll get some pictures soon.

Thanks,
Gobby/Buddy

[Mostly Rock]

Heya Buddy/Gobby,
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/member.php?u=3572 averagejoe is the guy I was talking about. I was wondering how a large fuge on the floor under the tank would work? Maybe between that and the seahorse tank... then I remembered how much colder the seahorses like their water, so maybe not. But if you could manage the space, maybe a large fuge with a 100micron filter sock would take care of all of your problems. I yanked my sponge (But I still have sponges over my overflow tubes) and really just rely on my LR, SB and Skimmer to handle my bio load. It's been working pretty well. I have my flow passing through carbon pads before the filter socks. The 100 micron socks/pads polish the water, but my denitrification is all in the 150+lbs of LR and my sand bed. So far it's working out well, but I have plans for building a decent sized fuge. I'm trying to talk myself into building a stand that I can fit a 55gal fuge under. The thought of tearing down my tank just to switch stands is my biggest deterrent.
Congrats on the 5 month old! I counted my daughter 2 years and 9 months on her second birthday, the weekend before last... because when I found out about her was when she was officially alive to me. You have quite the roller coaster ahead of you! My advice (for what it's worth) is to do everything you can to involve your daughter in real decisions with your tanks, It's gonna be a great way to assure her that she is really important, and the addition of a sibling isn't going to change that. I come from a big family, and I may only have 1 child, but I still remember pushing my little sister down the stairs 'cause I didn't like the distraction. We have been best friends for the past 20 years, but it was rough at the beginning. My daughter, at the age of 2, already knows more about fish and aquatic life care than most of the adults I run into on average. She has been involved, on some level, in every tank we have (4 running now) since she could smile. She has also been to the LFS 2 times a week, every week, her entire life. Our hobby is a great way to bond with out kids, and I really think it exercises their potential too.

[Gobby]

Hi again Mike,
Lol...I meant my wife is 5 months...in the family way. This baby is due in April and its a girl. We're naming her Lucy. I know what I'm in for, we already have 5 daughters, remember. So now I'll have my vollyball team. I'm getting to old to try for a full softball team.

I would love to put a fuge/sump in the system, but space is definitely limited. I have the stand JBJ makes for the 28 gallon which has a very small compartment underneath. I am not sure about how to put in this system either. I have seen some people take out the sump wall and drill the back, but I would rather just start another bigger system 55 or 75...at least a 40B. I plan on doing that anyway as soon as I make room. As far as the seahorse cube, I can put a small HOB fuge on it. The algae is coming back because of the feeding of the corals. I was thinking of getting a small phosban reactor to help out. What do you think? I can't afford a new skimmer right now. You know how the JBJ Nanocube is setup in the sump area. I don't guess there is a way to employ some kind of micron filtration back there huh?

Buddy

[Mostly Rock]

I understood about the five months along, I just have a different way of looking at it than most. 6 girls... I wouldn't be able to take it... I'm already growling at the little 2 year old boys trying to share cookies with my daughter! My parents had the opposite, 6 boys, and 1 girl (It could happen ).
I personally think my 75 is too small, I can't have anything bigger than 50 in my apt (and I have 2 75's a 40, a 30 and a 20), so I'm already pushing it. I plan on moving to a house... only 'cause I want a couple 300 gallon tanks! One will be reef, and the other will be a tanganyikan cichlid tank. Would you be able to build a cabinet to put the JBJ stand on top of, and a fuge under that? Maybe modify an overflow box to get the water down to it? I have always had a hard time leaving things the way the manufacturer designed them, I have to modify everything.

[CarmieJo]

Buddy, we only have one son but when I was pregnant Lucy was our name for a girl. Our son is 22 and I will be 52 in the spring so the girl probably isn't going to happen for us.

You could run a little phosban reactor or even just put a bag of it in the sump area. I just use a mesh bag and fasten it to sump so it is suspended. Don't let the drawstring or edge of the bag hang down the outside of your tank or you will have a major issue with wicking and salt creep.

[Mostly Rock]

I'm trying to come up with an easy rig that will let you use a filter sock in the first chamber instead of the sponge, so far all of my solutions involve cutting acrylic though...

[Gobby]

CarmieJo said:

Buddy, we only have one son but when I was pregnant Lucy was our name for a girl. Our son is 22 and I will be 52 in the spring so the girl probably isn't going to happen for us.

Well I've probably said it in here somewhere before, but my oldest is 21 and I'm 53....so I'm pretty sure there isn't going to be any boys around here.

You could run a little phosban reactor

Funny you should say that. I ordered the Three little Fishies 150 reactor the other day along with some phosban. The algae is going nuts.

Mostly Rock said:

I'm trying to come up with an easy rig that will let you use a filter sock in the first chamber instead of the sponge, so far all of my solutions involve cutting acrylic though...

Thats a pretty good idea. I mean the JBJ I have has a sump in the back and thats where a sock is usually used ;-), at least in tanks with sumps underneath. It also gives me an idea, since I think I have a flow problem through my media basket. I am going to run a small test. I'm going to take out the floss, purigen and chemi-pure and see if I can run both return pumps without running the pump chambers dry. If the return pumps don't throw out bubbles, then I will know I can't have all that in the media basket. I am running this media setup because I read it is what alot of folks are using in their JBJ tanks. If thats the case maybe I will do away with the media and rely more on my biological filter as CarmiJo does, along with skimming and phosban. A micron sock in the sump is a good idea too maybe. How many microns do you think Mike?

Buddy

[Mostly Rock]

100 microns keeps my tank pretty crystal clear, but I hear people talking about 200+ a lot. I have to switch mine out every three days (thanks to the Guru's on TR, I now know I can just throw them in the washing machine with no detergent!) so I'd get a few. I would get one first, just to make sure it doesn't interfere with your flow after you run your zero media test, then if it goes well get a few more... unless you are ordering them online, then I'd start with three, cause of shipping expenses. I have many...

My sister and I are 11 months apart, my oldest brother is 54 and my youngest is 25, so it could happen.

[Gobby]

It ain't happening!!! :-)

Anyway, I took the media box out and of course the water flows alot faster into the middle chamber. I mean it would have to. There is no restriction at all without media in there. I put the basket back in with just one filter pad in it and left both pumps running. All is well as long as I continue adding water in the sump till the pump chambers are full enough. I think that has been my problem all along. In the past when I add my new water I am watching the display side of the tank for the water level to come to the top. I think I thought if I continue to add water it will overflow, but it doesn't until the back is full enough.
So right now my pump chambers are close to the same level as the 2nd stage chambers and both pumps have been running all night. I'll add back the Chemi-pure today to see how much it slows the flow. I may have found a balance finally. Maybe I'm making it to complicated. I think I'm still going to turn the center chamber into a fuge when I can get a light for the back. I remember seeing these small submersible halogen lights on InTank but now I can't find them. Anyone know where to get them?

Buddy

[CarmieJo]

I've seen submersible LEDs but not halogen.

[Gobby]

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas...have a Happy new Year too.


May have been LEN CarmieJo, but I still don't see them anymore.

[Mostly Rock]

We hope your Christmas was fantastic, and your new year is the best one yet! My house is covered with tinkerbell, Dora and toy fish of every variety... yours must be crazy!

[CarmieJo]

Are these it? http://www.finsdepot.com/product/New-583344234

[Gobby]

It is always a little crazy around here Rock!

CarmieJo,
No, thats not what I saw. I saw them here: http://shop.mediabaskets.com/Fuge-Lights_c8.htm
I may have to call them, because i'm sure thats where I saw them. All it is, is a wire with the socket for the bulb you see on that page. They have the bulbs & covers, but not the rest. I'll find out something. I haven't seen them anywhere else. They are submersible and you can thread them down through the media basket holes to your cheato.

Buddy

[CarmieJo]

Those are an interesting idea.

[Gobby]

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

I started using a Phosban reactor yesterday to get the phosphate down. The hair algae is driving me nuts. I hope it helps.

[Mostly Rock]

How's the tank? How's the Wife and child? How's the army of chirrins?

[Gobby]

Everyone is fine. Thanks for asking...Hope all is well in Florida.

Well I'm back to work now, and I am not going to have as much time to stare at my Sixline Wrasse as I'd like and the corals I put in there. I love that fish though. I just tested the water this morning and the Phosban reactor may be helping some, but there has been so much algae on the rock that I think it is just barely keeping up. I won't know until I get a good phosphate test kit. Also the Eshopps skimmer I got doesn't do that good a job. I should of just stuck with the JBJ air stone skimmer for now until I get a bigger tank with a sump. This tank is just frustrating me.

I will say that some of the corals I put in are doing okay. The Green Star Polyps, Palm Tree Polyps and three different zoanthid frags that are sitting on the sand bed. All have multiplied a little, even under the conditions I have. Not that they are terrible. Just not pristine enough for the Dendos and Birdsnest corals to thrive. My Purple Mushrooms receded a little but are still there. Just the two I started with.

I want to get some better looking live rock then the big hunks I have. Would that be a bad idea. I was thinking of getting nicer looking nano sized live rock and take out what is in there. Scrub the crap out of the old stuff and stick it in a rubbermaid tubs with a heater & pump. Let it dry out and save it for a bigger tanks base rock. I don't know....something! LOL

Gobby

[CarmieJo]

You can cook the rock by putting it in a Rubbermaid tub with a powerhead and heater and keeping it dark (covered) until all the algae dies off. You can sustain the biological activity by feeding it with a pinch of food every few days and could keep it live until you are ready for your bigger tank.