JBJ 28 Gallon Nano Owners Club

[XtremeFromHell]

I have a 28 HQI model and was wondering if I'd be able to replace my lighting for a reefbreeders led set up, has anyone done this? I want to keep my good, just replace the HQI w leds

 

[Krazie4Acans]

I did fail to mention that everything went from one tank to a new tank because my tank was defective and replaced. I am thinking that maybe there was some oils or something that may be causing the issue and I may just have to wait and let the carbon/purigen soak it up over time. Of course this also means I am running slightly dirtier water.

I currently have the following in the tank:
Flame Angel (Sonny)
Purple Firefish (Murphy)
Royal Gramma (Princess Dot)
Longnose Hawk (Hawkeye)
Yellow Goby (Chiquita)
6 Florida Ceriths
18 Nassarius
4" Gold and Purple Crocea
Pink Birdsnest
Purple Tip Green Frogspawn
Alveopora
Wham'n Watermelon Zoas
Neon Green Paly's
2" Sand bed
Approx 30lbs Live Rock

Does anyone think I will have any issues with anything if I can't run the skimmer for a month or so? I think I will increase my water changes from 3g weekly to 4g weekly but I can't think of what else I can do. I would appreciate any suggestions I could try.

Thanks

Just adjust your cup way up to the top and slowly move it down over the next few days. The Skimmer will remove whatever is causing it to overflow but you have to move the cup back up so that it's not just filling with water and actually skims.

A week or so and you should be back to where you had it before. Krazie:jester:

 

[Krazie4Acans]

I have a 28 HQI model and was wondering if I'd be able to replace my lighting for a reefbreeders led set up, has anyone done this? I want to keep my good, just replace the HQI w leds

Haven't used the reefbreeders retro but I have done the Rapid LED retro on multiple HQI hoods. Works great and pretty easy to do. Krazie:jester:

 

[kaskiles]

I've been looking at the Reef Breeders Nova A4 as replacement lighting for my JBJ 28, but I think we would have to go open top. Or maybe some sort of glass lid, but I've read from others that a glass lid has issues, cleaning or buildup or something.

I have a 28 HQI model and was wondering if I'd be able to replace my lighting for a reefbreeders led set up, has anyone done this? I want to keep my good, just replace the HQI w leds

 

[Gagonzalez]

I have the cup all the way up now and it overflows. Can't stop it and can't move the cup any higher at this point. So I'm kinda stuck. Just waiting it out for now. On the bright side, my frogspawn just split from 2 heads into 6! And my alveapora seems a little puffier too. Must like the dirty water.

Thanks

 

[brcreefer]

So I just wanted to post an update (and vent) on my tank situation with JBJ.

A little while back, I had an issue where the side of the tank was bubbling up from a leak behind the side black covering. I contacted JBJ about it and they were nice enough to send me another tank. Unfortunately, it was broken by UPS during shipping so it was discarded per JBJ. A 2nd tank was sent and I proceeded to do the transfer of rock, water, fish, corals and bought new sand. About a week after the transfer, the new tank also started to bubble on the opposite side. In addition, the 3 center chambers had a leak so the water level dropped to the point that water wouldn't flow over to the end chambers. Needless to say, not good! I contacted JBJ again and they sent a 3rd tank. This tank arrived with a small crack across the top back of the tank and possibly another on the side. Just for giggles, I decided to put water in the center 3 chambers and low and behold, it leaked down into the end chambers. I contacted JBJ yet again and was told that there is nothing that they could do but send out another bare tank. I explained that sending another bare tank may be why problems are happening since the foam in the box seems to support the entire unit with the light hood and not just the bare tank. They said sorry and that they could only send out a bare tank since there is nothing wrong with the light hood.

Needless to say, I am VERY dissapointed in JBJ and will not EVER purchase their products in the future because of the customer support experience and lack of quality control in their products. I am currently looking at upgrading my tank to a 50g Cadd Lights Artisan II, Stand, Skimmer and Sump as soon as I can afford it. I hope that no one who owns a JBJ product ever need any kind of support because based on what I have experienced, it will be hell. Thanks to everyone who has helped me in this thread, I really appreciate all your support.

George

I had a very similar thing happen. Bought a replacement bare bones tank as my warranty had expired. It then took them 4 tanks before one finally arrived that wasn't broken...every single tank had the same problem with the compartments in the back not sealing to the rear glass, just like yours. It looked to me as if the silicone job sealing the compartments to the glass was just crap. Anyway, i would also not buy another JBJ tank again. On top of the crappy workmanship, their customer service was horrific. They lost my warranty return information repeatedly, and actually getting someone on the phone was a feat in itself. I feel lucky that my 3 fish, corals, and other livestock were able to survive in a plastic tote box for as long as they did....no losses!

 

[pleuralplexus]

I had a very similar thing happen. Bought a replacement bare bones tank as my warranty had expired. It then took them 4 tanks before one finally arrived that wasn't broken...every single tank had the same problem with the compartments in the back not sealing to the rear glass, just like yours. It looked to me as if the silicone job sealing the compartments to the glass was just crap. Anyway, i would also not buy another JBJ tank again. On top of the crappy workmanship, their customer service was horrific. They lost my warranty return information repeatedly, and actually getting someone on the phone was a feat in itself. I feel lucky that my 3 fish, corals, and other livestock were able to survive in a plastic tote box for as long as they did....no losses!

Ive had a lot of trouble with JBJ products too. I purchased the JBJ LED Advanced hood for my 28g (which was originally delivered as a CF quad) and the LED strips in the hood started failing after only a few months. Before that I purchased a Mini Arctica chiller from JBJ and it completely crumed right in the hottest part of the summer after being on the tank for only a few months. Thank goodness my tank doesn't leak!! I wont buy any more JBJ stuff in the future either.

 

[ange062]

I've been running my JBJ NC28 and Arctica chiller for 2.5-yrs and never had a problem with anything JBJ made. My 3g JBJ Picotope has been running 2-yrs, again without a single issue. I wouldn't say that bad experiences are the norm.

 

[pleuralplexus]

Lol Ange, you sure you don't work for JBJ?

But it's true. I've heard rumors of people not having any trouble with JBJ products. Maybe there are just several of us who are very very unlucky....

 

[deleau]

Hello JBJ 28 folks.

I have a JBJ 28g Advanced LED that has been set up since July 4. I stocked it with 20# of live sand and 35# of live fiji rock. The LFS provided 10g of used live water (water change from one of their DTs) and the rest of "new" salt.

The cycle ended this week, and I put in a mini-CUC (astreas, emerald, bumblebee, ceriths). I have run everything stock so far while I continue to research what mods/addons, etc. to use.

I am definately getting an MP10 and most likely the intank media basket. I am on the fence on an Apex (tbh, that is mostly just another tech gadget to play with).

I am also looking at replacing the stock return pumps with the Hydor Pico pumps as done by Kaskiles. My return pumps give off a noticable hum, and I would like to minimize that since it's in my office. The fans do not bother me, but the hum gets to me over the course of a long time in the office. Marine Depot has discontinued the Hydor, but there seems to be other sources online to get them.

My other main concern is heat; I live in OK, but so far it has not been an issue (of course we haven't hit a long stretch of 100+ degree days).

Looking forward to a few months when they sucked is full of SPS, LPS and a few swimmers.

 

[kaskiles]

The hydor pico return pumps are still running good.

I have really bad Algae in the display and no filter floss or media basket (still trying to get by with only water changes...). Anyway, the intake strainers on the hydors will clog up a bit when I rip out the hair algae in the display, so I remove them about once every two weeks and backflush the algae out of the intake screens.

 

[Salty303]

Hello everyone. New owner of a JBJ Nano 28g Intermediate LED. Been having some flow issues when one of my stock pumps went out. Upgraded to maxijet 1200 in both returns and their always on. Also have intank media upgrade. Dont know much about this hobby so I go day by day. Anyone know how to change the color of the whites in the hood. I would like some blues in there. Thanks in advance.

 

[Gagonzalez]

Aquamaxx HOB-1 New Issues

Aquamaxx HOB-1 New Issues

This is a question for the experts on why my Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer is acting out of sorts. First a list of what I have:

JBJ 28g AIO Nano Mixed reef running........
Aquamaxx HOB-1 Hang on Skimmer
TLF150 Phosban Reactor running approx 2/3cup GFO
In Tank Basket with a Filter pad, carbon bag (8Tbs) and Purigen.

My issue is that I waited approx 6 weeks after moving to a new home before my Skimmer would work correctly and not overskim like crazy. However, now every time I remove the filter pad from my In Tank basket and replace it with a new clean pad (every 12 hrs currently) my skimmer goes crazy for about 30minutes to an hour. I have placed a valve on the air inlet so that I can turn it down temporarily until it resumes to normal but there has to be some scientific reason why it is doing this. Could it be a bad pump somehow? I already cleaned the entire unit in Vinegar so it is nice and clean so it can't be plugged up with salt. Are there any pro's out there that may know why this is happening? :headwallblue:

Thank You

 

[chad p]

Gagonzalez, I think it's pretty normal for the skimmer to go a little crazy after changing filter pads. Mine always did it for a short time. Not to the extent that the cup overflowed or anything but it definitely skimmed much wetter.

I used to adjust the cup up but then I just left it as it was and let it skim wetter for that short time. I figure if anything, it's probably just getting more gunk as the dirty water drains from your old filter pad. Why not let it pull that stuff out?

 

[Gagonzalez]

It actually overflows ALOT! As in cup is full in less than a minute ALOT! But I found out and verified that it is the filter pad. I stopped using the In Tank pads and started using the DR Fosters pads about a month back when I moved to a new house. That is when the skimmer went crazy. I was told on another post to wash the pads in hot water or in the washing machine (water only) to remove the chemicals on the pad from the mfg process. I did that last night and it worked. Going back to the In Tank pads though because it is a PITA to wash them!

 

[pleuralplexus]

On a tank I had long ago, I Found out the hard way that not all filter pads are created equal. Some filter pads were actually originally manufactured for evaporative air conditioners (Swamp coolers) and so they arrive with a trace amount of soap bonded to the plastic in the pads. In an AC unit, this is good because it breaks down the surface tension of water, enabling faster heat transfer and evaporation. In the aquarium, this is dad. Now obviously I'm not saying that all of the filter pads that come from a reputable aquarium supply company would have soap on them, but I am saying that there are plenty of trace chemicals in these pads that we use these days too, because they are not made for the aquarium industry, but rather are repurposed from other industries for aquarium use.

 

[MSeg]

This filter material is a pretty awesome price, and made for pond filters. I'm not sure what the inTank stuff is priced at, actually. I cut it into shape for my inTank media basket and it collects stuff like no one's business. There's enough that I can switch out the piece every morning for like... a year.

 

[corrado007]

Off the current topic but I thought I'd share. I have the professional LED version of this tank and one of the daylight LED strips / rows went out. That's 5 of the 25 daylight LEDs. I looked online to find a replacement and they sell them only as 5 LED strips for about $90 each strip. I pulled out the bad LED strip and tested each LED individually. There was only one that went out and the other 4 worked just fine. I searched around online and only found one or two places that had something that seemed to be the right specs. I found some 3W 14k button LEDs on ebay. I bought a 10 pack for about $8 and free shipping. I soldered the new one in place of the old one that went out and it has been working perfectly for about 2 weeks now.
Just thought I share that if you have the LED version of this tank and you have a segment of lights go out you don't have to pay a ton of money if you have some basic electronics testing and repair skills. The part to fix mine cost less than a buck for the single bad LED.
Hope this helps others.

 

[Gagonzalez]

Mseg,

Do you run a skimmer?

 

[MSeg]

Right now I'm running a cheap skimmer on a QT that's only set up until the fish inside is rehomed, but my main tank will be running one in a couple of weeks (Aquamaxx HOB1, if I keep reading such great reviews on it).