New cube equipment questions? advice please!

[jacknjill]

Sooo after having to give up my 55 gallon tank a couple of years ago when we moved, my mom finally bought me a 12 gallon jbj cube for my birthday! I was wondering what wattage heater would be best for it, as well as what gph and size powerhead would work well for it?
Thanks!

 

[saxman]

you won't need a heater. NC's run right around 80*F out of the box (trust me, i have a 12, 24, and 28, as well as an AP 24).
also it helps to know that a NC "12" only holds 8 gals and change, so you're dealing with very little water. something to bear in mind when stocking it.
ours is home to 6 barnacle blennies (A. balonorum), a small CUC and some live macroalgae. it's a cute little setup.
our other "plug-n-play" tanx are used as QT's and grow-out tanx, not true displays.
HTH

 

[inkman2004]

I use a 50w heater in my NC 12 DX. It has worked well for me! Mine was no where near 80 out of the box, but alot will depend on where you live and how you keep your air in the house as well. Good luck.

 

[saxman]

Originally Posted by inkman2004
http:///forum/post/3235501
I use a 50w heater in my NC 12 DX. It has worked well for me! Mine was no where near 80 out of the box, but alot will depend on where you live and how you keep your air in the house as well. Good luck.
that's a LOT of heater for such a small tank (5.5W/gal if you go with a 9 gal volume)...a 25 "watter" would be plenty IMHO.

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by inkman2004
http:///forum/post/3235501
I use a 50w heater in my NC 12 DX. It has worked well for me! Mine was no where near 80 out of the box, but alot will depend on where you live and how you keep your air in the house as well. Good luck.
Same.
50w heater. I had a couple of nights when the temp would go to like 76 and the next morning with the lights running it would hit 82. I don't want too much difference in temp so heaters help to lower the range. I feel that if you want a successful reef that it's good to get into the habit of always having a heater around.
50w heaters are efficient enough for this size tank. It's never bad to buy a heater that works for a little more water than you're using since the heater will have to do less work.
As for the powerhead question..
I'm questioning that as well. I recently purchased one of those rotating wave maker things for the pump that comes with the tank (the wave maker hasn't arrived yet), and I have another small powerhead which I believe is a 90GPH, but the flow isn't what I want it to be; but I think it'll be better once the wave maker is attached. Got a maxi-jet coming too if things don't work out.
The flow just really depends on what you desire to place in it. As you know some coral need more or less flow.

 

[jacknjill]

Thanks! I think im gonna go with a 25 watt, and if i end up not needing it ill just use it to heat up the water change water.
I was looking at the little koralia nano pumps...they seem small enough and not crazyyy powerful. I want to keep softies and LPS corals