Pico transitioned to JBJ 6 gallon...a new beginning

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dragon79

New Member
Yep, my title is not that deceiving, it's true. I have taken down my pico 1.5 Melody series from Redsea, and transferred over everything into my newest investement....my nanocube 6 gallon. I know a lot that know me on here would ask why I would take my pico down, but the reason mostly was the evaporation rate. Sometimes I would come home from work, and the water evaporated so much, the water would be dropping in at such a rate that looks totally unatural and corals bouncing around all weird. This nano seemed more practical to me, and I liked very much how the nano 12 gallon works, so being JBJ only made one half it size, i went with that. Well now, let me introduce you guys/gals, my JBJ nanocube 6 gallon!!

Here's my cube out the box



Here's illustrating I took off the nozzle that comes in there and got a nozzle that splits in two directions. (got the idea from Rbaby, thanks girl!)
Ps, you do have to upgrade to the mini-jet 606 in order to get the flow down right, the stock one will do no justice.



Here are the new cured/cycled premium LR I picked up from my LFS (Tong's) to the left, and to the lower right are tonga branch cured/cycled premium tonga branch LR rubble for compartment two (as I removed the carbon and ceramic rings, and bio balls from there)



Now with having my pump upgraded to the mini-jet 606, chemi-pure bag in compartment 1 with my two sponges, and my LR rubble in compartment two, I'm ready to rock and roll.

I transferred over my existing LS + 5lbs more I bought cycled from an existing tank, and transfered in my pico's LR pieces as well and began to aquascape. In the end, here's my finished look. Enjoy.











That's it for now peeps, enjoy
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Yo Dragon,

I'm very impressed with you documenting the 6 gallon cube. There is hardly anyone out there with a 6 gallon cube that has shared pics.

I think it's very important to let everyone know that you are working with a cycled reef tank. So I'm glad you stated that in your post. Otherwise you would see newbies trying to mimic your tank, only to crash it in about 2 weeks.

During the weekend I finally saw a 6 gallon at my LFS and was impressed on it's design. I think the fans are strong and very well constructed, also I like the new hinges that hold up the hood.

The moonlights are cool design and you have plenty of space to work with aquascaping. You have done a nice job of setting up the reef and moved in the right direction with the up-graded pump and directional nozzle.

Even though you are using all cycled pieces in you new reef, keep an eye on your trites and trates just to be on the safe side.

Let us know about the heating in this tank, I'm interested in seeing how cool this little guy stays compared to it's larger brother the 12 gallon.

I bet your nemos are very happy to have a 6 gallon all to themselves....

Mike
 
skipm

skipm

Moderator
Staff member
I am very glad to see you posting about this tank, I think it may be my next project (I love the 12DX so I think I would really like the 6). I am curious about your opinion on the lights, are they adequate or do you think they should be upgraded and if so does it appear to be an easy task to add a second bulb?
Keep the pics coming. I get excited when I see that you or your brother have posted new pics. Skip
 
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dragon79

New Member
skipm said:
I am very glad to see you posting about this tank, I think it may be my next project (I love the 12DX so I think I would really like the 6). I am curious about your opinion on the lights, are they adequate or do you think they should be upgraded and if so does it appear to be an easy task to add a second bulb?
Keep the pics coming. I get excited when I see that you or your brother have posted new pics. Skip
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The 6 gallon tank is not a deluxe model ( I dont think they are out yet )

This one has a built in ballast if you can see from my pictures when it's open. With that in the way, I dont think you could fit anything in there. No problem though, for now, 18 watts (1 10,000K ) is doing just fine for the time being. I do plan on having nanocustoms upping the power to 48 watts. I'll be happy with that. The power of the lights from the 12 gallon dx but in a 6 gallon :)

Mike:

I took the heater out, since Sandra owning the jbj 12 gallon dx, I found that with the lights, and how it's sealed nicely, it maintains it's heat. I tested it out with the 6 gallon, and it stays at 77, and to 79 with the lights. Not bad huh? I guess from the pump at night, since it's running continuously, it helps maintain the heat in the tank of it's size. I'll continue to watch it, and I'll check it late at night too and see. Only problem I've encountered is since there is a switch for lights and switch for moonlights, I can only choose one setting for a timer to be set. Of course I set it for the main lights, but if i want to see the moonlights, I have to put it from auto to on, and then manually press moonlights....a bummer but that's only a temporary problem, because once lights are modded a better set of moonlights will go in.
 
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dragon79

New Member
more pics

got more pics, so thought i'd continue the thread. Also bought a new shrimp. At the LFS, they weren't sure, but it kind of resembles an anemone shrimp, but it's body is not clear, it's white. has red and blue spots too on him. If anybody can identify him that would be cool. This is actually my second one, the first one I bought, didn't even make it home!! It died when i poured it into a bowl to start acclimation, I noticed he was upside down and twitching!! Oh well, I bagged him up and took him back, and here's the new guy. Acclimated him for a long time too, and he's doing fine in my tank. :) Enjoy my updated pics.

Ol Shrimpy :)




A yuma I picked up at a frag swap held yesterday (sunday) in Anaheim for free. I attended with "Rbaby", her friend, and my girlfriend Nanoangel. Anyway the guy told me, it's been having trouble, and kinda bleached, so I was like, heck, let's see what it can do in my tank. :)





This one in preset white balance *incysor likes these*


now moving on to "zoos"

I got some from "Rbaby" when she came down to my town for the frag swap. Thanks guurrrl!!!

I tried getting various pics, but I couldn't get a decent picture, sorry. I'll have to keep trying. Here's this for now.



This I got from somebody at the frag swap from some dude


and this one


There is another zoo I got from Ruthie, but haven't captured a picture yet. It was shy today, but I will post when I can.

Let me close up with a pic of my tank to finish up. Here's my tank while I'm feeding with cyclopeeze.

 
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dragon79

New Member
Yo B!

incysor said:
Good job...I'll look around and see if I can find an ID on that shrimp...It's pretty crazy looking.

B
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I haven't been able to find much, but the one that it kind of resembles and kind of the behavior traits is that of the "saron shrimp"

here's a link
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pCatId=525

Although he does not look like that, he does seem nocturnal. I say that because every day I never see that damn shrimp, it's as if he died, then at night, when the lights go off and the blue moonlights come on, he comes out of thin air! It's cool though, I like seeing creatures that come out at night. He seems to be doing fine, not sure what he eats though, although I been dropping live brine at night and some flakes. I'll probably try shrimp pellets or something, so he can just walk up to it and hopefully eat it.

Maybe when it matures and grows a bit, the color may change again. Have you found anything on this shrimp at all by chance incysor??
 
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rbaby

New Member
Those zoos went to a good home, the pinks look awesome...I can't wait til you post a pic of the eagle eyes :).

Is that shrimp still alive? Or was he just playing dead? When I picked up my crab to put him in the tank he played dead for a minute or two, maybe that's what he was doing when you took him home.

The tank is so awesome...those fishies are so cute and the scaping is excellent. Good job dragon, keep it up :)...when I get any more loose frags I will let you know hahaha...
 
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dragon79

New Member
pic update

here's the pics of the zoos. They are in the 12 jbj for now as I need to remove two corals I have that are problematic. The plate expands too big, it seems like it does better for bigger tanks, not nano's. The galaxia is mean, anything catches it's tentacle, it'll sting the crap out of them. When that happens, the zoos will transition in. For now. Here's a pic of them.

 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Steve,

Too bad about the plate coral, I knew he would be too big. They expand and are best suited for larger tanks. Keep to the fungi plate, they are more smaller and their colors awesome green or orange.

Mike
 
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dragon79

New Member
oh

here's an updated pic of the yuma. Looks like the white is turning yellow. It's coming around I believe. Should I be target feeding it with bio-plankton or is it mostly feeding by photosynthesis?

 
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dragon79

New Member
shrimp ID at last

i finally found out who the shrimpy is.

common name: Spiny shrimp
scientific name: Phyllognathia ceratophtalmus

I know that much now, but not sure of it's preferred diet or what it eats in general anyway. I just hope he's liking what i been dropping in there which have been cyclopeeze, mysis, flakes, and brine.
 
djconn

djconn

New Member
It seems that a few of your 6 gal and shrimp pics are down. Any chance you could fix it. Tank is looking nice. Where'd you pick up the 6 gal cube?
 
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incysor

New Member
I'd try target feeding the yuma. Just a little cyclopeze or golden pearls.
I'd try to keep a bit of iodine in your system as well. It certainly looks better than it did. I had my pink brain nearly bleach out all the way like that once. I moved it down further in the tank and it totally recovered all it's color in a couple months. Hopefully your yuma will. They're really beautiful mushrooms.

B
 
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dragon79

New Member
djconn said:
It seems that a few of your 6 gal and shrimp pics are down. Any chance you could fix it. Tank is looking nice. Where'd you pick up the 6 gal cube?
Click to expand...
Yeah, basically since it's free hosting like tinypic, it has maintenace from time to time, but when it's done it displays back up automatically.

Anyway, as far as the 6 gallon, I met the God of customizing Nanocubes....Mr. Chris of Nanocustoms. He gave me a great deal. Very cool guy.
 
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dragon79

New Member
I spotted my oh so hard to find spiny shrimp today when i got home from work. he was chilling out on a piece of LR, so I didn't hesitate, and quickly fotographed a few dozen shots before I kept these two pics...

shot from far to show how small he his


award winning macro to show the detail :)
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Nice pick,

I'd keep a close eye on him over the weekend to see his eating behavior. He has the same body structure of the bumble bee shrimp that I purchased and had to take back.

Apparently most LFS will sell a new shrimp without knowing what it eats. I watched for days as my bubble bee would never eat anything whereas my other two shrimps, sexy and anenome would catch flakes and mysis.

So I do a major search online for hours until I find out they are in a subgroup of shrimp that feed from the tube feet of starfish, much like the harlequin shrimp, oh no!!!

So I watch him for the next couple days and he stays on the shell of my crocea clam. And he on occasion walks to the mantle then with his small pincers, picks at it, and my clam retracts her mantle.

I thought maybe, he's just being curious, but I watch the little dude for 1 week each day, and he does it over and over. Time to take him back.

When I look at yours, he looks just like the bubble bee shrimp, kid you not. So be careful and hopefully he will start eating prepared foods that you have, good luck....

Mike
 
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