24g cube: stock PCs, 70w HQI or 150w HQI??

aumfc

New member
I'm planning to get a 24g cube (not sure between jbj and ap) and I really only want softies and a few small fish (with a cleaning crew of course). Will I be ok with the stock hood lights or should I go with an open tank and a 70w MH? Or, do I really need the 150 MH?

I want to stay pretty cheap but I want to be sure I can support soft corals and maybe some lps.

While I'm here, what pump should I upgrade to and is the Current fission nano skimmer worth having?

Thanks,
Jason
 
ok i havent been around in a long time, because of college. I have a 24 gallon aquapod, with the 70 watt halide. they really dont use the 150 because it has many heat problems wit the tank. I would definately recommend the 70 watt halide. best system in my opinion. i have some acroporas, and mainly blastos and zoos but also a few leathers. nice tank for the money. GET the AP
 
I am keeping LPS and softies in my NanoCube with stock lighting.

I have Candycane, Acan Lords, Tubinaria, Enchino, Zoo's, Shrooms, basically whatever I want.

I'd go stock lighting and avoid the SPS corals.
 
Thank you both for the posts.

colinadam: What fish and inverts do you have in that tank? Have you made any mods or adds at all or is it all stock?

I am really leaning towards running with the stock lightning and upgrading later if I decide. There really doesn't seem to be much, if any, difference in price between buying stock then adding lighting as opposed to buying it all at once.

Thanks again,
Jason
 
Right now I have:

A Firefish
A Yellow Watchman Goby
A Sebae Clown


Inverts from Premium Aquatics:
4 (used to be 5) Baha Hermit Crabs
3 Cernith Snails
2 Nassarius Snails
Will pick up an Emerald crab in the future.
I got the Cernith hoping they do a decent job of cleaning the glass, either I was wrong or I got some junky Cernith snails. They like to clean my liverock more than anything else. If I could do it over I would get 1 Cernith and 1 Turbo. The Nassarius do an excellent job with the sandbed. The Baha hermits are smaller than the Blue Legged hermits and are very reef safe. They do an awesome job.

Corals:
Blue Candycane
Acan Lords
Enchino
Zoo's
Hammer Coral
Tubinaria
Mushrooms

Here are some pics:

Tubinaria
tank11030.jpg



Hammer
tank02255002.jpg


Candycane
tank02255014.jpg


Firefish with zoo's
tank11009-1.jpg


This weekend I am going to do some major shuffling so I will work on a full tank shot early next week. Right now it looks like a mess.


I upgraded the powerhead to a MaxiJet1200.
My chambers are:
Chamber 1-Chemipure on bottom, Filter Floss on top, temp probe
Chamber 2-MaxiJet 900 to run chiller (not used), heater
Chamber 3-MaxiJet 1200 pumping water back into the display.

I got the ICA chiller from Nanotuners.com
What a waste, I got the "old" model and the tubing kinks so bad you can't even use it. Luckily I haven't had my tank go over 82 so I'm not worried about a chiller.
If I were you I'd skip it to. By the time you get the tank, get it set up and get the liverock and finish your cycle it will be August/September and it will be getting cooler outside. Save the $$$$ for
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idProduct=CW1111

Also look into the Oceanic cube that is coming out in August. It looks pretty nice.
 
Thanks very much for the information. So you are not even using the mj900? No protein skimmer either. How often do you perform water changes? Do you run your lights 24/7?

Thanks,
Jason
 
Yep, I just use the MJ1200.

I do a weekly 3 gallon water change. That plus Chemipure is all that needs to be done in a Nano. There really are not many skimmers that will even work with the nano, I've heard bad things about the fission skimmer.

I have my lights on a 12 hour cycle, daylights on for 12 then moonlights for 12.
 
I'm using the stock lights and I'm keeping zoas, SPS, candy canes, caps. All kinds of stuff. the only upgrade I've done so far if the maxi-jet 1200 to replace the stock pump. I may upgrade the lighting but I'm not planning on using a MH due to heat issues.

I'm on my 7th month using the JBJ 24 NCDX model with no problems. I use a JEBO 180 HOB skimmer every night and never do water changes. I have a kalk drip every friday night with minerals added daily. PM me with further questions. If anyone's interested I can post pics.
 
The Fission skimmer is beyond worthless.
I put it in the tank, for about a week or two it got some skimmate, almost completely clear but with a slight green tint. After that, it stopped working completely. From the beginning until I took it out, it pumped microbubbles into the tank constantly (several weeks +) and overheated the tank. The air intake clogs really easily, the "bubble trap" needs cleaned constantly to not get clogged and never really does trap bubbles, my pieces didn't even fit together well.
Avoid.
 
Here is my full tank shot. It's crummy because I have to clean the outside glass and between doing a water change last night and getting some corals ready to sell it still looks like a mess.

FTS.jpg


This weekend I am trading away a bunch of the stuff on my sandbed and getting some blasto's so it "should" look better.

Also if I had half a brain I wouldn't have taken a picture with the window open causing that wicked glare :)
 
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