Hi guys, what a wonderful and informative site!
Though I'm not new to saltwater reefs I am completely new to nano's, no experience what so ever. My previous experience was a 200g reef which ran from 1987 to 1998. Sadly I had to abandon it due to moving and have not been active in the saltwater community since :cryb:
10 years of withdrawls later I can no longer resist and decided to take the plunge into nano's. Wow has the world of reefing changed!!!!
After much debate between the JBJ 28 HQI Nano cube and the Eco mini 28 hybrid, the eco mini won out even with the added expense. It's the wifes preference and we must appease the wife first or this whole venture is doomed to fail before even starting. :maitre
Link for the specs:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/3reef-radar ... 47475.html
The tank lighting will be a 150w halide
Skimmer is built into the tank and venturi based. The design of the skimmer looked effective but how effective it really is remains to be seen. If anyone has experience with this tank any input would be great.
The refugium I plan to have Chaetomorpha and mud. I've read both good and bad things about the mud so I'm a little iffy.
The tank will be in a room that gets between 80 and 90 degrees for 6 months out of the year. I'm planning on a JBJ 1/15hp Mini Arctica chiller. My alternate choice is the 1/15hp Prime Mini chiller.
My major concern with the Prime is the 300 to 600gph flow rate required vs Arctica's 110 to 160gph and finding a pump strong enough.
I MUST be able to fit the pump thru a 3in x 3.25in opening. I'm hoping a Maxi-Jet 1200 will be strong enough as it does fit the opening. The pump will need to pump 18in to the top of the tank, drop 40in down to the chiller and pump 40in back up to the tank.
To compensate for the lose of flow rate I plan on either 2x nano koralia or 2x koralia #1 on a wavemaker.
The load in the tank will be various mushrooms, polyps and zoa's, undecided on which cleaner crew still and 1 Manderine, for the first year. After a year some soft coral and maybe a hardy hard coral, undecided as well.
So after that long winded rundown my questions are as follows:
1) Will the maxi-jet 1200 be strong enough to run the chiller?
2) If not, any recommendation on other quality pumps that will fit thru a 3x3.25in opening and have sufficient flow?
3) Will the 1/15hp Mini Arctica rated for 40g be strong enough to handle the cooling requirement with the equipment and conditions mentioned above.
4) To mud or not to mud that is the question? What would I lose by leaving it out vs what will I gain having it in place?
5) Will 2 nano koralia be enough for good circulation or should I run with 2 koralia #1s on a wave maker and how will that effect the Manderine if at all?
6) How will a Manderine fair in that small of a tank with about 20 to 30 lbs of live rock? Option here is feeding live copipods into the refugium hopefully for some breeding and having a constant excess of copipods swept into the tank?
7) Lastly a good quailty accurate reasonably priced testing kit?
Any knowledge and info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for getting to the bottom of this post :award:
Though I'm not new to saltwater reefs I am completely new to nano's, no experience what so ever. My previous experience was a 200g reef which ran from 1987 to 1998. Sadly I had to abandon it due to moving and have not been active in the saltwater community since :cryb:
10 years of withdrawls later I can no longer resist and decided to take the plunge into nano's. Wow has the world of reefing changed!!!!
After much debate between the JBJ 28 HQI Nano cube and the Eco mini 28 hybrid, the eco mini won out even with the added expense. It's the wifes preference and we must appease the wife first or this whole venture is doomed to fail before even starting. :maitre
Link for the specs:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/3reef-radar ... 47475.html
The tank lighting will be a 150w halide
Skimmer is built into the tank and venturi based. The design of the skimmer looked effective but how effective it really is remains to be seen. If anyone has experience with this tank any input would be great.
The refugium I plan to have Chaetomorpha and mud. I've read both good and bad things about the mud so I'm a little iffy.
The tank will be in a room that gets between 80 and 90 degrees for 6 months out of the year. I'm planning on a JBJ 1/15hp Mini Arctica chiller. My alternate choice is the 1/15hp Prime Mini chiller.
My major concern with the Prime is the 300 to 600gph flow rate required vs Arctica's 110 to 160gph and finding a pump strong enough.
I MUST be able to fit the pump thru a 3in x 3.25in opening. I'm hoping a Maxi-Jet 1200 will be strong enough as it does fit the opening. The pump will need to pump 18in to the top of the tank, drop 40in down to the chiller and pump 40in back up to the tank.
To compensate for the lose of flow rate I plan on either 2x nano koralia or 2x koralia #1 on a wavemaker.
The load in the tank will be various mushrooms, polyps and zoa's, undecided on which cleaner crew still and 1 Manderine, for the first year. After a year some soft coral and maybe a hardy hard coral, undecided as well.
So after that long winded rundown my questions are as follows:
1) Will the maxi-jet 1200 be strong enough to run the chiller?
2) If not, any recommendation on other quality pumps that will fit thru a 3x3.25in opening and have sufficient flow?
3) Will the 1/15hp Mini Arctica rated for 40g be strong enough to handle the cooling requirement with the equipment and conditions mentioned above.
4) To mud or not to mud that is the question? What would I lose by leaving it out vs what will I gain having it in place?
5) Will 2 nano koralia be enough for good circulation or should I run with 2 koralia #1s on a wave maker and how will that effect the Manderine if at all?
6) How will a Manderine fair in that small of a tank with about 20 to 30 lbs of live rock? Option here is feeding live copipods into the refugium hopefully for some breeding and having a constant excess of copipods swept into the tank?
7) Lastly a good quailty accurate reasonably priced testing kit?
Any knowledge and info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for getting to the bottom of this post :award:
