Just opened my new JBJ 28g HQI, time to start my new project.

Moadster · #1 09/24/2007, 01:09 AM

I just picked up my JBJ nanocube 28g HQI and stand from my buddy's warehouse. It looks amazing! Very happy with the quality of the tank and the stand. The whole setup looks great in my condo, very sleek. I like how you can mount the halide ballast, power strip, wave maker, and pretty much all other electronic connections inside the stand out of sight.

My buddy taking the tank out of the box.

Unwrapping it....

The filter basket.

Protein skimmer and air pump.

Back of the tank, hopefully I can figure out how to make a mini-fuge in the back of here.

Lights on!!

Back area with skimmer.

LED's.

Color filter on.

I also got my Nanotuners 2X18w actinic lighting mod.

And also ordered this stuff from Liveaquaria:

1) CD-912221 Aqua Gloves Pair

2) CD-907026 Master Liquid Test Kit Saltwater

3) CD-922871 Deep Six Hydrometer 1.012 - 1.032 specific gravity

4) CD-967117 Tahitian Moon Sand 20 lbs

5) CD-12873 Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black 20 lbs

6) CF-25731 Coralife Power Centers Single Digital

7) CD-29129 Koralia Water Circulation Pumps Pump 2

And later this week I'll be ordering the following:

Digi-Mag nano

Finnex titanium 150w heater

24" JBJ aqua scraper

and finally 36lbs of Tonga Fusion LR.

I'll post more pics as the rest of my stuff comes in...

Moadster · #2 09/24/2007, 01:24 AM

Also started acclimating my first animal to the tank....errr I guess he's acclimating himself

reefman13 · #3 09/24/2007, 05:25 AM

Great pic of the cat!

Just watch, once you have all your stuff under there, he'll come back knock everything off and do exactly what he's doing now

Illuminati · #4 09/24/2007, 08:34 AM

Can't wait to see more pics. I am getting mine in a couple weeks and was thinking about the black sand, now I can see how yours looks before deciding

slcook54 · #5 09/24/2007, 12:27 PM

Nice man, going to be fun setting it up.

seapug · #6 09/24/2007, 12:55 PM

Welcome to the JBJ HQI club. I've had mine up and running for 1 month. I did the actinic retrofit as well. I've got live rock running in the rear chamber as a pod fuge and it's working great so far. My temps have max'd out at 81 in a warm room with no AC. Pretty impressive ventilation design.

My only "complaints" (nothing huge) are that you have to remove the protien skimmer cup to open the hood and the water level issues in the rear compartments when you switch back and forth between wave timer and non- wave timer settings. You basically have to run one or the other-- if you are using the wave timer, then swich to having both pumps on the water level drops so far you start sucking air and have to add more water. Then if you switch back to wave timer, the rear compartments can overflow if your water level is too high. It takes some testing on different settings to get it right.

Regardless, I do like the tank--- it's a real step forward with the all in one systems.

Moadster · #7 09/24/2007, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by slcook54
Nice man, going to be fun setting it up.

Yup, I can't wait!

Moadster · #8 09/24/2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by seapug
Welcome to the JBJ HQI club. I've had mine up and running for 1 month. I did the actinic retrofit as well. I've got live rock running in the rear chamber as a pod fuge and it's working great so far. My temps have max'd out at 81 in a warm room with no AC. Pretty impressive ventilation design.

My only "complaints" (nothing huge) are that you have to remove the protien skimmer cup to open the hood and the water level issues in the rear compartments when you switch back and forth between wave timer and non- wave timer settings. You basically have to run one or the other-- if you are using the wave timer, then swich to having both pumps on the water level drops so far you start sucking air and have to add more water. Then if you switch back to wave timer, the rear compartments can overflow if your water level is too high. It takes some testing on different settings to get it right.

Regardless, I do like the tank--- it's a real step forward with the all in one systems.

Thanks!

I'm glad to see that you haven't had any temperature problems with running the halide and PC's. The skimmer problem is the only flaw i can see so far, but i don't really see a way around it unless they used a hang on skimmer (which would kind of defeat the all in one idea), or a hood that covered it all. (which would probably lead to heat problems)

I'm interested to see how the wavemaker works on the HQI, I also ordered a Korilia 2 circ pump to help out a bit.

FrankB1 · #9 09/24/2007, 02:42 PM

Could you disconnect the wavemaker from the two chamber pumps and connect it two the Korilia 2 circ pumps? Would it burn the pumps out on a 6 minute cycle?

bkitchen0406 · #10 09/24/2007, 03:51 PM

I had a big setup. I am living in a small apartment now. I want a 12 gallon, maybe 24. Is this the best kind of setup to get. I see someone ebay. I saw some at fish tanks direct. Which one is the best. It is cheaper for me to even buy one of these then build my own.

Moadster · #11 09/24/2007, 05:50 PM

Did my Nanotuners 2X18w Actinic light mod today. Install was fairly straight foward, I found that the easiest way to drill through the extremely thin metal reflector was to put a wood block on the other side of it while drilling so you could put alot of pressure on it with the drill and not bend the reflector. The only thing that I changed about the install was that I siliconed the power cord where in enters back into the waterproof light enclosure to make a factory watertight fit.

Mounting the light clips.

The ever important block of wood.

Running the power cord and wiring up the ballast.

Finished mounting and soldering of wires.

Siliconed power cord.

All done.

I can't wait to see my corals glowing under this!!!

brian430 · #12 09/24/2007, 07:00 PM

hey very nice rig, I'll be watching, should be fun

Moadster · #13 09/24/2007, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brian430
hey very nice rig, I'll be watching, should be fun

Thanks.

It's time to get something in it now!

Moadster · #14 09/28/2007, 01:41 AM

Christmas came early!!!!

I got everything I need to get it filled up and cycled. I ended up buying 20lbs of Tonga Fusion and 20lbs of Tonga Kaelini.

I just finished hooking up my RO/DI unit under my sink and I'm in the long and slow process of filling it up now. I ran an additional Tee in-between the outlet of the RO filter and the faucet and hooked up 30 feet of 1/4" line with a valve on the end of it so I can directly fill my tank up....so far so good.

Fusion

Kaelini

Moadster · #15 09/28/2007, 04:12 AM

About 2/5ths full!!!

Snapped this pic earlier...

Rosseau · #16 09/28/2007, 08:34 AM

Cool, looks good.

I wonder how much of the MH light energy is lost by having the PC's on the MH reflector?

Understandably, there is not much room to play with inside all in ones.

Keep us posted!

Moadster · #17 09/28/2007, 02:18 PM

I thought the same thing when I was installing them. Reguardless I'm sure it's not nearly enough loss to not have them.

Eel-byte · #18 09/28/2007, 03:36 PM

I installed this mod from nano-tuners too. I think it will make your corals pop! It shouldnt effect the halide tp much. You might loose a little light, not enough enough to affect anything.

Chaotic Reefer4u · #19 09/28/2007, 04:33 PM

very beautiful and really good workmanship there...

ray22 · #20 09/28/2007, 06:53 PM

that looks nice .. good luck i look forward to watching the progress

Cobalt · #21 09/28/2007, 11:21 PM

did you get a chiller?

Moadster · #22 09/30/2007, 03:28 AM

So the LS finally settled down enough to add my LR on Friday night. It is still kinda cloudy today because I blasted the rocks with a baster today, but they still look nice. I also haven't really aquascaped yet, I placed them in there how I thought would look nice, but I think its pretty crappy right now. It's also tough to figure out how to place 40+ lbs of LR in a 28g tank.

I also just did my first water test, PH is 8.2, Ammonia is 4.0 ppm, and Nitrites are at 0 so far, but I expect that to start rising quickly...

14k Halide and 2X18w Actinic's

And under just Actinic's.....

Moadster · #23 10/05/2007, 01:56 AM

Day 7:

So I just added my newest mod. After using a small 100mm 120v fan to try to bring the temps to around 80, I ended up buying a refurbished Prime 1/15th hp chiller off of Ebay for $153 and picked it up from the Current factory with a warranty!!!! I just got it hooked up and it works awesome! It's holding rock steady at 78.5 degrees. I'm getting excited, I can't wait to see some life in there!

I also have been doing 7gal water changes every other day to try to help bring down the ammonia, and while it's still high, I expect it to start coming down any day because my nitrites are really spiking.

Water test:

PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 6.0ppm
Nitrite - 2.0ppm

ZACK007 · #24 10/08/2007, 02:34 PM

Moadster, Great set up !!!!it all looks awesome!!!!!
I just ordered mine a couple of days ago.cant wait for it to get here...
Same chiller too

the only diff is that I will be adding a Reefkeeper2 and building a custom stand.

My question is :
How do you have the chilled plumbed into your tank? Are you using an additional pump or are you running it of the pump that came with the cube?
I m very curious how you have that worked out.

Btw: how is that stock skimmer working out ?

Zack

Rosseau · #25 10/08/2007, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZACK007
Moadster, Great set up !!!!it all looks awesome!!!!!
I just ordered mine a couple of days ago.cant wait for it to get here...
Same chiller too the only diff is that I will be adding a Reefkeeper2 and building a custom stand.

My question is :
How do you have the chilled plumbed into your tank? Are you using an additional pump or are you running it of the pump that came with the cube?
I m very curious how you have that worked out.

Btw: how is that stock skimmer working out ?

Zack

I don't have a JBJ however I have the 1/15th chiller on my 15G. I'm using a MJ400 to move water through the chiller.