Just Got Gifted A 12g Nano-cube

Hi!

Exact model of the tank is a JBJ 12 Gallom Nano-Cube DX.

My dad was moving cross country and he found his old nano cube that he had set up around two years ago and he didn't have room to pack it correctly for the trip. So he gave it to me!

I got it home, have washed out the 3 compartments of the "filter" type thing. I washed out the old sand from the tank, scrubbed the Coraline Algae off the sides and it's currently air drying. The bulbs work, I've inspected it for micro-cracks, and the pump works all just fine.

I have barely gotten into fish keeping as a hobby and just have a small 10 gallon freshwater. But, being given such a nice and higher-ish end nano tank I thought I might try for a saltwater. But I have some dumb questions.

Does this tank have a protein skimmer? I know that I will need one and I'm unsure if it is equipped. If not how would I mount one?

Does this tank have any type of heating system? I don't see anything so I am unsure of how you would keep the tempartempe to normal saltwater temps. Like around 75. How would I?

Can this tank hold fish or is it unable. Mostly all of the saltwater fish I look at on this site has a minimum tank size of 30g. Would this mean it would purely be a liverock plus some coral if I have the right water parameters, flow, and lighting equipped for them? Or can this tank hold fish. 12g seems like a lot of room for fish so I was unsure of this. The one fish I really wanted was a clownfish. My dad used to have them when I was a kid and they bring back great memories.

Any helpful tips on setting up a saltwater tank would be great! I've read through almost all of the saltwater tank section on this website.

Thanks!

 

A skimmer always makes things a lot easier. If you plan on keeping coral then def invest in a skimmer. A 12 gallon tank is small so I would only go with something like a small goby and pistol shrimp combo such as red banded goby, dracula goby etc. If you do a clownfish only get one and no other fish. Ocellaris are the smallest so go with that. One helpful tip don't use old sand or live rock without really giving them a proper cleaning. Use ro/dI water for the tank. Saltwater really isn't much harder than freshwater unless you plan on keeping coral.

Also you will def need a heater

 

HI Congratulations on the nice gift.

Errmmm, hate to disagree, but no, you absolutely do not need a skimmer on a nano marine tank, even if you plan to have corals. I've been running a successful 20 gallon mixed reef for about a year and a half without one. You do, however, have to be careful with nutrient levels when corals are in a tank. You do not want nitrates to get very high and regardless of corals, phosphates are not your friend at any level above zero. Skimmers do help with nutrient reduction, but there are other ways of going about that as well.

I'm not familiar with your tank but did have a quick look on Google. Like many other AIO, (all-in-one), tanks, this one looks like you'll have at least 3 compartments in the rear sump area. You could, if you needed to, run a phosphate reducing media in there, like ChemiPure Blue Nano. You could also grow chaetomorpha macroalgae in a chamber back there, and this would mean you'd be running a refugium on the tank.

We may be getting ahead of ourselves though, because the first step in maintaining low nutrients is to stock lightly as far as bioload goes, and feed carefully to avoid excess. On our 20g, I did find that nitrates would get over 10ppm with a single fish eating every day and bi-weekly feeding of corals. So, we modified our HOB filter slightly, threw some chaeto inside, and put a plant light over it. As the chaeto grows, it uses up nitrates and eventually some needs to be removed to make room for more growth. This is nutrient reduction refugium style, and the tank now has 3 fish and a lot more coral being fed... nitrates stay at 0ppm, which is actually a little lower than I'd like.

You'll want the temp. of a tropical reef tank to be a little higher, around 78°F is good. You'll need a heater for this and it can also be placed in a rear compartment to keep the display a little cleaner. Cobalt Neotherms are very good heaters that maintain a constant temp with very little (if any) variations.

You could house a single fish in the tank. I would not get a clownfish as they are active little guys that eat a lot, so have a high bioload and need more room than your tank provides. I'd also recommend getting a bottom or rock dwelling fish that doesn't need all that much room. Pistol gobies, (they pair with pistol shrimp), firefish, smaller dottybacks (aggressive, but not a problem with a single fish), and smaller blennies would do. Of course, if a fish is unimportant, you could just stick with inverts. It should be noted that bottom dwellers and rock dwellers are fish that you just don't see as often as they don't spend a lot of time in open water.

My best tip for starting a nano saltwater tank is to read Nart's guide. This guy helped me become a successful reefer. It's a long one, but very thorough, which is great! It'll answer many questions you didn't know you had and will probably bring up more questions... which you can then post here and we will be glad to help.

Nart's Budget Nano Saltwater Guide For Beginners

Congratulations again, and welcome to the salty side!

 

HI Congratulations on the nice gift.

Errmmm, hate to disagree, but no, you absolutely do not need a skimmer on a nano marine tank, even if you plan to have corals. I've been running a successful 20 gallon mixed reef for about a year and a half without one. You do, however, have to be careful with nutrient levels when corals are in a tank. You do not want nitrates to get very high and regardless of corals, phosphates are not your friend at any level above zero. Skimmers do help with nutrient reduction, but there are other ways of going about that as well.

I'm not familiar with your tank but did have a quick look on Google. Like many other AIO, (all-in-one), tanks, this one looks like you'll have at least 3 compartments in the rear sump area. You could, if you needed to, run a phosphate reducing media in there, like ChemiPure Blue Nano. You could also grow chaetomorpha macroalgae in a chamber back there, and this would mean you'd be running a refugium on the tank.

We may be getting ahead of ourselves though, because the first step in maintaining low nutrients is to stock lightly as far as bioload goes, and feed carefully to avoid excess. On our 20g, I did find that nitrates would get over 10ppm with a single fish eating every day and bi-weekly feeding of corals. So, we modified our HOB filter slightly, threw some chaeto inside, and put a plant light over it. As the chaeto grows, it uses up nitrates and eventually some needs to be removed to make room for more growth. This is nutrient reduction refugium style, and the tank now has 3 fish and a lot more coral being fed... nitrates stay at 0ppm, which is actually a little lower than I'd like.

You'll want the temp. of a tropical reef tank to be a little higher, around 78°F is good. You'll need a heater for this and it can also be placed in a rear compartment to keep the display a little cleaner. Cobalt Neotherms are very good heaters that maintain a constant temp with very little (if any) variations.

You could house a single fish in the tank. I would not get a clownfish as they are active little guys that eat a lot, so have a high bioload and need more room than your tank provides. I'd also recommend getting a bottom or rock dwelling fish that doesn't need all that much room. Pistol gobies, (they pair with pistol shrimp), firefish, smaller dottybacks (aggressive, but not a problem with a single fish), and smaller blennies would do. Of course, if a fish is unimportant, you could just stick with inverts. It should be noted that bottom dwellers and rock dwellers are fish that you just don't see as often as they don't spend a lot of time in open water.

My best tip for starting a nano saltwater tank is to read Nart's guide. This guy helped me become a successful reefer. It's a long one, but very thorough, which is great! It'll answer many questions you didn't know you had and will probably bring up more questions... which you can then post here and we will be glad to help.

Nart's Budget Nano Saltwater Guide For Beginners

Congratulations again, and welcome to the salty side!

I didn't say he has to have one I just said it makes things easier especially if he's planning on keeping corals. Skimmers are def more effective on larger aquariums but I think it def wouldn't hurt on a nano reef especially for a beginner. But +1 on the fish choices although I think he'd be able to get away with a single ocellaris if he wants to put in the work to keep it clean. I don't think space is an issue cause the one in my 32 spends almost all of his time guarding a small portiom of my tank and gets **** if I stick my hand too close. He doesn't venture too far from his territory. The. bioload might be though to keep up with cause clownfish do eat like pigs, so a smaller less active goby is a better option.

 

The problem is that nano-skimmers are marginal in terms of their effectiveness. An in sump skimmer on a larger tank is by far the most effective. On a 12 gallon tank a sump and skimmer add a needless degree of complexity and hassle that simply isn't needed (more equipment to clean and maintain). Weekly routine water changes, making sure you don't overfeed and getting a decent cleanup crew are the best methods for success in a tank that small. After learning from the mistakes of my 36 gallon, if I were to do a small tank again, I would keep it as simple as possible.

 

Jesterrace said it best. After posting the comment above, I realized I neglected to mention that nano or HOB skimmers just don't have the best reputation. Most of my reefer friends that have tried them out did not continue to use them, so that says a lot to me. If it doesn't do the job, well, it's definitely not worth the price or the hassle of maintaining it.

If you plan on keeping coral then def invest in a skimmer.

Hi. I just wanted to say that I truly mean it when I say I don't like to disagree. I believe that there is something to be gained from everyone's different experiences, so try to only disagree when I believe the advice might deter the asker from trying. There are a lot of myths surrounding the salty side of the hobby, and I've seen too many say that reefing isn't worth it due to the cost and maintenance that goes into equipment, or it just being too hard. That's a personal choice, of course, and personally, I don't believe it to be true. The thing that I like to share the most is that reefing does not have to be incredibly hard and that it can be done on a budget. So, I'd ask your forgiveness if my previous post came off as a personal attack,ops: as that is never my intention.

 

stella1979 Thank you tons for the information!

When I was cleaning out the tank after I got it home I found some weird algae looking stuff in the middle compartment of the filtration system in the back. I asked my dad and he said he used Green String Algae in it. I've seen a lot of users recommend Chaetomorph Algae as a sump plant. (Am I using sump incorrectly? Is it a refugium? I am a little confused!) He said he used it to absorb bad chemicals? Or maybe bad things in the water. I'm not entirely sure of how that would work. Could I use this middle compartment section for that? And what algae would be better?

Thank you tons!

 

Not sure what Green String Algae is, but chaeto is indeed stringy. Was it sort of stiff and wiry or soft and mushy? Green Hair Algae, (gha), is mushy and something we work to avoid growing in our tanks via a good clean up crew and nutrient reduction methods. Cheatomorpha is stringy and a type of macroalgae that is not often considered a nuisance like gha. When space is allocated in a sump to grow chaeto, this is what is referred to as running a refugium and is a form of nutrient reduction. Nutrients like nitrates. Chaeto reduces nitrate levels by using it as food for growth. The chaeto will grow until you need to make space for more, so you would remove some of the chaeto and leave some behind for more growth. Ultimately, you are taking the nutrients out of your tank when you remove chaeto because just like it removes nutrients for growth, it will release them if left to die in your system. No worries though, it doesn't die easily with a little care.

The rear compartments in your tank are often referred to as a rear sump or just AIO filtration compartments. You can absolutely use one of them as a refugium, but there's a question on how you would light it. Can you place a plant light above or behind the compartment so the light would shine through on to the chaeto? I wonder how your Dad was doing it...? I'm not familiar with your tank, but know that Innovative Marine AOI tanks have a black film on the back that can be carefully cut and peeled away, opening a window that allows light to shine through from the back of the tank. If there's room over the tank, (which I'm unsure about given the hood style lid), you can also light it from above. Speaking of the lid, does the tank have original lighting?

Some people grow ornamental types of macroalgae to have a nicer looking refugium. Search Dragon's Breath, Flame Algae, Flamingo Feather Algae, and Gracilaria if you'd like to see some of these prettier types. Green String Algae may just be a term for chaeto that I've never heard before. Anyway, there are lots of kinds of macroalgae and to display nicer ones would be nice, but for a regular old fuge that's mostly hidden, chaeto is the one to go with. Unlike some of the ornamental types, it's easy to care for and grows fast.

 

Hello and nice to see another 12g nano cube. My current cube is a 12g nano dx jbj also. I personally do not use anything in the rear Chambers except a heater on the third one. Some live rock ruble, and a couple small packs of chemipure blue. With 20% wcs everyweek are more than enough to get nutrient export out. From my understanding and research All the skimmers I have seen for this size tank do not work very well. I use a 100 watt tetra heater which cost me around $15.

I keep one clown fish in my tank, 2 hermits, 2 trochus snails, 2 turbo snails , 3 nassarius snails and 7 rock flower anemones.

The bulb lights need to be replaced every 6-9 months for good lighting to corals. There a bit costly at $20+ a bulb. I ended up removing my top and putting a led light.

The pump that comes with the tank is a little weak and only pumps 106gph so you may want to get a power head.

The tank is a solid tank enjoy it and welcome to the salty side of aquariums

 

Hello and nice to see another 12g nano cube. My current cube is a 12g nano dx jbj also. I personally do not use anything in the rear Chambers except a heater on the third one. Some live rock ruble, and a couple small packs of chemipure blue. With 20% wcs everyweek are more than enough to get nutrient export out. From my understanding and research All the skimmers I have seen for this size tank do not work very well. I use a 100 watt tetra heater which cost me around $15.

I keep one clown fish in my tank, 2 hermits, 2 trochus snails, 2 turbo snails , 3 nassarius snails and 7 rock flower anemones.

The bulb lights need to be replaced every 6-9 months for good lighting to corals. There a bit costly at $20+ a bulb. I ended up removing my top and putting a led light.

The pump that comes with the tank is a little weak and only pumps 106gph so you may want to get a power head.

The tank is a solid tank enjoy it and welcome to the salty side of aquariums

We might still talk stuffing some stuffing chaeto in one of your AOI chambers xiholdtruex . Just wait until you're feeding all those critters PLUS the corals. I could have you covered for chaeto too... (this guy and I are almost neighbors folks)... but eeek, I got the tank free of aiptasia, but never made sure the chaeto was. I can throw some in qt anytime to check though if you find you need some.

I'll gladly share chaeto with anyone non-local too if they'd be willing to pay for shipping. The reason I offer mine even though I'd have to check it for pests is that the chaeto I first bought at an LFS was pretty thick stranded and very stiff/breakable. The stuff didn't grow, AND it's what originally brought aiptasia (evil little pests!) into my tank!! Don't trust just any old chaeto and be careful with anything you add to your tank. Cheato is perfectly capable of transferring pests and disease, and it also just seems there are different varieties and some grow better than others. I threw away that first batch of chaeto and bought more from a fellow reefer right here on Fishlore. I trust this guy completely and knew there wouldn't be pests. When it arrived it was obviously different than the first, as this stuff had fine strings and wasn't so stiff and breakable. Breakage is a problem, as little pieces of chaeto escaping the fuge and flying around the tank is not a good look. Anyway, didn't mean to turn this into a rant, just want to warn folks that not all cheato is created equal.

 

We might still talk stuffing some stuffing chaeto in one of your AOI chambers xiholdtruex . Just wait until you're feeding all those critters PLUS the corals. I could have you covered for chaeto too... (this guy and I are almost neighbors folks)... but eeek, I got the tank free of aiptasia, but never made sure the chaeto was. I can throw some in qt anytime to check though if you find you need some.

I'll gladly share chaeto with anyone non-local too if they'd be willing to pay for shipping. The reason I offer mine even though I'd have to check it for pests is that the chaeto I first bought at an LFS was pretty thick stranded and very stiff/breakable. The stuff didn't grow, AND it's what originally brought aiptasia (evil little pests!) into my tank!! Don't trust just any old chaeto and be careful with anything you add to your tank. Cheato is perfectly capable of transferring pests and disease, and it also just seems there are different varieties and some grow better than others. I threw away that first batch of chaeto and bought more from a fellow reefer right here on Fishlore. I trust this guy completely and knew there wouldn't be pests. When it arrived it was obviously different than the first, as this stuff had fine strings and wasn't so stiff and breakable. Breakage is a problem, as little pieces of chaeto escaping the fuge and flying around the tank is not a good look. Anyway, didn't mean to turn this into a rant, just want to warn folks that not all cheato is created equal.

I have seen people take a razor blade and remove the middle section of the rear black cover and put a light on the rear and Chaeto in the center chamber.

stella1979 eventually down the line I want to either repair the rear Chambers because they are beggining to detach. Or remove them entirely and make the aq refugium

So it is a option for them to think about