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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Admonition's Nuvo 16


Admonition

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Current Tank Picture

 

05/19/14

 

tank.jpg

 

 

 

04/25/12

FTS2.jpg

 

Current Water Parameters


Temperature: 79F
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrates: 0ppm
Nitrites: 12ppm
pH: 8.0
Alkalinity: 7.3 dKH
Salinty: 1.025 SG

 

 

 

Objectives


I started this thread a little late I know, but I finally got around to putting it up. This is my first saltwater tank after a few years of having healthy freshwater tanks, and I wanted to be able to watch my tank mature in a nice journal-like fashion. My goal is to successfully maintain a small variety of LPS and soft corals, while learning this great hobby :) Ultimatley I would like to take what I learn, and apply it to a much larger tank (somewhere in the 120-150 gallon range). I am open to suggestions and constructive criticisms.

 

 

 

 

Aquarium Specs


Tank: 16 Gallon Nuvo (24" x 12" x 13")
Sand and Rock: 20lbs of Cured Live Rock and 15lbs of Carib-Sea Arog-Alive sand, Fiji Pink
Lighting: 2 x Innovative Marine Clamp 8's 14K
Powerhead: 1 x Hydor Koralia Nano 425gph
Heater: 1 x Jager 50 Watt
Filtration: Purigen, Chemipure Elite, filter floss
Equipment: H20cean Refractometer by D-D, a battery backup air pump by Penn Plax (Silent Air B11), Coralife Digital Thermometer
Salt Mix: Tropic Marine Pro-Reef Salt

ATO: Tunze ATO

 

 

 

 

Livestock


Fish:
*2 Ocellaris Clownfish

Cleanup Crew:
*5 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermits
*2 Astraea Snails
*2 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

*3 Nassarius snail

 

 

 

 

Maintenance


*Tunze Auto-top off
*Water change 25% every two weeks
*Change Purigen and Chemi-pure every 3 months

 

 

 

 

Notes

 

*Tank restarted on 05/02/14

*Tank was started on 01/24/12
*Clownfish added 04/04/12
*Would like to add first coral in another 2 weeks

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justclownin'

Hey, I posted pics under the other thread about buying the 16g. Can I ask about the power head? I've seen them, but I'm not entirely sure of the purpose and benefit in the smaller tanks- can you educate me? Does it create a sandstorm in your 16g?

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Hey, I posted pics under the other thread about buying the 16g. Can I ask about the power head? I've seen them, but I'm not entirely sure of the purpose and benefit in the smaller tanks- can you educate me? Does it create a sandstorm in your 16g?

 

Honestly I originally had and used the 240gph Nano because I had the same apprehensions. I actually just upgraded to the 425 a few days ago and have had no problems at all. My sand sits perfectly at the bottom, and none of my critters have a problem with the flow. In fact, my clowns love to play with it lol. The reason I purchased one was to keep a consistent flow throughout my tank, and eliminate any dead spots- mainly because I was concerned the two return heads weren't strong enough to do much. Also, once I add in my corals, I want to make sure the ones that require flow, get it.

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I'll be following along.

 

This is the same tank and stocking that I've been wanting to do for my first saltwater. Just started my first freshwater a month ago.

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So I checked all my LFS and came up short on coral. Either the pieces they had looked sickly and dead, or the sales people were complete jerks. Subsequently I ended up ordering my coral online. A few months ago I drove up to Seaworld with my girlfriend and we found this little shop called World Wide Corals, and man was I in heaven. All of their corals looked amazing and the staff was super friendly. Needless to say that experience, coupled with the positive reviews about them I've read from here, led me to them for my first purchases. I should be getting them tomorrow! Pics to come :D

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Got my first corals! Super impressed by the packaging and my corals (which I thought would be ticked off after being shipped) were actually coming alive :) I ordered:

 

1 x Blueberry Fields Zoas (1 inch)

1 x Everlasting Gobstopper Palys (1 inch)

2 x Ricordia (one orange one green) (1 inch)

1 x Frogspawn (3 inches)

1 x Torch (3 inches)

 

I also needed some glue and epoxy, so I called their store and the guy who answered helped me add Aquamend Epoxy and IC-Gel Aqarium Glue to my order. I also received a 125ml bottle of Vitamarin-C by Brightwell Aquatics at no charge :) Which was a nice surprise.

 

After prepping the corals, I decided to remove them from their plugs. I was a little hesitant about keeping them on their plugs for two reasons: One, I personally don't like the look :P and Two, I have heard people advise that plugs can sometimes carry hard to get rid of parasites. So off them came, and with almost no effort, with just a slight prod of my screwdriver. Then, I used the "glue-epoxy-glue" method and attached my corals to my LR.

 

Almost immediately my corals were coming alive, with only the Gobstopper and Blueberry Zoa staying shut (and who could blame them after being shipped). I turned off the daylights (which I needed to see where I was putting them), and punched on the moonlights for a little bit- and boy do they all look fantastic. Maybe its because I'm new to the hobby, but I was blown away by how each one "glowed in the dark". Awesome :)

 

As soon as I figure out how to re-size my enormous iPhone pictures, I'll post them up. Oh, and I also rearranged my rockwork prior to my coral's arrival. I realized I disliked the setup, and felt like I was limiting myself. As such, I took a hammer and screwdriver to my LR and chiseled out a layout I was much happier with. FTS to come.

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Here are pictures of the corals right after addition into my tank. Can't wait to see what they'll look like a in a day or too once they get more acclimated :D

 

Torch Coral

TorchInitial.jpg

 

Frogspawn

FrogspawnInitial.jpg

 

Ricordia

RicordiaOrangeInital.jpg

RicordiaGreenInitial.jpg

 

Blueberry Zoa and Gobstopper Palys

ZoaandGobstopperInital.jpg

 

The torch has come out pretty much completely now. The frogspawn is making its way, and has been trying to eat since I put him him (I'm a newb and its super cool to watch lol). The Ricordia's look happy and bright. And the blueberry zoa and gobstopper are still remaining stubborn so far.

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Hey, I posted pics under the other thread about buying the 16g. Can I ask about the power head? I've seen them, but I'm not entirely sure of the purpose and benefit in the smaller tanks- can you educate me? Does it create a sandstorm in your 16g?

 

An update to you, I ended up removing that power head. It's current, coupled with the two returns, was too much for my corals no matter where I placed it. It forced one of my Ricordia's to turn up to shield itself from the current. And no matter where else I put it, it drove my Torch and Frogspawn crazy. About an hour after removing it my Ricordia is almost back to its normal position. And honestly, my Frogspawn and Torch have moderate flow, but nothing as crazy. All in all, I think I'll be leaving the power head permanently out of the tank. Hope that helps.

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  • 2 years later...
Admonition

Update

 

So I definitely slacked on updating this thread over the last few years. And unfortunately, the same happened with my tank. I had a number of corals doing excellent before a run of bad luck with equipment and the ever-despised bubble algae kick my tank's butt. Long story short, everything in my tank died except a few blue legs and all three of my nassarius snails. That being said, I'm bringing it back with a vengeance! Heh.

 

I am currently working to bring my Nitrates back down to an acceptable level (good god how did I let it get to 15ppm?), as well as the other basic parameters. That being said, I'm looking forward to adding corals as soon as that's established. I know for sure I want another frogspawn, some zoas, Florida ricordea, and a candy cane. I'm also thinking about a crazy idea to attach mushrooms to the back wall of my tank- a kind of "living wallpaper" if you will. Who knows. Other than that, I'm really not sure what to put in here. Suggestions are definitely welcome though!

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