My JBJ 28gal Nano Build Thread

Ange, I think I saw your tank of the future. "Reef in the Sky" by V1...Rotate. Wow what a tank.
I saw the JBG 28 next to the JBG 30. Boy what a difference. I really like the 30.
Question on the 30. Since the water level in the back overflow is not level. Is there anyway a small alge scrubber could be incorporated? (I have been reading the alge scrubber thread and for whatever reason I thought of your 30.
Hope everything is ok.

Marty

Yeah man, I love V1's tank, definitely been a bookmark for inspiration on my next tank build for years (even his previous tank was SICK). Not sure on the algae scrubber, I don't personally see a way to make one big enough to be effective while being contained to the back chambers.

Is this JBJ the intermediate version or the expert version? Thanks!

It's the old-school CF-quad version, so neither :)

That stand looks much nicer then the stock black one. Where did you get it?

I concur. It was custom made by a shop here in Houston. Has a lot of extra space, is built better, and I like the contrasting colors.

Just doing a little research and wanted to check and make sure you were still around. I really like the new tank.

Still alive man!! Toe is healed for the most part, and trying to get the new tank rolling. I switched to biopellets on the JBJ28 "holding tank" this week, so curious to see how that works out. Working on my final checklist for what I need to order for the RL30. At a min, I need dry sand, dry rock, InTank catch baskets, a new chiller, new RO/DI filters, and some custom shelving for the stand to make everything fit. Hoping to get everything in, setup, scaped, and cycling soon!!

The "holding tank" is still holding in there. Haven't cleaned the glass since the move, but everything is still looking healthy outside of my baby Vanuatu black/blue maxima that died :( Need to sell off all my soft corals to help compensate for the new purchases, but haven't got around to doing that just yet.
 
I have had my JBJ 30G for a year and love it. The left compartment should stay level also. I have noticed other people have reported bad silicone joints on the left side. Should be a simple fix.

How is the biopellets running on your 28g? It has worked great for 2 months on my 70g and may try it on my 30G.
 
Ange, how are things going? Hope everything is ok

Marty

Things are great outside of the reef world, but I'm back!!

I have had my JBJ 30G for a year and love it. The left compartment should stay level also. I have noticed other people have reported bad silicone joints on the left side. Should be a simple fix.

How is the biopellets running on your 28g? It has worked great for 2 months on my 70g and may try it on my 30G.

Great call on that, I checked the tank today and the constant volume chambers on both sides had busted silicone so were leaking and I presume causing the imbalance that I noticed. In the process of getting them sealed back up now. Thanks for the tip!

Any updates? :)

Some updates coming soon!

Hey brother! Any updates?

See above!! :)

yeah it seems like everybody I'm following has dropped right off the map these past few months.

I'm back!! :)

Nice build, any updates?

Yup, updates in work!

wow i read this whole thread and then no updates out of nowhere ?! bummer lol

Don't fret!!




Sooooo, I know it's a long time coming after my disappearance, but I'm back and ready to finally start the new tank!! The "holding tank" NC28 has been cruising with only ATO topoffs since September. Not a single water change, glass cleaning, or anything else. Tank LOOKS like a disaster, but overall isn't doing too bad. I've sold off most corals and clams, but my dottyback, clown, and coral beauty are still looking good and happy. Some of my less appealing colonies of softies are still in the tank, and some remnants of the cool stuff that I have sold off continue to propagate. I was left with a head or two of my beloved ric rock, which have now multiplied into ~15 heads. My whammin watermelon zoas that were sold off had a head or two left behind which are now a small colony.

Finally got my RODI hooked up and verified it's working as expected tonight. Just placed an order for dry rock from BRS, 6lb of pukani, 6lbs of reefsaver, 6lbs of fiji, 6lbs of tonga shelf, and 4lbs of tonga simple multi branch. Will pick up a 40# bag of dry special grade reef sand from the LFS tomorrow.

Plan is to build a 4-5 piece modular rock system to mimic some of my favorite RC tanks and allow for easy disassembly if needed without all the rock slides I went through in my first tank. Lot's of epoxy and PVC will be utilized. The long hard cycle will happen with the stock RL30 setup in place. SOOO looking forward to a completely clean start with no nuisances introduced via live rock/sand. Scape will be minimal to allow plenty of room to clean glass and let corals grow.

As the cycle progresses, I will slowly transfer over the HOB-1 skimmer, biopellet reactor, and GFO reactor. Still working on building shelves inside my custom stand to support all the electronics, ATO, chiller, dosing pump, etc. A 2nd MP10 is also on the short-term list. I plan to keep the SA fancy snow and ORA neon dottyback, and will find a good home for my coral beauty angel. Eventually plan to add another exotic clown and a potters angel. Corals will be SPS only and plan to start with 5-8 frags and just let them grow. A few nice clams will join as well.

Really stoked to be back and to get this thing finally rolling after a long hiatus! :bounce3::bounce3::bounce3:
 
Good to have you back...

Thanks!!

When picking up sand from the LFS yesterday, I nearly went off the deep end (and actually kinda did!). This LFS specializes in clowns and has such a huge selection I've never seen anything like it. I got both of my awesome SA Fancy Snows from that shop years ago. Anyway, since my male fancy snow jumped late last year, I need a replacement to mate with my big awesome looking female. The LFS just happened to have an ORA premium snowflake unsexed baby with an extremely awesome pattern. Got the little guy on hold until I can get the "holding tank" water tests and some basic maintenance done to ensure a safe home for it. There was also some awesome looking ORA striped blenny's of which I have one on hold as well. Also have first dibs on the next small potter's angel that comes through to round out my fish list.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I plan to ditch the Radion for this build. Working on ordering up an Aqua Medic MH/T5 combo with a 14k Radium and ATI purple plus / blue plus 24" combo with an electronic ballast. This will probably drive the need to finally get a controller for this build to manage everything.

Got about 15# of CaribSea Special Reef Grade sand washed and added to the tank tonight. Just waiting on my rock to show up to start the scape work. After some more thought I don't really want to do a 4-6wk cycle so going try Turbo Start 900 and see what kind of results I get with that. After a long delay, things are coming along very quickly now that I am motivated!!

Only hiccup is that I may be moving to Germany in a few months for work, which will put the whole thing on hold. Will just have to play that one by ear.... Dang jobs... Make it easy to pay for all this stuff, but really makes it difficult to stick with it! :)
 
Well here are the last couple snaps of the NC28. It had a good 3+ year run. All of the liverock was given to a reef buddy (including the leftover corals) in exchange for watching my SA Fancy Snow and ORA neon dottyback while I'm in Germany.





Unfortunately for the tank, the Germany trip was moved up and I'll be moving there at the end of the month. That being said, all the stuff I ordered from BRS and InTank showed up today. It's a great assortment of rocks and the InTank catch baskets are amazing as always I plan to put together and epoxy the scape before I leave, as well as clean all the equipment from the NC28 and transfer it over to the RL30. Then I'll just cover it with a sheet while I'm gone for the next 6-mo and start the cycle when I return.
InTank catch baskets are awesome:




As is my mixed assortment of BRS dry rock. Not a fan of the reefsaver stuff but everything else looks great and will be more than sufficient for this tank since I ordered 34-lbs total and only plan a minimal scape. The pukani and tonga shelf are amazing, with fiji and tonga branch closely behind.

 
Well leaving a MOSTLY empty 3-yr old tank sitting without being fully broken down for 5-days is a terrible idea. The biopellet reactor was especially horrible but the skimmer wasn't too far behind. Do yourselves the favor and clean everything day of the take down!!!

I had to resort to gas mask and hydroflouric acid proof gloves from a lab at work. It was literally THAT bad (especially the biopellet reactor which had turned green).




In good news, as quickly as the Germany move came up it has again disappeared so the new tank will be getting wet this weekend. Playing around with scapes now with hopes to finalize on Saturday including epoxy then fill tank on Sunday.

More to come!
 
Ange, I am guessing your back in your house, congrats. I am happy your back from your disaster. Most people would not be setting up a new tank. Cant wait to see your new build and good luck to you.

Marty
 
Hey Marty, never moved into the old place again but settled for a while now!

Been toying with rockscapes still and randomly had the idea of trying a spiral staircase. Looked pretty cool until I realized the back "step" would be hard to see and extremely hard to find a good SPS coral to fill the the spot. Decided to reverse the two lower steps and pretty happy swith the result. Still more tinkering to come before I glue the scape down...

 
Scape is glued and the tank is ready to fill!! Will start making water tomorrow, but will take 2-3 days to make enough to fill the tank.

Thoughts on the scape?





 
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