Miamike Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 So I’m in the process of setting up an 8 gallon nano aquarium in my dorm, and figured I’d start a thread logging my progress. Right now the tank is just finishing the cycling process and has been filled for nearly 3 weeks, so the most exciting stuff is yet to come! Enjoy! The aquarium itself is the Nuvo Nano 8 Kit by Innovative Marine, and the tank came with an 8-watt LED lamp and a small circulation pump to move water through the back compartment. Additional equipment I’ve picked up: 50 watt Heater Rio 180 pump (120-456 gph) Right now there is about 6-7 lbs of live rock in the tank, and I plan on filling the back compartment with rubble rock as soon as I can. There is no substrate; I don’t want detritus collecting in the sand or to deal with the added maintenance in breaking down the system at the end of the semester. I’ve also do not yet have a skimmer, choosing to rely on regular water changes and biological filtration to maintain the water quality. (I probably will look to add a skimmer when I have the money, so if anyone has any recommendations, feel free to comment!) The cleanup crew right now consists of two Astrea snails and two hermit crabs. I want to double or triple the number of snails, maybe even by this weekend. I’m using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt mixed in RO/DI water, and I’m aiming for a specific gravity of 1.025. My goal is to have a few miniature SPS colonies, maybe an Acan frag, and some star polys, xenia, or zoanthids, etc. depending on what I can fit comfortably in the display. As for livestock, I’d like to get a nice clownfish, maybe a Snowflake or Misbar Oscellaris, and a Neon Goby, plus an ornamental shrimp, a sexy shrimp or something similar. I’ll have pictures up later today; feel free to offer any advice/tips/suggestions! I’ve had experience with slightly larger aquariums for years, but this is my first nano tank of this size. Thanks! Link to comment
Passaggper Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Are you planning on upgrading the lighting to support sps? I'm following. Good luck! Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Yeah, I want to upgrade the lights before I get any SPS, but I was gonna start out with a zoa colony this weekend. I was thinking about just an LED reef lamp of sorts, with like 5 3-watt LED's. Something like this... http://www.boostled.com/product_p/par30.htm ...But only when I can afford it. Pics after lunchtime! Link to comment
mcluett Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Ledtric has par30's on sale right now. might be worth picking it up and saving some money. http://www.ledtric.com/led-components/ledtric-pico-twentyk-10w-par30-reeflamp/ Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Ok so here are some photos of the setup, over three weeks ago I got the tank first into my dorm Filled up with LR in place for first time Three pics taken today, snails and hermits included! And thanks for the hint there, do you think a PAR30 would be sufficient light for some small SPS frags though? Link to comment
mcluett Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Someone with more SPS experience will have to jump in on that one. If you keep the close to the top of the tank I cant imagine it being an issue though. For the price I am going to try one out on my tank. Link to comment
JR! Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 par30 would be fine for some lower end sps. ie birdsnest and montis Link to comment
MikeTR Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Skip the rubble in the back, you've got plenty of rock for your proposed bioload. Nice clean lookin setup. Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Sweet guys thanks a ton for the input! Yeah I was only thinking some easier SPS, good to know I don't have to break the bank to help light them. Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Ok so I wasn't able to get a ride to any of the LFS around campus, but I was abe to nab some small zoa rocks and a star polyp piece to go in the tank! I'll post pictures of the opened frags in an hour or so. I did go ahead and order a PAR38 bulb from LEDtric, so I'm much more comfortable with my lighting scheme for the setup, and hopefully in the future I'll keep some SPS frags. So as far as stocking, here's what I'm thinking is gonna go in in the coming weeks: Oscellaris Clownfish - I want to get a designer color morph, does anyone have any favorites? And I gotta decide whether it's gonna be a solo clown or a pair Probably a neon goby to go with the clown, but I'm open to suggestions here too Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Ok so I wasn't able to get a ride to any of the LFS around campus, but I was abe to nab some small zoa rocks and a star polyp piece to go in the tank! I'll post pictures of the opened frags in an hour or so. I did go ahead and order a PAR38 bulb from LEDtric, so I'm much more comfortable with my lighting scheme for the setup, and hopefully in the future I'll keep some SPS frags. So as far as stocking, here's what I'm thinking is gonna go in in the coming weeks: Oscellaris Clownfish - I want to get a designer color morph, does anyone have any favorites? And I gotta decide whether it's gonna be a solo clown or a pair Probably a neon goby to go with the clown, but I'm open to suggestions here too Another Nuvo 8! I got a plane-jane oscellaris clown about 1.5" now, a green clown goby, and am thinking about overstocking and adding a tailspot blenny. All these fish tend to stay in one area and not swim around much. Link to comment
hey Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 in all honesty I would hesitate to get a pair of clowns because the bioload in such a small new tank may cause some problems, and even if you got one and added another later you may end up with aggression issues. I'd opt for 1 designer clown and down the road something very small if anything. Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I worried about bioload and all that goes with it. Being cautious, I replaced the stock filtration with purigen and chemipure. Ended up with nutrients so low the SPS were starving and STNing. So now I feed more and am considering 3 small fish total. Bioload is not an issue. Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Another Nuvo 8! I got a plane-jane oscellaris clown about 1.5" now, a green clown goby, and am thinking about overstocking and adding a tailspot blenny. All these fish tend to stay in one area and not swim around much. Yeah man, I really like the Nuvo 8, super easy to deal with and still plenty of fun! in all honesty I would hesitate to get a pair of clowns because the bioload in such a small new tank may cause some problems, and even if you got one and added another later you may end up with aggression issues. I'd opt for 1 designer clown and down the road something very small if anything. Sounds like some good advice man. I was only planning on a single clown, but sometimes your mind just strays to automatically including a pair but you make a good point with potential territory issues Maybe a neon goby to accompany it? Or a sexy shrimp, etc. I worried about bioload and all that goes with it. Being cautious, I replaced the stock filtration with purigen and chemipure. Ended up with nutrients so low the SPS were starving and STNing. So now I feed more and am considering 3 small fish total. Bioload is not an issue. Are you running a skimmer at all? Just curious, I'll look through your thread Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Or a sexy shrimp, etc. Are you running a skimmer at all? Just curious, I'll look through your thread No skimmer, just filter floss that I change out the day after a heavy feeding, chemipure and purigen. You'll also see that I use macroalgae and pulsing xenia to recycle nitrates and phosphates. I plan on replacing sections of the sandbed so that over the course of a year the entire thing is refreshed. You want my two sexy shrimp? They scare the pom pom crab into a cave. Edit: +1 to the new tank comment. The clown didn't go in until fully cycled and I waited around 2 months before adding the green clown goby. It's been nearly another month that I'm now thinking about an algae eater. Link to comment
Miamike Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Ok, solid advice. I'll probably keep a lookout for a small, efficient skimmer that is in line with my price range but I like the chemical filtration idea for now. And yeah those sexy shrimp would be more than welcome here!! Just gotta make sure I have my nitrates under control first, they seem to be steadily rising, I'll probably do a water change soon. Thanks for staying updated! So here's a few photos I've been amassing over this week, with shots of the frags acclimation, and then another one from today, with all the GSP and zoas fully open. What do you guys think? Link to comment
1reefluvr2 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Awesome tank love those zoas aswell. Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I love GSP! One of my favorite corals for it's brilliant green and waving lawn effect. Most people hate it since it eventually grows and overtakes other corals. My solution was to put it on it's own little rock island that's easy to remove and trim back over time. Zoa's rock. They're so colorful and easy to grow, too. You'll love them Link to comment
ESJ Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I don't think you'll need a skimmer. Skimmers aren't necessary unless you have a large bio-load. Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 +1 on the skimmer. Veng and I learned the hard way that depleting nutrients to hold back algae growth is not the way to go. The skimmer takes organics out of the water that the corals need for health so they STN'd and lost color like the hungry things they were. You've got softies right now which are even more happy in higher nutrients. Link to comment
Bobyboy Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Welcome to the nuvo club, we almost need our own sticky now. Mine is going on about 2 months old now but it was a full blown upgrade from a 2.5 pico and I used premium rock that had been in use for over a year. I'm only planning to add 2 fish to my tank, the first is already in a Helfrichi firefish and my second will be a yasha Hase and shrimp pair. Good luck with your tank Link to comment
1reefluvr2 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Two fish in a 2.5 gallon?????? Link to comment
Bobyboy Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I have a nuvo 8, See my sig. And I had no fish in the 2.5g. Link to comment
Miamike Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Ok so some more developments with this tank.... Yesterday I went on a small adventure/fish crawl to a couple LFS by campus, and picked up some ChemiPure for the back filter (I forgot filter floss though, do I need to get some too?) as well as some livestock! An absolutely gorgeous Oscellaris clown I also nabbed a brilliant Ricordea frag, but I'll have to post a pic later. Four more astrea snails joined my CUC too. Here's a funny picture of my blue leg hermit balling hard and hitching a ride up the glass! Tell me what you think Link to comment
Bobyboy Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Looks good, Yes you will want to place the filter floss on the upper most level so it is the first filtration media that the water passes through. The floss grabs all the bigger pieces of ditrus and other odds and ends. Link to comment
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