uhgster1
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
Well I'm back in the thick of it again! I started up a Nuvo 10 a few of months ago and I'm in love with reefing again. I had a 120 gal before and I bowed out of the hobby for a while continuing to lurk in the forums. I finally decided that if I couldn't go big again I'd go small (for the mean time). After researching and realizing that nanos are no longer the finicky stress factories they used to be I got the Nuvo. It was love at first sight, the construction is excellent and you can't beat the footprint. My plan is for an LPS/SPS with minimal fish.
This was the initial layout, using rocks and equipment from my old set ups.
The light is an AI prime (pre-HD)
I was going for an overhang initially. I also recycled my sand which I believe was pink Carib live sand.
I am using saltwater and RO from my lfs which I use exclusively for pretty much everything. I believe he uses reef crystals.
This was the initial coral I got after setting it up. Yes, the green one is an elegance. The other is an acan. I cycled this tank with turbo 900, I will elaborate on this later.
This was the next coral haul, an orange frogspawn, purple tip torch, purple tip hammer, and a war coral (pretty sure favites). Still no fish.
What you are looking at is a Biocube Skimmer, and a smart ato. The skimmer is sufficient for this aquarium and as you can see is pulling out gunk quite efficiently, but let's talk about this ATO. This is the single most important piece of equipment for a nano aquarium. It is hands down the easiest and most reliable way of maintaining your water parameters period. It makes a nano enjoyable. This particular one has an electronic sensor and a float for redundancy.
I bought the media basket from IM and it works like it's supposed to. I have Seachem Matrix in the bottom two chambers and Chemipure nano and filter floss on top. absolutely no issues here.
Here is a picture of the tank today. I have not lost a single piece of coral. Adjustments include taking out some sand (way to much initially) and I reoriented the rock. I upgraded the return pump with the pump out of my JBJ 28 I had in the attic. I added some green star polyps, a cleaner shrimp, a black clown goby, and a pajama cardinal.
The elegance has tripled in size since I got it so guess it's happy.
I do 2 water changes a week of around 2 gallons. I don't mind the work and my water parameters are perfect. I feed the fish daily and target feed the corals 3 to 4 times a week. I probably wouldn't if I didn't do as many water changes but at $3.50 for 5 gallons at my lfs I can deny myself a Big Mac that week. I am going to add some monti frags later in the week, a firefish and call it quits on the additions.
which brings me to one absolutely critical modification you MUST make if you use the screen cover.
Drill holes in the plastic holders!If you don't you will come back to mysterious puddles of water around your tank. The holders create a siphon when the water hits them causing a nice trickle to form and if your ATO is doing its job then you can see the issue (salinity drop). So use a small drill bit, hot wire, your teeth, what ever, but make sure you do this.
About turbo 900 bacteria starter, if you are not going to add fish right away your tank WILL NOT cycle in a day. It took 3 weeks for this tank to read zero nitrates and I pretty much changed the water every day out of paranoia. But Like I mentioned before the water is cheap and you can't go wrong. Eventually I will taper the water changes to once a week.
I hope you enjoy this little build and I'll update as necessary, thanks.
Well I'm back in the thick of it again! I started up a Nuvo 10 a few of months ago and I'm in love with reefing again. I had a 120 gal before and I bowed out of the hobby for a while continuing to lurk in the forums. I finally decided that if I couldn't go big again I'd go small (for the mean time). After researching and realizing that nanos are no longer the finicky stress factories they used to be I got the Nuvo. It was love at first sight, the construction is excellent and you can't beat the footprint. My plan is for an LPS/SPS with minimal fish.
This was the initial layout, using rocks and equipment from my old set ups.
The light is an AI prime (pre-HD)
I was going for an overhang initially. I also recycled my sand which I believe was pink Carib live sand.
I am using saltwater and RO from my lfs which I use exclusively for pretty much everything. I believe he uses reef crystals.
This was the initial coral I got after setting it up. Yes, the green one is an elegance. The other is an acan. I cycled this tank with turbo 900, I will elaborate on this later.
This was the next coral haul, an orange frogspawn, purple tip torch, purple tip hammer, and a war coral (pretty sure favites). Still no fish.
What you are looking at is a Biocube Skimmer, and a smart ato. The skimmer is sufficient for this aquarium and as you can see is pulling out gunk quite efficiently, but let's talk about this ATO. This is the single most important piece of equipment for a nano aquarium. It is hands down the easiest and most reliable way of maintaining your water parameters period. It makes a nano enjoyable. This particular one has an electronic sensor and a float for redundancy.
I bought the media basket from IM and it works like it's supposed to. I have Seachem Matrix in the bottom two chambers and Chemipure nano and filter floss on top. absolutely no issues here.
Here is a picture of the tank today. I have not lost a single piece of coral. Adjustments include taking out some sand (way to much initially) and I reoriented the rock. I upgraded the return pump with the pump out of my JBJ 28 I had in the attic. I added some green star polyps, a cleaner shrimp, a black clown goby, and a pajama cardinal.
The elegance has tripled in size since I got it so guess it's happy.
I do 2 water changes a week of around 2 gallons. I don't mind the work and my water parameters are perfect. I feed the fish daily and target feed the corals 3 to 4 times a week. I probably wouldn't if I didn't do as many water changes but at $3.50 for 5 gallons at my lfs I can deny myself a Big Mac that week. I am going to add some monti frags later in the week, a firefish and call it quits on the additions.
which brings me to one absolutely critical modification you MUST make if you use the screen cover.
Drill holes in the plastic holders!If you don't you will come back to mysterious puddles of water around your tank. The holders create a siphon when the water hits them causing a nice trickle to form and if your ATO is doing its job then you can see the issue (salinity drop). So use a small drill bit, hot wire, your teeth, what ever, but make sure you do this.
About turbo 900 bacteria starter, if you are not going to add fish right away your tank WILL NOT cycle in a day. It took 3 weeks for this tank to read zero nitrates and I pretty much changed the water every day out of paranoia. But Like I mentioned before the water is cheap and you can't go wrong. Eventually I will taper the water changes to once a week.
I hope you enjoy this little build and I'll update as necessary, thanks.
