IM Nuvo 10G Home Office Build

[Brandon44322]

Hey all, my name is Brandon, I've been in the hobby on and off for quite some time. My aquarium journey started in elementary school with freshwater and has stuck ever since. I'm now in my late twenties, with a career in aerospace engineering well underway. I work from home a few days each week and have also recently enrolled in graduate school, so i'm in my home office quite a bit. I decided to start this small AIO reef aquarium to help accompany me as I work and serve as an outlet. My goals for this aquarium is a low maintenance mixed reef with as many automation features as possible (as an engineer, this is the "fun" part)due to time limitations and work travel on occasion.

Equipment:
-Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 10 Gallon
-Stock MightyJet Return Pump w/ Spin Stream
-Cobalt Neo-Therm 50 Watt Heater
-Innovative Marine Desktop Manual Fleece Filter Roller
-Innovative Marine Media Reactor (carbon 100% of time, GFO as needed)
-Aqua Illumination Prime 16HD with Rigid Mount
-Coral Vue Hydros Controller, X2
-Coral Vue Hydros Triple Water Level Sensor for ATO
-Coral Vue Hydros Magnetic Temperature Sensor for Heater Control
-Coral Vue Hanna Instruments Nitrate, Phosphate and Alkalinity Test Kits
-Generic Refractometer
-Flipper Nano Algae Scraper

Other:
-CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Sand
-Reef Saver Rock from BRS (10 Pounds)
-Live Rock from LFS for cycle in media chamber

Current Livestock:
-Yellow Tail Damsel - for cycle (with Live rock and Dr Tims One and Only) - will return to LFS after ugly stages

Planned Livestock:
-Clownfish Pair
-Standard Clean up Crew
-Algae Barn Pods

Planned Coral (focused on ease of care)
-GSP (back wall)
-Pulsing Xenia (on island)
-Zoanthids
-Toadstool Leather
-Mushrooms
-Recordia
-Blastos
-Candy Canes
-Duncan
-Torch
-Hammer

Future Plans:
Once the tank cycles fully and starts the ugly stage, I'll introduce the clean up crew and pods. After that settles out i'll add the clownfish pair after removing the damsel. Then i'll add coral slowly over the next year. I plan to do 10% water changes weekly to start and then add dosing pumps for automatic water changes. I know thats overkill, but I enjoy the technology and the automation. I'd like to have this tank configured to be very hands-off and make it as stable as possible for a nano tank. I don't plan to dose, but instead do automated water changes to replenish levels and serve as nutrient export. Let me know what you guys think!

[colormegone]

I'm into simple for my tanks but high-tech tanks are sweet in my book. Keep us updated on your progress. I'm really interested in your Auto water change set up.

[Brandon44322]

12 hours ago, colormegone said:

I'm into simple for my tanks but high-tech tanks are sweet in my book. Keep us updated on your progress. I'm really interested in your Auto water change set up.

Thanks! I will update this thread. I have two EcoTech Versa's on the way and have begun thinking about how to program them and integrate failsafes/control loops to ensure parameters are steady (salinity). Also to make sure I don't bottom out nitrates/phosphates  since i could easily change too much water each day. 

 

I enjoy low tech tanks too and one of my most successful reefs have been low tech back in the day... go figure. 

[anizato]

ahhh looking good! 

 

hope you can get some work done 🤪

[Brandon44322]

17 hours ago, anizato said:

ahhh looking good! 

 

hope you can get some work done 🤪

LOL it is hard to concentrate with the tank right next to me all day!!! 

[3rd Coast Reefer]

Tank is looking good already. Looking forward to see how this build progresses.

[Brandon44322]

On 9/11/2024 at 11:02 AM, 3rd Coast Reefer said:

Tank is looking good already. Looking forward to see how this build progresses.

Thanks appreciate that! Will have EcoTech Versa’s online later today for AWC. Planning to change 540ml per day, 7 days a week to get to about a 10% (1 gallon) water change per week. I’ll report back after I install! 

[Brandon44322]

Cycle looks to be moving forward. Tested today and registered some Nitrate (1.4 PPM) for the first time. Tank was set up on August 30th, so I’m fairly pleased at the rate of cycle. Diatoms are showing as well. 
 

I’m going to let it sit a bit longer and then add some pods and hermits. 

[Brandon44322]

I got two EcoTech Versa’s online today and configured for auto water changes. I have them running a dose of 540 ml per day, between 10am to 12pm. That gets the rate right around 4.5 ml/min which is where I understand a peak accuracy to be. One of them takes water from the tank and drains it into a 5 gallon bucket whereas the other takes water from a fresh bucket of saltwater to the tank. Within Mobius (Ecotech App) I have them set on a schedule of 10am to 12pm and on my Hydros controller I have the outlets they’re plugged into turned off all other hours of the day. Hydros only turns them at 9:55am and off at 12:05pm. I added the 5 minute window before and after to buffer initialization time and allow for the pumped to gracefully shut off after dosing. I believe this configuration gives me control redundancy. 
 

The biggest challenge here is of course accuracy and it’s very important being a nano tank with little water volume. I’ll monitor salinity closely and likely calibrate the pumps monthly.

 

I’ll also monitor nitrate once the build gets to a steady state in regard to cycle and stocking. I’ll try to hug a ceiling of 5ppm. If we trend above, I’ll increase AWC; below I’ll decrease AWC. I don’t want to bottom out nitrate nor do I want to go above 5ppm. 

Edited September 19 by Brandon44322

[Brandon44322]

I added some initial clean up crew this week. One jar of Algae Barn’s Ecopods and three hermit crabs. 
 

I also added four MarinePure cubes to the back chamber along with a bottle of Frits Turbostart to get them seeded quickly. 
 

I started feeding phytoplankton each day to encourage the pod population to reproduce and grow. 
 

Daily AWC at 540ml has been working very well via the two Versa’s. 

[Brandon44322]

Alright guys, here's an update since I last posted: 

I've added corals:

• Zoas, Qty 5 
• GSP
• Xenia
• Neptune Hammer

I've also added CWC: 

• 5 Nassarius Snails
• 5 Cerith Snails 

My only issue is chemistry, particularly with alkalinity which has been below 7 since i started testing weekly three/four weeks ago. 5.9 > 6.3 > 6.4.... AWC is over 10% each week so i'm stumped at whats using the alk. It has been trending up, so im going to leave it be and continue to monitor closely. Nitrates have been 1.3 > 1.1 > .2 > .4. PH has been low too, at 7.8. Long term, I plan to dose all for reef if I need to, although I was hoping AWC would be sufficient. Continuing to dose phyto by hand daily. 

[Brandon44322]

Alright guys, here's another update. Since I lasted posted i've added two clownfish (1 mocha and 1 ocellaris). I started dosing a small amount of kalk because alkalinity, calcium, pH were consistently low. I'm not sure why because the corals that I have in the tank should not demand and use that much alkalinity or calcium, the only thing I can think of is that the batch of Fritz RPM salt I'm using as low quantities of these levels.... anyways, I wanted to raise these levels while also learning how to integrate a automatic dosing (gear head...) for when my tank demands more nutrients. My only concern is that since all three of these nutrient levels are low, I'm paranoid that my salinity is off because they're significantly below the values of the Fritz RPM salt. I use a refractometer that has been calibrated with RODI water but I'm planning to order a Tropic Marin High accuracy glass hydrometer to check and make sure that my salinity levels are accurate. I've also started to test weekly for most major elements, and I've inserted the table below. Cells with more than one entry just mean that I tested more than once within that calendar week. I also increased TWC from 10% weekly to 20% weekly because I saw nitrates go above by target at 10ppm after adding the two additional fish. My plan is continue to monitor week and make fine-tune adjustments to the kalc and the AWC until I can reach stability. I also ordered an AI Nero 3 because I wanted to be able to fine-tune flow and I also want to set up a pump and a battery back up as critical equipment should there be a power outage (redundancy also....). Edit a picture of the fish who have all settled in aside from a little bit of aggressiveness from the yellowtail damsel. I originally plan to remove him but I could not catch him and gave up. Anyways, there's the update, I'm having so much fun with this tank so far.