Nanocube, Aquapod, whats the diff!? help

halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
can someone please help me what the best deal and best quality of these nano tanks are? im new to the nano scene. im looking for a 12 gallon with enough light to keep some basic corals.. zoos, xenia, frogspawn, bubble, stuff like that.. and i would also like to have 1-2 fish with some shrimp and other inverts and im guessing there is no starfish that is reefsafe and could be kept in a 12 gallon
thanks
and i know its hard in this hobby but being a 16 year old wanting to get a car eventually, i would like to keep the price down as possible
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
also i saw this 3 gallon aquarium with this clamp light and some 3 stage filter... how would that work... would i even be able to put shrimp or inverts in there? or coral? also it didnt have a canopy so how bad would that be? or is it easy to build a little canopy
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
NAno Cube is product made by JBJ and Aqua Pod is same basic item made by Current USA, Bio Cube is stil same like item made by Oceanic. Its really 6 of one half a dozen of the other when it comes to who is better. All are more than capable of keeping shrimp fish and a good selection of corals. Aqua pods and NANO both have a history of cracking, Bio Cube has its own set of issues which is not from what I hear cracking. They all come equipped with cheap fans and bottom line pumps. Other companies offer retro fit lights if yuor looking for an upgrade, but these smaller cubes of water are easy to get overheated and stock fans may or may not be sufficient to keep em cool.
Personally I would go with a BIO Cube or the Finnex M tank.
A hood is definatley not a necessary, and to have an open top with a clip on light is fairly common. Personally I prefer a hood. As a minimum yur gonna beed egg crate on the top to eep fish from jumping. CAn not really use glass covers very well as they retain heat and promote salt creep.
What I wuld really do is but a 5 or 20 gal all glass tank, a coralife 96watt quad bulb light, an Aqua Clear AC110 hob filter, a MJ600 or 900 powerhead, a coralife super skimmer 65 and you wil have allthats needed in the line of making a setup and be well ahead in terms of a high over priced box to hold water in it.......There just is not any skimmers per se that are decent for the enclosed clubes, but thre CSSA 65 is fine for a setup like I mentioned above.
 
crt81

crt81

Member
I have a 12 gal aquapod made from current and I love mine. I currently have a green starpolyp, bubble coral, pulsing xenia (not recommended b/c the spread, but an awesome coral), green striped mushrooms, and a small frogspawn. I plan on adding many other corals to my tank. I have had no problem with keeping any fish or coral in my tank! I think I paid $169 for mine and I keep on picking the lower priced corals.
I hope this can help out !!!
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
thanks
well i currently have a 20 gal tank up and running with live rock and sand... ist recovering from some weird disease that wiped out all of my fish in there
im selling the live rock on e b a y and i have a skimmer on it, i also have 65w of PC lights which should be enough for basic corals and what not
so im not sure what i want to do at this point... i might just completely restart my 20 but ive been intrigued by these all in one cubes
what do u guys think?
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
Well if yu already have the makings of a setup I do not see what you will gain other than design looks, I wold still personally go with individual components as such before being influenced with a hodge podge of stuff from one company without a real means to change things if necessary. The curved glass and molded hoods are nice but that does not help when it comes to potential cracking of the glass down the road which they all seem to do.
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
hmm i just thought that the nano cubes made more sense b/c they look nicer and more compact with everything included and with a deluxe canopy i could get more lighting than what i currently have (only 65 watts of PC)
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
Not much of an improvement with only 7 additional watts over your current 65 watts......YOu do know there is no warranty other than what "may" be offered by nanocustoms as its spelled right out on JBJ certificate of warranty. Warranty null and void if hood, tank or lights are modified / increased or something like that. Shipping a JBJ or Aqua POd is risky due to their problematic cracking issues..so thats yet another thing to be aware of. IMHO its best to buy one of them locally and put your eyeballs on it first hand if at all possible.
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
Originally Posted by chipmaker
Not much of an improvement with only 7 additional watts over your current 65 watts......YOu do know there is no warranty other than what "may" be offered by nanocustoms as its spelled right out on JBJ certificate of warranty. Warranty null and void if hood, tank or lights are modified / increased or something like that. Shipping a JBJ or Aqua POd is risky due to their problematic cracking issues..so thats yet another thing to be aware of. IMHO its best to buy one of them locally and put your eyeballs on it first hand if at all possible.
so even with a deluxe canopy its only 7 more watts? hmm
well i was also looking at this just to keep it real simple

so heres my dilemma it doesnt have a canopy so i would need to make one.. but i need to make one and ensure that i can keep the temp down b/c the fish i really really want is a catalina goby and they are colder water fish... so i would need to keep it low-mid 70's would it be possible? and also some simple zoos or other coral in there maybe
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
Picotope 3 Gallon Aquarium Kit
* Perfect desktop starter tank with panoramic viewing
* Includes unique 9W Compact Fluorescent Clamp-on Lamp
* Small tank size, big tank feeling!
Sleek, curved glass desktop aquarium makes a stunning starter tank! Or, for advanced aquarists, use it to create a radiant mini reef. Compact fluorescent Clamp on Lamp adjusts for perfect illumination for live rock, mushroom corals, zooanthids, invertebrates, and freshwater fish. Plus, this energy-saving lamp features telescoping arms, space-saving design, adjustable light hood, and a remote ballast for a cooler running environment. Amazing, 150 L/H compact powerfilter maintains crystal-clear water, while providing mechanical, chemical, and biological filtration.
Includes: 3 gallon, 11-3/4" x 8-7/8" x 8" tank; compact fluorescent Clamp-on Lamp fixture with 9W 50/50 lamp and remote ballast; 40 gph Pico powerfilter.
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
Originally Posted by HaLo_Frk03
so even with a deluxe canopy its only 7 more watts? hmm
well i was also looking at this just to keep it real simple

so heres my dilemma it doesnt have a canopy so i would need to make one.. but i need to make one and ensure that i can keep the temp down b/c the fish i really really want is a catalina goby and they are colder water fish... so i would need to keep it low-mid 70's would it be possible? and also some simple zoos or other coral in there maybe
bump
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
A hood is a piece of cake to make. Here is yet another idea yu may want to consider. That tank you posted a pic of is similar to Red Sea's wave tank and Garden Art (***** house brand) of small pico tanks. I have seen the ***** tanks on sale periodically for $6.11 for the 1.8 gal curved front glass with clip on light and nano palm filter. The licp on light is useless as its only 1.5 watts as supplied so an other light will need tobe procurred. Red Sea / Art Deco makes a nice clip on 7/9 watt as well as a super nice 13 watt light, and noth those lights can be had with daylight / or actinic, or 50/50 bulbs. The filter is fine for such a small tank but I would really consider a Aqua Clear mini-20 hob.
Now, there is also a 2.5 and a 5 gal plastic tank complete with hood that is sold in virtually all petshops and it too makes a great little nano or pico tank. The incandesant light assembly can easily be modded to accept a small 7/9 or 13 watt PC light assembly or yu can run the 10 or 20 watt screwin base florescent lights in it that are made by coralife and come in 50/50 flavor and does quite well when it ocmes to lots of corals such as leathers, zoos and shrooms etc.. I can not think of the name of those 2.5 and 5 gal tanks but they come in decorator colors and have a curved front, and most often are advertised for use with a betta. There have been a heap of those tanks used to make pico sized reef tanks. AGA also makes a nice 7 gal bow front tank that comes with a hood. All it would require is a tube change to a 10K or 50/50 bulb and it would be more than suitable for low light requirement corals like zoos and shrooms etc. I would use a AC mini-20 or AC30 on the 7 gal BF made by AGA
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member
Originally Posted by chipmaker
A hood is a piece of cake to make. Here is yet another idea yu may want to consider. That tank you posted a pic of is similar to Red Sea's wave tank and Garden Art (***** house brand) of small pico tanks. I have seen the ***** tanks on sale periodically for $6.11 for the 1.8 gal curved front glass with clip on light and nano palm filter. The licp on light is useless as its only 1.5 watts as supplied so an other light will need tobe procurred. Red Sea / Art Deco makes a nice clip on 7/9 watt as well as a super nice 13 watt light, and noth those lights can be had with daylight / or actinic, or 50/50 bulbs. The filter is fine for such a small tank but I would really consider a Aqua Clear mini-20 hob.
Now, there is also a 2.5 and a 5 gal plastic tank complete with hood that is sold in virtually all petshops and it too makes a great little nano or pico tank. The incandesant light assembly can easily be modded to accept a small 7/9 or 13 watt PC light assembly or yu can run the 10 or 20 watt screwin base florescent lights in it that are made by coralife and come in 50/50 flavor and does quite well when it ocmes to lots of corals such as leathers, zoos and shrooms etc.. I can not think of the name of those 2.5 and 5 gal tanks but they come in decorator colors and have a curved front, and most often are advertised for use with a betta. There have been a heap of those tanks used to make pico sized reef tanks. AGA also makes a nice 7 gal bow front tank that comes with a hood. All it would require is a tube change to a 10K or 50/50 bulb and it would be more than suitable for low light requirement corals like zoos and shrooms etc. I would use a AC mini-20 or AC30 on the 7 gal BF made by AGA
hmm thanks for ur input
do u think it would be possible though to keep the temp down in such a small tank like in the low 70's?
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
Sure install a fan in the hood or get a clip on fan to blow over the tank. There is room in the hood on those "mini-Bow tanks which I previously forgot the names of, but a fan can be installed in those hoods as well and its more than capable of keeping the tank cool........that is as long as the room is not heated up beyond the normal temps most rooms etc are heated to. All bets are off if the heat is jacked up to the high 70;s or low 80 deg area ;-)
 
halo_frk03

halo_frk03

Member

found it
i was reading some of the reviews and some were complaining of leaking? i wouldnt def. need to upgrade the lighting think that would be possible?
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
I have never heard of any of the mini bows leaking. I have a 2.5 and a 5 gal min bow that we pickedup at yard sales and gutted the screwin flourescent light and installed a Deco Art 13 watt Power compact light assembly in its place. There is sufficient room to install a 1.5" muffin fan in the ends of the hood for cooling if need be. They are totally doable for a reef. I know of some that have installed 2 13 watt PC in them as well as a screw in type 50/50 florescent and they do fine. I did find that after maybe 5 or 6 yeras the plastic on the hoods even with stock lighting seem to dry out and craze, but the water tank portion remain in good shape. Yu can get those mini bows in Black also. You may have to order them but they were out there at one time and IIRC they are still listed.....seems everyone likes contrasting or matching colors of these mini bows to go with their Bettas.
 
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