Nuvo 10 first reef ever

[Deepwatercoral]

So pretty sure I am hooked... I just bought my first ever salt water tank. The nuvo 10 ran me about $230 out the door purchasing all the basics with it: live sand (10 lb), live rock (8 lb ish ) , ammonium nitrate and bacteria (fishless cycling Dr. Tim's) pre set heater(78*) , and bag of instant ocean.  I am super excited to start this tank although I am ready to be patient in the process! I am currently cycling my tank and cheking my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate. Once I can get my ammonia to 0 within the course of a day I will do a water change and start by adding a clean up crew! I could not be more green at this hobby but when I saw my roommates nano reef, I figured what kind of person would I be if I never gave this a shot? I always had Freshwater tanks growing up and never thought I could take on the challenges of a saltwater tank. Nowadays this seems more like a manageable task giving my background in hydroponics. This site was recommended to me and since then this has been my primary source of information! Here is what I got  so far.. my lady thinks it pretty boring, but if she just knew the potential this little tank holds! 

[Lula_Mae]

to Nano-Reef! Sounds like you're off to a good start! If you got live rock, your actually shouldn't need to dose bacteria or ammonia as the die off from the rock provides ammonia and bacteria should be present on the rocks. The tank definitely has potential and hopefully your lady will be duly impressed in time! 

Oh, what kind of lighting will you be running?

[GunslingerGirl]

Welcome! I love these tanks. One of these days......

 

What are your livestock plans?

[Deepwatercoral]

59 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

to Nano-Reef! Sounds like you're off to a good start! If you got live rock, your actually shouldn't need to dose bacteria or ammonia as the die off from the rock provides ammonia and bacteria should be present on the rocks. The tank definitely has potential and hopefully your lady will be duly impressed in time! 

Oh, what kind of lighting will you be running?

Thanks!! I know I would be fine with just the LR and sand but guess I went a little overkill haha. Not that I am in a rush, but with the bacteria and ammonia Will that help the process in any way? There are so many different views and ways to do things. The guy at my LFS said he prefers to let the live rock dry out for a couple days outside to let everything die off, then put it in the tank and dose bacteria (to prevent hitchhikers). To me that seems a little iffy. I just stuck with the man made live rock thay had  and I guess I'll take my chances! As for lights I am going led of course ! My plants have seen the benefits of using led so I am bringing that mentality to my tank. The kessil A-80 Tuna blue. I am open to any recommendations! 

[cju84]

11 minutes ago, Deepwatercoral said:

My plants have seen the benefits of using led so I am bringing that mentality to my tank. The kessil A-80 Tuna blue. I am open to any recommendations! 

OoOoOo... What sort of "plants"?

 

Also not sure why you'd let live rock dry out for a few days to remove hitchhikers over just buying dry rock.  Many hitchhikers won't die off after several days/weeks as well... Some rocks can reallyyyy hold moisture and organisms can survive a while in them.  That's besides the point though.

 

edit:  A nice Par38 full spectrum LED would look great over the IM 10.  I have one from Coral Compulsion and am really happy with it.

[Deepwatercoral]

1 hour ago, GunslingerGirl said:

Welcome! I love these tanks. One of these days......

 

What are your livestock plans?

Thankyou so much! I think I will start with a shrimp and goby pair. Eventually I would like one more small fish for movement at the top end of the tank. I think a total of 2 fish is doable in this tank? Either way I am going to add livestock slowly and check my water and practice weekly water changes! Also any suggestions for livestock will be greatly appreciated!

[Deepwatercoral]

14 minutes ago, cju84 said:

OoOoOo... What sort of "plants"?

 

Also not sure why you'd let live rock dry out for a few days to remove hitchhikers over just buying dry rock.  Many hitchhikers won't die off after several days/weeks as well... Some rocks can reallyyyy hold moisture and organisms can survive a while in them.  That's besides the point though.

Honestly I am a plant nerd so a little bit of everything, from superhot peppers to tomatoes to tobacco and other popular plants that are propagated indoors haha. So I am already used to checking water quality and topping off on a daily basis. 

 

See that makes sense to me. I am glad I put my live Rock straight in. I also mixed up a little saltwater to lightly rinse the rock before I put it in.

[Deepwatercoral]

Small update! 

I added 1.5 lbs of LR that I stacked on top using aqua scape epoxy to secure it. This stuff should some in handy when I start to add coral later on.

i also put a little island of LR so I can put GSP that won't take over my tank.

 

I also swapped out the screen that the nuvo 10 came with and got some finer mesh screen that won't block as much light.

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Deepwatercoral said:

Thanks!! I know I would be fine with just the LR and sand but guess I went a little overkill haha. Not that I am in a rush, but with the bacteria and ammonia Will that help the process in any way? There are so many different views and ways to do things. The guy at my LFS said he prefers to let the live rock dry out for a couple days outside to let everything die off, then put it in the tank and dose bacteria (to prevent hitchhikers). To me that seems a little iffy. I just stuck with the man made live rock thay had  and I guess I'll take my chances! As for lights I am going led of course ! My plants have seen the benefits of using led so I am bringing that mentality to my tank. The kessil A-80 Tuna blue. I am open to any recommendations! 

Lol your LFS dude would save a lot of money if he just bought clean, dry rock. What he's doing sounds like a good way to get constant phosphate issues similar to using pukani dry rock.  I think 90+% of the time hitchhikers are beneficial or neutral.

 

The Kessil is a great light and will be fine for softies and LPS in that tank, I think.

[Deepwatercoral]

20 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Lol your LFS dude would save a lot of money if he just bought clean, dry rock. What he's doing sounds like a good way to get constant phosphate issues similar to using pukani dry rock.  I think 90+% of the time hitchhikers are beneficial or neutral.

 

The Kessil is a great light and will be fine for softies and LPS in that tank, I think.

That's good to know sounds like I don't have to be to paranoid about hitchhikers. Do you think the tuna blue will be bright enough for sps? Not that I am thinking of putting any sps anytime soon but for the future? 

[Lula_Mae]

1 minute ago, Deepwatercoral said:

That's good to know sounds like I don't have to be to paranoid about hitchhikers. Do you think the tuna blue will be bright enough for sps? Not that I am thinking of putting any sps anytime soon but for the future? 

Someone on here did have SPS under the A80 in the IM14 peninsula tank, but had to add a second and eventually I think changed to a stronger light altogether, looking for better growth. I might look into a stronger light if you're really set on SPS.

[Deepwatercoral]

2 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Someone on here did have SPS under the A80 in the IM14 peninsula tank, but had to add a second and eventually I think changed to a stronger light altogether, looking for better growth. I might look into a stronger light if you're really set on SPS.

Not set on sps just wondering although I did fall In love with green montiporas. I first need to see if I can keep anything alive first haha

[burtbollinger]

ditch that hydrometer...buy a refractometer.

[Deepwatercoral]

7 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

ditch that hydrometer...buy a refractometer.

I am using my roommates ATC refractometer (mine is at 1.024) I heard the hydrometer Isn't  very accurate even tho I make sure no bubbles are on the arm.

[GunslingerGirl]

11 hours ago, Deepwatercoral said:

I am using my roommates ATC refractometer (mine is at 1.024) I heard the hydrometer Isn't  very accurate even tho I make sure no bubbles are on the arm.

Yea hydrometers are the devil and have caused many a tank issue..

 

2 fish will be fine a long as they stay small. Obviously no tangs LOL

You could do a clown or smaller sized fish.

 

I would stick to smaller gobies just due to the footprint. I can't imagine a 5 inch fish being happy in there. I really love my yellow watchman. But you could do a yasha or similar if you prefer. My YWG is probably out about 50% of the time. He doesn't like the dog toy squeaks or my fiance stomping around...

[Deepwatercoral]

1 hour ago, GunslingerGirl said:

Yea hydrometers are the devil and have caused many a tank issue..

 

2 fish will be fine a long as they stay small. Obviously no tangs LOL

You could do a clown or smaller sized fish.

 

I would stick to smaller gobies just due to the footprint. I can't imagine a 5 inch fish being happy in there. I really love my yellow watchman. But you could do a yasha or similar if you prefer. My YWG is probably out about 50% of the time. He doesn't like the dog toy squeaks or my fiance stomping around...

I am absolutely gonna keep it small! The shrimp and YWG I have definitely had my eye on! I will start Checkig out the yasha.

[cju84]

Am I the only person who has only used a hydrometer with zero issues?  

[GunslingerGirl]

Just now, cju84 said:

Am I the only person who has only used a hydrometer with zero issues?  

Did you ever test that hydrometer against another method like a refractometer or other SG reader?

[cju84]

20 minutes ago, GunslingerGirl said:

Did you ever test that hydrometer against another method like a refractometer or other SG reader?

Nope, never.

[GunslingerGirl]

19 hours ago, cju84 said:

Nope, never.

It'd be interesting to see how accurate it is. I ran a quick batch study on 20 of them for one of my chemistry classes and I did not get accurate results for my hydrometers when compared to the refractometer.

[Melfy77]

I have a kessil A80 on my 8 g tank and I really like it. No lound fan, and honnestly I prefer to have a slower growth since the tank is so small lol. But corals are growing! I've got softies, LPS and some SPS as well (pocillopora, pavona, monti). I have a purple firefish and it's a wonderful fish

[Deepwatercoral]

8 hours ago, Melfy77 said:

I have a kessil A80 on my 8 g tank and I really like it. No lound fan, and honnestly I prefer to have a slower growth since the tank is so small lol. But corals are growing! I've got softies, LPS and some SPS as well (pocillopora, pavona, monti). I have a purple firefish and it's a wonderful fish

That's awesome! I am pretty set on the A80. I was also checking the fire fish out myself. Also the 3 spot damsel. So I definitely want to start out with a shrimp and YWG and some snails to help stir up the sand. Once my tank is cycled, what order should I be adding livestock and coral?

[GunslingerGirl]

Shrimp are very sensitive to new tanks. I would get the other fish first.

 

Damsels are bullies. I would say if you want to have a goby of any kind, you probably want to stay away from damsels. A firefish is a goby and a notorious jumper. All of my firefish have died by carpet surfing. One jumped through a 1/4" hole. That was it. It was ridiculous. So your lid MUST BE TIGHT FITTING. NO gaps at all. They will find the hole. I would not add a known aggressive/semi-aggressive fish. I am even cautious about clowns and firefish.

 

Order is up to you otherwise. I would say fish then corals. But you could go the other way if you want.

 

Always add the shyest fish first, so in your list that would be the firefish or goby. Then another fish. Some cool options would be a possum wrasse (although some have stated that theirs have eaten pistol shrimp), a rock perching goby like a clown goby (only one), or a not orange clown (which is still meh but its an option). A royal gramma might also be a good fit if you don't do the firefish. They can be jerks though, and can eat anything that the can fit in their mouth.

 

Stay away from wrasses in general, they get too big, only a possum would I feel comfortable putting in that size tank. But wrasses have a lot of personality and are very active. So when you get a bigger tank, consider them.

 

IF I had to stock this tank for me, I would do a firefish, clown, and goby/shrimp pair. I would stock small inverts like sexies, pom pom crabs, and a couple BTAs. But that tank is going to be a lot of work with a clown and two other fish, and it has sensitive inverts.

 

TL;DR: Fish stocking is not a science. It is a dice roll for most fish. Make a list and we can go down it and make the best choice.

 

[Deepwatercoral]

12 hours ago, GunslingerGirl said:

Shrimp are very sensitive to new tanks. I would get the other fish first.

 

Damsels are bullies. I would say if you want to have a goby of any kind, you probably want to stay away from damsels. A firefish is a goby and a notorious jumper. All of my firefish have died by carpet surfing. One jumped through a 1/4" hole. That was it. It was ridiculous. So your lid MUST BE TIGHT FITTING. NO gaps at all. They will find the hole. I would not add a known aggressive/semi-aggressive fish. I am even cautious about clowns and firefish.

 

Order is up to you otherwise. I would say fish then corals. But you could go the other way if you want.

 

Always add the shyest fish first, so in your list that would be the firefish or goby. Then another fish. Some cool options would be a possum wrasse (although some have stated that theirs have eaten pistol shrimp), a rock perching goby like a clown goby (only one), or a not orange clown (which is still meh but its an option). A royal gramma might also be a good fit if you don't do the firefish. They can be jerks though, and can eat anything that the can fit in their mouth.

 

Stay away from wrasses in general, they get too big, only a possum would I feel comfortable putting in that size tank. But wrasses have a lot of personality and are very active. So when you get a bigger tank, consider them.

 

IF I had to stock this tank for me, I would do a firefish, clown, and goby/shrimp pair. I would stock small inverts like sexies, pom pom crabs, and a couple BTAs. But that tank is going to be a lot of work with a clown and two other fish, and it has sensitive inverts.

 

TL;DR: Fish stocking is not a science. It is a dice roll for most fish. Make a list and we can go down it and make the best choice.

 

Ok so to start with fish I am thinking:

YWG to pair with shrimp

fire fish and or clown

inverts that I want are 

pistol shrimp 

sexy shrimp

Nassarius snail

turban snail

As for coral I am set on hammers and frogspawns. Also some zoas And

 GSP. 

I am looking into BTA's at the moment, there is just so many options out there as to what I can put in my little tank I feel like my heads going to explode haha. Thankyou for your recommendations I am sure when I finally get into my LFS to pick up some livestock/coral I'll be confident in what I pick up thanks to all the help on here!

 

[REEFreefLJS85]

On 9/11/2017 at 7:47 PM, burtbollinger said:

ditch that hydrometer...buy a refractometer.

I was just about to post this. hydrometer can screw you up