Thanks to the folks at JBJ-USA, we were able to get our hands on the latest addition to the JBJ Nano Cube line–the new JBJ 28g Nano Cube LED for a full-on review. While this tank won’t be up and running quite yet, we wanted to make sure we passed on some photographs along with our initial impressions of the all-in-one tank. The new feature differentiation between this and the other units in the 28g Nano Cube line is the all LED lighting with just under 90W of LED goodness for those of you looking for a complete system. The LED version sports 25 3W 14,000K white LEDs, four 3W actinic (466nm) LEDs and a pair of 1W “Nite-Vu” (456nm) LEDs for moonlights all mounted inside the aquarium’s hood with individual power cords. Running the daylight white and dawn/dusk LEDs at the same time will push out 87W, a bit more than the 75W next gen AI fixture but without any reflector or lenses the light isn’t focused like it is in higher end LED lights. Over such a short throw at least it should be able to grow any kind of SPS. If you’re looking to truly be eco-friendly a main point of using LEDs is to consume less energy and this may skip that point a bit. In comparison, the quad-PC version runs at 105W and the HQI version at 150W. More details and photos follow the break.
From our initial unboxing, we are pretty impressed with the new JBJ unit so far. This tank is a nice size, being on the higher end of the “nano” spectrum, giving you a nice piece of reef real estate to get a really nice setup going. The 28g Nano Cube is powered by a pair of Accella SP1-1000 pumps on either side of the back wall tied into two adjustable flared return nozzles. Each pump is rated for 266 GPH at 16W for a total system turnover of 19 times per hour. Also included to add more randomness to your flow is JBJ’s Ocean Pulse Duo wavemaker device, allowing you to set your pump switching from 10 seconds to 6 minutes a side.
Behind the scenes, the filtration and overflow section includes both a heater and protein skimmer chamber as well as a three-stage filtration basket that can easily be converted to a chaetomorpha powered refugium filter (additional refugium light required, not included). The lighting hood/canopy/lid also features a small feeding door with enough room to drop in foods, add additives or take water test samples without having to flip back the entire top.
Overall our first impressions are pretty positive with the new JBJ 28g Nano Cube LED. While not as sleek and sexy as some of the higher-end rimless nano’s out there, this is a smart choice for the hobbyist looking for as turnkey of an aquarium as you can get. The JBJ 28g has the appeal of the nano tanks with everything built in taking the headache out the setup process. The new efficient LED lighting system is a nice touch with the LEDs spread out enough to evenly light up the tank with a nice color. The individual power cords are a nice touch allowing your to be in control of your light cycle. Although it is recommended to use timers for the lights, one thing we would have like to see is integrated power switches to manually turn on and off the lights without unplugging the unit. Not a deal breaker and something that would be more of a luxury to be able to switch lights off as needed.
The LED lighting is cooled by an aluminum heat sink and four cooling fans and include an on-board thermal protector to shut your lighting down in case of the fan’s failure or overheating of the unit. Definitely a nice touch to protect your lighting investment and in case the fans do shut down on you, they will kick back on when the temperature returns to normal. The unit is pretty solid and looks sleek. The three-stage lighting is an added bonus on top of the energy-efficient LED lighting. While running a single return pump might get you more efficiency, the redundancy of the dual pump return is nice as well as allowing for using the included wavemaking device.
Overall right out of the box we are liking the new JBJ 28g Nano Cube LED and can’t wait to get this puppy set up and running. A big thanks for JBJ-USA for sending us the nano cube for review, we will update you on our impressions once we get the system running.
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