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Cultivated Reef

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


VW_TDI_02

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Looking good!

Thanks! I almost pulled the trigger on a fungia plate while I was there but decided to hold off. It had been cut in half but was obviously healed from the fragging. The issue is that I'm leaving today for the weekend and honestly didn't want to drop $65 on a single coral that may end up dead when I get back. After one night they look pretty good. Still need to try and figure out the flow in this tank. have the RW-4 as low as I can but I think I just need to move it around and experiment to see what works. It's much easier now that I have coral to observe and see how they react to the flow changes.

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If you can find a 12v adapter, it would cut the rw-4 output in half.

I found it super easy to find the right amount of flow after doing that.

I might have to do that. I actually unplugged the RW-4 today because it was a bit too much flow. I am having a bit of an issue with one of the clowns. Fins are torn up but no white dots so it doesn't look like ich. I tossed a bit of prime just in case and tomorrow I'll pick up some melafix just to be safe. Both clowns are still eating readily.

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Well, bad news. The clownfish didn't make the transfer. About 2-3 days after I got him he started getting some pretty bad fin rot and today he finally passed. The other fish is showing no signs of fin rot or illness and ate today. I double checked and the tank is fully cycled and looking fine from that perspective.

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Update - 12/30/2016 - More Coral!!!

So I swung by Incredible Corals and Artfully Acrylic in NOVA and got some more corals from Chris. I ended up getting another acan lord, a red monti cap, a war coral, and a beautiful purple plate!! I'm so pumped and as you can see in the pictures the tank is doing really well. So far I don't have any good frozen food so I'm just feeding the coral reef chili every few days. Below you can see some pcis of the corals. So far the plate looks fantastic and the acan lord is starting to open up slowly. Can't wait to see how they look tomorrow. I did a simple dip with Revive from Two Little Fishies. In regards to the clown that passed away, read my reply to the quote below and I talk about it there.

 

Aww sorry to hear that :( I hate losing fish. Are you planning to replace him?

No, I don't plan on replacing him. It's a bit tough to add a clownfish to a tank that already has a clownfish in it and frankly I've never been a fan of replacing a fish when they pass. I'm not opposed to getting other fish but I'm not going to get another clownfish. I don't know what I want and honestly I'm more interested in coral than I am fish so I think I'm just going to leave the single clownfish in there alone for now.

 

And of course, pictures!!!

 

 

New war coral:

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New acan lord (two heads, mostly red with blue rim)

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Purple Plate:

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Glamour shots of the torch/hammer hybrids because they were looking fantastic earlier.

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Update - 12/31/2016

Happy New Years Eve!!! This morning the coral are looking fantastic and so is the fish. Very happy to see that he isn't developing any fin rot like the other fish. I did remove the RW-4 as it was simply too much flow even at the lowest setting. It appears to be enough flow for now with just the stock pump so I'm going to stick with that for now. The hybrids are extending much more now that the flow has been reduced. Currently I'm waiting for some water to heat up for my water change and doing some random errands. While doing so I saw that the coral were looking great so I did a quick FTS and snapped another picture of the plate. I think my plan is to have mostly acan lords on the right side where I currently have two. The bottom left will just be euphylia and I may add another to the right of the green one. I also think I'm going to try and find a different color monti cap and put it on the backside. Eventually it should plate out and be visible from the front. I may put a nice acro at the top but I'm not sure just yet. It would just be like a nice crown jewel at the top. I am not sure what I want to do with the middle. Right now I have the war coral there but there is still a good bit of space. I don't know if I just want to let the war coral encrust the entire bridge area or if I want to add something else there.

 

I'm also not sure if I want to do all acan lords on the right side I think I may add a few other types of blastos that have some larger polyps but I'm not sure just yet.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update - 1/19/17

So it's been a while since I last updated the thread and I've purchased a few corals since then. I've added an easter egg chalice, a sunburst chalice, another small red monti cap frag, and my now beloved red and green grafted monti cap. This is the one coral that I've been looking for at all of the shops that I've gone to around here and I finally found it. It's a good size frag and hopefully it takes and starts growing. The chalices are currently on some frag plugs and just sitting in the sand. i'm honestly not sure what I want to do with them. Ideally I'd like to remove them from the plug but I know it will be a bit difficult and I don't want to hurt the coral at all so for now they're staying put. I did move one of the acan lords a bit forward in order to free up some room in the back. I am not sure what I'm going to put back there but there is enough room for a good size branching coral. I would like to get a bit more movement in the back so maybe some duncans or a nice torch. That's about it for now. Tank is still doing well and just hoping the new monti cap adapts well. Here are some pictures. Disregard the stringy stuff. It is just a bit of excess super glue and I'll remove it shortly.

 

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1/22/2017 Update

I caved and bought some more coral. Ended up getting a red planet acro and a purple-tipped hammer. After about 2 days in the tank they have been doing really well and look fantastic. Currently debating what I'm going to do with the two chalices. I think I may try to remove them from the frag plugs and put them on the rock work just below the micro lords but I'm worried I might hurt them trying to get them off the plugs.

 

For the future I think I'd like to get a 2 more micro lords to help fill in that area to the right. I'd also like to get a birds nest or maybe a digi for the middle of the tank just behind the war coral. I also would like to get some zoas to go around the base of the hybrids on the bottom left. I'm still not sure what I would like to place on the strip between the war coral and the micro lords so if you have any ideas then please let me know. I may just put the birdsnest on the part jutting out and then a digi on that spot but I'm not really sure.

 

The only other upgrade I'd like for the tank is going to be a spin stream nozzle to help give the tank a bit more varied flow. I may also try to find a weaker power supply for the RW-4 but I'd like to give the spinstream a shot first.

 

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Just caught up on your thread - it looks really good! I love the red planet :)

 

For the chalices, I agree it's really hard to get them off the frag plug without damage. I would just mount the frag plug on the rock where you want it, and let it spread on to the rocks. Then you can pry off the frag plug with the original portion and have something to trade. Plus, at least for me, it's hard to figure out the best spot in the tank for a chalice - some like low light and some like high light, so you may end up moving the plug a couple times while you figure it out anyway.

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Just caught up on your thread - it looks really good! I love the red planet :)

 

For the chalices, I agree it's really hard to get them off the frag plug without damage. I would just mount the frag plug on the rock where you want it, and let it spread on to the rocks. Then you can pry off the frag plug with the original portion and have something to trade. Plus, at least for me, it's hard to figure out the best spot in the tank for a chalice - some like low light and some like high light, so you may end up moving the plug a couple times while you figure it out anyway.

Thanks. I was surprised as to how much green is on the red planet. I had one in my last tank and even when I first bought it there was next to no green on it. Also they had a bunch of them and I snagged that frag for just $10!

 

The issue with just mounting the plugs is that they're just so massive. I wish I had a bandsaw so that I could just trim the edges of it and keep just a small portion of the frag plug. I do have a dremel and I may get a masonry bit and just start hacking off some chunks.

 

I originally made a mistake and put the purple one higher up and it immediately started to recede and I lost a bit of tissue so I pulled it off the rock work and tossed it in the sand and so far it appears happier. It was originally where the upper micro lord is now. That micro lord might be a hair too high as well as it isn't getting super puffy like it should be. Definitely tough not being able to adjust the intensity of the light but I also can't afford to drop $200 on a new light.

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The tanks looking good! Do you have to coral cutters? I often use mine to break off bits of frag plugs to make them smaller.

+1! Bone cutters work great or eve just a cheap pair of wire cutters.

 

When I have to keep the plug I trim off the bottom plug and as much else as I can.

 

Oh yeah, and my red planet has no green, so far. Yours looks great!

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i do have some bone cutters but I think I may take out the dremel instead. Normally I use them to clip the stems off but one of these plugs (the one for the easter egg) is about 5/8" thick and might be too big for it. I am debating just burying the plug a bit so only the chalice is above the sand and just letting it go from there.

 

I was shocked that this was a red planet when I looked at it at the store. So far it is doing pretty well but it's only been a little while. I really hope it maintains some of the green because it really pops and I love the contrast it gives with the pink/red.

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Quick update. I ended up buying a 12v power supply for the RW-4 as well as the spinstream nozzle. I am adding more and more SPS so I should probably get a bit more flow in there. Not sure how well the RW-4 will work but it was only like $5 for the power supply.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Just a quick update. The Red Planet didn't make it and was quickly taken by RTN. I added a pair of new corals but I don't know exactly what they are. One is similar to a microlord but not exactly. The other is some sort of encrusting coral that so far hasn't done too hot. It is sitting down at the sand bed and has definitely changed to from a lime green to a purple. I also got some zoas locally and they're doing well so far. The 12v power supply worked for a little while but doesn't anymore. It just causes a bunch of blinking lights on the controller and won't turn on the powerhead.

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Update 2/27/2017

I added a few more pictures of the tank. Overall it is doing well. As I said a while back, the red planet didn't make it after getting hit with RTN but I added a few zoas and they're doing well. Overall the chalices are doing well and looking very healthy. The green one is just starting to expand onto the rock which is nice. The easter egg looks nice and fluffy but it's tough to see growth since it is growing on sand. The micro lords are looking good but haven't popped any new heads yet. The one that got stung pretty badly by the hammer is doing well. I had to move it earlier today so it doesn't look super fluffy like it should. I'm hoping it bounces back and it regrows what was lost but for now it is just going to hang out in the sand.

 

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The pic below really shows how well the montis have been growing. I accidentally broke this frag and when I first glued it there were three different pieces. They have since merged together again and now you can see it plating out nicely with a solid white rim near the top. Beyond the front one you can somewhat see the other frag. This one came in two small pieces that were initially about 1/8" apart and it has since come together and begun to merge. I'm really pleased as to just how well these montis have been growing.

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20 hours ago, Bowen1022 said:

Looking good!

 

17 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Love the plate!

Thanks to the both of you! I'm curious to see what it will do once the top part hits the rock. I'd imagine it will start to just encrust over it. The big thing is that I want it to plate out towards the front of the glass. Not really sure what will happen though. So far I'm really happy with how well all of the montis are doing. The grafted monti is the one I really want to grow well but so far it is only encrusting over the rock where it is glued. Better than nothing at least.

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  • 4 months later...

Unfortunately this tank has now been taken down and everything is sold. I'm moving twice in the next 3ish months and it was time to move on. I might get back into the hobby in a few years but for now I don't have the space, time, or money to do this. Thanks again to everyone who has been following this thread. It means a lot to me and I'm definitely going to miss the tank.

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6 hours ago, VW_TDI_02 said:

Unfortunately this tank has now been taken down and everything is sold. I'm moving twice in the next 3ish months and it was time to move on. I might get back into the hobby in a few years but for now I don't have the space, time, or money to do this. Thanks again to everyone who has been following this thread. It means a lot to me and I'm definitely going to miss the tank.

If you feel the itch to get back in soonish, consider a pico bowl like Natalia's.  Easy maintenance, inexpensive as reefs go, and small and portable.  Best of luck to you!

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On 7/22/2017 at 7:30 PM, Lula_Mae said:

If you feel the itch to get back in soonish, consider a pico bowl like Natalia's.  Easy maintenance, inexpensive as reefs go, and small and portable.  Best of luck to you!

Thanks but I think I'm just going to wait for a while. 2 moves in 3 months just won't be good in regards to moving. I may end up just going back to freshwater. I was thinking about doing a 20 long planted but I'm just not sure what I want to do just yet. I do think I need to stay out of the hobby for a bit and save some money.

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