TSwift's IM Nuvo 16 AIO Reef

[TSwift]

Previous Tanks and Experience:

 

I started saltwater with a 20L in 2006 when I was 14 which was taken over by algae (surprise, surprise):

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=89555 (this thread is embarrassing, but we have all been there... right?)

 

I then had a successful BioCube 12g in my dorm in 2010 until I had to sell it for financial reasons:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/lofiversio...hp/t251283.html (Awesome pics inside of it blowing up in my dorm when the temp reached above 100 degrees.)

 

Fast forward to today and I still have my Aqueon Evolve 4:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=291844 .

This has been sitting on my desk with not much invested into it since I was going to move anyways.

 

Current Situation and Plans:

 

Now that I am in my brand new apartment and not moving for another 2 years, and since It is my 20th birthday today, I decided to invest (with the help of my boyfriend) in a tank I will love: a Marine Innovations Nuvo 16 gallon. Since I am in college and living in an apartment, I will try to keep track of how much everything costs me and the progress of my tank for others in my situation to learn from.

 

My goal is to have a simplistic, minimalist look. Coral wise, I want to start out with softies and go from there. I want to eventually have two or so fish, but not sure which species yet. I hope to have the pump updated by the time I have a few corals and a third Skkye LED light by Christmas. I would also like to have a skimmer in the future.

 

FTS:

 

 

Statistics of the tank:

• Marine Innovations Nuvo 16 gallon (black) ($300 from SaltySupply.com)
  
• 23.62" wide X 11.81" deep X 12.99" tall
  

Stand:

• Ameriwood Aquarium Cabinet from Petsmart ($80)
  

Equipment:

• 2 Clamp8 Watt Skkye LED lights (stock), specs of each light:
  
  • 1 daylight: 6 X 1w 14K 350m A
    
  • 1 moonlight: 4X 1/2w 456nm 60m A) (stock)
    

  [*]Pump- 11W/211GPH 110V/60Hz (stock)

  [*]2 Marine Innovations Spin Stream Return Nozzles ($23.97 each from SaltySupply.com)

  [*]Eheim Jager TruTemp Heater 75 watts ($24.99 from SaltySupply.com)

Rock and Sand:

• ~10 lb. of dry Pukani from BulkReefSupply.com ($65.03 after shipping from BulkReefSupply.com)
  
• ~10 lb. of dry Aragonite Reef sand ($28 for a 20lb bag at LFS)
  

Filtration:

• Boyd Chemi-pure Elite 6.5 oz. ($5.94 from SaltySupply.com)
  
• Seachem Purigen 100ml bag ($8.47 from SaltySupply.com)
  

Fish:

• For $100 from local reefer:
  
• 1 ORA Ocellaris Clownfish
  

Corals:

• For $100 from local reefer:
  
• 1 Aussie Goniopora
  
• 1 Purple Hammer Head
  
• 1 Green Frogspawn
  
• 1 Green Zoanthid
  
• 1 Red Zoanthid
  
• 1 Orange Zoanthid
  
• 1 Yellow Zoanthid
  
• 1 Red Mushroom
  
• 2 Blue Mushrooms
  
• 1 Pulsing Xenia
  

[TSwift]

Since the tank and dry rock is in the process of being shipped, and since it was my birthday today, my boyfriend bought me the stand and took advantage of Petsmart's 25% off sale. It is the Ameriwood Aquarium Cabinet. Little did I know what I was getting into...

 

"Oh this will be easy, just need a screwdriver, right?"

 

Wrong! After 2 hours of trying to power through with a 10 year old screwdriver with my pathetic arms, I drove to Lowes and bought a $20 drill. MUCH better! 3 hours later, we have a stand!

 

I'm showing off the doors and hinges, because they took me an hour alone to align correctly. I must say, I'm very proud of myself.

 

I like the looks, color, and height of it a lot. I don't see how people make their own stands, though. I could barely put this one together, and it was pre-drilled! Now I just have to patiently wait for the tank and rock!

[aIIan]

Following along.

 

10 year old screwdriver

 

You know screwdrivers don't go bad, right ?

[TSwift]

Following along.

 

You know screwdrivers don't go bad, right ?

 

Oh, I see you haven't seen a poorly mangled screwdriver tip after it has been used for over 10 years and thrown/banged against things in frustration!

 

Oh, and I suck at tools...

[jball1125]

Nice stand and Happy B Day!

[patback]

Oh, I see you haven't seen a poorly mangled screwdriver tip after it has been used for over 10 years and thrown/banged against things in frustration!

 

Oh, and I suck at tools...

Screw drivers go bad after about 6 months in my house because of this.

[dling]

Since the tank and dry rock is in the process of being shipped, and since it was my birthday today, my boyfriend bought me the stand and took advantage of Petsmart's 25% off sale. It is the Ameriwood Aquarium Cabinet. Little did I know what I was getting into...

 

"Oh this will be easy, just need a screwdriver, right?"

 

Wrong! After 2 hours of trying to power through with a 10 year old screwdriver with my pathetic arms, I drove to Lowes and bought a $20 drill. MUCH better! 3 hours later, we have a stand!

 

I'm showing off the doors and hinges, because they took me an hour alone to align correctly. I must say, I'm very proud of myself.

 

I like the looks, color, and height of it a lot. I don't see how people make their own stands, though. I could barely put this one together, and it was pre-drilled! Now I just have to patiently wait for the tank and rock!

Stand looks nice. Will be good to see the tank on there. I built my own stand.It doesn't look that good but it's ok.

[TSwift]

Nice stand and Happy B Day!

Thank you!

 

Stand looks nice. Will be good to see the tank on there. I built my own stand.It doesn't look that good but it's ok.

Thank you! I couldn't imagine building my own stand- kudos to you for doing so!

 

I went bargin-hunting on craigslist and bought the following for only $20:

"Reef Master Test Kit" barely used (calcium, phosphate, Carbonite, Nitrate) that will go nicely with my current test kit.

Coralife Hydrometer

New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Food (barely used)

 

The test kit was what I was wanting, especially to check the phosphates of my dry rock after scrubbing it with vinegar and soaking it.

 

The rock will arrive the 31st and the tank will arrive the 1st! I am so excited

[Angel<3Nanos]

Great stand! Looking forward for your tank

Also check that the test kits are not expired, on the bottles there's a number close to the cap. The last 2 digits are the year it was made on. The phosphate and nitrate bottles last 4 years and the others last 3.

I once bought a test kit on Craigslist and found out it was made back in 07 :/

Hopefully you got good ones

[TSwift]

Great stand! Looking forward for your tank

Also check that the test kits are not expired, on the bottles there's a number close to the cap. The last 2 digits are the year it was made on. The phosphate and nitrate bottles last 4 years and the others last 3.

I once bought a test kit on Craigslist and found out it was made back in 07 :/

Hopefully you got good ones

 

Thank you very much! I checked the last 2 digits on the test bottles and they were made in 2010, so its got a few years left, thankfully. The Phosphate was the most important test to me since I will be using dry rock, so I'm glad it lasts 4 years.

[Angel<3Nanos]

Thank you very much! I checked the last 2 digits on the test bottles and they were made in 2010, so its got a few years left, thankfully. The Phosphate was the most important test to me since I will be using dry rock, so I'm glad it lasts 4 years.

you're welcome!

[TSwift]

I'm a little confused on what to do with the back chambers and filter media. I wanted to order them with the Jager 75w heater that I am ordering.

 

Here are some options that I see are popular:

Filter Floss (Walmart)

Chemi Pure Elite and Purigen

GFO and .8 ROX Carbon (Can I get carbon from walmart? I have a gift card )

Live Rock Rubble

Cheato

 

Because of the dry rock I am using, I know I will need GFO. Is the GFO in the Chemi Pure Elite not going to be sufficient? Which sponges should I take out and where should I put the other filter media?

 

Heres a picture of the bank of the MI 16 for reference:

[SushiYum]

yea don't use rubble.

gfo should be used in a reactor for upflow.

most people just use purigen and chemipure elite. should be enough.

[TSwift]

yea don't use rubble.

gfo should be used in a reactor for upflow.

most people just use purigen and chemipure elite. should be enough.

 

Here is a picture I sort of stole (Thanks Allan!):

 

So how about:

(1) and (4): Filter Floss

(2) Chemi Pure Elite

(5) Purigen

(3) and (6) Sponges? OR Floss OR (3) Purigen and (6) Chemi Pure Elite ? ---> not sure what to do with these chambers.

 

EDIT:

I ordered the heater, Chemi Pure Elite, and Purigen with 2 media filter bags.

[Dr. Acula]

Ha, i saw the new picture and my first thought was "What?! White!?!". Then i actually read and calmed down.

 

Your equipment needs to hurry up and be delivered so we can get this thing going. And for the record i plan on running mostly filter floss and some purigen in my tank. Not that that means much, considering my lack of experience with the salty side of things. Regardless it should all be tailored until the results are good, I suppose.

[TSwift]

Ha, i saw the new picture and my first thought was "What?! White!?!". Then i actually read and calmed down.

 

Your equipment needs to hurry up and be delivered so we can get this thing going. And for the record i plan on running mostly filter floss and some purigen in my tank. Not that that means much, considering my lack of experience with the salty side of things. Regardless it should all be tailored until the results are good, I suppose.

 

Haha, you have no idea how patient I'm trying to be! I am super excited for my dry rock to be delivered tomorrow. I will probably srub it, soak it in some RO/DI water, and play with it a bit to see if I can get any aquascaping ideas. The tank will arrive Wednesday and I am really nervous- I hope it arrives ok!

 

I also hope the chemi-pure elite and purigen will be enough to help with any phosphate I may have from the rock. I may invest on some GFO down the road. As for when these and the heater will arrive, I have no idea yet.

 

To help pass the time, here are some pics of my two Caiques, Ava and Sheik

 

And if you're really bored, here's their YouTube channel! Its a tad bit outdated, but they are so cute when their babies

http://www.youtube.com/user/caiquesisters?...re=results_main

[aIIan]

Here is a picture I sort of stole (Thanks Allan!):

...

 

Ha, no worries as you can see I stole it from Reef Builders.

[TSwift]

My 15 pounds of dry Pukani rock from Bulk Reef Supply arrived today! It was packaged very well with plastic and LOTS of peanuts. Barely any breakage.

 

Here is everything I was given - MUCH more than I expected.

 

I rinsed each rock with tap water to get the big dead stuff off, then poured saltwater on them let them soak in saltwater, and shook them around in the saltwater to get all the tap off. This is what came out when I was finished. Not much, as you can see, but there was a lot of fine dust that might have clouded the tank a bit.

 

I then tried to figure out some aquascaping using the same tub, which happens to have similar measurements as my tank. Each picture doesn't even use all the rock. No rock is touching the walls. I know its not exactly "minimalist", but I am trying to stay with the island look at least. What do you guys think? It reminds me of this set up:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e313/yer...icture008-1.jpg

 

Formation 1- big rock on right is vertical.

 

Formation 2- big rock on right is horizontal.

 

The tank will arrive tomorrow (YAY!) and I will do more aquascaping then. I can't wait!

[Deleted User 4]

Nice stand. Are the birds potty-trained? I'd be worried about them crapping on the tank or equipments ahah.

[TSwift]

Nice stand. Are the birds potty-trained? I'd be worried about them crapping on the tank or equipments ahah.

 

Thank you! And yes, they are potty-trained! Parrots are usually potty trained in a couple of days when young. They like to watch the tanks and peck at the glass when something moves, but they don't care at all about the equipment or actual water.

[Scorched]

Looks good TSwift! You have quite a few options for filtration with the back of that tank.

 

Good luck with the aquascapping. Dont be afraid to break or saw the bottoms of the rocks if you want some to stand in a more gravity defying way. In the "everything" photo that long skinny one for example could stand straight up if you cut a nice flat area on the left side.

[TSwift]

Looks good TSwift! You have quite a few options for filtration with the back of that tank.

 

Good luck with the aquascapping. Dont be afraid to break or saw the bottoms of the rocks if you want some to stand in a more gravity defying way. In the "everything" photo that long skinny one for example could stand straight up if you cut a nice flat area on the left side.

 

The long mis-shaped one is my favorite piece! It does kind of blend together. The large rock I will saw the bottom to make it look better. Here are some pics that are more "gravity-defying", which I love:

 

Formation 3- each rock has spacing. Long piece sticks out more, but still have "cave" look on the left.

 

Formation 4- Long piece on its own in middle with 2 rocks cascading down on left.

 

Formation 5- Cascading look, pieces touching.

 

The large rock is starting to feel out of place now with the complicated-ness of the left side. I would hate to leave it out though. It will look better once I saw off the bottom and place it without it leaning on the walls.

[uaiu]

I like number 4

 

I'm 3 months in and still tweaking my aquascaping >.<

[Deleted User 4]

I would go formation 5. haha.

[temet vince]

Awesome birds! I've thought about getting something in the far future because I was so heartbroken after my dog died I swore I need to get something that lives longer than 10-15 years.

 

Can't wait for your tank to arrive! Any idea on how long you're going to be seeding that rock? Also, don't be afraid to take a hammer to that big piece to bring it down to manageable size.

 

And a stand! My apartment manager barely gave me approval for my tank but she said it had to be put on the counter. So no stand for me But your's looks great!