New Setup - NC6

aromano

aromano

New Member
Hey guys,

Let introduce myself... My name is André and I am a new member of Nanotank.
I have found this board very nice and informative and this is definitely the place I’d like to come to exchange ideas and comments.

I got a Nano Cube 6 this weekend, as I am starting a new theme in a miniature version of my NC24DX.

I transferred LS + 4 pounds of LR from my 24 gallon, and also purchased 4 additional lbs. of cured LR + 1 lbs. of rubble for the sump biological filtration. I also placed a piece of plexyglass over the sump intake to create an over flow and skim the water surface. For the chemical filtration I am using a chemi-pure bag and the sponge, which holds the surface skimmer plexiglass piece in place over the intake.

The stock pump was replaced with a Rio 180 I had sitting around, but I might have to get a stronger pump once I install the loc-line flow kit.

My room temperature is 75 degrees and the water temperature is stable at 80 degrees during the day and at night.
(Submersible 50W Finnex Compact Titanium Heater)

Today I ordered a 2 X 18W retro kit and a moonlight to upgrade my lighting to 54W. I can't wait to work on the hood mod :)

1 X JBJ 10K Combo (50/50)
1 X Realux 7100K Daylight Bulb
1 X Realux Actinic Blue Bulb
1 X PFO Flat Night Light moonlight

I hope I can keep my temperatures low and stable, with the light upgrade without having to get an ICA chiller.

P.S. I am very surprised with the quality of the NC6.
JBJ made some nice improvements in the hood.

Thx,

André
 

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Anonymous

Guest
welcome
yea awesome hitchikers - looks like some sort of tubastraea - need to be feed not photosynthetic. get yourself some frozen mysis or cyclopseeze and try to feed em they are already receading some. with the rock and sand from your other tank the cycle should be mild unless those corals die off
also nice 24 you got going there!
 
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flsandwoman

New Member
Andre,

Your 24 gal Nano looks great. I noticed you had a skimmer. I purchased one recently for my 12 gal. It works well getting the slick off the surface. My concern is that the left 2 compartments with ceramics & bioballs got really low. I tried adding water and using the bioballs compartment to top off with RO, but they still stay low. The guy that sold me the skimmer via eBay said it is fine, that I could even remove the balls and ceramic. Your water in the pic didn't look that low. Any suggestions?
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
I removed the bio-balls and the ceramic rings and filled that compartment with LR rubble. I have to top off my tank every other day and my sump is usually 2 inches lower than the viewable area.

I would suggest leaving about 2 inches of water lower in the sump and top off with RO fresh water to maintain that level. Just keep checking your salinity so it won’t fluctuate.

Since the skimmer maintains the viewable area always filled to the top, the evaporation is more noticeable in the back sump.
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
I checked my levels today and so far I have:

NH3/NH4 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO5 = 5
CA = 520

I used most of the water from my other tank to start this system and my calcium levels are a bit too high. Besides that everything else seems to be going well, as I'm thinking there will be only a small cycling period in this new tank. I used LS and 4 lbs. of LR from an established tank, and if my levels remain stable until the end of next week, I might start getting my cleanup crew to start the heavy duty work :) Green algae are starting to grow and I will probably wait for all the algae blooms to pass until I can add corals and fish.

The corals that came attached the LR seems to be doing well and I am feeding them twice a week with prime reef formula.
So far I am not sure what species of corals they are.

I was wondering if I can make water changes using the water from my 24G. I usually change about 6 gallons a week from that tank.
 

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aromano

aromano

New Member
This LR comes from a LFS in Boca Raton, FL called Barrier Reef.
They have a nice variety of Premium Fiji and Florida Aqua Cultured LR.
I can ask if they ship LR, but I usually like to hand pick the rocks. Especially with such a small system.

It's not that easy to aquascape a 6 gallon tank. It's harder to find nice small pieces, and there are fewer alternatives for the rock placement.
On the other hand I think smaller tanks have very good potential for some awesome themes and the small foot print makes the challenge that much more fun :)
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
I upgraded my lights to 54W this weekend, installed a Loc-Line Flow Kit and a Mini Jet 606. I also ordered a more powerful cooling fan to replace the stock ones and I'm currently running the original fans independently with a 12V 500mA AC adapter.

1 X JBJ 10K Combo (50/50)
1 X Realux 7100K Daylight Bulb
1 X Realux Actinic Blue Bulb
1 X PFO Flat Night Light moonlight

I got my first fish Monday, and so far it's doing well.
It's a small True Percula Clownfish.
I also got 6 Nassarius Cortez Snails and 4 Atlantic Grazer Snails.

P.S. I am having an overheating issue with temperatures reaching up to 82.5 degrees. I am hopping to solve it once the cooling fan upgrade arrives.

50 x 10mm Cooling Fan
Speed: 4200 rpm
Air Flow: 8.01 CFM
Noise Level: 27 dBA
 

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dragon79

New Member
under normal temperature around here in So Cal, the lights alone keep it my temperature at 78 to 79 temperature. I don't keep a heater at the moment, I took it out during this hot summer. During the summer though, good fan or not, the 6 heats up very hot. 86-88. It sucks! If there was a cool chiller for it, would be neat to get, but my bro has tried the chiller assist from nanocustoms, that has failed a lot of times, and he had to do his own maintenance to it. (not worth the bother) The rest of the 9 months, it should be fine. 82 degrees is not bad as long as it's stable and not doing huge swings. Everything there acclimates to that temperature, and I have seen no ill effects at that temperature.

Now about your tank. I love the premium rock and aquascaping. Really nice. I dont' have a true perc, but I would like to have one in the future of some future tank :) How's the loc-line flow doing? I'd like to increase my flow. All I have done is just use the upgraded mini-jet. It works well for the most part, but at times, dead spots arise, and slime algae creeps up. I wonder if your setup in flow is the solution there to give flow all around.... ???
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
Here in Florida we have summer weather almost through out the whole year, therefore I keep my AC at 75 degrees 24/7. During the night the temperature goes down to 78 degrees without the heater, so when the lights go off the heater kicks in to keep the temperature stable at the 82 range with a Coralife 8 Outlet Power Center. I would love to be running at 78 - 80, but with only 6 gallons of water is kind of hard :) ... The main reason I am replacing the original fans, is because they're really freaking loud with the 12V 500mA AC adapter, but I'm sure the temperature won't improve much

As far as the loc-line flow kit, it works really well. I've been using in my NC24 with a Rio 1400, which gives an awesome surface agitation. The mini-jet 606 does a pretty decent job powering up the loc-line for the NC6, and it is certainly going to increase your flow and surface agitation. Some people do some interesting things w/ loc-lines to get rid of dead spots, as they have very flexible ball-socket joint tubing.

Marine depot sells the individual pieces, so you won't have to buy the whole loc-line circle.
Here are the parts you would need to get if you're interested:

1 - Loc-Line 1/2 inch Ball Socket 90 degree Elbow
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=LL1123

5 - Loc-Line 1/2in Side Outlet Nozzle (2in Long)
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=LL1130

1 - Loc-Line 1/2in Ball-Socket End Cap
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem. ... uct=LL1141

You would have separate your original flare nozzle from the ball socket, attach it to the loc-line elbow and you're ready to GO.
I had a hard time separating the two pieces from the original flare nozzle, so I cut a small piece out of nozzle with pliers to separate the ball socket from it.

I hope that helps and let me know if you need any help :)

P.S. By the way... AWESOME tank you got there Dragon. Very nice aquascaping, and great choice on the corals and inhabitants.
I love the red algae vines and the red head goby :)
 

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aromano

aromano

New Member
The next thing I want to do is setup a fuge in the sump.

I have a (9" 2x 9W Coralife Mini Aqualight CF hood, 1x Actinic and 1x 10,000K) laying around and I was wondering if it would be OK to use it as a refugium light.
I would cut a rectangle over the borders of the rear 2nd chamber from the back and place the light right over it.

The only thing is that I wanted to mount the light right against the glass and run it at night to avoid light bleeding. With only 18W I think it wouldn't produce too much heat and could still maintain my temperatures stable.

I am going to try this first on my NC24, since I will most likely get a 2006 model with thicker glass for a replacement tank next year. The NC24 doesn't have a splash guard that extends all the way to the back of the hood and I don't feel safe installing a light that might get saltwater spill over it.
If it succeeds, I'll consider doing it for the NC6
 

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dragon79

New Member
thanks for the advice and instructions and all. (didn't expect that, but again thanks) I wonder what it would do if I added another mini-jet 606 in there and like hid it behind a rock or something. Need to do some thinking. I've seen a really nice thing done with by somebody on NR that basically added two outputs for flow. Looked real clean. Well anyway, good luck and hope to see more pics of the 6 as it develops.
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
The loc-line certainly doesn't look very clean, especially in such a small tank, but since I had a few pieces left from the NC24 I ended up using it for now. I hope to be able to come up with a better solution that looks cleaner, as I am not very happy with the looks of it myself. It certainly helps the flow and breaks the surface by removing dissolved organic compounds from the water surface, but you're right... It looks bulky.
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Dragon,

Show him your fuge light, he's trying to take apart a really nice coralife when he can get the piece he wants for 10 bucks.

Keep that light for a future fuge when you upgrade to a bigger tank, I did and use it all the time on my 20 gallon sump.

Mike
 
aromano

aromano

New Member
This light is very nice indeed and I wasn't really planning to take the fixture apart. I actually found some instructions on NR, how to create an easy refugium fuge light for the NC. People have been removing the nano cube vinyl layer on the back of the cube's wall and mounting a light over it. I thought it was an interesting concept especially for the NC24, which doesn't have a splash guard that extends all the way to the back of the hood.

The NC6 does have a nice splash guard where a 7 watt daylight fuge light could be easily installed. I am still debating if this would be the best solution for the NC24 and I will hold off on it until I can make up my mind about it.

Thanks for the advice Mike, and I am looking forward to see Dragon's fuge solution :)
 

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