Tsunami35

I currently have two fw tanks, and im seriously considering starting a sw. Im looking at nano cubes because of the smaller size and self-contained features. I realize that the smaller tanks can be more challenging. Does anyone have experience with these tanks, specifically this one:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...6&pcatid=13976

Also, how important is ro/di water when doing water changes with saltwater? Is it possible to use treated tap water? how much more work is a salt water tank than a freshwater?

Thanks

GreenMan13

Some people have used treated tap water. I think it usually ends up creating more algae though do to the phosphate levels in tap water.

Trio123

If you plan on having corals, tap water is a bad idea. You can usually buy RO/DI water from aquatic stores too if you dont want to have a system. The phosphate can get high enough to be deadly to corals not just causeing algae problems. City water also has lots of random stuff in it that can sometimes fluctuate (if they are cleaning thier systems there may be higher amounts of chlorine for example, nitrates can shoot up, ect.)... I just wouldnt trust it for a saltwater reef system.

I dont have any experience... but you know the smaller the tank the less room for error. 30 to 50 is what most people recommend for beginners at saltwater. But I dont think it is a terrible idea either... I plan to start with a saltwater nano tank myself, so it's all up to how crazy you wanna be :P

Tsunami35

if you use ro water do you need to add any type of buffering agents or just salt?

Trio123

You need to buffer it. The RO process makes the water acidic. SeaBuffer or baking soda should do fine. Just dont forget that you use fresh buffered RO for filling evaporated water! One of those silly little things that everyone forgets and thier salinity starts to sky rocket and they dont know why

andywe

I looked at the Aquapod system and for cost reasons went with the JBJ. The JBJ was more cost effective and since I have a cat the lid was really a necessity. Plus the current promo has the stand for free.

I can say that this is the first salt system I have run in 15 years, and am running this nano as a reef tank at that. Things have certainly come a long way and it is much easier now than before.

I did use tap water, teated it with a good water treatemtn, and used a good salt mix. I like the Oceanic as it dissolves readily. My Municipality does not dose the water heavily, although with all the limestone I buffered it for a week before adding my first small damsels to seed the tank.

Suggestions for a small tank set up for your tank size is:

20 lbs of good live sand. The bag should actually have some visible water in it (fresh). Go with the sand rather than the larger aragonite. You want an average of 2" of sand (there are several schools of thought around this, but with the nano sysyem and a good carbon bag the anrobic bacteria can thrive in the pump area)

Get a hydrometer Specific gravity counts. shoot for 1.023 to 1.024 (Oceanic salt mix does this very well, where my experience with Instant Ocean was a little more varied).

Di-Chlor worked really well as a conditioner for me Other option is purchase your water.

Small 39-50w heater Even though on the JBJ the lights keep the water close to temp, a small heater has helped me through when the A/C was on, or when it gets cold out.

Set the tank up with the sand, water and salt mix and get your pump going. Let it run for a few days without the protein skimmer. Then run a few days with the skimmer. Then after it has settled out, check for PH, Salinity, and Phosphate. If all are good, add either some small live raock, a few small fish (damsels), or use an alternate method to jump start your tank.

I used 2 small damsels with a pouch of Bio-Spira and it worked really well. My tank cycled in 9 days.

I hope this helps!

Wolfgang8810

I have that exact tank the 24 gallon aquapod with the metal halide lights. It is wonderful. I have never had a problem with the tank itself. When the stock aquapod hood was on it the waster got a little warm for my corals liking but since i moved to the MH the temp has been down 2-3 degrees from evaporation. I really like the tank adn i would reccomend it to anyone but remember it is an acrylic tank and make sure you get an acrylic safe glass scrubber. Here is a picture of my tank.

Attached Images

FTS.JPG (152.2 KB, 13 views)

andywe

Thats a sweet looking tank Wolfie!! I did n't know the aquapod was Acrlyic. Im not a fan of Acrylic, as it scrathces too easy for my taste. The JBJ is glass and I jsut like it better for the scratch factor.

Either way, small Nano's can do very well :-)

Wolfgang8810

what i was told is it is made of a material that is harder than acrylic but softer than glass. if your are careful you wont end up with scratches but i agree that the acrylic scratches too easily. I dont have any major scratches yet knock on wood lol

Trio123

Those units are really nice but what do you do when something breaks? Do you have to replace the whole unit?

Also is the surface skimming as effective as other skimmers?

Tsunami35

One of the things that im worried about it operating costs, mainly electricity. With the MH system on the aquapod system, how much does it cost per month electrcity wise? My 30g knocked up my bill a bit already and im worried about that...

Thanks for all the posts

andywe

On the nano's, there is debate over whether you need MH. I am running reef and it does jsut fine with the T-5's as the depth is not great. MH is more for the bigger tanks that the light can penetrate the depth. T-5's have plemty of power at over 30w for a 24-34 gallon Nano, unless you are running some very difficult coral or invert that has to have MH. The t5's also run hot enough toa dd wrmth to the water, but not so much that you need a cooler.

As for repair, on the JBJ the pump and nozzle are replaceable. The tank itself is a 1 piece, and the divider fixed in. I wouldn;t imagine cracking the divider. The hood is replaceable as well.

Wolfgang8810

in the aquapod it has a removable pump in the back chamber if you need to clean it. as for surface skimming i removed all of the blue sponge and bio balls in the abck chamber and cut the sponge into a 1 inch thick piece that sits at the water level. the bio balls and extra sponge end up being a nitrate factory and you will hate them. my tnak has been up for 6 months and my params are

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrAte 0
phosphate 0
calcium 480
alk 160
sal 1.026
ph 8.2
temp 80

Trio123

Sounds like it works well without a skimmer then. Cool.

Wolfgang8810

yesit does just dont over stock and keep up wuth water changes. but most of all GO SLOW. i diddnt add fish for 2 months

Martinismommy

This tank is amazing.....I'm in Awwwwwwwwww