Planted aquarist first reef(IM Nuvo 10)

[Tnalp]

As the title states this is my first shot at a reef tank. Im heavily into planted tanks, also known as Kaquatics on instagram. Before I got into planted aquariums I had purchased an IM Nuvo 20, but sold it after seeing what you could do with planted aquariums. One year later here we are. 

 

Tank: IM Nuvo 10

 

Light: Nano Box Mini Tide Plus M

 

Sand: Carib sea special grade

 

Rock: BRS reef saver 

 

Heater: Cobalt 50w Neotherm

 

Other Equipment: Sicce .5 return pump, InTank media basket upgrade, Marine pure bio balls for extra biological retention. 

 

The rock work is held by epoxy as you can tell, after that cured I wanted back in and sealed everything with super glue. The rock work is so sturdy I could pick it up and shake it around! I did set the Aquascape In place then pour in the sand.

 

Poured in the sand, topped off with RODI water/salt to 1.025, heater set at 78 degrees, plugged in pump. I will say that I am very impressed by the sicce. That pump greats an amazing amount of flow! Left is running over night with a piece of filter pad in the top compartment, only to wake up the next day to a crystal clear tank. 

 

Cycle: A bottle of Bio sp. along with 2ppm of ammonium chloride was added to the tank for the start of the cycle. Now it’s all waiting. 

 

Future plans: I’ve been eyeing the intank refugium, IM cheteomaxx led light, Tunze nano ato and the Mp10. For corals I’m not 100% what exactly I will be stocking the stank with. I still have a few weeks to decided while the tank cycles. 

 

Nano box is being built, should have that within the next week. I’ll update when that arrives. 

 

 

 

 

[1891Bro]

2 hours ago, Tnalp said:

As the title states this is my first shot at a reef tank. Im heavily into planted tanks, also known as Kaquatics on instagram. Before I got into planted aquariums I had purchased an IM Nuvo 20, but sold it after seeing what you could do with planted aquariums. One year later here we are. 

 

Tank: IM Nuvo 10

 

Light: Nano Box Mini Tide Plus M

 

Sand: Carib sea special grade

 

Rock: BRS reef saver 

 

Heater: Cobalt 50w Neotherm

 

Other Equipment: Sicce .5 return pump, InTank media basket upgrade, Marine pure bio balls for extra biological retention. 

 

The rock work is held by epoxy as you can tell, after that cured I wanted back in and sealed everything with super glue. The rock work is so sturdy I could pick it up and shake it around! I did set the Aquascape In place then pour in the sand.

 

Poured in the sand, topped off with RODI water/salt to 1.025, heater set at 78 degrees, plugged in pump. I will say that I am very impressed by the sicce. That pump greats an amazing amount of flow! Left is running over night with a piece of filter pad in the top compartment, only to wake up the next day to a crystal clear tank. 

 

Cycle: A bottle of Bio sp. along with 2ppm of ammonium chloride was added to the tank for the start of the cycle. Now it’s all waiting. 

 

Future plans: I’ve been eyeing the intank refugium, IM cheteomaxx led light, Tunze nano ato and the Mp10. For corals I’m not 100% what exactly I will be stocking the stank with. I still have a few weeks to decided while the tank cycles. 

 

Nano box is being built, should have that within the next week. I’ll update when that arrives. 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what future plans are but an mp10 is not just overkill on this, it’s expensive overkill. 

Looks fantastic. Off to a solid start. I’ll also add my favorite read on cycling. 

 

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

[Toxic enigma]

Cycling a tank dosn't change much when adding salt to the water, while live rock is the source of Your biological filtration it first has to be live , meaning it already has slighty differant strains of the same bacteria that do the work in a freshwater tank. When you start with dry rock the bacteria need time and a food source i.e. ammonia and nitrite to form. 

     Other than that everything looks good. I came from freshwater planted tanks myself and some things are similar to planted tanks others are very differant.

[Tnalp]

37 minutes ago, Toxic enigma said:

Cycling a tank dosn't change much when adding salt to the water, while live rock is the source of Your biological filtration it first has to be live , meaning it already has slighty differant strains of the same bacteria that do the work in a freshwater tank. When you start with dry rock the bacteria need time and a food source i.e. ammonia and nitrite to form. 

     Other than that everything looks good. I came from freshwater planted tanks myself and some things are similar to planted tanks others are very differant.

I understand the concept of dry rock cycling which is why I seeding and fed the tank ammonia. Glad to see another planted fellow on here! 

[Tnalp]

1 hour ago, 1891Bro said:

I don’t know what future plans are but an mp10 is not just overkill on this, it’s expensive overkill. 

Looks fantastic. Off to a solid start. I’ll also add my favorite read on cycling. 

 

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

I’m considering a sps dominant tank. I’ve been reading that they need strong flow.. would the .5 be enough? 

[Toxic enigma]

1 hour ago, Tnalp said:

I understand the concept of dry rock cycling which is why I seeding and fed the tank ammonia. Glad to see another planted fellow on here! 

Not to be mean but I don't consider biospria anything more than a waste of money. Refrigerated stuff like Dr. Tims or turbo start might be okay depending an how well it was treated from source to tank but ime it's hit and miss. It's just better to supply some form of ammonia, test and wait.

 As far as sps go start with some soft corals unlike plants corals react to any little thing instantly. Plants  can melt and come back, macro algea will as well from almost nothing. Coral will pretty much just give up over little things.  I have a mushroom that got from a not so local Lfs as a single loose polyp, placed it where I wanted and within a few hours it was balled up in a rock crevice after a few days moved it a few inches and it's been attached to that spot since

[Toxic enigma]

Do you have a way to mix saltwater outside the tank? Also what are you using to measure salinity with? 

  Just trying to help a new transfer like myself 

[Nocturnal]

MP10 is an overkill. SPS do need lots of flow (50x volume or more) in random directions. For that size tank you might want to look at the smaller wave maker powerheads (Jebao are cheap but not long lasting) or one of the smaller gyres like the icecap 100. I'm loving mine, it pushes a lot of water in a wide area.

[Type-H20]

11 hours ago, Tnalp said:

As the title states this is my first shot at a reef tank. Im heavily into planted tanks, also known as Kaquatics on instagram. Before I got into planted aquariums I had purchased an IM Nuvo 20, but sold it after seeing what you could do with planted aquariums. One year later here we are. 

 

Tank: IM Nuvo 10

 

Light: Nano Box Mini Tide Plus M

 

Sand: Carib sea special grade

 

Rock: BRS reef saver 

 

Heater: Cobalt 50w Neotherm

 

Other Equipment: Sicce .5 return pump, InTank media basket upgrade, Marine pure bio balls for extra biological retention. 

 

The rock work is held by epoxy as you can tell, after that cured I wanted back in and sealed everything with super glue. The rock work is so sturdy I could pick it up and shake it around! I did set the Aquascape In place then pour in the sand.

 

Poured in the sand, topped off with RODI water/salt to 1.025, heater set at 78 degrees, plugged in pump. I will say that I am very impressed by the sicce. That pump greats an amazing amount of flow! Left is running over night with a piece of filter pad in the top compartment, only to wake up the next day to a crystal clear tank. 

 

Cycle: A bottle of Bio sp. along with 2ppm of ammonium chloride was added to the tank for the start of the cycle. Now it’s all waiting. 

 

Future plans: I’ve been eyeing the intank refugium, IM cheteomaxx led light, Tunze nano ato and the Mp10. For corals I’m not 100% what exactly I will be stocking the stank with. I still have a few weeks to decided while the tank cycles. 

 

Nano box is being built, should have that within the next week. I’ll update when that arrives. 

 

 

 

 

I'm a sucker for equipment shots.  You are off to a great start.  I'll agree with the others, the MP10 is overkill (you'll likely keep it at the lowest setting), but its also not as intrusive inside the tank as a regular powerhead or wavemaker which on an IM10 may be a benefit.  I have a Jebao PP4 (which I'm happy with) on a standard 10 gallon and keep it at the 2 lowest settings or sand starts kicking up.

[Tnalp]

10 hours ago, Toxic enigma said:

Not to be mean but I don't consider biospria anything more than a waste of money. Refrigerated stuff like Dr. Tims or turbo start might be okay depending an how well it was treated from source to tank but ime it's hit and miss. It's just better to supply some form of ammonia, test and wait.

 As far as sps go start with some soft corals unlike plants corals react to any little thing instantly. Plants  can melt and come back, macro algea will as well from almost nothing. Coral will pretty much just give up over little things.  I have a mushroom that got from a not so local Lfs as a single loose polyp, placed it where I wanted and within a few hours it was balled up in a rock crevice after a few days moved it a few inches and it's been attached to that spot since

Id consider my self a very meticulous person. While this is the start of my first reef.. I can say that I have researched this side for around a year on and off. I’ll see what I decided as far as corals go. I’m using a refr. meter that I calibrated with ro. Yes I have purchased a cheap power head, bucket and Eheim Jager to pre mix water prior to water change. I have added 2ppm of ammonia so if the bio sp. does not work then that should kick start the cycle. Not a problem I greatly appreciate the help! 

[nicholc2]

6 hours ago, Nocturnal said:

MP10 is an overkill. SPS do need lots of flow (50x volume or more) in random directions. For that size tank you might want to look at the smaller wave maker powerheads (Jebao are cheap but not long lasting) or one of the smaller gyres like the icecap 100. I'm loving mine, it pushes a lot of water in a wide area.

I must be crazy then. I have an MP10 and gyre 1k on opposing walls with random mode on both. Interestingly enough I can run my MP10 way higher than the 1k and that’s with one side removed. 

[Nocturnal]

5 minutes ago, nicholc2 said:

I must be crazy then. I have an MP10 and gyre 1k on opposing walls with random mode on both. Interestingly enough I can run my MP10 way higher than the 1k and that’s with one side removed. 

That's a lot of flow! 

 

I could see that dynamic in the 10 gallon I guess. I have my 1k ramping up to 100%, a koralia 450, and a Jebao Sw-2 on 100% random and my sand is moved around much more by the 1k.  Where is your gyre? I have mine on the top middle back, when I had it on the sides it was much more of a sandstorm. 

[nicholc2]

9 minutes ago, Nocturnal said:

That's a lot of flow! 

 

I could see that dynamic in the 10 gallon I guess. I have my 1k ramping up to 100%, a koralia 450, and a Jebao Sw-2 on 100% random and my sand is moved around much more by the 1k.  Where is your gyre? I have mine on the top middle back, when I had it on the sides it was much more of a sandstorm. 

Mine is 13 including the AIO area. The way my tank is made I was able to mount mine beside the back chamber. 

[Subsea]

13 hours ago, Tnalp said:

I’m considering a sps dominant tank. I’ve been reading that they need strong flow.. would the .5 be enough? 

I will second the comment about not starting with SPS.  Generalizations like they need more current and light are superficial in properly maintaining SPS.  Because SPS consume tremendous amounts of calcium, alkalinity management is critical.  

 

After 45 years in this hobby, I know about a few things that can go wrong.   Starting out with SPS is “flirting with failure”.

[Nocturnal]

3 hours ago, Subsea said:

I will second the comment about not starting with SPS.  Generalizations like they need more current and light are superficial in properly maintaining SPS.  Because SPS consume tremendous amounts of calcium, alkalinity management is critical.  

 

After 45 years in this hobby, I know about a few things that can go wrong.   Starting out with SPS is “flirting with failure”.

I would tend to agree. I've been keeping LPS and softies for years and fish for far longer and I've been struggling keeping my SPS going. 

[Tnalp]

12 hours ago, Nocturnal said:

MP10 is an overkill. SPS do need lots of flow (50x volume or more) in random directions. For that size tank you might want to look at the smaller wave maker powerheads (Jebao are cheap but not long lasting) or one of the smaller gyres like the icecap 100. I'm loving mine, it pushes a lot of water in a wide area.

Mp10 is mostly for the fact that it’ll take up less space as well

[Tnalp]

10 hours ago, Type-H20 said:

I'm a sucker for equipment shots.  You are off to a great start.  I'll agree with the others, the MP10 is overkill (you'll likely keep it at the lowest setting), but its also not as intrusive inside the tank as a regular powerhead or wavemaker which on an IM10 may be a benefit.  I have a Jebao PP4 (which I'm happy with) on a standard 10 gallon and keep it at the 2 lowest settings or sand starts kicking up.

I’m a sucker for build threads with pics of equipment as well! In all honesty that’s why I like the mp10. Less footprint inside the tank. Plus I’ve seen many other build threads of IM10’s using it 

[Tnalp]

4 hours ago, Subsea said:

I will second the comment about not starting with SPS.  Generalizations like they need more current and light are superficial in properly maintaining SPS.  Because SPS consume tremendous amounts of calcium, alkalinity management is critical.  

 

After 45 years in this hobby, I know about a few things that can go wrong.   Starting out with SPS is “flirting with failure”.

While I don it doubt your experience. I will say that most people said the same thing when going straight into planted aquariums. “Don’t start with high light, co2 etc”. I did so and did well. I will mention that I was meticulous about testing etc. Not one of those jump in and “guesstimate” type of hobbiest. Now I’m not 100% on a full sps dominant, yet I will incorporate them in the future plans.

[Subsea]

Enjoy.   It is a lot more work, but it is your work.

 

As a Laissez Faire reefkeeper, I enjoy keeping things that don’t require the work.

[1891Bro]

4 hours ago, Subsea said:

I will second the comment about not starting with SPS.  Generalizations like they need more current and light are superficial in properly maintaining SPS.  Because SPS consume tremendous amounts of calcium, alkalinity management is critical.  

 

After 45 years in this hobby, I know about a few things that can go wrong.   Starting out with SPS is “flirting with failure”.

 

54 minutes ago, Nocturnal said:

I would tend to agree. I've been keeping LPS and softies for years and fish for far longer and I've been struggling keeping my SPS going. 

Yup. If all it took was light and flow you could just leave the lid up, light on, flush every five minutes and, well you’d have a lush sps garden right there in the toilet. 

 

I tried. Mine all brown out. 

 

Get it?

[Subsea]

54 minutes ago, Tnalp said:

While I don it doubt your experience. I will say that most people said the same thing when going straight into planted aquariums. “Don’t start with high light, co2 etc”. I did so and did well. I will mention that I was meticulous about testing etc. Not one of those jump in and “guesstimate” type of hobbiest. Now I’m not 100% on a full sps dominant, yet I will incorporate them in the future plans.

Considering your planted tank experience, you should consider a mixed garden using ornamental macros to contrast color and texture combined with LPS and softies.  You could incorporate CO2 injection with a calcium reactor.  CO2 as a gas dissolves into water to form carbonate molecules, which when coupled with photosynthesis form glucose.  Glucose is a carbon source which you will need to grow coral in the ratio of 106/16/1 of carbon/nitrogen/phosphorous ( Redfield Ratio).

 

PSS.    When you get to study on “carbon dosing” in reef aquarium, I will impart some knowledge to you.

 

Inorganic carbon dioxide grows coral, while organic carbon like vodka grows bacteria.

[biophilia]

Looks like you're on the right track so far! You've made the right decision springing for the good stuff off the bat. If your goal is (likely) SPS in the tank, an MP10 will not be overkill at all, though you'll probably need to run it at 60% or so. A much cheaper alternative is the Jebao SW-2 (which you'd want to run at ~100% (~60x turnover) on the "Else" mode which is the Jebao equivalent of Vortech's reefcrest mode. Either will work completely fine for any direction you go as far as stocking and both have a low profile in the tank. The jebao has the advantage w/ footprint (IMO) in that you can place it closer to the back wall and angle it forward whereas the MP10 will be a tiny bit more visible on the side wall near the front which can get in the way on a small tank w/ some aquascapes.

That said, the MP10 is a much better powerhead and it's what I would choose in a heartbeat if I was starting from scratch today and had a couple Benjamins to throw at it. On the other hand, my SW-2 works just fine with lots of random flow. The only downside is that it tends to slow down over the course of 7-10 days so requires a quick vinegar bath/toothbrush scrub once every week or two to stay at the target ~60x turnover rate.

Starting with SPS may be a bit risky, but there are some things you can do with a small tank to mitigate that (namely easy, large water changes to reset you back to square one if things get out of whack. If you have lots of planted tank experience, you at least have a leg up in terms of understanding the importance of testing water chemistry and dosing what is needed. SPS is made out to be scary, but is not provided you're willing to invest some OCD-style tendencies in caring for your tank. It looks and sounds like you're a meticulous-type person so you'll be fine if you go that route.

My number one suggestions as a fellow meticulous person with a Nuvo 10 with SPS and a strong light:
Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to keep your nitrates and phosphates at 0. Your corals (particularly LPS and SPS) will starve and whither away. Rather, do water changes any time your tank goes above 10-15ppm NO3, but make sure to keep it at least at 5ppm NO3. Phosphates should be kept pretty low, but not at zero (0.01-0.04ppm) for SPS health and should only be tested with fancy-pants high resolution test kits. Elos PO3 Pro and Hannah make good ones. Alkalinity should be tested once per day at roughly the same time until you get the hang of how your tank fluctuates. Keep the DKH fluctuations less than 1DK per day and ideally keep it within a daily range of less than 0.25DKH if keeping SPS. This can be accomplished easily on a newer tank with a tiny bit of kalkwasser added to your ATO (like 1/4 tsp/gallon or less). If you use kalkwasser, you don't need to worry about figuring out dosing two part or buying a dosing pump until your tank is packed with SPS and kalk is no longer keeping up with the alkalinity/calcium demand.

 

 

[Subsea]

@biophilia

Like I said.  Sounds like a lot of work.

 

When you have 1000G with numerous tanks, I can assure you, it is not practical to make a choice that requires due diligence.  We all have differrent reasons for maintaining reef tanks.

 

 

[Tnalp]

5 hours ago, Subsea said:

Considering your planted tank experience, you should consider a mixed garden using ornamental macros to contrast color and texture combined with LPS and softies.  You could incorporate CO2 injection with a calcium reactor.  CO2 as a gas dissolves into water to form carbonate molecules, which when coupled with photosynthesis form glucose.  Glucose is a carbon source which you will need to grow coral in the ratio of 106/16/1 of carbon/nitrogen/phosphorous ( Redfield Ratio).

 

PSS.    When you get to study on “carbon dosing” in reef aquarium, I will impart some knowledge to you.

 

Inorganic carbon dioxide grows coral, while organic carbon like vodka grows bacteria.

I’ve always been curious about carbon dosing in a reef tank, it’ll be something to put in the research list! 

[Tnalp]

3 hours ago, biophilia said:

Looks like you're on the right track so far! You've made the right decision springing for the good stuff off the bat. If your goal is (likely) SPS in the tank, an MP10 will not be overkill at all, though you'll probably need to run it at 60% or so. A much cheaper alternative is the Jebao SW-2 (which you'd want to run at ~100% (~60x turnover) on the "Else" mode which is the Jebao equivalent of Vortech's reefcrest mode. Either will work completely fine for any direction you go as far as stocking and both have a low profile in the tank. The jebao has the advantage w/ footprint (IMO) in that you can place it closer to the back wall and angle it forward whereas the MP10 will be a tiny bit more visible on the side wall near the front which can get in the way on a small tank w/ some aquascapes.

That said, the MP10 is a much better powerhead and it's what I would choose in a heartbeat if I was starting from scratch today and had a couple Benjamins to throw at it. On the other hand, my SW-2 works just fine with lots of random flow. The only downside is that it tends to slow down over the course of 7-10 days so requires a quick vinegar bath/toothbrush scrub once every week or two to stay at the target ~60x turnover rate.

Starting with SPS may be a bit risky, but there are some things you can do with a small tank to mitigate that (namely easy, large water changes to reset you back to square one if things get out of whack. If you have lots of planted tank experience, you at least have a leg up in terms of understanding the importance of testing water chemistry and dosing what is needed. SPS is made out to be scary, but is not provided you're willing to invest some OCD-style tendencies in caring for your tank. It looks and sounds like you're a meticulous-type person so you'll be fine if you go that route.

My number one suggestions as a fellow meticulous person with a Nuvo 10 with SPS and a strong light:
Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to keep your nitrates and phosphates at 0. Your corals (particularly LPS and SPS) will starve and whither away. Rather, do water changes any time your tank goes above 10-15ppm NO3, but make sure to keep it at least at 5ppm NO3. Phosphates should be kept pretty low, but not at zero (0.01-0.04ppm) for SPS health and should only be tested with fancy-pants high resolution test kits. Elos PO3 Pro and Hannah make good ones. Alkalinity should be tested once per day at roughly the same time until you get the hang of how your tank fluctuates. Keep the DKH fluctuations less than 1DK per day and ideally keep it within a daily range of less than 0.25DKH if keeping SPS. This can be accomplished easily on a newer tank with a tiny bit of kalkwasser added to your ATO (like 1/4 tsp/gallon or less). If you use kalkwasser, you don't need to worry about figuring out dosing two part or buying a dosing pump until your tank is packed with SPS and kalk is no longer keeping up with the alkalinity/calcium demand.

 

 

I’ve learned from planted that sparing a little cash for equipment usually ends up costing more down the line. That’s why as you can tell I just pulled the trigger on some nice stuff that I would have purchased down the line anyway. That’s my mentality with the mp10. Yea it over kill, I’ll be running it super low, yet I have a nice piece of equipment that will run me a very long time. For example, I purchased a dual stage regulator all stainless steel with all the bells and wisles. Attached it to a 5lb co2 tank, run it for months on end without ever having to check or worry about it. What I’m trying to say is that yes biting the bullet hurts but in the long run it’s worth it. Maybe that’s me justifying 250$ for a pump haha then again I am a sucker for equipment. 

 

When en it’s comes to dosing and testing.. high tech aquariums can get complicated. With co2 and high light plants can start growing as if they were on sterioid, thus sucking up nutrients like crazy. Nitrate crash? Algae. Too much fert, algae. Too little co2 algae. Too much kill fish. Fluctuating co2 levels, bba algae etc. What I am saying is that while I do under stand some like the laid back approach to aquarium keeping. I feel like a challenging task keeps me doing something. Hands on, the type of guy I am. Yet again, I’m not saying I’m jumping straight into sps dominant... something that has crossed the mind. We’ll see as time goes. 

 

Screen en shorted the last paragraph for future reference!