Not-so Symbiotic Nuvo 8 Build - New FTS

[D Z]

Latest Full Tank Shot
August 4, 2014

20140804_190923 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

Photo Gallery

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89326890@N03/sets/72157644265615309/

 

Well I had a friend make me an offer that I just could not resist. He was setting up a new 300 gallon tank and wanted to downsize some of his existing tanks. Long story short, I am picking up a Nuvo 8 from him tomorrow, along with a couple other goodies to go with it.
A little bit of background: I have had many freshwater setups in the past, all 10 gallons or under. Most of them were back when I was in college. I have not had a wet tank in quite some time now. I do have a larger corner tank that I have been rebuilding for a while now. It really has been on hold for about a year now, but eventually I will finish it. If you are interested, here is the thread that I started a while back on that one http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/273041-50-gallon-corner-tank-build/
Therefore, this will officially be my first saltwater tank! I have wanted to start up a reef tank for a long time now. I have a 4 year old son that absolutely loves aquariums. I am really looking forward to making this a learning experience for him(and me as well). In my opinion, one of the coolest aspects of reef tanks are the symbiotic relationships that naturally occur in the saltwater world.Therefore, I am planning on incorporating as many as possible(and permit-able in an 8 gallon tank). Here are the plans so far:

Hardware
Aquarium: Innovative Marine Nuvo 8 - Black
Lighting: NanoBox Mini Tide w/ Storm Controller
Heater: NeoTherm 75 Watt Heater
Pump: MJ900 w/ spin stream
Filter Media: InTank Media Basket with Filter Floss and SeaChem Matrix Carbon

Top Off: Avast Marine ATO


NanoBox Mini Tide Storm Settings
PWM Day Settings: White Channel: 85, Blue Channel: 135
PWM Night Settings: White Channel: 0, Blue Channel 0
Sunrise/Sunset Mode: Manual
Sunrise: 11:00am
Sunset: 10:30pm
Ramp Time: 180 minutes
Ramp delay: 150 minutes for White
Cloud frequenzy: 3
Lightning Frequenzy: 1

Weekly Schedule
Weekly Schedule by cchsoracle, on Flickr

Latest Water Testing Results

 

 

Livestock

Fish
Ocellaris Clownfish
Yellow Clown Goby(added 4/12/2014)(removed 6/15/2014)

Clean-Up Crew
1 x Small Mexican Turbo Snail(added 4/8/2014)
2 x Astrea Snails
2 x Nerite snails
3 x Nassarious Snails(added 3/23/2014)
1 x Electric Blue Knuckled Hermit
6 x Cerith Snails(added 4/12/2014)
1 x Emerald Crab(added 3/23/2014)(RIP 3/27/2014)
1 x Emerald Crab(added 4/8/2014)(removed 4/8/2014)

4 x Blue leg hermits(added 8/3/14)

 

SPS

Joe The Coral(added 5/24/2014)(RTN RIP 5/31/14)

WWC Bizarro Cyphastrea(added 6/15/14)

Green/Pink Cyphastrea(added 6/15/14)

WWC Toxic Acro(added 6/26/14)

LPS
Purple Tipped Torch Coral
3 headed Duncan(added 3/23/2014)
Red Blasto(added 4/4/2014)(RIP 5/24/14)

Toxic Green Hammer Coral(added 5/24/2014)(RIP 6/17/2014)

Green Plate coral(added 5/24/2014)

Red/Blue Acan(added 5/24/2014)

Green/Purple/Orange Acan Echinata(added 6/15/14)

WWC Purple Martian Chalice(added 6/15/14)

Rainbow Aussie Acan Lord(added 6/15/14)

Tyree War and Peace Favia(added 6/15/14)

Blue/Green Favia(added 6/15/14)

Red/Orange Acan Bowerbanki(added 6/15/14)

Jason Fox Avatar Chalice(added 6/15/14)

Blue/Green Acan Lord(added 6/15/14)

Soft Coral/Mushrooms
Yellow and Purple Yuma
Rainbow Ricordea(added 3/23/2014)
Blue/Yellow spotted Mushrooms(added 4/12/2014)
Orange Fringed Rhodactus(added 5/2/2014)

Blue/Pink Ricordea(added 5/24/2014)

Purple/Red/Green Ricordea(added 5/24/2014)

Green/Yellow Ricordea(added 6/15/14)

Zoas/Palys
Red Death Palys
Unknown Paly(similar to Gorilla Nipples)
SunnyDVivid Rainbow(added 4/4/2014)
Rasta(added 4/12/2014)
Kryptonite Zoas(added 5/2/2014)

Future Livestock

 

Invertebrates

Pom Pom Crab

Starfish?

LPS
Leptastrea?

Goniopora?

Blasto

Soft Coral/Mushrooms

3 - 4 more Ricordea/Yuma

Zoas/Palys
Armor of God Palys

Whatever looks good.


Future Hardware Upgrades
Aquarium Controller?

Other Thoughts

As I said above, I will be picking the tank and other accessories up tomorrow, so pictures will be to follow. When I helped my friend setup the aquascape in his new tank, he had some leftover rock and has been holding it in his sump for me. I am planning on using some water out of his existing tank along with appx. 7 - 8 pounds of pink figi live sand. I will keep the live rock fully submerged during transit to avoid dye-off as much as possible. His tank finished cycling about a month ago, therefore, I am expecting to have little to no cycle. Any thoughts on this?

As I have said, I have been researching and have been interested in reef tanks for quite some time, but have never actually had one. For that reason I am considering myself an informed beginner. Therefore, ANY input you may have is more than welcomed.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my new adventure. I am very excited to get my feet wet and salty!

[Cameron6796]

Can't wait to follow this good luck

[D Z]

Can't wait to follow this good luck

Awesome! Thanks for checking it out.

 

So I picked up the tank yesterday. Setup went fairly smooth. I had one piece of live rock(probably around 8 - 10 lbs). I was able to break it up fairly easily and get a great scape with it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the sub par image quality. Using an older Android phone at the moment.

[D Z]

Did some water tests last night and tonight. Seems like everything is in line, for the most part. Ph was a little low the first night, but it seems to be going up by the readings from night #2. Ammonia seems to be slightly increasing, which is to be expected at this point. I raised the temp a little bit to around 77F. First top off was done today. It seems to have lost roughly 5 oz. of water in 24 hours.

 

January 25, 2014

Temp: 74.5

Salinity: 1.025

Ph: 7.8

Alkalinity: 4.5

Nitrite: 0.005 - 0.010

Nitrate: 1.0

Ammonia: 0.005

 

January 26, 2014

Temp: 76.3

Salinity: 1.025

Ph: 7.9 - 8.0

Alkalinity: 4.0

Nitrite: 0.005 - 0.010

Nitrate: 1.0

Ammonia: 0.06

 

Night Picture

[D Z]

So I was thinking about other symbiotic relationships that I can eventually incorporate into this tank and decided I think I want to add a cleaner shrimp to the mix. It will be fun watching him catch a ride on the fish as it cleans them. It would be a very cool relationship to teach my son about, as well. I did have a couple of questions though:

 

1) Will this work out ok for a goby and clownfish? From what I have read, it looks like a cleaner shrimp will clean both gobies and clowns. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

2) Will the cleaner shrimp have any problems with a pistol shrimp already being in the tank?

Let me know if there are any other cool symbiotic relationships that you can think of that would be possible to incorporate into this tank.

 

Anyways, on another note, when I picked up the tank on Friday, my friend was breaking down one of this other tanks and had a bunch of snails and hermits that he was going to get rid of. Even though the tank is cycling, I figured I would try to take advantage of him offereing them for free and ended up getting 4 nerites, 4 astreas, and an Electric Blue Knuckled Hermit Crab(I Think). So far they seem to be doing well. Hopefully, they will not have any problems during the cycle, but as mentioned above, I am not expecting a full cycle due to the rock already being fully cured. Here are a couple pictures of the CUC:

 

 

 

[Cameron6796]

It is rare to see a cleaner shrimp actually clean the fish but yep it can happen and should be fine with those two also the. Leaner shrimp should be okay just watch then

[D Z]

It is rare to see a cleaner shrimp actually clean the fish but yep it can happen and should be fine with those two also the. Leaner shrimp should be okay just watch then

OK Cool. Thanks for the info. Original post updated for symbiotic relationship #3.

 

Did another water test last night.

January 27, 2014

Temp: 76.7

Salinity: 1.025

Ph: 7.9 - 8.0

Alkalinity: 5.0

Nitrite: 0.007 - 0.010

Nitrate: 1.0 - 2.0

Ammonia: 0.0 - 0.02

 

I also picked up some reef frenzy yesterday. I plan to use that for feedings, for the most part. I decided to go ahead and feed the tank since I do have the snails and hermit in there. They definitely seemed to enjoy the reef frenzy. I even was able to spot feed the hermit with a turkey baster, which was pretty awesome. Here are a couple more shots of the CUC:

 

 

[Matt_95]

You could add a pair or group of sexy or anemone shrimp in there as well.

[D Z]

 

You could add a pair or group of sexy or anemone shrimp in there as well.

That is a possibility. I guess we'll see later on. I am now starting to second guess whether I am going to go the route of having the anemone or not. I know that it has been done in a tank this size, but I am worried about close quarters. I know that a clown will host other corals as well, such as frogspawns and hammer corals. I may go that route instead and still keep the symbiotic relationship. I guess only time will tell.

 

For now, I just need to get through the cycle. I am thinking it should be safe after another 7 - 10 days. I will be out of town for the next 2 weekends, so I think I will be adding livestock after that, assuming all parameters are in line.

[Matt_95]

The shrimp could host something like a maxi mini nem or a ric. They're not likely to share a nem with the clowns.

[D Z]

Well then that is a definite possibility as I am going to have rics in the tank.

[ZeroEvoX]

Ha You have similar livestock to me. Get ready for that sand to be all over the place once you add in that pistol shrimp and goby

[D Z]

Ha You have similar livestock to me. Get ready for that sand to be all over the place once you add in that pistol shrimp and goby

Zero - your tank was one of the tanks I have bookmarked for inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by to check mine out!

[ZeroEvoX]

Zero - your tank was one of the tanks I have bookmarked for inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by to check mine out!

Thanks man!! Good Luck! I'll be following.

[D Z]

Did another water test last night.

January 28, 2014

Temp: 76.4

Salinity: 1.024

Ph: 8.1

Alkalinity: 4.0

Nitrite: 0.005 - 0.010

Nitrate: 3.0

Ammonia: 0.02

 

Seems like I'm just getting a very "soft" cycle. Have not seen any large ammonia spike. This is not anything to be concerned with, right?

[ZeroEvoX]

Did another water test last night.

January 28, 2014

Temp: 76.4

Salinity: 1.024

Ph: 8.1

Alkalinity: 4.0

Nitrite: 0.005 - 0.010

Nitrate: 3.0

Ammonia: 0.02

 

Seems like I'm just getting a very "soft" cycle. Have not seen any large ammonia spike. This is not anything to be concerned with, right?

I used LR out of My LFS display and a bag of carib sea sand and saw a very minimal cycle, You could always dose a small ppm of ammonia and wait a couple days and test to see if its there. If not your good. Do you Have any diatoms or anything?

[D Z]

I used LR out of My LFS display and a bag of carib sea sand and saw a very minimal cycle, You could always dose a small ppm of ammonia and wait a couple days and test to see if its there. If not your good. Do you Have any diatoms or anything?

Actually, I did notice what looked to be the start of a diatom bloom on the sandbed under the mp10 when I got home from work.

 

I did another test tonight and it like like the ammonia is rising some more so I will just have to see where it goes from here.

 

January 29, 2014

Temp: 75.6

Salinity: 1.024

Ph: 8.0 - 8.1

Alkalinity: 4.75

Nitrite: 0.005 - 0.010

Nitrate: 2.0 - 3.0

Ammonia: 0.02 - 0.03

 

Also, pretty sure I found an amphipod on the glass tonight!

[D Z]

I have been doing a little bit more research on what I thought was an amphipod on my glass last night. I started looking at more and more pictures of amphipods and copepods and it just does not seem to resemble what I saw on the glass. Then I ran across flatworms and started to get a little bit nervous. Can someone help id this thing and let me know whether it is something to worry about. I think it might be an Acoel flatworm(Acoelomorpha), which from what I read may not be a bad thing, but I am just not entirely sure. Also, so far, I have only seen the one. I will continue to keep a look out for more. Here is a quick video that I was able to get before the powerhead blew it off the glass. If I see another one, I will try to get a better up close picture.

 

http://s734.photobucket.com/user/cchsoracle/media/Nuvo%208/VID_20140129_223107_zpsjygjwp0p.mp4.html

[Lalani]

Hard to tell. If its just brownish in color, its a type of flatworm that lives in our tanks without causing trouble for the most part, but if its more rust color with a red dot, that's a bad one. The red spot one is dangerous because they can reproduce to large numbers and cover corals, shading them from light and irritating them.

[D Z]

Hard to tell. If its just brownish in color, its a type of flatworm that lives in our tanks without causing trouble for the most part, but if its more rust color with a red dot, that's a bad one. The red spot one is dangerous because they can reproduce to large numbers and cover corals, shading them from light and irritating them.

I definitely did not see a red dot. It seems like it was a slight brownish color, almost a dirty white I guess? I'm definitely going to be watching to see if I find any more, and if I do, I will know what to look out for. Thanks Lalani.

[ZeroEvoX]

Looking good so far. have you made a concrete decision on stocking yet?

 

On a side note that mp10 is no joke judging from that vid, I WANTZ ONE! hahaha

[D Z]

Looking good so far. have you made a concrete decision on stocking yet?

 

On a side note that mp10 is no joke judging from that vid, I WANTZ ONE! hahaha

 

I have not made a final decision on stocking. Still planning on a single clown along with a goby/pistol. Still just not quite sure which clown and which goby.

 

As far as the MP10, this thing can really move some water. If I recall right it was only on about 20 - 30% intensity when I was taking that video. I usually leave it running on reef crest mode with peak intensity around 35% or so.

[D Z]

One more update and water test result before I go out of town for the weekend. Tank is still looking pretty good. I am definitely getting a diatom bloom, but it is not too bad. It seems like the CUC is keeping it in check for the most part. I did see a couple more of the flatworms last night, but was not able to get any better of a picture than before. I think there was a combination of the flatworms and amphipods/copepods on the glass as I saw some other smaller organisms with antennas. I just cannot seem to get any of my cameras to focus on the glass, so no pictures today. The cycle may be close to complete, though, as my nitrites and ammonia came in quite close to 0 last night, with a small amount of nitrates. I will test one more time on Sunday night after I get back in town. If that is the case, I will probably add the rest of the CUC next week. I will probably hold on on adding any fish until the following week as I am going to be out of town again next weekend. All in due time.....

 

January 30, 2014
Temp: 75.7
Salinity: 1.024
Ph: 8.2
Alkalinity: 4.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0 - 0.005
Ammonia: 0.005

 

Pic of the diatoms on the sand bed:

[D Z]

So the tank survived my first trip out of town pretty well. I actually came back to the tank being cleaner that it was when I left. Most of the Diatoms have been cleaned up by the existing CUC. All that is left is some kind of hair algae that has been growing on the false wall. I did not get a chance to do a water test last night to confirm, but I think the cycle is complete at this point. I will be doing one tonight to see.

 

I am going out of town this weekend again, so I will not be adding any livestock until next week. I would like to add the rest of my CUC now though, as long as I am right about the cycle being done. So far I have:

 

1 Electric Blue Knuckled Hermit

3 Astrea snails

5 Nerite snails

 

I was thinking of adding:

1 more hermit

5 - 6 cerith snails

1 cleaner shrimp

 

Thoughts??? Anyone have suggestions on other inverts that would be more beneficial?

[KSMART]

tagging along for the ride. I too have an IM Nuvo 8 in my office and have been really happy with it.