New Nuvo 20 Thread

[jabberwock]

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.

Yes, firefish are a good start. Clownfish are actually pretty aggressive. My tank got a little crowded, and my female clown (which I added last with her mate) killed my firefish. You say "a few clownfish". I think you will only want to do 2, and get a bonded pair if you can.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Yes, firefish are a good start. Clownfish are actually pretty aggressive. My tank got a little crowded, and my female clown (which I added last with her mate) killed my firefish. You say "a few clownfish". I think you will only want to do 2, and get a bonded pair if you can.

Correct. Just two. I have never had more than 2 in a tank as I make sure that one is always bigger than the other. I will shoot for the bonded pair as well.

 

[reef-rc]

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.

yes. i occasionally would just dump whatever food (typically brine shrimp or mysis) i was feeding the fish and corals in the other tanks. nothing special....just something

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Quick update: did a 5 gallon water change Sunday night to hopefully see my nitrates fall to 0 but I was kinda surprised to see that it didn’t go down with that water change. It still sits at 10PPM. It could be a little lower but it’s hard to tell but it def isn’t below 5PPM. Maybe adding some snails and hermits could help?

 

[reef-rc]

It has only been a week or two since you started cycling the live rock correct? If so, it may just need a little more time. Your rocks may just be going through it's thing. Double check your test if you have not already. Wait another week, do regular water change and then see where things are at.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

It has only been a week or two since you started cycling the live rock correct? If so, it may just need a little more time. Your rocks may just be going through it's thing. Double check your test if you have not already. Wait another week, do regular water change and then see where things are at.

You are correct. I have heard also that it’s very hard to get 0 Nitrate. Right now i am at 5 to 10 and also heard it’s not just me that is having a hard time with this. Tank is cycled with ammonia and nitrite at 0. PH went up some to 8.0.

I turned my light on for the past two days and I noticed my tank water is getting hotter. Yesterday was at 79 then today it was at 82.6. I believe my ai Prime is heating the tank up a bit. I didn’t have that issue before i turned the light on. It’s not even on high either. See the picture on my intensity of all colors.

What I did to lower it was put a mini fan on the back and let that run on low. I noticed condensation above my water line on my tank glass. Hopefully that helps and the thermometer will keep it at 78.

See pics.

I have been noticing more diatoms now that my light is on so clean up crew soon.

If anyone has advise on the temp, please help me out. I also have the gooseneck that i could try as well and Mount the light higher up.

 

[reef-rc]

My first thought is that the lid itself sure doesn't help with air circulation and may be contributing to it. Try removing it and see what difference that make. At this point you have no fish so it won't hurt anyway. 2nd - consider raising your lights also

What's your average room temperature? Air flow within the room?

Besides that fan you have, maybe lower your room temperature slightly if possible. You could also turn on the ceiling fan or room fan to not only cool the tank but also the room. That would also help with the moisture. I personally use a free standing fan to blow air from larger part of my house into the study where my tanks are to keep temperature consistent. During the summer months, the fan is running at low speed all day just like a ceiling fan.

 

[REPOWER]

The tank is looking great. I would try raising the light. I have a hydra 26 at 43% on my nuvo 20 at around 12-13 inches above the water. I noticed slightly warmer temps when it was closer and should provide better light coverage. See below.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

To reefrc and repower i think i actually got it stable again. Past 2 to 3 days i have been battling the temp. Yesteday morning it was at 72.6. I turned the little fan a different direction and now it’s sitting 77.8 this morning so I think I got it to where I need it. I don’t want to be battling this issue when fish come into place along with coral.

I even adjusted the height of my AI Prime so I think that made a difference as well.

Your tank is killer!! Look at all those amazing corals. It looks like things are going real nice for you as your corals look really happy.

I see a skimmer back there. What else are you running and how many water changes do you do in a month?

I noticed i am getting more diatoms. Cleaning crew will be going in today. Just maybe 2 to 3 small hermits and a snail.

My little lady and I FINALLY found a Houston fish store that can order a black storm clown and a mocha storm clown under 1 1/2 inches so we placed an order for one of each. Should be in tomorrow or later this week. Everyone else wouldn’t let us split because usually they come in pairs and the price we got them at were fairly good compared to many other spot. I’ll keep you all posted once I pick them up. Here is pick of the tank recently.

 

[reef-rc]

Hey looks like we may be neighbor. I am in Northwest Houston - 290 pass Sam Houston Toll.

I like those storm clown for sure. I have a few myself. I recently noticed price on them have dropped @ the LFS compare to 6 months ago. Good timing.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Hey looks like we may be neighbor. I am in Northwest Houston - 290 pass Sam Houston Toll.

I like those storm clown for sure. I have a few myself. I recently noticed price on them have dropped @ the LFS compare to 6 months ago. Good timing.

No way! Lol yes you are close to me. I am in the Sugar Land area. What are the odds lol.

Yes they actually did. You have two black storms? Have you seen the Orange storms? Goodness! The new snail and urchin are really eating up the diatoms. They knocked out 25% since i put them in there 5 hours ago. Not bad.

 

[reef-rc]

No way! Lol yes you are close to me. I am in the Sugar Land area. What are the odds lol.

Yes they actually did. You have two black storms? Have you seen the Orange storms? Goodness! The new snail and urchin are really eating up the diatoms. They knocked out 25% since i put them in there 5 hours ago. Not bad.

I do have 2 black storm. I did first started with a mocha and black storm initially. Got the 3rd black storm a few months later. About 2 moths ago my mocha went ima. it was pretty big but even to this day i still have not yet figured out where it went....no body.

I got these little critters back in July 2018. Here's a link when I had introduced them.

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?posts/4960430

Right now the smallest is in the 13G and the other in the 20G. I had to separate them due to bullying.

 

[REPOWER]

To reefrc and repower i think i actually got it stable again. Past 2 to 3 days i have been battling the temp. Yesteday morning it was at 72.6. I turned the little fan a different direction and now it’s sitting 77.8 this morning so I think I got it to where I need it. I don’t want to be battling this issue when fish come into place along with coral.

I even adjusted the height of my AI Prime so I think that made a difference as well.

Your tank is killer!! Look at all those amazing corals. It looks like things are going real nice for you as your corals look really happy.

I see a skimmer back there. What else are you running and how many water changes do you do in a month?

I noticed i am getting more diatoms. Cleaning crew will be going in today. Just maybe 2 to 3 small hermits and a snail.

My little lady and I FINALLY found a Houston fish store that can order a black storm clown and a mocha storm clown under 1 1/2 inches so we placed an order for one of each. Should be in tomorrow or later this week. Everyone else wouldn’t let us split because usually they come in pairs and the price we got them at were fairly good compared to many other spot. I’ll keep you all posted once I pick them up. Here is pick of the tank recently.

@Aaron Soliz - glad you got it figured out. Stability is key. The tank is low tech and the inkbird temp controller works just fine for me to balance heater and fan operations. The inhabitants thrive between 77 and 78 degrees.

The tank is 11 months old and had its share of ups and downs, mostly self inflicted. I’ve learned to keep my hands out of the tank and has helped tremendously. For this tank, stable temp and salinity did the trick. Nitrates fluctuate from 1-10 and phosphates around .10. At the moment, nitrates and phosphates are close to zero and the euphyllias look ticked in the previously attached pic. I need to feed more or add another fish or two or ease up on the biopellets.

Looks like the uglies....mine lasted for 5 months and decided to go bare bottom - I’m digging the look and not sure if I ever want sand again. It certainly helped with getting the phosphates in check. This critters will do the trick for sure but remember that they are for maintenance only.

To answer your question, next to the cadlights skimmer is an IM minimax reactor containing biopellets to battle nitrates. I also have a media basket on the left side containing floss, small bag of GFO that’s replaced every water change and pond matrix, respectively in the 3 chambers. This combo works well on this tank. I used to do water changes every 2 weeks and noticed ticked off corals on the 12 day mark. Switched to every 10 days which appears to be the sweetspot with the current bio load. In addition to everyday feeding, I also dose 4ml of aquavitro fuel every 5 days.

I love those clowns man, but out of room. I can probably add a couple of gobies and another damsel - way maxed out I know but everyone looks happy so I’m good with it.

Looking forward to your next update.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

@Aaron Soliz - glad you got it figured out. Stability is key. The tank is low tech and the inkbird temp controller works just fine for me to balance heater and fan operations. The inhabitants thrive between 77 and 78 degrees.

The tank is 11 months old and had its share of ups and downs, mostly self inflicted. I’ve learned to keep my hands out of the tank and has helped tremendously. For this tank, stable temp and salinity did the trick. Nitrates fluctuate from 1-10 and phosphates around .10. At the moment, nitrates and phosphates are close to zero and the euphyllias look ****** in the previously attached pic. I need to feed more or add another fish or two or ease up on the biopellets.

Looks like the uglies....mine lasted for 5 months and decided to go bare bottom - I’m digging the look and not sure if I ever want sand again. It certainly helped with getting the phosphates in check. This critters will do the trick for sure but remember that they are for maintenance only.

To answer your question, next to the cadlights skimmer is an IM minimax reactor containing biopellets to battle nitrates. I also have a media basket on the left side containing floss, small bag of GFO that’s replaced every water change and pond matrix, respectively in the 3 chambers. This combo works well on this tank. I used to do water changes every 2 weeks and noticed ****** off corals on the 12 day mark. Switched to every 10 days which appears to be the sweetspot with the current bio load. In addition to everyday feeding, I also dose 4ml of aquavitro fuel every 5 days.

I love those clowns man, but out of room. I can probably add a couple of gobies and another damsel - way maxed out I know but everyone looks happy so I’m good with it.

Looking forward to your next update.

Thank you for sharing and trust me, I read all of your message. Eventually, I’ll upgrade one of my chambers to a Refuge but for now, just weekly water changes to keep things stable. Especially since I have a huge update now!!!

3 hours ago my local fish store informed me that my clown fish have arrived and that i will be getting first picks on which two I wanted.

Luckily, i am a realtor and can leave when i please so I packed my things and left to the fish store. I got there and there was 3 black storms and 3 mocha storms. It was tough to pick which ones I wanted as they were all amazing. They didn’t have them in the tank yet as they were still in their shipping bag so it was tough to tell which ones i really wanted. After 40 min of Face timing the little lady, we went for a small black storm that didn’t have any orange in its spots or anywhere else, just pure black and white and then I picked the mocha that has a killer color combo.

The mocha is about 1 1/2 inches while the black is right at 1 inches. Just what I wanted as I wanted to see them grow. They just got let out into the tank but here are some pictures from me acclimating them in their bag.

Oh, and bought 3 small turbos since I have diatoms on my rock.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Hello everyone,

Update time. Sooo, I have had my clowns for around 28 hours in my aquarium and man are they active little ones. I noticed today they started swimming together a lot of the time. I fed them frozen food today and that was a no go. The black storm ate maybe a few then stopped and the mocha was just not interested. I am reading that some clowns take longer to eat than others but maybe they just don't like the frozen stuff though all my other clowns in the past have loved it. I will try New Life Spectrum tomorrow once I purchase it.

They seem healthy as they swim all over the place. I don't see anything on their skin and I acclimated them for about an hour to hour in half. Here are some pictures of the tank with my good camera. The two snails are doing a good job eating the Diatoms off the sand and rocks.

 

[reef-rc]

Awesome! I am sure in not time they will be eating off your finger. This training also make it easier in case you need to catch them later . Works great for me multiple times.

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Awesome! I am sure in not time they will be eating off your finger. This training also make it easier in case you need to catch them later . Works great for me multiple times.

Hopefully get them to eat first, then if needed.. your right, a lot easier to catch for whatever reason lol.

 

[REPOWER]

The clowns are adorable!

 

[Aaron Soliz]

Hello all! It’s good to be back on here. i wanted to share a very cool update with you all. I put my first two corals into my tank yesterday. One was a mushroom and the other was a Kenya tree. Both are adjusting great.

I posted a picture of the mushroom as I wanted to get confirmation on what kind it was. Comes to be it was a Uranium Bounce Mushroom. Bought it for 20 bucks on a small piece of rock at a local fish store. It’s a little over a size of a quarter.

Fish are doing great. Water is super clear. The turbos have really taken care of my algae. It’s been amazing so far.

 

[reef-rc]

bounce for twenty? seems a good deal imo