New to Nano-Reef

[rhall928]

I am looking to start a new nano reef aquarium for the first time and am in the research stage right now. I am looking to get an aquarium in the 24 gallon area. There are three that I am looking at right now and I just wanted to get people's opinions on them and if any of them are better than the others. The three that I am looking at are the 24 gallon Nanocube, the 24 gallon Aquapod, and the 29 gallon Biocube. I also had a question about the lighting. The impression that I get is that the lighting that comes with these is not adequate for reef growing and it is pretty necessary to get the HQI lighting options for these in order to be able to grow and maintain most corals. Is this correct? Is there anything that I cannot have with the HQI units? Also one of the books that I am reading mentions that I cannot house scleractinians with other corals. I am not sure what kind scleractinians are. If somebody has an explanation as to what kind of corals these are I would appreciate it. One last question, should I get a protein skimmer for this size tank? I have been reading that they are not necessary for nanos. Would it be worth it to have one anyway though? I plan to have about 30 pounds of LR and LR rubble in the filter and LS. Also do these nano aquarium kits have everything I need for current flow or do I need to get a powerhead? Sorry for all these questions at once. I appreciate your responses in advance.

 

[Sadielynn]

First welcome .
Nope you do not need MH tho it will increase your options for corals down the road if you wish to have SPS corals . It will also prevent you from needing to upgrade down the road as well if you get them now...
There is not much you cant have with HQI , some shrooms may bleach but if you acclimate them to your light they should be ok ... Here are a few that may bleach but if acclimated should do ok .. Mushrooms, some zoas brighter colors need more intense lighting , yuma/ricordia , and some LPS corals ,but acclimating them will let them adjust to it .
As to the light that comes with them PCs you could do LPS , shrooms, zoas but SPS would be out .
All 3 cubes are about the sam but I would say nix the Nano cube they have poor at best IME customer service , and had issues ( some folks say they still do ) cracking for no appearant reason ...
scleractinians are a LPS coral but I am not familure with them ... I was thinking they were a doughnut coral but alas I belive I am wrong so I will offer NO advice there .
As for the skimmer it is not needed with weekly water changes of 10%-20% weekly . Tho if you get one it would not hurt but you still need to do water changes sinc you are replacing trace elements and removing Disolved solid compounds such as fish excreetment .
You will want to probably upgrade your PH on the cubes as I have heard they like to over heat the water most use a maxi jet ... LR you could get about 1-1 1/2 LBS as corals come attached to LR and will make up the rest .
These kits also come with bio balls chuck them they just encourage nitrAte , and Phosphates to stay high ...

 

[rhall928]

I went to the LFS today and saw some floor models of the nano all-in-one sets and the 24g tanks are a bit bigger than I had imagined. I am now thinking of going with the 12g Aquapod with the Sunpod 70w HQI. I just wanted to see if I am able to stock it with what I want at this size or if I would need to go with the 24g. Below is a list of the livestock that I would like.

2 False Percula Clown
1 Yellow Watchman Goby or Two Spot Goby
1-2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1-2 Feather Dusters
1-2 Clams (not sure which ones yet)
Possibly a Blue Tuxedo Sea Urchin
Possibly a Marble Sea Star
And a cleaning crew of snails and hermit crabs

Please let me know if what I want to do is possible in a 12g tank. Also let me know if you see a problem with what I want to house together. If you have any other suggestions as to what to house let me know. I did not put down what reef I want because I am still researching and am not sure what I am going to put in as far as that goes. I also had a question about live rock. Is there any benefit to buying it from my local LFS as opposed to getting it from the internet? It is about half the price on the internet. Dr. Foster and Smith have a pretty good price and I was considering getting it there or another site. Is there any benefit to getting cured live rock other than the time you save? I am in no real rush so I don't mind cycling my tank for 4-6 weeks. Also, would you recommend Fiji? I get the impression that this is best but I could be wrong. Thank you for your help.

 

[Sadielynn]

I went to the LFS today and saw some floor models of the nano all-in-one sets and the 24g tanks are a bit bigger than I had imagined. I am now thinking of going with the 12g Aquapod with the Sunpod 70w HQI. I just wanted to see if I am able to stock it with what I want at this size or if I would need to go with the 24g. Below is a list of the livestock that I would like.

2 False Percula Clown
1 Yellow Watchman Goby or Two Spot Goby
1-2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1-2 Feather Dusters
1-2 Clams (not sure which ones yet)
Possibly a Blue Tuxedo Sea Urchin
Possibly a Marble Sea Star
And a cleaning crew of snails and hermit crabs

Please let me know if what I want to do is possible in a 12g tank. Also let me know if you see a problem with what I want to house together. If you have any other suggestions as to what to house let me know. I did not put down what reef I want because I am still researching and am not sure what I am going to put in as far as that goes. I also had a question about live rock. Is there any benefit to buying it from my local LFS as opposed to getting it from the internet? It is about half the price on the internet. Dr. Foster and Smith have a pretty good price and I was considering getting it there or another site. Is there any benefit to getting cured live rock other than the time you save? I am in no real rush so I don't mind cycling my tank for 4-6 weeks. Also, would you recommend Fiji? I get the impression that this is best but I could be wrong. Thank you for your help.

As always bigger is better . But if you go with the 12 you could do a pair of clowns and perhaps a small clown goby ... Just keep a tight eye on your perameters ....
Clams require feedings if they are less than 2 inches , other wise they need good lighting ,such as MH . They should not be introduced to a new tank , of less than 6 months old .
Urchins are lil bulldozers they will knock frags off of where you put them and quite honestly may eat your coraline algea ... Those are not good canidates for a nano .
Sea stars most starve after the 1st 6 months in a tank they also need an established tank of no less than 1 year . They will quickly deplete there food sourse and starve . Its ashame really as they are beautiful ... Some are not reef safe tho the marble is I believe ... With out pics I am not 100% sure tho .
As for the other stuff you should be fine in a 12 gallon , but do remember that with LR and sand you will have about 2-2.5 gallons of displacement so you will really be dealing with about 8-10 gallons of water .
Cycling just watch your perameters ....
Ammonia will rise and fall you want this at 0 (this is the start of your cycle) Ammonia is the most toxic to fish
NitrIte will rise and fall you want this at 0 this is the biproduct of ammonia and is still toxic to fish
NitrAtes will rise you want these less than 20ppm for corals still toxic but less so than the above 2 .You can do a H20 change to reduce .After your 1st H20 change monitor for an addtional week and add your clean up crew , continue with weekly water changes and monitor perameters .. Once you add something you will experience a mini cycle but once all go back to 0 you can add your 1st fish about 6 -8 weeks from your start up is about right The only benifit to getting it online is cheaper , in the store you can find the pieces you want and think are cool the more pourous the rock the better.There really is not a better LR IME and it is up to you what you like

 

[rhall928]

Thanks for the reply and advice. I had another question about the live rock. When aquascaping a tank with the live rock do you simply place them in there or are you supposed to glue them together. The book that I read on nano-reefing didn't mention how to do this. It seems like I read online to glue them with some sort of apoxy or something but I could be wrong. What is the norm? Do people usually just place them ontop of eachother? It seems like they wouldn't stay. Thank you.

 

[Sadielynn]

Some glue /epoxy others just fit them together . I epoxy and fit them together on ours ... ours fit together tight .. You just want them stable so that they dont topple and break your tank .. If you find pices that fit together tightly you may not need to epoxy them .. I am looking at doing ours in our tank but would need to remove some water to do so I just havent the umph to do it To many other things to do LOL
I used in our smaller tank an epoxy from wal mart sporting/fishing isle . It comes in a syringe to mix once it is together like I want I let it dry under water I have never had issues with this .Super glue gel would not be practical for large rocks , but smaller ones would work . I use the duro brand from walmart blue and white tube ... Some use the two part epoxy that comes in a stick and needs kneeded I did not much care for that I found it a bit difficult to work with

 

[rhall928]

Would you recommend I go ahead and get the larger 24g tank or should I stick with the 12g? I don't want to get the 12g and wish I would have gone bigger later. What is your personal opinion on this? Thank you

 

[Devilishturtles]

In my opinion, I'd go with the 24 gallon. Bigger allows more room for error as well as more livestock and coral options. I think you'll be happy with going a size up.

Scleractinia corals are simply stony corals and include all of the SPS and LPS corals. Many people believe that mixing stony corals and soft corals is a bad idea, but there are PLENTY of people who do so with no problems. The answer to this is filtration. If it is adequate enough and you do regular water changes, in my opinion, you can avoid and problems with stony and soft coral interaction.

 

[rhall928]

Thanks for the reply. I think that I will go with the 24g. My plan is to go with the 24g aquapod with the 150w 14k HQI light. I am going to get current's nano protein skimmer and also replace the filter media with live rock rubble. Is there any other modifications that I should make to the aquapod such as a different pump or powerhead? I wasn't sure if all the stuff it comes with is adequate or if I need to do any upgrades or additions. Thank you.

 

[Sadielynn]

You should be happy with the 24 gallon tank , you will have more room for errors , and live stock .Having it to do all over again I would seriously look into them . I run a 10 gallon and wish that I could have gone bigger but alas I am not allowed , since they are considered water furniture I get away with have this size since it is no bigger than the humidifier that I was running , I have a bit of a medical reason to run the tanks LOL and I am using that for all it is worth I am not sure most folks change out the PH to maxi jets as the ones that usually come with them run hot ...Filter media most use chemi pure or puri gen in their tanks . I run chemi pure and change out every 3 months , and I also just use carbon pads changing out monthly and rinsing weekly ...

 

[lando]

If you have your eyes on a clam or two then I suggest MH lighting. I really like the new 28gal nanocube by JBJ. It uses MH HQI lighting and has a built-in skimmer. It would be a very nice starter tank.

 

[rhall928]

After seeing the previous response and reading another thread on the JBJ 28g Nano Cube HQI package I did some research on this all-in-one and now I am not sure what to do. I am now trying to decide between the JBJ 28g Nano Cube HQI and the Current 24g Aquapod with the 150w Sunpod HQI lighting. The Aquapod is what I was initially thinking of going with but after seeing the Nano Cube HQI I am torn between the two. The Nano Cube comes with a protein skimmer, two powerheads as opposed to one on the Aquapod, and a wavemaker. If I were to go with the Aquapod I would put in a protein skimmer, possible the nano skimmer that Current makes for it. The thing that is holding me back from going with the Nano Cube is that with the Aquapod I would be able to have an open top whereas the Nano Cube has a closed canopy top. I am under the impression that an open top is better as it allows for better gas exchange and is better for temperature. The Aquapod also seems to have slightly better lighting. They both use 150w 14k MH but the Aquapod comes with 6 Nocturnal Blue and 6 Moon White lunar lights whereas the Nano Cube only comes with 4 Nite-Vu LED lights. If you guys could give me your recommendation between the two tanks I would appreciate it. Also does anyone know if the protein skimmer that comes with the Nano Cube HQI is any good? Also is the nano protein skimmer that Current has come out with any good or would you recommend going with a different one. The one made by Current is only about 30 to 40 dollars so it seemed to me like it might not be all that good. Thank you for your replies. Hopefully I can come to a descision soon.

 

[Sadielynn]

Each tank will have its negatives to it , at this point it really is up to you to decide what you want in your tank..You dont have to run a hood on the NC some just remove them and get aMH fixture ...
I do believe that you can get a skimmer for the AP . As for the pumps most folk just end up replacing them since they seem to run hot anyways ..then they replace them with the MJ . There are a ton of lights that you could use for nite lights to see the tank at nite ,and they are inexpensive as well ... I personally like the AP as the light is better the tanks are suppose to be better and they have better customer service if something happens than the NC by JBJ ( The old saying was JBJ = Just Bought Junk) I never had one of their tanks however I had thier equipment that just stopped working and they would not replace it it was only 4 weeks old at that time. I just dont like them...If I were to do an AIO it would be the AP . From here it is just your opinion