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CremeFraiche's 16g IM Nuvo Build Thread


CremeFraiche

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Hello everyone, this will be my first saltwater tank I've owned. I went and bought me an IM Nuvo 16g tank set up from a LFS here where I live. They had it discounted down, so I had to bite. My original intentions were a CADLight 8g setup. So I went ahead and brought it home, and got it put together, only to realize that where I wanted to put the tank, wasn't going to work out. Being my Fiancé is super crafty and handy, she brought down an older coffee table she built out of an old door, and we went to work on it. I hope to have it filled and starting to cycle come Tuesday evening or Wednesday. But needless to say, here are some pics of what is going on.

 

Goals of this tank is to be strictly soft corals and LPS. I don't anticipate any fish to hit the waters of this tank. Current stocking plans revolve around Zoas, Candy canes, Acan Brain Lords, Duncan Corals, Yumas, and Rics. Possibly some xenia or GSP but I'm not sure... don't want any coral that will overtake the tank.

 

But, the Fiancé does want some pink corals added... any hint arounds for some nice pink coral out there?

 

Ok, I'll be quiet now. Here are some of the pictures I've gathered just at the moment.

 

 

 

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Haha, thanks! I love that episode of Southpark and I love Randy Marsh. Cracks me up so much.

 

Well, as planned, i was able to get the tank filled... I'm running 13.23 lbs of live rock from the LFS.

 

Sorry about the poopy pics... using my galaxy s5 right now for my camera. Will have a better camera soon.

 

FTS

GjNjUWm.jpg

 

Left Side

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Right Side

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Top View

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Tank with my built stand

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Alright, so I was on the phone and walking past the tank I see something dart into a hole in one of my rocks. (Mind you my tank is barely 24 hours old at this point). So I get off the phone and walk back to the tank and grab a chair and wait... and sure enough, this little Rolly Polly looking bug comes out, starts eating some stuff off the rock and takes off back into the rock. Needless to say, I'm happy I saw something living in off the rock, but not sure if a good or bad thing, and if he's welcome. I haven't seen him since. Anyways, staring at the tank made me want to take some pics. I'm just fascinated with this tank, even if its just salt water and live rock :)

 

Anyways, here are a few more pics.

 

Hole of the Mystery Cave Dweller

eBYKLiO.jpg

 

Back side of my bigger rock structure, some weird green stuff

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Close Up of weird green stuff

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Big Rock Structure

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My terrible epoxy skills

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Plan for my island to the side to be my Zoa Island/Garden

uMoPPjT.jpg

 

Test Strip Tryout

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Thanks buddy!! I realized im bad at aquascaping and the epoxy was giving me trouble, but, i think i can make this work!

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Thanks buddy!! I realized im bad at aquascaping and the epoxy was giving me trouble, but, i think i can make this work!

Naw - once you start placing corals it will all be good- I like your owl picture!

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So today is a full day 3 into my cycle... and I can say I'm already having an algae "explosion"... if that is what we should call it. When I leave at 4 am for work its the same as when I went to bed, but when I return back at 6pm... its 100% more algae from the day before. The pictures don't do any justice compared to seeing it in person.

 

Needless to say, I'm thinking about getting started on my CUC. Ideas or suggestions?

 

Anyways, I'm a firm believer in pictures... so here are a few.

 

FTS

XGjNT0M.jpg

 

Left Side

5LU4POC.jpg

 

Right Side

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Zoa Island

VAqGlp1.jpg

 

Bigger Sculpture

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Well It's been almost a full month and my 6 month pre cured live rock has proven successful with last week being perfect parameters with 0's across the board, so my clean up crew made its way in and started doing its job. withing a few days my rock looked like it'd just went and got detailed. So after a week from then , I have added my first few coral to see what happens and how they are doing. They've been in there now a week or so and everything is happy and doing well. Tested water, still perfect parameters.

Needless to say, as always, here are some pics.

 

Snail cleaning glasswork

yxGvbdy.jpg

 

Blastomussa Wellsi (red/green variant)

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Blastomussa Wellsi (red/green variant) under actinics

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Blastmussa Wellsi patiently awaiting dinner

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Snails having an orgy near my swivels... they tend to like doing this...

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New Rockwork placement and mounting

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Another View

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Scarlet Hermit Crab seeing whats up

5IIicW5.jpg

 

Pucker Pink Zoas (I think thats the coloration name)

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Pucker Pink Zoas under actinics

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Spaghetti Worms... tho they are not harassing my zoas at all

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Now, to introduce to you my absolute favorite coral in my tank for the moment, my Tri-Color Ricordea florida. He's blue and orange, with teal tips on the navy. Mouth is green slit, and hot pink on inside. Absolutely love this little fella.

 

Well today I was doing my daily inspection, and notice one of my hermit crabs would not leave him alone. I was afraid he was going to take a chunk out of him. So after watching for a few hours and checking in on him, the crab wasn't bothering Mr. Florida himself, but what lie beneath him was a scary thing I never expected to see hitch hike... at least not this early in the game, from a "Reputable store".

 

Mr. R.florida I love his coloration

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Juju the purple shelled hermit crab "harassing my ric"... only to discover the true terror beneath

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Hold on tight tho... this is the monster the hermit was actually trying to clean for me...

 

 

 

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After a lemon juice/boiling hot water syringe, I think the micro aiptasia lost his battle with me... or so I can only hope. I see so many terror stories about this things, and the least thing I want, is for my new Florida to be killed or injured by the pest. I am not sure if I should contact the store and let them know about their possible outbreak in their tanks or just leave it be and next time take more caution.

 

Anyways, feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!

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anyone know if its true that the Ricordea florida are getting red listed due to Florida Wildlife and Fisheries? What a local told me and I'm down here on the coast.

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Feeding day today with the best feeding response yet... so I had to take pictures of it to share. Enjoy.

 

Blasto Very Hungry

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Blasto Finishing Up

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Blasto Finishing Up pt 2

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R.florida Very Hungry

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Florida finishing Up

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Florida top down

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Zoas devouring their Cyclo-Peeze

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Zoas finishing up their meal

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Okay and let's top it off with a little creme fraiche.

 

Haha. I haven't heard anything about the rics being red listed - hope that's not the case. At the same time though I think they've gained sufficient popularity among aquarists that hopefully a secondary "tank bred" market can grow around the demand for these...

 

Nice tank though, like the table.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice! What are you feeding?

Cyclo-Peeze Frozen Stick

 

Alrighty, so Here's an update on the tank as it sits. For Valentine's Day, my Fiance surprised me with a 15 polyp colony of Gree/Purple Acans, and a 3 polyp Purple Blasto Wellsi! My zoas have branched off to now over 35 polyps on the mat... and my Ricordia florida has broke off his plug and nestled in a nice crevice where he is nicely laid out and seems much happier... showing huge amounts of growth. My Red Blasto is still one polyp... but is getting to be a giant polyp... sorta wondering when he will start making some babies. Anyways, here are pictures... as always!

 

Acan Lords

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Acan Lords

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Acan Lords Closeup

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Purple Blasto Wellsi (one polyp)

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Red Blasto Wellsi

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Red Blasto Closeup

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Pink Pucker Zoas

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Florida nestling in new home

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FTS

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Florida After nestling in new home, laid out...

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Right now, I do top offs every other day with RO/DI water, feed tank every 2 days, and 5 gallon water change every week and half to two weeks.

When I feed them, I thaw the stick out for about 30 min to an hour, take my eye dropper and scrape a dime size amount into a bowl. Take 2 eye droppers full of tank water and add to the bowl. Stir it up, turn off my pump, and target feed. Starting with my Red Blasto, to my Acans, and purple Blasto, then to my Florida and zoas. I leave the pump off for about 10 - 15 min while they eat... and while the crabs clean up excess food.

My feeding response I receive is incredible. They are all extending tentacles and eat very well.

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tomorrow, water change day and will be replacing my stock media for some new media filters... any suggestions?

 

Are you planning on running carbon? Also later you might want to consider a phosphate remover

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Well my LFS has been talking to me about using Chemi-Pure Blue or something like that, since its a 3 in 1 type compound with activated carbon and phosphate remover built in... supposedly it puts the elite to shame. So was going to give that a go. I see in their store, they use it and the tank is crystal clear... and they recommend doing it every 2 months or so i believe... or its a 2 month supply, something like that.

 

How do you run yours?

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Well my LFS has been talking to me about using Chemi-Pure Blue or something like that, since its a 3 in 1 type compound with activated carbon and phosphate remover built in... supposedly it puts the elite to shame. So was going to give that a go. I see in their store, they use it and the tank is crystal clear... and they recommend doing it every 2 months or so i believe... or its a 2 month supply, something like that.

 

How do you run yours?

I run all media through an IM reactor- both carbon and GFO. I just use floss in my media racks. I've used chemipure in the past and I've heard good things about the blue. I just don't like leaving media in the tank that long

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So today I did a 5 gallon water change (33% change or so), removed my stock sponges minus my top layer and replaced them with Seachem's De Nitrate.... did this for both media chambers on each side of the tank, then put a Bag of Chemi-Pure Blue in the back. I've seen really nice results of it, and should last 2 or 3 months since my bioload is very low at the moment with just a few coral. So, needless to say, we'll see what happens in a few hours when my tank clears back up from the change.

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So, yesterday was my major water change with all new media introduced to the tank. My tank is 100% clearer then before... and my acans and Purple Blasto are showing some love for the change.

 

dYawpCK.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
CremeFraiche

So a few purchases have been made, and our second tank, a 28g JBJ Nanocube has gone up... anxiously awaiting tomorrow, Fragniappe. So here are some new family members.... not much else really going on.

 

Some pics are terrible and some are using a new app producing better images.

 

GSP that houses a 1.5" Bristleworm

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A hermit crab relocated to a bigger shell

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Radioactive Green Eyed Dragon and Watermelon Zoas

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Again, worse picture

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My acans are still doing absolutely great

daDbK7b.jpg

 

 

Hairy Mushroom in blues

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Frag of just Watermelons

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Watermelons in Blues

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Hairy Mushrom

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RAGED and Watermelons Blues

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28g with its OceanRev Arctic s026 Full Spectrum LED

 

Watermelons in White

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Decided to clean up and reorganize the bar in the house

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FTS of the 28g

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1969 Sealed Crown Royal, I can't even say what the middle jack daniels is... and 1986 seals Canadian Club... Some other older bottles some sealed some missing a little.

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