The Arkansas Nuvo 10 build

[TatorTaco]

That’s crazy to see so many baby heads!

[dcknipe]

2 hours ago, hedgeclipper2 said:

Looks nice!  We have the exact same ATO set up lol!  I got mine at Walmart, you?

I got my tunze ATO from Amazon 

[dcknipe]

1 hour ago, TatorTaco said:

That’s crazy to see so many baby heads!

I didn't even notice them until I got home and the next day all the heads started sprouting. I got this at the fish tank in little Rock. They had 3 or 4 more like this one for $35-40. They all had heads all over them. They also had a bright blue tipped hammer I almost bought but I have 3 torch corals coming in next week and I'm afraid I'll run out of space when it all grows out. I'll have to frag this frogspawn in the future with the growth it's showing. 

[Andreww]

Don’t freak out yet lol

 Those baby heads are going to take a couple years to develop into a mature head, maybe more.

The big heads you see on the colony usually split from an already mature head and start separating much much faster than any Baby head can grow...still, takes weeks to months in a stable tank.

If you want to have a nicer looking colony rather than the branchy look you got now, cut the heads about 3-4” long and glue them an inch apart on a pretty flat rock.

That way when they open up fully you have a much nicer looking colony that looks better in a nano than that branch.

In a nano it’s all about making the colonies look mature but also take the least amount of room...almost impossible but doable with a bit of planning.

And watch out for torches. More often than not, they end up killing everything around them, frogspawn included. 

[dcknipe]

14 hours ago, Andreww said:

Don’t freak out yet lol

 Those baby heads are going to take a couple years to develop into a mature head, maybe more.

The big heads you see on the colony usually split from an already mature head and start separating much much faster than any Baby head can grow...still, takes weeks to months in a stable tank.

If you want to have a nicer looking colony rather than the branchy look you got now, cut the heads about 3-4” long and glue them an inch apart on a pretty flat rock.

That way when they open up fully you have a much nicer looking colony that looks better in a nano than that branch.

In a nano it’s all about making the colonies look mature but also take the least amount of room...almost impossible but doable with a bit of planning.

And watch out for torches. More often than not, they end up killing everything around them, frogspawn included. 

The torchs will be higher up in the rock work on the right side.. Left side will be frogspawn and lower rock work will be hammers. 

 

I plan on doing exactly what you said just gun shy about cutting it up

[dcknipe]

So today I woke up to a cloudy tank. 

 

Basically I've been feeding the shit out of tank trying to get this clown to eat rods frozen food and it's bit me in the ass. Apparently he prefers flakes instead of pellets or mysis. 

 

I have a Hugh ammonia spike. 

 

My local Lfs is closed so I can't buy water. Went to petco to grab salt then going to get distilled water as I don't have enough rodi water. 

 

Get home mix 2 gallons. 

 

Tested tank and it was 1ppm ammonia, no nitrites, 20 nitrates, and 8.2 ph

 

Got mixed water to correct salinity then did the 2 gallon wc. Tested again and it was .2 ish ammonia, 5 nitrates but now my ph is 7.8..

 

Grr.... Tomorrow I'm going to get fresh mixed saltwater and rodi from my lfs and do another 2 gallon wc. 

 

Hopefully with rodi mixed saltwater tomorrow my problems will go away. 

 

 

[Andreww]

A new tank will sometimes have bacterial blooms that turn the water milky white/hazy...

Your heavy feeding sounds like it contributed to an ammonia spike which a weak bacterial population cannot effectively convert to nitrite and nitrate.

Sounds to me like this tank is either not completely cycled or you stocked it way too soon and obviously feed too much.

 

Buckle up for the next few months you’ll need to keep up with the water changes and minuscule feeding.

Clowns can go for days without eating so don’t try to force him to eat, it will eventually, they’re not picky eaters at all.

Also, Id do a 5 gallon water change which is 50% or more of your water volume to get ammonia and nitrate to 0 QUICK!

Good luck ! 

[dcknipe]

2 hours ago, Andreww said:

A new tank will sometimes have bacterial blooms that turn the water milky white/hazy...

Your heavy feeding sounds like it contributed to an ammonia spike which a weak bacterial population cannot effectively convert to nitrite and nitrate.

Sounds to me like this tank is either not completely cycled or you stocked it way too soon and obviously feed too much.

 

Buckle up for the next few months you’ll need to keep up with the water changes and minuscule feeding.

Clowns can go for days without eating so don’t try to force him to eat, it will eventually, they’re not picky eaters at all.

Also, Id do a 5 gallon water change which is 50% or more of your water volume to get ammonia and nitrate to 0 QUICK!

Good luck ! 

Well it was stocked to quick after the cycle. I was gifted a clown and Condy literally days after my tank cycled and my overfeeding basically judo kicked me in the junk. I did a 2gall wc today and I'll do another tomorrow. 

 

I checked my ammonia again and it's reading 0 now

[dcknipe]

So I made it through the ammonia spike. Everything is reading good now! 

 

Fragged my frogspawn traded two of the heads for a super blue shroom. 

 

I also picked up a velvet green looking torch and a small orange/rose colored torch. 

[dcknipe]

Day 2 new torch

[dcknipe]

So I got my tailspot blenny into st the Lfs. I got home, floated him, then dripped him. Buttttt as soon as I went to put that dude in the tank he jumped out the tank behind my dresser. I panicked and got him in the tank as quick as I could. He now has the famous stress white stripes. I hope he makes it through this traumatic day :(. 

 

I also picked up an ultra neon green blue tipped hammer (tips are blue when the blues are on). 

 

I really wish I could get a pic of my orange/rose/purple tipped torch it's absolutely stunning with the blues on. My s8 can't capture it though. 

 

I have a coral addiction literally every time I go to the Lfs I buy one lol. Going to pick up some awesome zoas this weekend from a local reefer.  

 

I recently watched a video of Dave from nanobox dosing Microbacter7 when he feeds? Anyone else do this? I got some on order I think I might try it. 

 

I've been feeding PEpellets mysis, New Life Spectrum, and Seachem marine flakes.  Oh and I had Rods as well.  I kinda just rotate through all of them. Is variety to much? I also put a few drops of phyto feast in everyday and my tank has exploded with pods. 

 

[dcknipe]

[TatorTaco]

Are these corals all coming out of your LFS in Jonesboro?  I might have to make a special trip there!

[dcknipe]

33 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Are these corals all coming out of your LFS in Jonesboro?  I might have to make a special trip there!

Yup they are! They have so many nice ones right now too

[dcknipe]

Little update. Tailspot finally settled in. 

 

Only problem I have now is the cleaner shrimp riding waves I to the overflow every night 

[dcknipe]

[dcknipe]

Little update. All Params good, I've had to cut back my feeding quite a bit as I was having high nitrates. 

 

I've been dosing mb7 every day in 1ml increments and my coraline has exploded.  I thought it was algae at first but it isnt.  

 

I've scored a bunch of corals for an awesome price. I'm afraid my acro is bleaching though

[dcknipe]

[TatorTaco]

Sure does look like coraline!  I've been running a few months longer than you I think and I'm still not seeing an coraline.  However, I started with 100% dry rock.  

[dcknipe]

1 hour ago, TatorTaco said:

Sure does look like coraline!  I've been running a few months longer than you I think and I'm still not seeing an coraline.  However, I started with 100% dry rock.  

All mine was dry rock. The big pieces at the bottom were just cooked at the Lfs for awhile. 

 

 

I'm telling you the mb7 was the magic sauce. I started dosing it because I watched a video of Dave from nanobox, he uses it every time he feeds.  

 

As soon as I started mb7 and feeding the tank phyto feast it exploded. Like I could visually see it spread each day

 

Oh and my emerald lasted a whole 3hrs before I caught him eating my torch

[dcknipe]

1 hour ago, TatorTaco said:

Sure does look like coraline!  I've been running a few months longer than you I think and I'm still not seeing an coraline.  However, I started with 100% dry rock.  

Btw I got both those Sps, the two zoa colonies and the Duncan for $60 from a guy in Lake city. It's worth the drive he has a frag tank in his house and has some crazy stuff for awesome prices 

[dcknipe]

[dcknipe]

So I scored 2 Rodactis hairy mushrooms for 10 a piece and my black clown is hosting both now 

[Christopher Marks]

How's your nano reef these days @dcknipe? How are the mushrooms holding up to the maroon clownfish hosting them? 🙂 

[dcknipe]

So it's been a long road. 

 

I had a massive green hair algae attack that pretty much took over my whole tank.  I could never get my nitrates under control even with weekly water changes. So I finally broke down and tackled the sand which I think was the major culprit. I lost almost all of my original corals. 

 

I removed my sandbed and peroxide diped all my rocks. Following that I scrubbed the shit out of everything before putting it back in the tank. 

 

So as of now I finally have pre 10 ppm nitrates which is a first. I can keep pretty much all the tank spotless now when I do waterchanges. Luckily so far my algae problem is fixed. I normally fed every other day very lightly but it never changed anything as the GHA was rampant. 

 

Currently everything is super happy. 

 

I only have two fish. A small six line wrasse and a small green clown goby. 

 

I think Ima about to add a reef glass skimmer and a nano powerhead. 

 

The sicce .5 and the Spinstream just don't seem up to part for the amount of flow I want. It's a very gentle flow at the moment and yes I clean the pump every month.