Starting a 12 gallon Nano Cube. New to salt water

Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
10
Likes
0
Points
1
Location
Brea
#1
Hello!

So I have decided i'm going to give salt water a shot! I picked up a 12g Nano cube that needed some help from a member here a while ago thinking I would start up a salt water tank but that didn't pan out. Long story short it became a freshwater tank which housed 1 African Cichlid and I recently gave that fish away because I felt bad for it. Now were here.

I have been doing a lot, maybe too much reading on how to start this tank and now I don't know what info was good or bad ha! My goal for this tank is a couple fish, coral and a clean up crew. Before I can get to that I have some cleaning up of the tank to do to make it presentable. In the mean time I want to start ordering things I need to get this started.

- I have a LFS that I can purchase water, sand and rock from. Would that be the right way to do this or any other suggestions?
- What filter media do you suggest using in the rear area of the nano cube? It has 3 chambers
- Is a skimmer necessary? What are more options if I don't use one?
- What is the minimum amount of sand I should be using?
- Ideally I want to put this tank in my garage until I can find or build a stand to place it in the living room, will it be that much more difficult to maintain this in the garage?
- I plan on running it rimless with an open top, any budget friendly light fixtures you can suggest?
- How many fish do you suggest I can safely stock in this size tank?

Thanks for your help! I will post progress pictures as I go.
 

reefes pieces

Premium Member
Supporter
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
4,831
Likes
84
Points
48
Location
Placentia
#2
Hi Welcome! I once had a 12g cube that I bought for my wife when we were dating and here are some of my suggestions

- I have a LFS that I can purchase water, sand and rock from. Would that be the right way to do this or any other suggestions?
- What filter media do you suggest using in the rear area of the nano cube? It has 3 chambers - I'd toss in some chemipure blue and that's it. It's a detritus trap in there and cleaning the chambers are a PITA since it's so cramped. Just leave space for a heater and a skimmer
- Is a skimmer necessary? What are more options if I don't use one? There aren't many options here and most of the ones out there suck. Also, not sure which cube you got but I know the oceanic one that I had didn't have a true overflow and had weir teeth midway so the water levels would change making it near impossible to keep the skimmer stable. However, since you plan on running rimless I suggest a hang on back skimmer. Aquamaxx makes a great one.
- What is the minimum amount of sand I should be using? 1 15lb bag should be just fine
- Ideally I want to put this tank in my garage until I can find or build a stand to place it in the living room, will it be that much more difficult to maintain this in the garage? Just make sure to have a good heater as it is actually getting pretty cold when the storms come in.
- I plan on running it rimless with an open top, any budget friendly light fixtures you can suggest? I suggest LEDs as it's easy to heat up a 12g cube. Used is always budget friendly. Here are some suggestions: AI Prime HD, Ecotech xr15w, Kessil a150/160
- How many fish do you suggest I can safely stock in this size tank? Depends on size and what type. Saltwater fish are easily territorial, even the docile ones. Probably easier to run by some of the fish you want on the forum.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
10
Likes
0
Points
1
Location
Brea
#3
Hi Welcome! I once had a 12g cube that I bought for my wife when we were dating and here are some of my suggestions

- I have a LFS that I can purchase water, sand and rock from. Would that be the right way to do this or any other suggestions?
- What filter media do you suggest using in the rear area of the nano cube? It has 3 chambers - I'd toss in some chemipure blue and that's it. It's a detritus trap in there and cleaning the chambers are a PITA since it's so cramped. Just leave space for a heater and a skimmer
- Is a skimmer necessary? What are more options if I don't use one? There aren't many options here and most of the ones out there suck. Also, not sure which cube you got but I know the oceanic one that I had didn't have a true overflow and had weir teeth midway so the water levels would change making it near impossible to keep the skimmer stable. However, since you plan on running rimless I suggest a hang on back skimmer. Aquamaxx makes a great one.
- What is the minimum amount of sand I should be using? 1 15lb bag should be just fine
- Ideally I want to put this tank in my garage until I can find or build a stand to place it in the living room, will it be that much more difficult to maintain this in the garage? Just make sure to have a good heater as it is actually getting pretty cold when the storms come in.
- I plan on running it rimless with an open top, any budget friendly light fixtures you can suggest? I suggest LEDs as it's easy to heat up a 12g cube. Used is always budget friendly. Here are some suggestions: AI Prime HD, Ecotech xr15w, Kessil a150/160
- How many fish do you suggest I can safely stock in this size tank? Depends on size and what type. Saltwater fish are easily territorial, even the docile ones. Probably easier to run by some of the fish you want on the forum.
Thanks!

Okay added Chemipure blue to the list! I think the tank I have does have the weir teeth half way between the chambers. Bio balls and ceramic stuff is not necessary for salt? The garage stays fairly warm as the 3 walls are insulated the garage doors are not (yet) do you think in the summer time the heat will be an issue? Fish wise I am not too sure yet, most likely at least one clown fish love the bright orange.
 

reefes pieces

Premium Member
Supporter
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
4,831
Likes
84
Points
48
Location
Placentia
#4
It can get hot in the garage if there's no AC. I suggest having that stand done by then and bring it in the house. Those little tanks can overheat pretty easily and running a fan to cool it will evaporate a lot of water causing instability. Bio balls and ceramic media are detritus traps especially bio balls. If you have enough live rock in the tank, the other two won't be necessary. If anything you can run some macro algae in the middle chamber as long as enough light is getting to it.
Thanks!

Okay added Chemipure blue to the list! I think the tank I have does have the weir teeth half way between the chambers. Bio balls and ceramic stuff is not necessary for salt? The garage stays fairly warm as the 3 walls are insulated the garage doors are not (yet) do you think in the summer time the heat will be an issue? Fish wise I am not too sure yet, most likely at least one clown fish love the bright orange.
 
Joined
Apr 9, 2016
Messages
179
Likes
3
Points
18
Location
Temecula
#5
Go slowly. Salt water is less forgiving than fresh and the only thing that will happen quickly is loss (money & livestock). You're starting out at an intermediate level with a more difficult set up because stability is very important and a small, open top tank can easily have some pretty dramatic fluctuations is temperature & salinity. Being in the garage is going to make stability of both of these parameters even more difficult.
I would recommend cycling the tank in the garage while you build stand and acquire necessary equipment. Maybe look for a larger stand that could have the tank and other household items on it (My biggest issue is fitting everything for my 60gal, 24" cube tank in my 24" stand.) which could also be used for an upgrade to a larger tank. After all the equipment has been up & running (leak free) in garage, you know how everything works and you are pleased with the look of the tank itself then move it inside and slowly stock it. If you're lighting is good you could stuff it with corals, shrooms, zoas.... but due to water volume fish (bio-load) should be limited. There are lots of great nano tank fish out there. Goby & shrimp pairs are interesting to watch, anglers are cool, clowns & anemones, macro algae forest..... Some of my smaller tanks have been the most interesting ones.
Good luck & keep us posted.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
10
Likes
0
Points
1
Location
Brea
#7
What does would the micro algae in the middle chamber do for the tank?

For lighting, what makes the 2-300 dollar units so much better than the cheaper units <100 bucks.

Does the 1 cleanup crew per gallon rule apply for my tank or is the volume not enough?
 

reefes pieces

Premium Member
Supporter
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
4,831
Likes
84
Points
48
Location
Placentia
#8
What does would the micro algae in the middle chamber do for the tank?

For lighting, what makes the 2-300 dollar units so much better than the cheaper units <100 bucks.

Quality, R&D, warranty, programability all play into the mix. Corals depend on a specific spectrum of light. Reefers depend on the rest of the spectrum to have colors pop and not give weird colors in the tank. Also, some of the nicer lights can be programmed to change strength and shut off just like regular sunlight.

Does the 1 cleanup crew per gallon rule apply for my tank or is the volume not enough?
add clean up crew as needed. They can starve out pretty fast if introduced too early.
 

Fizzman

New member
Joined
Dec 18, 2016
Messages
157
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Anaheim
#9
Hello!

So I have decided i'm going to give salt water a shot! I picked up a 12g Nano cube that needed some help from a member here a while ago thinking I would start up a salt water tank but that didn't pan out. Long story short it became a freshwater tank which housed 1 African Cichlid and I recently gave that fish away because I felt bad for it. Now were here.

I have been doing a lot, maybe too much reading on how to start this tank and now I don't know what info was good or bad ha! My goal for this tank is a couple fish, coral and a clean up crew. Before I can get to that I have some cleaning up of the tank to do to make it presentable. In the mean time I want to start ordering things I need to get this started.

- I have a LFS that I can purchase water, sand and rock from. Would that be the right way to do this or any other suggestions?
- What filter media do you suggest using in the rear area of the nano cube? It has 3 chambers
- Is a skimmer necessary? What are more options if I don't use one?
- What is the minimum amount of sand I should be using?
- Ideally I want to put this tank in my garage until I can find or build a stand to place it in the living room, will it be that much more difficult to maintain this in the garage?
- I plan on running it rimless with an open top, any budget friendly light fixtures you can suggest?
- How many fish do you suggest I can safely stock in this size tank?

Thanks for your help! I will post progress pictures as I go.
I have a jbj 24gal tank. I can only give u suggestions for what works for me in the 24gal and in my 1.7gal. I'd say what I'm doing is working since I've been in the hobby about 7months and growing sps.
- I have a LFS that I can purchase water, sand and rock from. Would that be the right way to do this or any other suggestions? Buy cured Rock, preferably dead rock that the Lfs has running in their tank, or Craigslist seller that have cured Rock. Right now u don't want the hitch hikers yet. And buy at least 2lbs for every gallon. Explanation as to why in the skimmer question
- What filter media do you suggest using in the rear area of the nano cube? It has 3 chambers. I have my first chamber with the Super porous sponge it comes with, a pad of filter floss, second chamber is upflow algae turf scrubber with any remaining space filled with rock rubbles, third chamber is the return pump(mj900) and a Rio 90 glued to a water bottle filled with seachem seagel(see picture of the diy "reactor"). That's it for my tank, no heaters, no chillers, my house goes as low as 65 in the winter and as high as 88in the summers and it survived the winter. And when it was started last fall Temp did reach summer Temps because there were a few heat waves. U have to figure that part out depending on where u put ur tank but don't worry about keeping it exactly 82(or whatever) year round, in my limited experience, temps is more forgiving than people think or recommend in this hobby. Obviously not freezing or boiling though.
- Is a skimmer necessary? What are more options if I don't use one? I've looked for skimmer options as a just in case for my tank but for right now it's not required. If u go skimmer less that's where the extra rock come into play. It will do a lot of the filtration. Both my 24 and my 1.7 are skimmer less, and I have a rock to water ratio of almost 3x. My 1.7 is close to 5x. This will depend on ur preference though because u will lose the clean aqua scape of a simplistic aquascape. But u gain a easy to maintain tank. My 24 I do 10% water change once a month. My 1.7 I do a 30% change twice a month. My 1.7 tank is fed twice a day everyday, most tank of that size people do 90-100%water change weekly. I also have a clown in the 1.7. It's a small clown(que tank size police). My clown in that tank is "happy" by all percievable metrics, eats good, responsive, good color, acts normal, been in there for 7months. The 1.7was my first saltwater tank. It only has a Rio50 with 1 filter attachment filled with seagel that hasn't been changed for 7months. Zero Nuisance algae
- What is the minimum amount of sand I should be using? No minimum, whatever looks good. I have 10lbs in mine. And it's not even reef sand.
- Ideally I want to put this tank in my garage until I can find or build a stand to place it in the living room, will it be that much more difficult to maintain this in the garage? I dunno, probably in terms of temp control
- I plan on running it rimless with an open top, any budget friendly light fixtures you can suggest? I personally use Chinese black box. $90 for dimable without timer, $110 with built in timer. Going rimless u will want to get auto topoff, I run my tanks with the hood, I took the black box apart and put it into my hood. I add about half a drinking water bottle as a topoff a week, and I actually use drinking water since I don't have a RODI system, no ill effects yet.
- How many fish do you suggest I can safely stock in this size tank? This depends on the system and ur opinion on ethical space for the fish. Bioload wise u are good depending on what and how ur feeding habits will be like. . I have 2clowns, a royal grammar, and a yellow goby in my 24. Thats enough for me but it's not the true capacity in terms of bio load cuz I have another pair of clowns in there temporarily in a container while I am setting up my frag tank.

My diy thread http://www.socalireefs.com/forums/s...ese-165w-Led-inside-24gal-jbj-hood&highlight=
My introduction thread with pic of my 1.7gal
http://www.socalireefs.com/forums/showthread.php?84755-New-to-scr&highlight=
 

Fizzman

New member
Joined
Dec 18, 2016
Messages
157
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Anaheim
#10
What does would the micro algae in the middle chamber do for the tank?

For lighting, what makes the 2-300 dollar units so much better than the cheaper units <100 bucks.

Does the 1 cleanup crew per gallon rule apply for my tank or is the volume not enough?
The difference in the lighting I think is brand, fine control ability (not a necessity for some, is for others) that's about it. This hobby I have noticed people hang on to proven processes and equipment very tight with very little room to explore. I mean I get it since the stock they have in their tank is worth a lot and/or very prized. There are people still that are hesitant about LEDs. Right or wrong, I dunno, but Chinese black box will grow corals.

As far as cleanup crew, add them slowly cuz they will starve but add enough. They will equalize in population with the available food. They are cheap enough so if they die, oh Wells (que Peta police) but honestly though, a hermit's life is no different than a mysis shrimp's life or a feeder goldfish's life or even a single Pod's life, guarantee the PETA police wouldn't think twice about feeding pods to their dragonet. U could also feed ur Cuc initially too, this will actually help raise the bioload to give time for the system to adjust to the new bioload so it isn't shocked and mini cycles when u put a fish in. Sort of like ghost feeding.
 

Jimbo327

New member
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
998
Likes
727
Points
3
Location
Orange
#12
I have a 6 gallon JBJ all-in-one nano, and you will need a lot of automation if you want to keep nano tanks stable. A small tank is actually harder to control, the swings will be greater, and less room for error. The upside is that you will spend less on corals/fish since you can't fit them in your tank. Also, water changes can be done with a red cup and in under 5 seconds. If you keep it in the garage, I highly doubt your tank will survive the summer as it will get too hot.
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2017
Messages
4
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
San Bernardino
#13
on the liverock part I suggest you buy it from this forum because you will save a lot of money and you can clean the rock and make sure no pest are on it but it will take some time in comparison to just buying the live rock from a store. goodluck!!!
 

Latest posts

Top