Dubbin1
04/25/2011, 01:23 PM
After being in the hobby for several years and going through a few different tanks I started to get bored with the hobby. I figured a down grade and less maintenance would be just the thing to get me interested in the hobby again.
After picking up a 29g AGA and deciding its just not what I wanted I got to thinking about the all in one tanks. A quick trip to the LFS and seeing the NC CF I fell in love with the new idea. The only thing holding me back was the price of $459.99 for the tank. I liked it but I didn't like it for that price. I decided to come home and and post a few want ads on the local club forums. The next day I had a response with someone less than 30 minutes away offering me a NC HQI with stand for $250!!! One day later it was in my car and on the way home with me.
I have had about 100lbs of LR cooking in tubs for over a year now so the night I picked the tank up I had it setup with sand, good clean LR and saltwater. After going through 100+ lbs of LR I found a few nice pieces that would give me what I was looking for. Now the search was on for ways to improve the tank. After a bit of searching on nano-reef.com I decided I had to have one of Brads (Urbaneks) media baskets and ordered one the next day.
I pretty much figured I would be having heat issues with the tank so I monitored the temps every hour throughout the day and kept notes. After watching the temps go from 75.6° up to 81° I knew I had to figure something out. To my surprise the first thing I tried was the answer to the heat problems. I placed a heater in the tank, set it to 78°, took a small fan I had on an old frag tank and pointed it to the sump area of the tank. The next day I started my testing again and recording every hour. After 12 hours I had less than a 1° temp swing. Heat problem SOLVED!!! I am pretty happy about that because I really didn't want to buy a chiller as the hood fans already make more noise than I was hoping for.
One other thing that really surprised me was the amount of evaporation I was having, 1/2g a day. Needless to say I will be ordering a JBJ ATO this week to combat the evaporation.
Plans for this tank is to put my pair of black clowns and yellow watchman goby in it and probably a little red scooter blenny (wife loves them). I may pick up a Randalls pistol shrimp to go with the watchman but I am undecided on that. The wife isn't crazy about them as the last one would scare the crap out of her every time it snapped... For corals I will be going with mainly zoas, blastos, acans and a select few SPS but I'm sure a few others will find their way into the tank. We have a frag swap coming up next week and if everything looks good (pretty sure it will) by that time I will be picking up some zoas. An old friend of mine owns a LFS here in town so I have already been there and put a few corals on hold until I'm sure the tank is ready. All corals introduce into the tank will be dipped in Coral RX as I have heard good stuff about it. Plus they have a cool cartoon on their site :)
Anyway enough of my blabbing and onto what I am coming from and moving into.
Here is my 75g in its prime.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/dubbin1/75gtank.jpg
And here is the 28g Nano Cube HQI
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/dubbin1/Nano%20Cube/IMG_3686.jpg
I really think the smaller tank is going to be the answer to getting me back to being excited with the hobby again.
After picking up a 29g AGA and deciding its just not what I wanted I got to thinking about the all in one tanks. A quick trip to the LFS and seeing the NC CF I fell in love with the new idea. The only thing holding me back was the price of $459.99 for the tank. I liked it but I didn't like it for that price. I decided to come home and and post a few want ads on the local club forums. The next day I had a response with someone less than 30 minutes away offering me a NC HQI with stand for $250!!! One day later it was in my car and on the way home with me.
I have had about 100lbs of LR cooking in tubs for over a year now so the night I picked the tank up I had it setup with sand, good clean LR and saltwater. After going through 100+ lbs of LR I found a few nice pieces that would give me what I was looking for. Now the search was on for ways to improve the tank. After a bit of searching on nano-reef.com I decided I had to have one of Brads (Urbaneks) media baskets and ordered one the next day.
I pretty much figured I would be having heat issues with the tank so I monitored the temps every hour throughout the day and kept notes. After watching the temps go from 75.6° up to 81° I knew I had to figure something out. To my surprise the first thing I tried was the answer to the heat problems. I placed a heater in the tank, set it to 78°, took a small fan I had on an old frag tank and pointed it to the sump area of the tank. The next day I started my testing again and recording every hour. After 12 hours I had less than a 1° temp swing. Heat problem SOLVED!!! I am pretty happy about that because I really didn't want to buy a chiller as the hood fans already make more noise than I was hoping for.
One other thing that really surprised me was the amount of evaporation I was having, 1/2g a day. Needless to say I will be ordering a JBJ ATO this week to combat the evaporation.
Plans for this tank is to put my pair of black clowns and yellow watchman goby in it and probably a little red scooter blenny (wife loves them). I may pick up a Randalls pistol shrimp to go with the watchman but I am undecided on that. The wife isn't crazy about them as the last one would scare the crap out of her every time it snapped... For corals I will be going with mainly zoas, blastos, acans and a select few SPS but I'm sure a few others will find their way into the tank. We have a frag swap coming up next week and if everything looks good (pretty sure it will) by that time I will be picking up some zoas. An old friend of mine owns a LFS here in town so I have already been there and put a few corals on hold until I'm sure the tank is ready. All corals introduce into the tank will be dipped in Coral RX as I have heard good stuff about it. Plus they have a cool cartoon on their site :)
Anyway enough of my blabbing and onto what I am coming from and moving into.
Here is my 75g in its prime.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/dubbin1/75gtank.jpg
And here is the 28g Nano Cube HQI
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/dubbin1/Nano%20Cube/IMG_3686.jpg
I really think the smaller tank is going to be the answer to getting me back to being excited with the hobby again.