Nuvo 14 build.

[Bigbaby]

I did the same and bought the sicce. Went through a bunch before I settled on the sicce though. Now the others are used for mixing salt and water changes lol. You'll like the sicce. It's not dead silent, but the quietest of the bunch from my experience. The rockwork looks promising!

 

[Reef.]

I did the same and bought the sicce. Went through a bunch before I settled on the sicce though. Now the others are used for mixing salt and water changes lol. You'll like the sicce. It's not dead silent, but the quietest of the bunch from my experience. The rockwork looks promising!

If it’s slightly better than the Eheim I’ll be happy as I could live with the Eheim.

Yeah the rock work, not sure what more I could do with it, I would like a cave or 2 but apart from buying new rock I can’t see how to improve on it.

Question on lighting, it’s a Kessil a80, I was planning on not running the light for a couple of months at least to help with algae, wondering if I could run in on 0 intensity instead but with colour? Would that still encourage algae? Just thinking on giving the fish a day/night cycle.

 

[Bigbaby]

Not sure about a80s, but on the 360, the lights spark on around 5-8% intensity from the controller. I think the ambient light in the home should be enough for the fishes to have the day/night cycle, but having all blues at lowest setting shouldn't encourage algae too much.

 

[Reef.]

Fitted the return pump, yes it’s a fair bit quieter, there is some noise to it, a better sounding noise if that makes sense, not silent as the box says but in an aio I can’t see any pump being silent.

Whilst on this subject my ato is very loud when it pumps water and a total pain in the butt if I even look at touching something in the back compartments, it will start pumping, Even if I turn it off when working on something in the tank, when switched back on it automatically dispenses a shot of water into the tank, I need to find a way to work with this as it’s getting irritating, still happy with it though just need to sort out those issues.

Anyone an opinion on whether it’s best to let the heater thermostat control the heating or the controller, by letting the controller turn on/off the heating?

Still no ammonia from the prawn, surely I should have a reading by now?

 

[Reef.]

Decided to change the stand, Bigbaby you were right, there were just too many wires to hide, didn’t appreciate a small tank could have so many.

Cant see it being here for a few weeks because of Christmas, the cycle still hasn’t started so no rush.

it was fun removing the table from under the tank, had to empty the water out,remove the table then place tank on floor, then refill, all to do again when the new stand arrives.

oh just to mention on here too, I did a thread Asking if I was mistaken but it seems the inkbird 306a has a weird function called ‘continuous heating’ you get to choose from 1 to 72 hours, for the heater to reach your goal high temperature, if it doesn’t reach that goal in the set time 1-72 hours, the inkbird then turns off the heater! sounds reasonable until you want to use the controller as a fail safe, and let the heaters own thermostat control the heater, to have the inkbird only step in if the heater were to fail turned on, but with this setting ‘continues heating’ you now have to set the controller to use your desired high temp so the temp is reached so doesn’t trigger the controller to turn off the heater...hope that makes sense, not a big deal but I was wanting to only use the inkbird as a fail safe not the main heating control. Just means I have to set the heater to a higher temp than I want, have the inkbird control the heating, to a lower temp, then if that fails, the heater will heat to the slightly higher temp you have chosen on the heater, so the heater then becomes the fail safe.

 

[AngelsNano]

Will get some pics up soon but at the minute there is not much to look at, tank still dry, rock still curing, will need help deciding how to scape my tank as the rock came in only two big pieces so I’ll have to break 1 piece up...

Bought a few more items from my list and a couple that were not even on there, decided to go with a powerhead, got a mp10, I’ll not bother with the spin stream or RFG, save a few £££ there, my way of justifying the mp10

I also have a Nuvo 14 - so I'm super excited to follow your build. I've been up since October now, and I am thinking about adding coral, but I think I'll need more flow. I've looked at the MP10 but I'm worried that it will be too strong for the tank. I definitely want a DC pump, so another option might be the Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6040. Please let us know how the MP10 works out for you! Good luck!

 

[Reef.]

I also have a Nuvo 14 - so I'm super excited to follow your build. I've been up since October now, and I am thinking about adding coral, but I think I'll need more flow. I've looked at the MP10 but I'm worried that it will be too strong for the tank. I definitely want a DC pump, so another option might be the Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6040. Please let us know how the MP10 works out for you! Good luck!

Thanks.

Still early days, I have it at 50%, if it turns out it’s too strong for LPS l can turn it down but my main concern was it kicking up the sand which it hasn’t been doing, I did rinse the sand before adding though.

My advice for what it’s worth at this early stage, get one if you are in two minds over it, time you buy a DC pump and powerhead you could have the MP10.

Why the DC return? I have the Sicce .5 on full (700l) seems just right, I had the Eheim 1000, any more than half way turned up the overflow couldn’t keep up.
Once the pump is set would you need to alter it?
I know my ATO would be very upset with me if I even thought about altering my return.

 

[Reef.]

Whilst I’m here, my cycle is not going anywhere, had a prawn in for a week, no ammonia, so ordered some dr Tim’s ammonia, not sure why no reading, I did have my rock cycling for a month before setting up the tank but I can’t see that clearing ammonia?
Hopefully I’ll get the Dr Tim’s tomorrow, then have a bottle of Fritz 9 waiting to add.

 

[AngelsNano]

Thanks.

Still early days, I have it at 50%, if it turns out it’s too strong for LPS l can turn it down but my main concern was it kicking up the sand which it hasn’t been doing, I did rinse the sand before adding though.

My advice for what it’s worth at this early stage, get one if you are in two minds over it, time you buy a DC pump and powerhead you could have the MP10.

Why the DC return? I have the Sicce .5 on full (700l) seems just right, I had the Eheim 1000, any more than half way turned up the overflow couldn’t keep up.
Once the pump is set would you need to alter it?
I know my ATO would be very upset with me if I even thought about altering my return.

Great advice! Thank you. I think I'll go for the MP10. I actually have a Sicce 1.0 as a return, so not looking to change that out, just add more flow in the DT. I recently added a RFG and have noticed that my fish are much more active. Can't wait to see how the MP10 adds to it.

I wish I could help with your cycle, but my LFS actually gave me a lot of cycled media and rocks to start with so my cycle only took 2 weeks. Have you seen any changes at all in ammonia or nitrate? My spikes were very small and short - perhaps yours has been similar?

 

[Reef.]

Great advice! Thank you. I think I'll go for the MP10. I actually have a Sicce 1.0 as a return, so not looking to change that out, just add more flow in the DT. I recently added a RFG and have noticed that my fish are much more active. Can't wait to see how the MP10 adds to it.

I wish I could help with your cycle, but my LFS actually gave me a lot of cycled media and rocks to start with so my cycle only took 2 weeks. Have you seen any changes at all in ammonia or nitrate? My spikes were very small and short - perhaps yours has been similar?

Glad it helped.
No changes at all, I’ve just removed the prawn now, going with the ammonia, was how I planned doing it from the start anyway.
I believe the RFG reduces the flow a little, maybe that’s how you can get away with the sicce 1.0?

Can I ask, do you need a drop attachment for the RFG? Or does it fit straight onto the return outlet? I think I’ll get one too just to break up the return flow a little.

 

[AngelsNano]

Glad it helped.
No changes at all, I’ve just removed the prawn now, going with the ammonia, was how I planned doing it from the start anyway.
I believe the RFG reduces the flow a little, maybe that’s how you can get away with the sicce 1.0?

Can I ask, do you need a drop attachment for the RFG? Or does it fit straight onto the return outlet? I think I’ll get one too just to break up the return flow a little.

I have the 19mm adapter specific for IM tanks. Absolutely love it! I’ve had the 1.0 for about 2 months now. Never had any issues with it.

 

[Tahoe61]

Need FTS.

You guys have great suggestions for modifications.

I have this tank as well as a macro algae tank, under 250 watts of MH.

What is the gph for the sicce 1?


Following..

 

[AngelsNano]

Need FTS.

You guys have great suggestions for modifications.

I have this tank as well as a macro algae tank, under 250 watts of MH.

What is the gph for the sicce 1?


Following..

The Sicce 1.0 is 251 GPH. Just did a deep clean on mine today, and the RFG is AMAZING! I can't decide if I need more flow or not, so I'll discuss it with my LFS when I pick my first corals. If I do add a powerhead, it will be the MP10.

 

[Reef.]

Finally got my cycle going, add Dr Tim’s ammonia, could only seem to get to 1.5 ammonia, I stopped adding drops in the end as the reading never changed, not sure if it was me or the salifert reading? tip for others is to not use the drops as they are uneven and come out of the bottle fast, I would use ml, for my size tank it’s 40 drops which equates to 2ml.
I also don’t like the salifert ammonia test, the colour chart is hard to match to the sample.

I also added 8oz of Fritz 9.

Readings 24 hours later, ammonia still 1.5 and nitrite also 1.5, anyone know if I should be having nitrites showing so soon?

Underway at last!

 

[Reef.]

Wow the cycle takes no time with Fritz, added it a few days ago and already getting readings off ammonia.25 (could be less as it’s hard to tell with the salifert test, recommendations on a better one please) nitrite .1 and nitrates off the chart.

Will do a water change tomorrow, not ready to add fish yet, getting a custom lid made and waiting for my stand to be delivered, so will keep the cycle going by adding ammonia now and again.

 

[Reef.]

Well not sure what’s going on, did a 80/90% water change and nitrates still off the chart?

I was expecting a big decrease, looks like the water change had no affect on nitrates?

 

[Reef.]

Did a 99% water change today, nitrates down to 20ppm, getting somewhere.

I must have added far to much ammonia I’m guessing, will do another water change tomorrow.

Good practice at least!

 

[Reef.]

Think I might be ready now to shop for a small cuc!

Any recommendations? I’m thinking an emerald crab, couple of snails and a shrimp, not sure the type of shrimp tho, so any input on that would be welcome.

 

[Bigbaby]

Woot!! Higher life forms, Finally! Lol emeralds in my opinion are usually for dealing with algae issues like bubble (valonia) algae. If there isn't enough food source, crabs and shrimps usually are the first to pick at corals so I'd stay away from them for first inhabitants. You should go for the usual nassarius, trochus, turbo, and hermit combo. Stick to the smaller snails as they'll be able to manuever through the rock work easily. 1 to 2 of each would be a good start and 1 blue leg hermit. I have 2 of each minus a hermit and 1 coral banded shrimp to control bristle worm population with a single clown for my entire livestock. Had 3 emeralds, sixline, 2 clowns, and a tail spot blenny at one point, but have reduced the stock since. Now I feed less and tank seems to be more stable in terms of nutrients. The emeralds got the bubble problem solved and my fuge has taken over the rest of the work with their absence. You should look into fire shrimps or cleaner/peppermints for a cheaper option.

 

[Reef.]

I know right, didn’t think I would ever get there, the emerald crab was more for looks, thought I would get picked up on that one haha.

Seems shrimp wise I’m better off with the peppermint or cleaner, size wise maybe the peppermint is best, love the look of your coral banded shrimp but maybe I don’t have the hiding places and caves it prefers to justify one of those?

Definitely a couple of blue legged hermits.

That should do it, I’ll see what the shop has in for snails.