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My 6 yr old son's first tank Nuvo 16


gqjeff

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Well the journey has begun with my son. I have been keeping saltwater tanks for 22 yrs myself. My son since he was young has always been fascinated with them. He know helps me do some work to my 240 at home and my 60 cube at my office. So I figured maybe he would like a little one of his own. So we are officially on our way. Just waiting for his Real reef rock to arrive tomorrow and we can get this badboy wet. I had an old Evo 120w 20K led sitting around for the last 1.5 yrs so he's getting that light to start with. Also had an old reefkeeper 2 so it will be controlled on that controller. Looking at getting the IM desktop skimmer and also the Media Rx to run the small amt of zeoliths stones. This is going to be a little zeo tank as I was one of the orignal zeo guys in the states and used to be a moderator on zeovit.com. Also have about 12lbs of aragonite sand. Actually we put that in last night as he could not wait any longer after soaking it in ro/di a couple days and cleaning it well. Also picked up a small stand yesterday that had some drawers inside we were not going to use so made a small canopy to house the Led light. Going to weld up a custom bracket and run the wires in the tubing hopefully so you will not see them. Should look pretty cool I'm hoping. Also have 100 watt heater in it and using stock pump as of right now with mp10 in the future. Well thats about it right now but snapped a few pics along the way.

 

Tank arrives.

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Place the tank in his room on a dresser at first but realize I do not like that setup so a new stand is in order. While I had it up I used the par meter to check the stock lights and also the evo120 t make sure it has sufficient par to house an RBTA and some sps when the time is right. Prob will upgrade to the vega and I have been dabbling in Led's for a little over 2 yrs now and currently run the vega over my 60 cube at the office.

 

Stock lights very weak 34 par at the bottom with no water in the tank.

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Evo's got around 230 at the bottom.

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Reefkeeper 2 plugged in. They r trash but for this little tank its very decent and the temp probe is very accurate. That's what I wanted to use it for most as a temp controller. SO happens it will run everything associated with the setup so that's a plus.

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Ok built the stand and added sand.

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As I said I had extra particle board so why not make something to house the light. Still need to mount the light inside and use a hole saw and make a couple holes for air movement. Should really help with light spill in his room though and offer a cleaner look with matching stand and top.

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That's all for know hope you like what we have going on so far.

 

Also just a little taste of my old zeo 240 that I actually lost in a crash 6 yrs ago. Just kind of getting back in the coral game as I was devastated and also we had our son so the time was not right to jump right back in.

 

Peace.

8 foot of awesome.

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Holy sps! Your 240 looked amazing! Do you have a fts you can post of the old system? I can't wait to see what you end up doing with your sons tank, I can't wait to set up a tank with my son once he is old enough.

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Sorry, I used to have a full tank shot but can't locate it anymore. Also here is a pic of the cool kid getting the tank. Cool Dad? I knew that LOL..

 

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Very...VERY impressive!!! My dad started me reefing when I was about 6 as well, and we would breed seahorses together. I currently have a 210 SPS, 125 clam/lps/nps, and another 125 seahorseNPS. I've been fortunate enough to be reefing my entire life, thanks to my dad. SOme of my fondest memories of him is us working on the tanks together.

;)

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240 has huge fish in it these days that's it. I will be back just starting to get the itch again. The 60 cube is looking ok have a few things in there now but I'm very picky and its not pic time for that tank yet ;)

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Just need to work on my mounting idea now. Hopefully knock that out tomorrow and get it painted. So picture the canopy raised up floating above the tank ;)

 

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I wish I got that kind of thing when I was 6! I've got a feeling it'll be more of your tank than his with the pedigree of your 240. :P

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Really using his input or it would have been BB no sand lol... Hoping it will be a show stopper in the future too..

 

Thanks

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Well at least the kid knows that sand looks better than bb lol :P . Are you nervous at all that something that shouldnt be in the tank will end up in the tank since it is in his room? I'm sure you have taught him well in the ways of the reef but that is a fear I have when my son is older.

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No not really. Never really thought about it. He's a good kid and listens pretty well. Hes never attempted to do anything like that with the other tanks so I'm sure this will go well. Since he has picked out a Wyoming white as the clown he wants male and a larger phantom for the female I'm sure he's not going to want to harm them in anyway hehe.

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Been thinking about the mounting of the canopy top. Thinking a simple TV wall mount might be something that would work really good. You can slide it out of the way also if needed to get to the tank. HMMMM def might be the way to go and can pick them up pretty cheap too...

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Mount in hand.. Will be hanging tonight and will prob use hole saw and run the cords inside the wall as well. Without the Wife knowing of course LOL...

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Still have to do the power cords and also paint the bracket to match the wall. It looks decent though for sure. Can swing it out of the way or simple lift the entire fixture off the swing arm.

 

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Ok at 8:50 it officially got wet. 11 total gallons after displacement. The stock media baskets r def weak. Skimmer should be here Thursday and I will start Zeo 2 week cycle then. Also need an mp10 and possible Im media rx for the liths but not 100% necessary on this small tank passive flow should be ok. The rx gives me other options as well though. Hope you like the progress so far.

 

Peace

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Looking real good, what are your stocking plans for this tank? I see your son has excellent taste in clownfish. Tank would sure look good with BTA , zoa's and Yuma's. Just a suggestion, Maybe a nice gold torch. May have to look into this tank for my 7 year old as he just asked when he can have a tank in his room. Do you know if the back glass is drillable? I always like to run a sump for the extra volume/space it gives me. I will be tagging along for sure.

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Thanks. It's a decent little setup. It's not tempered just the top they give u. Def clowns and a bta. I could go for a bta tank with the clowns but he told me he wants corals like mine. I can do some zoos, lps and a few sps for sure. Water is cloudy and just got 190 par on sandbed, 240 mid and 300 up top. Since the volume is so small I thought about adding a sump as well. Well see how it goes. Ato in the near future. I could easily do 1 gallon water changes a day if need be for params so not worried about that go much.

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Right on with the bta's. I want to see how the Zeo system works on a nano setup. Since u are old school Zeo I have a question. Can the Zeo media be run in any media reactor or one designed specifically for Zeo. U mention letting it sit with passive flow in the back of the tank. could it be placed in my sump baffles? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks for the answers in advance.

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Just kicked the light on for a sec and its clearing up decent. Had to do it fast not to wake the boy up lol. Here it is with just whites.

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Here's whites and royal blue. Blue leds kill the white balance.

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The entire set up is pretty sweet, nicely done!

 

I've been contemplating using a TV wall mount for my light as well. Which one did you go with? Are you happy with it?

Thanks.

 

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