My New 28 G Jbj Nano Hqi Thread!!!

[newnanoboy]

HEY GUYS, JUST WANTED TO POST THIS THREAD FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN THE TANK. I KNOW THERE ISN'T A LOT OF INFO ON THIS TANK RIGHT NOW, SO HOPE I GET A LOT OF FEEDBACKS ON THIS THREAD... I PLAN TO SHARE WITH YOU MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS NEW TANK, AND HOPE YOU ALL CAN HELP ME OUT A LONG THE WAY WITH "NEWBIE" QUESTIONS, AS I AM NEW TO THIS HOBBY! ENJOY AND HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL...:beer:

 

[newnanoboy]

Forgot To Mention. I Have Cycled This Tank Now For About 1 Week. I Have 40 Lbs. Of Live Sand And 20 Lbs. Of Live Rock So Far. You Can't Really See From The Picture, But The Bottom Piece Of Rock Has A Lot Of Holes Through0ut Which I Really Liked. It Saved Me The Time Of Building A Cave. (by The Way, I Got The Rocks @ Aquariums In Motion From The Fullerton Store)..... If You Guys Haven't Been There Yet, Go See Ron ! He's A Really Cool Guy And His Deals Are Really Good.

Problems With This Tank So Far :

1) The Ballast Was Making A Lot Of Buzzing (electrical) Noise, "almost Like A Short" So I Called Up My Lfs And They Kindly Replaced If For Me. The Second One I Got Works Just Fine.

2) Ok, Tonight I Fired Up The Lights For About 6 Hours, And The Ballast Seems A Bit Hot. I Have The Ballast Sitting In The Top Cabinet Of The Stand. The Ballast Was Hot Enough That I Couldn't Keep My Hands On It For Long. I Have A 12 G Dx Nano, And It Runs Cool All The Time. (what Do You Guys Think About That)

Btw, I Have A Hitch Hiker Fish!!! Can Anyone Id This Fish? Is It Reef Safe? He Was Sitting In Between A Crevice In The Big Rock You See At The Bottom. He Is A Tough (sob) .... When I Bought The Rocks, I Didn't Have It Sitting In Water At All. I Took It Home And Didn't Even Put The Rocks In My Tank For About Another 2 Hours Since I Was Setting Up The Tank. He Went That Long Without Water And Is Still Alive... I Didn't Even See Him Come Out Until I Droped The Rock In The Tank And Saw A Flash Of Green Swim Around. (check Out The Pic And See If Anyone Of You Know What This Guy Is)

 

[Mark82]

how's it going? Looks like a clown goby to me, check it out.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=159&N=0

 

[nahtanoj]

thats impressive. mark is the king of i.d. by the way.

 

[newnanoboy]

thanks for the id guys... i think you guys are right.

 

[CCG]

Is the ballast magnetic or electronic? If its magnetic (these ballasts are pretty big and heavy and many of them make a slight buzzing noise) then it will run hot. Most of them do. If not then it shouldnt. If it worries you, you can put a small fan blowing on it to keep it cool but you dont need to. JMO

Nice find on the fish. When you start stocking the tank keep an eye on it. IIRC they like to perch on top of corals. HTH

Colin

 

[newnanoboy]

nothing really new to report today... the only thing i see different is the botoom rock has turned brown. i'm guessing this is part of the cycle process?

also, i checked my salinity today and it seems a bit low. i get my water from my lfs, and when i first measured the salinity it was a solid (1.021) .... today it reads (1.019) .... is this a big deal? what do you guys suggest i do?

 

[Nanoreefbro]

Looks good so far Tom.. I'll keep checking on this thread for updates.. I saw this tank at Pacific Reef a few months ago.. Looks really nice..

 

[Nanoreefbro]

And yep that is a Clown Goby.. Good score..

 

[newnanoboy]

thanks joseph... i'm really happy with this tank so far. i didn't have room for a bigger tank, so this was the biggest i was able to stick in a corner of my living room. it looks bigger here at home than it does at the store. as for the fish, i'm starting to really like him. i hope the clown goby makes it through the cycle.

good news from my lfs... took in a water sample and they said that the tank is almost ready for fish. they said maybe about 3-5 more days, and i should be good to go.

as for the heat issue with the ballast, i checked the shops ballast at my lfs and it too runs hot, so i'm not worried about that too much anymore. i just gotta make sure none of the wires inside the cabinet are touching housing of the ballast and i should be good.

also, i found out that i have my water level in the rear chambers a bit too high. i wondered about that when i was filling it up. i was told that the water should be able to flow from the middle chamber to the right and left chambers with a trickle. my water level was pretty much all the way up to the top of the chambers, so i took some out. the only thing that i'm worried about is the evaporation. seems to be a lot with this tank. i can't seem to stop messing with the tank since i got it, so i'm not exactly sure how much is evaporating. i'm gonna leave the water where i have it now, and i will see at the end of the week how much evaporation i get. i'm considering an "ato" unit in the near future...

to be continued...

 

[ezcompany]

clown goby will probably not survive the cycle, that ammonia spike is pretty high. i would borrow some water temporarily from your lfs if you want to save your fish.

 

[mr_cali]

I have the JBJ 28HQI too and I am loving the system. I'm not sure what type of coral you want to house, but there is a retrofit upgrade at nanotuners.com. It adds 32 watts to your tank with an actinic blue that makes your corals pop even more.

One thing about the system is that the halide on a closed top system warms up the water quite a bit. There are some people who cope okay with it, but if you have the monetary resources, I would invest on getting a chiller (jbj arctic 1/15 is my recommendation). A bunch of people are selling them used and much cheaper than retail due to the cooler weather coming in.

In terms of your cycle, i agree with getting some used water or recycled live rock. I generally use nitromax to help with that too. Not all tanks have to go through a rough cycle. The key is using rock and water that is already matured.

Enjoy the system. Hopefully my info is of some use to you.

 

[newnanoboy]

thanks mr cali.... i was debating upon a 1/20 or 1/15 chiller for this tank. my lfs is running the arctica 1/20 and it's consistantly at 79 degrees everytime i'm in the shop. i know that it's rated only up to 25 gallons, but my lfs says that the 1/20 is sufficient for the system. from my understanding, i have read that if you get a smaller chiller, it will have to work harder just to get the water down cooler. what's your guy's take on this. when i filled up the tank, it only took 23 gallons total.

 

[newnanoboy]

forgot to mention, my tank is running consistantly at 81 degree without the lights on.... i have been testing out the lights and have been leaving it on for about 6 hours just to see how hot it gets, and it's running about 84.

 

[newnanoboy]

hey guys, just wanted to give an update on the tank.... the base rock is really turning brown. is there something i should be doing? the sand is also browning in some areas as well. anyway, here are some pictures for you experts out there...... any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

btw... i tried to catch the hitchhiker clown goby to dump into my 12g tank since the 28g is cycling, but i can't seem to catch him. he'll jump into really small crevices in the rock with holes so i can't pull him out.

this is a picture of my 12g off to the side. once the new tank cycles, i will transfer the rocks, and livestock over.

 

[Jessy]

Awesome score on the goby. I love my citron cute little fish. Anyway the rock is normal. I think the rock will go from white to brown to green then to purple. And the sand is diatoms. Really normal for a new tank.

 

[newnanoboy]

this is the 12g...

 

[newnanoboy]

this is the brown rock

 

[newnanoboy]

thanks jessycat... just wanted to make sure i'm not forgetting to do something. the first tank i bought was cycled already, so this is new to me. i just want to make my second tank as healthy as the first. all the corals in the small tank are always wide open, and fish are really always happy. on the other hand, i can't wait to get rid of the 12g. it's kinda in the way right now. hoping to use the money from selling the 12g dx to buy some really nice corals!!!

 

[newnanoboy]

just an update on the tank... good news and bad news.

good news, did a water test and my tank is cycled... i will slowly be adding some mushrooms today and will see how they do. btw, there is a feather duster that appears every now and then on the back of the left side rock.

bad news, the clown goby didn't make it. he's was not looking good the last 2 days, and today i saw him floating at the bottom of the tank.

to be continued...