St. Pete 12g Nano back up after a 5 year break.

T

Tampa_Bandit

New member
Well, I finally got my 12g JBJ Nano Cube DX back up and running after a few years off. I am pretty excited to get back into the hobby and can't wait for it to complete it's cycle so i can start adding stock. Here are the details of the current setup:

Tank: JBJ Nano Cube DX - 12g

Filtration: Nano Cube 12 Media Basket from inTank I am going to start with filter floss in the top compartment, Seachem Purigen 100ML in the middle, and Chemi-Pure elite bag on the bottom. (Any suggestion of order are welcome! I guessed...lol)

Lighting: Sense the original bulbs are around 5 years old i decided to take the hit and replace them. 1. Coralife Actinic blue light, and 1. Coralife 10k daylight. We'll see how it goes, but LED might be in my future...! Wife says no... I'll have to work on her.

Powerhead: I am starting with 1. Koralia nano powerhead. I have another one but i may not need it. Any advice on how much flow i will need would be appreciated.

RO/DI water from LFS and they already added the salt. Salinity - 1.024
10 lbs of Live Sand
7 lbs of cured live Rock from a local LFS and I didn't caught the name of the rock - I will go back and write it down next time i stop in.

Tank empty:
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Loot from inTank (Pretty good website to order from):
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Lights on just to take picture. Tank all filled with live rock, and sand and water:
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I plan on adding a Clown of some sort, Yellow Watchman Goby, and some sort of shrimp, and then an assortment of corals, but no clue what to add yet. I'm still learning about what will be good in a small nano so I will go slow to start with.

Let me know what you think. I have read a lot of other post here but i am a novice and still have a lot to learn. I can't wait to get it cycled and add some fish.

Thanks,
Jason
 
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Nice to see another 12g; I just recently set up a DX also after getting back into hobby.
Also running the inTank media basket with all the filtration, happy with it. Also running the Koralia 240 and it is enough flow to keep a lot of the crap in suspension. Also upgraded the return pump to a MaxiJet 900 Utility Pump.

I also did a DIY LED retrofit to replace the PCs. Went with RapidLEDs 14g BC kit and made it work. I still have all the bulbs, ballast and miscellaneous stuff from gutting the hood. The previous owner said the bulbs were only used for a month; let me know if you would like any of the stuff.
 
OK Day2 and the tank cleared up pretty nicely overnight.

Front View:
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Side View:
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My battery is dead in my digital thermometer so that is not good and i need to get a new one to watch temps... Good excuse to take the 4 month old baby to the LFS today!!
 
Its not a bad shop I think its still new, their coral selection is soso and needs better lighting. But the people were super nice and they have a good bit of stuff.
 
I like the openness of it. A lot of people stuff their tanks IMO.

I had the Koralia around the same spot but switched it over to the other side. I seem to like the flow it creates; gives the tank a circular flow. Don't know if you have played with the placement yet.
 
I made it over to RocknReef and it's a pretty cool store. It seems a little more St. Pete style and laided back store...imo

So, i got a digital thermometer and got home and put it in the tank and my temp was 82.6...ouch. I propped open the lid and a couple hours later it came down to 81.5 and now with the lights off it's down to 81. I'm not sure what else to do at this point. Anyone else with a JBJ have heat issues?

I am going to more the Koralia to the opposite wall to see how that changes the flow of the water in the tank. A little early too tell with only rocks in the tank.
 
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I've had the tank go up to 82.9F if I don't run the ceiling fan on a hot day, and that's after the LED kit.

Normal temps are 80.1-81.5F throughout the day. I will let it hit 83F once in a while just to vary things a little; no harm to any of the inhabitants.
 
One thing I'd recommend is to calibrate the digital thermometer. That's a fancy term for taking the probe and jamming it under your tongue for a couple of minutes. I did this with mine and it was between 3-4 degrees too high. So when my nano cube was reading 83 it was really between 86-87 degrees!

I bought another one and it read 98.5 under my tongue which is pretty close to body temp. The reason I say that is because if your temps already run a little high they could be really high if the thermometer is inaccurate. Sounds like you might be in the market for a chiller in the near future.
 
Well I turned on my ceiling fan in my den and the tank temp came down to 77.9 degrees with no lights on today. So, I think the combination of ceiling fan, house a/c, and propping the lid open when the lights are on during the day might work for control the temp... time will tell i guess.

Crystal clear water and i rearranged the rocks as well:
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Now, just have to wait for things to cycle and start thinking about a CUC.
 
Looks good man; rocks are covered in coralline!

Don't stress much about the temperature; my tank is sitting at 82.9F as I type this.
 
I need to check out RockNReef... it's the one off 54th?

I've been going to Creative Aquariums in Tampa... when I did everything 5 years ago I used PetMart Bay Pines... they seem to have changed a lot.

I'm tagging along as I'm building a 16g now (I've got a thread on the front page here).
 
Yeah RockNReef is off of 54th AVE. It was a little hard to find but i didn't write down directions - lol. Check them out and see what you think.
I may prefer Creative Aquarium because of how they display their corals in the tanks and so far they seem to be very helpful and a lot of good information around the questions i ask. I got my live rock there and it's covered in coralline.
 
Yeah RockNReef is off of 54th AVE. It was a little hard to find but i didn't write down directions - lol. Check them out and see what you think.
I may prefer Creative Aquarium because of how they display their corals in the tanks and so far they seem to be very helpful and a lot of good information around the questions i ask. I got my live rock there and it's covered in coralline.
 
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