12gal Nano Cube...lighting mod question?

[McFudge]

Hi there everyone! What a great site. i have been reading for days

Anyways, I have a 12gal nano cube with 8lbs fiji LR and 12lbs LS. Now i think i am going to start adding some more coral and LR with growth on it so i can get my tank looking good.

I have a question about the 24w lighting. Can I mod this? What type of options are out there? If i understand this right I have about 2w/gal. i would like to get up to 4-5w/gal range. Any help/suggestions regarding this or anything else would be a huge help

The guy at the fish store told me that with the added light the stock filter would not handle the extra bio growth. :x

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

 

[JDMac]

Hello…

I don't have any answers for you but just wanted to compare notes on your new nano.
I've also been lurking on here trying to learn as much as possible before I made my purchase.

How long have you been running yours? Any problems or concerns?

I purchased a nano last week. Tonight I'm going to do a water change of 1gal. I noticed one rock and part of the sand is growing algae. The LFS said that was normal and that maybe next week it will be ready to add some crabs. Do you plan to add any fish to yours? If so, what kind? Did you purchase an additional equipment?

Sorry about the questions! look forward to hearing form about your progress

 

[Anonymous]

Yes a member on here by the name of Hwarang actually has mod'ed his tank to include an 32W bulb and ballast on top of the stock 24W...I also hear of makings of a refugium by using a Powerfilter, mainly a AC 300 or 500...youd have to look through the nano forum but you'll find the posts somewheres.. im sure one of these guys will chime in

 

[McFudge]

Thanks for the interest JDMac. I have been running it as is for almost a week now...so not very long. I am going to go and buy some more LR on the way home today (4-5lbs). I have not checked my water yet so i don't know whats really going on in there. I did a 2 gal SW and 1/2 gal FW change on Sat.

I am planning on putting in a true Perc. in a few more weeks once i know everthing is all settled.

As for how the tank is running...i think fine for now. Did you leave in all of the filtering stuff?... i have heard many different things concerning this and am not sure what to do.

I have not bought any additional stuff for now...I have heard that i should probably get a Protein skimmer, but I am not sure about that either.

Hope that answers some of your questions, shoot some more over if you have any.

If any of you reading this have any suggestion or comments please respond...it is most appreciated.

 

[JDMac]

Well it's been a little over 3 weeks. I have 2 red crabs, 4 reef hermits and 2 snails in the tank as the clean up crew.
Some of the LR is taking on some color, but on the top of the LR a few are turning white. Not sure what that means.

I left all the original filter stuff in. Like you I've read you should take part of it out but the LFS has one setup for a 8 months with all the original filtration. So I guess it wouldn’t hurt to leave it all in.

I now know why mine cube was on sale for $80, two weeks later they have the new ones with the duel cooling fans built in.
Would be a NICE feature.

How's yours coming along?

 

[Anonymous]

RDO / MarineDepot Powerbuy
Scan to the bottom of the page.. - 32w CSL retro.
$46.45 shipped.

 

[Ticeman]

Another way to upgrade is to just add a second stock 24watt light. This way you can still us the reflecter and mount the second ballast side by side the first. It is a tight fit, but after removing the original lights mounting brackets you can fit both lights side by side. Once you screw down the splash guard the lights are held in place.

Thanks,
Tice

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't done it yet, but you can actually cram 2 of those 32w CSL kits in there and still leave the stock 24w...
88 watts in nanocube

I'm also considering adding these LEDs for moonlights, possibly on X10 dimmable outlets.
These pics came from this thread - around the 26th post down..

 

[Anonymous]

Don't forget the fans! They help keep it nice and comfy for the critters.

 

[McFudge]

Thanks for all the reply’s and help from all of you, and thanks for the pic's they really help. It seems to me that just about anything can be done as long as one is willing to get their hands dirty.

As for an update of my tank here goes

Still running the stock 24w, will upgrade as soon as I have another $50 to drop on the tank. I have one Maroon Clown, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 orange star-fish (not sure what kind-normal), and 2 snails. I had 2 hermits but they died a couple of days after I put them in. I'm not sure about that one.

The tank is running great. My start date was July 21. So I am almost at 1 month. I keep getting my water tested at LFS and they say it is great. They keep telling my I have very little waist. But I have only had the Maroon in for 4 days now. He looks very health, but very board.

Does anyone have some suggestions as to what else I can put in? I will get some pictures up this weekend so you can all see what is going on.

Thanks again for all the help.

Late

 

[Anonymous]

Glad its going good..

I'm curious how your LFS knows how much waste your water contains.. Any idea exactly what tests they're running on your water? - There are tests that can give a good indication of it but most shops wouldn't run them.. - (And before the rest of you bark up, remember that ANN tests don't necessarily tell all in terms of waste..) - If your LFS is running some of these other tests it'd be nice to know the name of another good shop. :wink:

Bah, anyway.. - Back to the fun stuff..

Heres some shots of the first 24 hrs of my little 10g temp holding tank.. While I get ready to move.. - Not much to look at right now but I'm taking it as careful as I can..

This 10g is retro'd with that 32w 50/50 PC I linked in the post above.. - Took maybe 20 minutes to rip out the old NO flourescent and drop it in. - I'll be temporarily keeping my green star polyps, palyothas (the zoanthid looking little polps under the GSP), possibly some xenia, the feather duster there (and another one) a handful of snails (and apparently a hitchiker hermit.)

Basically, with the stock lighting in the nanocube you're going to be limited to low-light stuff really. - The stuff above, mushrooms, and a handful of other low-light softies.. You might even be able to get away with another small fish too.

Hope that helps,
Norm

 

[Anonymous]

What kind of starfish did you get? if it's a coraline eater, it's gonna go hungry since your tank is new.

also you should think of investing in (good quality) test kits of your own ... often times the LFS won't use quality test kits, leading to not the best readings. i'd guess that the LFS was saying "no waste" based on low ammonia/nit's in the readings.

as for more livestock ... this is just my opinion, but i happen to think a low bioload works much better in small tanks that don't have the biological ability to process larger volumes of each component of the nitrogen cycle. i wouldn't add any more fish. i might throw in a few inverts of the right type though.

 

[McFudge]

I am not positive but I was told it is a Bali Starfish??? It is bright orange and about 1 1/2 inches long. What do you think? It has just been chilling next to the stock filtration pump since i put it in. It went there and then has not moved. Is there any way to tell how it is doing?

I also have what i beleive to be button polyps, they have tube body with flat round head with fingers on it. They are mainly brown with some green tips.

I have lots of growth in the tank. Lots of feather dusters of sorts. I have 2 different type kelp growth so far( I will get pics tonight hopefully).

The live rock has lots of color growth on it so far. Mostly green and purple, some blue and even pink.

Other than that, I Have Maroon clown with white stipes, and small blue? not sure what it is, kind of looks like a bright blue Damsel but it is not. It has no scales, it is very bright blue. Has bright yellow(small) tail and fins.

! cleaner shrimp and 2 snails.

thats it. Sounds like a lot when i type it out but not much going on in there when check i out.

Ill get pics up ASAP.. hopefully by tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Anonymous]

Hard to say without pix, so grace us with some bitmaps yo!