mseepman Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Like many reefers, I have Multi-tank syndrome. It's a problem and step one is recognizing that I have it...step two seems to be giving in to it. My daughter recently had a birthday and at 9 yrs old she told me that she wanted to put together a saltwater tank with me...which really means "dad, can you pay and do all the work to put together a tank for me?" Interestingly I took the bait right away. We decided on a little Nuvo 10 and here is the equipment list to start. IM Fusion 10 Coral Box Moon LED stock return pump Aqua-gaget caddy Hydor 50w heater JBJ ATO with TOM aqualifter providing the water Bubble Magus 5L dosing container for fresh water. Coralife powerbar. SW-2 Jebao powerhead if needed. An the pictures: Finally got water in and rock/sand down. Link to comment
Droy008 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Very nice, looks like your off to a good start! My kidslove our little tank in the kitchen. Link to comment
Lunchbox66 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I just set one up last week, looks great. Link to comment
mseepman Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 Thanks for the comments. The moon led is really impressive for control. If I want to set up a full self directed program it could take a little effort but once saved it it so easy. The prebuilt options are good and I've found with a few tweeks they are great. For the price I'm surprised more people haven't gone for them. My little 50w heater is working really well and in the first half day has gotten the temp up to 77 already. My aquacaddy turned out to be flawed and will have to go back to the store. The shelves were too short and just fall down inside. I like the intank version but price is too steep for my budget. I've added MB7 and some prodibio. Using the prodibio startup on my 300G allowed me to completely avoid a cycle when I started that tank...so hoping for something similar this time. I've had a nano in the past so I know to be extra patient and cautious. My daughter has fallen for a pistol goby pair at the lfs so once the tank is ready, we will see if that is a good fit. She is really going to have to learn patience with a tank. Maybe a valuable life lesson for her overall. Link to comment
dmw913 Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Grats to daughter for really having to TWIST your arm into another tank. In all seriousness, my 7 year old has been sad for nearly a year that I don't let him "help" in my reef tank. After he "helped" feed the fish when I wasn't home, we opted to get him a fresh setup for his room. We now do it together and he is learning about the things that keep fish healthy and happy. It's been great for both of us. Best of luck! Link to comment
mseepman Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 So my tank has been coming along, I have been testing all along and my numbers have stayed good. I have not really had a cycle of any kind as I used mostly live rock from another of my tanks and have changed the water regularly along with using Prodibio startup (which I used to start my 300g tank without a cycle either). The stuff really works well. No fish in the tank yet but I have added several corals. I'm loving the Coral box light. It is really nice and the controls are sweet!. I've also added the new SW-2 pump and it works like a dream. I've got it on the lowest setting W1 and it's creating a nice gentle wave. It's about 3/4's the size of the RW-4 I have in another tank. I haven't had to modify the power supply but also haven't looked to see if it's 24 or 12v. I have an RK Lite coming that I grabbed used on my local forum. It should be arriving by EOW for me to set up. I got an old JBJ ATO working again in Mode A along with a TOM aqua-lifter and used a spare Bubble Magus 5L dosing container as my fresh water storage. It has kept the water level bang on since installing it. The TOM can only lift water about 25" but I've made it work. My daughter has learned that although water changes aren't a lot of fun, they are a necessary evil. The water parameters are as follows. CA 420 Alk 8.1 MG 1300 Amonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: unmeasurable so far Phos: also 0 on my hanna. Link to comment
SaltyBuddha Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 How is the tank coming along? Link to comment
mseepman Posted March 16, 2017 Author Share Posted March 16, 2017 Things are progressing nicely. I have added a little blasto to the mix and also a tail spot blenny. I regularly have been dosing with MB7 and even added a little prodibio from my regular tank just in case there is a different set of bacteria working with them. Pods are showing up and the tank looks good. I ordered a second heater as my hydor couldn't keep up in the cooler basement...so a second Hydor 50w ensures that if one fails, the tank doesn't go cold. They are all on the DA RK Light so it keeps them from sticking on. Link to comment
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