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30g Innovative Marine Nuvo Reef Tank

N

Notblue

Howdy All,

New to NJReefers but I've posted on The Reef Tank previously, thought it would be interesting to see what people in the NJ area in particular are doing. I started my reef in a 12g Fluval Edge and had disastrous results, 3 crashes and ammonia spikes regardless of how diligent my cleaning schedule was or what I was doing. Since then I've upgraded to a Nuvo 30g, which I've had running since before December.

Tank was started/cycled started December 21 - Started with Aragonite Live Sand and some New live rock. Let all of this settle for about a week while it all came together. I started moving live rock from my 12g into the 30g as this process went on, but had to kind of rush the cycling because the coral that survived were not very happy in the edge. Part of the reason I had to wait on the 30g was because I built a custom stand for it over my winter break as well.


After about 2 weeks of cycling with my established LR I moved everything into the 30g and let it sit for a while longer, hoping my corals wouldn't crash. Luckily, everything seemed to make it in the switch, and all of my CUC seemed to be fine as well. January 25 I added two snowflake clowns, and everyone seems pretty well adjusted. At this point I'm just going to let everything sit and establish for a while longer. Everything seems pretty happy, I'm debating adding a sump underneath the stand now that I have it finished and my GF can stand it all once again.


Tank Vitals:
Lighting - AI Nano - from the Edge, I've ramped up since July and corals seem pretty well acclimated
Salinity - 1.026 - Using Instant Ocean but I'm not crazy about it, small white specs constantly
Doing once a week 5g water changes which I let sit for 24 hours prior to dissolve and temp acclimate. Running the 2 media baskets the tank came with but I'm considering consolidating into one and making one an overflow to a sump.
About 20lbs of live rock
1 Hydor powerhead and one Rio powerhead. Combined with the filter pump I have roughly 827 gph circulation in my tank.

Livestock:
2 Snowflake clowns - introduced together, seem to be best friends right now
2 Blue legged hermits, 1 other hermit - can't tell what he is, tannish
3 Nassarius Snails
4 Turbo Snails
1 Emerald Crab
1 hitchhiker nudibranch (?) I'll get a picture if I can, he's not exciting looking but he doesn't seem to bother anything, been in the tank about 3 months now - came off a coral I purchased I assume.


Corals:
Leather Toadstool
Green Jade Torch Coral
Blue Trumpet Coral
Hammer Coral
Neon green Chalice - not sure about this guy, doesn't seem to change so I can't get a read on it
Small Zoa colony
Small GSP colony on it's own island
Pulsing Xenia - on the GSP island, they can battle it out I figure


I'd eventually like to get a goby/pistol shrimp combo if possible but I'm not sure if my sand is too fine. Eventually I'd like to get a BTA for the clowns also, they seem seriously interested in the torch already but they are still adjusting to a new tank - just really started to explore the rock work this week.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? All are welcome!
 
N

Notblue

Can't seem to post photos of the tank from photobucket. In the meantime maybe this will work: photobucket.com/user/notblue/library/Tank
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
First off, welcome to the forum.

Second: As for pictures check out this link (If you become a member it is much easier to post pictures, it was an anti-spam control we put in): http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?85197-Can-t-post-an-image-Here-s-how-to-do-it

Third: Pistol shrimp with goby will be fine in your tank. You can look at the candy cane pistol or the tiger pistol and a whole bunch of different gobies depending on your budget and personal choice. Nudis generally feed on once specific thing (usually certain corals, sponges, certain types of algae, flatworms) so it probably came off of one of those. I would keep an eye on it as they can reproduce and wipe out whatever kind fo specific coral it feeds on. It might also be just a hitch hiker that will starve and die off if there is nothing to feed it.

Looking forward to following your progress, we kept a 30g for a while and it was a great tank. If you can convert from an AIO to a sump cleanly, it will help you out with keeping the tank stable.
 
N

Notblue

I tried the manual upload before, it didn't like my file size. I'll try playing around with it some more.

I was looking at the yasha goby in particular. I'm still going to let the tank ride for another month or so to make sure everything is nice and stable. I'll try to get a picture of the nudi, but he's a grayish slug looking sucker, with two black bunny ears. He likes to hang out in the GSP for most of the day but does forage out into the sandbeds. He started in the Edge where I found him, and he's grown since then (roughly 2-3 months now) If he's picking at the GSP, I wouldn't really mind since they're already starting to take off, but if I see him going for anything else he'll get tossed.

My idea was to make a pvc fitting for the back included sump, and hopefully drain to a 10-20 gallon below. I'm fairly confident I could do the baffles and the pipework, the biggest concern is making it fit nicely and keeping the sound down. If I can accomplish those two things, I'm definitely planning on upgrading.

Thanks for the info!

4.jpg 7.jpg 6.jpg 8.jpg
 
N

Notblue

The back of the tank is glass as well. It comes with a built in "sump" but it's not really useful in any sense. I am pretty sure I could fit a pvc overflow behind it, but I like that it looks nice, and it makes minimal noise as is. Out of curiosity, anyone know any secret spots for LPS? I really enjoy my torch and my hammer, and would love to get different color variations, but outside of Absolutely Fish in Clifton I haven't found much selection.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Notblue said:
The back of the tank is glass as well. It comes with a built in "sump" but it's not really useful in any sense. I am pretty sure I could fit a pvc overflow behind it, but I like that it looks nice, and it makes minimal noise as is. Out of curiosity, anyone know any secret spots for LPS? I really enjoy my torch and my hammer, and would love to get different color variations, but outside of Absolutely Fish in Clifton I haven't found much selection.
Click to expand...
Aquatic Obsessions in check out our sponsors....if you are a member they will give you a discount FYI so a membership will pay for itself pretty darn quick.
 
Ls2Goat

Ls2Goat

Dal
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Welcome to the nano tank club, IMO the rear chambers in the 30 is equivalent to a 5-10g sump.

Try these tricks for taking full advantage of your rear chambers.
First step is to swap out the stock little plastic media racks for something bigger, I'm a fan of the Stevie T media baskets using filter floss,chemi pure, and purigen as my filter media; or you can DIY eggcrate basket.
I'd also recommend setting up one of the interior chambers as a fuge and using a external or underwater light.
The IM skimmer is decent or you can try a Tunze as it fits nicely.

IMO don't drill the nuvo and if you must sump it for some reason try out a eshopps overflow box or something similar.

Ive vet had my Nuvo 8g running for a year with out a problem and am currently setting up a nuvo 24, feel free to PM if you have any questions.
 
NikkiT

NikkiT

Welcome to the Nano Forum and to NJRC!
I love the 30g size, congrats on your new tank.
The clowns look very happy in there.
As mike said, we love yasha gobies. Another good (and less expensive choice) is the high fin.
 
N

Notblue

Ls2Goat said:
Welcome to the nano tank club, IMO the rear chambers in the 30 is equivalent to a 5-10g sump.

Try these tricks for taking full advantage of your rear chambers.
First step is to swap out the stock little plastic media racks for something bigger, I'm a fan of the Stevie T media baskets using filter floss,chemi pure, and purigen as my filter media; or you can DIY eggcrate basket.
I'd also recommend setting up one of the interior chambers as a fuge and using a external or underwater light.
The IM skimmer is decent or you can try a Tunze as it fits nicely.

IMO don't drill the nuvo and if you must sump it for some reason try out a eshopps overflow box or something similar.

Ive vet had my Nuvo 8g running for a year with out a problem and am currently setting up a nuvo 24, feel free to PM if you have any questions.
Click to expand...

I definitely want to swap out the baskets relatively soon. I currently am running mostly filter, one carbon and phosphate pads, but the carbon doesn't fit properly. I'm looking into the squarer filter baskets and I'd like to set up an overflow box in the remaining chamber. It's all a long term goal though, so I'll wait for a petco sale. Looking at this nano sump potentially: lifereef.com./siphon.html

Only thing I'm worried about is the dimensions not fitting in the chamber for the overflow box. I can obviously use the larger chamber but I'm just worried still haha.

I'll try to get a picture of the nudi soon. He's sleeping in the GSP right now so it's hard to catch, but this is him with the little grey coat and bunny ears. My GF has named him Inch.
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N

Notblue

I'd like to add a sump to my setup, but I'm worried I won't find an overflow box that fits. I know Eshops makes a nano, and the dimensions will fit for the back hang of a Nuvo 30gallon, but the water level is my concern. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone have any experience with eshop's overflow boxes - specifically how low down they sit?

If I ordered one from Amazon and it didn't fit, what are the odds I could return it? Or is there another manufacturer that sells deep overflow boxes I could use instead? The biggest limitation I have right now are the odd dimensions for the back of the tank.
 
N

Notblue

Small update - I ended up getting the eshopps overflow from Amazon and it fits, so that's problem number 1 solved. I have the aquarium and all materials needed but just waiting on my glass to be cut for baffles. First time I cut I used the dimensions the tank had listed instead of actually measuring and they were too large by an inch. Stupid mistake.

Ended up tossing the mushroom I had, wasn't too happy but he really wasn't opening and started to droop pretty badly. Crabs were picking at him as well. Added 2 more corals which are currently in the sand bed as you can see. Once I get this sump installed I'd like to add another fish or other life, but not sure what. Also, my green zoa's don't seem to be growing but my orange ones are going insane. Any ideas?

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N

Notblue

Added a sump on Wednesday, matched the temperature pretty well, salinity was a point off and the corals really didn't like it. It seems like the torch, hammer and most of my bigger stuff will recover, my xenia seem pretty miserable though, along with the zoas. I'm going to leave everything for now, but I'm worried I might lose some of them. Only time will tell.
 
saltkreep88

saltkreep88

I am not sure being one point off in salinity would cause they much of an issue. Did you reef safe silicone in the sump? Some silicones have mold inhibitors which can cause major issues.

Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk
 
N

Notblue

I bought my silicone from Absolutely Fish in Clifton, and it was Aqueon Glass Tank Aquarium 100% Silicone Sealant Caulk/glue, so I can't imagine it's the silicone itself. I rinsed it out and tested for leaks prior, and made sure to use RO/DI water in the sump as well. I don't think it's going to kill off most of my corals, but they are definitely unhappy as of now. The only measurable thing I can say for sure is the salinity difference, unless the flow change would make that much of a difference
 
N

Notblue

Just checked alkalinity, and it's pretty on. I used the API kh test, and I had a light change at 8 drops and a stronger change at 9. I know that is in the lower range so I added reeffusion 2 to bring it up slightly. Not really sure what the issue could be still, might lose the zoas and xenia :-/
 
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