My 24G Nano Cube Thread

[Anonymous]

I've seen a lot of threads on a nano forum in the UK where people put phosban media in the filter compartment of their nanos. Not sure if that would help...

That's probably not a bad idea. My nano came with a bag of carbon to put it in the filter compartment. I don't use it, but I am sure I could out some phosban in there somewhere.

I have a Sapphire skimmer that works pretty good.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Looking at Vitz's nano thread, I think I'll put a small tang in there to craze on it.

I would always remove it when it gets bigger or if it acts too belligerent.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

A baby foxface would probably work as well as a tang. IIRC, they're less picky than some Tangs about which algae they'll pick at. Of course, just as with a Tang, could only live there short term.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know if I could find a fox face that small. They get big quick I believe.

But you're right that it might be a better grazer. Probaby less belligerent too.

 

[Anonymous]

Foxfaces are fewer and further between anyway I'm guessing. I've not seen babies for sale either. Maybe for good reason.

 

[Anonymous]

if you can get a hold of some lanthanum chloride-use it

i'd second a small foxface or rabbit as a best all around most likely to eat 'x' species of hair algae'

only drawback compared to tangs is their intitial transition 'spookability factor'

small foxfaces do come in in fair numbers-it appears to be a seasonal thing-we had a month or two stretch where that's all that came in, in such was the case the year previous, iirc

 

[Anonymous]

I picked up the smallest one-spot rabbit that they had at the LFS. Prolly 4" long. Don't know if I they ever get them much smaller.

Now he better git ta 'eaten.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Oooh. Picts! Picts! Picts!

 

[Anonymous]

The Foxface is doing a great job on the hair algae, so I decided to order some new frags from cherrycorals.com

Pics of what I ordered:

I already had a skittles, but it died. Hopefully I'll have better luck with this one. I think it was a victim of the hear algae. I kept having to scrub the edges of it to get the algae off and I think I ultimately handled it so much that I killed it. Sum *****.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

if you can get a hold of some lanthanum chloride-use it

I'd be hesitant to use LaCl in a nano. It can affect clams and especially sponges. Randy Holmes-Farley has speculated that the La precipitates with carbonate and the fine resulting crystals can irritate filter feeders. I know Joe Y uses it in his big tank but he has sand filters to pull out any potential precipitate immediately after he doses it.

I think GFO, algae filter, or even VSV dosing might be a safer way to reduce PO4, jm2c...

 

[Anonymous]

if the dose is appropriate-no issues at all w/any of the tunicates/sponges/oysters in my nano

i dose about 6 drops at a whack, whenever i see the front glass begin to grow the micro algae layer

All of the other nuisance algaes have either disappeared completely (bryopsis), or are nearly there (grape caulerpa, valonia)

i do agree that either large doses, or doses given when clams are new in a system, will stress them-though i think skimmers will also 'immediately' take out the precipitates (my skimmer at home goes nutz within a minute after dosing, and our skimmer at werk's skimmate characteristics change markedly/quickly as well- the solid matter is lighter in color, slicker and 'pastier'/thicker than the typical skimmate it pulls out)

 

[Anonymous]

6 drops, so that's about 0.1 mL...how many gallons is your tank?

I think seeing a change in skimmate and assuming that means it is immediately removing all the precipitates requires a leap of faith that I would need more evidence for.

 

[Anonymous]

though i think skimmers will also 'immediately' take out the precipitates

is no one capable of NOT putting words in my mouth ?

NEVER did i say i assumed that's what's going on-'i think' does not mean 'i am positive'



:roll:

 

[Anonymous]

Are you capable of not getting all defensive? I am simply asking for some type of evidence that what you "think" (or believe, conjecture, speculate, wish, hope, dream, etc.) is happening is actually happening so we can have a meaningful discussion about it. What you or I "think" is happening is worth a hill of beans.

For instance, if we wanted to pull out some skimmate from a tank that had been recently dosed with lanthanum chloride and test it for lanthanum content (with some sciencey machine that I don't know about), and then compare that to the amount dosed, then we would be getting somewhere. I for one have not noticed a change in skimmate after adding it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Randy! How about some tank shots?? Is it later enough?????

 

[Anonymous]

Now????

 

[Anonymous]

Any new pics Randy?

 

[Anonymous]

Any new pics Randy?

No.

I order an LED retro-kit from Nanotuners and should have it in a couple of weeks. I was planning to take some pics then.

I know, I'm lazy.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, since I didn't rapture out, I guess I'll have to break down and update this thread.

The main reason I haven't posted is that I've had quite a few problems that I have been battling throw. First, there were the hair algea issues I mentioned in the beginning of this thread. I bought a foxface and he cleaned it right up in now time. So I took him back to the LFS (since he really needs a bigger tank). The algae came back within a few months. This time I decided to try a small yellow tang. He didn't do anywhere near as good a job as the rabbitfish, so I took him back and got another rabbitfish. This one didn't work out quite as well as the first, but he did all right. He clearly didn't being in a small tank, so I took him back.

Last summer when we went to Hawaii for two weeks, one of the GFI's tripped while we were away. And it was the one that the circulation pumps were on. So we had metal halide lighting and no circulation. Lost most of my SPS and Acans. Lost my helfrichi and one of my two blood shrimp. This was a big set back. But know I have two circuits feeding two GFI's, and half the circulation is on one, the other on the other. So how if anything trips, half the circulation would still be going. (I should have done it this way originally.

The next issue to plague the tank was aiptasia and majano anemones. I tried everything under the sun to get rid of them to no avail. Then I got 6 bergia nudibranh's and the aiptasia was completely eradicated within 2 months. So now only the majano's remain. I pulled the rocks out and manually removed the majano's a couple of months ago, but missed quite a few of them. (They are hard to see when the rock is out of the water. Thursday night, I pulled them all out again and used forcepts, chisels, etc. to remove them all. Once I had the tank back together and the lights on, I saw were I missed a dozen or so. So yesterday. I took out all of the rocks again and removed the rest of them. I took pictures of them this time, so I'd have a reference and make sure I got them all. So now I think I am nusiance anemone free. :mrgreen: I will says that if I see a single polyp starting to grow, I'll do what ever it takes to remove the rock and destroy it. I'm done with them ruining my tank.

Here's a picture of the tank that I took this morning. All those new SPS frags are just sitting in the location. Once I restacked the rock yesterday and reaquascaped, I want to sit everything in place and see if it all seems happy before I glue it in place.

In my next post, I'll show more pictures including my new Cree LED lighting system :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

About a month ago, I got my new Cree 5.6 retro kit from Nanotuners.

Here's the description from their website:

After four long years of painstaking research, development, testing, and refinement of our manufacturing processes, Nanocustoms is proud to launch our line of LED Retrofit Kits. Featuring Cree XRE emitters and a powerful 1050mA drive current, this lighting system is sure to satisfy the needs of the most demanding Nano-Reefers. This kit is like running more than a 150w HQI in the larger 24/28/29g systems at full intensity and even higher in the smaller 12g systems.

This upgrade consists of our custom heatsink pre-drilled and tapped for Cree XRE LEDs, 15x Cree XRE Royal Blue LEDs, 15x Cree XRE Cool White LEDs, and Thomas Research Products dimmable drivers (1050mA). As with Duo 700 driver box in our standard 3.6 and 4.6 systems, the Trio 1050 driver box is pre-assembled. The enclosure features three power cords, three rocker switches, fan power connection, three manual dimmers, three automated dimmer bypass connections, and wiring harness. The heatsink component is pre-configured with all LEDs mounted and wired on the heatsink in a "checkerboard" fashion for the customer. 10x white LEDs on one channel, 10x royal blue LEDs on a second channel, and 5x white + 5x royal blue LEDs on a third channel. The LED channels are pre-wired with quick connectors for simple hassle-free connection to the driver box wiring harness. Automated LED dimming can be accomplished by connecting the dimmer channels to a reef controller unit (i.e. ReefKeeper w/ ALC module) or by manually adjusting the dimmer slide controls for each driver.

Our custom heatsinks are now more impressive than ever before. With our brand new Haas VF3 5-axis CNC mill we are able to bring fit and finish of these heatsinks to a new level and in 20% of the time of our old equipment. The new machine brings precision to new heights and incorporates computer controlled drilling and tapping into the mix. Only Nanocustoms is crazy enough to bring in a machine of this caliber to build these products in house.

Automate LED dimming if you already own an advanced reef control unit like a ReefKeeper, Neptune Apex, or any other controller that can output a 0-10v dimming signal. Our LED interface cables will allow you interface with the 0-10v dimmer bypass jacks on your Nanocustoms LED enclosure box. Using the dimmer bypass jacks with the appropriate reef controller will allow you to recreate a sunrise/sunset simulation unlike anything you have had before. Unlike power compacts, the majority of T5 systems, and metal halide lighting, LEDs can be fed a 0-10v signal that directly impacts brightness in real time. Simply program your reef controller and enjoy automated ramping up and down of your LED system on a schedule you deterine.

Please consult your reef controller's installation manual for specific details regarding which wires from the controller are positive and negative as this is important when connecting controller wiring to the Nanocustoms LED Dimmer Interface Kit.

The 5.6 Cree LED kit is compatible with the following systems:

Current-USA Aquapod - 12g/24g
JBJ NanoCube - 12g DX/24g DX/28g (CF, HQI, or LED)
Oceanic Biocube - 29g

Nanocustoms Universal Heatsink -

The secret to success lies in the ground up design of the heatsink. The heatsink design integrates hole patterns for the Biocube 29, Nanocube 28, 24, 12 and Aquapod 24.

After countless hours of 3D CAD design, thermal simulation and real world performance testing, we've finally come up with a product we are proud to put our name on. Rated at 130F @ 100w Thermal Load, this heatsink keeps the LEDs running cool, improving performance and increasing longevity.

We've taken the years of experience squeezing lots of light into these aquariums to develop what we can easily say is the best product we've ever offered.

Even better, we CNC the heatsinks in-house from billet 6061T6 Aluminum. We absolutely guarantee you won't find this heatsink ANYWHERE on the planet. It's OURS!!!

Cree XRE - 3w LED Emitters

Featuring Cree XRE 3w emitters in royal blue and cool white.


Pre-Built Driver Enclosure

We'd like to take credit for these reliable, robust drivers, but the credit belongs to a well-known lighting company, Thomas Research Products. You can't get these drivers anywhere else! Combine these new drivers with our new Trio 1050 enclosure and you end up with a more customizable experience than ever before.

Retrofit kit contains

1 x Nanocustoms 100w Universal Heatsink - Indicate model (Oceanic Biocube 29, JBJ Nanocube 28, JBJ Nanocube 24, JBJ Nanocube 12, Current USA Aquapod 12, Current USA Aquapod 24)

30 x Cree XRE LEDs (15x Royal Blue and 15x Cool White)

Thomas Research Products 1050mA Dimmable Drivers

3 x Power Cords and Switches

3 x Manual Dimmer Controls

2 x Cooling Fans (60mm) - Options Available

1 x Fan Power Supply

1 x Mounting Hardware Parts Kit

1 x 6 Ft Male/Female Harness

1 x Pre-built Nanocustoms Trio 1050 Driver Enclosure


Available Options:
LED Dimmer Interface Cable: None Trio Dimmer ( + $12.95 )
Cooling Fans: Standard Flow SilenX - 16 db Pair ( + $32.95 )Increased Airflow ( + $5.95 )
Moonlight Option: None R2 Moonlight ( + $32.95 )
Make/Model: Current USA Aquapod 12 Current USA Aquapod 24 JBJ Nanocube 12 JBJ Nanocube 24 JBJ Nanocube 28 Oceanic Biocube 29

And here are some pictures of my kit installed in my Sunpod:

[imghttp://gallery.me.com/randylewis3/100029/Nano%20update%20019/web.jpg?ver=13060767910001][/img]