Stoops718's Nuvo 10 Mixed Reef - Updates

[Stoops718]

18 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

We started very close to each other. Mine was May 1st with Life Rock, Microbacter7 DAILY and Dr. Tim's ammonia 4ppm ONCE...I tested my ammonia and nitrates on may 11th and the nitrates were spiked up to around 20ppm and the ammonia at 0ppm. I did a 75% water change at that point. I have been watching the nitrate and ammonia levels once a week since, along with starting a routine of 2.5 gallon water change on Saturdays and a dose of Microbacter7. I tested the biofilters ability on one occasion with 1ppm of the ammonia and it brought it down in 24hrs. But i'm still waiting until the 30th to add anything just because that was my target date. There's a cycling guide that was a very interesting read that this guy keeps posting every time someone has a cycling question.........

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

 

Check it out because i'm just commenting from my experience and there are some heavyweights in that thread LOL. I'd listen to them.

I'd go the route of saving 40 bucks and get a new wet side for the MP10. Looking forward to those pictures of the tank with the first livestock!! 

I'm still trying very hard not to rush into things. LOL. I've read that article numerous times. It's a great one. The only reason why I even bothered testing the nitrite was because I have the full API kit so i just tested for the heck of it. Plan on doing a big water change over the weekend, throw in a pinch of fish flakes and test again a couple of days after and see how the bio-filter handles it. As for the CUC, I wanted to take of advantage of reefcleaners.com Spring 15% off sale. I'm gonna put crew in my algae overrun pico until my cycle is complete.

 

In this hobby I always love trying to save some money. I just haven't decided if like the idea of being able to control the direction of the flow and being able to place the PH on the back wall.

[ReefGoat]

Yeah I actually started a lighting cycle and within 3 days brown diatom algae was starting to creep up on me. I did a urgent water change, cleaned what I could and shut the lights out. I am assuming that it's due to the large amount of nutrient processing that went on during the cycle. High amounts of spikes and stuff. I am going to leave the lights off for a while I think and maybe do two water changes weekly and let the tank stabilize possibly longer than the 30th. Turning the lights off stops it dead in its tracks. 

[Stoops718]

22 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

Yeah I actually started a lighting cycle and within 3 days brown diatom algae was starting to creep up on me. I did a urgent water change, cleaned what I could and shut the lights out. I am assuming that it's due to the large amount of nutrient processing that went on during the cycle. High amounts of spikes and stuff. I am going to leave the lights off for a while I think and maybe do two water changes weekly and let the tank stabilize possibly longer than the 30th. Turning the lights off stops it dead in its tracks. 

That's what has been throwing me off this cycle. I haven't had any lights on so there absolutely no algae. I don't think you need to worry about your diatom bloom too much. It's normal. Maybe start off with a light CUC.

[Stoops718]

I added some things. This pic was taken at 6:50 am so not much extension on anything. I'll get better pics soon.

[Stoops718]

Only time I got a chance to take pics was when I had the blues on. I'll get better pics over the weekend.

 

Candy Cane

 

Acans

 

Branching Hammer

 

Duncan

 

Rock Flower Anemones

 

[ClownFizz]

ur corals look good so far.

 

How is ur anemone going? stayed put?

 

you should get a light CUC.. 

 

I have 2x small blue legged hermits...really good

watch out for other coloured ones...

 

I have 2 small clowns.. no probs... with 1 skunk shrimp ($150 in Australia)

 

 

 

[ReefGoat]

Lookin good Stoops

[Stoops718]

Ok, so it's been a while since I updated this thread. Had a ton of ups and downs, mostly downs. A couple of tank crashes, a move, and couple of extremely busy summers. The only good thing about this pandemic is that I am home, like all the the time. Had more time to focus on maintaining my tank. With that said I updated my main post. I lost all my SPS that I had gotten throughout the years, nothing major, some Birdsnest, Pocis, Stylo, and Montis. Lost all my acans and other LPS. The only one that semi-survived is my Duncan but it still hasn't extended it's polyps yet. All the Mushrooms shrunk but are starting to come back. I think what happened was when I started to dose All-For-Reef. I don't think my tank was packed enough with corals for it to be needed and caused too big of a Alk swing. I also over dosed with Prime after I did a big water change. I have now stopped dosing anything other than one drop of Macrobacter nightly and have been doing weekly 1 gallon water changes with Fritz RPM salt. I also had a huge Aiptasia outbreak that a couple of Nudis took care of but now some are coming back. Hopefully Leland Chapman (Peppermint Shrimp) will take care of those. So the good news, I got 2 new Clownfish named Dog and Beth Chapman (pending which one decides to be female) and a gorgeous Rose Snowflake BTA (Dakine Bailbonds). They have not begun to host yet though, the Misbar is starting to give it some interest though. Planning now to stick to softies for a while.

 

Here is a crappy cellphone pic of Dakine Bailbonds The RSBTA

 

FTS w/ appearance of Dog and Beth