Advice on upgrading to 24 Gal Nano

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flsandwoman

New Member
I need some advice from some of the more experienced nano folks. I've been following this website for several months, but post only infrequently.

I’ve had a 12 gal Nano Cube (one 24 watt bulb) since acquiring it in June (original owner probably bought it in 2004). The tank is fairly easy to maintain, even with weekly water changes of around 2 gallons. The tank has been stable and I love it. But, the poor lighting limits me to shrooms, yellow polyps and some zoas.

My 20-year old son has suggested I upgrade to a 24 gal (he’d take the 12 gal to play and modify). That way I can add a couple more fish, as well. Unfortunately the 24 gal Nano Cube only provides 3 watts/gal. Better than what I have now, but not great. So, I’m looking at several other options:

- Pick up the 24 G Nano Cube on sale now ($200) at my LFS. Order a 3rd set of 36 watt lights ($90 + s/h) from Nanotuners and hope my son can easily modify. Mods would negate my warranty on a new tank. We live in S. Florida. Would that much lighting be too hot, such that I’d then need a chiller?

- Wait and see what Nanocustoms would charge when they have the modded 24 gal with three 36 watt bulbs.

- Try for an AquaPod 24 g with metal halides($350+), when available. It doesn’t have a cover, so fish could jump out, but the raised lighting might be less heat on the tank.

I like the built-ins of the Nano Cube or similar, so not interested in starting with a standard rectangular 20 g tank. I have little free time, so need something easy to maintain. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.
 
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YUP5588

New Member
I don't have a Nano Cube but I'll share some thoughts ...

I'll looking at a new setup and was considering the AquaPod 24G with the 150w HQI MH ... either the 150W or the 75W would be great choices ... I just like the future options that the 150W provide.

As for the open top, that should be a quick fix. Some members posted great ideas on getting tempered glass from a local auto glass shop. That should work. One question I had was if the glass was UV coated on the fixture that comes with the AquaPod, if not or maybe even for extra UV protection, getting tempered and UV coated auto glass cut wouldn't be too bad an idea.

You could always just plastic egg crate the top. A few setups that I saw today at the LFS used that as a cover; the shadow is minimal if anything and sure does stop fish from jumping out or anything getting into the tank. Never tried it personally so some others here may want to comment better on that idea.

When it comes to heat; before going to a chiller, I think just work on proper cooling to the light fixture through use of quality fans should work just fine. One fan pumping in cooling air and the second fan pulling out the heat of the light. Computer fans work great for that application and your son could easily mod the fans in.

As for the option of ordering up the third set of lights for your son to mod in; shouldn't be much work either. Many of the posters on here can give you guys the easy walk-through on adding the third set into the circuit; even if need I know a few sites that can show the diagrams of such a project.

Those would be my plans and actions if I were going for the 24G AquaPod that I still do lust over.

Hope it helps.
 
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jimmy420

New Member
Sorry to but in, but I 2 months ago I got what was supposed to be the 2006 24dx wich was supposed to have the cracking issue fixed. One and a half months later it started to crack, and Ive already switched to a new tank. With all the problems Ive heard, and my personal experiance,I would stay away from the jbj cubes.
 
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YUP5588

New Member
I've heard the same problem posted here in the forums too ... another reason why I'm trying real hard to stay away from them.

Although the 24G is on back-order and pre-selling only, so that may be indication that things are getting corrected for the new and true 2006 shipments.

I'd say; wait and see what happens when they all actually ship and even then maybe don't do any warrenty voiding mods until after a few month break in period.
 
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sadielynn

New Member
Many folks here have the JBJ cubes and are happy with them , and those who were not . While I do not have a cube and I dont have the experience in the cubes my recommendation is to build one from scratch , pick a size tank that you like and then do the lighting , filteration , ect. Tho they are nice most everyone here that has the cubes finds that they need to mod them and upgrade most if not all the equipment . As for the tempered glass with uv I have found that it is not easy to find , if you get a MH light with glass it should be the right stuff so you dont need to add more uv glass. As for the tops I had a glass top on mine and I had some major heating issues in the small tank even with fans running it still hit 88 degrees . I now have egg crate the stuff for lights cut to fit to keep jumpers in and my temp never goes above 77.7 degrees . I get good exchange and keep it "open". If I were to start again it would be with a couple of choices oceanic 30 gallon cube , or a stock aga 10 gallon tank . These are fairly easy to fit for lights and equipment . I hope others will share there thoughts but IMO go with something basic and build on it . Hope this helps :mrgreen:
 
r00onmac

r00onmac

New Member
building a tank is more fun anyway. with all the problems the 24 has had in the past, even if they say they fixed it i dont know if i would spend my money. get yourself a nice 20L or 29gallon tank and you can get a MH setup lots of places online (i got mine from Illuming when they had that deal on RC, 150watt 14k MH for 185 shipped)
 
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YUP5588

New Member
Sadielynn,

I have a question about the egg crate top for the tank; any problems with too much evaporation with that setup?? How much wattage for lighting are you using??

It sounds like a great simple sollution and I think I'm going to give it ago on my tanks setup.
 
R

reefman23

New Member
jimmy420 said:
Sorry to but in, but I 2 months ago I got what was supposed to be the 2006 24dx wich was supposed to have the cracking issue fixed. One and a half months later it started to crack, and Ive already switched to a new tank. With all the problems Ive heard, and my personal experiance,I would stay away from the jbj cubes.
Click to expand...
I agree...even if it isnt a MAJOR issue, ie not that common, it is still a chance. a chance that im not willing to take. i would say that if you want an all in one kit, go with the aquapod with the 150 watt HQI MH. Dont worry about UV with that fixture...it should come with the glass. as far as having an open top, i wouldnt worry about that either. amny on this site have an open top, as i do, you would just have to avoid fish pron e to jumpin, ie firefish and others. even with a glass lid, a fish that is prone to jump WILL find a way out.

Just an FYI...UV GLASS IS NOT NEEDED!! After conversing with a member of another site that constructs custom MH fixtures, as well as talking with glass stores (who by the way will look at you funny when you ask for UV TEMPERED GLASS), I have found that tempered glass is all that is needed to protect your precious corals from the damaging effects of UV. Some DE MH are even coming with UV filtering outer shell like coralife and astralux for example.
 
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YUP5588

New Member
My questions is still about evaporation ... with an open top and the HQI MH, wouldn't there be a lot of water evaporation due to heat??

This is a setup that I really want to try, but I think my lighting will be about 250W or 400W HQI MH; so I'm thinking evaporation problems could be heavier and my fixture will be pretty close to the water ... about 4 inches or so from the surface.

I'm thinking and hoping that I can kill the lamp heat by running excesive fan colling on the fixture. It's alread fitted with some decent cooling but I'm thinking of running four fans on it just to make sure.

Any experience with MH and evaporation problems??
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I think a 250 or 400 watt MH would be kinda overkill, I would go with a 150 DE MH at most possibly with some actinic PCs. You will have some evaporation with a MH and an open topped tank but it shopuldn't be too hard top set up an auto topoff unit to compensate. By keeping the fans in the canopy like you are talking about should also help keep evaporation down some, the heat you get from the MH will be from the light and not from the bulbs heat.
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I just posted on that thread also, I think that a DE 150 watt MH is plenty of light for the tank you describe. The higher the wattage the more electricity to run it and the more heat it produces.
 
71raw

71raw

New Member
is the proublem with the cracking only on the jbj2006 24g nanocube or all the 2006 12-6g nanocube?
 
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