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The Innovative Marine Nuvo Index Thread


joel sandoman

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New Nuvo 8 Owner!

New Nuvo tank owner as the title says and new to the forum, hi all and I’m very happy to be a part of the community, very cool having this forum. Since I don’t have a clue how to place this under the Nano 8 as of yet this will be a general post:

My end result will be a soft coral reef aquarium with a clean up crew and 2 fish, recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Its gonna be Boxing Day (Black Friday up here) up here in the Great White North in two days and want to start the upgrades. Tank is almost cycled with live rock and substrate, I already have the API reef master test kit as well as I already had ammonia/nitrite test kits from all of my freshwater tanks.

Here is my plan:

1) Aqua Gadget Spin Stream to replace the return nozzle for health of soft corals.

2) Replace stock pump as #1 reduces flow? Or

3) Add a Kordela Nano circulation pump/wave maker to go in bottom left of tank to cover areas that the Spin Stream may not cover. I may even do either if necessary or recommended!

4) Custom Caddy or media basket to replace the stock filter basket for better filtration or

5) Mini Max All In One Media reactor to work in conjunction with the replacement media basket.

5) Some sort of hydrometer or refractometer for testing though for now I’m only buying premixed saltwater

6) Acclimation kit like the aquagadget so I can add my cuc, soft corals and finally my fish.

My questions and advice that I would like to hear from all of you is specific brands/models/specifics for the following:

1) Good idea?

2) Good idea? Specific brand and model. Also how to replace stock pump with a new one that fits in the Nano 8

3) Needed or not?

4) They seem to make a custom caddy but have also seen a media basket as well that looks different, very confused???? What media should I use in it?

5) Costly, well the hobby is too so keep the $ flowing, but my experience is the more filtration the better. What media in conjunction with media basket should I use for a reef with fish?

6) Doesn’t have to be the IM, any other specific brand/model work?

Thanks in advance to all my fellow Nano 8 owners, looking forward to seeing some responses back, have a great Christmas and Holiday season to all!

Dean

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New Nuvo 8 Owner!

New Nuvo tank owner as the title says and new to the forum, hi all and I’m very happy to be a part of the community, very cool having this forum. Since I don’t have a clue how to place this under the Nano 8 as of yet this will be a general post:

My end result will be a soft coral reef aquarium with a clean up crew and 2 fish, recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Its gonna be Boxing Day (Black Friday up here) up here in the Great White North in two days and want to start the upgrades. Tank is almost cycled with live rock and substrate, I already have the API reef master test kit as well as I already had ammonia/nitrite test kits from all of my freshwater tanks.

Here is my plan:

1) Aqua Gadget Spin Stream to replace the return nozzle for health of soft corals.

2) Replace stock pump as #1 reduces flow? Or

3) Add a Kordela Nano circulation pump/wave maker to go in bottom left of tank to cover areas that the Spin Stream may not cover. I may even do either if necessary or recommended!

4) Custom Caddy or media basket to replace the stock filter basket for better filtration or

5) Mini Max All In One Media reactor to work in conjunction with the replacement media basket.

5) Some sort of hydrometer or refractometer for testing though for now I’m only buying premixed saltwater

6) Acclimation kit like the aquagadget so I can add my cuc, soft corals and finally my fish.

 

1.) Yes. I love my SpinStreams. Corals responded great.

2.) Yes. Try a cobalt aquatics MJ900 or MJ1200.

3.) Not needed if you get a cobalt MJ for soft corals.

4.) InTank Media Basket instead of the custom caddy. They are the best.

5.) Not needed at all. Instead, use an InTank Media Basket with filter floss, purigen, and chemipure elite. It will be more than enough filtration.

5a.) Get a refractometer from the get-go. Even premixed from the LFS can be mixed incorrectly, no point in investing in your reef if you aren't keeping an eye on THE MOST IMPORTANT parameter.

6.) Yes. I love mine.

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Cycle Almost Complete What CUC? Need advice please.

 

As a new proud owner i'm getting close to adding my CUC after my levels are all at zero for a week or two. I have an idea of what i'm going to do but would really appreciate some advice. Here is the background of my new system:

 

Tank: Nuvo 8 in black, 5 lbs of Live Rock and 10 lbs of Live sand. It will be a reef set up with 2-4 fish.

Supplies: API Reef kit, mini gravel vac, Sybon refractometer, IM Aquagadget Accudrip acclimation kit.

 

Tests: Ammonia 0, Nitrites 10mg/l, 0 Nitrates and a ton of brown algae of course.

 

Upgrades: IM Aquagadget Spin Stream, Cobalt Aquatic MJ900 pump (Thanks Defender,TX for the tips), Extra Marine Glo T8 bulb 8" above tank.

 

On Order: InTank Media Basket & Fuge, Just added 150g of Purigen w/The Bag, ChemiPure sitting in the water column till parts arrive as i was using the stock media basket/foam inserts for the cycle.

 

CUC ideas:

2 Cerith, 1 Nassarius, 2 Nerites (back water column), 1 Trushus snails.

1 Red Legged hermit crab, extra shells to keep the snails safe.

Is this too many for the first batch, am i missing anything?

 

Also i'm not sure on the fuge, what i'm gonna put in it in conjuction with the new media basket, ideas please? Also what light for the back if i do (the IM is very expensive, or are they all?)

 

Thanks in advance for all of your help and advice,

 

Dean

 

 

  • Like 1
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If you order the 5.5 gallon CUC from reefcleaners they will give you more than enough to cover 8 gallons. For our 24 we ordered the 20 long and they were more than generous.

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HammerheadV13

If you order the 5.5 gallon CUC from reefcleaners they will give you more than enough to cover 8 gallons. For our 24 we ordered the 20 long and they were more than generous.

 

That's the same crew I ordered (20 Long), and I agree that the 5.5 gallon would be more than enough. During my tank swap I was surprised how many snails I actually had. Crazy to see them all out at night. Reefcleaners.org is definitely the way to go.

  • Like 1
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First, Awesome advice! I will check them out, thanks for the link, do you all think i should do my cuc all @once or do lets say half mow, rest in a month once the tank adjusts to the bio load. Now 1 fish, sigh, but then witch one, can i do something larger than a goby?

 

Second, has anyone ordered the custom caddy or ImTank media basket& fuge? Im still not sure which way to go for media or am i overthinking this one?

  • Like 1
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Add the CUC at once. The fish is up to you, just not blue tangs! We started with a Royal Gramma and really have enjoyed it. We have the InTank Media baskets (FF/Purigen/CBE) and fuge (Chaeto & Rubble rock) in our 24. Seems to be what most everyone is doing with these.

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Yes a royal gramma would work but slightly pushing it, also an awesome underrated fish. A clown could work, you could push it with a bi colour blenny or tailspot blenny, I prefer the bicoulour blenny colours. Lots of different gobies

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My Micro 30 has been running for 3 days now. Moved up from a BC14.

 

Equipment:

Micro 30 tank and stand

Skkye 30 watt led

Spin stream

Koralia 240 and 425

Marineland 150w heater

 

Filtration:

Approx 2" Caribbean Sea Aragonite

Approx 15lbs live rock (from Biocube)

15lbs Real Reef rock

Stock filter baskets and media except top sponges replaced with floss

 

Livestock:

Margarita snails

Nasarius snails

Emerald crab

Various hermits

Large black brittle starfish

Black Ocelaris and orange Ocelaris Clownfish

Yellow Eye Combtooth Blenny

Fire Goby (Dartfish)

 

Coral:

Torch

Small Ricordia

Various mushrooms

Unknown white coral (possibly leather)

post-78284-0-93282500-1388243491_thumb.jpg

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Newly Cycled Tank, CUC added last night, Mini Crash???

 

Well I’m pretty excited that it only took 2 weeks for my tank to complete its cycle with only 4lb of live rock and a 10lb bag of Hawaiian live black sand in my IM Nuvo 8! So yesterday I added a small CUC as of course I have a nice algae breakout.

Here is what I added:

1 banded Trochus

4 dwarf Cerith

1 Nassarius

3 Nerite

I drained out half of the water from each bag, used my IM Drip Acclimation kit, slow stream, repeated 2 more times. Placed bags in the tank for 1.5 hours for temp. Last night the Trochus hid, seen a couple of Cereths move around but my Nassarius seemed to stand pat, my 3 Nerite's didn’t do a thing.

This am my Trochus cleaned a large part of 1 live rock already, what an amazing job this guy does!

Seen 1 of my Cerith's on the glass, could not find the rest, could be hiding.

The Nassarius really has not moved, yikes!

The 3 Nerites have definitely not moved hmm.... Strange thing about the Nerites is that I had to go to another LFS than the one I deal with because of no stock. The assistant grabbed two of them off the glass but the 3rd from the bottom. What was even stranger was the fact that the tank also had a price tag for Cherry Shrimp??? I owned these in one of my freshwater set ups, what gives on this?

Do I just have to wait while they all acclimate to the new tank for a few days before I see more activity? Have I done something wrong with how I acclimated them to my new tank??

Was my tank not ready for them as of yet???

My levels are as follows:

Yesterday

Ammonia 0, Nitrites, 0, Nitrates 0, Salinity 1.025

Today

Ammonia .25-.5mgl, Nitrites, 0, Nitrates <5mgl, salinity 1.025

I also tested the following today:

PH 7.4-7.8, Calcium 440ppm, KH 179ppm, Phosphate 0

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I know that reefcleaners doesn't recommend drip acclimation for the CUC. We just floated the bag for 20-30 minutes and then plucked them out and dropped them in. Just about all of them were moving within 30 minutes.

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Reefers,

 

Well, its been a month now since I got my IM Nuvo 8 and wanted to hit you all up for more advice, sorry for soo many questions but i'm new to SW.

 

Hardware:

What I have done so far is the custom caddy with filter floss, Chemi Pure then Puragen (i think the order of cp&pur is backwards but they only fit that way in the caddy, is this totally wrong and should try to do some mods?), removed the stock pump for a MJ900 and added the spin stream. I purchased an extra 420 pump but dont think i need it so i didnt install it (Space), wrong?

 

Now that I have the caddy, should i consider using the stock basket as a fuge to put some live rock in it and use the heater column,is this nessessry? What else could i put into it and what else is needed (Light?)

 

I also have cured 5lb of live rock and 10lb live sand.

 

CUC:

Added almost two weeks ago, 9 Ceriths (Can only ever see 4????), 1 Trochus (Awesome!) and 4 Nassarius (Can only ever find 3). Scared of doing a hermit, should i be?

 

Coral:

Last week I added, 2 frags of mushrooms (Dull and dont see much growth), 2 Pom Pom's (cool!) and 2 Colt tree's (I guess their are aggressive so i moved one in the corner, kinda woried about flow but seems to be doing alright???)

 

Fish:

Nothing yet, taking my time and still unsure if i'm doing a O Clown for a year till I set up a larger tank, maybe a pair of gobies or a goby & a blenny for now???

 

So i'm no where near what all of you have done with aquascaping but would like some advice from taking a look at my pics', please be critical, i would never take offence and would really like some experienced advice on this. What corals next and where? Also do i start removing rock everytime a get a new frag or just try and ram it in there?

 

Thanks

post-82698-0-52820100-1389294112_thumb.jpg

post-82698-0-17969300-1389294130_thumb.jpg

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Add the CUC at once. The fish is up to you, just not blue tangs! We started with a Royal Gramma and really have enjoyed it. We have the InTank Media baskets (FF/Purigen/CBE) and fuge (Chaeto & Rubble rock) in our 24. Seems to be what most everyone is doing with these.

Why not Blue Tang?

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Anyone,

 

Can you have too much light for a Nuvo 8? The reason for my question is i have a couple of Colt Tree corals, they are growing like mad in only two weeks of having them. My worry is that they are aggressive and will sting my other corals. I have the stock 8 watt LED Skylight (6*1 watt daylight & 4 .5 watt moonlights) plus i have a T8 fixture above with the Marine Glo 24" 20 watt florescent 6" above my tank. Is this maybe just how fast this coral grows? I run the skylight from 8 am to 8pm then turn off the daylights but do keep the T8 on till i go to bed @ midnight (doubles as my kitchen under counter lighting system). I can program my Control 4 system for a shorter period of time on the led fixture or the under counter lighting if needed?

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Why not Blue Tang?

Blue Tangs aren't recommended for tanks < 100 gallon. Some people put them in smaller tanks and then trade them when they get too big.

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Cameron,

 

When you mean cooking my system do have too much light or ate they on too long? The reason for the second light was most of what i read on line was stating you need more than stock lighting to keep a successful reef tank, maybe the extra bulb is not needed then??? So far i have 2 colt tree, 2 pom pom, corky finger Georgian, various mushrooms. Picking up tonight devils hand, mushroom toadstool & orange digi frags.

 

This will mostly be a reef tank, may add one goby after I'm done adding corals. Its my starter tank as by next year i hope to have the IMSR80

 

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It was supposed to be reef humour as in your lights get too got and heat the water, only metal halides would do that maybe t5. You could remove the stock light and the t8 and add a par38 led for 30$ depending on prices where you are but in all honestly you have enough light so it will be fine. If or when you start the sr80 you will need to look at some way higher power LEDs if you want to stick with LEDs

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