Jack's JBJ 28G

[Jackooze]

Sup Guys,

I already have a thread on a local forum in my area but not to many nano cubes, so I decided to start one here to get any advice because I am a NEWBIE. I have always wanted to get into saltwater fish but was intimidated by all the work and care that was required.

I decided to start out with a nano cube thinking it would be easier and less cost affective. It has been seven months now since my tank was started and I already wish I had something bigger . My tank is doing well now other then a few issues that I have yet to resolve such as some brown/green algae problems and pump failures.

Overall I like the JBJ 28G but never realized the maintenance required to upkeep this tank. The intermediate LED's are weak and don't help with coral growth as of hoped.

Equipment:

JBJ 28G Intermediate LED - I modded the hood and added three blue LED strips to get a little more actinic color.
Vortech Mp10
Aquamaxx Hob-1
InTank Media Basket - Filter Floss, Purigen, Chemi-Pure
Tunze Osmolator

Live Stock:
Two Ocellaris Clown Fish
Yellow Watchman Goby
Bi Color Blenny
Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Corals:
puping polyp sinularia
GSP
Candy Cane
Acan
plate
Frog Spawn
Hammer
Zoas
RBTA
Xenia
Duncan
Orange plate
Ricordea

Dont remember the rest of the names.

Thanks for looking.


Before:

Now:

60mm fan upgrade which made the hood silent

4 Blue 5050 LED Strips added

Finished Installing Tunze Osmolator last night which was a pain in the ***. Apparently this tank is not designed to have both return pumps running at the same time because if it dose the overflow box cant handle the pressure. So I had to figure out how to level the water in the outer chamber where the pumps are. The pumps use a wavemaker that have an interval of 30 seconds causing the water level to constantly change. In order for the ato to work I had to overfill the rear chamber so that all were on the same level. Also because of this stupid wavemaker I have a feeling one of the return pipes sounds like with fail soon.

Any comment/ advice much appreciated.

 

[Jackooze]

Here is a few pics of some coral I have. Pictures taken from phone sorry for bad quality.

My RBTA that choose the worst place in the tank

 

[Jackooze]

Wow no love???

 

[john miller]

The only reason your stock pumps should put out more flow than the overflow can handle is if something is clogged up. I would guess it's either the purigen or chemipure. Is your chemipure tied up off the floor?

I almost did that with my GSP but chickened out at the last minute.

I think the wavemaker and ato together are a no-no, because of the fluctuating water levels. With a MP10 do you need the stock wavemaker anyway?

Any more detailed pics of the mods you did to the hood?

BTW, nice tank.

 

[bryanr]

Nice Tank. I have a 28g JBJ advanced LED and am looking at skimmers. How do you like the Aquamaxx Hob?

 

[ange062]

+1 on what John said, I run both returns and the InTank basket keeps up (though the stock one didn't). Just have to make sure your media isn't clogging flow. I found the half size of Chemipure Elite worked a lot better when I was using it.

Tank looks really good and your getting great colors, especially those palys and fungia! One suggestion to clean up the look would be to remove those drags from their plugs and superglue them down somewhere.

 

[Jackooze]

The only reason your stock pumps should put out more flow than the overflow can handle is if something is clogged up. I would guess it's either the purigen or chemipure. Is your chemipure tied up off the floor?

I almost did that with my GSP but chickened out at the last minute.

I think the wavemaker and ato together are a no-no, because of the fluctuating water levels. With a MP10 do you need the stock wavemaker anyway?

Any more detailed pics of the mods you did to the hood?

BTW, nice tank.

Thanks for the reply, I made sure nothing is clogged. Chemi and purigen are brand new so it cant be that either. Basically the water level in the rear chambers was raised above the elbo of the pumps for the ato. As for the mp10 I don't need the wavemaker but I have to use it because without my media basket overflows.

GSP on the wall is not growing as fast as I would have liked, I think it might be not getting enough flow.

 

[Jackooze]

+1 on what John said, I run both returns and the InTank basket keeps up (though the stock one didn't). Just have to make sure your media isn't clogging flow. I found the half size of Chemipure Elite worked a lot better when I was using it.

Tank looks really good and your getting great colors, especially those palys and fungia! One suggestion to clean up the look would be to remove those drags from their plugs and superglue them down somewhere.

Thanks ange for the reply you been helping me out a lot.

What do you have inside your mediabasket and what size chemi do you use now 6.5 oz or 11.74, because a single 6.5oz bag treats up to 20 gallons.

About the frags I assumed that they go on the rock where the coral eventually takes over it. Is there any tutorial on how to remove the frag from the plug ? I don't want to damage them.

 

[Jackooze]

I forgot to ask.
Every week I do water changes but by day number 2 my alk, cal and mag decrease. At the moment everyday I dose my tank with ESV bi-ionic two part and ESV Mag. Is this what everyone does with nano cubes or should I purchase a dosing system?

 

[krkosiba]

Tank looks really really good. Be careful with an ato...you have a beautiful hardwood floor. You have a switch fail...could be bad. It happened to me.

 

[krkosiba]

Btw, save yourself some money and don't buy a dosing system. I don't know how much water you are changing during your weekly water changes...5 gallons? However, we are dealing with a smaller system so water parameters change frequently. Especially after a water change. There is a saying that I heard and I have no idea who coined it. "less technology, more biology." It always stuck with me.

 

[ange062]

Thanks ange for the reply you been helping me out a lot.

What do you have inside your mediabasket and what size chemi do you use now 6.5 oz or 11.74, because a single 6.5oz bag treats up to 20 gallons.

About the frags I assumed that they go on the rock where the coral eventually takes over it. Is there any tutorial on how to remove the frag from the plug ? I don't want to damage them.

No problemo! I used to run floss, Purigen, then Chemipure 6.5oz in the InTank basket and it kept up with the flow. I have also run the 11oz bag and also flow was slower, it still kept up. Now I only run floss since I have dual reactors for media. The flow problem is because you are keeping your water level too high for the ATO. For proper flow through the basket you need to have the outer pump chambers equal to or slightly below the center constant volume chambers.

I forgot to ask.
Every week I do water changes but by day number 2 my alk, cal and mag decrease. At the moment everyday I dose my tank with ESV bi-ionic two part and ESV Mag. Is this what everyone does with nano cubes or should I purchase a dosing system?

I still do manual dosing daily, but it's a pain. I've been saying it for at least 6-mo now, but one of these days soon I am going to get a dosing pump. Makes it less work, more accurate, and keeps levels steady since you can spread dosing throughout the day.

 

[Jackooze]

Tank looks really really good. Be careful with an ato...you have a beautiful hardwood floor. You have a switch fail...could be bad. It happened to me.

Thanks, I purchased the Tunze for that reason because it comes with a fail safe switch. The pump also comes with a sensor when the reservoir goes dry. Very happy with unit

 

[Jackooze]

Btw, save yourself some money and don't buy a dosing system. I don't know how much water you are changing during your weekly water changes...5 gallons? However, we are dealing with a smaller system so water parameters change frequently. Especially after a water change. There is a saying that I heard and I have no idea who coined it. "less technology, more biology." It always stuck with me.

I do weekly 5 gallon water changes. The biggest nuisance is dosing and top offs.

 

[Jackooze]

No problemo! I used to run floss, Purigen, then Chemipure 6.5oz in the InTank basket and it kept up with the flow. I have also run the 11oz bag and also flow was slower, it still kept up. Now I only run floss since I have dual reactors for media. The flow problem is because you are keeping your water level too high for the ATO. For proper flow through the basket you need to have the outer pump chambers equal to or slightly below the center constant volume chambers.



I still do manual dosing daily, but it's a pain. I've been saying it for at least 6-mo now, but one of these days soon I am going to get a dosing pump. Makes it less work, more accurate, and keeps levels steady since you can spread dosing throughout the day.

When both pumps run together my outer rear chambers become empty so I add more water to level out the chambers. Once that's done the water overflows the mediabasket spilling over the sides. I tried everything and gave up.

When it comes to dosing pumps I am confused about one thing, what happens when water changes are done ? Do you turn off your doser for a few days until levels decrease? From my understanding when a water change is done it replenishes resources to the tank but the dosing pump is programmed for that day so levels would be out of wack.

 

[Jackooze]

Since my last update I have done several upgrades and modifications to the tank. I never realized how difficult it is to maintain a nano cube.

I purchased a Bubble Magus 3 Dosing pump because I got fed up of dosing by hand everyday. Best investment so far !!!!!

Also purchased a 2LF Phosban Reactor which was a challenge installing due to the lack of space with all the other equipment. Thanks to Ojonas81 and Ange62 for their help setting up the reactor.

Today I spent 4 hrs cleaning all the pumps, skimmer, and rear chambers not realizing how much gunk was in the rear chambers. Its impossible to get the outer rear chamber clean and get under the lower part of the tank. I tried everything by siphoning out the gunk but didn't fully get everything out. Also because of the reactor I finally can have both return pumps running at the same time, which made things easier with the ATO.

I feel so much better now that everything is done Tank looks great.

Oh finally I will be able to put some good quality pics this weekend !! borrowing girlfriends father SLR camera !!

Here is a few pics of the setup:

 

[Ginu]

Really nice so far...

I am currently looking for a JBJ 28 LED or HQI or Biocube 29 HQI but so far I've only been able to find the Biocube 29 with compact fluorescent lights... ugh... you mentioned its hard to maintain this cube, so does this mean its easier to maintain an aquarium instead of the all in one cubes?

Subscribed to this thread. Cheers.

 

[ange062]

When it comes to dosing pumps I am confused about one thing, what happens when water changes are done ? Do you turn off your doser for a few days until levels decrease? From my understanding when a water change is done it replenishes resources to the tank but the dosing pump is programmed for that day so levels would be out of wack.

I wouldn't worry about the water change. 5g isn't enough to offset your levels that much, I dose consistent amounts daily whether it's a WC day or not (though I did dose BEFORE the WC back in my once daily manual dosing days).

Looking like a sweet setup!! Definitely got your equipment list down solid for a fairly new tank! And man, I wish I had that extra space in the bottom of the stand for the dosing pump / ATO bottles, mine is all taken by the chiller so the ATO res is outside of the stand (eyesore!!).

Now that you have the dry goods all setup, what are your future stocking plans?

 

[Jackooze]

Really nice so far...

I am currently looking for a JBJ 28 LED or HQI or Biocube 29 HQI but so far I've only been able to find the Biocube 29 with compact fluorescent lights... ugh... you mentioned its hard to maintain this cube, so does this mean its easier to maintain an aquarium instead of the all in one cubes?

Subscribed to this thread. Cheers.

If you go the LED route I advise you to go with Advance model rather then Intermediate like I did. If Pro is to pricey then go with the HQI. I am not familiar with the Biocube so no opinion there.

Its def harder to maintain a cube ! This is my first tank so you can't entirely take my word for it but I feel an aquarium with sump is simpler.
The rear chambers are tight and limited to the kind of equipment you can have. Doing any maintenance in the back is a *****, unless you don't have the tank positioned against the wall you don't see whats going on behind there. I choose the nano cube because I am limited to space in my apartment and thought it was a good beginner all in one tank. A good beginner tank I would think is anything above 50gal.

Don't get me wrong despite all the headaches I have had with this tank I still love it and it has a nice clean awesome look. Reefcentral has plenty of info on JBJ NC28 and BC29 with plenty of support.

 

[Jackooze]

I wouldn't worry about the water change. 5g isn't enough to offset your levels that much, I dose consistent amounts daily whether it's a WC day or not (though I did dose BEFORE the WC back in my once daily manual dosing days).

Looking like a sweet setup!! Definitely got your equipment list down solid for a fairly new tank! And man, I wish I had that extra space in the bottom of the stand for the dosing pump / ATO bottles, mine is all taken by the chiller so the ATO res is outside of the stand (eyesore!!).

Now that you have the dry goods all setup, what are your future stocking plans?

That's what I was hoping to hear that WC don't offset the levels. You should have the chiller on the side of the tank and all other equipment inside the cabinet. The chiller doesn't look bad outside. A lot of people do place on the side and it actually looks decent.

haha I just saw on your thread you also purchased BBM pump SWEET !!!
Life is so much easier now right !!!

Regarding stocking I am not sure. I am thinking about maybe getting a few hard corals in the near future. Its overwhelming of the amount of corals out there and with the limited space I don't know what to choose. I am so anal about trying it to make it look as nice as yours and others on here. So I want to take a step backand enjoy the tank for now because I am constantly always doing stuff to it. I am contemplating on selling my clowns for snowflake clowns and moving my hippo and anthias to my friends 120gal tank. I noticed you switched to snowflake clowns.