Issues with 28 gallon JBJ nano tank

Tankjunkie0481 · 05/24/2012, 05:19 PM

Ok so right now I am having two issues with my nano reef tank.

1. I seem to have and issue with a lot of suspended particles in my water. I have changed the charcoal twice, all three sponges and I always do my changes on time( every two weeks and sometimes a minor water change a couple of days after adding livestock. The tank has only been up for about two months and it started out crystal clear. Any ideas????

2. If I try to run both of my pumps at the same time they blow out clouds of bubbles even if the water levels are where they are suppose to be. This does not happen if I run them off of the wavemaker and have them alternating about every 30 seconds or more. Again, any ideas????

thegrun · 05/24/2012, 05:51 PM

1. Perhaps change the sponges to a more dense media that traps smaller sized particles.
2. I ran a JBJ 28 for a few years and I had the same issue. I ended up modifying the overflow box inlet, cutting out the factory teeth and slightly lowering the inlet elevation to allow more water to flow into the back center chamber. I then glued on a new overflow box inside the tank with more teeth. I attached a picture, unfortunately it is not very clear as to what I did but it is the best picture I could find of the modification. The problem is the factory set up does not allow enough flow into the back when both pumps are at 100%. Check out the JBJ 28 forum under the Nano Reef Tank forum, there are plenty of suggestions for possible modifications there.

Tankjunkie0481 · 05/24/2012, 06:00 PM

Hey thanks for the info i'll definately check it out.

NMC · 05/24/2012, 08:51 PM

What kind of sand are you using? If your sand is really fine and the tank is fairly new, it wouldn't be weird to constantly have little sand particles floating about. I have pretty fine sand because I'm getting some animals that it's appropriate for and, depending on where my flow is pointing, I can have a little or a lot of sand blowing around.

Tankjunkie0481 · 05/25/2012, 04:16 PM

The sand I have is pretty course however the yellow headed Goby I have does stir up a lot of stuff off the bottom while its feeding. I'm thinking i'll just have to up my filtration to to make up for it. The sponges in the back get the bigger stuff but i think i'll ad some finer media to catch the small bits. I will hopefully be adding a protein skimmer soon which will help a lot.

05/24/2012, 05:19 PM	#1
Tankjunkie0481 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 146	Issues with 28 gallon JBJ nano tank Ok so right now I am having two issues with my nano reef tank. 1. I seem to have and issue with a lot of suspended particles in my water. I have changed the charcoal twice, all three sponges and I always do my changes on time( every two weeks and sometimes a minor water change a couple of days after adding livestock. The tank has only been up for about two months and it started out crystal clear. Any ideas???? 2. If I try to run both of my pumps at the same time they blow out clouds of bubbles even if the water levels are where they are suppose to be. This does not happen if I run them off of the wavemaker and have them alternating about every 30 seconds or more. Again, any ideas????

05/24/2012, 08:51 PM	#4
NMC Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: West Covina, CA Posts: 312	What kind of sand are you using? If your sand is really fine and the tank is fairly new, it wouldn't be weird to constantly have little sand particles floating about. I have pretty fine sand because I'm getting some animals that it's appropriate for and, depending on where my flow is pointing, I can have a little or a lot of sand blowing around. __________________ 38 gallon Red Sea Current Tank Info: 28g Nano Cube LED, AquaMaxx HOB 1, In Tank Media Basket, MP10, stock pumps, Apex Lite

05/24/2012, 05:51 PM	#2
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	1. Perhaps change the sponges to a more dense media that traps smaller sized particles. 2. I ran a JBJ 28 for a few years and I had the same issue. I ended up modifying the overflow box inlet, cutting out the factory teeth and slightly lowering the inlet elevation to allow more water to flow into the back center chamber. I then glued on a new overflow box inside the tank with more teeth. I attached a picture, unfortunately it is not very clear as to what I did but it is the best picture I could find of the modification. The problem is the factory set up does not allow enough flow into the back when both pumps are at 100%. Check out the JBJ 28 forum under the Nano Reef Tank forum, there are plenty of suggestions for possible modifications there.

05/24/2012, 06:00 PM	#3
Tankjunkie0481 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 146	Hey thanks for the info i'll definately check it out.

05/25/2012, 04:16 PM	#5
Tankjunkie0481 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 146	The sand I have is pretty course however the yellow headed Goby I have does stir up a lot of stuff off the bottom while its feeding. I'm thinking i'll just have to up my filtration to to make up for it. The sponges in the back get the bigger stuff but i think i'll ad some finer media to catch the small bits. I will hopefully be adding a protein skimmer soon which will help a lot.