New Nuvo 20 Thread

[btmedic04]

I would learn how to program it to the settings you want and then keep it off until your cycle is complete. All it will do during the cycle is promote nuisance algae growth

 

[Aaron Soliz]

I would learn how to program it to the settings you want and then keep it off until your cycle is complete. All it will do during the cycle is promote nuisance algae growth

Very true. I have been looking on some threads and seen settings that people have it on. I just have to figure it out. It’s really cool light though. Never had anything like it but not having the light on, will not prevent it from cycling correct?

 

[btmedic04]

Very true. I have been looking on some threads and seen settings that people have it on. I just have to figure it out. It’s really cool light though. Never had anything like it but not having the light on, will not prevent it from cycling correct?

Correct. The tank will still cycle with the lights out. I didnt buy my light until about 2 weeks in to my cycle

 

[reef-rc]

I am hitting the 2 months cycle without lights myself. Whatever lights the tank get is from the ambient light there is within the room or when I need light to work on the tank or when I took the pic I shared earlier . I don't plan to turn the lights on until till the 3rd month and that will only be with a slow ramp-up. Seems similar to brstv hybrid method that they're showing now + plus it also helps the itch the fact I already have another tank running

btw - if you have not already run across it, check out brstv. they have loads of info. seems to be good company and good people with a hobbyist mindset to help and educate besides selling you products

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to give a quick update on my tank. I haven’t had my AI Prime HD on at all during this cycle. I have seen some minor diatoms but not much like I expected. Maybe because of the no light. Anyways, I ran my first test this past Tuesday which you will see in the first two pictures. You can see my PH at 8.0, Ammonia at 0, Nitrite at .25 and Nitrate as 20 PPM.

Last picture is my recent test tonight. Same PH, same Ammonia, Nitrite is 0 now and Nitrate is slowly coming down as it is at 10PPM.

Every time I have has a tank I could never get my PH above 8.0. My next move will be a water change and see if my Nitrate will go down. How much do you all recommend I take out?

Salinity is between 1.024 and 1.025.

It’s slowly coming along and hopefully I’ll be able to get my first coral in there in the next week or so.

 

[reef-rc]

seems to coming along nicely

On water change - given you have no fish, I would say you have more wiggle room - 25% - 35% imo

On low PH - you can keep PH higher with kalwasser in your ATO and adding alkalinity as required to maintain your desire ALK level. Both will keep your PH up; if not temporary. Some may also suggest adding a refugium but imo it's too early in a new tank to go down that route. In time your PH will rise with tank maturity and more bio-mass. I would not try too hard to chase PH at this point. Even @ 2 yrs in my Fluval Evo and Fusion 20, I am still fluctuating anywhere between - 7.8 - 8.2. In the beginning it was nowhere close to 8 as you mentioned. My waterbox cube 10 that was just started late October shows similar reading and is constantly below PH of 8. This may be related to where I am located, the water and or the amount of "fresh air" in the room.. Regardless of the reading, the objective imo should be to keep things constant and stable.

btw - DON'T USE BUFFER to adjust your PH

 

[Kovacjr]

Tank looks to be coming together. I have a Nuvo 20 Peninsula. Just starting the cycle. 20lbs of sand with the rock placed on the glass first. Branch is mounted to a tile with epoxy.

I too have an AI light, Hydra 26, my plan is to set using the rotary setting. 15-20k is the spectrum recommended to be by a coral shop near me. As the tank is empty, Ill start about 30% power and then adjust as needed once I add corals. 8-9 hours is whats needed so Ill run from 11-8 or 12-9 as I can enjoy it in the evenings. Using the simple spectrum will adjust the levels for me to get the right blues for the corals to grow. I also upgraded the pump to a Sicce 1.0 and is super quiet sitting on my desk.

Are you planning on adding an ATO? I would like to and still researching whats fits best. How is your evaporation in the winter on a 20g

I like the rubble on the bottom so you can have islands of corals. I have a few small pieces too that need to be put in.

Here is where I am at. Water in for a day with DR Timms as of today. Just starting the cycle and will let it run for a few weeks this way. I have also a Jeabo PP-4 that I need to install shortly. This will give me plenty of flow plus a later battery backup for loss of power.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

seems to coming along nicely

On water change - given you have no fish, I would say you have more wiggle room - 25% - 35% imo

On low PH - you can keep PH higher with kalwasser in your ATO and adding alkalinity as required to maintain your desire ALK level. Both will keep your PH up; if not temporary. Some may also suggest adding a refugium but imo it's too early in a new tank to go down that route. In time your PH will rise with tank maturity and more bio-mass. I would not try too hard to chase PH at this point. Even @ 2 yrs in my Fluval Evo and Fusion 20, I am still fluctuating anywhere between - 7.8 - 8.2. In the beginning it was nowhere close to 8 as you mentioned. My waterbox cube 10 that was just started late October shows similar reading and is constantly below PH of 8. This may be related to where I am located, the water and or the amount of "fresh air" in the room.. Regardless of the reading, the objective imo should be to keep things constant and stable.

btw - DON'T USE BUFFER to adjust your PH

Hello bud!

Correct, tomorrow I’ll be doing a decent water change. Cleaning my filter sock and changing my filter floss. It is coming along and excited to pre order for a few clownfish but first, i want to add some coral and see how they do in there.

I do not have an ATO at the moment. I have manually poured in my freshwater to top it off for the past few weeks now.

I actually do want to do a refug but I will wait about 6 months in to get it. I have spent a lot of money on different things so now I am trying to take it slow with this aquarium.

Correct, i made that mistake one time and won’t do it again.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Tank looks to be coming together. I have a Nuvo 20 Peninsula. Just starting the cycle. 20lbs of sand with the rock placed on the glass first. Branch is mounted to a tile with epoxy.

I too have an AI light, Hydra 26, my plan is to set using the rotary setting. 15-20k is the spectrum recommended to be by a coral shop near me. As the tank is empty, Ill start about 30% power and then adjust as needed once I add corals. 8-9 hours is whats needed so Ill run from 11-8 or 12-9 as I can enjoy it in the evenings. Using the simple spectrum will adjust the levels for me to get the right blues for the corals to grow. I also upgraded the pump to a Sicce 1.0 and is super quiet sitting on my desk.

Are you planning on adding an ATO? I would like to and still researching whats fits best. How is your evaporation in the winter on a 20g

I like the rubble on the bottom so you can have islands of corals. I have a few small pieces too that need to be put in.

Here is where I am at. Water in for a day with DR Timms as of today. Just starting the cycle and will let it run for a few weeks this way. I have also a Jeabo PP-4 that I need to install shortly. This will give me plenty of flow plus a later battery backup for loss of power.

I love the tank so far along with your rock work. Very different and unique. Great job there!

I just started my lighting today but still trying to figure out how to set my settings. I am too starting off at 25% everything besides the green and red which are at like 7% each. I want mine to run from 11-9 as well since i am not home in the mornings or during the day most the time. Mainly after 5PM.

I was going to upgrade the pumps in the back but I was actually okay with the stock pumps. Makes a little noise but not enough to make me look over there if i am talking to someone in my living room.

I plan to add one maybe down the road? Not sure, I really don’t mind topping off the water. It doesn’t evaporate fast enough for me to have to get one. I am in Houston so the winter is slightly cold but not bad.

I feel you are off to a great start. Just monitor your parameters for your water like i am so you know where you are in your cycle. I’ll also take my water to my near saltwater store and let them check it as well once i feel mine is cycled. What fish are you going to have??

I am ready to go ahead and Pre order 2 clownfish. What kind? It will be a surprise lol.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Here are some recent pics of the aquarium. I really like this rock work. I guess we are all artiest when it comes to our scape lol.

 

[Salty Lemon]

Step 1: Give us some pics of what you've got so far. We're all here because we like to see other people's tanks.
Step 2: Watch the BRS 52 weeks of reefing series on YouTube. This series will tell you literally everything you need to know about setting up a tank.
Step 3: Enjoy the hobby, and continue posting here.

Ditto to everything. You will love the BRS videos. You can find them on their website or on YouTube.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Looks awesome!

 

[Kovacjr]

Hi Aaron, Yes I am going to test and actually did the Alkalinity today, 8.7 dKH I am waiting for the other test kit to show up as I forgot to order it! Ammonia and Nitrates. Arrives tomorrow for day 3 anyway to check and add more drops from DR Tims. Im using Instant Ocean salts. For now its fine, if I need more Ill step to a Reef type salt with higher levels. Salt level is 1.026

I'm running at 78 on the heater and reads 77.6 in the tank. So far evap isn't bad here either in the NJ winter.

With your rock against the back glass, if I did that Id lose the reason for the peninsula. Having this style of tank allows me to be more creative and showy 360deg of rock. Only being 11" inside depth means big rockwork takes a lot away. From my basic calculating of filling it looks as I have about 17 Gallons of water. I plan on a 4 gallon water change weekly.

 

[jabberwock]

I am hitting the 2 months cycle without lights myself. Whatever lights the tank get is from the ambient light there is within the room or when I need light to work on the tank or when I took the pic I shared earlier . I don't plan to turn the lights on until till the 3rd month and that will only be with a slow ramp-up. Seems similar to brstv hybrid method that they're showing now + plus it also helps the itch the fact I already have another tank running

btw - if you have not already run across it, check out brstv. they have loads of info. seems to be good company and good people with a hobbyist mindset to help and educate besides selling you products

Why is your cycle taking so long?

 

[jabberwock]

Hello bud!

Correct, tomorrow I’ll be doing a decent water change. Cleaning my filter sock and changing my filter floss. It is coming along and excited to pre order for a few clownfish but first, i want to add some coral and see how they do in there.

I do not have an ATO at the moment. I have manually poured in my freshwater to top it off for the past few weeks now.

I actually do want to do a refug but I will wait about 6 months in to get it. I have spent a lot of money on different things so now I am trying to take it slow with this aquarium.

Correct, i made that mistake one time and won’t do it again.

You need to wait for corals... They need very stable and somewhat dirty water so they can eat. Add your fish first.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

You need to wait for corals... They need very stable and somewhat dirty water so they can eat. Add your fish first.

That will work. You don’t have to tell me twice [emoji1430][emoji16]

 

[reef-rc]

That will work. You don’t have to tell me twice [emoji1430][emoji16]

Ditto on that. You may want to consider adding algae grazing fish or shy one first and then work way toward the more aggressive or territorial fish on your list. Having a meaning feeling at home in the tank first could be problematic for shy or smaller fish later on. Clowns in particular could be a bully

 

[reef-rc]

Why is your cycle taking so long?

I am sure the tank is ready but I have not check the parameters yet. Will doing the basic ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests today to see where I am. I am taking my time on this one as I already have other tanks running. I plan to transfer a few corals over from my other tanks and want things to be stable first. I am planning to go LPS and more SPS this time; corals that may need more flow and lighting.

You may want to check this out - 4 months cycle. I had started down a similar path in late October. I am not going all out on SPS but this does provide context on what to look for before putting that first coral in.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Ditto on that. You may want to consider adding algae grazing fish or shy one first and then work way toward the more aggressive or territorial fish on your list. Having a meaning feeling at home in the tank first could be problematic for shy or smaller fish later on. Clowns in particular could be a bully

I don’t mind waiting on clowns as the two i was looking at can be fairly pricey. What about like a firefish? They seem shy.

In particular, the helfrichi. I love the colors of it then introduce a few clowns later.

 

[jabberwock]

I am sure the tank is ready but I have not check the parameters yet. Will doing the basic ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests today to see where I am. I am taking my time on this one as I already have other tanks running. I plan to transfer a few corals over from my other tanks and want things to be stable first. I am planning to go LPS and more SPS this time; corals that may need more flow and lighting.

You may want to check this out - 4 months cycle. I had started down a similar path in late October. I am not going all out on SPS but this does provide context on what to look for before putting that first coral in.

Ahhh, good video, I love their videos. More of a "maturity" cycle than a nitrogen cycle. I get it.
Are you feeding the tank ammonia in some way? I will check out your build threads.