Genie's First Reef!

[Genie382]

Hi everyone! So where to begin?

 

Well, I recently graduated, moved to NC (the south eek!), and got a real, grown up, adult job. Since I was apparently no longer living the life of a professional student, I decided that my first 2 real adult like purchases would be 1) a lazy boy recliner and 2) an aquarium.

 

I started a freshwater planted nano aquarium, which aside from the loss of 1 or 2 flakey shrimp has been doing fairly well. It's been about 5 months since starting that tank and after making multiple trips to the LFS and seeing all the awesome reef tanks, I just couldn't help myself and got a salt water tank. So here I am. I admit that the sheer amount of information, know how and technicalities of owning a reef tank are a bit overwhelming so please bear with me as I'm sure I'll make many mistakes as I learn about the hobby.

 

Now on to the tank!

 

So after looking at various nano tank options I settled on the Nuvo 16. There were a few reasons that motivated my decision. Firstly, due to my least (I'm renting), I couldn't get a tank larger than 20 gallons. Secondly, I just don't have the capital to invest in the initial start up needed for a larger system and lastly I like the rimless look . I ended up purchasing the BSR Nuvo 16 starter kit. After doing some math, the packaged kit saved me roughly 160$. Additionally, I decided against using live rock as the possibility of eliminating the extra head ache of dealing w/ hitchhikers was very appealing to me. I also ordered some upgrades. Here is the equipment list on my tank

 

Nuvo 16

Stock lights- 2x 8 watt SkkyeLight Led- Upgraded to Maxspect nano R420R

Upgraded from stock pump to Colbalt Mj 1200

Upgrade from stock media baskets to Aquagadget in tank media baskets

- Plan to use poly filter, purigen and chemi pure elite-->Currently using Chemi-pure Blue and Polyfilter

Upgraded to Spin stream rotating nozzles

Cobalt 75W neotherm heater

15lbs Reef Saver rock

~14lbs Live sand

- Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO

- Pico Skimmer 2.0

 

Current LiveStock:

Tailspot Blenny

Sexy shrimp X 3

Pom Pom Crab

Fire shrimp

Rock Flower anemone

Maxi-mini anemone

Bubble tip anemone

 

Current Corals:

Hammers

Fuzzy mushrooms

Blue mushrooms

Various zoas

Torch

Pagoda cup

Trumpets

Acan lords

Dendro

Bubble Coral

Xenia

Montipora

Pink's Birdsnest

 

 

So the tank was ordered and arrived in somewhat spectacular fashion! Holy heck those were some big boxes on my door step! Everything arrived in good shape and the tank looked fantastic. I had ordered a stand a few weeks ago and the tank fit perfectly. The next thing to do was to leak test the tank. The only problem was that I live in a 2nd floor apartment...w/ no garage or driveway to safely do the test. So...in lieu of setting up the tank in the carpeted area of my home, I figured the bathroom was probably the lesser of two evils. Admittedly this set up was sub optimal. I am happy to report that after 24 hrs, my bathroom (and downstair neighbors) remained dry. Phew.

 

Next up was setting up the tank...and here is where I started getting into some issues. My stand was wobbly...After removing the plastic bits on the bottom of the stand, the stand stood fairly firmly on the tile areas of my home, on the carpet...not so much. I had gotten shims in anticipation of needing to level my tank (if needed) and it would seem that the area where the tank is resting is fairly level. I'm suspicious the wobbling may be due to the carpet (a very large, sturdy and heavy book case rests next to the tank stand and it wobbles as well). Not sure what to do, I figured I'd start w/ my aquascape (dry rock secured w/ epoxy) and fill the tank part way and give it the night to settle. I'll look again in the morning and see if shims are needed. I'm hoping the wobbling is due to the carpet and it'll settle in a few weeks. I plan on filling the tank fully tomorrow (after the leveling process) and will be doing a fishless cycle. I plan on dosing the tank w/ Dr. Tims Aquatic ammonium chloride. I'll keep you all updated as I go! Thanks for reading!

[Smithjm5]

Everything is looking good so far! The only thing I would let you know is those skkye lights you got aren't going to be able to grow much coral wise. I don't know what you were planning on stocking the tank with but if you let me know I could give you some better suggestions based on how much you want to spend. I had one of the skkye lights on a 7.5 gallon and the par ratings were really bad...

to Nano-Reef!

[Genie382]

Hi!

 

Here are my stocking plans

 

Fish:

Goby and pistol shrimp pair

Tail spot blenny

Flame fish

+/- clown fish (I hear they're mean...)

 

Corals

Mainly softies

Bubble coral

Frogspawn

Hammer corals

Mushrooms and zoas

 

I'm hoping to get fairly bomb proof corals as it's my first reef. Ideally I'd like to upgrade to a skimmer, add a 240gph powerhead, ATO and lights. But boy oh boy are lights expensive (and so many options out there!)

[joy13]

Where in NC I know several great stores.

[vlangel]

Wow, its going to be a great reef! Zoas can be tricky, sometimes they thrive to the point of being nuisance and other times they melt away for no reason. Go figure. The other corals you listed are pretty sturdy and good choices. You will love the blenny, they are adorable as they back into holes and crevices. Clowns vary in temperament, I had one big ol' hormonal female that would bite me every time I put my hand in the tank but juvenile males are usually more docile, (if they don't turn into a female!).

[Genie382]

Thanks everyone for the support!

So, the tank is mostly set up and running. I still need to get a DJ power strip and timer for my lights, but I'll likely just keep them off anyway while I'm cycling the tank. I ended up stopping at my lfs and ended up buying a Deep Blue Series 1 24X12 inch stand...given that the previous stand was still wobbly this morning, I was worried it just wasn't up to snuff. I found the Deep Blue series to be much better constructed and for only 109$ couldn't pass it up. There was still a bit of a wobble when I put it in the same area as the prior stand (thus confirming my suspicion that it's either the carpet of the floor), but it was improved. The tank ended up not being totally leveled after it was full, so I had to put some shims under the front of the tank. I wonder if it's due to uneven weight distribution from how the tank is supposed to be set up. All of the rock and sand are in the first 3/4 of the tank, given that, I'd be surprised if it didn't lean forward on a carpeted surface. Ah, well. I'll continue to check the level as it settles.

 

Once the sand settles and my lights are set up I'll post a shot of the tank

 

 

Where in NC I know several great stores.

 

 

I'm in the Raleigh area. I've been hanging out at the Fish Room, but wouldn't mind checking out other good stores around the area

[Genie382]

Wow, its going to be a great reef! Zoas can be tricky, sometimes they thrive to the point of being nuisance and other times they melt away for no reason. Go figure. The other corals you listed are pretty sturdy and good choices. You will love the blenny, they are adorable as they back into holes and crevices. Clowns vary in temperament, I had one big ol' hormonal female that would bite me every time I put my hand in the tank but juvenile males are usually more docile, (if they don't turn into a female!).

Yah, I'm pretty excited about the Blenny. I hear they are awesome little guys.

 

I wasn't sold on zoas at first, but then I saw some of the stunning zoa gardens ppl have posted here and well...monkey see monkey do

[vlangel]

Yah, I'm pretty excited about the Blenny. I hear they are awesome little guys.

 

I wasn't sold on zoas at first, but then I saw some of the stunning zoa gardens ppl have posted here and well...monkey see monkey do

Yes, you are right about the beautiful zoa gardens. I hope to see yours added to the mix!

[Genie382]

Here's the tank set up. Still a bit cloudy.

 

 

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/photo12.jpg.html'>

[joy13]

I'm in the Raleigh area. I've been hanging out at the Fish Room, but wouldn't mind checking out other good stores around the area

One place you should check out is the reef farm. Grace always has some great deals, also there is reefsmart there wasn't one this year but she said probably April she will get one together, think of reefsmart as a huge swap with both vendors and hobbyists.

[Bropez]

I personally thing reef farm blows, but triad reef critters is whats up. Also for lighting highly recommend reef radiance dm-155e very affordable great light

[Genie382]

Hi all! Just a quick update. The sand has settled and the tank has been up and cycling (or attempting to...)

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/photo20.jpg.html'>

 

I followed the instructions for Tim's Aquatic Ammonium chloride, but the ammonia was still too low, so I doubled it. Has reached 2.0ppm, but doesn't seem to be budging after 24 hours, nitrites were also 0. Prior to adding the ammonia, I did dose w/ a bottle of Biospira and had live sand, but I'm a bit worried that the tank doesn't have enough good bacteria. I picked up a bottle of SeaChem stability and have dosed half of a large bottle. I'm hoping this will kick start the cycle. If no changes in the next 24-48hrs, I think I may have to bite the bullet and pick up some small pieces of cured live rock to seed the tank. I'm just worried about introducing critters as that was the main reason why I chose to go w/ dry rock in the first place. Anyone have any thoughts on how else I can seed the tank? I have a freshwater planted aquarium that I doubled up on w/ ceramic biologic filter that I would add, but not sure if that would work. Let me know what you guys think

[DrVENKMAN]

It is my belief that seeding the tank with cured live rock will allow for the introduction of a diverse population of microfauna that is beneficial to keeping a stable tank. Bacterial additives are a great start but do not contain a fraction of the bacterial diversity found in a small piece of live rock.There is risk of introducing unwanted pests but this risk is worth the reward.

 

Purchase your live rock from a LFS that has clean pest free tanks, and buy rock that is porous and free of major algae growth. Carefully examine it in the store before bringing it home. Once it is home examine it again, scrub the outside of the rock if it contains any questionable spots. If you want to be overly cautious, you can dip the rock in a high specific gravity salt water (around 1.030-1.035) This will usually cause any hiding invertebrate to come out of hiding without harming the microfauna too much. If you haven't yet learn to spot the common pests like aiptasia, this will be very helpful in the long run.

[Genie382]

Updates!!

 

My cycle went rather smoothly. I dosed Dr. Tim's Ammonium and had initial ammonia spike of 2ppm. I added a bottle of biospira, but after a few days of little or no nitrites or changes to my ammonia, I added a bottle a seachem stability. That did jumpstart my cycle and the following two days my nitrites went through the roof (at least I got a lot of purple on my testing kit!). After the nitirites died down, I had a nitrate spike of about 80 on my testing kit. Deciding to let the cycle ride, I dosed ammonia and allowed the tank to cycle until I was able to get my ammonia and nitrites to zero after 24hrs. It took roughly 3 cycles for it to get to that point (and about 3 weeks). I did a big water change and tested my parameters.

 

Ammonia- 0

Nitrites-0

Nitrates- 0 (I found this pretty puzzling as I had had such an initially high level of nitrates and had only done a 60% water change, so I anticipated at least some nitrates)

Ca- 400

Kh- 10.5

ph: 8.2

Mg: 1500

 

I'm currently using pre-mixed salt water from my LFS. I have a some Red Sea salt mix and intend to start making my own salt water after my next water change.

 

Upgrades

Tunze 3155 ATO

Koralia Hydor 425 GPH powerhead

 

I added one firefish Goby after my waterchange, he's a bit shy but eating very well! (Err...well except for when he spooks and runs away from the food to hide...^_^

 

I also got rather lucky and made a reef-friend at my job, she has a 120 gallon reef tank and sold me some frags for a great price. I added them about a week after the firefish. Currently I have

 

1 hammer

1 trumpet

1 Green leather

1 colony of zoas

 

Everyone is looking pretty happy, except for 2 or 3 polyps on one side of the zoa colony, they've never opened and now have developed a brown coating...the rest of the colony seems to be doing well (opening and closing w/ the lights going on and off). I wonder if they may have been knocked about during transport?

 

Eitherway I'm pretty happy w/ how the tank is going so far. I don't plan on adding anything for at least two weeks, a FTS will be coming

[vlangel]

Will be watching for that FTS.

[ninjamyst]

Will be watching for that FTS.

 

+1.

[Apexlaxfrog]

Nitrates- 0 (I found this pretty puzzling as I had had such an initially high level of nitrates and had only done a 60% water change, so I anticipated at least some nitrates)

 

Would you happen to be using API nitrates test kit? A lot of ppl will tell you to ditch them, but if you have them and don't plan on upgrading then this is worth skimming: OH YEAH, SHAKE IT!

 

FWIW, I used API during my setup and that (shaking) was eerily effective. Good luck! Look forward to a FTS.

[Genie382]

Sorry for the delay (damn you work!!) and it's not a FTS, buuuuttt here are some of the corals and fish I have in my tank. Sadly the leather died a tragic death a few days ago

 

 

Edit: Hmm, don't know why my images are so tiny. I tried resizing them on photobucket, but then the imgs became blurry. I only have a crappy iphone camera, so that may be the issue. Will be looking into it, until then, sorry!

[flobees]

Hi been following your post and build. I am still debating on what tank to get at this point. But am interested in how your tank is going along. I am also interested in the Nuvo 16 but am also looking at the Fusion 20. I am doing a lot of reading and still trying to get use to the lingo used in aquarium talk... Thanks for posting and keep it going as I am planing my tank as you have your going. What happen to the leather?

 

Flo

[Genie382]

Hi and welcome!

 

My tank is going well. Had a few hiccups (leather dying, spotted some bubble algae and my hammer is acting up), but loving it so far. Have only had freshwater planted tanks and I have to say, saltwater is so much more complicated.

I don't have any experience w/ the fusion 20, but, from what i've read about the curved glass rimless tanks and the love that folks on here have for the fusion 30, I'd go w/ the 20. Cost wise, it's cheaper than the 16 (at least it was last I checked), you have a bigger tank and none of the cracking issues that we've heard about. Truthfully, if I had known about the release of the 20gallon I would've just waited for that. Ah well, gives me an excuse to upgrade later .

[skyzpop]

Sorry for the delay (damn you work!!) and it's not a FTS, buuuuttt here are some of the corals and fish I have in my tank. Sadly the leather died a tragic death a few days ago

 

 

 

Edit: Hmm, don't know why my images are so tiny. I tried resizing them on photobucket, but then the imgs became blurry. I only have a crappy iphone camera, so that may be the issue. Will be looking into it, until then, sorry!

 

I use Photbucket and an iPhone as well. I upload from iPhone to Photobucket at the highest resolution I can then I resize my pictures in Photobucket to 800x600 and seem to have good results.

[Genie382]

Fixed! Thanks Skyzpop!

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/54a6c4a9-2452-4083-a1fe-48523480608c.jpg.html'>

 

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/02ec52aa-2ff5-4300-8f66-5f7a310efeee.jpg.html'>

[Genie382]

Updates:

 

Been a few weeks since my last post...there have been ups and downs (mostly in the funds department). Here are some of the upgrades to the tank so far

 

Equipment:

Solar Flare Micro- Converted one of my IM Custom Caddy Media baskets to a Cheato refugium

Mesh top screen- DIY (it is glaring white, which unfortunately was the only aluminum framing I could find at the time)

 

Livestock:

Fish

Socially awkward firefish

Citron Clown Goby

 

Coral

Hammer

Trumpet

Zoas

Ricordea

Acan

Duncan

Purple Mushrooms (bonus: Mini-green zoas hitchhiked on the liverock!)

 

Inverts

Sexy Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp

Pom pom crab

Assorted clean up crew

 

So far my corals have all done well. My ricordea is looking a bit sketch, I suspect it is because it has been tossed about quite a bit my CUC. It's been in the same spot for a few days and seems to like the area I've put it in (I nabbed a mini-petri dish cover from work and put some base rock rubble in it and have put the coral there...it seems to get tossed around less, but we'll see if it attaches). Aside from that little guy, everyone else is surviving and dare I say...thriving? One of the heads on the hammer appears to be splitting and my Acan and trumpet is huuuggeee.

 

The Citron Goby was just introduced to the tank about 2 days ago. It's still adjusting to the tank (hugging the glass) and did nibble on some frozen food (but spit it out), so I'm hoping that a few days and some different foods will get him to eat. My firefish (Zip) has gone missing for the last two days also. After I introduced the goby, the firefish came out of it's burrow to inspect the new fish...and as soon as the goby turned and looked at it, my firefish seemed to have a major panic attack and zoomed around the tank (thank god I have a cover!) and darted back into his burrow. I haven't seen him since...and he hasn't ventured out during feeding also. I'm hoping he's just holed up for a bit, but I am getting worried.

Aside from that, I spotted what appears to be some small aiptasia on my zoa rock (same darn rock w/ the bubble algae!) and promptly put some superglue on those buggers. Here's hoping they go away, I'm tempted to just chuck the zoa colony if they reappear given that it's already introduced two different pests.

 

So that's about it for the update. My rock is a little less white, my corals are moving along and I've had some mishaps, but so the tank almost looks like it wants to be a reef.

 

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/4ba1794b-0cc4-404c-a5f7-ae24b6fab112.jpg.html'>

 

http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Eugenia88/media/381816ec-d17b-468a-a995-7f57d378298b.jpg.html'>

 

[Genie382]

Updates! (But sadly no upgrades...yet...)

 

Hi all, so just a quick update. The tank has been chugging along. Currently at about 2 and 1/2 months or so of being up. So far my corals are all doing well. My hammer, trumpet and acan all look like they're about to propagate. My hammer is actually splitting into 3 heads!

 

Coral wise I have added a few frags.

 

2 fuzzy mushrooms (one which was getting tossed about quite a bit, but seems to have finally attached to the live rock)

1 orange/green ricordea

1 blue/green tipped hammer

electric green palythoa

a rather ugly cute toadstool leather

 

I've found a wonderful aquaculture reef shop out in Raleigh (Reef Farm), great owner, beautiful frags, amazing prices and all sustainable reefing. I have a feeling my coral collection is going to grow fairly substantially over the next few weeks.

 

Fishwise, it's a bit of a mixed bag. My tailspot blenny is awesome. Great personality, eating well and not shy at all. My citron goby...well, I don't think he'll be long for this world . He's just never really eaten. I've tried about 6 different types of frozen foods (including Larry's reef frenzy, frozen cyclops), live brine shrimp eggs (unable to find live brine shrimp and the eggs are low hatch rate, my attempt at hatching them failed) and pelleted and flake food. I've offered all the foods w and w/o garlic and the most I've ever seen him do is float up to my corals that I've spot fed, grab the food from them, chew and then proceed to spit it out. He's lost a good deal of weight and his color has become quite dull. Not sure what I can do for him at this point (if I can do anything).

 

I'm a bit of an invert fan so I went a bit overboard w/ them. I really didn't mean to, but well, here's what I have so far. 2 sexy shrimp (thought I had lost one as I hadn't seen it in the tank since being introduced, but found it the other day in my filter floss. Returned him to the tank and he seems to be doing well), 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 pom pom crab and 1 tiny blue coral banded shrimp. I'm a bit worried that that's a few too many inverts in the tank, but I have a fluval edge 6 gallon that I'm considering turning into a pico reef and if that's the case, I'll likely add the pom pom and the sexy shrimp to that. Even if I don't start up that pico tank, I think at most I'm going to just stick w/ 2 fish in this tank. So far everyone is getting along and they all spot feed readily.

 

Hitchhiker wise, I'm just dealing w/ some vermetid snails. They apparently are harmless...w/ caution. They came in on a frag and I decided to leave em alone as they didn't seem to do anything, but I have noticed some of their mucus trails...and well they just irk me. Any thoughts on whether or not I need to go cray cray on them? Or should I just leave them alone?

 

Lastly, I plan to upgrade my lights to a Nanobox duo in about 2 weeks (pending my reef funds looking more presentable). It hurts a bit in terms of how much it is, but truthfully, after settling for the Nuvo starter set, retrospectively I can see why everyone says to not cut corners in this hobby. While I don't think I would've saved money had I pieced this tank together myself and had chosen the lights, pumps, etc. myself, I do think that overall I'd be happier w/ some aspects of the tank. However, that being said, I don't think that I would've had the opportunity to learn w/o starting off w/ the pre-packaged kit, so thus is life.

 

Here are some pics, let me know what you guys think!

 

FTS 9/28

 

The mesh top (my first DYI) needs to be spray painted black, but is so far working out great!

 

 

The beginnings of a mushroom rock.

 

 

My ugly cute toadstool mushroom...it was so sad looking (only an inch tall) that even the LFS seemed embarrassed to sell him...

 

 

Shrimp party!

[vlangel]

Genie, I hadn't seen your more recent posts until now. The tank is coming along great. I love all the inverts, I'm a fan as long as no one cannibalizes someone else! Sorry about the citron goby, it is so frustrating when they won't eat and just waste away but it happens to all of us. Glad your blenny is still doing great. Good job!