Different Nano Tanks

[shinosuke]

Hello,
I've been in the hobby for a number of years, and I'm considering getting a "cube" tank for my desk at work. I know the difficulties of keeping a smaller tank, and I am willing to take them on.
I want to get the 12-14 gallon size tank, and it needs to have at LEAST 2 power compact lights on it, so I can get some amount of coral growth going on. I'd also want 2 or more LED moonlights integrated into the hood, as well.

I know there are a plethora of different tanks out there right now. I've heard many stories about the nanocubes cracking, and I'd like to stay away from them if at all possible. Does anyone have any opinions on the different brands, like red sea, biocube, and aquapod? Those are all the brands that I can think of off hand.

Is the glass a different thickness for the different brands?

Are the pumps or back of the tank filtration systems any different for the different brands?

What other things should I be looking for in these nano tanks?

Thanks,
~Adam D.

 

[BradsOcean]

I know the jbj nano cube DX 12 gallon has 2x24 PC and 2 LEDs built into it. I dont know much about the other brands though.

 

[purebullet417]

depending on what you want to keep i would recomend getting a cube tank from nano customs. they take the stock cubes and upgrade the lighting ect. i would recomend the 14 gal biocube(2 more gallons) with a 3.24 lighting upgrade or the 70w mh upgrade and maby a starphire skimmer

 

[Doglover_50]

I'm happy with my 12g and 24g jbj nano dx. Only minors change outs to keep it working, and lighting is very good. Most people seem to trade out stock pump, that seems to be the biggest issue.
Lighting supports LPS and softies, possibly clams (some debate on this). I have a monti in mine that has been doing well for months, so I think it'll work for SPS though not acro.

 

[Illuminati]

The Nanocube cracking issue has been resolved with the newer models. No worries.

I have a 24, had stock lighting and was happy, went to nanotuners.com and got a 108W custom PC hood and am happier.

Replace the pump with a Maxijet 1200 (Or a Maxijet 900 if you get a 12). The stock one is unreliable.

 

[shinosuke]

So, I know about nanotuners and all that, and I know all about NanoCubes.. BUT!
I was really asking about the actual spec.s, not just opinions. While the opinions are nice to know, I'd really like to know things like the glass thickness for the different brands, and things like that.
Thanks,
~Adam D.

 

[Mark426]

Go to each tanks website and every one of them gives the specs you asked for. As a support specialist you know your way around the web... do the research....we aren’t going to do it for you.

 

[shinosuke]

I would say that I'm sorry for my curiosity, Mark426..
But I'm not.
So anyway, if anyone knows of some good spec.s on glass thickness listed anywhere, please let me know. Most sites only list LxWxH, and while that's helpful, I want to make sure that the glass is thick enough to hold water, basically.
Also, I only really know of those 3 tank vendors.. are there any other good nano tank vendors out there?
Thanks,
~Adam D.

 

[PSam]

What thickness glass do you need?

 

[Mark426]

Ok.... took about 5 minutes of surfing

Red Sea Max 34 - 8mm glass, lots of pics of all components
Cadlights 25 - 5/16 glass, lots of pics
Aquapod 24 - 5mm glass, lots of pics of components
Oceanic Biocube 28 - 6mm glass, also lots of pics
Nanocube 24 - 5mm glass, pics and even cad drawings of tanks and compontents

Didnt check a couple of others. Found everything on each tanks site, except Oceanic's ...they have a awful web site. Did a search at www.nano-reef.com for the Oceanic specs. Now a young web savy guy like you could have done that. Prices for most of them (+few others) and more specs over at www.nanotuners.com

Let use know what you end up with.

Mark

 

[Tex007]

kudo's, to mark426 for helping after such a curt reply.

 

[Mark426]

Hey...sorry...caught me right after my kids asked for some information and I said "why dont you look it up" ..got the way too often answer..."thats too much trouble...would you do it for me?"

I also should have posted the specs for 12-14 gallon tanks like you asked for. By the way, I have a post cracking version of the 12 Gallon Nanocube w/ nanocustoms 4.24 mod (over 1 yr old now) and it works great for me. The Nanocube cracking issue has been solved and is no longer an issue, it wasn't the glass...it was how the top trim ring was attached that caused the cracking. Plus, the 12 gallon never had the cracking problem, it was the 24. If you like the Nanocube's then go for it and dont worry. If I were buying a cube today..I would still go for a nanocustoms modded Nanocube, they all (except cadlights) could use more light. Seems the Cadlights tanks have gotten the vote lately for an open top tank if you like that style better than all the other closed top "all-n-one" cubes. www.cadlights.com has a nice website...check it out

 

[kingfisher62]

I have had my 14g biocube for four months and I have been very happy stock lighting has been adequate for everything I have so far!
You might need more for sps's !
My coral stocking list is :
xenia
mushrooms
ricordia
GSP
zoos
bubble coral
pagoda cup
candy canes
toadstool
green tree coral
yellow polyps

 

[junkitu]

I'll leave the specs to the other posters. I've kept my cube (AP24) at work for the last year and the most important advice I can give you is "watch your temps". Especially if your office turns off the HVAC during the evenings and weekends like mine does. I learned the hard way that all-in-ones with an enclosed hood can overheat. I lost several animals during a summer weekend last year. My recommendation is to go with something with an open top, like the AP12 w/ Sunpod 70W MH. This will give you the flexibility to add a proper chiller if you need to.

Enjoy the new tank. It's really improved my quality of life at work and my coworkers love it. In fact, it's inspired several of them to start their own nanos.

Best of luck with your selection. You can check out my thread by clicking the little red house above if you'd like to see pics.

 

[dendro982]

Great work, Mark426!
It should be posted in Nano-Reefs Library thread.

Nano Cube 6g here (1 yr): the pump better to be changed, added heater, filtration usually is removed and replaced by custom, preferably disposable. Many people are adding refugium in the middle chamber.
The best thing about it (other than cube shape for a flow pattern and the visibility of the 3 sides), is optical quality of the glass - it allows to make a much better macro shots of the corals, that in acrylic (not new) and Perfecto rectangular tanks.

I always wonder - how the people's experience differs - about the difficulties of keeping the small tanks: I tried all the kinds, from 1g to 90g, in my humble experience, the difficulties are proportional to the size of the tank.
For the one you may need only the part of the desk of a shelf, for the other - the fish room with steady temperature and sturdy floor and additional ventilation, cup or gallon bottle vs trashcan (it needs place too) for water preparation, $25 pump vs $250 pump (plus scale of damage in case of malfunction), a level of power backup and so on.
Again, experience differs (may be).

 

[shinosuke]

Alright!
Thank you everyone, especially mark426, for your very informative replies. Mark, I hope there are no hard feelings. I mistook your post for a "troll" post, and wanted to deal with it quickly and curtly while keeping the thread on track. Thanks for proving me wrong and proving to be a valuable source of information.

Psam- Whatever thickness of glass would allow for the tank not to crack =)

Mark426 - I had just recently seen the cadlights cube, and I like the looks of it. I am worried, though, that since it does not have a top that it might crash if my office ever decided to spray for bugs or some other such thing. Also, I plan on getting at least one jawfish (if not a pair.. I love jawfish!), and since they are jumpers I need a top on the tank! The nanotuners customs tanks really do seem the way to go.. and so far, the nanocube mod seems to be the best value for the lighting, so I might just go that route.

Junkitu - Belated congrats on TOTM! I drooled over your thread when it was chosen a couple months back, and I really appreciate your input here! I definetly plan on getting a chiller, now that I've re-read your thread with an eye to my own nano tank. On an off note, do you ever have a problem with any of your corals attacking each other? You have SO much stuff in there. Also, I read that you do like your little skimmer.. would you reccomend the same brand/model, or is there a different kind that you'd think would work better. Repeat that question for the chiller, as well.

Dendro982 - I've yet to try a small tank, but I hope you're right, that the smaller tanks are easier. On the plus side, I've got free access to filtered sea water, so I don't need to worry about mixing pumps and all that jazz.

Thank you all,
~Adam D.

 

[TealF]

tops

tops

Cadlights have glass covers

 

[junkitu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9615295#post9615295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke

Junkitu - Belated congrats on TOTM! I drooled over your thread when it was chosen a couple months back, and I really appreciate your input here! I definetly plan on getting a chiller, now that I've re-read your thread with an eye to my own nano tank.

Thanks!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9615295#post9615295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke

On an off note, do you ever have a problem with any of your corals attacking each other? You have SO much stuff in there.

I've had to learn the hard way which softies tolerate each other. The rics are by far the most aggressive, especially towards LPS. Even some of the different types of mushrooms can fight. The leathers fight each other through alleopathy but seem to be the only ones that are able to live next to the different types of shrooms.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9615295#post9615295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke

Also, I read that you do like your little skimmer.. would you reccomend the same brand/model, or is there a different kind that you'd think would work better.

This is my first saltwater tank and therefore my first skimmer. I have the Sapphire Aquatics skimmer for the AP24. It seems to do its job and creates a steady amount of tea colored skimmate. I used to have challenges keeping the water surface clear but I haven't had that problem since running the skimmer. The only knock I have is that you need to keep the water level in the rear chambers low or you flood the collection cup.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9615295#post9615295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke

Repeat that question for the chiller, as well.

I just recently removed my tank's hood and went topless to allow me to get a chiller. I bought and installed the 1/15 hp Current USA Prime unit. It's pricey but does a great job of keeping the temps in line. Much better than the Nanocustoms ICA that I had.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your tank!