Jasonanatal's JBJ 28 gallon Nano Cube HQI Nano Reef Aquarium.

[Jasonanatal]

I'm soooooooo sorry to hear about the scratches on your tank. It's a real real bummer:-(

But thank goodness a replacement is being provided to you

p.s.- thanks for the link, your thread is amazing and has such useful information!

I really appreciate it.

Ladyhealth, thank you very much for the compliments on my thread and I'm also very glad that a replacement is being sent to me.

 

[Jasonanatal]

How is the UV working out for you. Do you run it 24/7. A UV this size on a 24gal tank running 24/7 on a reef tank would be a little concerning to me. Think it will be killing to much good bacteria... UV light work also depending on the amount of GPH running through it and to make it's a little less efficient you could raise the amount of gph slightly higher then required but in a tank this small it would be almost impossible. but if it's working for you thats what counts.
Awesome thread by the way...

Daceman89, actually the Aqua Ultraviolet Sterilizer is rated at 25 watts powered by a Maxi-jet 1200 which is rated at 295 gph. The setup is running 24/7. So far for over 2 months it has been working great. I'm doing some research to back up my theory but I personally feel that the bacteria that is thriving on our live rocks and substrate and any other physical surface for that matter outnumbers the amount of bacteria free floating within the water column. We almost never remove our live rock and live substrate but we do do water changes and that itself removes water amount of gallons on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis itself. I just feel that the benefits far outway the drawbacks. Plus I may be doing something with ultralith soon to increase the amount of bacteria within the Live Rock and Live Subtrate. Shhhhhh.

 

[Jasonanatal]

New LPS Coral Frag Addition.

On Saturday, December 29, 2007 I purchased a Coral Frag of Acanthastrea Lordhowensis from NaCl-H20 of the Manhattan Reefs Forum. It was dripped acclimated over a period of 2 hours and allowed 1 week before being photographed. It is my first every LPS Coral from Australia and I have been providing it with extra attention and some tender loving care since it was the smallest piece left from the fragging of the colony.

Photograph - Completed mounting the Coral Specimen: Acanthastrea Lordhowensis to a Boston AquaFarms Reef Disc. Photograph taken Saturday December 22, 2007.

Photograph - Coral Specimen: Acanthastrea Lordhowensis after a little over one week in my Nano Reef Aquarium.

Coral Family: Mussidea
Coral Genus: Acanthastrea
Common Name: Acanthastrea Lordhowensis
Common Morphologies: Encrusting
Origin: Pacific Ocean
Acquired: Saturday, December 22, 2007
Lighting Requirements: Moderate to high. Metal Halide Lighting is suggested. These are Shallow Reef Corals so their tolerance to light will vary.
Flow Requirements: Moderate flow. Australian Acans do best under medium flow. Medium flow is considered flow that will not disturb the coral or cause the flesh to peel off.
Availability: Low.
Growth: Growth rate increases when feeding, light and flow requirements are met. If you allow this coral to be exclusively photosynthetic then growth will be slower.
Difficulty: Moderate.

 

[Jasonanatal]

Out with the Old In with In with the New: Elos & LaMotte Test Kits.

Out with the Old In with In with the New: Elos & LaMotte Test Kits.

In my quest to achieve a striving Nano Reef Aquarium my philosophy mainly revolves around among the belief that you get back what you put into it. Now there is much debate on the accuracy of more expensive Liquid Test Kits in comparison to the less expensive and more accessible brands and this post does not provide any type of scientific information to back my particular opinion on why I choose these companies/test kits over their less expensive competitors. Both companies caught my eye since do to their use in very large and captivating Aquariums of other members of various online communities as well as the companies guidelines as to the preperation, storage and eventually sale of these quality items. Both Elos and LaMotte take pride and care in extensively documentating the shelf life and batch numbers for each test kit as my previous test kit Aquarium Pharmeceuticals Incoporated did none of that. And if a company can take the time to document even the most miniscul item then they definitely have my attention. (My wife being Italian and subecting my to the quality foods, drinks and culture of Italians had nothing to do with me selecting the Elos Liquid Test Kits).

Photograph - My new Elos Expert Line Liquid Test Kit for Phosphate (PO4) and pH. Photograph taken Friday, January 04, 2008.

Photograph - My new LaMotte Liquid Test Kits for Alkalinity (dKH) and Calcium (CA). Photograph taken Friday, January 04, 2008.

 

[h20 freak]

Awibrandy, thank you once again for the compliments. That is actually a first for someone to say that Jayson looks like his mother. As far as the Gold Stripped Maroon Clownfish goes she was a resident of my 90 gallon aquarium and has been with me for 7 months. The only reason that she is in this aquarium is because I don't have another home for her to go to. She is extremely strong survived a massive Cryptocaryn Outbreak which killed everything except for her.

Photograph Saturday, November 10, 2007 - My 7 month old Gold Stripped Maroon Clownfish.

That is an amazing picture and I am having a hard time believing it is not a piece of artwork.

 

[Jasonanatal]

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have had time to post with school having started. But I will be posting shortly since I have received a replacement 28 gallon Nano Cube HQI Aquarium from JBJ Lighting. Also I will be purchasing some new equipment. Lets consider it a total redesign. Stay tuned.

 

[marki24]

If they only made these tanks any bigger like a 34 gallon with the hqi i would have gotten it. great setup i see you probably spent more time on this thread then the actual setup .

 

[Jasonanatal]

Starting All Over from Scratch

Hello evyerone, well it has been quite some time since I have made any updates to my thread and I'm hoping that everyone will benefit from my experience. I also have great news that most of my documentation will be video since I have just purchase a new Digital Hard Drive based Sony Camcorder. Stay tuned I should have something up this weekend.

 

[Jasonanatal]

Well everyone I'm back! But honestly for real this time. I have been having some transitions in life that needed a bit more attention then this thread. But everything is in order. I started a new job and now it's time for some new toys.

 

[Jasonanatal]

28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Update.

I'm Back in Business

Hello everyone, this is going to be a very short post but with more to come this evening. I have decided that my 28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQU Reef Aquarium will be put back into full effect with no expense spared. So here is a teaser photographs for your enjoyment. I hope everyone like.

Photograph - 28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Teaser.

 

[Jasonanatal]

28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Update.

Lighting System Redesign

Nano Aquariums are just absolutely great and as being the new fade in the world of Reef Keeping their are a few design flaws that I feel are apart of any new product. My 28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI was the first Nano Aquarium to my knowledge to introduce Metal Halide Lighting as a stock component in their package giving Reef Aquarist the ability to maintain High Lighting Corals right out of the box. However, some of the drawbacks to this all-in-one design include increased Aquarium water temperature due to the decreased ability to normally evaporate water and the creation of what I refer to as
the "dead zone". The "dead zone is an area created in the upper 1/4 region of the Aquarium in which even high lighting Corals will not survive due to the lighting intensity being too high.

I decided to incorporate a redesign in my Aquarium to provide the most suitable environment for my inhabitants. I decided that I should completely remove the stock lid/integrated lighting system and go with a Pendent Style Reflector. This will create an open design that would allow normal evaporation to occur which results in natural reduction of heat of the Aquariumw water.

Photograph - Google Sketchup Design of Aquarium Lighting.


For the choice of the reflector I decided to go with the Lumenarc III Stealth Mini Double Ended Reflector which has a 14.5 Inch length x 14.5 Inch depth footprint which provides more then adequate lighting. It is able to house up a 150 watt, 250 watt and 400 watt Double Ended HQI Bulb all by just adjusting the mounting brackets within the reflector. The reflector is currently suspended 11.5 inches above the surface of the Aquarium water by Yo-Yo Hangers which provide me the ability to adjust the vertical height of the reflector by utilizing its pulley system.

Photograph - Lumenarc III Stealth Mini Double Ended HQI Pendent Style Reflector.

Photograph - Yo-Yo Hanger Pulley System.

 

[Jasonanatal]

28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Update.

Lighting System Redesign Continue...
I have heard great things about Reeflux Double Ended HQI Bulbs so I decided to give them a try since many people have reported amazing growth with these bulbs. In the Lumenarc III Stealth Mini Double Ended HQI Reflector is a single 250 watt Reeflux 12,000K Double Ended HQI Bulb which put out such a beauitulf white/blue intensity that I have been searching for. So while were at it I thought that this would be not time to skimp on the Ballast. I choose the Coralvue Electronic Dimmable Ballast which is a revolutionary piece of equipment in my mind. With this device I can actually manually drive down the intensity of the Metal Halide Bulb to 35% of the original 250 watt intensity using a turn dial nob located on the ballast (the ballast has been snuggly secured in an accessible area of the Aquarium Stand for this reason). This is a great feature that is usefull when acclimating new Corals or reducing the heating effect of Metal Halide Lighting on those hot summer days. This new system is very promising and I cannot wait to get some Corals & Clams going soon.

Photograph - Coralvue 250 watt Electronic Dimmable Ballast.

 

[Jasonanatal]

28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Update.

Chiller Upgrade

Originally I started out with a JBJ 1/15 hp Nano Chiller which seemed to be being overworked. The chiller was constantly on and the Air Filter was constantly clogged. The worst part was that the Aquarium water temperature had a very wide range of fluctuation which is not suitable for an environment that I would design to be as stable as possible. So I have decided to upgrade Chillers to a Pacific Coast Imports CL-280 1/10 hp Chiller. The control module of this chiller is a Digital LCD Display and maintains my Aquarium temperature at 79 degress Fahrenheit. Their is also an integrated Electrical Socket to control a heater (I am not personally using this feature in my setup).

Photograph - Pacific Coast Imports CL-280 1/10 hp Chiller.

 

[Jasonanatal]

28 gallon JBJ Nano Cube HQI Reef Aquarium Update.

Automatic Freshwater Top Off System Redesign

I currently employed the use of a do-it-yourself Automatic Freshwater Top Off System that utilized a standard Float Switch with a Snail Gaurd, a Freshwater Resevior (2.5 gallon All Glass Aquarium) and a Tom's Aqualifter Pneumatic Water Pump rated at 3 gph. This solution worked fine but left gaps in certain aspects of the protection against water pumps running dry and over topping.

To address some of the gaps I turned to the Tunze Osmolator 3155 Automatic Freshwater Top Off System. This system incorporates an electronic time controller and current limiter for the pump connected whcih results in a higher operational safety. This unit protects the metering pump against running dry and reports an empty freshwater resevior. The precise water level is ensured by a non-wearing optical sensor and a transistor switch without any moving parts. This sensor is insensitive to soiling, light or magnetic fields. Its ?automatic eye? recognises the water level precisely, even small waves or level variations cannot irritate the unit. This is a definite improvement over situations where snail or wave can cause cause a Float Switch to accidently dose Freshwater which can adversly effect saliniaty levels. An independent safety sensor with a separate power supply circuit and relay control ensures reliable overflow protection. Finally all functions are clearly displayed by LEDs on the main control panel and safety messages are also indicated by acoustic signals. This is one of the more pricey units but definitely worth every penny in my opinion for the increased accuracy and incorporated protection features.

Photograph - Tunze Osmolator 3155 Automatic Freshwater Top Off System.

 

[NYreefNoob]

your chiller was more than likely staying on longer because of it being in the cabinet and not getting sufficient air flow to help keep the radiator cool, you have any fan's back there ?

 

[Jasonanatal]

your chiller was more than likely staying on longer because of it being in the cabinet and not getting sufficient air flow to help keep the radiator cool, you have any fan's back there ?

NYreefnoob, that is actually not the case. The Aquarium Cabinet has a open back to allow air to flow out. It was specifically designed to house a chiller. I even tested the theory in placing a Blower behind the to increase airflow and the Chiller stood on for just about the same amount of time. This new chiller comes on less and stays on less due to the hp rating increase.

 

[NYreefNoob]

you go to a 10th hp model ?

 

[Jasonanatal]

Reply to NYreefnoob.

you go to a 10th hp model ?

Nyreefnoob, yes I did and it works perfectly.

 

[nibalm3]

the UV ..
I thought an 8w was good enough for a 28g.. What do you think?.. smalller too, (just like the nano)..

 

[Jasonanatal]

Reply to Nibalm3.

the UV ..
I thought an 8w was good enough for a 28g.. What do you think?.. smalller too, (just like the nano)..

Nibalm3, I personally don't like the term "good enough". I rather have enough in reserve to handle everything that may pop up. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa.