JBJ 45 G Rimless Build (KCV)

[KC V.]

I've been mostly reading on this forum trying to learn as much as I can. I decided it's time for me to finally put in my own experience (I'm about a week behind, but I took a lot of notes and wrote a lot down during that time). I'm new to this hobby, and I decided to go for an all-in-one tank since I am uncomfortable with having an external sump and all the plumbing at the moment. 45 gallons AIO sounded like a great fit for me, and the JBJ was the right shape/price during a blowout sale. So here is what I ordered and I am going to try to catch up from my notes:

- JBJ Rimless Flat Panel 45 Gallon Tank
- JBJ 45 Gallon Tank stand
- AI Prime HD light (black) + flexible arm
- Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater (150 W)
- Hydor Aqamai KPS Wavemaker
- Autoaqua AWC + ATO system
- Tunze Comlime Reefpack 250 (because it was on sale for $20 more than the skimmer alone--emergency filtration probably)

With RO/DI and a few other items, here is all the boxes!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I've been mostly reading on this forum trying to learn as much as I can. I decided it's time for me to finally put in my own experience (I'm about a week behind, but I took a lot of notes and wrote a lot down during that time). I'm new to this hobby, and I decided to go for an all-in-one tank since I am uncomfortable with having an external sump and all the plumbing at the moment. 45 gallons AIO sounded like a great fit for me, and the JBJ was the right shape/price during a blowout sale. So here is what I ordered and I am going to try to catch up from my notes:

- JBJ Rimless Flat Panel 45 Gallon Tank
- JBJ 45 Gallon Tank stand
- AI Prime HD light (black) + flexible arm
- Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater (150 W)
- Hydor Aqamai KPS Wavemaker
- Autoaqua AWC + ATO system
- Tunze Comlime Reefpack 250 (because it was on sale for $20 more than the skimmer alone--emergency filtration probably)

With RO/DI and a few other items, here is all the boxes!

Looks like a great start! Welcome to R2R!

 

[SPR1968]

Well that all looks very exciting and welcome to R2R!

And keep up the pictures as we love pictures on here!

 

[._Z_.]

Welcome and looks like a Fantastic start! I went through the same thought process and ordered a jbj 45 for my first dive into reef keeping as well (though it’s likely an older model than yours). This is a great place to get help on anything.

Check your tank closely for scratches and cracks

 

[Bob Escher]

Here is what a four year old JBJ 45 gal looks like

 

[KC V.]

Welcome and looks like a Fantastic start! I went through the same thought process and ordered a jbj 45 for my first dive into reef keeping as well (though it’s likely an older model than yours). This is a great place to get help on anything.

Check your tank closely for scratches and cracks

Oh goodness, yes definitely. Luckily/unluckily when I opened the box of the first tank I received, I had the breakage problem in shipping.



However, this has been an experience in EXCELLENT customer service from some of the vendors and manufacturers. When I called Drs. Fosters and Smith, they had a replacement order issued within ten minutes and something on the UPS truck within 2-3 hours.

Already did a small water leak test with the replacement, and I was so happy.

Here is what a four year old JBJ 45 gal looks like

That is beautiful! I really hope I am able to have that sort of long-term success. I see a few items on my fishlist/wishlist (like the Firefish) sitting in your tank. Any tips for a new beginner, other than planning and patience?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Oh goodness, yes definitely. Luckily/unluckily when I opened the box of the first tank I received, I had the breakage problem in shipping.



However, this has been an experience in EXCELLENT customer service from some of the vendors and manufacturers. When I called Drs. Fosters and Smith, they had a replacement order issued within ten minutes and something on the UPS truck within 2-3 hours.

Already did a small water leak test with the replacement, and I was so happy.



That is beautiful! I really hope I am able to have that sort of long-term success. I see a few items on my fishlist/wishlist (like the Firefish) sitting in your tank. Any tips for a new beginner, other than planning and patience?

I went through three tanks before I got a usable one. Customer service from JBJ was excellent.

 

[KC V.]

So it was a busy, busy weekend getting everything up and running. The stand took me 2-3 hours just to get that right. ;Bored



But after that, I decided to get the AI Prime and the aquascape set up on Wednesday evening and glued together with cyanoacrylate. I decided on Caribsea LifeRock and Aragalive because of coloring and less chances for potential undesired hitchikers (sorry, I was up late one night watching too many Bristleworms).

And then fill-up! Phew, I knew it was going to take about 7-9 hours to make all the RO/DI and then overnight to dissolve the saltwater, but it still didn't register until I did it all.

Let the cycle begin! After reviewing many stories on this forum and a discussion with the spouse, we went with the Dr. Tim's route of adding ammonium chloride. The decaying shrimp in the middle of the living room wasn't acceptable since we have a lot of people coming in and out throughout the week and a few conference calls every week. So let's see how long this takes to cycle with a little bacteria from Drs. F&S.

 

[KC V.]

I went through three tanks before I got a usable one. Customer service from JBJ was excellent.

I agree. I really appreciate the understanding and the fast turnaround times!

 

[James Mikell]

The ai prime is a great light but depending on what corals you intend to keep it may be underpowered. You can always add a second ai prime to get better coverage later on. Looks great so far.

 

[KC V.]

The ai prime is a great light but depending on what corals you intend to keep it may be underpowered. You can always add a second ai prime to get better coverage later on. Looks great so far.

Thanks for the heads-up. I am thinking a mixed-reef long term, but will probably add a xenia and pipe organ first. What types of coral would need brighter light? Looks like I'll have to start saving for the long-term, but at least I have a target.

 

[James Mikell]

If you intend to keep any sps corals you will start to need more or better lighting. But for 99% of lps and soft corals you should be fine

 

[._Z_.]

The ai prime is a great light but depending on what corals you intend to keep it may be underpowered. You can always add a second ai prime to get better coverage later on. Looks great so far.

I agree with this. Just plan to add a second light down the road if you want any sps. One will probably be fine for soft coral on the bottom and many LPS mid to top of the tank. Best way to tell is with a PAR meter though

 

[KC V.]

Alright, so I've ended up doing five rounds of dosing ammonia to 2 ppm. Depletion of ammonia and nitrite is happening so fast that I ended up dosing at night, and testing in the morning and before dosing in the evening just to see what is going on in there. So since the ammonia (and NO2) is being converted to undetectable limits within 24 hours, it looks like the tank is cycled. I'm pretty impressed because when I saw the timeline on Dr. Tim's website, I thought there was no way my tank would cycle in 10 days (total tank cycling for me was 12, with two tests--still seems crazy but we'll stock extremely slowly in case adding 1-2 fish causes a large mini-cycle).

I have a huge water change in hand because nitrates are measured to be at 66 ppm, which leads to the question. If I calculated right, 1 ppm Ammonia should convert to 3.4 ppm NO3. If I added 5 x 2 ppm ammonia, I would expect my nitrate levels to be in the range of 34 ppm. This means there was probably another source of ammonia, which I did agree that the second dose of ammonia sat for 2-3 days > 3 ppm, nitrite/nitrate was being produced during this time. With live sand, dry rock, and a bacteria culture being the only other things I added but salt water, what would be a source of the additional ammonia (bacteria die off)?

 

[KC V.]

Alright, so I've ended up doing five rounds of dosing ammonia to 2 ppm. Depletion of ammonia and nitrite is happening so fast that I ended up dosing at night, and testing in the morning and before dosing in the evening just to see what is going on in there. So since the ammonia (and NO2) is being converted to undetectable limits within 24 hours, it looks like the tank is cycled. I'm pretty impressed because when I saw the timeline on Dr. Tim's website, I thought there was no way my tank would cycle in 10 days (total tank cycling for me was 12, with two tests--still seems crazy but we'll stock extremely slowly in case adding 1-2 fish causes a large mini-cycle).

I have a huge water change in hand because nitrates are measured to be at 66 ppm, which leads to the question. If I calculated right, 1 ppm Ammonia should convert to 3.4 ppm NO3. If I added 5 x 2 ppm ammonia, I would expect my nitrate levels to be in the range of 34 ppm. This means there was probably another source of ammonia, which I did agree that the second dose of ammonia sat for 2-3 days > 3 ppm, nitrite/nitrate was being produced during this time. With live sand, dry rock, and a bacteria culture being the only other things I added but salt water, what would be a source of the additional ammonia (bacteria die off)?

Before adding Dr. Tims, I did test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate with the saltwater, sand, and dry rock. All were 0 ppm.

 

[Bob Escher]

This is a new tank don’t plan on adding anything for a few more weeks just to be safe. You have a Long way to go. I also have a JBJ 45. I waited three months before I added any fish although I had fish in QT.
BUT YOU have a great start and it’s looking GOOD. And I agree start saving up for another Prime.

 

[KC V.]

Alright so weekend update. I really enjoyed working with Tunze's customer support when I was setting up because they were really great at emailing during their business hours, and they even Skyped with me to troubleshoot the skimmer. The main problem was that there is some sort of part in the impeller setup that was installed with the wrong frequency, so the impeller could not produce enough power to spin in the tank. They sent me a replacement skimmer that I installed this weekend, so it's microbubbles galore for a little while until after the breaking in period. But I am really impressed with the turnaround time and how easy replacing this part was, so a big shoutout to Roger at Tunze in Austin for his help with this!

Did a large water change to get the nitrates down to reasonable levels. I think my high level may have also been an issue with a near-bounds, but I do struggle with reading the API nitrate and phosphate tests compared to some of the others so we know what's on my wishlist. However, Ammonia & nitrite are now pretty much always zero, phosphate snuck up to 0.1, nitrates are at 7 ppm for now (still feeding the bacteria so they don't die), and everything else (dKH, Ca, Mg, pH) is within decent parameters. So we'll continue running the tank this week, although since I am getting 0 ppm constantly, I am probably going to start running the NH3/NO2/NO3/PO4/pH tests less frequently (not daily) right now.

Went to the LFS and did some finalizing of the stocking list for the fish so that we know what we'll put in. Since they had two purple firefish, I put a deposit on those two cuties so they'll be sticking around and moving to the tank shortly (should have gotten a photo). I am still trying to finalize the items for a 10G QT setup, but I'll write about that in the next post--need to get to work shortly.

Have a great week!

 

[KC V.]

Alright, so finally the push to get the fish won out over being able to hold back. Honestly it was because the other half was tired of looking at the "empty box of water", especially since levels were stable. Honestly I didn't mind it, and sometimes the explanations of why I have an empty aquarium in the living room to other people was entertaining.

But the fire fish were brought home last night. Looks like these are two healthy specimen, but of course after the trip home and the acclimation period they were ready to just disappear into the tank. This morning they were poking their heads out of their appointed spot until I threw a little food in. Then they came out and explored a little bit more before going back inside their hole. But it looks like I'm back on daily test duty for a little while to see how the tank responds to their presence.

Here is the stock list I wanted to get some feedback on. The order is the order I am thinking of adding them into the tank:
- Firefish (2)--already added
- Bangal Cardinalfish (would love 2, but one is probably more practical in case the are same sex)
- Basslet or chromis
- 2 clownfish
- 1 watchman/shrimp goby and the pistol shrimp

The tank water and walls are still pretty clear, so I'm waiting for a little more algae to build up before thinking about the cleanup crew. No need to get them in there and make them starve/compete for food. When I did change water this week, I noticed that the sifting the sand kicked up a lot of debris into the siphon and the bucket water was pretty cloudy (I started running the lights a little to figure out the AI software and scheduler this week). I've read that many people use their DT water to fill a QT, but this was way too cloudy. Will that clear up, or do you just skim water for QT off the top?

 

[Bob Escher]

I think your stocking list is fine, matter of fact I have two cardinal fish myself

 

[KC V.]

Nice, that's great to hear! So we finally have the QT set up and cycled (the light is coming Wednesday, but the rest is set up)!



It's a 10 gallon thank with a small Eheim heater, an air-pump controlled sponge filter (tip from R2R post while I was gathering info said to place the sponges into my sump >1 month before placing them in here--great tip), various plumbing PVC joints) and will have a simple LED light setup. Is this a good enough setup for adding fish? If I start placing coral/inverts into this QT once the fish are done, would you recommend adding sand?

Compared to the fishlist, I don't have as clear of a stocking list for the coral. So any suggestions/recommendations that you have for beginner corals that I could read up on and consider would be greatly appreciated!