JBJ 28 gallon owners thread.

My JBJ is 3 years old. I redid the tank in Sept 2010, and converted it to a sps dominated tank.

Currently the tank does not run a skimmer, it had a Tunze 9002 in a HOB fuge. The only other piece of equipment is a West Coast chiller.

Lighting is Radium 20k metal halide.

Power heads include a Koralia 4 and Koralia 2.

Plans for the tank include just letting the sps and zoanthids grow, and controlling the growth of the soft corals. Eventually I am going to remove all the GSP growing on the back wall.

Fish: Pair of B/W misbar clowns and a old YWG.

 

Its the Koralia nano 425

The algae is very easy to blow off the rocks with a turkey baster and very easy to siphon off, but it seems to come back very quickly.

Heres a better pic of the algae

 

I am currently looking into picking up the HQI version of this tank. Can anyone tell me about it? I know that the lighting is different, but is there anything I need to worry about with this model?

 

The biggest issue is the heat. I will say that this tank's design with the closed lid option does not lend well to keeping it as cool as I would like. It can be run without a chiller but the ambient temperature should stay in the 70's.

Hope that helps some what.

 

I also have the HQI version. My tank gets fairly warm and I was thinking of buying the fan that hangs on the back. Has anyone had experience with it yet?

 

I am planning to buy my system in Oct/Nov 2011. This is my shopping list so far:
28 gal. Nano w/led lighting & stand

AquaC remora protien skimmer w/ drain fitting & Max-jet 1200 pump

Finnex 100W heater w/digital controller

Sybon refractometer

Koralia EVOLUTION 1400 power head

AQUAFx 4 stage RO/DI system

Seachem testing kits

AQUA-FUGE 2 HANG-ON Refugium

Please let me know if I have missed something important.

 

I have run fans along the back, but evaporation was a killer, most likely because I live in AZ. Fans can be a good alternative to a chiller, especially if you live in S. Ca, where the evaporation will not be as extreme IMO.

Sounds like you have planned very well. Where are you planning on placing the skimmer, in the fuge?

 

not sure yet. I want to eventually do away with the skimmer and let live rock + DSB do all the work.

 

That will work. I am a huge fan of using live rock to do the work. Not much experience with a DSB. IMO if you keep the bio-load fish wise on the low side, and feed appropriately running the tank without a skimmer is very doable.

I kept chaeto in the fuge and I am planning on adding chaeto to the tank again just behind the rock work.

 

I'm not thinking of fish, going to be reef w/cleaning crew for the first year.