Jack's JBJ 28G

[Ginu]

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.

I can see how dealing with the back chambers can be quite tough especially if the cube is in a corner or right against a wall with furniture all around.

Id like to make a custom aquarium/stand/sump combo but they do require quite a bit more $ to start not to mention the WAF approval factor and higher maintenance cost (I think) so a cube is still a great way to have my own 29 gallons of ocean

 

[Jackooze]

I can see how dealing with the back chambers can be quite tough especially if the cube is in a corner or right against a wall with furniture all around.

Id like to make a custom aquarium/stand/sump combo but they do require quite a bit more $ to start not to mention the WAF approval factor and higher maintenance cost (I think) so a cube is still a great way to have my own 29 gallons of ocean

I guess you already made your decision, now you have to decide if you want JBJ or Biocube. Whatever you choose this hobby is pricey no matter what. It becomes an obsession and takes over your life.:headwalls:

 

[Jackooze]

I purchased a red starfish two days ago which I am very happy with this buy. Although the starfish only moves around the tank at night which kinda sucks. Oh well.

 

[Jackooze]

Lately I have been very disappointed with my coral growth compared to other nano cubes on this forum. I realized the JBJ LED intermediate lights are very weak and suck !! So now I am left with a choice either leave my tank alone to just survive or upgrade lighting to let the tank thrive. Been doing some research on DIY Leds because the LED version of my tank already comes with a heat sink and 25x1w Leds so I figure I can swap them out for some Cree XP 3w LEDs. I am not familiar how to do this yet but hopefully by the end of this week I will make my purchase.

 

[ange062]

The linckia star is cool! Big crowd-pleaser for the non-reefers that check out your tank.

You are going to need new drivers to handle the increased current draw required to operate the 3w LED's. Sounds like a cool project though.

 

[Jackooze]

The linckia star is cool! Big crowd-pleaser for the non-reefers that check out your tank.

You are going to need new drivers to handle the increased current draw required to operate the 3w LED's. Sounds like a cool project though.

When my friends came over the first thing they noticed was the star. Its fun to watch it slow movements and how careful it is around all the coral.

Yeah I know about the drivers although I am not sure about the color combo leds. There is blue , royal blue, bright white and cool white. I want to make the right decision before I order anything.

What colors LED's do you have?

 

[ange062]

When my friends came over the first thing they noticed was the star. Its fun to watch it slow movements and how careful it is around all the coral.

Yeah I know about the drivers although I am not sure about the color combo leds. There is blue , royal blue, bright white and cool white. I want to make the right decision before I order anything.

What colors LED's do you have?

This Radion has this combo:
"¢ 8x Cree XP-G Cool White LEDs run at 5W each
"¢ 8x Cree XP-E Blue LEDs run at 3W each
"¢ 10x Cree XP-E Royal Blue LEDs run at 3W each
"¢ 4x Cree XP-E Green LEDs run at 3W each
"¢ 4x Osram Oslon SSL Hyper Red LEDs run at 3W each

Id say for your own setup you should definitely do a combo of cool white, blue, and royal. Mixing them in different combos will give you different kelvin colors. 2x1 blue to white is going to be higher in the 15k - 20k (i.e. more blue) and mixing at a 2x1 white to blue ratio will make it whiter in the 10k range.

I'd ask the DIY LED guys for more input on what combos result in what color spectrums, no personal experience building my own.

 

[Jackooze]

Thought I would put up a funny pick of the star linkia

 

[ange062]

Tp!!!!

 

[Jackooze]

Tp!!!!

What does TP stand for ?

 

[ange062]

Tang police. Just an RC acronym for all the people that will roam around complaining about people keeping tangs in small tanks.

 

[Jackooze]

Tang police. Just an RC acronym for all the people that will roam around complaining about people keeping tangs in small tanks.

Yeah I know he doesn't belong in there but it was a stupid rookie impulse buy. I like him to much to give him away right now. But hopefully soon I will be able to move him to my upgraded tank.

Quick question Ange, I still can't get a handle on algae problems in my tank. my sand is turning brown and my glass needs to be cleaned everyday. I thought the reactor would help but apparently its not. A few days ago I got 4 snails which ate all the algae on the back wall, Finally all purple now.

My Rodi water is def 0ppm, my media is brand new, and I reduced my lights to 8 hrs. I have no clue why this is happening.

Any advice.

 

[Jackooze]

Update: I been having high temperature problems that have gone as high as 84F. I live in a building where heat is free and constantly on. Buying a chiller was not an option because its just to expensive. I decided on purchasing the JBJ C-breeze fan and the Ranco ETC controller which will turn on fan when heat goes over set value. I was very surprised how well the fan works, it took one hour for the temperature to go from 84F to 78F. On the downside the water evaporation has increased when the fan is on. The fan was on for 2 days continuously where 2.5 gallons of RO water was used up.

Another issue I am having is brown algae all over the sand , I have yet to resolve this problem.

 

[Ginu]

Don't know if this will help, but my sand is as white as it can be and i run a sand dollar and a goby (will be adding a tiger pistol shrimp whenever I can get one and hope to pair it with the goby).
Also i have a bunch of hermits which seem to do a fairly good job and a few snails.
The sand dollar shifts sand like a champ, only issue is that he will sometimes get stuck in some crazy holes and have to fish him out which can be difficult with all the rock in the aquarium.... not to mention he carries all the small rocks and other small media on top of him... I am not even sure when he finds all this crap... but I'm quite impressed on his sand shifting capabilities.

 

[Jackooze]

Don't know if this will help, but my sand is as white as it can be and i run a sand dollar and a goby (will be adding a tiger pistol shrimp whenever I can get one and hope to pair it with the goby).
Also i have a bunch of hermits which seem to do a fairly good job and a few snails.
The sand dollar shifts sand like a champ, only issue is that he will sometimes get stuck in some crazy holes and have to fish him out which can be difficult with all the rock in the aquarium.... not to mention he carries all the small rocks and other small media on top of him... I am not even sure when he finds all this crap... but I'm quite impressed on his sand shifting capabilities.

I have 5 turbo snails, 4 blue leg hermit crabs, 2 Scarlet, and 2 Halloween hermit crabs. I also have pistol shrimp and yellow watchman Goby which are pared. The watchman only cleans the sand around his cave. I guess I need a bigger CUC.

I have never heard of sand dollar......I googled it and didn't find any sites selling them.

 

[hilgert]

Jackooze, I recently purchased the Intermediate version myself, with the intention of moving the stock lights to my 12g nano cube and replacing them with an AI Sol (so this will work out perfectly for me in the end).

A few quick observsations/questions:

• I understand the disappointment in the coral growth. How long has this tank been set up? Don't expect immediate growth in a new tank...give it some time and see what happens.
• Regarding your cooling issues, I have found no such issues myself. I bet if you tried putting a fan blowing against the tank it would move enough air past the sides to get the temperature down to at least room temperature (of course your room temperature would have to be at least as low as you wanted the tank).
• I measured the light output at mid-level and bottom-level, and I don't think you would have a problem with most of the easier corals gorwing (maybe not at full rate, but they will grow). The light output is actually fairly decent. Personally I don't want a "light blast" in my family room.
• I have heard from two of my local LFS's that the Advanced units have about a 10% return rate on expernal LED drivers.
• I like the hood fan mod...did you go with 4 fans or 2 fans?
• What did you power the blue LEDs with (what power source...a new one, or are you "riding free" on one in the hood)?

 

[Ginu]

I have 5 turbo snails, 4 blue leg hermit crabs, 2 Scarlet, and 2 Halloween hermit crabs. I also have pistol shrimp and yellow watchman Goby which are pared. The watchman only cleans the sand around his cave. I guess I need a bigger CUC.

I have never heard of sand dollar......I googled it and didn't find any sites selling them.

I am not sure where the sand dollar came from... I'm willing to bet the previous owner found him on the beach... I can ask him if you like.

All the sites say that the sand dollars need a ton of sand to survive and might be bad for the sandbed since it can eat all the organisms in there, but so far he seems to be doing a fine job and thriving quite well in a 34g cube keeping the sand white and me happy.

In regards to the heat... 84 is too high for a unit running LEDs unless the ambient temperature in the house is 80+ which can't be comfortable to live in to begin with.

My 34g cube runs at 84-85 with mhi running for the day and found out if I open the feeding trap and sump lid the temp runs fairly constant 79-81 at the end of the day with the lights running for 9 hours.
I did get a chiller for the unit for 150$ but it's not in use ATM, waiting for the summer and then I'll run it.
Also if the tank is near a heat vent, you might want to move it to a diff location with less heat blasting directly on to it.

 

[john miller]

I decided on purchasing the JBJ C-breeze fan and the Ranco ETC controller which will turn on fan when heat goes over set value.

How about a little more info on this combination? I've been looking for alternatives to buying a RKL to fix my fan/heater issue. Currently I have them working against each other to keep my temp stable.

 

[ange062]

Jack, I've had good luck with nassarius and cerith snails keeping the sand bed stirred up enough, I just keep a bunch of them and they come out and night and do their thing.

Otherwise, just wait on the GFO reactor to really start taking working, it can take a while to suck up all the phosphates out of the tank that have been absorbed by the sand and rock. Now that you have been running it for a while, you can also try upping your dosage some. Just make sure you move slow and don't exceed the recommended amount listed on the product you are using (I think you mentioned RowaPhos, I don't have any experience with that one).

 

[Jackooze]

Jackooze, I recently purchased the Intermediate version myself, with the intention of moving the stock lights to my 12g nano cube and replacing them with an AI Sol (so this will work out perfectly for me in the end).

A few quick observsations/questions:

• I understand the disappointment in the coral growth. How long has this tank been set up? Don't expect immediate growth in a new tank...give it some time and see what happens.
• Regarding your cooling issues, I have found no such issues myself. I bet if you tried putting a fan blowing against the tank it would move enough air past the sides to get the temperature down to at least room temperature (of course your room temperature would have to be at least as low as you wanted the tank).
• I measured the light output at mid-level and bottom-level, and I don't think you would have a problem with most of the easier corals gorwing (maybe not at full rate, but they will grow). The light output is actually fairly decent. Personally I don't want a "light blast" in my family room.
• I have heard from two of my local LFS's that the Advanced units have about a 10% return rate on expernal LED drivers.
• I like the hood fan mod...did you go with 4 fans or 2 fans?
• What did you power the blue LEDs with (what power source...a new one, or are you "riding free" on one in the hood)?

The tank has been setup for almost eight months. I am not achieving the results I would like whereas others are getting far better growth. My site are for a bigger tank whenever I get the opportunity.

The heating issue is partially my fault. I was stupid and placed the tank next to the wall where the heating pipes pass. Regardless its the best position in the apt so I will just stick with it and use the fan.

I am actually very curious as to what the par readings you have in the tank. I feel like they do not go higher the 300 on the top. Light output is very important for coral growth, I know because me and my friend both got two head candy canes a few months ago. His already have 6-8 heads and mine are only splitting into its 3rd head. I spot feed them everyday to help increase growth but no luck.

The fan mod was done because the stock fans became really noisy with a high pitch noise. I figured I can find better fans. The intermediate comes with 2 fan setup and advanced comes with 4. If you ever open the hood you will see that in one of the fan slots is a small ballast. So I was only able to add one total of 3 fans. Def worth the upgrade.

The led stripes are simple. I got 9 inch 12v stripes. They come with two wires which I connected to a 12v-2amp power supply. I used my own power supply to control each light with a timer. The Led stripes didn't help with growth :facepalm:

Hope my info help you out. Thanks for you interest.