jbj 28 or biocube 29 - lighting and upgrading questions

[chemchris]

Hi all, thanks for reading. I kept a few reef tanks in the past but the last one was 10 years ago- trying to get back into it and i really like the nano tanks I see. On my last tank I had 2 metal halides and 2 60/40 actinic bulbs that lit the tank nicely for my inverts. I'm afraid a lot of what I know is dated now so I came here for some help/advice.
Im concerned about using a halide because it heats the water so much- i dont want to end up with 28 gallons of coral soup. So the most important thing to me is lighting- so if the tank comes with crap lighting i just want to make sure i can upgrade it while still keeping the tank appearance nice. I am blown away at how good Spankos tank looks.
I dont want to spend a huge amount right out of the gate- i was looking to spend 300-400 and possible upgrade the lighting next month when my water is ready. I just want to make sure that these nano tanks can be upgraded easily. I find mixed answers wherever I look.
in summation:

• Are there any major differences between the jbj or biocube as far as filtration and scalability goes? Can they all be upgraded easily (lighting, filtration, protein skimmers, uv sterilizers)
• I see some terms in Spankos post but Im not really sure if they are referring to lights or corals. can i find a quick breakdown of his lighting setup?
  Can LED lights replace halides? as far as providing the right spectrum for your coral to grow?

thanks!
-Chris

 

[chemchris]

Hi All, I noticed no replies yet. Maybe someone could post a link to an appropriate article so I can read up on it? TIA.

 

[drichards36]

Since nobody has responded I will. I bought the JbJ 28 gallon nanocube HQI 3 months ago, I've really enjoyed it as my first real saltwater tank. The temperature is a problem but I have a little fan on the back keeping it managable and I avoid having a heater so it works out.
The good, it came with a nice timed wavemaker that you can set the 2 pumps to turn on different intervals. The 3 compartments in the back make it easy to do a refugium and keep the protein skimmer (and fan in my case) in seperate compartments.
The bad, the protein skimmer they sell for it is a total pain, you have to either cut it into the back or remove it EVERY time you want to do maintenance.
Overall, I haven't tried anything else so I can only comment on this, but, so far I have really enjoyed it and I will enjoy it more when I get a clam.
Good luck,
David

 

[chemchris]

Thanks David, much appreciated. I found the exact same model on craigslist- comes with a stand for $460 and Im thinking about buying it. The only hinderance I think is that I dont think there is a place to put supplementary lighting (wanted some actinic - room for a 24" bulb would have been nice) and the heat. I'll try the fan first- hopefully I wont need a chiller. Thanks a lot for your advice. =)
-Chris

 

[drichards36]

You shouldn't need a chiller with a decent little clip on fan running. I have timers for it to just turn on and off with the big light with an extra hour tacked on each end. The tank stays about 78-80 pretty much and thats in a room that sometimes gets to 85 (I'm the last for the air conditioning) so its not as bad as people make it out to be or I just have been lucky til now.
Look up JBJ C-Breeze Adjustable Clamp-On Air Blower, thats what came with my tank and its worked fantastic so far.
Good luck