Goats Nuvo 10 Aquarium Journal

[Stoops718]

On 4/27/2018 at 8:31 PM, ReefGoat said:

Here's a little snap shot of how I set my rear chambers up. For those 'Will it fit' situations others may run into with the NUVO 10. This picture includes the ghost skimmer, Tunze Nano osmolator and the return hose/ bracket. The Sicce silent 0.5 pump, Cobalt 50w Neo therm and a magnetic two probe 3d printed holder....all perfectly planned out and placed accordingly LOL...Fitment issues were why I had to go with the kessil instead of the Radion...The clamp on that thing is a MONSTER. Once the chiller comes in it will be ran inline with the Sicce. That's going to have to be done carefully lol. Sometimes next year there will also be two more tiny hoses coming from dosing pumps

Great setup! I was wondering about the Neo-Therm heaters. They don't need to be fully submerged?

[ReefGoat]

Thank you! I did have that concern Stoops but I read through the manual and didn't see anything that warned against it. I haven't had any problems with it. The reason I have it there is the Sicce was a lot bigger than the stock pump. I didn't want the heater to touch the pump. 

 

 

EDIT: You were correct Stoops after doing some digging Cobalt does recommend that the heater be fully submersed at least to the display. Where I got confused was the "horizontal" part. I was under the impression that the heater only had to be fully submersed if you were going to horizontally mount it. I fixed it and thank you very much for bringing that to my attention. 

[ReefGoat]

Fitting everything was a task. I think there's still room in there for a little water LMAO

[ReefGoat]

Yeah H20, the ATO res was on the must have list. I like the drawer fill feature.

[ReefGoat]

Been a couple days since the last update. Since the last time I've finished installing all the new parts and programming the APEX. It's all a waiting game now. Everything is moving along nicely. Just tested the Ammonia and it appears to be starting to creep down. I peaked it at 4ppm and have been adding the microbacter7 daily. It's somewhere between 0.5 and 1 right now it's been about 5 days I think. 

[ReefGoat]

[Elizabeth94]

Getting closer! I was once looking at a small chiller like that when I had my tank up. Have you been running it at all?

[ReefGoat]

It works perfect. My tank hasn't warmed up to the point where I've heard the fan come on yet. But I have it hooked up to the controller and it's set to come on at 79 degrees. The heater the same, it's set to come on at 77. So I have the redundancy of both the controller and the iternal smarts of both the chiller and heater. Supposedly it can cool a 10g upto 10 degrees I think. 

 

 

EDIT: As of 5/14/18 I have tweaked the settings a little bit. For whatever reason with the Apex settings for the heater to come on at 77 and the chiller to come on at 79 and the heater and chiller settings themselves set to match that. The temp was not as stable as I wanted it to be. I changed the controller settings for the heater to come on at 76 and the actual heater itself set to 78. The chiller is set to come on at 81 on the chiller and 80 at the controller. With these changes I have successfully been able to hold a steady 79.5. 

[ReefGoat]

I ended up having to move around some stuff in order to fit the chiller hosing and the PH and temp probes LOL. Here's to hoping that's the last time. It feels really good to finally have everything installed and now just be waiting on livestock. 

[Elizabeth94]

Got a lot of stuff in there XD but it actually looks nice and clean. Looking forward to this tanks progress! 

[Type-H20]

On 4/27/2018 at 8:31 PM, ReefGoat said:

Once the chiller comes in it will be ran inline with the Sicce. That's going to have to be done carefully lol. Sometimes next year there will also be two more tiny hoses coming from dosing pumps

 

Curious why you're planning on getting a chiller.  I'm in NY too and have never had a need for one.

[ReefGoat]

I'm in Louisiana it gets 102+ here in the summer with 100 percent humidity lol. Sometimes even the AC has trouble keeping up. 

[Type-H20]

55 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

I'm in Louisiana it gets 102+ here in the summer with 100 percent humidity lol. Sometimes even the AC has trouble keeping up. 

Thought your location was "Queens" - think my brain registered Stoops location as yours.   That makes a lot more sense now😀

[ReefGoat]

That's all good!! lol

[ReefGoat]

So I decided to finally boot up the Ghost skimmer today to get the break in process started and the Microbubble problem is real. I have seen where others have said to open the valve all the way, but when I do this the cup fills with water in like .03 seconds lol. I have heard that there is a 7-10 day break in period once you start running it. So I'm going to be patient and see what happens by the end of next week. If the problem doesn't sort itself out i'll kick the ghost to the curb and buy the Reef Glass skimmer and that'll open up some room in the rear because it's like a fraction of the size of the ghost. I want to like the ghost though because it doesn't utilize an air stone. On another note! I ran a few tests today and Phosphates are at 0, Ammonia is at 0, Nitrate has spiked to what seems like 15ppm (API) I really need to get a salifert kit. Salinity is at 1.025. I went ahead and did a 2 gallon water change and I'm going to test the nitrates tomorrow and see if they are down. If they are not down I will do another 2 gallon water change and continue to do so until they are down.  I am still adding the MB7 daily and will continue to do so for another week. Once my nitrates are at the correct level I will spike the ammonia to 1ppm and see if it goes away in 24 hours. If it does go down in 24 hours I will wait about 3 weeks to monitor the levels and then add my first inhabitants. 

[ReefGoat]

On 5/5/2018 at 7:54 PM, Elizabeth94 said:

Got a lot of stuff in there XD but it actually looks nice and clean. Looking forward to this tanks progress! 

Thank you!! I'm excited LOL

[M_Nano]

Looks great and can’t wait to see this tank get stocked up. 

[Elizabeth94]

If you are worried about the skimmer cup filling up, you could let the skimmer run for a few days without the cup while it breaks in. I never used the Ghost before, but I had to do that with a Tunze skimmer before.  Cycles on its way!

[ReefGoat]

50 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

If you are worried about the skimmer cup filling up, you could let the skimmer run for a few days without the cup while it breaks in. I never used the Ghost before, but I had to do that with a Tunze skimmer before.  Cycles on its way!

Well whats weird about it is that the skimmer has been sitting in the tank the entire time the tanks been up, it just hasn't been running. Plus I washed it with RO/DI when I redid the scape from the bristle worm fiasco. So whatever film that everyone talks about being on it should be long gone. I may be a little confused at what "break in" actually is regarding a protein skimmer. I can control the water level in the tube part of the cup with the Venturi valve as it should be. It's more the microbubble part that's bothering me there's so many that it makes the water appear cloudy. The reason I mentioned the cup filling up is because some people suggested that it's recommended to have the Venturi valve fully open to reduce micro bubbles, but when I do that the cup fills with water immediately. It seems that like 9 out of 10 people have problems with the ghost skimmer. I have only seen a couple of people not have problems with it and actually stick with it. It seems most people give up on it lol. I will try your suggestion though. 

[Elizabeth94]

Well, I cant speak for the micro bubble issue you are having as I have not experienced it with either of my skimmers (but I always break mine in without the cup). I thought tightening the valve would allow less air in- reducing the bubbles? Maybe it just needs some time running.

[1967type1]

My Ghost skimmer took almost a month to break in and the bubbles to stop getting into the display tank. Just stick some filter floss between it and the last baffle to catch the bubble for now

[dferrari13]

Nice setup....looks like you're going all in lol

[ReefGoat]

30 minutes ago, dferrari13 said:

Nice setup....looks like you're going all in lol

Thanks man I really appreciate that! I can only hope that once I stock it I have the success that you've had in yours. Your tank is impressive. 

[ReefGoat]

So it's been a little while since the last update. Been lots of just sitting, watching and waiting. My Salifert nitrate test came in so I went ahead and tested the nitrates and they were high. Tested the Ammonia and it was 0. I went ahead and did around a 75% water change and this will be the first water in the tank that is the Red Sea blue bucket instead of the Red Sea Coral Pro. All levels are testing perfect. I will wait another 2 weeks and then add first livestock.

[Kdrof]

Goat, I am just about to finish cycle as well. Added what I hope is the final dosing of ammonia. Seems like timing was nearly the same. Why did you decide to go away from RSCP salt?