iSpeakWhale Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hey everybody!So I just got my first tank ever and I'm super excited to be getting started! About a week ago my 8 gallon Innovative Marine Nuvo arrived in the mail. I've got all of the stock pieces running right now and I've been cycling the water over some mature rock that I harvested from my dad's 25 gallon tank. I know we kind of fast-tracked the cycling process but everything seems to be in order. No nitrate or nitrite spikes, alkalide levels are normal, and salinity only rises from the acclaimed 1.026 to 1.030 in a span of two days, or so. Most importantly, everything is still alive! Here's the rundown of what's inside right now:Carib Sea live sandLive rock1 Feather dusterMushroom polypsStar polyps1 Turbo snail1 Brittle star (hitchhiked his way over)Little bit of Cyano algae (currently being treated with chemi clean)I've also begun dosing with Kent part A and part B supplements.I would love some suggestions for stocking- fish, invertebrates, and coral. I was thinking about a purple firefish to compliment the colors of the mushrooms. What else would go well in this tank?? I am open to suggestions.I've attached a few pictures of what I have so far. Please let me know what you think! Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any feedback at all!P.S. Some of you can tell right off the bat that I'm completely new. Please keep abbreviations to a minimum or include full words so I might google and find sweet pictures. Like my scape? Feather dusters are just so unique and elegant. I love this snail. Reminds me of Jimbo, from the Simpsons, with his wolly purple hat. Star polyps as seen from above. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 Did about a 3/4 gallon water change tonight. Levels looked good a few hours later, and that tiny bit of Cyano is clearing up. Blue lights are on now. I have the lights cycling as follows: 7:30am to 4:00pm- no light 4:00pm to 11:00pm- white light 10:30pm to 7:30am- blue light Note: the white and blue lights overlap for 30 minutes from 10 to 11 pm. I'm still up in the air with fish ideas, but a friend made some good suggestions of easy fish to start with. I liked a few of his ideas and I'd welcome any input! Here's the desired list right now: 1 Purple firefish 1 Banggai cardinal 1 Yellowtail damsel, maybe 1 Banded shrimp Thanks for looking! 1 Quote Link to comment
davidkl Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Looks good. I like the aquascaping. Start with a clean up crew and maybe some gobies and clowns . Good luck. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 Looks good. I like the aquascaping. Start with a clean up crew and maybe some gobies and clowns . Good luck. thanks! i might pick up just a little more rock- new rock, not this already beautifully encrusted stuff. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted March 23, 2013 Author Share Posted March 23, 2013 I'm having a problem with the pump blowing my live sand out of the bottom right hand corner of the tank. I tried repositioning it a few times, twisting the novel a few different ways, but it's always kind of blowing sand around. Does anybody know a quick fix? Should I re-scape? Put an eventual anemone there? Not put an anemone there? You can see in this profile picture that the sand is blown out of the corner Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment
sunburn Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Looks like you're off to a great start! Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Looks like you're off to a great start! Thanks! I hope so. I'll be putting a CUC and some fish in next week. Quote Link to comment
Cool Me Off Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'm having a problem with the pump blowing my live sand out of the bottom right hand corner of the tank. I tried repositioning it a few times, twisting the novel a few different ways, but it's always kind of blowing sand around. Does anybody know a quick fix? Should I re-scape? Put an eventual anemone there? Not put an anemone there? You can see in this profile picture that the sand is blown out of the corner Thanks for looking! I have had a Nuvo 8 for almost 3 months now and I have the same issue with the pump moving my sand exactly like that. I wish I wouldn't have put the fine grain sand, it ends up in the back of my tank. Overtime I will slowly get rid of the fine grain sand and add something else for sand. A good thing to do would be a rock in that corner, I don't have one but that would be my problem solver for that Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Hey friends, here's a note I made on March 23rd about some testing that I did. I made the note in my own journal but forgot to post it here. Basically, the water looks good (to me!) please let me know if I'm completely wrong! Here's what I wrote in my own personal notes: So I'm testing the chemical levels of the water in the legit way tonight (samples and eye droppers, not just the instant strip) and this is what I have so far; PH levels were a little bit low 8.1. Alkalinity levels are good, total alkalinity of 5 meq/L. Nitrite levels tested at less than .1 Nitrate levels tested at about 5. Free ammonia and total ammonia test both showed 0.0 Here is what it all looked like. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Finally, I have some fish in this tank! My tank now has: 1 bubble tip anemone 1 cleaner shrimp 2 ocellaris clownfish 1 yellow belly damsel 1 six line wrasse CUC: 1 Emerald crab A few hermit crabs A few turbo snails A few little tiny things that look like hermits but definitely aren't And of course, pictures. Thanks for looking! Love that anemone. Little bugger is gonna go whenever her wants, huh. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 I have had a Nuvo 8 for almost 3 months now and I have the same issue with the pump moving my sand exactly like that. I wish I wouldn't have put the fine grain sand, it ends up in the back of my tank. Overtime I will slowly get rid of the fine grain sand and add something else for sand. A good thing to do would be a rock in that corner, I don't have one but that would be my problem solver for that Yeah, that seems like the simplest/quickest/whycomplicatethings solution. i think i need a few more rocks now, anyway, so that the other fish have somewhere to swim. the wrasse and anemone have kind of claimed that cave lol. thanks for the input! Quote Link to comment
Cool Me Off Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Looks great, I have in my Nuvo 8; a sixline wrasse (such a cool fish), a maroon clown, a bubble tip anemone, a yellow watchman goby, a pistol shrimp that wont seem to pair with my goby, 5-8 hermits, 2 snails, a emerald crab, and a clam (not sure the name of it). I like your rock setup, goods look for a small tank 1 Quote Link to comment
polarblair2000 Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 First off, your tank does look rather nice. I love the feather duster. salinity only rises from the acclaimed 1.026 to 1.030 in a span of two days, or so. I would say that is to big a change in Salinity. From this picture I can see your water level has dropped quite a bit from the salt line on the tank. It is vital especially in a nano that you keep your parameters as stable as possible and a 0.004 swing in two days is pretty big, or to large for me. I would invest in an ATO (Automatic Top Off) system. This system is usually made up of a float switch to detect the water level in your tank. Once the level drops it turns on small pump that you have in a container full of ro/di water that pumps it into the tank to keep the water level stable and thus the salinity stable. Always top off with ro/di water. Down the line you could use Kalk in the water to keep your PH and calcium levels higher if your corals need it. Hopefully that will help with your salinity swings Tank looks really nice. I wish we could get he IM tanks over here in the UK, do you have a picture of the back chambers? Would like to see how the filtration runs. 1 Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 I would say that is to big a change in Salinity. From this picture I can see your water level has dropped quite a bit from the salt line on the tank. It is vital especially in a nano that you keep your parameters as stable as possible and a 0.004 swing in two days is pretty big, or to large for me. i agree, i thought it was a pretty big change, too. the problem is that the chamber where i would top off is so small that i can only pour so much ro water into it before it starts overflowing back into the heating chamber. i'll definitely look into an ATO system. for now im ok with pouring in a cup or so of water per day also, i didn't have a picture of the back of my tank, but i found another IM 8g nuvo on here and this guy has pretty much the stock setup, plus filter floss at the top and a bag of purigen at the bottom. thanks so much for looking and for your input! Thanks. I didn't measure how much sand, but my sand bed is 1.5-2 inches deep. I would say close to 10lbs but not quite. Also I ran all 3 filters from the start. I didn't really have a cycle either. I took this pic of the rear chambers. 1st chamber as of last week: filter floss, stock 3 filters that came with tank, then a bag of Purigen at the bottom. Quote Link to comment
saltt Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Looks good! I used to have the IM Nuvo 8 before upgrading to my nanocube. I have to ask, why don't you just run the blue and white lights at the same time the whole time the daylights are on? I always did that and it made things pop a little more than when the white lights were on by themselves. It won't hurt anything. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Looks good! I used to have the IM Nuvo 8 before upgrading to my nanocube. I have to ask, why don't you just run the blue and white lights at the same time the whole time the daylights are on? I always did that and it made things pop a little more than when the white lights were on by themselves. It won't hurt anything. Thanks so much for looking! One big reason I have the lights set up the way I do is to prevent too much green algae growth. I know that too much light would promote it and I doubt the blue lights can really have much impact on the algae growth anyway, but I figured to be on the safe side I'd run the white and blue lights separately. I'm new at this though, and very open to suggestions! And I do like the idea of making the colors pop a little more.. Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 3, 2013 Author Share Posted April 3, 2013 I do not love my pH levels at the moment. I've done a few tests and a few water changes but my pH levels are staying a little lower than I'd like them to be. A quick dip test showed it to be at about 7.9. I treat the water with Kent part A and B nightly, I've been feeding a few different things- flake food from Ocean Nutrition (Formula Two Flakes or Prime Reef) and sometimes frozen shrimp, although the shrimp bits are often too large for my fish to eat so I don't feed them shrimp frequently. I have also begun feeding Reef Snow, nightly. I always put the food in a little bit of ro water and I dilute the reef snow into it, too. Then it's time to feed the anemone and mushrooms with a turkey baster! They love that . And in case anybody was concerned, the fish don't get personalized treatment, but no, they certainly do not go hungry. Are my pH levels related to my feeding habits? Does anybody have any suggestions? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment
RC1313 Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Your tank looks good! How is the sixline in terms of aggresion in that small of a tank? Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Your tank looks good! How is the sixline in terms of aggresion in that small of a tank? Thank you! I've been trying my hardest to make sure things stay happy and healthy. The sixline has been great, thus far. I don't have that many rocks in my tank (I'm getting more) but the sixline was quick to stake his claim in the bottom of my little tunnel system and frequently sleeps there beside the anemone. He swims around all day, hunting pods and such, while the lights are on, and when the lights go out he knows its bedtime and goes right to his spot. I haven't once witnessed him attacking another fish. I'm still wary, and watching closely, because "The Official Sixline Wrasse" thread on this site showed a lot of reports of sixlines becoming aggressive/territorial 3 months to a year in. I really love my wrasse, though! You can see I could talk about him for hours he's just so much fun to watch, swimming in big loops and curves, in and out of every little tunnel I scape. It's also just so human that he visibly starts getting ready for bed when the white lights go out lol. I get a kick out of it. I highly recommend a sixline! Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted April 6, 2013 Author Share Posted April 6, 2013 I've taken a few photos and figured I'd share a my favorites. Hope everybody is having. Nice Saturday! Look how clean Jimbo's shell has gotten! That's the cleaner (Jaques?) at work. My emerald shed his shell recently. Happy to see he likes the water And I just like this shot. Quote Link to comment
Obsessed Reefer Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I'd love to see some updates on this tank, it has so much life in it. Quote Link to comment
BeardedReeferLLC Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 Nice Tank! More Pictures! Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 Hello fellow reefers! It's been a little over a month since my last update and there have been some changes in my little aquarium. I'll try to rehash a little and offer visuals, too. April 1st My refugium and inTank media basket arrived in the mail! I installed the media basket with the three chambers filled as follows: Top- filter pad Middle- Chemi-pure Elite Bottom- Purigen I also installed the fuge a few days later, and here's a picture of it. I got two different types of algae from a cousin who lives nearby and clipped a little hair out of his fuge. I'm still not completely sure if pods are growing in it in the intended manner, but it doesn't seem to be bothering anybody. One day I noticed a pretty hefty clump of Cyano algae right at the top of the fuge, but I scooped it out manually and haven't seen much more. I'll drop some Chemi-clean in and just get rid of it once and for all if it keeps up. During that time, I also got a few new rocks and rescaped I tried to get my dad a gonipora for his birthday as well, but it didn't seem to like his tank. Instead, it ended up in my tank. First on the sand bed Then on the rocks, a little closer to the light I think the added light is good for it. Mid April I got a few more rocks from my dad's tank because they were covered with green hair algae. Within about a week and a half, the hermits, turbos, shrimp, and emerald had picked the thing completely clean! You can see the emerald crab on the left side plucking away at the spot that used to have some algae. May 1st Something amazing has happened! After two months, after I had just about given up hope, I noticed the larger of my two clowns inching his way closer and closer to the anemone and finally, nestled himself right in. Ahhh!! So exciting!! The only prolem is that now I feel bad for the smaller clown, who keeps trying to inch his way closer to the anemone too, but gets chased away and even bitten by the larger clown every time I wish I could get him his own, but two anemones would fight and at least one would end up dead, from what I've read. Below are a thousand pictures of this momentous occasion! As you can see, the anemone still likes to move from place to place, but the clown has become a faithful follower, only hanging back when the anemone slides himself into the innards of my rock work. Here's one full shot of the tank. May 2nd I noticed that my damsel fish, usually monitoring my room from the edge of the glass was missing. Upon further inspection with a flashlight, I discovered his body in the rock work getting picked apart by hermits, my emerald crab, and even the other fish and shrimp occasionally. I left the body in the tank and sure enough the entire thing has been consumed. RIP, Dip. "He looks like they were about to dip him in yellow paint and then said 'neh, lets not.'" Today In happier news, the gonipora is looking better than ever these days! I've taken these pictures in the past few days and lately he's been open, healthy, not closing up when the fish swim past or even peck at his polyps. I think he's getting used to his new home. Fearless! The wrasse says hello. Yesss Thanks so much for looking! -It's a common misconception that all clownfish are funny. Some are just a little percula. I'd love to see some updates on this tank, it has so much life in it. Nice Tank! More Pictures! Quote Link to comment
Shallow~Reef Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 That is one very cool and healthy looking Nem. How is it doin and isn't it quite a new tank to add one so early? ...either way you're doing something right as that Nem is popping under these lights Quote Link to comment
iSpeakWhale Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 That is one very cool and healthy looking Nem. How is it doin and isn't it quite a new tank to add one so early? ...either way you're doing something right as that Nem is popping under these lights Thank you! I hope he is happy, especially with his new clownfish companion.I was a little worried about my anemone at one point, though. It seemed for a while like it couldn't find a spot that made him happy and he wouldn't stop moving around. One day, I even came back from work and immediately began fish tank staring, like usual. I couldn't find the nem and assumed that he has made his way into the innards of my rock work, masterfully hiding his entire self, I noted. Upon further investigation, I found that he had made his way up the wall of my tank, and through one of the return slats! He sat contently at the top of my media basket on a small patch of filter pad until I scooped him back into the tank. I even have the picture to prove it Oy. Who knew a creature with no legs or fins to speak of would be so mobile? To answer your question, the tank is still pretty new but the rock is mature and from my dad's tank. I also have live sand at the bottom. I hadn't read anything about leaving anemones out of tanks for a period of time, and the distributor who sold the nem to me did so fully confident that I'd be able to care for it so I trusted his judgement and so far so good 1 Quote Link to comment
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