wich nano to buy?
 

hello all!

i have been gone from the hobby for about a year now. well the bug started to bite again sooner then i thought it would. problem is i still have not moved, so i still cannot buy the bigger tank i was planning on buying.

i sold everything i had thinking that i would get a huge tank in the near future when we moved and now i find out we will be stuck here for a few more years. so i plan on buying a small tank to hold me over. here are my thoughts on what i want to buy as of right now.

oceanic biocube 29g HQI

or

jbj 28g intermediate LED

i really want the expert LED JBJ but i cant afford the tank right now and i still love MH lights.

i have been reading alot about both these tanks and i would like some input from other owners. i have never had LED lights before on a tank and just do not know enough about them to really jump into the JBJ tank without knowing what kind of corals i can have and exactly how the light looks in person. i have not seen the JBJ LED tank at any local stores either.

what kind of mods should i do to either of the tanks before i set it up?
what are the first things people are doing to these tanks?

i plan on getting a better skimmer down the line for sure, a power head (probably some sort of nano) and thats about as far as i have got so far. just need to figure out the cost of what i will be shelling out so i can get the wife to hop on board with the idea of a new tank. i am however only looking at these 2 tanks because of the price right now.

thanks for any input you can give to help sway my decision one way or the other. im really stuck on the fence between these 2 tanks and it is killing me :lol:

I dont think they are comparable. The 28w intermediate is a far weaker light then the grow anything HQI, so all depends on what you want to keep. More light = always better unless you are setting up an NPS tank.

If you want to compare 1-to-1 then it needs to be JBJ Advanced LED vs. Biocube HQI.

i understand the whole light difference, but i guess im more looking at the tank itself. the difference in cost between the advance LED and the HQI is what is hindering me to look into that tank right now. plus i need a stand so that is another thing i have to look into.

the intermediate LED tank is on sale with a free stand and the HQI is alittle bit more then the JBJ with a stand.

i do want to be able to grow corals or clams if i choose too, so HQI is a plus there. but i am not really going over board with the coral right now. its not going to be an SPS tank, but may have a few in the future if i go with the HQI tank.

if you havent noticed already, i am pretty undecided and think i would be happy with both for different reasons. anything the one has can be upgraded on the other tank for sure, but were do i want to start. i would think the biocube HQI would be the best place to start since the light is obviously better for growing alot of different things.

Why not pick up a used NC24 or BC29 and retrofit a LED kit into it?

I was in the same as boat as you are now a couple weeks ago. Decided to build a small set up to hold me down until I move out to a larger place. Bought a used NC12 with stand off a fellow member for $120. As you know, LEDs were just taking off a year ago, after some research I found all the cool retrofits and LED controllers now out there.

Currently the tank is cycling with an upgraded return pump(NJ900) and a Hydor Nano 240. I have a RapidLED kit on my way which should be enough to handle any coral, anemone or clam I would want. And also let me dial in any color combination. I have the Typhon LED Controller to dim the LEDs down as well as provide sunrise/sunset and even cloud/storm options. Also have an order from inTank coming in with filtration media to last me for a year. All in, I'm about $600. Your total will obviously be a bit higher because the larger tank sizes you are looking at.

With the HQI you might have to worry about temp issues, bulb replacement and also the higher electricity bill.

The Inter. LED NC won't provide enough, higher cost and you are also stuck with the 50/50 ratio of LEDs.

Anyway, just thought I'd make your choice a bit more difficult to make. Welcome back to the hobby.

:wave: thanks for that lol

Wish I was already in the market for a big tank, but im just trying to get by with something nice for the time being. I'm leaning more towards the hqi tank right now simply because the light.

my vote is for 38 gallon nuvo, thats what i have :)

I was also looking at the JBJ 28 intermediate led tank, is this enough light for LPS? I don't have to go SPS, but for the price of the advanced led tank I'd be better off getting a used cube & going w/ AI or Kessil for lighting.

my thing was i didnt want to put together a tank as of right now. i wanted everything to look stock and be a closed unit. otherwise i would be putting something together. my wife would also prefer this kind of setup, so thats what i have to get.

the advance LED tank would be nice but the price is alittle higher then i wanted to pay right now and not to mention i would have no control over the color of the tank. i like a bluer looking tank and with the HQI tank i can always put in a 20k bulb or the pheonix 14k wich i used to run in the past and love.

lastly being that i have never run LED's in a tank before i have no clue what it is capable of growing as far as corals. thats one of the reasons i made this thread along with the filtration difference. the only nano tank setup like these i have ever used was a 24g aquapod that i modded and it used none of the stock equipment at all.

Not being able to adjust the lighting on the LED tanks is one of the drawbacks I'm thinking about too, I like the fact that you can program the AI & the Kessil is not programmable but the color is adjustable. I want a little more blue in my tank too & don't want to go HQI & have to buy a chiller too. I was hoping to get an all in one so I could just be done with it but w/ all the research I've been doing on LED's lately it's making me rethink my decision. I may run over to the LFS this weekend & see what they think & what lights they're using.

I wouldn't get a jbj nano cube but that's just me. I'd rather buy a rimless cube and drill it or buy a pre-drilled reef-ready rimless cube and build a stand or buy something like a cabinet from home depot and then hang a light over the tank with some cables.

well lucky for me my house does not get too hot and the biocube HQI light is atleast not 1in from the water like the others i have seen. so the heat issue should not be bad. i am also going to make a lid to replace the glass that will be open but have a screen covering it all so i dont have any flying fish. that should solve any heat issues i have with the tank. my last nano tank was open top with a halide about 4in from the water and i had not heat issues with that either.

LED's would be great for me if i could adjust the color and have a dawn to dusk effect going on. i am seeing that i will have to do some mods to get the tank were i want it. but not so many if i go with the HQI tank.

if i was going to go this route then i might aswell wait and get a big tank when i move. but as of right now i can not get my bigger tank and can not hang a light were it will be set up.

i am just looking for something already together that i can maybe mod alittle to get were i want it. the more and more i look into it i think i have made my choice. i will either get the biocube HQI or find the extra money to get the advance LED JBJ. other wise i will just wait till we move to get a big tank.

The intermediate is great for Lps. I have frogspawn,montipora and pocilopora in mine, and they have been been doing great! The frogspawn has grown 4 baby heads in the last month since I bought it and it is thriving.

thank you for your input. i was curious when somebody would post up about what corals they have growing in this tank.

what do you think about the lights? how do they look? i guess color wise as well?

i have not seen one in person yet.

I love the lights for the most part. I only use 25 watts with the daytime 14k lights, and the moonlights have pretty good spread. while the label says that were are 14 watts, I'd say it's more of a 10k look. I still wouldn't do any sps or coral under these lights, as that might seem like a stretch; but for softies and lps, this is a perfect combination. Here are some recent pics I took!
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Thanks Jacsubi for your input & the pictures. Your corals are looking good!! I think I will have to seriously consider the intermediate LED cube. I don't have to do SPS, it was really just another option depending on the lighting I decided to go to. I am leaning towards an LPS tank w/ a few softies here & there.

This is going in the same room as an African Grey so I kind of wanted to stay away from the whole open top idea. Even with a screen I think the amount of feather dust will be more than I want to deal with & there's always the potential bird in the tank which will be as amusing to me as it was to my ex when she landed in his tv dinner & left footprints in the mashed potatoes lol.

Thanks for the pictures! Your tank is looking good. Wish I could see it in person.... Would make it slot easier for me. Do your corals glow under those lights? Do you get a shimmer like a halide? I heard people say you still get that shimmer.

The shimmer looks just as nice as any other typical setup I've looked at. The only other led source with much better shimmer would be the kessil. Also, I wouldn't say that the corals glow under these lights. It reminds me of a typical 10k setup where the corals look a little washed out. You could easily supplement with some actinic lighting, but as far as growth is concerned, I have been happy so far.

I say get a used cheap biocube and save that money for a cree led retrofit

im looking more to buy something complete and brand new that i dont have to mod too much. i know i will be modding the tank. but i dont want to spend alot of money modding it past the filtration needs.