12DX - First saltwater tank

[dsmhero]

Might as well post a progress thread for my nanocube.

JBJ NanoCube 12DX - Started 4/17/2011

Maxijet 900 return pump
Hydor FLO
Hydor Koralia Nano 240

First Chamber
- Filter Floss
- Foam block
- Chemipure Elite
- Carbon
Second Chamber
- Heater
- Digital thermometer
Third Chamber
- Return pump

 

[dtd87]

it looks great!

 

[Bennettp]

Beautiful tank. Your flow looks great too.

 

[rainydave]

Very nice!

 

[dsmhero]

Thanks for the comments guys! This hobby is way too addicting...

 

[DevonM]

Looks pretty nice! Where are the clowns hosting?

 

[dsmhero]

Looks pretty nice! Where are the clowns hosting?

Right now they are underneath the Koralia(Left Rear part of the tank). At first I was hoping they would host the torch but from what I have read, it may kill the torch so I am not complaining.

 

[dsmhero]

Newest addition. From sarmo's tank.

 

[CarlaW]

Just remember one thing, you will never ever get the color the same as it was in someone elses tank, it just don't happen. And also when you switch lites, I would personally drop the corals down in your tank and gradually move them up to their happy spot. Just a word of advice

 

[dsmhero]

This picture is from my tank, sorry if I was being confusing. My leds are going to be dimmable so I will make sure I keep them low and build up, since most of my coral are epoxied on. Thank you for the tips.

 

[Bennettp]

Ive got around 10 or so frags from sarmos tank as well now as well as a good amount of lethers, mushrooms and polyps. Im a total noob to fragging so it has been a challenge to cut the coral bases flat and glue them to frag disks or rocks. I tried epoxy putty but it sucks. My water flow has knocked a few leathers off of their rocks as well. I missed you at reef missoula today, I went in the afternoon and picked up a mandarin. I may go in tomorrow to look for a pair of clowns as well. Ill some pics up soon since I now have around 100 pounds live rock which I had to completely redo my aquascaping for.

 

[dsmhero]

Dan is closed on Mondays FYI.

Let me know how that mandarin does and if you can get it to eat prepared foods. My favorite fish for sure.

So far the best way I mount my corals is to to mix some epoxy and press in on the base and then press it on the rock where you want to mount it, leaving a nice imprint in the putty. Remove the putty and apply a generous amount of super glue GEL on both sides. Put back on coral and mount to rock and hold there for a few minutes with the flow off. Kick flow back on in 30 mins and by the next day your frag should be very secure.

 

[Bennettp]

Thats funny, that is actually the very same way that I mounted my frags but it didnt work well. I ended up using silicone tape to hold everything in the mean time. I may need to find some better epoxy. I got the stuff I have from ace hardware. I forgot dan is closed on mondays. Hr told me he was getting 6 clowns in today. Mandarins are one of my vary favorites as well. I really hope I can get this one to eat.

 

[dsmhero]

I used some water weld, it worked out nicely. Have you researched the mandarin feeder? Some have had success with it. I can't wait to check out your tank and do a few diy projects together.

 

[Bennettp]

I used some water weld, it worked out nicely. Have you researched the mandarin feeder? Some have had success with it. I can't wait to check out your tank and do a few diy projects together.

Ya, me too. I picked up a sink cabinet from Home Resource today. I got it for $25 dollars and its new. I also found a table top to put on top of the cabinet and some track lighting fixtures to retro fit my Coralife 150 watt MH. I need to rebuild the cabinet to make it stronger but it is a good starting point for cube aquarium stand. I have been looking at the Mr. Aqua rimless aquariums and decided that I want to get one of their low iron tanks. right now I am leaning towards the 25 gallon cube. The 17.5 gallon tank is very affordable though and one of the best looking nano's I have seen. I just finished working on my aquarium. I took the sump and protein skimmer out and cleaned them, then I re-routed some of the tubing to make it look nicer. I'm really liking my gravity fed ATO as well. I picked up a higher quality float valve, but they sent me the wrong one, so I'm going to have to modify it to make it work. I used like $10 worth of gel super glue to get my leathers to stick to rocks today, but it looks like it worked. The only problem I am having is the leather corals are bending under their own weight and just falling over. I'm not sure if this means that they are unhealthy or what. They get bumpy when the lights are on, so i think they are doing ok, other than that. My torch and hammer are both looking good though, and my mushrooms are all opening up very large and look really pretty. Let me know if you have want to get together, I'm off on thursday's and friday's, plus i'm open almost every afternoon since I work a night job.

 

[dsmhero]

Hey guys...some decent updates on the 12. I decided to just add some LED supplemental actinics instead of doing a full conversion, the reason being to focus more money on getting the 40 up and running.

Anyways here are some progress pictures.

Just LED's

New Acan

A chalice I am trying to save...here is it on 11/06

...and as of 11/16

My first SPS!!! A birdsnest that originated from Devon's tank

And of course a FTS

 

[DevonM]

Nice pictures. Everything looks like it's doing well. Any before and after lighting pictures of the tank? Also, I must say that I originally got the green birdsnest from Charlie.

 

[dsmhero]

I will try and get pictures of the lighting, it looks so much better in real life tho. I miss my DSLR.

 

[Bennettp]

Everything looks nice and clean. I'm surprised your biocubes plastic light protector is in such good condition. Mine always gets ugly. I love those green star polyps too. I have been wanting to get a nicely cover rock for a little while now. How much did that diy led kit cost you? Were did you get it? I'm thinking something like that would be great for my biocube 29 since I'm wanted to just add something cheap that can support growth. I just got back from reef missoula and picked up a wild true percula clown, a bangaii cardnal, 2 nice big feather corals and a phosban reactor. I started a new job and I'm really busy but I finally had some time to play with my tank and enjoy it today. I may try to take some pictures. The water is a little cloudy with brown dust from the phosban reactor I just added so I'm waiting for my skimmer to pick it all up first.

 

[dsmhero]

I always wipe my splash shield down with some diluted vinegar if anything is building up on it.

I ordered the 6 LED actinic kit from RapidLED for 53 bucks. The full conversion kit that would support a 29 gallon would be around 180 with upgraded fans and heatsink, if you have any questions feel free to ask.