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VaporCountry's Nuvo 10g Frag Tank(Cycle Complete)


VaporCountry

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VaporCountry

This is going to be a Journal of my Innovative Marine 10 Gallon Nuvo Fusion. I was in the hobby about 5 years ago but had to get out for personal reasons. I am finally ready to get my hands wet again. I was originally going to go with the 25 or 50 Lagoon but with school just starting and a lack of funds/time I decided to do a 10 gallon frag tank. My plan is to grow out some frags then in 8-12 months get a bigger tank for a display. I am mainly  going to focus on LPS with a few nice zoos and mushrooms. Im going to do bare bottom with no rock. The plan is to use a bunch a Seachem Matrix to help with biological filtration. I am going to put some matrix in the media basket and also possibly in the display within a  basket that I will propagate mushrooms in.  

 

FTS 11/6/17

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Top Down 10/21/17

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Hardware 

IM 10 Gallon Nuvo

Lumini Asta 20 light (Similar to a Kessil A80 but with 4 dimable channels) Its a Chinese light that was only $57 with goose neck. For that price why not

Mame Skimmer 3

Neo Therm 75w heater

Innovative Marine Media Basket 

Innovative Maine ReefRack 50

2x Koralia Nano 240

JBJ wave controller 6min On/off

TrueLumen Lunar Lights

AquaSmart ATO Micro

 

Media/Supplements 

2x Chemi-pure Blue Nano 

Seachem Purigen 100ml

SeaChem Matrix

Polly Fill Floss

RedSea Coral Pro Salt

E.S.V two Part

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures of what I have so far. I leak tested the tank but still waiting for my refractometer to get the cycle going. I might also change the stand to a bigger one I have laying around

 

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VaporCountry

Thanks Lula_Mae, very excited and can't wait to get all set up. What part of NC are you in? I'm here on the coast in New Bern.

 

Update on what I did with the matrix. I went to walmart and found some baskets with slots around the sides. They are 6.4 x 5 x 2.4H and seemed like a perfect size for this small tank. They are PP#5 so shouldn't leach any nasties. I first went through the matrix and tried to selected the bigger pieces to put in the basket. I did this because when the mushrooms drop babies I figured the bigger pieces would be easier to attach to. I filled the basket about 3 quarters of the way full. I then took some other pieces and selected the right amount that would fit in the media basket. I then put them inside a media bag for easy rinsing. Between the bag and basket I would estimate I used 1L of the 2L Matrix container  I plan to cycle the tank with just the matrix and filter floss. After the cycle is complete ill add the skimmer and Chemi-Pure Blue as needed. 

 

A few pictures of how the basket looks and how I will be running the media basket. Also when I was going through the matrix I noticed some dark pieces that were a lot heavier and not as porous. I won't use these pieces as they won't have as much surface area. Also the Matrix is pretty dusty and will need to be rinsed before use 

 

I opened up the ReefRack rac

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VaporCountry

Thanks SantaMonica :D......

 

So I decided to switch out the stand for a bigger one I had. Really happy with the bigger size and the now obsolete VHS tape holder works well for items Ill use regularly. Got all my salt mixed and everything set up. Unfortunately the Innovative Marine ReefRack got busted up during shipping. I emailed the company and they all ready shipped me out a replacement. Went with a shrimp cycle and used one I had in my freezer that I caught locally last week :P. Put it in a mesh bag to try to reduce the mess. Now the waiting begins.

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5 hours ago, VaporCountry said:

Thanks Lula_Mae, very excited and can't wait to get all set up. What part of NC are you in? I'm here on the coast in New Bern.

 

Update on what I did with the matrix. I went to walmart and found some baskets with slots around the sides. They are 6.4 x 5 x 2.4H and seemed like a perfect size for this small tank. They are PP#5 so should leach any nasties. I first went through the matrix and tried to selected the bigger pieces to put in the basket. I did this because when the mushrooms drop babies I figured the bigger pieces would be easier to attach to. I filled the basket about 3 quarters of the way full. I then took some other pieces and selected the right amount that would fit in the media basket. I then put them inside a media bag for easy rinsing. Between the bag and basket I would estimate I used 1L of the 2L Matrix container  I plan to cycle the tank with just the matrix and filter floss. After the cycle is complete ill add the skimmer and Chemi-Pure Blue as needed. 

 

A few pictures of how the basket looks and how I will be running the media basket. Also when I was going through the matrix I noticed some dark pieces that were a lot heavier and not as porous. I won't use these pieces as they won't have as much surface area. Also not the Matrix is pretty dusty and will need to be rinsed before use 

 

I opened up the ReefRack rac

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I'm in the middle of the state, about an hour east of Charlotte.  I have that clear container with the teal handles--have used it to move tanks more than once lol.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/22/2017 at 10:20 PM, Lula_Mae said:

I'm in the middle of the state, about an hour east of Charlotte.  I have that clear container with the teal handles--have used it to move tanks more than once lol.

Hahah yea I have a ton of them I have used for years. Think I got them from walmart, they are great!!!

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Little tank update

 

Cycle is done, I got impatient after a week and got a bottle of Bio Spira which cycled the tank in less than a week. 

 

For filtration Im running the Mame skimmer, two packets of chemo pure blue nano and filter floss. I also added another half liter of Matrix to make a total of 1.5L.

 

Picked up some live stock as well. Just got a Six Line Wrasse and he is doing great. I probably won't get anymore fish but if I do maybe just a single clown.

 

I went to a reef expo today and got a bunch of really nice frags. Everything started to open up nicely within a half hour. Ill post a couple pictures but after this I'm going to hold off for a bit until I figure out how to get better shots with my iPhone. If anyone has any tips please let me know. I know about the gel filters, just need to order some. 

 

 

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12 hours ago, VaporCountry said:

For anyone interested here are some picture of a few of the corals I got. Not my pictures but are the ones I got and are pretty much spot on

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That blasto! :o And those purple glittery zoas! :wub: I've never heard of the company in the watermark, how was your experience ordering from them?

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2 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

That blasto! :o And those purple glittery zoas! :wub: I've never heard of the company in the watermark, how was your experience ordering from them?

He is a guy that lives out in Statesville NC. his website is http://www.frenchiescorals.com, its a new website I believe so not too much on there but he does have other stuff. I went to the Reef Farmers Market in Raleigh and he brought my order to save me on shipping. He is a super nice guy. He also auctions stuff in "Frags Auctions Place" FB group. He Ships $25 in state. I believe he may still have more of the Blastos and that zoa. He only cut me a few Polyps off each of those two frags. Anyway ordering from him was great. He takes accurate photos and has healthy coral at good prices.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Marine depot had a sale on the Truelumen lunar lights. Came with the 3 led light for only $8.99. I picked one up and am pretty happy with it. I just used an old 12v adapter I had. I attached it on the underside of the Asta20 light with the included adhesive strip. I cut off the link cable because I will never link it for the tank. I sealed up all gaps in the led with super glue to attempt to keep moister out.(Few reviews said they did not last long).

 

Here are a few shots of moonlights only a few hours after the main lights went off. I did edit the pics a bit with an app. 

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6 hours ago, gogeta said:

Like the tank and setup man!

 

recbetly I bought this app for a couple bucks, takes a little

to figure out to use it but you can correct the white balance with the blue immediately and easily with a few auto button pushes and allows you take much better photos of coral.

 

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camera+/id329670577?mt=8

 

 

Sweet thanks, ill defiantly check it out. Do you use the gel filters as well, if so what shade?

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On 9/10/2017 at 10:53 AM, VaporCountry said:

 

He is a guy that lives out in Statesville NC. his website is http://www.frenchiescorals.com, its a new website I believe so not too much on there but he does have other stuff. I went to the Reef Farmers Market in Raleigh and he brought my order to save me on shipping. He is a super nice guy. He also auctions stuff in "Frags Auctions Place" FB group. He Ships $25 in state. I believe he may still have more of the Blastos and that zoa. He only cut me a few Polyps off each of those two frags. Anyway ordering from him was great. He takes accurate photos and has healthy coral at good prices.

Nice!  Statesville is only an hour or so from me!

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Here is a picture of the mushroom basket with Matrix in it. So far its working well. Now just need to get some nice shrooms. I may end up adding some of the smaller pieces of matrix I have left to fill in the gaps. Also I am getting a small Diatom bloom. Mostly in the basket. Today I changed the Chemi-Pure and cleaned the skimmer.

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Man I really love these small Mame Air Skimmers. I was so happy when I tracked down a used one. I had this same skimmer about 6 years ago on an old 6g nano cube. They work well and look great. I tend to run them a little wet, it makes cleaning a lot easier. 

 

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Got a few things in the mail today. Picked up the smart ATO micro and a 2.5g container from Walmart.

Hoping to do a water change tonight then hook it up.

 

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you'll love the Smart Micro ATO,  its perfect for this tank.  

 

i had a Tunze 3152 in before it and ended up throwing it in the closet and spending the money on the Smart Micro

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3 hours ago, gone_PHiSHin said:

you'll love the Smart Micro ATO,  its perfect for this tank.  

 

i had a Tunze 3152 in before it and ended up throwing it in the closet and spending the money on the Smart Micro

 

Thats good to hear. The sensor on this thing is really tiny. Didn't have time to set it up tonight, tomorrow is gonna be busy so hopefully this weekend. Any tips with using this ATO?

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ATO is all hooked up and working great, super easy set up. Eventually I wouldn't mind getting a nice acrylic top off container. 

 

Have some more zoas being shipped to me Tuesday, ill update with pics after they arrive :) I ordered some gel filters as well so hopefully I can take better pictures :lol:

 

 

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How are you liking the light overall? I just setup a fusion 10g and it looks like it's a great budget light for zoas and lps, and maybe even some sps high up. 

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