joshthebox Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Thought I'd make a build thread for my SPS dominant Nuvo 20. The tank has been running for a year now. Initially I had a hydra 26HD and a primeHD running but I was experiencing lots of shadowing. I recently purchased a t5 fixture which really helped remove the shadowing problems. It's been on the tank for less than a week now and I'm curious to see any differences in growth and colouration over time. I'll be sure to document the changes. Here's the specs: Lighting: ATI Dimmable Sunpower 24x4 (2 ATI Blue +, 2 ATI Coral +) Skimmer: Eshopps Nano ATO: Duetto Heater: Fluval 150w Return pump: Sicce 1.5 Powerhead: MP10QD x2 Doser: DP-4; dosing ESV B-ionic 2 part Livestock: Sixline Wrasse Flasher Wrasse Tiger goby (only 2cm long lol) Tridacna Crocea Vast cleanup crew, also an infestation of micro bristle starfish and spaghetti worms. Coral: Almost exclusively sps, aside from a stereonepthya, a goni, WWC AOI zoas, and a lepto. I'll be sure to share some sps shots soon I also run a small amount of carbon. I've never used mechanical filtration as it messes with the ATO. I do bi-weekly 5g waterchanges using RS coral pro salt. My tank runs very low nutrient wise so I try and feed heavy. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I love talking about reef stuff. 6 Quote Link to comment
DGibster Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 How long did you let your tank mature before adding SPS? Anything in particular that you do to maintain the stability? Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted December 28, 2020 Author Share Posted December 28, 2020 27 minutes ago, DGibster said: How long did you let your tank mature before adding SPS? Anything in particular that you do to maintain the stability? I probably started adding them around the 2 month mark. I have my 2 part dosing split up throughout the day with an auto doser. It really helps keep my parameters stable. I also test alk and calcium frequently as the consumption increases. Nothing too complicated Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Here's a top down shot from today. I made a few frags of the tort as it was getting too big. Curious to see how fast it heals. 6 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefCap Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I love seeing good sized SPS colonies in a small tank! 2 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 2 hours ago, ReefCap said: I love seeing good sized SPS colonies in a small tank! Same here! Most of my pieces still have lots of growing to do but they're getting there! I'd let them grow as big as dinner plates if I had the space lol! Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 Here's an update shot. My corals are loving the T5's, the growth is really picking up. My SSC is developing some red colouration which is nice. I also picked up an Oregon Tort frag which will be going into my new build eventually. I also added a photo of my new build I have in the works. It'll be SPS dominant as well (t5 hybrid) - but with less variety in species. This way I can focus on keeping huge colonies. 5 Quote Link to comment
glat1957 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 What a great looking tank! Thinking about what direction to take my NUVO 20, although maybe I should just let it be ha. 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 16 hours ago, glat1957 said: What a great looking tank! Thinking about what direction to take my NUVO 20, although maybe I should just let it be ha. Thanks! Sometimes just letting the tank work out itself is the way to go 🙂 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 Here's an updated shot as the T5s ramp to blue. All is well. The new tank has been wet for a bit now. Soon I'll add my old pair of clownfish to it. 5 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 Here's some night shots I took. 4 2 Quote Link to comment
Ryley Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 How do you like the Eshopps nano skimmer? It looks like it is pulling out a fair bit of skimmate Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted March 17, 2021 Author Share Posted March 17, 2021 On 3/16/2021 at 12:19 AM, Ryley said: How do you like the Eshopps nano skimmer? It looks like it is pulling out a fair bit of skimmate It's not that bad, I've been using it for over a year now. The way they designed the bubble plate is flawed because it's practically impossible to clean. The skimmer also took a good while to dial in - I found that the pump needs to sit slightly above the water for the best results. Overall it's not that bad and does a good job, but the design of it isn't my favourite. 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted April 6, 2021 Author Share Posted April 6, 2021 My flamehawk managed to kill the two wrasses residing in the tank unfortunately. Due to feeding less (only have the hawkfish and a tiny goby), I definitely lowered my nutrient levels which caused a little bit of colour loss in my SPS. I've been working on feeding more to raise my nutrients back up (they've always been low but I try not to bottom them out), and the colour has improved in a matter of a couple weeks. I don't plan on adding any new fish additions because the hawkfish will probably just try and kill them 🙄 The growth has been great; I fragged my tort back about 2 weeks age because it was shading out some neighbouring SPS, it is already growing back again. The new setup has my old clownfish pair in it, along with some nepthea and a yellow sarcophyton. I'm guessing it'll be at least 4-6 months before I can move some backup frags into the new tank. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 The tank is doing great, here's a few Iphone shots. I tried adding my old clownfish pair to my new tank, but they were persistent on hosting the goniopora. So I removed the lone goni in the nuvo 20 and added it to the new tank with my other goni. The clowns now have no fleshy corals to host 🙂 They like to stir up the sand but I'm willing to live with it. I swapped out one of the coral+ bulbs for another blue+. I'm not a fan of the windex look, but so many people run heavy blue+ so I'm curious to see why. As far as the new tank goes, it's still establishing and I'd say is definitely not mature enough for SPS yet. 4 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 This tank looks great. Good luck with the new set up. 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 The three b+ combo lasted a day, I'm definitely not a fan of the windex look. Plus i'm sure my crocea clam definitely prefers daylight spectrum over blues. 3 Quote Link to comment
Jaren45 Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 Out of curiosity what's your daily 2-part consumption up to? Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 11, 2021 Author Share Posted May 11, 2021 15 minutes ago, Jaren45 said: Out of curiosity what's your daily 2-part consumption up to? 14ml of each part of ESV B-Ionic 🙂 1 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 Some photos 🙂 7 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 Took out the DSLR and snapped a few shots. 3 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 My tort is really starting to shadow some stuff, like this no name millepora. I'll probably cut some pieces soon and add them to my new tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 Last post in this short spam of photos. Somehow I managed to win a radion G5 XR30 blue on a reefbuilders livestream so I replaced the AI lights on my new tank with the G5. The G5 + T5 hybrid will surely grow some coral! I scooped up a T. noae for a good price a few days ago. It's in my new tank and looks good. Just to be sure, I'm dosing live phyto to supplement some nutrients until it adjusts. A while back I found a nice large Tongan yellow Sarcophyton so I also grabbed it. I've been looking for one forever so I'm happy I finally found one. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
joshthebox Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 A full tank shot 3 Quote Link to comment
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