MarineDepot's Sneak Peak: JBJ RL-20 20 Gallon Frag Tank

(source: facebook/marinedepotdotcom)

Online aquarium retailer (and friends of ChromisReef.com), Marine Depot (MarineDepot.com), posted some sneak peak photos of the new JBJ 20 Gallon Rimless Frag Tank. Visit their Facebook Page for the detailed photos: www.facebook.com/marinedepotdotcom.

Chromis' Reef has the details, however!

The RL20, as it is called by JBJ, is a rimless aquarium measuring 24" x 20" x 9", equaling approximately 20 gallons of water volume. The aquarium is an All-In-One (AIO) system with built in filtration system, and a 266 gallon per hour power head. It is a solid aquarium, constructed of 6mm thick glass tank with a stylish curved front design. While the prototype shown features an outlet/return at the top of the aquarium, the final release will have the return at the bottom of aquarium. More on this in a moment.

The aquarium could be used as a display, but is designed with the coral propagator in mind: it's a frag tank. It is also suggested as a great tank for clams as you see the best of clams from the top.

More details after the break/jump...

Sneak Peak: JBJ Pacifica LED Light Fixture

I heard about the JBJ Pacifica somewhat secretively last year at the Reef-A-Palooza aquarium show. JBJ (Also known as JBJ Lighting) was handing out t-shirts with the name of the fixture with a question mark. Somewhat mysterious, all we could figure out was that it was a new LED light expected to release sometime in 2013.

Well the light made it to me this week, and I finally got the chance to see what this mystery was. The Pacifica is a tablet LED light fixture that appears to have been designed for use on JBJ rimless aquariums. It's comes with brackets for use on rimless and non rimless tanks. It's a strong light coming in at over 100 watts, and reminds me of the functionality of the JBJ Advanced LED 28 gallon Nano Cubes, but with less control. (Read more after the jump)...

Sneak Peak: JBJ Cubey All-in-one Biotope

The JBJ Cubey is best described as "cute". I mean look at it! It's petite and functional, and has a real LED system in it. The item has yet to hit shelves, but is expect to be released for pre-order on retailer's sites very soon.

The JBJ Cubey - Inside is the filter sponge and media basket

I saw the "little guy" at Reef-a-palooza 2012. I saw the white version which was certainly nice, but I was excited to see the black color version today. I definitely like the look. Check out my photos after the jump.

*Update (12/28/2012): Item now available at Marine Depot: JBJ Cubey 3 Gallon Pico LED Aquarium. Available in black and white.

The 28 Gallon JBJ - NanoCube

So I haven't really posted about my the new tank... Ok, so it's not REALLY mine, but I completely helped set it up and will be taking care of it. It actually belongs to my girlfriend, Mal (you can thank me when you're famous, Love). I guess I can say I'm "consulting" on the setup (that means pointing fingers, complaining about water changes, making top-off water, providing some frags, etc...). Well, we set it up and it's been running for about a month now. We moved an existing 12 gallon nano aquarium into the new 28-gallon Nano tank (including rock, fishes, and coral). Don't worry, we set it up right. We started it with just base rock and started dosing Brightwell's Microbacter7 immediately for almost 2 weeks. We also added a handful of live sand and a few gallons of aquarium water from the existing aquarium. We then added the live rock and fish, and tada...

But Oh No's! It wasn't 9 months of cycling!!! Yes folks, it's possible to stock a tank in a matter of just a few DAYS. Do your homework, plan it out, and stock it slowly... Don't worry, I'm a professional. In all reality, I've set up new aquariums in a day in a pinch, and have never had problems. I have ALWAYS stocked slowly, though...

So far the tank is doing well. The previous aquarium was running a 70 watt metal halide fixture, and the new aquarium is running JBJ's 89 watt Advanced LED light (JBJ 28 Gallon Nano Cube LED Aquarium - 89 Watt Advanced). Not too shabby! The soft coral all did pretty well during the switch, however a frag of my Pink and Green Damicornis bleached out; this was not a result of the light.

Anyways, I'll be posting updates from time to time to track the progress, and here's the latest picture...

 And no, I haven't downsized (yet). I have some good things going on with MY 60-gallon reef, and plan on posting more soon... So until next time...

24 hours later...

The Nano-cube is still cloudy. I cut up a filter sock and added it into the overflow. The tank is clearing up slowly. Started adding Microbacter7 to the tank. I'll seed the sand with some sand from an established tank, and I'll add some live rock from the same aquarium to speed up the cycle. More to come...

Setting up a 28g JBJ Nano-cube

Still cloudy. Looks like we'll be here a while!

I'm starting the tank with some CaribSea base rock, Aragalive Aragonite sand, and I'll be inoculating the tank with Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7. I'll post more when the sand settles!