Bio-load question

[Ducman996]

I just purchased a JBJ 12 gal Nano Cube. I would like to know if you guys think this will be too much.

Small clown
fire goby
cleaner shrimp

I plan to have about 15lbs of live rock in the display part. I still haven't decited which way I am going to use the back (refugium or stock filtration). I am thinking about trying the refugium route, but I will see more when I actually get the tank next week.

thanks

 

[Bleeding Blue]

The bioload sounds fine to me. It is all of course dependant on the amount of upkeep that you plan to do. An empty tank requires no upkeep, but is no fun, and an overstocked tank is just a nightmare.

You might want to consider what sort of inverts you want to keep in your decision about the filter. You don't want the water to be too sterile if you want to keep many corals. My $.02 is that with such a small bioload, it is worth converting to the fuge, and taking care of export through water changes. Take lots of pics of the process.

M

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on what you mean by "small" clown as well. An ocellaris or percula? Fine, even at max size, and they wouldn't bother your firefish. A pink skunk clown might work as well, but most of the other clowns are IMO, either too aggressive or grow too large to keep in a 12 gallon with a firefish.

 

[shalegac]

shot, I keep two clowns and aneon goby with my cleaner shrimp in a 10 gallon. Never once had a problem with that bioload, although I would not put in any more fish.

 

[UnderGrad]

I've got 2 firefish, a bicolor blenny, a sixline wrasse, and two hermits in my 10g (with a 3-4g fuge) and my zoos and xenia seem to like it.

-AM-

 

[brandon4291]

Blue I thought that was an excellent response. Honestly I may get the cube at my LFS, not to jump on the Bwagon but because its very deep front to back and the aquascaping can be tweaked nicely. They have one set up there, and all for $99, I was impressed by all glass! no scratching. In many cases the lighting setup alone would cost that much, let alone the total shape and design. Overall, a very nice Nano for sure.

Its very quiet and will allow for probably 3-4 days in between fw topoffs. Id guess a range of .024-027 over this period, somebody check and see if thats a good guess.

Talk about a system ready for SeaHorses with little modification, wouldnt it be fun to have a soft coral system so one could get away with slower circulation for the horses>

Brandon

 

[Anonymous]

Just to clarify, I think the bioload of the larger clowns isn't as much of a problem as the aggressiveness of one combined with a firefish. Firefish are one of those fish that won't stand their ground in the face of competition, or even the mere hint of competition. They are really very skittish fish and will hide and refuse food if bullied at all.

BTW, brandon, I've gone about 1.5 weeks w/o topping off on the 12 g w/o much evap. The temp is hovering around 80 or so.

 

[Ducman996]

Thanks for all the great information. I was hoping that I could put that load in. I am also going to be getting a bunch of frags from a guy in my area. I think that I will convert the back section to a fuge. I will take as many pictures as I can. Althought I have to get a new digital camera. Mine was stolen a few weeks ago.

 

[brandon4291]

8O 8O 8O 8O 10+ days wholly smoke I need to get out of the one gallon world. I consider that LOW maintenance as far as nanos go, I guess all you pretty much do is feed and dose calcium?

neat info, it makes me want one even more.

B

 

[Bleeding Blue]

I could do the same when my tank was in the temp controlled building that Matt is talking about, but now that I have moved my tank home, it goes through close to a gallon of evaporation every single day. Quite a difference from the gallon a week that I was used to.

M

 

[Bleeding Blue]

I could do the same when my tank was in the temp controlled building that Matt is talking about, but now that I have moved my tank home, it goes through close to a gallon of evaporation every single day. Quite a difference from the gallon a week that I was used to.

M

 

[Anonymous]

Mike, the 12 gallon is at home, but it still gets very little evaporation. I think it's due to the relatively low water flow and mostly enclosed hood. The 6 gallon loses about 370 mL a day.

 

[UnderGrad]

Matt,
I can't remember... are you running a fan anywhere on your tank? If you are, its amazing you're not losing more water!

-AM-

 

[Anonymous]

The 12 gallon at home doesn't have a fan. The 6 gallon has a couple small fans. The total volume of water is 4 gallons (around 16,000 mL) , so 370 mL is about 2-3% of the total volume. I guess that is a pretty small amount.