JBJ 28 Gallon Nano Owners Club

[ange062]

New 28g nano owner. I had the 12g before and moved up. I bought the CF Quad one as it seemed solid for the price and didn't have the money now (or rather couldn't get approval from the wife) to buy the LED.

Anyway, I've read about 100 pages of this thread and mostly it seems people have had heat issues with the HQI version. I haven't really seen anyone post about the CF Quad with heat issues. My water was at 84.6 degrees yesterday. I live in Texas, AC is always on at 75 degrees and there is no direct sunlight to the tank, though there is light in the kitchen from windows. Nothing added outside of stock right now. The lights were on for a long cycle 6am-8PM, but that's what I ran in my smaller tank before.

No money for a chiller right now. Should I be having this issue with this tank? I bought an extra fan and am going to put it in the canopy, and I can buy the azoo (or is there a better solution since I'm a year back still) if I need to, but would rather not have to have that conversation after spending the amount I already have to get this started.

Thanks, and I've learned a lot from this thread already. I'll try and get some pics up soon. Alright, back to reading!

I always had heat issues (also in Houston), with my CF-quad. I had to keep my house at 72 to keep the tank in the low 80's, and got sick of that so bought a chiller. Pays for itself in the long run in electricity bill savings since you don't have to keep your house so cold. Plus it's good insurance against boiled livestock should your home's AC go out during one of these HOTTT Texas summers.

The Azoo or any other fan to help evaporation will help to get your temps down on the cheap.

I have an 28g LED. I have the Eheim auto fish feeder. Wondering how best to put it. I'm thinking of using velcro to secure it and have it hang over that feeding opening in the lid. Some of the fish I plan to keep are known jumpers and really, any fish can decide to be a jumper, so wondering how best to cover the rest of the opening....something easy on and off. Anyone got suggestions?

I had mine mounted exactly like that for quite a long time, never had a problem with jumpers. I removed the feeding lid all together, then used some tape to "seal" the unused part of it. Two notes: 1) the hole has to be sufficiently large for the food to spill into the tank through the whole rotation of the feeder (or you end up with food on your floor). 2) When you lift the hood for maintenance, food will spill through the "aeration hole" at the back of the food compartment and get into the motor housing. So make sure you remove the feeder before you lift the hood.

Hi I have a question about my JBJ LED light version. (its only 1 month old)
Today my dusk/down light blinked and its like %50 bright as it used to be.
Did that happened to anybody before?

The white is fine and its on its own ballast .
Dusk/Down is on different plug looks like AC converter.
What would cause this sudden %50 drop in intensity?

Thanks.

I've heard of a lot of people having issues with the JBJ LED's, call their tech support, explain the issue, and see if you can get a replacement driver (probably the issue).

 

[UofTOrange]

Thanks for the reply ange. I ended up buying a fan from Target in the meantime and it's doing the job. I will buy something more tank specific at some point later on. I guess a Chiller is just going to have to be in my future so I don't have to worry about it. I'll be watching the used sections and checking CL.

 

[corrado007]

Hi I have a question about my JBJ LED light version. (its only 1 month old)
Today my dusk/down light blinked and its like %50 bright as it used to be.
Did that happened to anybody before?

The white is fine and its on its own ballast .
Dusk/Down is on different plug looks like AC converter.
What would cause this sudden %50 drop in intensity?

Thanks.

Yeah, I agree it may be the driver/ballast. JBJ has AWESOME support for stuff like this. I had one dawn/dusk LED go out a year after I bought the nano cube and they not only sent me a new LED but a new ballast as well. Good thing though, the ballast went out a month later so I was fortunate to have one on hand. Seems like a lot of issues with their LED systems but they are taking care of them through good customer service and I'd imagine better replacement parts as the ballast they sent me was different than the one that originally came with the system. Just give them a call and see what they have to say. You'll likely need to email them a copy of your receipt for the system to get it covered under warranty.

 

[wisnia99]

Yeah, I agree it may be the driver/ballast. JBJ has AWESOME support for stuff like this. I had one dawn/dusk LED go out a year after I bought the nano cube and they not only sent me a new LED but a new ballast as well. Good thing though, the ballast went out a month later so I was fortunate to have one on hand. Seems like a lot of issues with their LED systems but they are taking care of them through good customer service and I'd imagine better replacement parts as the ballast they sent me was different than the one that originally came with the system. Just give them a call and see what they have to say. You'll likely need to email them a copy of your receipt for the system to get it covered under warranty.

Thanks Man,
The tank is only a month old ill give them a call.

 

[ange062]

Thanks for the reply ange. I ended up buying a fan from Target in the meantime and it's doing the job. I will buy something more tank specific at some point later on. I guess a Chiller is just going to have to be in my future so I don't have to worry about it. I'll be watching the used sections and checking CL.

Anytime! Check with your LFS' also. I managed to snag my JBJ 1/15hp chiller brand new for $250 out the door at my LFS

 

[Rolock]

Hello all. Girlfriend and I are owners of a new 28 gallon cube. The tank is about 5 weeks old and all tests suggest our water is at all the recommended levels. Recently added 5 turbo snails and 3 hermits along with a frag of green star polyps and another frag of zoas. Zoas opened up initially but have pretty much remained closed since. Anyway, we got the Tunze 9002 skimmer without realizing it will only fit in the center chamber. Is it worth it to take out the media basket for the skimmer? Other alternative I have read is to upgrade the media basket. Suggestions for a couple newbies would be much appreciated!

 

[TripsterAK]

Started Setting up my Modified JBJ 28G NanoCube Yesterday.
Livestock Plan:
- Pair of Black Ice Snowflake Clowns(LFS is getting some Sustainable Aquatic ones in)
- Randall Goby and Pistol Shrimp
- Sexy Shrimp

Now to wait for it to cycle.

 

[corrado007]

Hello all. Girlfriend and I are owners of a new 28 gallon cube. The tank is about 5 weeks old and all tests suggest our water is at all the recommended levels. Recently added 5 turbo snails and 3 hermits along with a frag of green star polyps and another frag of zoas. Zoas opened up initially but have pretty much remained closed since. Anyway, we got the Tunze 9002 skimmer without realizing it will only fit in the center chamber. Is it worth it to take out the media basket for the skimmer? Other alternative I have read is to upgrade the media basket. Suggestions for a couple newbies would be much appreciated!

I have the Tunze 9002 as well and I'm quite happy with it. It would be interesting to see a poll on who prefers the tunze and who prefers an upgraded media basket. Either one would be fine but I'd guess it depends on the amount of attention you give the tank. I personally think the skimmer requires less attention and can be "neglected" if you're a busy person while the media basket requires cleaning out so it doesn't become a breeding ground for all the bad stuff. Just my 2 cents.

 

[corrado007]

Started Setting up my Modified JBJ 28G NanoCube Yesterday.
Livestock Plan:
- Pair of Black Ice Snowflake Clowns(LFS is getting some Sustainable Aquatic ones in)
- Randall Goby and Pistol Shrimp
- Sexy Shrimp
Now to wait for it to cycle.

Looking good! I love DIY projects!!! Did you drill the tank at the bottom behind he plastic rear wall or do you have a siphon overflow? I can't tell from the pics. How many gallons will your sump hold? I'm curious what your total water volume will be when running. Cool that you will be able to have a bit heavier bio load with more water in it. I really like your choice of inhabitants too. I'll be interested to follow along.

 

[TripsterAK]

Looking good! I love DIY projects!!! Did you drill the tank at the bottom behind he plastic rear wall or do you have a siphon overflow? I can't tell from the pics. How many gallons will your sump hold? I'm curious what your total water volume will be when running. Cool that you will be able to have a bit heavier bio load with more water in it. I really like your choice of inhabitants too. I'll be interested to follow along.

I have the Tank drilled. 2 Returns and then one in the Center for the overflow.

Not sure exactly how many gallons the sump will hold but it is a Marineland C3 Sump

Here are some more clear pics of the tank now that things have settled.

 

[karp12]

Like JBJ on Facebook.. Great way to get updates on their products.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/JBJAquariums

 

[NMC]

I have a question on the In Tank media basket which I have in the center compartment. In their video, In Tank pushes it right up against the tank, I guess to force the water thru the chambers. When I do this, the water level drops in the other compartments. One of those other compartments houses my ATO sensor, which starts pumping in resevoir water and messing with my salinity. I back up the media basket a bit and all is right with the world. I'm just wondering if the water is really going through the media basket effeciently like this. I hope this is clearly explained.

 

[ange062]

I have a question on the In Tank media basket which I have in the center compartment. In their video, In Tank pushes it right up against the tank, I guess to force the water thru the chambers. When I do this, the water level drops in the other compartments. One of those other compartments houses my ATO sensor, which starts pumping in resevoir water and messing with my salinity. I back up the media basket a bit and all is right with the world. I'm just wondering if the water is really going through the media basket effeciently like this. I hope this is clearly explained.

It depends on what media you have and how it's configured. IME using a "full portion" of Chemipure Elite will choke flow to the point where it is reduced enough to drop levels in your side chambers.

Even now, I am using just the basket with floss, but as the floss gets clogged over the course of a few days my side chambers will drop (and thus be filled by the ATO) and when I replace the floss with fresh stuff all the rear chambers are too full and it takes a few hours for it to evap off.

My point? Sure, you may have reduced flow to some extent. Is it spilling over the sides of the basket? If not, you have no problem. Just fill the tank with fresh salt water to get your chambers back to where they need to be. HTH

 

[seafansar]

Not sure if this has been asked, but has anyone had problems with their dawn/dusky lights flickering and then not turning on? I'm thinking it is a wiring problem, cause I ordered a new ballast for it and the lights still flicker. They stayed on for a little bit while on the tank, but then started flickering and getting dim and then just wouldn't turn on any more. Of course the tank and hood's warranty just expired a few months ago.

 

[wisnia99]

Not sure if this has been asked, but has anyone had problems with their dawn/dusky lights flickering and then not turning on? I'm thinking it is a wiring problem, cause I ordered a new ballast for it and the lights still flicker. They stayed on for a little bit while on the tank, but then started flickering and getting dim and then just wouldn't turn on any more. Of course the tank and hood's warranty just expired a few months ago.

I think there is an issue with the dusk/dawn ballast i had mine for 1 month and the ballast stopped working. When the ballast was working i noticed that the hood was getting very hot. Ill be getting new ballast soon and I'm planing on rewireing the ballast so its outside of the hood which also makes things much cooler.

 

[corrado007]

Not sure if this has been asked, but has anyone had problems with their dawn/dusky lights flickering and then not turning on? I'm thinking it is a wiring problem, cause I ordered a new ballast for it and the lights still flicker. They stayed on for a little bit while on the tank, but then started flickering and getting dim and then just wouldn't turn on any more. Of course the tank and hood's warranty just expired a few months ago.

From two or three pages back:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20082053&postcount=1943

Not my exact problem but JBJ should be able to work with you on it.

 

[Reefer_Madnes]

LOTS and lots and lots of good info going to take me weeks to read all of it....cant wait

 

[markalot]

I'm looking at a slightly used 28 gallon jbj hqi nano cube with stand for what appears to be a darn good price. Is this worth it? My basement never gets above 75F, so I don't think heat will be an issue.

Does anyone run one of these unmodified with the stock skimmer and filters?

Thanks for the input!

 

[B192734]

I have one running essentially stock. I have an extra power headinside for some extra flow, but otherwise I'm still stock. It works fine for me until I can come up with extra cash for some upgrades. I think that the biggest issue that I can think of on mine is that the water flow into the back doesn't really go through the filter media very well. I haven't really figured out how to fix that. Maybe someone on here has some suggestions...

Otherwise I have a clown and a damsel and a couple of sps corals that are doing well and spreading, a large yellow/greenish coral of some sort that has grown immensely, and a Kenya Tree (? I believe...) that has blown up and probably tripled in size. Everything seems nice and healthy and happy. Including the stupid amount of aptasia that I can't seem to get rid of...(They seem VERY happy...)

 

[ange062]

I'm looking at a slightly used 28 gallon jbj hqi nano cube with stand for what appears to be a darn good price. Is this worth it? My basement never gets above 75F, so I don't think heat will be an issue.

Does anyone run one of these unmodified with the stock skimmer and filters?

Thanks for the input!

The tank is perfectly capable of running bone stock, but upgrades are really driven by what livestock you want to keep, how easy you want maintenance to be, and how stable/healthy you want your tank to be. A couple examples would be:
1) SPS needs strong and random flow
2) A dosing pump will keep your Ca/Alk/Mg stable automatically
3) A GFO reactor keeps your phosphates down and reduces glass cleaning intervals and helps to prevent nuisance algae

75deg ambient may very well be on the warm side for an HQI tank, you may need to look into a fan for evaporative cooling to keep your temps in line.

I have one running essentially stock. I have an extra power headinside for some extra flow, but otherwise I'm still stock. It works fine for me until I can come up with extra cash for some upgrades. I think that the biggest issue that I can think of on mine is that the water flow into the back doesn't really go through the filter media very well. I haven't really figured out how to fix that. Maybe someone on here has some suggestions...

Otherwise I have a clown and a damsel and a couple of sps corals that are doing well and spreading, a large yellow/greenish coral of some sort that has grown immensely, and a Kenya Tree (? I believe...) that has blown up and probably tripled in size. Everything seems nice and healthy and happy. Including the stupid amount of aptasia that I can't seem to get rid of...(They seem VERY happy...)

Get an InTank media basket. It's much larger then the stock to help contain the flow. I've been using one for 1.5-yrs and love it, no complaints at all.