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View Full Version : ideas for JBJ 28g scrubber



kaskiles
09-12-2012, 07:02 PM
Hi All,

I'm just starting up a saltwater JBJ 28g nano-cube CF, just water and gravel at the moment, but planning on reef with a couple small corals, inverts and fish. I really like the idea of using an algae scrubber on it, but I don't want have anything outside the built-in back filter compartment. Here is a pretty good photo of the back chamber from reefbuilders:

http://reefbuilders.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/jbj-led-nano/jbj-28g-led-back.jpg

Notice that center chamber where the overflow drains into, the water remains at a fixed height in there near the top by the overflow combs. From reading through this site, a single sided 3x4 UAS placed in this chamber seems like the simplest solution. The main things that concern me with this approach though are: single sided lighting and counter current flow (bubbles going up and water flowing down). Will these two aspects override the simple part and make it more of a nuisance than just trying to pump water out to some external chamber?

I'd also appreciate any other ideas people see for incorporating a scrubber into this tank.

Thanks, Kenneth.

SantaMonica
09-12-2012, 07:41 PM
Water level won't matter if you have sufficient bubble flow. But you want to keep the bubbles out of the display.

kaskiles
09-14-2012, 06:44 AM
Ok, I just tested the bubbles in the display issue by hooking up a small air pump and tubing. I just had the open ended tubing bubbling into the center overflow chamber, and no bubbles made their way into the display.

But one thing I noticed is that the air pump has a loud hum (for such a small air pump...), but once the bubbles start up in that chamber, it's very loud. Not sure if I want all that extra noise, but I'm going to have to try it again with an air stone. Maybe the air stones really silence it all.

kerry
09-14-2012, 07:25 AM
Hang the pump by its cord. This should make it quieter.

SantaMonica
09-14-2012, 09:05 AM
And smaller bubbles will be quieter.

kaskiles
12-05-2012, 07:20 AM
Just wanted to point out that there is a good posting for an ATS on a JBJ 28g over on the reefcentral Nano forums.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2240746

I'm planning to do about the same thing in my JBJ 28g, but I was thinking to use a 2"x6" (6" running vertical), instead of the 3"x4". Since this screen would be totally submerged in the overflow compartment, would the narrow/vertical screen perform any worse than a wide screen?