HybridOfHe's IM Nuvo Fusion 10 (new corals, new rock)

[HybridOfHe]

*For new photos and tank update. scroll down to my most recent post.

 

 

**** Originale Post ****

 

This is my first saltwater tank, I'm quite excited. I've done a few freshwater tanks before. Live rock and live sand is placed and the cycle is just starting with the help of some raw shrimp. All water tests check out fine.

 

I'm worried my light will not be bright enough for some coral, so I just ordered a second one to run along side. The lights can dim and change color to provide moon light. Name-brand lights are very expensive so I went with these light instead, they also fit the tank perfectly.

 

It's hard to see in the photos but there is a small-ish cave for the inverts under the large rock. My live rock was too big so I had to hammer it into pieces . I put extra live rock pieces in the second chamber for extra filtration.

 

The live rock has some nice grey and green coloring with a few hints of purple. I'm unsure if I should epoxy down the tallest stacked rock, its surprisingly stable as it is.

 

Right now I'm trying to figure out my game plan for inverts and coral. I plan on getting some snails and eventually a shrimp. I'm probably going to skip getting any hermit crabs because one bit me as a kid and I've hated them ever since . Fish-wise, I'm planning to get two young Ocellaris Clownfish.

 

I'm also planning on building a simple hood out of wood to cover the equipment.

 

I'd love any constructive feedback. And will update this thread as the tank grows.

 

Equipment Specs: *New/Added Equipment in Red

• IM Nuvo Fusion 10
• stock return pump Eheim 1000 compact
• 50w Submersible Heater 50w Cobalt Neo-Therm
• 2 EKOSTORE Light 6W (36 LED), 12W total Prime HD+
• Hydor Flo Rotating Deflector
• IM Customcaddy Media Basket
• Koralia Nano 240 Powerhead ( not installed yet )
• Digital thermometer
• DIY cooling fan ( 2 92mm PC fans, temperature sensor + old power brick )

Substrate & Water:

• Instant Ocean Sea Salt Red Sea Mix w/ Glacier R/O Water
• Brightwell Aquatics Kalk+2 ( not used )
• Novaqua Plus Conditioner
• 8 lb Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Aragonite
• 10-12 lb Live Rock (estimated) (full of aiptasia and a few bristleworms)

 

Media Basket & Sump (3 chambers):

 

• Filter Floss [ basket lvl1 ]
• Purigen + PhosGaurd [ basket lvl2 ] ( Added 08.13.16 )
• Activated Carbon [ basket lvl3 ]
• Extra live rock + Biomax Rings [ chamber 2 ]
• Return Pump + Heater [ chamber 3 ]

 

******* 8/2/16 Update *******

 

Cycle complete, some algae still growing on sand. CUC added: cerith, dwarf cerith, nassarius, and trochus. Fighting off a decent number of Aiptasia. 2 DaVinci Clownfish added to tank. Coralline algae is already starting to grow. Equipment added, highlighted in red. Changed salt mixes because IO wasn't giving good pH and dKH values.

 

******* 8/20/16 Update *******

 

A few snails were lost, I assume do to previously high salinity or starvation. Not making that mistake again. Frogspawn, 2 Nassarius snails, AI Prime HD+, and Koralia Nano 240 added.

 

****************************

 

Original Photos:

 

 

Fish Added ( 07.31.16 ) :

 

 

Frogspawn Added ( 08.20.16 ) :

 

 

 

[HybridOfHe]

Here is a better photo of the little cave and a something growing above it. Yet to be identified. Turned out to be Aiptasia, they've been taken care of.

 

The cave is probable 4 inches wide, 2-3 inches tall, and 2-3 inches deep at the most. I'm thinking of stacking or epoxying a small live rock above the top edge to make the cave more secluded.

 

[FrostbyteNano]

Looks great so far man!

[HybridOfHe]

It's been a little over a month and I have finally gotten some fish. Two DaVinci Ocellaris Clownfish: one is about 1.5-2" long, and the other 1" to 1.5". They seem to be doing well and are a lot of fun to just stare at. I upgraded a bunch of equipment, got a variety of snails, and glued down some rocks with underwater epoxy. Water parameters are pretty good; switching to Red Sea Salt from IO helped.

 

I still have algae forming on the sand, phosphorus was at .25ppm the other day. About 4 snails didn't survive the shipment from reefcleaners.com . I probably won't get any corals until my lighting is upgraded. Maybe one that can handle low/med light, but I'm not sure which.

 

Right now I'm trying to figure out if increasing flow with a koralia nano would benefit the fish, how to prevent water gravity from rising daily and how to reduce algae growth.

 

New Equipment:

A second EKOSTORE light, making 12W LED total

Cobalt Neo-Therm Heater, 50w

Eheim 1000 compact pump

Hydor Flo Rotating Deflector (this thing is awesome)

DIY cooling fan with a computer fan and old powerbrick.

 

Slightly photoshopped picture:

[HybridOfHe]

New photos below post:

 

 

After upgrading to an AI Primer HD light and getting a temperature controller for my fans, I finally got my first coral ever. I chose a frogspawn coral, it looks to be green with white tips. I wanted a purple & green frogspawn, but the only one at the LFS was recently damaged. Picked up 2 Nassarius snails, they're already quite large.

 

I added a Koralia Nano 240 to the tank for additional flow. I have the return pump and new powerhead oriented so the current flows around the backside of the rocks and collides in the opposite corner of the tank. It's working quite well. The frogspawn seems to be getting medium flow, jostling back and forth delicately, and opened up very quickly after being acclimated and dipped.

 

Water parameters are good and the coralline algae is growing quite quickly. It seems my live rock came with three kinds of coralline: bright pinkish purple, medium purple, very dark maroon/black purple. I was worried the maroon-ish coral was a fungi at first, but it doesn't scrub off so I'm going to pray its just coralline algae.

 

 

 

 

 

[HybridOfHe]

Looks like my frogspawn is even bigger now that it has been in the tank 24 hours. I made a short video of it jiggling around & took a photo.

 

The colors are somewhat subdued, but look better, more green, in person.

 

 

[Mota]

Tank is looking great. I love that coralline.

[HybridOfHe]

Tank is looking great. I love that coralline.

 

Thanks! It's growing like a weed on some rocks.

[HybridOfHe]

So I got a second coral, a blue/green ricordea. My water parameters, flow, and placement seemed good, but he didn't make it. I think he got too stressed during transport and placement in the tank. It was really depressing seeing him die. I tried putting him in dimmer light but that didn't help much.

 

On another note. Turns out my frogspawn is somewhat uncommon being an orange and white tipped frogspawn. My crappy phone camera doesn't do the coloration justice, I'm going to try and get a better photo. He seems to be doing great, already interested in food occasionally.

 

Even though having a variety of corals is exciting, I'm now considering doing a Euphyllia only tank; torches, frogspawn, and hammer. I think the clowns would enjoy it, along with some sexy shrimp I hope to get eventually. This way I could focus on catering to just one type of coral. And use frags from existing splitting heads to further cover the rocks.

 

Any thoughts on this idea? I'm a little worried too many Euphyllias will oversaturate the tank with jiggly masses of polyps once they grow larger.

[Mota]

Sorry to hear about the ricordea. I know how you feel right now. I euphylia only tank actually sounds cool. I considered trying it at one point because a like all the motion in the tank.

[HybridOfHe]

Running this aquarium has been quite the learning experience so far. I have fought many nuisance algae/bacteria and prevailed. Reducing the amount of sand in the tank was a key component in controlling algae and bacteria, along with thorough cleaning of the tank. I had a pretty bad colonial hydroid infestation on one rock, so I ended up removing it after many months of warfare, and I'm crossing my fingers they don't come back.

 

My original davinci clownfish sadly passed away, when I overdosed the tank with an aerobic bacteria, which sucked all the oxygen out of the water. It was a very depressing day, and a mistake I will never make again. Now I have two regular clownfish, they are actually more social than the last pair which is a bonus.

 

After seeding some new dry rock and installing it, I decided to make the tank a mostly euphylia only tank. Only hammers, frogspawns, and octospawns right now (plus a pipe organ coral up top in the safe zone). I don't think there is room for a torch unfortunately. I'm definitely enjoying all the movement going on in the tank, the clownfish seem happy too; they hosted the big frogspawn in the back of the tank, its super cute.

 

Recent tank equipment additions:

• UV sterilizer to help control dinoflagellates and other nuisances when needed. Works well, but raises the tank temperature 1 to 2 degrees. So it can't be used much in the summer.
• Jaebo dosing pump because ALK started dropping fast. So far it has worked reliably, but a few pump heads needed to be replaced because they were pulling in air.
• ATO for the convenience.

 

Updated full-tank shots will come soon. Here are a few pictures of my recent coral additions:

(Photos taken with an old Canon 30D DSLR, colors corrected for accuracy in Capture One.)

 

Green and Purple tipped hammer from LFS ( plus other euphylia corals in background) :

 

Purple Hammer (Ordered WYSIWYG from coralust, they broke the coral and sent me this without consulting me. I'm pretty pissed about it)

 

Orange octo/frogspawn (This thing has amazing movement in the current):

 

I also have a feather star pipe organ at the top of the tank, but its in bad condition (I keep bumping into it with my arm 😞 ), so no photo at the moment.