Couple pics from my JBJ HQI 8 weeks

seapug · #1 10/26/2007, 10:18 PM

Going on 8 weeks now. I set the tank up with some rock and sand borrowed from my 90. Also added some new rock, old rock I had in my garage and dry sand. I added the nanotuners actinic retrofit and filled the back with LR rubble. Only other filtration is a bag of chemi-pure elite and the stock airstone skimmer. Next plans are to light the back and get some chaeto going, but the water has stayed crystal clear so far and there are tons of pods. The hair algae spots are from the rocks i took from the 90. Plans for the weekend include making those disappear. Theres a couple different types of macro growing well on one rock with I'm keeping trimmed back.

I started stocking on day 25. Inhabitants are my pair of Gold stripe maroon clowns I've had for a year, 1 RBTA, 1 baby RBTA in "hot pink" mode" 1 GBTA, Yashia goby and tiger pistol shrimp, and a crocea clam from the 90 gal. Oh yeah- 1 scarlet hermit, two turbos, one astra snail and various hitch-hiker Stomatella and Collinista snails serve as the CUC. There's also a few frags from my 90 I put in to add some interest until the BTAs start multiplying.

Full shot of the front. Need to get some better shots of the aquascape from the side. Nothing touches the inside walls for easy cleaning.

rbta:

gbta (doesn't look very green in the photo):

mini rbta in hot pink mode with neospongodes frag:

This is a very out of focus shot of the Yashia Goby and pistol shrimp last night in the actinics. These two are very camera shy so I have to take the picture from far back with the lights off. Really cool pair. They look like they were made for each other (when you get to see them). They live under the green zoa rock in the front right of the tank:

reefturkey · #2 10/27/2007, 02:57 AM

Nice tank. I have the same tank with a yashi goby pistol pair. How often do you see the goby cause mine rarely comesout.

seapug · #3 10/27/2007, 10:25 AM

yeah, they are extremely shy fish. I usually see them at least once/day now, but before I put the pistol shrimp in I thought the goby was dead-- I hadn't seen it for 2 weeks. Within 24 hours of introducing the shrimp the goby reappeared and was shacking up in the shrimp burrow, much to my pleasant surprise.

zack85 · #4 10/27/2007, 10:44 AM

very nice!

Timanator · #5 10/28/2007, 09:13 AM

My Yasha is out all the time, especially if you make movements in front of the galss. The shrimp only comes out when there is food in the water though.

Timanator · #6 10/28/2007, 09:13 AM

Dohh,

InLimbo87 · #7 10/28/2007, 11:37 AM

Beautiful tank! Love the BTA's

Bernie21 · #8 10/28/2007, 12:05 PM

nice tank! what type of lighting do you use?

Jimbo327 · #9 10/28/2007, 12:48 PM

As the pair get used to you, they will come out more. At the beginning, I see them maybe twice a week. Now, they hang outside all the time, the shrimp is busy like a tonka truck and the fish actually swims towards my hands when I feed. They got use to me when I'm feeding..which I do daily.

seapug · #10 10/29/2007, 11:21 AM

yeah, they seem to be very familiar with the Mon, Wed, Friday feeding routine and make their appearance at appropriate times. For some reason all my fish are camera shy. The maroon clowns are in the nems all the time and the female attacks me whenever I put a hand in the tank.

Bernie-- the tank has the stock 150 14k HQI bulb and I installed did the nanotuners actinic PC retrofit.

REDDAWG43 · #11 10/29/2007, 12:34 PM

Seapug...Do you have a chiller on the tank? I have a JBJ Nano 24g with the 150w MH hood (right now it has a 150w MH fixture)
I want to add the retro fit actinic pc kit like you did...I am just worried about the heat. Should I go ahead and put on the hood, or definately wait until I get the chiller?
BTW awesome tank set-up.

seapug · #12 10/29/2007, 12:49 PM

For whatever reason, this tank has no temperature issues. When I first set it up there was a bit of a heat wave but simply propping the top open an inch or so kept it below 80. Since then I've had it running with the lid comlpetely closed and temps have max'd out at 78. The 28 gal. JBJ HQIs are designed a bit different than the old 24s. Instead of having the filtration compartments under the hood like the old tanks, the new tanks have the compartments in the back behind the hood where they are "open top". Seems very simple, but this modification seems to do a really good job of allowing some evaporative cooling to take place.

zimmy1979 · #13 10/29/2007, 03:00 PM

Seapug you are lucky. I had major heat issues with my tank and had to add a chiller since the start (I also had a bad heater which was letting my tank go from 81 to 75-76 at night and my open brain coral started to die but has since recovered). I am happy with the JBJ 28HQI but for some reason I feel like the lack of space for a decent size skimmer in the back is annoying but the center compartment is making for a great refugium. I am excited for the Sapphireaquatics mod and hope it is easy enough to do.

reefturkey · #14 10/29/2007, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zimmy1979
Seapug you are lucky. I had major heat issues with my tank and had to add a chiller since the start (I also had a bad heater which was letting my tank go from 81 to 75-76 at night and my open brain coral started to die but has since recovered). I am happy with the JBJ 28HQI but for some reason I feel like the lack of space for a decent size skimmer in the back is annoying but the center compartment is making for a great refugium. I am excited for the Sapphireaquatics mod and hope it is easy enough to do.

I also had some heat issues. My tank was hovering around 84 degrees. I only had liverock in there at the time. Of course living in so cal you can' fight the August heat with just a fan. I added a chiller (JBJ) along with the reefkeeper2 controller and now the temp is steady at 79 degrees. I also ordered a skimmer to replace the crappy skimmer it came with.

seapug · #15 10/29/2007, 09:41 PM

hey turkey, what skimmer are you upgrading to?

sgschwartz · #16 10/29/2007, 11:19 PM

I also want to know about an alternate skimmer for the JBJ 28HQ. Sapphire Aquatics has not answered my emails.

David19 · #17 10/29/2007, 11:24 PM

any problems with the jbj hqi

reefturkey · #18 10/30/2007, 01:04 AM

I ordered the deltec mce300 and should have it in a few days. Go on the deltec board and read the thread about it. Pretty impressive. A little on the expensive side but I have alot invested in the tank already to cheap out on one of the most important aspects. Once I get it I'll post a review with pics as it pretains to this tank so you guys can see.
As far as the sapphire goes I don't think that will skim much better than the stock skimmer that already comes with the thing. There is not enough contact time in the small chambers to pull out the real junk.
The best I've been able to collect with the stock skimmer is a very light, (similar to green tea), wet skimmate. I have even modified it by placing 2 wooden air stone. Yes I have a ton more bubbles but little improvement on the skimmate.

seapug · #19 10/30/2007, 11:52 AM

I've had similar results with the stock skimmer-- sort of a greenish tea, which I suppose is better than nothing. I have a feeling it will be hard to find any skimmer that performs much better than the stock one without plumbing a sump and putting a monster skimmer in it. There's just a limited amount of space back there.

reefturkey · #20 10/30/2007, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seapug
There's just a limited amount of space back there.

That's why I went with the deltec. The space is limited back there but the deltec does not use a pump in the tank. The pump is housed in the skimmer. It's just an inlet that hangs back there. I can't wait to get it so I can try it. I have a feeling I'm going to pull out some nasty stuff.

seapug · #21 10/30/2007, 12:46 PM

sounds interesting. Please update us when you get it.

reefturkey · #22 10/30/2007, 03:21 PM

I will

reefturkey · #23 11/01/2007, 12:41 PM

Got my skimmer yesterday. All I can say is wow! Top notch craftsmanship. The remora nano looks like a diy kit compared to this. I set it up last night at around 11:00 pm. I woke up today at 7 am to see some nice skimmate. The color is a little darker than what the stock skimmer skimmed and I know it's going to get A LOT better once it breaks in.
It's very very quiet and fits real nice in the back. I had to make a very slight modification to the horizontal inlet and outlet pipes to make it fit good (made them a little shorter). It took me five minutes.
I'm going to post some pics tonight.
BTW the skimmate that it collected in 8 hours was equal to if not more than what the stock skimmer collected since Sunday!!!!!

seapug · #24 11/01/2007, 05:38 PM

Better work well, those things ain't cheap.

I looked at some pics on the deltec site. Looks like quite a honker. How do you deal with that giant spatula thing on the outlet? Please do post some pics....thanks!