Jad Hs-60 130L 150W Mh Light (Buyo 550 Clone)

[JimGilbert]

Having bought my second hand JAD HS-60 Nano tank of e-bay a couple of weeks ago I, for some mad reason, have decided to keep a journal.
I have had and wrestled with my costum built wall unit for nearly 3 years now, and having just got it right not only does the wife want to redesign the kitchen she is also a little dissappointed in the lack of successful corals (which is where we agree) so I am very willingly swapping to a nano tank to increase the Reef element of my Marine hobby. As I mentioned I have bought a JAD which is effectively a Boyu 550 but with a Metal Halide light and some other minor differences, but without a stand or filter media. This may be quite a long and protracted process as i wish to donate alot of my existing rock etc to the new tank but have some issues which I will come onto in due course.
I will post some pics of my wall tank in the next couple of days and then you will see its gradual strip down and the build up of the nano.
So in the last 2 weeks I have made various purchases as follows
JAD HS-60 Tank - (no stand) £99.99 from Fleebay
UG Plates - LFS - £8.99 LFS 1 (Killing World - Leeds)
Argonite Sand - LFS - 20lb - £27.00 LFS 1
Minor Filter Equipment - £6.75 LFS 2 (Garden Centre - Wrongly price)
Koralia Nano Wave Pump 1600 lph- £19.00 Fleebay
Sacraficial Salt for Cycling - 25kg £40.00 Fleebay
Peppermint Shrimps to eat Apatasia £30.00 LFS 3 (Oasis - Salford - Ace)
Peice of Rock for Seeding - new tank £9.38 LFS 3
Powerhead for UG - 2000 lph £14.50 Fleebay
D-D Aquascape Putty - 2 tubes £7.90 peteramos1 (top service - Fleebaay)
5 in 1 Test Strips for Cycling £7.60 Fleebay - will use higher quality when get near livestock
R O units - Replacement £37.00 Colins water products - used before on Fleebay
Multi Socket adaptor £13.17 Internet Company

Thats enough expense for now dont you think, as an existing Hobbyist who would have thought that much cost, but to be fair I guess the salt & the RO unit are consumables and the shrimps dont really count
Even allowing for that over £200 spent so far, but hoping to get half of that back when I sell the bits from the strip down of my wall tank.

Pulling in a Favour and having a custom built base made to suit my requirements, want it bigger and taller than the standard units so it puts it at a better veiwing height and can store more STUFF

Next items on list are

Currently bidding on The Bible - thanks seffie and BigC for the steer inadvertantly
More Filter Media
Refractometer - have floating unit at moment but again the message is about quality for reefs in nano's so upgrade necessary

Think thats enough for now - may get chance to take photos tomorrow but will also have to learn how to upload them

 

[JimGilbert]

Yes I do mean that old fashioned UG system, for 2 reasons, throughout my time keeping tropricals on and off for the last 20 years and in the last 3 years of Marine this good old fashioned method has served me well. I will use the powerhead with a flow diverted to create extra random current through my live rock and get the added advantage of the biological filtration through my sand for free. Old fashioned maybe, and thats just me, but i think it is simple and effective.
Today i bought 2 Peppermint shrimps to deal with the Apatasia problem in the WALL tank before i move the live rock into the NANO tank, on close inspection this evening i cannot find my 2 new acquisitions, not to worried yet, but what i have notice in my detailed inspection is
'I AM COMPLETED OVER RUN BY BRISTLE WORMS, THEY ARE IN EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY' what can i do. I will remove the rock and treat it peice by peice if necessary, i have read loads of suggestions but some of them seem like old wives tailse. HELP !!!!!! I dont want to take an infestation of bristle worms to my new tank in the rock. Would rather bin it and start with fresh stuff if necessary, or am i worrying to much. These huge marine set ups that have been running for years must also be teaming with these invaders

 

[seffieuk]

RE the brisle worms, my system also has loads of them, just means there is less waste to cause the tank problems they dodnt seem to cause me any issues

Seffie x

ps I am really interested that you have gone back to the 'old ways' - will be watching with interest

 

[JimGilbert]

Kinda think this is gonna be a real naff question, but how do i do the picture upload etc thing

 

[seffieuk]

Kinda think this is gonna be a real naff question, but how do i do the picture upload etc thing

We all have to ask that question

Get yourself a free photobucket account or imageshack, upload your photos and then copy and paste the img code into your post here

Seffie x

 

[JimGilbert]

The Wall Tank - the donor

The New Tank - the recipient JAD HS-60

http/i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m552/Firebladefirestorm/Infestation.jpg
The Problem - a small sample of my Aptasia infestation

The Solution - Starsky & Hutch - Peppermint Shrimps to Reek havoc on my Aptasia i hope

Unknown Creature Can Anyone Identify Please - Good or Bad ? Top left hand side stripy chap

 

[JimGilbert]

Done a little more research now and have doubts about my UG route. In my wall tank it is easy to stir up the gravel to ensure a good flow to the UG plates, but on my new set up, once i have done the aquascaping the area above the UG plates will be less accessible and thus may pack down and impede the flow through the gravel, to the plates and out of the head. I had also planned on utilising the power head for additional random flow over the aquascape by fitting a Hydor deflector which i already have.
Thoughts / Help / Guidance Pease

 

[seffieuk]

I concur, ditch the ug plates, you will get lots of buildup under there and cuc might get stuck!!

I suspect your leg is a serpent star

Seffie x

ps thanks for the photos

 

[JimGilbert]

Hi Somebody !!!

The tank i bought came without any filter media, now i intend to put live rock rubble and some ceramic in the filter compartment i still need some foam to take out the large waste materials before we get to the Bio Mechanical process. Can anyone point me in the right direction, i have tried to contact Rocket Aquatics who offer the foam at £6.99p plus p & p but recieved no response. Any ideas / help. The stand gets finished tomorrow so i will have my first pics of it on the stand for posting, just incase anyone is interested. aaaahhhhh Lonely Jim
As my tank is the same as a Boyu / Orca TL 550

 

[DigitalStorm]

Done a little more research now and have doubts about my UG route. In my wall tank it is easy to stir up the gravel to ensure a good flow to the UG plates, but on my new set up, once i have done the aquascaping the area above the UG plates will be less accessible and thus may pack down and impede the flow through the gravel, to the plates and out of the head. I had also planned on utilising the power head for additional random flow over the aquascape by fitting a Hydor deflector which i already have.
Thoughts / Help / Guidance Pease

Must admit Jim not many go the UG route these days, advances have pretty much ruled it out; especially on the nanos.

I have done a rescape on my tank and built up a central tall rockpile/bommie type thing, It appears to give better swimming space. I have 3 power heads 2 for main circulation, but the third is buried deep in the bommie. So far, so good!

Ultimately you know what your tank needs!

 

[seffieuk]

I dont use foam in my tanks, keep well away from it - it you want to get rid of particals, you could use some filter floss

Seffie x

 

[JimGilbert]

Do people think it would be practical and save to take the live rock and sand out of the wall tank, put in into my Nano tank and immediately put fish in. They both hold the same volume and whilst there is no mature filter media in the Nano yet would the Live Rock and Sand do the work for the sort term.
I have also bought 10kg of Live Sand / Argonite which is still in its bags in water.
Is this impatience of the wife nagging to get a move on.
I have read that i could transfer immediately but i dont want to be impatient i want to do it right.
OPIONIONS PLEASE - MORE THAN ONE WOULD BE GOOD

 

[seffieuk]

There is no reason why you shouldn't, it is exactly what I did when I transfered from a nano to a five footer. I filled the tank with salty water, brought to temp and sg,then moved all my nano live rock and the rock I had cycled in a rio 180 over to the five footer all in one day - as long as the rock is cycled and yours is, there is no problem.

If it were me, i would put in the water, bring up to temp and sg, move the rock, put the sand in, let it settle for a few hrs then move live stock

Seffie x

 

[JimGilbert]

Well they say patience is a virtue, but i am a bloke so patience be buggerred, i am going to move some rocks and filter media to the new tank this weekend. I have syphoned off about 60 litres of water from my existing tank over the last week so should have at least some mature water in the system. I now need a suitable way of getting the live rock rubble and bits out fo the filter box sections at the back to give them the occasional rinse. Will womens tights do the job as none of the filter bags available seem either to be large enough or robust enough. Alternatively is someone knows were i can get some small mesh, large bags that are about 450mm long and about 100mm diameter that would be great.
Will post pics and reading as i start the process. Also got my custom stand build so pics of that will also appear. All advice greatfully received

 

[DigitalStorm]

I filled up a couple of bags that I got from my lfs, the fit really well in the back chambers and make it a breeze to take the rubble out and rinse once a week to clean off the build up.