My JBJ Nanocube 28 gallon CF Quad

[Gobby]

Okay everyone...I thought I'd start this even though I am at work and don't have any pictures to put up. Just wanted to put down my first observations.

I have had the tank set up for about three weeks, but only with saltwater in it. I picked it up at Dr Foster& Smith. It arrived with a shattered bulb. I think they have very good customer service as they were very quick at getting another one out to me. Also, since I have the tank setup in one of my daughter's rooms downstairs, I haven't really gotten much time to listen to or observe it. I realized a few days ago that the fans were not running. The tank got up to 81 degrees. Called Foster & Smith and they are sending out another hood. There are stand offs that are molded into the hood that the screws that hold the splashguard and glass over the electronics and bulbs screw into. Well I noticed that there was a defect and one of those standoffs was shorter than the rest, so the guard did not touch that one like the others and when you tighten the screw it bends down on the splashguard on that tab. So it wasn't getting a good seal on the gasket allowing moisture to get it. There was a small amount of salt inside by the gasket. Thats how I found the bad mold in the hood. I think it fried the circuit board that the LEDs and fans plug into. At least for the part that runs the fans. The moonlights work fine. The circuit board sits right under that part of the guard. Heck it might be the 12 volt transformer.

I have the stock Acella pumps running, with a Koralia in there for more flow. I upgraded the media basket with one that doesn't overflow. It is longer and fits the center chamber more fully than the stock one. I got it at InTank.com. It is very well made. I have a Theo heater in there also. I have the protein skimmer that JBJ makes for it although I am not using it yet.I have a Coralife timer strip that I need to fine tune for day and night viewing. I kind of wish I had gone with the HQI hood or LED instead. With the CF Quad you don't have any way of running dusk/dawn. There is only the power compact bulb for day and the moonlights for night. Maybe I'll mod it with some LED strips later along with some larger fans. I am using the free stand that came with the tank. Not much room inside it. It was a good deal I think for the tank and stand at $299.99. But I still would have liked different lighting.

I have 25 pounds of dry rock and 20 pounds of dry sand from Marco rock with 15 or 20 pounds of liverock and 10 pounds of live sand coming from Premiumaquatics. When the live stuff gets here I will put it all in the tank and declare my nano officially born. I am using the MightyMite RO/DI filter from Air, Water & Ice for my water and it filters after the house softener. I started out with Instant Ocean salt and have a bag of Reef Crystals waiting in the wings.

More to come. Thanks for watching

Gobby

[saltaddict]

It sounds like you are off to a great start. I am glad Foster's is taking care of the issues with the tank.

You could always remove the hood completely and put a fixture on top of the tank leaving it open. I found in my Nano's with the hood on, my heater never came on as the lighting combined with the closed hood keep the water warm, a little to warm for my comfort level.

Can't wait for pics and to follow along.
Thanks for sharing.

[Gobby]

Hello All,
Thought I would put up a couple of pictures. Nothing fancy yet.

Here is the tank with just the saltwater.


With the hood up.


Koralia Nano 425...lots of bubbles which have since dispersed.


The InTank media basket from StevieT...pretty nice!


This is the RO/DI I went with from Air, Water & Ice....the MightyMite, 50 gallon per day. Thats processed not actual gallons of pure water produced. Thanks Rob for that info. I didn't know that until I listened to the RO/DI podcast

Air, Water & Ice sent out a new flow restrictor to replace the one shown. I had no way to fast flush the membrane after not using the unit for a number of days or for monthly maintenance. The new one got here in two days and has the small ball valve inline. This is another great company for excellent customer service. So far all the vendors I have used have been very helpful.

Gobby

[saltaddict]

Looking good. I have never seen the In Tank Media basket. I am looking it up now.
Keep us posted.

[Gobby]

Hi All,
The live rock & live sand I ordered from Premiumaquatics came today. Me and my daughter Sammy were very excited. Like I said before, I have 25 lbs of dry rock and 20 lbs of dry aragonite sand that this 15 lbs of Figi live rock and 5 lbs of Aquacultured Live Sand will seed. Here is a picture of the Live stuff:


With the lights on.


We have just put all of the Live stuff in the tank until I get off of work tomorrow to keep it alive. All the dry stuff is in a box on the floor. I guess today is this tanks birthday. I have the temp set to about 77 degrees and we have plenty of flow.
Dr Foster & Smith got the new tank hood out to me today also.....that was fast huh! Only thing is they sent a whole new tank. The tank is not a leaker so I told them I was just going to swap out the hood and send the works back to them. Now I need to aquascape. This is the part I've been stressing over.

[Rostr02]

Congrats on the sand and rocks coming in.

[Gobby]

Ok...so we added the sand last night. I decided to go with a DSB as per Rob's podcast suggestion. I have heard conflicting advice to that subject and thought I would go with an inch of sand like it states in the nanoreef handbook or something that I read. I changed my mind and now I am not sure that 5 inches is going to leave much room in the tank. Heres my sand storm:


I don't think I rinsed the sand good enough. Its been almost 24 hours and I think its going to take at least another day to clear up. I can see on the bottom that there is a 1/16 inch layer of very fine silt that I think I will carefully siphon out. We put the rock and live sand in a bucket with a Koralia nano and a heater for now:


Could I get some advice here? I have the stock sponge and carbon in the filter. I was going to trash it after the tank clears. Should I put a poly pad in or wait? Also if I siphon out some of this sand to use in a fuge how much should I leave (inches). I mean to say what would be a minimum for a DSB? It looks like I have 5 inches now. It is 30 lbs of Caribsea dry aragonite and 20 lbs of sand from marcorocks. I also still have the 5 lbs of livesand that I have from Premiumaquatics to put on top yet. It looks like crushed up coral to me. Maybe I should do a massive water change also...or do you think it will clear up enough?

Thanks Folks,
Gobby/Buddy

[Rostr02]

The sand storm will settle on its own I would just let it go. If you want to filter out all the fine particulate that settled it wouldn't be a bad idea. As far as the filter goes just leave it be until after your tank is cleared, just clean off that filter pad daily for now. DSB should be at least 5 inches. If you want to take sand out of the tank for the fuge I would just do it now, or you can wait till the tank clears and you siphon out the sediment. That's really up to you. As far as water changes go, don't until your tank has completely cycled.

[Gobby]

Hi Bobby,
I did clean the sponge today. I took out the ceramic rings and carbon bag and chucked them. That was before I saw your post. I added a poly-pad....I'll clean them daily. The tank is still very cloudy. You can't see through it. The stuff that hasn't settled is so fine that it is sticking to everything. I keep running the magfloat across the glass to get a look. I'll probably end up cleaning all the pumps in the end.
I suppose since there isn't a fuge in the system yet I will leave the sand deep. I still think it would look better and leave more room for rock with an inch, but I guess I need a way to take care of nitrates. I might pick up a Marineland H.O.T. filter to get rid of the milky water if it doesn't clear in a day or two. That couldn't hurt, right? Thank you for your input.

Buddy

[Rostr02]

Buddy, I wouldn't waste the money on another filter just because your water is cloudy. Just let it be and give it a little time. Most important thing about a marine aquarium is patience. Just keep doing what you are doing with the cleaning of the poly pad daily this will help cut down on the sediment.

Not quite sure on your second paragraph there. It is not a good idea when you have a deep sand bed, or any sand bed for that matter to disturb it once it is cycled. You can cause a huge release of nutrients into your water and not to mention the loss of the nitrifing cycle that your tank will have established. Now you can take a small amount of sand from the top inch or 2 of the send bed to place in a fuge when that is setup. But only take a small amount that is all you need to seed.

[Gobby]

Oh, I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant that I think the tank would look nicer with only an inch of sand, but I need to have the filtration of a DSB since I do not have a refugium & sump in the system. The tank doesn't have the Liverock & livesand in it right now, so thats why I was going to siphon out a little of the sand off the top....down to maybe 4". Then I will have gotten rid of the silt and will put the livesand on top of the 4" bed bringing it back up to the recommended depth. Once I put the rock back in then I'll start my cycle. It isn't cycling yet, since the rock is in a bucket.
I guess work has been taking up a little to much of my reeftank time.....lol. I am being patient though. I saw someone else in another forum using the H.O.T. to clear up a tank. Just seemed like a good idea. It wouldn't stay in the system, but I didn't get one. Thanks for keeping an eye on my progress. I'm glad someone is, because my wife isn't interested at all :-) Its nice to have someone there that cares....lol

Buddy

[CarmieJo]

+1 on patience! I can tell you from experience that the sandstorm can take at least a week to dissipate. I have an old Magnum canister filter that I use for water polishing and to run media but when it dies I won't buy another. IME it is a $125 you can spend on something you really want and can use all the time. Like maybe an HOB fuge. My Magnum was not effective on the sandstorm, the particles are too small for the filter sleeves and clog up the micron filter cartridge too fast.

I think that you could safely go down to 3.5 - 4" sand and then put your LS on top of it bringing it back up to around 5". As time goes by it will compact and you should end up with 4" or so. What is your timeline on getting a fuge?

I use a different philosophy on disturbing the sandbed. I purposely disturb ~10% of the viewable sand bed with each water change. I think it helps prevent stagnation and keeps you from getting old tank syndrome. You would probably not want to start out with a sandbed that was already well established (say a year or older) and begin disturbing this much of it at a time.

[Gobby]

Hi Carmie,
I didn't get the filter, so....money saved. I didn't know the micron filter would clog that fast filtering the silt, so thank you for the advice as well. As far as a Refugium and/or sump. I think I'm going to have to get a different stand with room underneath. There isn't room where it is now. Also, my daughter that is in the room where the tank is wants her Dwarf Seahorse tank in there as well. So I have some planning to do. So I'm not sure how long on a fuge yet. A HOB fuge may be a possibility in the near future though. All in all....good times!

Buddy

[CarmieJo]

Sounds like your project list is getting longer by the minute!

[Gobby]

I don't think it is anything unusual, but I have some diatom buildup on some parts of the sandbed already. I didn't even think it had started cycling yet. I have not seen an ammonia spike yet at all. Well actually I did get a reading of 0.25 on the 23rd, but yesterday (26th) it was zero. I thought maybe I read it wrong on the 23rd because of lighting. I have zero nitrite and nitrate. Anyway.....I thought a diatom bloom happened after the cycle finished. I put a shrimp in yesterday afternoon also to get things going. I probably didn't need it did I , because I have liverock in there?

Buddy

[Rostr02]

Buddy depending on the die off of the live rock that you have, you may have needed it. The only thing the shrimp will do is increase the ammonia and then you will see the spike in nitrates and nitrites. If you did have a cycle the shrimp addition would just start another mini cycle for you. No real harm there, just more waiting.

[Gobby]

Thats what I figured but I thought I'd ask. My readings this morning are:
PH- 7.9
Ammonia- 0.50 ppm
Nitrite- 0.25 ppm
Nitrate- 10 ppm

The level of nitrate kind of surprised me. I will probably take the shrimp out tomorrow.

Tank temp- 81.5
Specific Gravity- 1.024

Added a 1/2 cup of salt.

Here is a pic of the diatom bloom:

[Rostr02]

You can pull that shrimp out of there, everything has started nicely.

What do you mean by you added a 1/2 cup of salt? You really should not add salt directly to the tank, and right now with your tank cycling that sg is fine. If you need to increase sg at any time do it with a water change. But do not do any water changes until after you tank has completely cycled.

If you increase water flow to the diatom area it will go away soon just need some increased flow.

[Gobby]

I did decide to take the shrimp out yesterday. I added the salt to get the level up some since it was a little low. I've read that 1.026 was optimal. I added it to the rear section. I won't do it again, but figure it would be okay to add 1/2 cup since there are no critters yet.

Today my readings are:
Temp- 81.5
Specific Gravity- 1.025
PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 5.0 ppm

It looks like the cycle has come around judging from the readings from yesterday. What do you think?

[Rostr02]

Yes looks good so far, what test kits are you using by the way?

[Gobby]

Thats good, that was fast huh? I'm using the API Saltwater Master and the API Reef Master kits.

[Rostr02]

Well it has not finished the cycle yet, you have to wait until all of the tests ammonia, nitrate, nitrate are at 0

[Gobby]

Okay, I'll continue to test daily. I just ordered a refractometer to get a more accurate reading of the salinity. Taking it slow. Thanks again for hangin with me.

[Rostr02]

That's why we are here. Great choice on the refractometer those hydrometers are horribly innacurate

[CarmieJo]

I think your tank is looking good. You probably won't get nitrate all the way to 0 right off the bat. But as long as the ammonia and nitrite stay at 0 for a couple days you could go ahead and add a couple reef janitors.