Will's JBJ 28 Nano Cube Reboot

jwwoodjr

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I had to take down my JBJ 28 Nano Cube two years ago due to moving and now it's time to get it back going. I got rid of everything except the tank, stand, lights, powerhead, and controller. Last time it was setup I fought algae and had limited coral growth. I feel the main reason was neglect of maintenance on my part. The aquarium was in my kids' room and I didn't see it everyday. This time it will be setup in the dining room so neglect will not be an option. The other reason was impatience and trying to do too many things. I tried a HOB skimmer, NoPox, GFO, and other things I can't remember trying to control nutrients.

I am planning on keeping zoas, mushrooms, and LPS. I hope to maintain all levels and export nutrients with either weekly 10% or every other week 20% water changes.

Equipment
Controller: ReefKeeper Lite
Lights: NanoBox Reef Retro installed into the original hood
Return Pumps: Dual MJ 1200 pumps on a wave maker
Heater: Eheim 100 watt
Powerhead: Jaebo RW-4
ATO: Float switch tied to controller

Filtration
Sand: 20 lbs CaribSea Arig-Alive Special Grade
Rock: 20 lbs dry rock
Bio Media: Seachem Matrix in the sump
Carbon: BRS ROX
GFO: Hopefully none

Livestock Plan
2 x Clownfish
1 x Six Line Wrasse
1 x Yellow Watchman Goby
1 x Tailspot Blenny
1 x Cleaner Shrimp
Clean up crew
 
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jwwoodjr

jwwoodjr

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I got it wet two Saturday's ago and started the cycle using NH4Cl and Microbacter7. The ammonia has already started going down and nitrate going up. At the suggestion of my LFS I will allow it to cycle at least 4 weeks even if the ammonia and nitrite is gone.

aquascape.jpg
 
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jwwoodjr

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This past Monday we took a day trip to TN to get out of the house and pick up a pair of clownfish. We picked out a pair of SA Lightning Mochaccino clowns. They're in my QT tank under observation until the display tank is cycled. They're not the most photogenic and I'm not the best photographer so that explains the picture

Clowns.jpg
 
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jwwoodjr

jwwoodjr

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About a week and half ago I picked up a bicolor blenny and a six line wrasse. They went into QT and were eating well. Last night I went to feed and observe the fish and the wrasse was dead. I'm not sure what happened because the blenny seem fine. He's active, eating, and not as skittish as he was in the past. Hopefully the blenny is fine and nothing else happens but we'll see.

I'm still running no lights in my DT. My clowns seem happy and are eating fine. I added a cleaner shrimp who is also eating and hanging out in the rocks. I ordered a new wrasse and a clean up crew last night from TSM Aquatics that should be out of quarantine on 10/27. Once the new fish and CUC are scheduled to ship I'll turn on the lights.
 
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jwwoodjr

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Over the weekend I visited a new to me fish store in Greenville. I picked up three of the smallest hermit crabs I’ve ever seen and two zoa frags. One is Utter Chaos and the other is unknown. The Utter Chaos opened immediately but the other is staying shut. The one that won’t open will get another dip in Revive tomorrow after lunch if it won’t open.

I also got my nitrate and phosphate test kits. Nitrates are around 20 and phosphates are around .03. I was planning on doing weekly three gallon water changes but will bump it up to five gallons to try and get the nitrates down.
 

Chrisfish

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Welcome back to the salty side!! Nice looking tank. :)
 
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jwwoodjr

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Diatoms showed up this week so I picked up three astrea snails. I’ve got more snails coming with my order from TSM Aquatics so I’m just letting them try and keep it in check.

I picked a candy cane and purple tip hammer. Last time I couldn’t keep a candy cane happy but so far this one has full polyps and seems to be doing well.

Today is water change day. Nitrates are still at 25 after two gallons last week. I’m going to do five gallons for the next few weeks and see if they come down.

Here’a the latest full tank shot. I need to figure out how to take pictures of it.
CC826DC3-065B-4C68-AB23-9EFC9B4ABB47.jpeg
 
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jwwoodjr

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Last week my six line wrasse, snails and crabs arrived from TSM Aquatics. Everyone had settled in nicely. I got an emerald crab but he’s disappeared so I don’t know if he died or is just hiding.
My bicolor blenny is no longer hiding in the rocks and swims around even with me in the room. My water got cloudy last week. I’m not sure if it was bacteria I added UV and Filtered using a 100 micron filter and it cleared up. Hopefully next week I’ll make a trip to the LFS and get some new corals b
 
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jwwoodjr

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Im using the green monster 9w UV and water is clear. May want to add it

I added an Amazon special over the weekend and it seems to have done the trick. I was going to pull it out and only use as needed but I found an old timer and am thinking about running it for a few hours each night.
 

45ZoaGarden

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I’d slow it down on the corals. The tank is still super new and a bit unsteady for lps. Seeing new corals die is very frustrating. You should be fine with softies like zoas, they like dirtier water ;)
 

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Welcome back. It sounds like things are going pretty good. Some times we never find out why a fish or other live stock dies when other live stock is doing well. Considering your fish was new it probably was stress. Being captured, shipped, placed in a tank at the store, then placed in your tank could have just been to much for little guy. Good luck with your tank.
 
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jwwoodjr

jwwoodjr

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I’d slow it down on the corals. The tank is still super new and a bit unsteady for lps. Seeing new corals die is very frustrating. You should be fine with softies like zoas, they like dirtier water ;)

My plan is to go looking for a few new zoas. The two frags I added, including the one that wouldn't open, are adding polyps and appear to be doing well. The two LPS frags I added a few weeks ago are doing well but they were added as test frags.
 

45ZoaGarden

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My plan is to go looking for a few new zoas. The two frags I added, including the one that wouldn't open, are adding polyps and appear to be doing well. The two LPS frags I added a few weeks ago are doing well but they were added as test frags.
You should be good with zoas, just be cautious with lps because they tend to be quite a bit more sensitive to little changes compared to zoas
 
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jwwoodjr

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Last weekend I picked up more than I anticipated. I came home with 2 zoa frags, a mushroom, and a chalice frag from Advanced Aquatic Pets and two favia and an acan from Nemo's Reef. Nothing is too fancy and appears happy. I'll be mounting everything on the rockwork tomorrow during my weekly water change. Terrible iPhone pictures are below.

The last couple of weeks I've been working from home to appease my plant manager because he wants departments rotating out to prevent an entire management team from being sent home on quarantine. That's given me some quality time to observe my tank. I think this is the part that was missing last time because my wife was in school so I was Mr. Mom and didn't have time to just observe.

During my last round few rounds of water testing I've noticed that my nitrates are 5 - 10 ppm and phosphates are 0 based on my Salifert test kits. Since I'm feeding twice a day and nutrients are coming down I've cut my water change back to 2.5 gallons instead of 5 gallons.

And finally, my Emerald Crab showed back up yesterday. I guess what I pulled out was a molt.

Blenny 1.jpg unnamed (1).jpg unnamed.jpg
 
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jwwoodjr

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I haven't updated this in a while but things are going ok but now great. There has been no noticeable growth other than on the zoas. I think it's because of low pH and undetectable phosphates. I've started feed Reef Roids twice a week to help with the nutrients and if that doesn't help I've started thinking about dosing phosphates. I'm monitoring nitrates closely because I don't want them going up. My pH is 7.8 and I can't get it to go up. I've opened the windows some when I'm home but highs in the 50's don't allow for them to be open for long stretches. I'm looking for a small skimmer that will fit my tank just for air exchange reasons but I've struck out so far.

My chalice fell into some zoas and going against everything that the internet says it lost the battle. I'm not sure it will recover because I can see skeleton but who knows.

I think my bicolor blenny might be nipping at corals because I saw it nipping the chalice and a montipora I picked up to see how it does. I'm not convinced it's not just picking at algae on the chalice skeleton so it'll stay for now.
 
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