Questions about the filtration setup in new NanoCube 6g.

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Abarnswell

New Member
Okay, I brought home my first NanoCube (6 gallon) this evening. It's very cool! :strip I love that moonlight feature. I put in 2 inches of live sand and filled it with conditioned marine water. I'll add live rock tomorrow, and then start testing, testing, testing.

My question is about the 3-stage filtration system.

The filtration system comes with:

- a sponge filter - in compartment #1
- a bag of small carbon pieces (in a mesh bag) - in compartment #2
- ceramic rings (in a mesh bag) - in compartment #2
- 5 bioballs (loose) - in compartments #2 and #3

Here are my questions:

Q1: The installation instructions say to REMOVE the bioballs and the ceramic rings if you're setting up a reef tank, in order to pervent the build-up of undesirable nitrate. Is that correct? I didn't expect that. I thought I would need the ceramic rings and bioballs.

Q2: The ceramic rings are in a mesh bag. IF they stay in there, should I remove them from the mesh bag, or leave them in there?

Q3: Most of the bioballs are in compartment #2, but one of them was in compartment #3. Did it fall in there accidently, or should it be in the third compartment (that's the compartment where the filtered water gets shot back into the tank through a little nozzle)?

Sorry for all these anal questions. I just want to do it right. Thanks for anyone's help! :thanks
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I would remove them as per the instuctions - live rock is your biofilter
 
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drty811

New Member
if your going to do a reef set-up i would take out the rings and balls like john said....but if your just going to do a fish only i would leave them in. the balls should be in the last chamber.

if you leave the rings i would take them out of the bag...leaving them in the bag, means that the bag is doing the filtering not the rings.

sounds like your off to a goo start...happy reefing
 
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Abarnswell

New Member
Thanks for the replies. I took out the bioballs and the ceramic rings. I love the look of the JBJ NanoCube, and it's quiet operation, but trying to work in the filtration area is a real pain. It's very difficult to get things in and out of the filtration chambers.... very tight fit. That's the only downside that I have experienced thus far with this tank.

The water is in and so is the live sand. I have to wait until tomorrow to get the live rock. The selection of LR available at my LFS sucks, but there's a huge distributer of marine livestock in my town that is open to the public, and they have AMAZING selections. I'm going there tomorrow to get some LR. Can't wait!!
 
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incysor

New Member
You can add things like carbon, phosban, or purigen in place of the bioballs, and ceramic rings.

Read through some of the threads on the guys using these in their cubes.

Welcome to the site.

B
 
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Master Er

New Member
I have a NC12Dx and I think the back chambers of the 6 are just the same....not sure though.....there are a dozen possibilities on what filtration you could use in your 6. I for one dont have anything in the back except a couple live rocks, probably a pound and a half and a bag of purigen....I've had less problems without the sponge in terms of nitrate readings. The fun part of having a NanoCube is modding it. Go through the threads, some modify their cubes heavily and some take the minimalistic approach.....first thing you'd want to do is improve the water circulation and add a surface skimmer...theres a thread where you could buy one or like what I did, I made it myself for 99 cents. Next mod would be the lighting, but that could wait since youre still cycling your tank.

Welcome to NanoTank :D
 
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