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Coral Vue Hydros

IM Nuvo 10 Build Thread - Updated 2/27/2017 - Updated Pics!


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New apartment was too small so I ended up tossing my old tank. I made it 2 months tankless and today I just bought an IM Nuvo 10.

 

Hardware

 

Tank: Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion Nano 10

Lighting: Kessil A150 Sky Blue

Light Mount: 24" Kessil Gooseneck with 90 degree adapter

Controller: Reef Keeper Lite with SL1 for pH control

Doser: Jebao DP-4

Heater: Neotherm 50 Watt

Pump: Stock

 

 

 

Livestock

 

Fish:

1 x Black Ice Clownfish

 

Coral:

Purple Torch/Hammer Hybrid

Green Torch/Hammer Hybrid

Purple Tipped Hammer

Purple/Blue Micro Lord

Red/Blue Micro Lord

Purple Fungia Plate

War Coral

Red Monti Cap

Grafted Red/Green Monti Cap

Red Planet Acropora

Sunburst Chalice

Easter Egg Chalice

 

Updates

 

2/27/2017 Update

Added some zoas but unfortunately the red planet didn't make it. Developed RTN and that quickly consumed the whole frag.

 

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1/22/2017 Update

I'm addicted... Ended up getting another pair of corals. I got the red planet that's sitting up top as well as a purple-tipped hammer in the back right. After 2 days they're both looking well with solid polyp extension.

 

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1/19/2017 Update

So I haven't done an official update in a while but I have been slowly adding more coral. The one coral I've been looking for has finally been purchased. The grafted monti is the one coral that I wanted above all others so hopefully it will grow in nicely. I managed to get a good size frag and just have to wait and see. I have a pair of chalices that are sitting in the sand for now. Not sure where they're going just yet.

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12/31/16 Update

Unfortunately one of the clowns did not make it. Within about 2-3 days of him being introduced into my system he got really bad fin rot. I treated him with melafix and primafix but it didn't work. The other clown survived and is doing fantastic. So far it has not shown any signs of fin rot and is eating anything and everything. I have added some corals. I have a new variety of micro lord, a war coral, a red monti cap, and a beautiful purple plate coral. Below is my latest FTS.

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12/23/16 Update

Finally got some coral!!! Have two hybrid torch/hammers and a small acan lord (whatever they're classified as now). Here is a FTS:

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12/14/16 Update

Finally have fish!! I got the two black ice clownfish after a longer than expected quarantine at Reef Escape in Northern VA. This worked out perfectly as my tank was fully cycled pretty much yesterday. Overall the fish look amazing and they're even eating.

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11/3/16 Update

Finally got the tank filled and ready to go. Super glue held up great and the rocks are solidly in place. Only thing left to set up is the top off but I'm waiting on a package for that.

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11/2/16 Update

The tank has finally arrived and it is almost all wired up. Have what I hope will be the final rockscape but giving it some time and will go back and look at it later. Here is the first FTS and in my last post you can see some more pictures.

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11/1/16 Update

So in order to not have to do an update in a new reply as well as on this post I'm going to stop updating here with the exception of periodic full tank shots and big moments (aka, getting the tank). I'll probably end up deleting this and the earlier updates on this post but I'll deal with that later. I will try to keep the title of the thread updated with the date of my latest update.

 

10/30/16 Update

Manged to get a new piece of furniture to house my equipment and get almost everything mounted up. In the process I managed to fry my heater by accidentally turning it on while out of water (whole story is in another post). Overall everything is shaping up very nicely and I'm hoping to pick up the tank tomorrow or sometime this week. They said it might arrive tomorrow but they aren't completely sure. There are pictures below and I go into much greater detail about everything from today. Please let me know what y'all think!

 

10/29/16 Update

Currently I am waiting on the tank. I ordered it in store at Reef Escape in Northern Virginia and it should be here some time this week. I already had the light and all of the equipment listed above except for the light mount. I purchased the gooseneck and the 90 degree adapter in the store.

 

I have about 7 pounds of unused CaribSea Special Grade which is a sand that I love and used in my last tank. I don't think this will be enough so I may end up mixing it with something I buy locally. I will be putting egg crate at the bottom of the tank so that I don't have to worry about falling rocks cracking the bottom.

 

In regards to the rockscape I do have a general idea as to what I would like. Since the Kessil I have is the A150 I can't dim it so I'm going to try to keep the scape pretty low. This scape will be made up of multiple smaller rocks and will be horseshoe-shaped with the open part facing out. The left leg will be a bit of an island and it will be an acan island. The highest point of the hardscape will be the back right part. After posting this I'll probably sketch something up so that I can start getting some ideas. Obviously it will have to change a bit when I start getting the actual rocks in my hands. I don't want the rockscape to go much higher than 1/3 of the height of the tank.

 

I'm still not sure if I want to do an ATO. In my last tank I used a simple float valve and I know I could set it up for this tank as well. I'm going to be running the mesh top initially so depending on how much evaporation happens, I might start that up again or buy a new one that isn't dependent solely on a float valve. I'm also debating if I want to make/get some glass lids in order to prevent some

 

 

 

Below is what I was thinking for the scape. Have a little island on the left. The lines/circles are contour lines so that there is a general idea. The dashed lines are the tunnel. On the front view I wasn't really sure how to draw it. There are two level areas with one on each leg of the horseshoe and the peak in the back right of the horseshoe. Still up in the air but that's the general shape that I would like to go for.

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So I just found this and now I'm thinking about changing my layout. I may make it a bit higher so that I can put some monti caps on top. I'll have another update later on today. I do not have the tank but I did buy some some furniture and will be setting some stuff up. So much for this being a nice and simple tank...

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Update - 10/30/2016

 

Today I put in a good bit of work setting up all the equipment and had some ups and downs. As you can see in the pictures I got a tall cabinet which will house some of my equipment. Took a nice trip to IKEA and it was surprisingly cheap and took about 15 minutes to set up. This is a bit of a wall of text but should bring everyone up to speed with my plan. The store said that the tank might come in tomorrow but they weren't sure since it was on Saturday that I placed the order. Also, nobody should worry about the desk holding up. It is made of solid wood and I had a 40 gallon freshwater tank sitting on it for over a year.

 

Within the cabinet I mounted the two PB4s, the Reef Keeper Lite head unit, the SL1 module, and my Jebao controller. I set them up so that I had easy access to both the Jebao and the Reef Keeper Lite head unit for feeding and water changes. I programmed the RKL through the computer software which isn't the best but definitely can be figured out. Top PB4 is going to have my heater and return pump and then two open outlets that are always on (even during standby). The bottom PB4 has the Jebao, Kessil A150, and DP-4 dosing pump along with another open outlet that is also always on.

 

After programming the whole system I moved the cabinet into the right spot and started wiring in the rest of the equipment. Up until then I had only connected the Reef Keeper modules. After a bit of a hassle I got my RW-4s working again. Turns out that since they sat for so long, the impeller got stuck to the impeller shaft so eventually I got it all cleaned up and working. During that testing I had left both power bars on and then started hooking up the heater (and there was my mistake) and moved on to the light. I realized that I couldn't have the RW-4 and the DP-4 next to each other on the power bar because they both have rather large plugs. I hooked up the computer and switched the outlets that will power the DP-4 and the Kessil and that's when I smelled a slight burning smell. I then looked to my right and saw little orange light on my heater indicating that the heater was on and trying to warm up my living room... The burning smell was actually the rubber suction cup that had begun to melt onto the outer glass. I quickly turned off all of the power bars and unplugged the heater itself and put it outside on my patio table in order for it to cool down a bit. When it finally cooled down I decided to give it a shot in the sink and see if it would still turn on since there were no cracks or any other issues other than a bit of melted rubber on the outside of the glass. The heater would not power up under water so I simply tossed it. 200 watts was way too much for this tank anyways and the heater was already over a year old. Once I get the tank I'll probably get a neotherm or something like that.

 

So after that lovely time I finished up the wiring for the DP-4 and light. The wires and probes are still everywhere but once II get the new heater I will zip tie it all together and get it looking nice again.

 

The last thing that needs to be set up is the DP-4 itself. In the pictures you will see three half gallon mason jars (so hipster) in the shelf below the DP-4. My plan is to run air line tubing down to the mason jars and they will hold my Alk, Ca, and my RODI for top off water. My plan is to use the DP-4 itself in order to keep my tank topped off. Once I figure out how much water is evaporating per day then I can simply program the DP-4 to pump that much into the tank. I'm debating on using both of the remaining heads for the top off but it really just depends on how much water I'm losing. If it is a small amount then one head will do just fine but I don't want one to be going 24/7 when I have another one doing nothing. For the mason jars I do want to see if I can find some rigid tubing so that I know I'm pulling from the very bottom of the mason jars. I plan on simply punching a hole in the tops which should make it very simple and easy.

 

Obviously the tank will be sitting on the desk and hopefully in the middle so that I have a small bit of work space between the shelf on the left and the tank. That'll be where my test kit stuff is most likely. I may also move my excess BRS additives from below the desk to behind the mason jars but that's work for another day.

 

I know a lot of people go for the inTank media basket but I'm going to hold off on buying that just yet. If I can get away with the original then I'm going to try. I'll probably run carbon, GFO, and purigen but that's it. I don't plan on using a skimmer in this tank.

 

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Update - 11/1/2016

So I completely forgot that pretty much every aquarium store in my area closes on Mondays and Tuesdays. I believe the tank should be ready tomorrow when the store opens up but I have to wait and hopefully get a phone call from them. I'll probably end up buying a new heater there as well simply so I don't have to worry about shipping and waiting any longer.

 

I did get a bit of work done today. My RODI system has been sitting in my closet for the past month or so and today I finally decided to get it all set up. I swung by Lowe's in order to get a stop valve in order to set up the system under my sink and got that installed and luckily I got it on the first try with no leaks thanks to some teflon tape. Once I got it all set up I ran it for 10 minutes in order to clear out anything old that may be in there. Below you can see some pictures of the area under my sink where I set up the RODI.

 

Other than that I wanted to give a quick update about the entire project. This is my first apartment outside of college and I'm actually trying to make it look somewhat presentable. Currently I do have a bit of a mess since I had all my fish stuff in the moving boxes but I want this to look professionally done so that's why I got the new cabinet and mounted the RKL. I'm hoping that using the mason jars will make it look nice plus the top two shelves should be free for pictures and other random decorations. The big thing is that I do not want to have any buckets visible. So to sum it all up, I want the area around the tank to look just as good as the tank itself which honestly has not been a priority for me ever before this tank. Thank you all for reading and following.

 

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In this last picture you can see the valve I bought today connected to the cold water for the sink. I just have to turn that knob and that red tube runs the water to the filter.

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Update 1 - 11/2/16

I got a few boxes today!!!! Just got back to my apartment and will start getting to work on the tank. Here are a few pictures of what I picked up.

 

 

Wonder what this one could be?

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Any guesses as to what's in here?

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And the last one is a bit boring. I have about 6 pounds worth of sand from when I set up my old tank (new sand, never used) but I thought I might need a bit more. I decided against doing the egg crate since I won't have any burrowing fish. I'm hoping that I don't even have to open this bag but I'll just have to wait and see. If I can get away with my current 6 pounds then that would be fantastic since it would save me some time having to rinse the new sand.

 

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Update 2 - 11/2/16

I didn't buy fish like the box indicates but rather a bunch of dead rock as you can see in the picture. I've uploaded a few pictures of the tank and the set up. The 6 pounds of sand that I had from the old tank turned out to be the perfect amount. Since I won't have any burrowing fish I didn't bother with the egg crate.

 

In the pictures below you can see how I set up the rock work. It's similar to the original design but I had to flip the direction in order to get it to work. I'm going to give it half an hour and then I'm going to come back to the tank and see if I can see anything that I don't like. If it looks good then I'll grab my super glue and get to work.

 

All of the wiring is done with the exception of the probes. I'm going to wait to install those until after the tank is full since the pH probe needs to stay wet.

 

So I thought that tank would come with some sort of media rack for the middle shelf and I was 100% wrong. The tank comes with a small filter sock which isn't bad and then the return pump. Now that I'm seeing the tank I am going to leave the stock pump in there as I think the MJ1200 might be way overkill since I also have a RW-4 in there. The RW-4 may get moved around but I won't know until I get some water in there.

 

While I was at the shop I also took a look at some of the fish they have. This shop quarantines all fish before they can be taken home which is great. There are two Wyoming white clownfish that I'm really tempted to get. They're a bit pricey at $145 for the pair but most of the other clowns are right around $60-$70 each anyways. The only thing is that one of the Wyoming whites is massive and already close to 3" long which for some reason is making me hesitant to buy it. They also have a pair of premium picasso clowns that are pretty small but the coloration just doesn't look that great. I'm thinking that it may just be that they're still young but I don't know for sure.

 

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First FTS!!!

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Cencalfishguy56

Update 2 - 11/2/16

I didn't buy fish like the box indicates but rather a bunch of dead rock as you can see in the picture. I've uploaded a few pictures of the tank and the set up. The 6 pounds of sand that I had from the old tank turned out to be the perfect amount. Since I won't have any burrowing fish I didn't bother with the egg crate.

 

In the pictures below you can see how I set up the rock work. It's similar to the original design but I had to flip the direction in order to get it to work. I'm going to give it half an hour and then I'm going to come back to the tank and see if I can see anything that I don't like. If it looks good then I'll grab my super glue and get to work.

 

All of the wiring is done with the exception of the probes. I'm going to wait to install those until after the tank is full since the pH probe needs to stay wet.

 

So I thought that tank would come with some sort of media rack for the middle shelf and I was 100% wrong. The tank comes with a small filter sock which isn't bad and then the return pump. Now that I'm seeing the tank I am going to leave the stock pump in there as I think the MJ1200 might be way overkill since I also have a RW-4 in there. The RW-4 may get moved around but I won't know until I get some water in there.

 

While I was at the shop I also took a look at some of the fish they have. This shop quarantines all fish before they can be taken home which is great. There are two Wyoming white clownfish that I'm really tempted to get. They're a bit pricey at $145 for the pair but most of the other clowns are right around $60-$70 each anyways. The only thing is that one of the Wyoming whites is massive and already close to 3" long which for some reason is making me hesitant to buy it. They also have a pair of premium picasso clowns that are pretty small but the coloration just doesn't look that great. I'm thinking that it may just be that they're still young but I don't know for sure.

 

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First FTS!!!

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looks good love it already!
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Thanks everyone! So I came back to the tank and attempted to super glue the pieces in place. I think I got at least a few pieces glued on. I decided to hold off on filling the tank with water until tomorrow. On the way home from work I'm going to stop by a reef shop and pick up some epoxy. I honestly doubt that the super glue held well enough but I'll see how well it did tomorrow. I think I'm still going to get some epoxy and use pieces here and there to make sure the rocks stay put since there are 5 total and only 3 are in the sand bed. Here are the final shots. Please let me know what you think. I tried to leave enough space around the sides so that I could clean the glass but I am cutting it a bit close on the left side.

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Update - 11/3/16

Finally under water!!! After work today I stopped by the local store to pick up some Miicrobacter7, Prime, and some epoxy since I wasn't feeling confident about the supergluee holding the rocks together. Of the 3 things I ended up only being able to get the epoxy but when I got home I checked the rocks and they were completely solid and I didn't need the epoxy at all.

 

I did end up doing a lot of shopping on BRS... I tossed my old API test kits since they were well expired and ordered new red sea ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits along with dechlor, acropower (just to mess around with), acrylic tubes, a media rack, GFO, more super glue, and a new fish net.

 

I honestly diidn't want to spend $50+ on an inTank media basket so I simply went with the one CustomCaddy one which was cheap and looked like it would do the job perfectly fine.

 

I already have some marineland bonded filter pads and have some small media bags. I think I'm going to just run the carbon and GFO together in the same media bag since it's barely any media. i looked at the BRS GFO calculator and using the granular it said all I needed was 2 tbs.

 

Other than filling the tank and spending more money I didn't do a whole lot. Here are some pictures of the tank all set up. I filled it and also installed the probes in the middle section. The blue bracket on the right will hold the air line tubing that comes from the dosing pump when I eventually get that set up. For now I'll only be setting up the auto top off until I start getting corals.

 

The acrylic tubes I ordered will actually go into the dosing containers. I'll have the bottom of the tube about an inch from the bottom of the mason jar and this way I don't have to worry about it and it should look nice.

 

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Update - 11/7/16

Just a quick update without any pictures (nothing new has come in). A few days ago I went back to Reef Escape and returned the bag of sand that I had purchased and ended up not using. While I was there I spoke with one of the employees about ordering some fish. They know that I want to spend about $60-$70 per fish and that I'm looking for either Black Ice Clownfish or Premium Picasso Clownfish. They aren't sure what will come in so I'm hoping that they will call me one of these days and let me know. This store does have a two or three week quarantine program which is great (and the reason I'm purchasing fish from them).

 

Tomorrow my package should show up between 1:15 and 5 so that should be a fun thing to come home to hopefully. Once I get that I'm going to test my water for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate just to make sure I don't have anything crazy coming out of the tap. Assuming everything is at zero then I'm going to unplug the light, dose the microbacter7, and start ghost feeding the tank with some pellets. After a week or so I'll start adding some raw shrimp to it and see how the tank responds. Last time I cycled a saltwater tank with the microbacter7 it took 3 weeks for it to cycle. I'm really hoping that I'l have some fish in the tank by the december but I'm not sure. Going to depend on the cycle and how tough it will be to get the fish I want.

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Update - 11/8/16

Hope everyone is doing well and had a chance to vote. Unfortunately the DMV screwed me over and even though I registered almost 2 months ago (3 weeks before the deadline), they still didn't send the paperwork through and I was denied at the polling station. Other than that today has been fantastic!

 

The BRS package has arrived and everything looks great!! Here is a quick recap of what I purchased:

- Small fish net

- Extra thick super glue

- Brightwell Aquatics Dechlor

- Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7

- BRS GFO

- Meda Rack

- Acro power

- Red Sea Ammonia test kit

- Red Sea Nitrite/Nitrate test kit

- Acrylic tubes

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Below you can see the media rack and it really is tiny. I cut a small piece of the marineland bonded filter media and placed it in the top rack. I'm not sure if I want to add filter floss on top of it but I doubt it. Below that I was thinking of adding my GFO and carbon once the cycle is completed but for now the middle and bottom shelves will remain empty. I did rinse it off because there was a bit of dust on it when it came out of the box. The front clear glass is removable and slides up. Each shelf can then be pulled out and there are a few different slots so that you can adjust thee height of each section.

 

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What took the longest time to set up today was the dosing system with the acrylic tubes. These I had to cut using a dremel and then get the smaller airline hose to wrap around the end of the acrylic tube. I ended up just jamming some needle nose pliers into them in order to stretch the airline out and then dip it in boiling water. After that I quickly pulled the tube off the pliers and onto the end of the acrylic tube while the airline was still hot. I managed to get a good 1/4" of airline hose around the acrylic but that's all I was able to manage. From there I cut some holes in the lids of the mason jars using a knife which I then slowly widened using a screwdriver until I was just barely fit the acrylic tube in. I then super glued the acrylic tubes in place. They are about 3/4"-1" above the bottom of the mason jars so that I don't go sucking up excess gunk from alk, Ca, or any thing that may get in there. Currently the super glue has not dried so I have the jars off the shelf. The pressure from the hose was causing the tube to tilt so I moved them until the tension from the airline kept the tube straight. I'm simply going to let the superglue dry overnight and then I'll see about fitting it back into the shelf. I may need to adjust the length of some of the airline tubing again but that should be really easy. For anyone wondering, the acrylic tubes came 18" long and I simply cut them in half and they were the perfect length. So far I've already gone through one jar of RODI. I'm pumping 450 mL of water into the tank every 24 hours which is quite surprising to me. I'm still doing a bit of fine tuning but at least the DP-4 is very easy to adjust and it is easily accessible.

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Unfortunately I simply don't have the time nor energy to test the water. I added the Microbacter7 into the tank as well as a small pinch of pellets in order to start the cycle but it's about 1-2 hours before my bedtime and I still haven't even cooked dinner. The package came about an hour passed when it was scheduled to arrive so that slowed me down a bit. Thankfully everything came in one piece and I didn't have any major issues. Right now I'm just going to unplug the Kessil since I don't want to start growing algae already. There is a large window near the tank but I have wood/hard plastic blinds that stay closed 95% of the week so other light shouldn't be an issue.

 

Thanks everyone for reading and following my thread. I can't wait to get some fish in here and start dipping into some nice LPS. I will be going out of town next weekend to watch my Hokies play in Blacksburg but I'll make sure to take readings Thursday night and then Sunday evening when I get back.

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Exciting! I'll admit, when I started my tank I didn't test at all during the cycle. Heck, I don't even own an ammonia trite or trate kit!

 

Thanks! For my last tank I had the API test kit but that thing just got too old. After cycling the tank I don't think I ever tested for ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. I am a huge fan of using bacteria in a bottle and I've never had a cycle last longer than 3 weeks with either freshwater or saltwater. Fresh usually works in about 2 weeks and salt was 3 weeks. Still have to wait and see how long this one will take. I have noticed that using bacteria in a bottle I usually don't see a nitrite spike at all. I always see ammonia at the start and then it skips straight to nitrate. Honestly I'm not a huge fan of testing either but I know I will have a good bit to come and not only for the cycle. Dosing pumps sound great but you really have to dial in the dose or else your parameters start getting a good bit off. Thankfully this is a small tank so a 3 gallon water change should be enough to get everything back to normal.

 

Tank looks great so far!

Can't wait to see it stocked!

Thanks! I'm very excited about how this tank will turn out. I'm really trying to make this look as professional and clean as possible and so far so good! I can't wait to hear back from Reef eScape when they get news on if they managed to snag a pair of either Black Ice or Premium Picassos. Either of those two varieties will look fantastic and I simply can't wait. Really excited to see what I can grow under this light. I know it will be a bit difficult since I can't dim it but just have to wait and see.

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fishfreak0114

I love both of those clowns! I hope they get them in for you. I'm trying to convince my mom to let me set up yet another aquarium so I can get a pair of designers.

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I love both of those clowns! I hope they get them in for you. I'm trying to convince my mom to let me set up yet another aquarium so I can get a pair of designers.

They're definitely some of my favorite designer clowns. The design that I am looking for has a mostly white body but it must have both black and orange as well. My light is closer to 10K so I will be able to see the oranges very well and I definitely want to take advantage of that and really show off the fish. The coral are going to be a bit more tricky. Normally you can bump up the blues and get a better looking tank but with this light I can't. I really want to get some fungia plates and welso since they always tend to have some very vivid colors regardless of the color of the lighting. Some dark purple montis would also be great if I end up having any luck with those but unfortunately I haven't had much luck with them in the past.

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fishfreak0114

I run my tank quite white, and the corals with the best colors are definitely hammers, red and green "watermelon" favia, and blastos. Zoas don't pop as much as under blues unfortunately, but they still look nice.

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I run my tank quite white, and the corals with the best colors are definitely hammers, red and green "watermelon" favia, and blastos. Zoas don't pop as much as under blues unfortunately, but they still look nice.

That's good to hear. I've only ever had one favia and it never really did anything. It never looked bad but it also never grew. I've never had a blasto but they do look great. Similar to acans in appearance but with some fantastic color contrasts.

 

I've honestly never been a huge fan of zoas simply because the polyps are so small. Up close they look great but I'd rather have something that can catch my eye from a distance and get better the closer I look as opposed to just some polyps that may get glossed over. Some palys look great and really liked my purple people eaters but they just never struck my fancy all that much.

 

Unfortunately this is a rather small tank so idk how many corals I'll be able to add onto the rock. That's why I'm hoping to get some fungia plates and other coral that i can toss on the sand.

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Update - 11/13/2016

Just a quick update. I got a call from Reef Escape and they got a few Black Ice Clownfish in stock. They're currently going through quarantine and they will be released in two weeks assuming there aren't any issues. Still just cycling the tank using Microbacter7 and ghost feeding. I've yet to get any readings for ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate unfortunately. I've just been using pellets but today I put a chunk of raw shrimp in there to hopefully get this thing going.

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  • 1 month later...

Update - 12/14/2016

Fish have finally been added and so far so good. I tested the water today and was fully cycled with only 2 nitrates. This cycle I did see a "spike" in both ammonia and nitrite. The nitrite and ammonia both went up to about .5-.8 ppm and then dropped back. Took a total of about 4 weeks to cycle so not too bad. Throughout I have been feeding the tank the same amount of food that I would feed fish daily. After about 2 weeks of that I bought a few snails and hermit crabs and they have all survived. The second I toss in food the snails pop right out of the sand and go searching for it.

 

The fish were temperature acclimated and then I poured the water and fish out into a small bowl. I then used a net to pull them out of there and place them in the tank. I hadn't fed the tank at all so I continued adding the usual amount and one of the fish actually ate the NLS pellets which is a great sign. I'm going to give the tank about 2 weeks and then I'll probably start dipping into some corals. I haven't done any water changes so far but I also haven't tested the water for alkalinity, Mg, or Ca since adding it in. That will come over the next week or so and I'll make sure to do a water change before leaving for christmas to see my brother. Below are some quick pictures that I took with my phone. The last picture is my favorite.

 

20161214_173802_zps1gz016zs.jpg

20161214_173806_zps7mfhczor.jpg

20161214_173809_zps6j76kirf.jpg

20161214_173825_zpsys3scjvy.jpg

  • Like 2
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Update - 12/14/2016

Fish have finally been added and so far so good. I tested the water today and was fully cycled with only 2 nitrates. This cycle I did see a "spike" in both ammonia and nitrite. The nitrite and ammonia both went up to about .5-.8 ppm and then dropped back. Took a total of about 4 weeks to cycle so not too bad. Throughout I have been feeding the tank the same amount of food that I would feed fish daily. After about 2 weeks of that I bought a few snails and hermit crabs and they have all survived. The second I toss in food the snails pop right out of the sand and go searching for it.

 

The fish were temperature acclimated and then I poured the water and fish out into a small bowl. I then used a net to pull them out of there and place them in the tank. I hadn't fed the tank at all so I continued adding the usual amount and one of the fish actually ate the NLS pellets which is a great sign. I'm going to give the tank about 2 weeks and then I'll probably start dipping into some corals. I haven't done any water changes so far but I also haven't tested the water for alkalinity, Mg, or Ca since adding it in. That will come over the next week or so and I'll make sure to do a water change before leaving for christmas to see my brother. Below are some quick pictures that I took with my phone. The last picture is my favorite.

 

20161214_173802_zps1gz016zs.jpg

20161214_173806_zps7mfhczor.jpg

20161214_173809_zps6j76kirf.jpg

20161214_173825_zpsys3scjvy.jpg

Nice!

Those clowns should enjoys the space all to themselves. :)

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Nice!

Those clowns should enjoys the space all to themselves. :)

Thanks! I got back from work today and they're still alive! I added the Microbacter7 like usual and I also tried to feed them and both of them ate readily which is always a good sign! For now I'm just feeding NLS Small Fish Formula and the fish are loving it. Later on I'm going to buy some frozen food which I will then use to feed my coral as well but for now I don't want to overfeed as the tank is just barely done cycling. The pellets make it very easy to judge how much I'm feeding and I've tried to feed the exact same amount every day since I started cycling the tank.

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12/23/2016 Update

Finally got some new corals. Have a pair of hybrid hammer/torches as well as a small acan lord colony. So far they're looking good but it's only been 2 days. Here are a few pics.

20161223_102051_zpszkpzzz1v.jpg

20161223_102043_zpszsedzbvb.jpg

20161223_102039_zpsclybi41e.jpg

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