Compartments in 12-gallon Aquapod Nano

[CRtarheel09]

I received a 12-gallon Aquapod Nano for Christmas. I've been working with freshwater for a long time now, and this is my first step into saltwater. I've been doing quite a bit of research on this site and others, as well as some reading in a couple good books.

I have heard a lot of people talking about ditching the filtration system that comes with the tank and doing other things with the three compartments.

What should I do with each of the three compartments? What should go in each one? Where should my heater go? Do I need to upgrade the pump or add a powerhead? Also, should I add a small protein skimmer?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.



Cameron

 

[saltycreefer]

Woulnt hurt to upgrade the pump. I run in my nano cube compartments a small sponge that I clean 2x weekly, a small chemi pure for carbon,a 1/2 poly filter, and a small Purigen packet.

 

[kmmcgra]

I agree. In compartment 1 I run filter floss....I ditched the blue sponge because it's hard to clean and it would break up during cleaning and the pieces would be floating around the tank. The filter floss I just throw out once or twice a week and replace with new. Chemi-pure in compartment 2 and upgraded to a Maxi-Jet 900 pump and heater in compartment 3. I also covered the bottom 2 intake vents on mine so filtering is done over the top vent. Got that mod from some posters at nano-reef.com. The pump upgrade helps keep the temperature lower. If you do the pump upgrade you might want to cut down the mounting piece on the Maxi-Jet for it is hard to get down in compartment 3. I don't run a skimmer. I just do a weeky 2 gallon water change and make sure the filter floss stays fairly clean. Some skimmers can be fairly noisey and I decided to not do one.

 

[sophia101]

In compartment 1 i have the normal 2-3 sponges, 2nd compartment I have ChemiPure which I love (makes my water VERY clear and great) and the 3rd compartment I have some rubble rock and my heater. That combination has seemed to work pretty well for me! Good Luck! There are many options when figuring out the nano filter compartments.

 

[ENraged]

In my Aqua pod i have no chemical aids at all rite now.
In chamber one i have a slice of the sponge that came with the tank I cut mine in to 3 pieces and switch it out as i notice build up on it.
I have also replaced the stock pump with a maxi-jet 900.
The lower return vent are covered to allow for better surface skimming.
Inside the hood i have clipped out every over piece of the venting with a dremel and added a second fan making both fan pull air in pushing it to the front of the hood.
In the back of the tank i have removed the vinyl backing from chamber 2 and will be placing some cheato over top of rubble in there shortly i have the lighting just haven't really needed the fuge yet.
Lighting i have swapped out the stock daylight with a 32 watt 10k bulb and love it.
Soon i will be swapping out the the blues for another 32 watt bulb.
Thats it for now she has been up and running for at least 6 months now with no problems.