Cobalt

Well, I think I have long passed the infant mortality phase so its safe to post! (knock on wood). After lurking in the forums for quite a while now here I go. My nano cube is 6 months old and has endured a kalk precipated storm (with some casualties) and the power going out while on vacation. I haven't taken any equipment photos and can post those next. It's mostly SPS and has been pretty successful. Had only two deaths (one fell behind the rocks) and one brown-out. A couple other corals have lost the color they had at the store but seem to be ok. I am already considering modding this to run a 250W DE, but it is considerable effort only to find the tank might overhead. Maybe I need to wait another year or two and get a small solaris retrofit. Specs: JBJ 28g Nanocube HQI No skimmer (nutty) Aqua Medic 150W TEC chiller reufge/cheato prison in back with 15W PC lightbulb (just standard household incandescent replacement) Tunze Nanostream 6025 Hydro Korilia #2 Neptune Aquacontroler Jr 300W titantium heater (I keep the thermostat on 55 in the winter) two 40amp/hour battery backup units (one for powerhead, other for heater) Fish: none (sad) Inverts: Electric Orange Hermit, Blueleg Hermit, couple others 2 Peppermint shrimp Astrea, Zebra Turbo, and Nassarius snails Feather Duster 4 clams Corals: too many to name or remember their names.(scratch) Now for the pics. Half of them came out blurry so I need to retake those. For now here's a few.

I have no personal experience with the Odyssea fixtures but google "odyssea fire" and you'll find tons of threads how they catch fire. Some say they have fixed it now but do you want to risk it?

where are you located Ron? You know how to get it off the rock?

maristar lights sold, updated pricing. sorry uhuru. I decided to still run a reactor but I need the smaller 3.5 HOT model so I am selling the reactor body only. if you have other sources for a mag 2, regulator, and tank you can get a good deal on the reactor. the HOT model is really superior to others i feel. one less pump (doesn't need a feed pump) and takes up less space in your sump. chiller box says it is rated for 40g, but 22g is probably better. It really depends how much temp delta you need. I have a same rated chiller on my 28g nanocube w/ 150W HQI and the temp this summer never exceeded 81. Without the chiller it went above 82.5 (didn't wait longer to see how high it would go!). We don't have air conditioning either so it would be 80+ F in the house. Other ways to maximise chiller performance is to locate the unit in an area with a low ambient temp, such as a basement, and pump water upstairs where the tank is.

No, you're right. I didn't know the wattage, was too lazy to go down to the basement where the bulbs were so I looked it up on marine depot and URI t5s are listed as 24/40W bulbs, so I went with the higher number because i knew 24in PCs are 55W so I thought it would be similar. long story short, fixture is ~25"! T5s are 24W!

I'd go with Nyle's advice or any of the others to start. Im not sure if there would be a huge difference between the different options, as long as you get water circulating in most areas of the tank. All we know is that the flow in an ocean is huge and there is not usually very high water velocities. Powerheads in our tanks are poor at replicating this flow because they put out high water velocity in a narrow path. In the ocean two opposing streams of water are rarely pointed at one another, but if the corals don't seem to mind, it may work well enough. But ideally there should be one stream pump on each end of the tank set to run on LONG alternating cycles (hours), just like the tides in the ocean. As long as the corals are happy, it doesn't really matter what configuration you end up with. Why buy a wavemaker if your corals seem healthly, you know?

well there you have it, 50 gallons. You would need to have 195gph to have roughly similar changeover to sontdo. I bet you have much more than that, and if it is a prop tank I am gussing your supply and overflow are on opposite ends so you are getting reasonable laminar flow from one end to the other, whereas sontdo has his aiming directly at each other so some of his flow is bing reduced by turbulance. also, sontdo probably has LR that further disrupts his flow, whereas you prop tank may just have the fragging racks that allows more laminar flow. water can be very deceiving. that's how people underestimate the force of water in a flood and try to cross a road and get dumped into the drink

24in x about 16" wide x 4in high

reefboy, your low flow trays might actually have a ton of flow compared to the oversll volume or surface area of the corals, or you have low velocity flow but over a large area, so it has the appearance of low. I'm taking a wild guess, but your reef trays are probably pretty small (i'm imagining the invert cubes common at LFS) so you are probably getting good flow around the corals. Letys say your reef trays are supplied by a 1in pipe at 5psi (return pump that can put out 15ft of head, minus 5ft of elevation), that equals 25gpm or 1500gph. sontdo has a large tank with two small powerheads so he was probably getting poor nutrient delivery/waste removal to/from the SPS... I have had my 28g nanocube setup for 6 months now and have been fairly sucessful with my SPS. Haven't lost a frag other than one that fell behind the rockwork and about 2 brown-outs, but thats about it. In my 28g nanocube I have a korrillia #2, nanostream 6025, and a MJ900 equivilent for the return with a 150W HQI bulb. However my water is only 20in deep and my 150W HQI is an inch from the water's surface. Sontdo, remember, radiation (light) drops off by the distance squared. So halving the distance of your lights to the corals with result in a quadrupling of intensity (and heat). I'd like to hear what happens when you get the new pumps, they look pretty cool and are a cheap alternative to specialized stream pumps.

i just might if there are no takers soon. I'll take $280 on the whole maristar light

i will toss in a free urchin, but the urchin should really only be in a larger tank such as 40 gallons or more.

rock and cuke sold.

fremont and MLK

no rush, he seems to be fine in my tank but is probably not getting enough detritus in my small tank

I have a small toadstool about 2in tall that is thriving in my SPS tank. I am worried he will release toxins that may slow or harm my SPS. Attached to the same rock is a similar size Kenya Tree coral. So for the pair and the small rock they are on (golf ball + size) I'd like $15. Would be a perfect addition to a nano cube. While you're at it I will toss in an urchin or a tigertail cuke for another $5 each, but you cannot have a nano to buy these, they need a larger tank to thrive in.

i sent you a PM last night, change your mind?

Looks like Fiji with some good centerpieces. Mostly larger pieces. I live in N/NE off I-5

Liverock is $3/lb, been in my basement with circulation and heat for almost 3 months and is devoid algae. I don't have a scale so I can't prove the weight so bring your own if you want to verify. tigertail cuke is 3-4in $10 and the buyer should really have a 70g-ish tank or larger for this to survive. spiny urchin is black and smaller (2.5in across) and is $10

here is whats left Coralife 250W Pendant only w/ sunlight supply harness $30 new JBJ Nite-Vu LEDs (2 packs of 2) $5 each (will ship)

ok, thanks for the comments everyone, i'll trust they are ok. They should have enough light as they at real close to the 150W HQI. in a previous life I had a 24in deep tank ith a 250W halide and the maxima's mantel never stretched upward so maybe that is a sign of adequate light. That was before stream pumps were pervasive so that was lower flow then too. clams are settling in and colors look great. here are some photos I just snapped. crocea same but from side maxima

Didn't mean to offend you, I can understand how it sounds like I was implying you sold me clams that weren't healthy, but in the other thread you clearly marked the clams sold to me so I figured it wasn't a secret, and I wasn't trying to imply blame. I'm just being hyper sensitive because I lost one clam a while back and it did the same thing, and I was not able to see you clams upfront before being disturbed. Not the best way to buy marine life but the price was a bargain and I trust people on these boards. I'll give them a day or two to settle in and repost then.

my concern is the mantel reaching skyward. I thought it was supposed to be against the shell. My squamosa and the tiger strip i got from coker do not stretch skyward like the maxima and crocea are. However they are both more light intensive so perhaps they want more light. I moved them up in my tank. Before they were 13in from a 150W HQI, now they are 11in and 6in away. we'll see how they react.

here are the photos coker posted. note these photos appear to be old as the rocks the clams were on today are well covered in a short turf like algae:

Here are two of the three clams I just bought, they don't look good to me. Their mantels are going way to far upward. Anyone else care to comment?

ok, consider them sold :-)