Blazerino's JBJ 28 Build

[Blazerino]

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading the forums for awhile with the intention of starting up a tank and finally that day has come!

I had a few reef tanks in the past but I have been out of the hobby for about 5 years now and am ready to dive back in.

I don't have a ton some money to put into this so i would like to reduce costs wherever possible...Which brings me to THE TANK!

Yesterday I picked up the following hardware from a guy on Craigslist:

JBJ 28 Gallon Nano Cube with the Quad PC lights
Matching Stand
150 Watt heater
Aquamaxx HOB1 skimmer

He sold me everything for $260, which I thought was a good deal.

Eventually I am going to upgrade the lights on the tank to an aquastyle led set-up but I figure the 105 watt PC will be sufficient for getting the tank started.

As I mentioned, I am looking to keep costs down wherever possible, so I am going to be purchasing dry rock and then seeding it with a few pieces of live rock either from the lfs (if the quality is good) or from premium aquatics.

I am leaning towards the Pukani rock from bulkreefsupply. From what I have read it is very light and porious so I won't need to purchase as much as I would with more dense rocks.

My plan is to pick up around 20 pounds of the pukani dry rock, and then get about 5 pounds of live rock to seed the dry rock.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions for sand. I am going to use dry-sand and then seed it with live sand. I don't want anything too fine but also nothing too chunky either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ange062]

I used the CaribSea Super Reef Aragonite in my NC28 and have no complaints after a year of use.

Sounds like an awesome deal to get all of that for $260!! And you will be surprised with what you can grow under that CF-quad, I had a lot of success with it before switching. Look forward to progress!

 

[Blazerino]

Quick update:
I stopped by a friends house yesterday who used to have a reef tank and picked up a bunch of dead live rock. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of dead stuff stuck to it, just a lot of dried salt. I have it soaking in water and then am going to give it a few rinses before I place it in the tank.

I have about 3/4 of my rock scape complete with the dry rock and the rest will be made with some high quality live rock.

Should I run the tank with just the dead rock and maybe a small amount of live sand for a week first to work through any huge water chemistry swings before I add the good live rock? Or can I set up the whole thing with the live rock on day 1?

Basically what I want to know is will all of the good stuff on the live rock be able to survive the water chemistry swings that are likely to occur with all of the dead rock in the tank.

Ange- It's great to see that you have found my thread! I have read your entire build thread and I can only hope my tank comes even close to yours!

I do have a few specific questions for you:
I am planning to go with 2 TLF Phosban Reactors like you have in your tank. I am going to order them from marine depot this week because they are on sale. Do you recommend using them from the very beginning or should I wait until I get through the cycle to set them up?
How is the 1 pump for both reactors working out for you. I have read that different medias need different flow rates, but I wasn't sure if it was worth the additional investment for an extra pump.

If I have the reactors, is it still necessary to upgrade to an InTank media basket. I noticed that once you got your reactors you only ran floss in the media basket. I would rather not pay 50 bucks for a new media basket just to run floss.

Thanks for the help! I will post some photos tonight.

 

[ange062]

Thanks for the comments on my tank blazer!

As far as the rock, do all of the dead and live rock at the same time so that it can cycle together - adding at separate times can cause multiple cycles. Plus, the live rock will help to seed the dead rock with beneficial bacteria and make the cycle quicker.

For the reactors, once the cycle is done I'd say start using them. The GFO will prevent any phosphate buildup in your sand / rock that could manifest into nuisance algae problems later. If I could start over, I would have run them the whole time. 1 pump is working well for me because I am using BRS ROX 0.8 Carbon, which is about the same size / weight as either their HC GFO or PhosBan (which I switch between). This means that the same flowrate works for both media types. Another option would be to just use one pump (maybe something a little bigger like an MJ600) and use a Y-connection to power both reactors in parallel so that you adjust to flow on each individually.

For the basket, I guess that is up to you. I still like having the InTank because it's much bigger so it can handle the flow of running both stock return pumps at the same time. The stock basket has a tendency to overflow when you do this which means a lot of water that doesn't pass through the floss (and therefore junk in your back chambers). You could always build a DIY for cheaper.

HTH

 

[Blazerino]

Just finished up a e-shopping spree at Marine Depot. Gotta love free shipping

Here's what I picked up:

• Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix (55 Gal)
• Marine Depot Refractometer (missed the sale by 1 day! DOH!)
• 30lb CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand
• API Saltwater Master Test Kit
• TLF Nano-Mag
• Lifeguard Aquatics Bonded Filter Pad
• 2 TLF Phosban Reactor 150's (one for carbon and one for GFO)
• MJ606 Pump (to power the reactors)
• 1/2" vinyl tubing
• hose clamps

I also got the tank in position in the bedroom and did some preliminary aquascaping with the dry rock. The fans on the stock hood sound like they are trying to make the thing fly! Anyone ever try to retrofit it with some quieter fans?

Here are some shots of the preliminary aquascaping. I like the general design so far but this is all dry rock so I am going to need to replace some of it with live rock to get the tank seeded. Comments, critique and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!

Front of tank


Another one of the front


And the right side of the tank


The basic idea was to give the aquascape as much depth (front to back) as possible while providing several different light levels for corals. Also, due to the location of the tank in the room, it will be viewed primarily front the front and right side. Basic photographic composition guidelines were followed (rule of thirds, leading lines, depth).

 

[Clown99]

nice aqua scape