Admonition Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Current Tank Picture 05/19/14 04/25/12 Current Water Parameters Temperature: 79FAmmonia: 0ppmNitrates: 0ppmNitrites: 12ppmpH: 8.0Alkalinity: 7.3 dKHSalinty: 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 PinkLighting: 2 x Innovative Marine Clamp 8's 14KPowerhead: 1 x Hydor Koralia Nano 425gphHeater: 1 x Jager 50 WattFiltration: Purigen, Chemipure Elite, filter flossEquipment: H20cean Refractometer by D-D, a battery backup air pump by Penn Plax (Silent Air B11), Coralife Digital ThermometerSalt Mix: Tropic Marine Pro-Reef Salt ATO: Tunze ATO Livestock Fish:*2 Ocellaris ClownfishCleanup 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 Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Tank before water Almost final arrangement after sand settled Pepé, one of my shrimp! Link to comment
Andynco Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 u on the right track great looking tank Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thanks! I'm hoping to add my first coral in a week or so. Haven't decided which one I wanna start off with though. Link to comment
justclownin' Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 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? Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 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. Link to comment
Corrupted Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 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. Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 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 Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 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 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. Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 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 Torch Coral Frogspawn Ricordia Blueberry Zoa and Gobstopper Palys 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. Link to comment
Admonition Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 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. Link to comment
Admonition Posted May 19, 2014 Author Share Posted May 19, 2014 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! Link to comment
Admonition Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 So it would seem the aquarium gods desired a larger tank and subsequently granted my Nuvo16 a crack. That being said, this tank is being taken down and born again in the new Fusion 30L I just purchased from my LFS. New thread to come! Edit: Link to my Fusion 30L build thread Link to comment
Stakins Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 So Sorry about all your bad luck!!! hope the Fusion does better!!! Link to comment
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