My 1 year old 12g Nano Cube

[Sinistard]

Well I originally set my tank up around December 30th of last year so my tank has been up for just around 1 year now and it's still going strong.

I have had a few casualties and I'm sure some were due to my inexperience. Hopefully I was able to learn from any mistakes. My latest problem is a few of my zoos have developed a fungus or algae that is killing them off. I tried removing the sick ones and I hope it stops it from spreading time will tell I guess. I don't know where it came from I have not added anything new for quite some time.

Well anyway to start off this tread I am going to go with a FTS from day 1 and one of it a few day ago.

Day one
http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/FTSdayone.jpg

Here it is today, It's a bit crowded in the sand bed. I plan to move a few of the corals including the orange monti cap and the brain into my bigger tank if I ever get it up and running.
http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/FTS1-1-06.jpg

I will post a few coral growth shots, and some other pictures later.

Also thanks to Chris over at nanocustoms.com with his upgrades and help I'm sure my tank is better off today then I would have been without. If you need any lights for you nanos of even other equip you should check out his sites.

[pimpskinny]

wow thats alot of colors!

[whirley]

What kind of lights do you have for that thing? Honestly, I'm a little suprised that you have SPS in such a small tank.

whirley

[Sinistard]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6421881#post6421881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by whirley
What kind of lights do you have for that thing? Honestly, I'm a little suprised that you have SPS in such a small tank.

whirley

I have 96watts of PC lighting. I am having great luck with the 2 monti frags in the picture. I did have another digi frag that died, I think it was not getting enough flow due to its position in the tank. The cap on the bottom which was only going to be in tank for a few weeks but it ended being a few months is doing great even on the bottom, the top and right sides are new growth.

Here are some growth pics of the digi in front. This is over 4 months.

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/montibefore.jpg

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/monti.jpg

[reefwick]

Well done, nice tank!

[totaltrev]

That's a killer tank.

[luckybaker4]

Great growth! Are you supplmenting?

[surfnvb7]

I don't say this often at all, so enjoy it! :lol:

Thats a great lookin nano-cube you got there! congrats on your good efforts! my seal of approval --->:thumbsup:

couple of questions...i'm not a big fan of stock nanocubes/aquapods. seems like they need alot of DIY love before you got something that is really that good, not to mention all of the problems they have with quality control/construction.

but, with all that said....in your honest opinion, after spending the money on the upgrades and such......would you have saved a good bit of time/money if you had just done a standard glass AGA tank, put the 96w powerquad light over it, and a filter on the back (or sump/fuge HOB or drilled) to give you more options in adding equipment and keeping a greater diversity of corals/fish?

i think it kinda defeats the purpose of buying a cool stock setup with everything you need, when you gota tear it apart to upgrade it and just spend more money.

just curious on a succesfull nanocubers opinion though, no flamming here

:)

[Sinistard]

Thanks surfnvb7 I think :confused: j/k

As far as would I go with a nano cube if I had it over to do, I would have to say yes. I do really like the clean look of the nano cube, no plumbing showing no hang on filters. It looks very clean from the outside as well as on the inside. I have to admit it is a bit restricting but it does everything I "need" it to do. Also I got mine well before the "cracking" issue ever came up. If I would have looked into getting one 2 or 3 months ago I probably would have passed. Although I have moved mine half full 2 times and did not end up with a crack, it must have been a bad batch. They seem to have resolved the problem but I'm sure it will take JBJ some time to recover in the public's mind.

This was my first tank and when I got the nano cube I will admit I really had no clue about a SW reef tank. I saw one set up at a LFS and have wanted to get into reefing for some time so I figured what the heck I have some x-mas money to spend I'll go ahead and get one. It seemed like a cheap and easy way to get started, boy was I wrong LOL.

I took it home built a stand put some water in it and decided I better do at least a little research and came across nano-reef.com and found that there were some cool upgraded that could be done to the tank. I also found that there was a lot I needed to learn including that small tanks are the hardest to care for. After reading a lot and seeing several members tanks that where very cool looking I decided that I wanted more light to open up my options as far as stocking goes.

I'm sure I could have got away with keeping my tank "stock" other then some filter changes and probably set up a fairly nice looking tank but I am one to try to make what ever I am doing the best I possible can so I went ahead and got some upgrades.

As far as the DIY stuff goes I actually enjoy tinkering with things so that was no big deal for me.

I have never really looked into the cost of a 10g tank with a power quad but I would guess it would be a bit cheaper but IMO the cost of the equipment is only a very small % of the overall cost of the tank. Whether its good of bad I have way more money in Livestock/LR then I do in equipment. I don't think there is any cheap way to get into this hobby.

I do think I would have liked the flexibility I would have got out of a more standard tank like being able to have a sump or more lighting options but the clean look of the nano cube is something I really like and I am glad I have it. If I would have went with a 10 gallon tank I am sure I would have ended up spending way more on equipment since I would have had probably ended up with a sump, skimmer and probably MH lighting.

The nano cube has been a good stepping stone for me and I am actually in the process of setting up a much larger tank now so I will get to play with all the cool toys that go along with a more traditional tank. I am going to keep the Nano Cube up and running but probably clear a few corals out of it since it is quickly becoming to full.

If you want to see my thread on my bigger tank here is a link
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=660682&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Overall I am very happy with the way my Nano-Cube has tuned out and I have been able to learn a lot about the hobby from it.

Again thanks for the compliment and I'm glad you enjoyed my tank:)

[Cutiewitbooty]

pretty tank, i love all the colors, keep it up!!

[surfnvb7]

Good points Sinistard!!

[rogerwells]

those arent the stock lights right? cause i just got one and i dont think the lights it comes with could support all of those awesome corals

[shouldabenacowboy]

Very nice setup..... :)


SBC

[NanoManMaster]

i love it just one thing of my opinion please take no offense to it but if you put a nice layer of white sand i think your coral collers will pop out more and i think you would like it better

[smy168]

did you mod the filtration any? I'm thinking about turning the built in filtration into a fuge. I should be getting my Pod 24 in a couple weeks and was curious about the flex on filtration.

[Sinistard]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6423282#post6423282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luckybaker4
Great growth! Are you supplmenting?

No supplements I just do a 10-15% water change once a week and add buffer as needed.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6425267#post6425267 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cutiewitbooty
pretty tank, i love all the colors, keep it up!!

Thank you

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6425582#post6425582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by surfnvb7
Good points Sinistard!!

Thanks, I feel that cubes get a more of a bad rep then the deserve. Maybe it had something to do with the number of "noob" reefers that start with nano cubes. These people ask ask "noob" questions and have "noob" problems and don't have great luck keeping a reef.

They are not perfect for everyone but are perfectly fine for some.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6427016#post6427016 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rogerwells
those arent the stock lights right? cause i just got one and i dont think the lights it comes with could support all of those awesome corals

Nope not stock, 96watts of PC 48 more then stock.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6427072#post6427072 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shouldabenacowboy
Very nice setup..... :)


SBC

Thanks

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6434402#post6434402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoManMaster
i love it just one thing of my opinion please take no offense to it but if you put a nice layer of white sand i think your coral collers will pop out more and i think you would like it better

Thanks for the complement. It would look better with some fresh sand but that sounds like a lot of work:o

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6434856#post6434856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smy168
did you mod the filtration any? I'm thinking about turning the built in filtration into a fuge. I should be getting my Pod 24 in a couple weeks and was curious about the flex on filtration.

I replaced all the "stock filtration" with my own combination of stuff.

Water enters the first chamber via a surface skimmer I made from a cassette case. In the first chamber I have a sponge on top to gather big chunks of waste followed by a bag of chemi-pure and them by some LR rubble to keep the chemi-pure bag from restricting flow into the second chamber. I clean the sponge once every week and replace the chemi-pure once a month.

Water flows from the bottom of the first chamber into the second chamber. In the second chamber I have LR rumble and have tried macro but it does not get enough light and slowly fades away. Then I have a small piece of sponge to keep big particles from getting into the third chamber. I try to clean this once a month.

In the third chamber I have my heater and a maxi-jet 900 return pump that goes into a hydor flo rotating return.
I do around a 10-15% water change every week during which I replace the sponge in the first chamber with a clean sponge. I have 2 sponges that I rotate. Like I said I replace the chemi-pure once a month. Finally I add kents supper buffer once a month or when needed.

I use RO water and kents salt.

Hope this helps, any other questions on my setup let me know.

[abfleck]

Very Nice!

AJ

[rogerwells]

can you post up some pictures of your lighting and filter?

[smy168]

thanks for the info, some pics would be awesome.

[Sinistard]

Thanks,

Here is a picture of the lights.

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/lights.jpg

[RandyP]

Very nice tank, and very nice pics

[frezel]

great tank pics

[vest0830]

Very nice! I assume the water movement has been changed a bit as well.

[vanmo92]

SWEET!!!

[Sinistard]

Thanks everyone.

Yes the pump is a Maxi-Jet 900 with a hydor flo rotating water deflector on the return.

Here is a couple more coral growth pictures

Frogspawn-- 1 head then around 6 now (11 months)

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/frogspawnbefore.jpg

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/frogspawn1.jpg

Acan Lord -- Around 1 whole head plus 3 half heads then, probably 20+ now (8 months)

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/redgreenlordbefore.jpg

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/redgreenlord.jpg

Here is my Green lord. It was around 2 1/2 heads then around 10 various size heads now. The color in the second one is very close to the actual color, it really colored up over the last few months. (4 months)

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/greenlordbefore.jpg

http://www.nathan.gorkon.org/images/1yearnano/greenlord.jpg