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February 19, 2006
I need a Python...
The sacred cube
Finally had some time to set up my Nanocube after having it sit idle for 2 weeks. First off had to put together the cabinet stand. The instruction sheet that came with it was simply horrible. Believe me, I just spent the last 2 weeks putting together bookshelves and entire desks and the instructions for this thing was the worst of the lot. Now that I took another look at what the final product is supposed to look like I just discovered that I installed the door and the 2 side panels upside down. Mutha@#$@#!!!! But that's alright. I wanted the door to open from the right anyway instead of from the left like they have it.
The accursed stand
Having wasted like 2 hours trying to figure out how to put the stand together, I finally unboxed the tank itself and set it up on the stand. No big deal. Next came the arduous task of filling the tank to check for leaks. Considering that all I had was a light blue washbasin, this took awhile. But after all was said and done, the tank was finally up and running smoothly.
All set up!
Will let it run for a day or two to let the carbon and ceramic bio ball bags spit out its dust and loose bits before clearing the water out and adding substrate. Got 2 20lb. bags of Eco-Complete (25% off this month at AF!) all ready to go. The new MSS surface skimmer that comes with the 2006 models seems to work ok but using it requires you to fill the tank up to literally the very top. Which makes the transparent cover protecting the lights pretty much submerged in a thin layer of water. A bit apprehensive about that but we'll see how that goes after awhile.
Shot of the powerhead outlet, skimmer in the far back and light protector
Posted by ronin at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
Beginnings of a new tank...
Earlier this month we moved into our new place and I decided to get rid of the 12 and 6 gal Eclipse tanks and consolidate everything into one 24 gal Nanocube by JBJLighting. The 5.5 gal AGA tank I'd keep but clear out to use as a hospital tank when needed.
Took awhile to actually find a cube in the area since I didn't want to pay for shipping the heavy beast along with its stand. Reef Encounter in Hackensack, NJ which I saw had some before wasn't planning on carrying them anymore since there had been issues with the earlier models that cracked after awhile because the glass wasn't thick enough.
Finally found what I was looking for at Fishtown USA in Flushing, NY. Not my favorite place to get to during the weekday due to the usually horrendous traffic in the NYC area which is unfortunate since it's actually a pretty nice store. And the biggest surprise of all was that they actually had 6500K Compact Fluorescent bulbs for it! 6500K bulbs are mind-numbingly hard to find for the JBJLighting Desktop Formosa that I use with the 5.5 gal tank and when I talked to Nanocustoms about ordering the cube from them the sticking point was that they were out of the 6500K bulbs and none of their distributors had them either. So I even picked up an extra pair of bulbs just in case.
The guys at Fishtown USA were nice enough to open up the box and go over the tank with me to check for anything fishy and they also swapped out the 50/50 bulbs that normally come with the tank with the 6500K ones that I wanted instead. Anyway, the one they were selling were the new 2006 models with the thicker glass which they say should solve the cracking problem they were having with the earlier models.
After I got it home, it proceeded to sit in its box for over 2 weeks before I finally had the time to take it out and put everything together.
Posted by ronin at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)