Banasophia's Fresh Start: The IM Nuvo 12 g Atoll

[NatureGuy]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

I was wondering about that, thanks. It does help it get up to room temp though, so that seems like it could be a good thing since it’s quite cold coming out of the tap.
 

I didn’t heat it, just used it at room temp. Should I heat it? 

I don’t, but I live in Texas so it’s never very cold out of the tap 

 

Either way I can’t see two gallons making much difference in temp, especially if you’re letting it sit first

[banasophia]

Well I added more plants and fish today… I must confess I got carried away… the tank is definitely more heavily stocked than I had initially planned, especially this early on… I felt so rushed to get my other fish and plants before my betta… I wish I hadn’t reserved the betta first like I did.  

 

I was just going to order some tank bred corydoras (true julii) and then add other livestock later on, but the shipping was so expensive that I went ahead and ordered some tank bred otos and a bunch of plants too, to make the most of the shipping.
 

I will be needing to monitor very closely keep an eye on the parameters and to decide if I need to split my livestock into two tanks. I have three empty tanks I can use if I need to split everything up. 

So far so good… the fish all seemed happy and healthy swimming around in their new home. The otos are tiny and it’s so fun seeing schooling fish swim with their buddies. 

 

 

 

[banasophia]

Oh yeah, the bigger piece of driftwood started floating up a bit again when I disturbed it while planting the new plants… used rocks to secure it for now. 

[wuzzo]

5 hours ago, banasophia said:

Well I added more plants and fish today… I must confess I got carried away… the tank is definitely more heavily stocked than I had initially planned, especially this early on… I felt so rushed to get my other fish and plants before my betta… I wish I hadn’t reserved the betta first like I did.  

 

I was just going to order some tank bred corydoras (true julii) and then add other livestock later on, but the shipping was so expensive that I went ahead and ordered some tank bred otos and a bunch of plants too, to make the most of the shipping.
 

I will be needing to monitor very closely keep an eye on the parameters and to decide if I need to split my livestock into two tanks. I have three empty tanks I can use if I need to split everything up. 

So far so good… the fish all seemed happy and healthy swimming around in their new home. The otos are tiny and it’s so fun seeing schooling fish swim with their buddies. 

 

 

 

Wow, so pretty! Love those corys 

[Lebowski_]

Corys ❤️ 

[banasophia]

Looks like an underwater jungle in there! Maybe too many plants? Here’s what I ended up with:

 

From my LFS:

• java fern
• anubias nana petite
• hydrocotyle japan
• micranthemum monte carlo
• salvinia minima
• dwarf water lettuce

From my order on Etsy:

• salvinia cucullata
• anubias nana petite white

From my new order:

• Mini Super Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia sp. "Mini Super Red")
• Dark Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia repens "Dark Red")
• Cryptocoryne wendtii green
• Cryptocoryne wendtii red
• Cryptocoryne wendtii bronze
• Anubias barteri

Aquatic Arts was sold out of the sunset hygro, which was why I went with the ludwigias. It looked like they should be a decent alternative, though it looks like they do like higher light. Here’s some info for anyone reading along and learning like me.

 

https://www.aquariumsource.com/ludwigia-repens/

 

You guys and lots of things I read said to plant heavily so I really went for it and added more plants than I initially envisioned, but now I’m questioning my plant choices. 😬😬🤨 Let me know if any of those are not advisable and I need to rehome, or if I should thin them out.

[banasophia]

 

 

[banasophia]

Omg… I think otos are like the emerald crabs of a planted tank… may be my favorites! This little guy looks like he has a bump on his head… I hope it’s nothing concerning. 

 

[growsomething]

One of the few fish I couldn't keep alive...otos.  Let's hope you got good stock, he doesn't look skinny.  Seems they are wild caught and most distributers don't feed them.

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, growsomething said:

One of the few fish I couldn't keep alive...otos.  Let's hope you got good stock, he doesn't look skinny.  Seems they are wild caught and most distributers don't feed them.

Yes, that was why I went ahead and ordered these now even though it seemed a bit much at this point for my tank… they are tank raised so I’m hoping they will be hardier… I didn’t want to pay the $75 shipping again to order them later. 🤑 I hope it works out!

[wuzzo]

2 hours ago, banasophia said:

Looks like an underwater jungle in there! Maybe too many plants? Here’s what I ended up with:

 

From my LFS:

• java fern
• anubias nana petite
• hydrocotyle japan
• micranthemum monte carlo
• salvinia minima
• dwarf water lettuce

From my order on Etsy:

• salvinia cucullata
• anubias nana petite white

From my new order:

• Mini Super Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia sp. "Mini Super Red")
• Dark Red Ludwigia (Ludwigia repens "Dark Red")
• Cryptocoryne wendtii green
• Cryptocoryne wendtii red
• Cryptocoryne wendtii bronze
• Anubias barteri

Aquatic Arts was sold out of the sunset hygro, which was why I went with the ludwigias. It looked like they should be a decent alternative, though it looks like they do like higher light. Here’s some info for anyone reading along and learning like me.

 

https://www.aquariumsource.com/ludwigia-repens/

 

You guys and lots of things I read said to plant heavily so I really went for it and added more plants than I initially envisioned, but now I’m questioning my plant choices. 😬😬🤨 Let me know if any of those are not advisable and I need to rehome, or if I should thin them out.

You get your plants from aquatic arts? I might try that, wanna get mine more full. I don’t know about you, but I personally love the jungle look of crowded planted tanks. Way easier to do in fw when you don’t have corals going to war lol. 

[banasophia]

Yes, Aquatic Arts… I picked them because I was specifically looking for these particular cories and then I added on the plants and otos. @DevilDuck had recommended BucePlant.com - Aquascaping and Aquarium Plants Super Store — Buce Plant for plants… you may want to check them out too. 
 

Yeah, it was weird adding so many plants at once… different from adding corals, for sure!

[MrP]

2 hours ago, growsomething said:

One of the few fish I couldn't keep alive...otos. 

Same here. I ordered some from Aquahuna which came in looking healthy. I think the mistake was that I put them in a tank that was too new. There wasn't enough junk for them to graze on. 

[wuzzo]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Yes, Aquatic Arts… I picked them because I was specifically looking for these particular cories and then I added on the plants and otos. @DevilDuck had recommended BucePlant.com - Aquascaping and Aquarium Plants Super Store — Buce Plant for plants… you may want to check them out too. 
 

Yeah, it was weird adding so many plants at once… different from adding corals, for sure!

Have heard of Buce, may do them too. Buce shipping is only like 9 bucks. My tank is nowhere near full but I still have issues with placement because of aggression haha

[Lebowski_]

Make sure you give those Otos some zuchinni to keep em chubby 🙂

 

And don't sweat the plant density - tank looks great. Lots of nutrient competition. I reccomend Thrive if you are looking for a water column fert, and I had a lot of success with the Seachem Flourish root tabs for root feeders.

 

It's all coming along very nicely.

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Lebowski_ said:

Make sure you give those Otos some zuchinni to keep em chubby 🙂

 

And don't sweat the plant density - tank looks great. Lots of nutrient competition. I reccomend Thrive if you are looking for a water column fert, and I had a lot of success with the Seachem Flourish root tabs for root feeders.

 

It's all coming along very nicely.

Thank you! I read something about holding off on the fertilizers in the beginning until the tank is a little more settled in? 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, MrP said:

Same here. I ordered some from Aquahuna which came in looking healthy. I think the mistake was that I put them in a tank that was too new. There wasn't enough junk for them to graze on. 

Yeah, I am hoping they will eat algae wafers too… they didn’t seem interested last night though the cories were. I watched a video with instructions for blanching zucchini and freezing the blanched slices to have a supply of them so I was thinking of trying that. 

[banasophia]

Good news… the sinking algae wafers and cucumber slice seem to be hits:

 

 

 

[Lebowski_]

Great sign, much higher chance of a good outcome now. 

[banasophia]

9 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

Great sign, much higher chance of a good outcome now. 

🤞🤞🤞

[wuzzo]

43 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Good news… the sinking algae wafers and cucumber slice seem to be hits:

 

 

 

Love algae wafers, I used to feed the hikari ones to my old 5 and 10 gallon inhabitants when I first started keeping tanks, way before I started saltwater. Using them again for my tank now and they are still great! My albino corys have been taking slices out of the algae wafers like cheesecake!

[banasophia]

2 minutes ago, wuzzo said:

Love algae wafers, I used to feed the hikari ones to my old 5 and 10 gallon inhabitants when I first started keeping tanks, way before I started saltwater. Using them again for my tank now and they are still great! My albino corys have been taking slices out of the algae wafers like cheesecake!

Nice! … but now I want cheesecake 😂🤣

[banasophia]

 

[wuzzo]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

 

Can’t wait to see em in the tank! Love those platinums 

[banasophia]

He’s so pretty and unconcerned about the other fish. But I think there’s too much flow and pellets are too big…  

 

 

 

He keeps swimming too close to the nozzle and the intake. He gets stuck against the intake but he can pull away with some effort.