12 Gallon JBJ
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Main
Forum Name: Tank Threads
Forum Description: A place to show off your tank build.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59763
Printed Date: April 24 2025 at 1:37pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 12 Gallon JBJ
Posted By: ksmart
Subject: 12 Gallon JBJ
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 12:29pm
|
Lol well I got out a couple of months ago.... and a couple weeks ago I got the itch.. I first tried to ignore it and that didnt work, and it didnt help that my brother has been sending me pics of his tanks and has constantly been talking to me about them haha. sooo here I am. I didnt want to go with anything big for a couple of reasons the main one being my wife murdering me. And I knew even going with a small take would be pushing my luck. I've had a nano before so I started looking on here for a used one. There were a couple of options I came across and I decided to go with the setup that Dion posted. It came with everything I needed to get it running (which was awesome since I literally sold everything doh!) The other main reason for picking a small setup is low maintenance and cost of keeping it running. As of now I'm planning to keep softies only, and I'll eventually change out the pc lighting to LED's. I've found a clamp on led fixture on ebay for 25 bucks that I think I will try. some of you already know I'm all about the cheap ebay leds : ) The tank is currently getting a vinegar bath. It came with some dry sand that Im not sure where its from and the rock needs to be recycled. I'll probably throw that into a bucket with some diluted bleach water. I want to start with everything 100% dead. Any advise on that is appreciated as I've always started with live rock but the rock I have was live and I believe a couple of days ago is when It was pulled out to dry. Here is a pic of my old nano just for fun  ------------- |
Replies:
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 12:34pm
|
Here is a link to the ebay led's http://www.ebay.com/itm/380478829479?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 ------------- |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 1:27pm
Welcome back, Kyle 
Didn't take long, did it? ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: bmac2
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 1:42pm
|
remember, don't fight the addiction, just go ahead and feed it!!! Welcome back! |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 3:41pm
|
The sand is utah sand. Originally was in my 220. I washed and dried it when takeing that one down. The rock is a mixture of utah rock and store bought rock. I personally wouldnt put it in a bleach solution. That could haunt you for months to come. If you really want to kill it all off then bake the rock for 45 minutes at 300. There will be nothing alive. However remember no mater how you "Kill" everything you will have dead stuff in there that will have to cycle out. ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: Molli
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 4:28pm
LOL Hey your tank looks really nice in my home!  Good to see you back. When you get ready to look for softies let me know. I don't plan to move any softies into this new tank and once this new tank has all my other corals and fish in it, I plan to get rid of my softies and my Biocube.
|
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 18 2012 at 11:34pm
|
Thanks everyone glad to be back lol. Glad to hear the tank is looking good, pics? Thanks for the info on that rock and sand Dion. I had heard about people using diluted bleach but I wasnt sure so Im glad you chimed in. I baked it tonight, the house smelled great! haha. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 1:43am
|
Anyone know of a putty to use for gluing rock together that they'd recommend? ------------- |
Posted By: joelduval1
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 1:55am
| I used water weld putty from home depot/Lowe's. |
Posted By: Crzyfshguy
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 4:46am
|
I second the water weld. also known as aquamend, both stores carry it but I have some if you wanna come over and grab it ------------- 45G w/ leds 15G sump MP10es |
Posted By: DLindquist
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 8:06am
Epo A+B Putty. The only way to go! ------------- A government strong enough to give you everything you want, is powerful enough to take everything you have. |
ksmart wrote:Posted By: Teknik777
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 10:24am
|
Welcome back Kyle! Feel free to come over and check out my tank and talk fish. ------------- 220 G SPS Display. |
Posted By: BillyC
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 12:25pm
| Nice! Another super local reefer. That makes at least 3of us within like less than a mile of each other. |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 19 2012 at 5:03pm
|
Cool thanks for the suggestions. Tyson are you sure? And thanks Allen and Billy! we knew I couldn't stay away too long haha. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 22 2012 at 10:34am
   ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 22 2012 at 10:37am
|
I ended up using that water weld for the aquascape, so far I think its holding well. Let me know what ya'll think! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 22 2012 at 10:39am
 Here is a side shot, water was still cloudy when I took this pic ------------- |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: October 22 2012 at 10:52am
Looks good !!!------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 22 2012 at 5:38pm
|
Thanks Bob! Not a whole lot of rock but I like how much bigger the tank looks. Lots of sand real estate too. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 23 2012 at 12:09pm
|
I've ordered a jbj surface skimmer for the tank. for lighting Im still trying to decide whether or not I want to ditch the pc's and go with a led. My wife doesnt like the look of the open tank look but I really like the idea of having a clamp on led fixture. I found one on ebay that I think would get the job done. Its got 6-3watt led's 4 whites and 2 blues for 30 ish bucks. Its about 12 inches long so it would fit the tank pretty well and I think that many leds would be sufficient. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 23 2012 at 12:13pm
|
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Clamp-3W-Aquarium-Light-Nano-Bright-Marine-Fish-Coral-Cichlid-6x-3-Watts-/300789152312 ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 31 2012 at 3:06pm
 both pc's and led's on  Just led's------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: November 10 2012 at 11:34pm
  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: November 11 2012 at 11:33am
|
Picture doesnt do it justice. I added 1 more strip of white and one more strip of blue and was able to remove the pc so now Im running all leds and it looks awesome! Tank has been running about 4 weeks. Tested params yesterday and they were all 0. I've been putting food in a net and I put that in the tank and leave it for a few days to help with the cycle. I ended up getting the biocube skimmer as it was the only one I could find that would fit and Im actually pretty pleased with it so far. I also put in 5 snails last week and they've been hard at work on the rock. Will be adding some more this week and hopefully be adding my clowns that I bought back from Tyson. ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: November 11 2012 at 11:55am
| Sweet looking good man... So are those all Ecoxotic stunner strips? |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: November 11 2012 at 12:44pm
|
Yes I ended up buying a couple from my brother and liked them so I opted to buy a few more in order to get rid of the pc bulbs. I really like them so far. ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: November 11 2012 at 5:36pm
| I was very happy with my Ecoxotic Panarama Pro. I just went to their web site and they have some sweet new full marine lights pods 24" 36" and 48" long with 12k white and blue with dimable dials. All of their products are awesome. I'm debating on selling my led light and getting the 24". |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: November 23 2012 at 1:26am
  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: November 23 2012 at 1:27am
|
I've added the clowns and two turbo snails, zoa frag, toadstool frag, and all seem to be doing well. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 7:32pm
 I added a koralia nano last week to add some flow. Starting to get cyano kinda bad as the koralia stirred up the sand bed a little. Been doing 1 gal wc's weekly. Not really trying to do much to rid my tank of the cyano except let it "cycle" out, least I hope that's what happens lol.  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 7:32pm
|
the above fts is right after I added the powerhead so it doesnt really show the cyano taking over the sand bed ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 8:54pm
 ------------- |
Posted By: Holyzion
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 9:09pm
|
Its looking good besides the cyano, hope it goes away soon enough for ya. ------------- 74G Mixed Reef 3G Picotope |
Posted By: rwgoose
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 9:26pm
|
i was having a big problem with cyano as well. i picked up a twin spot goby and started running clear fx pro.. after a week it has all cleared up.. just my thoughts ------------- getting fishy?? 8016348673 |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: December 08 2012 at 9:38pm
|
Hey Kyle, mine went through that too.. It's no fun... |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 1:50pm
|
Thanks guys! In my previous tanks I usually would end up dosing for it with some stuff you can buy at the LFS for like 20 bucks. This was usually after I had tried turning off the lights for a couple days, adding flow or changing flow, adding more clean up crew or sand sifting starfish. I might just bypass all that and go straight for the dosing. We'll see. Otherwise I feel like the tank is on track and everything is looking healthy. ------------- |
Posted By: chris.rogers
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 3:58pm
|
Awesome! I have this exact tank that I'm looking to convert to LEDs - what was the link on the LED fixture you went with and how did you secure it to the hood? Looks really great, I can't wait to get mine up and running! Also, do you have a link for that in-tank skimmer? ------------- Ils sont fous, ces Romains! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 4:19pm
|
Thanks Chris! I ended up going with ecoxotic stunner strips. I have 2 all whites, 2-blue 453, 1 blue/white, 1 white/magenta. I probably went the more expensive way since these retail for 40 ish bucks a strip plus the power supply. I was able to buy 3 of the strips and the power supply from my little brother so I got a pretty good deal. I secured them in the hood with velcro. When I was looking at LED's I did see some diy fixtures specifically for this hood for around $170 that looked pretty cool that I would have checked out had I not gone with these. The skimmer is a biocube 14. Its a dinky little skimmer but was the only one that I could find that would fit in the tank with the hood. There are some hang on the bank ones that could fit but you'd have to modify or remove the hood completely and I didn't want to go that route. ------------- |
Posted By: chris.rogers
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 4:28pm
|
I wonder if the heat on those LEDs isn't as significant as some of the other PCB star mounted LEDs... I bought 14 LEDs (3.2 Vf, and I'll run them at 850 mA) as well as two square tubes, and a power supply from Steve's LEDs. I might do the velcro thing like you did so I can remove things if they get too hot. Are your 2 fans still running? And do you still use the splash guard, or do those LED strips come with their own splash guard? Good to know about the skimmer, I'm still not sure if I'll put one in or not. I think I'll probably wait 3-4 months before I even get my first fish, so... I don't plan on loading the tank with corals and whatnot for awhile. ------------- Ils sont fous, ces Romains! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 6:03pm
|
I'm not sure about the heat out put on these LED's vs others but I dont notice any heat temp differences in the tank water (stays around 80f and I do not have a heater). 80F is higher than I like but so far everything is good, just have to make sure it doest get higher than that. I still have the stock splash guard, stock reflector and yes both fans running. The skimmer isn't really necessary on this tank in my opinion, I mostly got it to try it out as it was getting hit or miss reviews online. I could go either way on it really. ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 7:05pm
| Hey Kyle if you wont to come get some coral let me know. I have a big sour apple birds nest, some two types of candy cane, and that pink stuff you gave me off the back of your tank, also some frog spaun if you want. You hooked me up, so I can return the favor... Let me know, Ken |
Posted By: chris.rogers
Date Posted: December 10 2012 at 9:32pm
|
Really awesome tank, man. Keep us updated. I'll have to share a few posts of mine once I get it all set up. Unfortunately my glass is scratched pretty good... ------------- Ils sont fous, ces Romains! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 12 2012 at 1:01pm
|
Ken I'd be way interested in a frag of frog spawn and some candy canes. I'll get some cash and hit you up for sure. Chris- Bummer about your glass being scratched. on my first jbj 12 gal I was in the same boat. The glass was scratched up pretty badly. I made sure this time around that I got something with very minimal scratches. But yeah definitely get some pics posted once its up and running. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 26 2012 at 12:26am
 ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 27 2012 at 9:31pm
 Couple new additions, thanks Ken! Cyano is also starting to clear up on its own. ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: December 27 2012 at 11:31pm
| Your welcome... That's the great thing about this hobby, you can pay it forward or pay it backward in this case.. You helped my with my new tank, so it was my pleasure to return some... |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: January 17 2013 at 4:08pm
  ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: January 17 2013 at 8:32pm
| Is that the Frog Spaun you got from me????? |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: January 17 2013 at 9:26pm
 ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: January 17 2013 at 9:32pm
|
Yes sir! :) its huge haha! ------------- |
Posted By: 1skindog
Date Posted: January 17 2013 at 10:55pm
| Ha ha ya.... Looks nice right there too.. |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: January 31 2013 at 2:30pm
 Side shot ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 07 2013 at 5:49am
|
Do you guys think a fire shrimp would be ok in this size of tank? I have kept peppermint shrimp ok in a 12 gal nano before but I would really like to add a fire shrimp ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 08 2013 at 5:36am
 New addition ------------- |
Posted By: Cody
Date Posted: February 08 2013 at 6:19am
| Fire shrimps are deff my fav. |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 08 2013 at 7:58am
|
I had one in my 55 gal before it crashed and they have definitely become one of my favs as well. I'm excited to have one again! ------------- |
Posted By: lskurys
Date Posted: February 08 2013 at 8:04am
|
ksmart, your tank is looking good. The pink zoa's/pally that you have did you know the name of them. They look the same as what I have in my tank and I have never gotten a name for them. ------------- 220g , large elite aquatics sump. 3 Radion Pro Gen 3 lights 3 Mp 40's |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 08 2013 at 10:15am
|
Thanks! No I never got a name but I've seen some similar ones that were called peach smoothies. I got these from Jacknugget. maybe he knows what they are called. ------------- |
Posted By: seamonkey
Date Posted: February 16 2013 at 10:31am
|
Hey kyle it was nice meeting you last night. hope that USB thing work for you. hope one day i can come check out your tank. also i can check out how your Reef Keeper Lite is set up. Maybe one day you can help me set up one on my tank. |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 22 2013 at 9:21am
|
It was great meeting you and thank you so much for hooking me up with that cable! Id be more than happy to help you set one up on your tank! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 26 2013 at 11:00pm
   ------------- |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: February 27 2013 at 9:09am
|
The Paly's in the first picture on the right side are reverse space monsters and the ones on the left are Peach smoothies. Hope that helps.
------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 27 2013 at 11:17am
|
Thanks!^ I wanted to show off some other new additions but for some reason the pics dont look as good. I've been getting 99% of my stuff from Jordan (Jbeck) who has some amazing stuff and great deals. Heading back out there tomorrow night to pick up another frag  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: February 27 2013 at 11:22am
|
Oh and I was able to update my RKL over the weekend. I had been gone a lot so I wasnt able to get around to it for a minute but I really dig the "new" firmware. I've got my koralia set up on a wavemaker mode and I really like the change in the flow my tank is getting. Although I do have one regret which is selling my mp10es from my old setup. the koralia nano is nice but I just hate how much space it takes up and the mp10 is so much better in this department not to mention everything else it can do. We'll have to see about getting another one down the road  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 01 2013 at 9:13pm
 new frag ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 02 2013 at 4:11pm
 well well well ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 02 2013 at 8:15pm
 ------------- |
Posted By: joelduval1
Date Posted: March 03 2013 at 4:24am
| I really like how simple your rock work is... When I first got into this hobby I thought a Tank wasn't a tank unless there was a huge pile of rocks in it... Now I'm really diggin how people can use small amounts and the tank looks fantastic... I donno I guess I'm diggin substrate more now lol. |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 1:43pm
|
Thanks! Ya my first setup I had a ton of live rock but every tank since I've tried to not use so much and try to have more of a unique scape and more sand space. Ill see if I can find an old picture haha it was bad. I'm loving the mp10es. Was it needed no, is it awesome yes! Haha ------------- |
Posted By: joelduval1
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 2:32pm
| Lol my first tank was a 55 gal... I think I had 60-70 pounds of rock in there lol. Maybe 2-3 inches of substrate showing in it lol. I was dumb lol. Now on my new 90 I'm putting most of the rock in the sump, gonna have a island in the middle, and mad amounts of substrate all around. |
Posted By: joelduval1
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 2:33pm
| And a mp10 or 40 is ALWAYS needed lol. It's a great investment for the future! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 4:00pm
its funny what we do for our first setup lol. Mine was a 29 gallon and I dont even know how much live rock I had in there, just that I had way too much. haha.
When you're right, you're right! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 9:44pm
 Here is my 29 lol. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 04 2013 at 9:47pm
 I knew I had thrown more rock in there. Here is another picture with more live rock haha. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 05 2013 at 11:19pm
 Camera shot it hd. Trying some settings on my phone camera ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 05 2013 at 11:20pm
 ------------- |
Posted By: joelduval1
Date Posted: March 06 2013 at 3:55am
|
Lol I'll try to find some of my old tank... It was nuts. Wow that fungia is nice! Wish mine put out tentacles that long! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 09 2013 at 2:53pm
Thanks. I got it from jbeck he usually has frags of these fungias if interested. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 09 2013 at 2:56pm
 ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: March 11 2013 at 11:15pm
 new zoas. Can't get a good pic. Thanks Ken! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: April 05 2013 at 12:44pm
|
been a little while so I thought I'd update. I had picked up some nice frags from John a couple weeks ago. For some reason tank started to go through a diatom bloom and my zoas were getting covered so last week I cut the lights for about a day and a half. when I turned them back on I started at probably 30% and over the past few days have been increasing them and they are about probably 75-80% intensity. Zoas are starting to open back up but some have some white spots on them. I've been dosing vitamin C to see if that helps and Im continuing with my regular maintenance ( 1 gal weekly water change) and rinse out filter floss. all LPS are doing great. Will be starting another build thread soon as I picked up a 24 gallon jbj at a killer deal from Ken (1skindog). Will run both this 12 gal and the 24 gal systems. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: April 05 2013 at 12:46pm
 fungia is showing some crazy extension and is getting bigger! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: April 05 2013 at 12:51pm
 tease picture for 24 gallon. Not too exciting yet ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: April 28 2013 at 9:51pm
|
Thought I'd give an update on this take (12 gal). Zoas have started to bounce back. Almost all look back to 100% besides my spidermans. They have dwindled in numbers but there are still a few on the frag plug that are opening and looking healthy so there is still hope. I've been dosing vit c daily and still doing 1 gal weekly water changes. Everything is looking good though and I should be back to adding more zoa frags soon ;) ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 5:42am
UPDATE: lost my rasta frag a few weeks ago. Not sure why as all my other zoas are doing well. I added 2 fish this weekend. A purple firefish and a banggai cardinal. Birdworld has the purple firefish on sale so I got it for 20 which is awesome I think.  ------------- |
Posted By: larseb
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 9:07am
| where did you get your frogspawn? I want some! |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 9:46am
|
I got it from Ken(1skindog) he lives in bountiful. I do need to frag this piece though as it is getting way too big for my tank haha. ------------- |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 3:54pm
|
Looking good! ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 7:22pm
|
Thanks Jackie! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: June 24 2013 at 7:39pm
   ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: July 14 2013 at 3:32pm
 Everything is happy!------------- |
Posted By: Larobley
Date Posted: July 14 2013 at 3:34pm
|
I wish i could take pictures like you do. Awesome ------------- 76G half circle JBJ 12G |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: July 14 2013 at 3:53pm
Thank you for the kind words! I still think I have a ways to go when it comes to taking nice aquarium pictures. The camera on my phone is pretty nice though and the more I mess with the settings the better the pictures come out. ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: September 11 2013 at 11:09pm
 New fungia. Thanks again Spencer! ------------- |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 5:41am
|
That Fungia is cool! -------------  |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 12:33pm
 Thought this was kind of a cool pic. The fish is by the curved part of the tank so it looks longer than it really is ------------- |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: September 12 2013 at 5:22pm
|
It looks like a racing Bangaii! ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: September 22 2013 at 5:54pm
 Tank is a year old this month  ------------- |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: October 14 2013 at 2:36pm
|
my purple firefish disappeared over the weekend. No sight of it Saturday. No way it could have come out of the top as I leave the canopy down unless I'm feeding and I stand right there while I'm feeding. I thought it could have ended up in the back chambers but pulled everything out and no sign of it back there either. If it passed away friday night after lights out im thinking it got cleaned up by cuc and whatever else remained got sucked in the back chambers. weird luck with fish I tell ya lol. ------------- |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: October 14 2013 at 3:04pm
|
I'm sorry to hear that Kyle, I hate losing fish and Purple Firefish are cool! ------------- |