Set up of my JBJ 24G Nano Tank

[blueclown]

Hi bros,

Now in the midst of setting up my JBJ 24G tank, and need a lot of advices from bros here. Thanks in advance.

Here are some info of my tank:

- The fitration compartment, I put white wool on top and using carbon at bottom of the tank.

- My return pump, Eheim 600, is placed at the right compartment.

- The pump is connected to the chiller, Resun CL-280.

- Wavemaker is Hydor Koralia nano 900L/h.

1) Is my fitration sufficient, not sure workable or not? I read from the forum, thinking to get a biohome.

2) Only one pump in my whole system, is this correct?

3) Is Eheim 600 powerful enough? Or Eheim 1000 better? Because the pump need to pump the water to chiller and then from chiller to the tank again.

4) Going to cycle the tank soon, thinking to use 40% NSW water & 60% mixed salt water, is this alright?

5) One wavemaker enough? do i need to get another one?

6) No skimmer at this moment, people told me small tank not necessary, just change water weekly. Any other suggestion? or i need to get a skimmer?

7) Do i need to modify the light, or just keep it original?

Thanks a lot for your inputs, have a nice day...

[vidextreme]

IMO protein skimmers is still needed in this setup. Protein skimmers helps to collect small solid waste that can pass through other mechanical filters. These solid wastes are somewhat slower to breakdown. This also is helps through good gas exchange because of aeration and aggitation inside the protein skimmers. Plus, you also need to consider that there will be some weeks that we reefers are just too busy or too lazy (more on the latter ) to do water changes.

Currently, I have a Boyu TL-450 15gallons nano reef. I replaced the stock protein skimmer with a Boyu WG-310 which fits inside the in-tank refugium/sump at the back similar to your tank (I think).

I think you also need to consider to add a phosphate filtration (I use SeaChem Phosguard in a net bag) after the activated carbon filter. Carbon filters sometimes leak phosphates so this helps absorbs that before it gets into your main display.

Also consider to add a bio filteration (bacteria that transforms ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) by adding SeaChem Matrix or any other products that supports prolifiration of these helpful bacteria. These products are actually just porous rocks and works like live rocks which houses these good bacteria. You may add this in a any stage of your filtration. (what I did is I put them also in a net bag and placed it after the protein skimmer).

RE: wavemaker, it all depends on the tank, live rocks and corals layout if its not blocking the water current too much. Also consider that each of these pumps increases your overall temperature.

RE: lights, not much I can help you with because I'm new to reefing (not with marine fishes though). But I only use the stock lighting 2x18W Blue/White compact fluorescent.

Lastly, not all tanks are the same. So what works for me or others, may not work for you. I suggest you just slowly add things to your tank. Only add things when you're sure that you need them. Not unless your filthy rich which if thats the case, just fo crazy. hhehehehe

[blueclown]

IMO protein skimmers is still needed in this setup. Protein skimmers helps to collect small solid waste that can pass through other mechanical filters. These solid wastes are somewhat slower to breakdown. This also is helps through good gas exchange because of aeration and aggitation inside the protein skimmers. Plus, you also need to consider that there will be some weeks that we reefers are just too busy or too lazy (more on the latter ) to do water changes.

Currently, I have a Boyu TL-450 15gallons nano reef. I replaced the stock protein skimmer with a Boyu WG-310 which fits inside the in-tank refugium/sump at the back similar to your tank (I think).

I think you also need to consider to add a phosphate filtration (I use SeaChem Phosguard in a net bag) after the activated carbon filter. Carbon filters sometimes leak phosphates so this helps absorbs that before it gets into your main display.

Also consider to add a bio filteration (bacteria that transforms ammonia to nitrite to nitrate) by adding SeaChem Matrix or any other products that supports prolifiration of these helpful bacteria. These products are actually just porous rocks and works like live rocks which houses these good bacteria. You may add this in a any stage of your filtration. (what I did is I put them also in a net bag and placed it after the protein skimmer).

RE: wavemaker, it all depends on the tank, live rocks and corals layout if its not blocking the water current too much. Also consider that each of these pumps increases your overall temperature.

RE: lights, not much I can help you with because I'm new to reefing (not with marine fishes though). But I only use the stock lighting 2x18W Blue/White compact fluorescent.

Lastly, not all tanks are the same. So what works for me or others, may not work for you. I suggest you just slowly add things to your tank. Only add things when you're sure that you need them. Not unless your filthy rich which if thats the case, just fo crazy. hhehehehe

Bro vidextreme,

Many thns for your writting.

For the skimmer, my concern is the size of the skimmer, i only have 13cm x 6cm x 32 cm space to fit the skimmer. I wonder whether the Boyu skimmer mentioned can slot into my compartment, i'll source a model able to fit into my tank.

Perhaps u r right, my fitration too simple, need more layers of fitration. Will consider to add phosphate and biohome. (do i need to take away the carbon after i add the phosphate & biohome?)

just would like to confirm again the phoshape & biohome should be placed before the skimmer or after, a bit confuse now, all along i thou should be before skimmer.

is this the correct flow :

wool > carbon (in bag) > phosphate (in bag) > biohome (in bag) > skimmer > pump > chiller > tank.

I started the cycle yesterday nite with 40 litres of NSW water from farm & 10 liter of the salt water i mixed.

(24 gallon = 50 litres ?? ) Now realise that actually my tank less than 24 gallon, bcos 1 gallon should be more than 3 litres.

Now inside my tank have 10 kg of died sand, some live rocks, I also throw one shrimps (replacement of prawn) inside the tank this morning for cyclation.

Thanks.

[raydiative]

1) Is my fitration sufficient, not sure workable or not? I read from the forum, thinking to get a biohome.

The filtration for 24G is always insufficient.. unless you are able to connect it to a sump.. would suggest you to do weekly or bi weekly water change

2) Only one pump in my whole system, is this correct?

most of the time you can only fit one pump..

3) Is Eheim 600 powerful enough? Or Eheim 1000 better? Because the pump need to pump the water to chiller and then from chiller to the tank again.

your ehiem is insufficient.. try Rio.. there is one pump with the highest flow rate of pumps that can fit to the last compartment

4) Going to cycle the tank soon, thinking to use 40% NSW water & 60% mixed salt water, is this alright?

its your choice.. this is a case of the chicken or egg first.. some would recommend NSW, others would recommend saltmix..

5) One wavemaker enough? do i need to get another one?

I'm using 2 wavemakers and IMHo still insufficient..

6) No skimmer at this moment, people told me small tank not necessary, just change water weekly. Any other suggestion? or i need to get a skimmer?

As long as you are deligent enough.. skimmerless is fine.. if you intend to get.. get the tunze 9002 which fits into the middle compartment after modification to the collection cup..

7) Do i need to modify the light, or just keep it original?

depends on what you wanna keep bro.. fish only? stock lights are more then enough... if corals, i would recc you to change..

[blueclown]

1) Is my fitration sufficient, not sure workable or not? I read from the forum, thinking to get a biohome.

The filtration for 24G is always insufficient.. unless you are able to connect it to a sump.. would suggest you to do weekly or bi weekly water change

2) Only one pump in my whole system, is this correct?

most of the time you can only fit one pump..

3) Is Eheim 600 powerful enough? Or Eheim 1000 better? Because the pump need to pump the water to chiller and then from chiller to the tank again.

your ehiem is insufficient.. try Rio.. there is one pump with the highest flow rate of pumps that can fit to the last compartment

4) Going to cycle the tank soon, thinking to use 40% NSW water & 60% mixed salt water, is this alright?

its your choice.. this is a case of the chicken or egg first.. some would recommend NSW, others would recommend saltmix..

5) One wavemaker enough? do i need to get another one?

I'm using 2 wavemakers and IMHo still insufficient..

6) No skimmer at this moment, people told me small tank not necessary, just change water weekly. Any other suggestion? or i need to get a skimmer?

As long as you are deligent enough.. skimmerless is fine.. if you intend to get.. get the tunze 9002 which fits into the middle compartment after modification to the collection cup..

7) Do i need to modify the light, or just keep it original?

depends on what you wanna keep bro.. fish only? stock lights are more then enough... if corals, i would recc you to change..

Hi bro raydiative,

thanks for ur comment & suggestion.

Pump : just bought a new pump (Eheim 1000) from C328 yesterday, and changed it. (after i bought then see ur reply with Rio pump, paisei)

Water : i'm using 90% of NSW water & 10% of salt mixed water.

Skimmer : probably will find one for my tank. (don't like to change water so often) tunze 9002 need to modify the cup, but i'm not so good on the modification work, worry to damage it.. do u know any other small skimmer that can fit into my tank without do any modification...?

Light : thinking to keep both fish & coral inside my tank. will start with the fish first. big job if want to change the light set again...

[blueclown]

After 12 days of cycled, test water parameter, all ok.

So changing water now. Still using NSW from farm, bought 20 litre ( about 40% of my tank ).

Going to add in live stocks soon...

"happy 2011 to all"

[blueclown]

Finally can add in the livestock to my tank and start my marine journey, so happy & excited.

Here's my tank:

1) 2 black clownfish

2) 1 normal clownfish

3) 1 blue velvet damselfish

4) 1 butterfly fish (don't know the name)

5) 1 anemone

6) 1 coral (don't know the name)

At this moment running the tank without skimmer, still looking for a one can fit into my tank.

Chiller set @ 26C, on from 7am morning to 10pm daily.

I also didn't modify my lighting, on it from 7am morning to 10pm daily.

[tunicate]

Hey bro,

You don't really need to run the chiller if you're just having a fowlr.

Do share with us some pics of your tank if possible.

Cheers,

[blueclown]

Hi bro,

planning to add some corals in near future, that's why bought the chiller,

and hope my tank able to perform it with this very simple system & set up.

Ultimately is like a display tank, JBJ 24G, where i saw at AM consist of fish & coral...hehe

Going to upload the pic soon, probably by today once i free.

Have a nice day.

[blueclown]

this is my humble tank, a very simple nano tank,

hope to get some advices from the bro/ sis here...many thanks.

[blueclown]

view from left & right...

[blueclown]

Finally can add in the livestock to my tank and start my marine journey, so happy & excited.

Here's my tank:

1) 2 black clownfish

2) 1 normal clownfish

3) 1 blue velvet damselfish

4) 1 butterfly fish (don't know the name)

5) 1 anemone

6) 1 coral (don't know the name)

At this moment running the tank without skimmer, still looking for a one can fit into my tank.

Chiller set @ 26C, on from 7am morning to 10pm daily.

I also didn't modify my lighting, on it from 7am morning to 10pm daily.

seems my anemone already up lorry,

no movement since this morning,

eventhout i touch it also no reaction at all,

and smelly...

[raydiative]

bro... not to pour cold water but you should read up before you purchase..

1. Not easy to keep different species of clowns.. let alone in a small tank.. high chance one will KO

2. Damsels are quite territorial to every other fish.. to have it in a small tank like yours can be quite a disaster

3. the butterfly fish is not a butterfly fish but rather a sailfin tang

4. what anemone is it? what is it's requirements? Anemones nuke the tank when they die.. did you take it out after it died? did you change water?

5. The coral you have is gonio.. its not the easiest coral to keep..

[blueclown]

bro... not to pour cold water but you should read up before you purchase..

1. Not easy to keep different species of clowns.. let alone in a small tank.. high chance one will KO

2. Damsels are quite territorial to every other fish.. to have it in a small tank like yours can be quite a disaster

3. the butterfly fish is not a butterfly fish but rather a sailfin tang

4. what anemone is it? what is it's requirements? Anemones nuke the tank when they die.. did you take it out after it died? did you change water?

5. The coral you have is gonio.. its not the easiest coral to keep..

Hi bro,

ya, need to read more,

still learning from all the bros/ sis here, and really appreciate for all the advices & comments.

Already throw the died anomone (pink), and do partial water change. thns bro for highlighting.

Still thinking to add some more livestock, fish and coral, but will add it slowly.

Monitoring the current livestock first as my tank still new.

The next item should be bubble coral, but not yet decide...

[blueclown]

My gonio

[raydiative]

Hi bro,

ya, need to read more,

still learning from all the bros/ sis here, and really appreciate for all the advices & comments.

Already throw the died anomone (pink), and do partial water change. thns bro for highlighting.

Still thinking to add some more livestock, fish and coral, but will add it slowly.

Monitoring the current livestock first as my tank still new.

The next item should be bubble coral, but not yet decide...

bro.. think you should hold on the lifestock first.. a tank like ours should got go above 6 small fishes.. now that you have a poop machine in there already, its better not to overstock..

some corals if put too closely will kill each other for space.. bubble is one of them.. be sure to give it ample space!

ever considered zoas? mushrooms? supersuns?

[kenny1111]

what light u using now bro?

btw, is supersun easy to keep and with what type of light?

[stevenchia]

what light u using now bro?

btw, is supersun easy to keep and with what type of light?

Sun coral do not require any lights. They are carnivous, they eat meaty brine shimps.

Whats ur current temperature of ur tank? Temperature must not more than 28 deg for corals..

[blueclown]

Bro,

my lighting is the original JBJ built in light, no modification at all.

my temperature always between 26 to 29.

I on the chiller & light during daytime and both are off at nite time to save electricity...

[stevenchia]

Bro,

my lighting is the original JBJ built in light, no modification at all.

my temperature always between 26 to 29.

I on the chiller & light during daytime and both are off at nite time to save electricity...

29 deg, abit high. Not sure if the corals can take it? and if u got chiller try to on it, as large fluctuation of temperature is not good for corals.

[mitlancer]

Bro,

my lighting is the original JBJ built in light, no modification at all.

my temperature always between 26 to 29.

I on the chiller & light during daytime and both are off at nite time to save electricity...

Not too practical to save electricity only to end with dead corals and putting more $$ to buy new ones. Would suggest you keep your temp consistent.... chiller to kick in when reaches 28.5C or so. Topping up corals are more expensive than your monthly electrical bill....

if you want to save electricity cost, then just go for soft corals like mushrooms, zoas..... they can still do pretty ok for 29C. But not to underesitmate the cost of such corals, it can cost hundreds too for a few nice ones.....

Fish wise, I would keep it to 5 or max 7 fishes that will not grow more than 3 inches.

Hope this gives you a direction in keeping your fish/corals with your setup.

Enjoy reefing.

[tunicate]

I was also trying to figure out how many fishes my tank can support & came across below web calculator.

http://www.howmanyfish.com/

Anyway, I also keyed in dimension for JBJ 24g, & it came back with 7 inches worth of marine fishes. Is it too conservative in its estimation?

[blueclown]

Not too practical to save electricity only to end with dead corals and putting more $$ to buy new ones. Would suggest you keep your temp consistent.... chiller to kick in when reaches 28.5C or so. Topping up corals are more expensive than your monthly electrical bill....

if you want to save electricity cost, then just go for soft corals like mushrooms, zoas..... they can still do pretty ok for 29C. But not to underesitmate the cost of such corals, it can cost hundreds too for a few nice ones.....

Fish wise, I would keep it to 5 or max 7 fishes that will not grow more than 3 inches.

Hope this gives you a direction in keeping your fish/corals with your setup.

Enjoy reefing.

Thns bro for your advice, at least now i have a better idea on how many fish i can keep in my tank.

Now realiase that a lot of limitation for a nano tank, can't keep much stock...

Because right now i have only 1 coral so i on & off my chiller everyday,

but future when more coral inside my tank then would be a different story...will switch on longer time.

[raydiative]

Thns bro for your advice, at least now i have a better idea on how many fish i can keep in my tank.

Now realiase that a lot of limitation for a nano tank, can't keep much stock...

Because right now i have only 1 coral so i on & off my chiller everyday,

but future when more coral inside my tank then would be a different story...will switch on longer time.

careful with switching on and off the chiller.. dun think its good for the chiller..

yup nano tank has lotsa limitations... but this gives you a chance to keep nano fishes too.. fishes that will go missing in big tanks.. =]

[bellinayu]

careful with switching on and off the chiller.. dun think its good for the chiller..

yup nano tank has lotsa limitations... but this gives you a chance to keep nano fishes too.. fishes that will go missing in big tanks.. =]

Yup, agree with Ray that nano has it's own beauty. I would recommend you pick small non-aggressive fishes like gobies, fire fishes, true perc etc. Do a research of the fishes you want to get for yr tank and the order of introducing them into yr tank as they might fight with each other. Add livestock very slowly as your bacteria culture is not established yet. When reading yr thread, you have probably jump into adding livestock too quickly. Be patient. You should at least cycle yr tank for 2 mths before adding ls and add them sparringly.

To speed things up, you could add bacteria. I'm using fuana Marin bio with bak. This will help in your algae bloom. You should do weekly water change for a few months until you see less algae in yr tank. That's the price you pay for adding too many LS too quickly. Remember, patience is the key to an enjoyable reef tank.