new to the hobby

L

lanespd200

Membership Expired
Purchased a nano cube 12, I have no idea what I am doing so any help is welcomed! :) I bought it used and apparently it has been modified in the back for a refugium (whatever thats supposed to do for me). It came with an upgraded hood (supposedly). As for a pump, will a maxi-jet 12 be too much or should I change it out for a 9?

I have had freshwater all my life and never bothered with a saltwater set up and want to try it. This small tank will stay in the bedroom, once I get a hang of it.....I will go bigger.

Thanks everyone.........
 
WELCOME! Your going to love saltwater. Its a lot of fun though challenging at times. My advice would be to read a lot and then read some more!

So have you set the tank up yet? Your gonna need some sand as well as some live rock to get things started. The best place to get live rock would be here in the for sale section. If I were you I'd get about 10-15 lbs of it and get started right away! Also I recommend you get the caribsea live sand from a petstore. It will help make the cycling process quicker. With such a small tank you can buy a 5 gallon container at walmart for $6 and fill it with salt water from a LFS for relatively cheap. Then you dont have to worry about mixing your own just yet.

If you need any help let me know. I live in Plano not to far away from you.
 
LOL, welcome John. Good advice from Dave, pretty much what I told you. After some thought I think the 1200 would be a good choice and is more readily avail locally than the 900. You can either split the output or put a rotating deflector on it. Good place here, lots of knowledgable and friendly people and all local. By buying stuff from people here I was able to set up my tank for a fraction of the cost it would have been if I bought everything from the aquarium shops. An additional benefit of getting live rock from someone here is that if it is from an established tank you can reduce and almost eliminate your cycle time. Meaning even if you have to wait 2 or 3 weeks until someone puts some up for sale your tank may be ready for livestock in 4 instead of 6.
 
First, welcome to DFWMAS! Dave gave you some great advice and IMO this is also solid advice:

" By buying stuff from people here I was able to set up my tank for a fraction of the cost it would have been if I bought everything from the aquarium shops."

I think it's important to support LFSs especially by buying livestock and food from them but if you're on a tight budget you can really save some money by buying used equipment on the sell/trade boards or through group buys. It's also a good idea, if you are looking to buy new equipment, to check out online retailers like aquacave.com, marinedepot.com, and premiumaquatics.com. There are many others. Those are just some mainstream ones that come to mind.

I definitely wish I had found this site earlier than I did. Please ask as many questions are you need to. Everyone here is usually more than happy to help.
 
Welcome to Nano World. I also have a NanoCube 12g (however it's sitting empty now). But when it was running I upgraded the standard pump to a MaxiJet 900 and then switched back to the regular pump. For my setup it worked better. I did try the MaxiJet 1200 and was just too much flow. However, if I were to use the Hydor Reflector then I would want the larger pump as the Hydor tends to reduce the flow somewhat. How exactly did they "modify" the back for a refugium? Did they say they kept just "rock rubble" back there or did they have a place for a light so you could keep macroalgae? Because if you're using the hood there won't be any light shining into that back area. Most refugiums are separate areas or tanks that hold macroalgae like Chaeto. These macroalgae take in nutrients from the water and such as nitrates. In these smaller tanks it's nice to have but not necessary, you just have to keep up with regular water changes to reduce the nitrates and organics in the tank. What is the total wattage of the lights in the hood? There are different upgrades to the NanoCube. JBJ only offers the Deluxe hood replacement which puts two power compact flourescent bulbs in the hood. Where companies like Nano Customs offer different upgrades with more lighting options. The amount of light you have going in the tank will dictate the type of corals you can keep. There is a ton of info on this site and you can see how others have kept their small tanks... along with any issues and how they've been resolved.
 
@debdp wrote:
Welcome to Nano World. I also have a NanoCube 12g (however it's sitting empty now). But when it was running I upgraded the standard pump to a MaxiJet 900 and then switched back to the regular pump. For my setup it worked better. I did try the MaxiJet 1200 and was just too much flow. However said:
Wow, good information and questions. :)

If you wanna get rid of your 12g, let me know......haha! The back has a place where I can place a light into it for macroalgae, according to them anyway but it does look like I can. I was told to also use the rubble rock for filtering. I do think I want to get a maxi12 for a pump, so I will probably use that. The hood that I have, I am not sure exactly what makes it different but will find out......you have me curious now.

Thanks for the info and everything............
Click to expand...
 
I know it is not much but I was excited on how well it started to look. I bought a used tank and was very happy so far. I have more items coming that I have ordered so this is just the beginning. I am very green to this whole saltwater thing.....I was going to get more rock and I have the wave makers and etc coming! I chose black live sand and really like it, once the wave maker stuff comes in I will straighten everything out. :)

Well, I just learned that I may have a leak.....it is so small but still it is a leak. I am talking about that you barely notice it but I don't want to keep wiping water off. They told me that they do not take refunds on used equipment SO I don't know what to do! Any suggestions?

100_2268.jpg
alt="">
100_2271.jpg
alt="">
 
Welcome,

I'm sorry to hear you may have a leak, that was a crappy response from a store imo. A tank you just purchased should not leak, I had the same thing happen to me, but on a 130G tank. I was able to reseal it and it's been holding water for a couple of years now. :) You need to figure out quickly where the leak is coming from in case you have to get everything out and into bucket's, while you reseal it. :D

Cheers,
 
The tank looks great John, I really like the black sand, I may put some of it in mine, although not sure how it would look mixed with white. It will definitely hide algae and may look kind of cool if you ever have a red hair algae problem.
NC's response was kind of crappy. I understand not wanting to warranty used equipment but when a retail store sells a used item I would expect they would guarantee the basic functionality of it and a leaking tank is not functioning, IMO. Either stand behind what you sell, new or used or don't sell used stuff. Its not like you were coming back 11 months after the sell because a leak developed wanting them to warranty it, it was within a few days as soon as you got water in it.
 
@rdrdrdave wrote:
The tank looks great John said:
You are right.......his response was quick and not thinking of it for a bit. They did give me the plumbing hose for it and it did not work so I had to get one for myself. Oh well......part of the learning process. Did you find your shrimp Dave?
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top