Polarcollision's Nuvo 24: March FTS

[mitten_reef]

Glad to hear that the tank is turning corner nicely. My microclados contest frag just started sprouting branches this month, only one whole year after it went into the tank 😄. 

[Polarcollision]

39 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Glad to hear that the tank is turning corner nicely. My microclados contest frag just started sprouting branches this month, only one whole year after it went into the tank 😄. 

Hahaha! That sounds about right! Any ideas why yours took so long? I’m guessing the reason mine hasn’t taken off is the high nutrients and high water flow. Congrats on the growth!

[mitten_reef]

30 minutes ago, Polarcollision said:

Hahaha! That sounds about right! Any ideas why yours took so long? I’m guessing the reason mine hasn’t taken off is the high nutrients and high water flow. Congrats on the growth!

2018 was a rollercoaster for the tank, issues popping up every 2-3 months.

So far so good this year on stability, and it seems to pay off with many of the acros or sps in general. 

[Firefish15]

Wow, this is a beautiful tank! I love it when everything fills in and matures! Following along for the ride, though it sounds like it's been a bit bumpy recently. Glad things are recovering though! 

[Polarcollision]

On 4/25/2019 at 4:17 PM, Firefish15 said:

Wow, this is a beautiful tank! I love it when everything fills in and matures! Following along for the ride, though it sounds like it's been a bit bumpy recently. Glad things are recovering though! 

Thanks! Yeah, reefs are gorgeous when they’re growing over each other and rich with life. We were IMing about diving—have you seen any dive video from Raja Ampat? It blows my mind how amazingly diverse and colorful literally everything is. Sea squirts, soft coral, SPS, fish... definitely at the #2 slot on my bucket list. 

 

Tank has turned the corner for sure. I even picked up a new acro—a tricolor. And I’m close to sweet talking LFS owner into parting with an original GARF bonsai frag. This is just one of many bumps in the last 5+ years of the tank. Lesson learned:

 

1) have 2 nitrate test kits because kits can go bad and lie

 

2) tanks can thrive with nitrates as high as 64 AND can go 14 months without water change

 

3) water changes are a better option than NOPOX

[Polarcollision]

This weekend we found a great horned owl nest with 3 chicks. We were fairly far away with a spotting scope while momma kept a close watch.

 

 

[Polarcollision]

Moving day today! New place is 70 miles away. Taking a deep breath before it all begins and hoping I made enough water and bought enough superglue.

 

Just in case the tank breaks today, here’s a final FTS at this home. Tank is a few months shy of 6 years.

 

OK! Anxiety be gone. I’ve got this!  🙂

 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

22 minutes ago, Polarcollision said:

Moving day today! New place is 70 miles away. Taking a deep breath before it all begins and hoping I made enough water and bought enough superglue.

 

Just in case the tank breaks today, here’s a final FTS at this home. Tank is a few months shy of 6 years.

 

OK! Anxiety be gone. I’ve got this!  🙂

 

 

 

Congrats on the new home, and good luck with the move!!

[Polarcollision]

Thank you Mitten!

 

 

1.5” plywood support, thermarest camping pad doubled up, 2” foam wrap. 

 

Just finished peering down down glass walls. No cracks yet. 

 

Keep the good vibes coming!

[ninjamyst]

woah, how did you get all the corals off the backwall so easily????

[Polarcollision]

8 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

woah, how did you get all the corals off the backwall so easily????

Haha! Did I make it look easy??? So, so glad I had not moved the putty knife. Some of the plastic is pretty smooth and they just flake off. In places where coral grew over coraline, I pretty much just had to hack at it. And in small places only choice was to let it dry out. Pieces are littered all over the bare bottom until tomorrow. Or next year. I’m exhausted.

 

THE TANK HAS NOT BROKEN (knock on wood)!!!!!!!!!! Couldn’t find any hairline cracks when it went back on the stand.

 

10 hours total including the 90 minute drive from start to basic life support. Dosers, ATO, and minor equipment are not installed yet.

 

Now off to some 24 hr storeto buy neosporin and an air mattress.

 

whew!

 

[ninjamyst]

you deserve a coral shopping spree after this!

[billygoat]

Absolutely epic move. Fantastic job! I hope your tank can be even more prosperous in its new location than it was before. 😊

[Polarcollision]

22 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

you deserve a coral shopping spree after this!

For sure! New city means new reef store and new common corals. 🙂 Current fish are more aggressive than I’ve typically kept so I’m really thinking about getting a dottyback or gramma or basslet...

 

13 hours ago, billygoat said:

Absolutely epic move. Fantastic job! I hope your tank can be even more prosperous in its new location than it was before. 😊

 

Me too! A lot of ups and downs earlier this year. It seems I never post when things are going well, but the coral were super healthy and strong before the move. That had to have helped them cope. This morning I see the pink poccilopora has bleached. So has the rainbow stylophora. I got nervous and put in a ton of carbon last night in case ammonia or sulphur spiked. Probably stripped the water too clean. Everything else is going strong though so I give those corals a fighting chance to recover. Only one other incident. I literally watched the female clownfish drag the firefish by the tail across the tank. I slapped the glass to startle her but it was too late. Can only guess it was stress/instinct related because they’ve lived inches from each other forever. We get attached to our fish so we’ll wait a bit and then possibly add something more aggressive.

[samnaz]

Hey! How’re things? Long time no update.

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, samnaz said:

Hey! How’re things? Long time no update.

Huh, I was just thinking about this tank a week or two ago.  Thanks for pulling it up. 

[mitten_reef]

On 8/4/2019 at 8:46 PM, Polarcollision said:

For sure! New city means new reef store and new common corals. 🙂 Current fish are more aggressive than I’ve typically kept so I’m really thinking about getting a dottyback or gramma or basslet...

 

 

Me too! A lot of ups and downs earlier this year. It seems I never post when things are going well, but the coral were super healthy and strong before the move. That had to have helped them cope. This morning I see the pink poccilopora has bleached. So has the rainbow stylophora. I got nervous and put in a ton of carbon last night in case ammonia or sulphur spiked. Probably stripped the water too clean. Everything else is going strong though so I give those corals a fighting chance to recover. Only one other incident. I literally watched the female clownfish drag the firefish by the tail across the tank. I slapped the glass to startle her but it was too late. Can only guess it was stress/instinct related because they’ve lived inches from each other forever. We get attached to our fish so we’ll wait a bit and then possibly add something more aggressive.

How are you and your tank?  Did the tank re-settle OK after the move?  @Polarcollision

[Polarcollision]

On 12/4/2019 at 7:01 PM, samnaz said:

Hey! How’re things? Long time no update.

 

On 2/7/2020 at 10:28 AM, mitten_reef said:

How are you and your tank?  Did the tank re-settle OK after the move?  @Polarcollision

it’s been quite the year in tank events. The move itself went very well.
 

However the following week I was working full time and setting up house which left no time to drive 70 miles to get the RO/DI unit. I left it behind because it didn’t fit in either of our vehicles once all the rest of the aquarium was packed. I lost a few super sensitive corals to what I suspect was ammonia spikes from die off of life on the back wall and overflow chambers. it was 100% preventable and next move I will be sure to include the RO/DI as an essential item.

 

Overall I feel the move was successful though. The tank didn’t crack and most coral survived. 

but then... disaster.

 

A month or so later we had an unprecedented thunderstorm for our area. I heard one stat claim 300 strikes. Having lived quite some time in the lightning capital of the US, I loved every moment of the flashing, crashing storm. Sure do miss them. It’s just that one of those bolts took out my wavemakers and part of the Apex. 
 

It took 3 months to transfer control back over to my old Reefkeeper system and find manufacturer controllers for the hydra LEDs, etc. Long story short, I got the repaired apex back early this year, only to discover the wavemakers don’t work. All along, coral dying one by one. witrhout the wavemakers detritus built up followed by nutrient levels followed by algae.
 

i gave up. 
 

i still fed the fish, but I just didn’t have it in me to fight the good fight.

 

some things started falling in to place over the last couple weeks. Luis at Neptune has been wonderful on the tech support front. as of today the Apex is fully functioning and in control of the system once again. Since I got tired of looking at glass covered in algae i spent last night cleaning and flying down remaining coral from the move a year ago. So... here is the rebirth(?) of the Nuvo 24.
 

May it prosper.