Dave and Chelle's Nano Build

[DisVillain]

How do you like that ato resovior from IM?

We really like the IM reservoir. I was impressed with the quality, and durability. Mainly was drawn to it for the pullout drawer feature. Figure it'll make it easier to fill the reservoir as needed, without having to take it completely out of the cabinet all the time.

Can't wait to setup the ATO system for the Nuvo....probably about 2 weeks away.

 

[DisVillain]

Last night was 'Day 3' of cycling QT; added 40 drops ammonium chloride.

I placed a huge order from BRS. Also picked up some items from Amazon, and MD. This should be the last of everything we need for the build. Order includes Kessil A80 light, gooseneck, IM Custom Caddy 20, among other things. I'll post pics when everything is delivered.

Getting the QT setup has been fun! I like to just stare at the empty tank as it cycles. My favorite thing is breaking out the test kits. The first night of testing was a bit overwhelming, (first time ever),although with 2 of us we were able to work as a team. Ended up being really fun, and I like that it's something we can do together. I did PH, and hubby did nitrite and ammonia. We're using RedSea Marine testing kit, and found the directions easy to follow, and reading results was super easy.

Tonight is Day 4 and we test again!

 

[DisVillain]

Cycling Day 4: Test Results:

Ammonia 2ppm+ (RedSea test kit only goes up to 2ppm, and the test color came out darker than what's shown for 2ppm. Guessing it's around 5.)
Nitrite 0.05 Yay!

* Tonight: Day 5 -- Another test day.

Now that cycling is in full swing, I want to share the QT method I've chosen to follow. Researching QT in general was very mind boggling at first. Everyone has a very strong opinion on whether to QT at all, and even more so, how to go about it and length of time. Phew! I find the topic very fascinating, and really enjoyed going from knowing nothing about it, to learning a lot!

I am choosing to prophylactically treat new fish in QT with Paraguard. First 2 days in QT will be to just observe and feed. Day 3 - 16 will be 14 days of Paraguard. Seachem recommends 14 days for prophylactic treatment. I will start off with a quarter of recommend dose, as I've been told clownfish are sensitive, and will try to ramp up over several days to full dose. If fish get stressed at anytime, I'll put carbon in, and just observe for remainder of QT time. After 14 days of Paraguard, fish will then stay in QT another 4 weeks, for a total of 6 weeks. (That's for captive bred fish. Wild caught will get 8 weeks.) In addition, I'll be running an air stone during the whole QT duration, and there's a powerhead in there too. Total QT is 6 weeks. If we get any wild caught fish, than 8 weeks.

The one advantage I have is being home all day, which is probably why I'm taking on QT. My husband hasn't looked into it at all, so it'll be my thing. I'm being entrusted to QT any fish, inverts, and down the road, corals that we get. (Not just the Nuvo, but also the 50g cubes we'll be building soon. So that's a bit nerve racking for me!

 

[DisVillain]

Day 5 test results:

ammonia over 2ppm
nitrite 0.1 --- slowly climbing

Tonight is Day 6, and Dr. Tim's instructions are to add more ammonia chloride drops. I'll test ammonia/nitrite this afternoon, and if ammonia is 2ppm or higher, I will not add any drops, but instead will do a water change. If the results show 1ppm or lower, I may add half the recommended dose. Instead of 40 drops, only 20 drops.

Hubby made more RO/DI water yesterday, and there's saltwater ready in case we do a partial water change, 1g, to bring down ammonia level. Even though RedSea test kit only goes up to 2ppm, we're pretty sure with how dark the test results came out, that it's probably over 5, if not 8ppm. This afternoon's test will tell us what to do!

Here's a quickie update of the progress for QT cycling:

Day 1: Added bacteria and ammonia chloride (40) drops
Day 2: Test Day ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0
* Day 3: Added ammonia (40) drops
Day 4: Test Day ammonia +2ppm, nitrite 0.05
Day 5: Test Day ammonia +2ppm, Nitrite 0.1
Day 6: Up in the air, depends on test results.

I regret adding drops on day 3. In my defense, the Dr. Tim's Fishless Cycle PDF doesn't contain all the information that I'm now seeing on his website. There's a fishless article on his webpage that says, Day 3 – If ammonia and nitrite are below 1 ppm add more ammonia. The PDF makes no mention of this! I tested ammonia on day 2 at exactly 2ppm, and I would not have added more drops, if this was written in the PDF. Oh, well. It's an easy fix with a small water change.

Chelle

 

[DisVillain]

Yay! The final big order for Nuvo tank! Well, there's one thing in there that's for QT: the 1/8 in netting. That's to cover the light diffuser so we don't lose any fish in QT...from jumping anyway. Hubby is going to zip tie it. It won't look great, but it's just a temporary QT, and I'm less concerned about how it looks, and more concerned with making sure it's safe for the fish. I'd hate for something to spook them, and find them on the carpet.

It might be hard to see, but there's a VDM Module, and Kessil to Apex control cord. Last year when we were thinking of getting into the hobby, my husband started buying some things, and he bought an Apex Jr (open box) through BRS. Been sitting on that for a year! So he really wants to hook it up to the Nuvo 10, and we'll worry about an Apex for our 50g cubes when that project starts up.



It's really hard sitting on all these purchases, while the stand is still out in the garage waiting for stain and poly coats! Dave said he should be able to stain this weekend, and do the poly coats the weekend after. Aiming to have the Nuvo set up around April 9th.

Chelle

 

[DisVillain]

What's this?! Yep, we got our fish! They arrived just 2 days ago on April 3rd. This is the only pic I got on delivery day. Let me say, I had a hard time deciding on what designer clownfish to get. At first I was leaning towards a cheaper pair, as this is my first time quarantining and I was nervous about spending a lot. My husband was more confident in our abilities what with all the research we've been doing, so he said go for my favorite. What's my favorite? Frostbites!



I bought a WYSIWYG pair of Frostbite clownfish from Coral Reef TN. ($180+shipping) Also thought to take a quick pic of the pair before purchase. Once purchased, it's removed from website. It was fun comparing the pic to the fishes patterns in person! My husband and I were very impressed with the experience. They worked with me, and were very flexible with my chosen delivery date. (I read a review afterwards that Coral Reef will hold your fish (up to 14 days, said one reviewer). So they'll work with anyone who asks.) This was the first time I've ever bought fish online, so I was messaging them on Facebook at least a few times during the whole process. They always responded in a timely manner, and walked me through everything.

UPS delivers to our house either at noon, or not until 4pm. It varies day-to-day. We were crossing our fingers for a noon delivery, but that was not meant to be. My husband even worked from home as to not miss the delivery. UPS didn't come until 3:40pm. (The day after our fish arrived, guess what time I saw UPS driving down our street doing deliveries? 11:45am. Ugh, go figure!

 

[DisVillain]

Sorry! Thought I clicked on thumbprint size for that pic!

My husband's first comment after removing the bag from the shipping box was how vibrant and healthy they looked compared to fish at our local pet store, and that's even after 24 hours of transit time. Lol (Not bashing our pet store, (everyone knows the national chain), as we shop there for all our dog stuff/fish food, but our local store isn't great at keeping saltwater fish.)

Coral Reef TN had instructions for acclimation, doing the plop/drop method. That was great to hear, because that's exactly how we wanted to acclimate anyway! We floated bag in QT for 15 mins and then checked salinity. Looked good, so we put them in QT, minus the bag water. The pair quickly retreated to the front corner of the tank and huddled there the rest of the night.

I had a powerhead on, pointing toward the surface, but the fish were looking pretty lethargic so I turned on the air stone. The male immediately perked up, but the female still looked pretty stressed. She was laying on her side at the bottom of the tank and breathing heavily. (She did that the second we released her into QT.) We assumed it was stress from all the traveling they just did. The room was already pretty dim what with it being a cloudy day, and the blinds were only half open. Hubby suggested closing the blinds all the way, which made the room pitch dark by 6pm. It was hard checking on them, but we used flashlights from our phones and noticed the female was doing better in the dark.

By 9pm the female's heavy breathing wasn't as bad, and she'd go back and forth from being on the bottom of the tank, to being right side up and huddling with the male. The male hovered above her for hours, barley an inch away. It was cute! They truly are a bonded pair. I barely got a wink of sleep that night! With no other symptoms, we just chalked it up to stress. 24 transit, plus getting put into a new tank, etc. That's a lot for little fishes!

 

[DisVillain]

The following morning, my husband checked on them at 5am as he was getting ready for work, and the female looked 100% better! They were swimming around and exploring the tank. Even ate some pellets I fed them later on that morning. Female was pigging out. She ate more than the male!

I hung out in the room most of the morning, and when I checked on them around 1:00pm, I saw something. Female had white stringy poo hanging from her. Thanks to all the sticky threads on this board, that I've been reading inside and out for the past month , I automatically knew what was wrong. Luckily, I prepared ahead of time, and had stocked up on Parizipro, Metro/Focus, Paraguard, and API General Care.

Just a quick note – In no way do we blame the company we purchased from. We are aware that stress can bring on sickness in fish, and being in transit for 24 hours could have possibly caused that. Doesn't matter what company you buy from, or whether the fish is captive bred, or wild. All fish are susceptible to illness. At least, that's what I've read. Can't base this on experience, because I don't have any!

I decided to go with API General Care. While they are eating, they each only eat like 2 or 3 pellets each. So tiny at 1.5” and 1.75”! So I didn't think they'd get enough medicine using Metro/Focus in food. Liquid form of Prazipro has a higher concentration of praziquantel than API GC. So later yesterday afternoon, shortly after I noticed the white stringy poo, my husband helped with a water change and syphoned the bottom of the tank. After that we tested all water parameters, PH, ammonia, etc. Everything looked good, so I took out some tank water, mixed a packet of GC and poured it back in over filter. Added to tank last night around 7pm.

Both fish are doing great. Except for how the female acted on arrival night, and finding white stringy poo the next day,(yesterday) you'd never know something was wrong. They both have great coloring, breathing is normal, and they are loving the tank! (It'll be hard to move them into Nuvo 10 in 6 weeks, because they've really grown attached to the pvc pipe in QT.) She's been swimming laps in the tank and loves swimming through the pvc pipe. The male loves whatever current the HOB makes, and so he hangs out of the side of the tank against the current, swimming in place. Would have never know that had I not read 'Clownfishes' by Joyce Wilkerson. Watching a clownfish swim in place for hours is nerve racking, and you start to think, is something wrong? Lol

I am feeding them NLS thera+ 0.5mm pellets, and Cobalt Marine Omni flakes. They've eaten both, but I can't really tell if they prefer one over the other. I also got a jar of Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. Comes in a tiny jar like baby food! This will be considered a treat, but I want to wait until they get used to pellets/flakes as those will be their main food.

I'll post videos/pics soon of the babies!

Chelle

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Great progress !!! Following...

 

[DisVillain]

So I sorta regret painting the back of the QT black. When I take video or pics, you can see all the junk in my spare room! I spy Marco Rock in the background. Been working on my rock scape on/off for the past year now for my 50g build!

Anyway, here's a video from today. I caught the female going poo as I was take video/pics. Great timing! I notice that she goes about an hour after eating. I have not caught the male in action yet. So no idea if he has an internal parasite or not. Doesn't matter, since I'm treating the tank water with API GC. They'll both get the medicine.

I'll post fun videos soon!

 

[hayleycreates]

Your clowns are beauties. Looking forward to following your progress!

 

[DisVillain]

Nuvo 10 Update: The weather isn't going to cooperate this weekend to finish the stand. :mad: (Not impatient! Just annoyed.) Highs in the low 40's tomorrow and Sunday. I am so ready for winter to be over! My husband just needs to do one more coat of poly, and that's it. Slap on the door knob, and bring the stand in the house.

The only thing left to buy is sand. We've decided on Caribsea Natural Reef, and only need 8-10 lbs for a 1.5 in sand bed. BRS has been out of stock for the past 3 weeks, at least for the 10lb bag. Marine Depot carries some varieties of Caribsea but not Natural Reef. Amazon has it, but it's sold via PetCo, who's charging $9 shipping. Might just have to get it from our local PetCo. They carry the 16 lb bag, which is ok, because I can use the extra in case I ever QT a goby or something that requires sand.

QT Fish update: This morning I noticed ton of debris flying around in the water, and it dawned on me that the mesh bag of noodles might be restricting the airflow for the intake. Plus, the male keeps hovering around the bag, and I'm afraid he'll get scratched by it. So I moved it to the other side of the tank, by the air bubbler where the fish never go. Really wish I'd known that people use AquaClear HOBs for QT. Those have a large sponge which provides enough surface area for nitrifying bacteria. I got the Marine Penguin 100 months ago, and thought it'd be ok for QT. However, I could only fit a tiny sponge and just a handle of noodles in it. So hubby thought to put more noodles in the main tank to make sure there was enough surface area for bacteria. Sorry! I'm rambling....

This is probably the best pic I have so far. Taking fish pics is hard! The female almost never stays in place.

Male is on the bottom.

 

[DisVillain]

Your clowns are beauties. Looking forward to following your progress!

Thank you! We are really enjoying them. Welcome to the forum! I noticed you're new, and I am new too. Just joined last month.

 

[hayleycreates]

Brand new. We get to move in to our new condo in a couple of weeks and we have been planning on getting a Red Sea Max S 500 - and then last night I have this horrible feeling come over me that as we are on the 4th floor of our building - that perhaps the unit is going to be to heavy!!!! So I started looking at Nano stuff while I wait for the project manager to confirm that the place where we want to put our tank is structurally sound and wont damage the in floor heating. I've been waiting to get a tank going for 5 years! Anyway - that's how I found your build thread, and so now I'm hooked and living vicariously though your experience.