My JBJ 28gal Nano Build Thread

Wow, your cube never disappoints. Been awhile since I have been on here. Love the dotty...still upset with you for those clowns. Jealous, my snowflakes were nice before they took the dirt nap. Rather unpleasant fish though. Constantly bit me during water changes. Also, I can't believe you have a coral beauty not nipping at your clams. I had a Flame angel at one point with a clam. I knew I was rolling the dice with that combination. Was fine for a month but had to give the clam back to the LFS before it died because the Flame constantly nipped at it. I now have a pygmy and he seems pretty docile. I plan on getting a clam eventually. I hope it works out.
 
Wow, your cube never disappoints. Been awhile since I have been on here. Love the dotty...still upset with you for those clowns. Jealous, my snowflakes were nice before they took the dirt nap. Rather unpleasant fish though. Constantly bit me during water changes. Also, I can't believe you have a coral beauty not nipping at your clams. I had a Flame angel at one point with a clam. I knew I was rolling the dice with that combination. Was fine for a month but had to give the clam back to the LFS before it died because the Flame constantly nipped at it. I now have a pygmy and he seems pretty docile. I plan on getting a clam eventually. I hope it works out.

What happend to your flame?
 
It feels odd saying this, but...your clams are awesome! I picked up a blue maxima a few days ago and all was well, then he kind of fell over night and I went to move him back to his original spot so he could put his foot down (or so I thought) and I'm pretty certain I damaged the byssal gland as this morning he was gaping and is now completely shut with no mantle showing. He's definitely not happy as a clam.....are all of yours maximas?
 
Wow, your cube never disappoints. Been awhile since I have been on here. Love the dotty...still upset with you for those clowns. Jealous, my snowflakes were nice before they took the dirt nap. Rather unpleasant fish though. Constantly bit me during water changes. Also, I can't believe you have a coral beauty not nipping at your clams. I had a Flame angel at one point with a clam. I knew I was rolling the dice with that combination. Was fine for a month but had to give the clam back to the LFS before it died because the Flame constantly nipped at it. I now have a pygmy and he seems pretty docile. I plan on getting a clam eventually. I hope it works out.

Thanks for the compliments krkosiba!! Glad to see you around again, it's been a while.

In all my time of keeping clowns I have only JUST started to notice the biting behavior. They have paired up and "hosted" a corner of the tank, and if I try to clean it they will nip at me. Not painful or anything, it's kinda cute lol. My coral banded shrimp has literally bitten me before, that hurt.

And the coral beauty goes through it's phases of nipping at corals and clams, but it never lasts very long and typically if I keep him nice and fat (aka feed a lot) he leaves things alone. I'd honestly love to get him out of the tank but despite multiple attempts haven't been able to catch/trap him. I would LOVE to have a potter's angel instead. :)
 
It feels odd saying this, but...your clams are awesome! I picked up a blue maxima a few days ago and all was well, then he kind of fell over night and I went to move him back to his original spot so he could put his foot down (or so I thought) and I'm pretty certain I damaged the byssal gland as this morning he was gaping and is now completely shut with no mantle showing. He's definitely not happy as a clam.....are all of yours maximas?

LOL! Thanks moore, I'm hoping they look this good in person when they arrive today. I have one crocea (for over a year now) and once my delivery comes today I'll have 3 maxi's. I also had a derasa for a few months but it grew too quickly and I ended up having to sell it.

Gaping then completely shut is NOT a good sign, hopefully yours pulls through (but at this point don't be surprised if it doesn't :(). I doubt you damaged the byssal unless it was attached when you tried to move it, but I also doubt it attached after only a few days. May wan't to put up a post over in the clam forum on exactly what happened with all the details and see if they can help.

Ange whats your feeding habbit?
what you feed and how much/often
Pumps on or off?

Thanks.

I'd say I am a pretty heavy feeder. In the AM (middle of the night for the tank since I run lights from 3-11pm) I add a little phyto/zoo mixture to feed the SPS and whatever else wants to grab it, this is done pumps on.

When I get home from work I feed Newlife Spectrum Thera+A pellets for the fish/shrimp/snails/crabs, the stylos will also grab some. I alternate between having MP10 on or off (if always on it causes extra food to collect on one side of the rock and can lead to GHA over time).

Then I shut the skimmer and reactors off, and add Brightwell AA's to broadcast feed SPS with all pumps on. I normally leave skimmer/reactors off for 1-3hrs after.

And as a final feeding for the night, I use a frozen food and vary the type from day to day. I go between frozen mysis, cyclopeeze, squid, or baby brine just one cube per day. Sometimes in place of the frozen feeding I do chopped shrimp/mussel/clam/oyster from the grocery store. And just every once in a while I'll clip in a piece of nori, most everything will eat it.

So sorry, not a short answer, and in summary I try to feed often and with a big diversity of food to keep everyone happy (corals/fish/inverts). :rollface:
 
I'd honestly love to get him out of the tank but despite multiple attempts haven't been able to catch/trap him.

What I do to remove fish like that is leave a fish net in the tank for several hours and then start feeding right next to it. The fish get used to the net being there and you can surprise scoop them out.
 
Or... when doing your water change just end up taking a lot of the water in the tank out into a separate bucket. The super low water level makes it ridiculously easy to get your fish out. should be no problem in a nano like yours. That's how I get my fish out. When done, just put the water back and presto! He's out.
 
Thanks Man

Anytime!

Sorry to hear about your yellow wrasse. Have you thought about a yellow assessor?

I have, but they are "too peaceful" for my fairly aggressive tank... :( Probably why the wrasse didn't make it.

What I do to remove fish like that is leave a fish net in the tank for several hours and then start feeding right next to it. The fish get used to the net being there and you can surprise scoop them out.

I've tried that, but that darn fish always knows when I am going for him! Plus my tank has got far too much SPS and too little space nowadays for any type of trapping (without risk of breaking a bunch of corals) so I guess he will just stay around. He is a really nice looking coral beauty, just would love to swap for a different angel.

Or... when doing your water change just end up taking a lot of the water in the tank out into a separate bucket. The super low water level makes it ridiculously easy to get your fish out. should be no problem in a nano like yours. That's how I get my fish out. When done, just put the water back and presto! He's out.

Yeah, I have thought about that but all the fish hide back in the rocks when I do a WC so I fear even that method won't work. May be worth a shot though...



Thanks for the tips yall!!! Maybe I'll give it another shot if I get motivated again anytime soon.

Well, my LA/DD clams showed up today in perfect health!! Mantles were even extended in the shipping bags, and after a floating 25min temp acclimation followed by a bucket drip acclimation, they are happily in my tank. They even look spot on to the pics on LA!! Pretty cool!

Not the best pics, but I'll get some more later this week:
DSC_1062.jpg


DSC_1057.jpg
 
Very nice additions. you will have to post a FTS once you get them settled in!!! You should work for IKEA the way you get so much in such a small space LOL!!!
 
Ange I love your pictures specially the FTS how do you make them?
I have nice DSLR and good Lens but seems i cant make nice ones. I will number my questions sorry i have so many questions but its becose of you I have jbj 28 gal tank :beer:
1. do you turn off all your pumps before taking the pictures
2. do you use tripod?
3. what are your usual cam settings I mean Apature/shutter speed/iso
4. do you use a flash light?
5. why are your pictures so clean I mean there is no particles in the water. do you use post editing like in photoshop?

Thanks Man.
 
Nice Clams,
You really need to upgrade your tank:crazy1:

Thanks! I've thought about it over and over again, but I like 5g water changes!! :bounce1:

Very nice additions. you will have to post a FTS once you get them settled in!!! You should work for IKEA the way you get so much in such a small space LOL!!!

Thanks dood!! Will do for sure, need to clean up the glass the tank has been neglected due to work in the past couple of weeks. And LOL!!!! :)

Ange I love your pictures specially the FTS how do you make them?
I have nice DSLR and good Lens but seems i cant make nice ones. I will number my questions sorry i have so many questions but its becose of you I have jbj 28 gal tank :beer:
1. do you turn off all your pumps before taking the pictures
2. do you use tripod?
3. what are your usual cam settings I mean Apature/shutter speed/iso
4. do you use a flash light?
5. why are your pictures so clean I mean there is no particles in the water. do you use post editing like in photoshop?

Thanks Man.

Let me preface by saying I use a Nikon D90 and mostly a combination of Nikon 35mm f/1.8G and Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

Let's take this one at a time:
1) No, I take all my pics with the tank fully running (MP10 and all). I do use a topdown box though which makes a huge difference.
2) I tried for a while but didn't get good results, so no
3) For macro I typically shoot around 1600 ISO, aperture in the f/20-32 range depending on distance (to adjust depth-of-field), and aperture priority mode (automatic shutter speed adjust). On the FTS shots I use the 35mm, around f/9, and AP. I use -2EV exposure for either, and 10000k manual WB setting, and manual focus.
4) Nope
5) You can see particles in certain shots (the latest dottyback shot for example), but my water is typically mostly clear. I use lightroom on some pics to crop or adjust exposure or WB, but otherwise unedited.

HTH
 
Thanks! I've thought about it over and over again, but I like 5g water changes!! :bounce1:



Thanks dood!! Will do for sure, need to clean up the glass the tank has been neglected due to work in the past couple of weeks. And LOL!!!! :)



Let me preface by saying I use a Nikon D90 and mostly a combination of Nikon 35mm f/1.8G and Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro.

Let's take this one at a time:
1) No, I take all my pics with the tank fully running (MP10 and all). I do use a topdown box though which makes a huge difference.
2) I tried for a while but didn't get good results, so no
3) For macro I typically shoot around 1600 ISO, aperture in the f/20-32 range depending on distance (to adjust depth-of-field), and aperture priority mode (automatic shutter speed adjust). On the FTS shots I use the 35mm, around f/9, and AP. I use -2EV exposure for either, and 10000k manual WB setting, and manual focus.
4) Nope
5) You can see particles in certain shots (the latest dottyback shot for example), but my water is typically mostly clear. I use lightroom on some pics to crop or adjust exposure or WB, but otherwise unedited.

HTH

Thanks man this is exactly what i was asking for. You helped me alot in this start of my 28gal and you answer to all the questions fast. I cant express how grateful I am for all your help, you Rule :thumbsup:

What do you mean by "I do use a topdown box though which makes a huge difference."

Thanks.
 
Thanks man this is exactly what i was asking for. You helped me alot in this start of my 28gal and you answer to all the questions fast. I cant express how grateful I am for all your help, you Rule :thumbsup:

What do you mean by "I do use a topdown box though which makes a huge difference."

Thanks.

Anytime bud, here to help! Topdown box is some type of fixture that you can use to get your camera lens below the surface of the water and hence get clear pictures of just about anything in the tank without disturbance from the water surface and reflections.

http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/Top-Down-Porthole
http://www.precisionmarinedirect.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SB1

More pics coming soon, just need to get them off the camera.
 
Honestly, you have the best looking ricordia I've seen anywhere, and your FTS, in my opinion, is the best on reef central, this tank looks buff, well done. On a different note, I saw a pair of platinum clowns for sale at my LFS and thought of you and your designers! However I didn't fell like handing over $400 for the pair!!!!!
 
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