A Complete Beginner’s Nuvo 10 Build

[JJHLH]

Hi everyone!

I have enjoyed fish and the outdoors for most of my life, and have always thought it would be fun to have a saltwater aquarium, but have been put off by the complexity and difficulty. I finally decided to give it a try, regardless, and see how things go.

I ordered an IM Fusion Pro 2 10-gallon tank with matching white stand, which should arrive next week.

Over the past several weeks I’ve been trying to educate myself by reading books, browsing forums, watching YouTube videos, and basically researching all things reef related in order to try and educate myself for the upcoming experiment.

Finding a water supply was the first issue. I purchased the AquaticLife Buddy Plus DI system from Amazon for $60. I set it up today in my guest shower and it seems to work great. My local tap water tested 151 ppm, the Ozarka Springs water I normally drink tested 40 ppm, and the AquaticLife RO water tested 0 ppm.

If nothing else works I‘ve already had a mini success!

More to come...

 

[blaxsun]

Avoid the IM protein skimmer. I really wish I didn't have to scare people away from this particular IM product, but until they redesign it and stop using these $0.05 pumps...

 

[JJHLH]

Avoid the IM protein skimmer. I really wish I didn't have to scare people away from this particular IM product, but until they redesign it and stop using these $0.05 pumps...

Thank you for the heads up. My plan was to start out without a skimmer and see how things go, but I might end up adding one later down the road.

 

[JayA]

Welcome @JJHLH I am a newbie-ish, approx 8 months. My advice, be patient, extreme patience and resilience are key to keeping things going, especially in the beginning. And don't change your lights like they light your tank... oops. The life in your tank is relying on the settings. You are going to love it!

 

[Gedxin]

Welcome! Excited to see your build. You've got the right starting equipment on hand. Some advice, make sure you buy a few testing kits (ammonia, salinity, nitrate, alkalinity) as well. I'd recommend anything other than API kits.

 

[JJHLH]

Welcome @JJHLH I am a newbie-ish, approx 8 months. My advice, be patient, extreme patience and resilience are key to keeping things going, especially in the beginning. And don't change your lights like they light your tank... oops. The life in your tank is relying on the settings. You are going to love it!

Thank you! This is great advice. I’ll try and go slowly and enjoy the process, and hopefully not be too hard on myself when I make mistakes. That’s often what it takes to learn something.

Welcome! Excited to see your build. You've got the right starting equipment on hand. Some advice, make sure you buy a few testing kits (ammonia, salinity, nitrate, alkalinity) as well. I'd recommend anything other than API kits.

Thank you! I’ve actually purchased the Hanna HiReef version 2 testing kit. It should arrive in a couple of days. The digital readout should make things a little easier for sure. Now I need to read about the chemistry.

 

[JJHLH]

I started building my aquascape using two 5 pound boxes of Stax Rocks. Each box actually weighed 5.5 pound so it seems they added a little extra.

This is my design.

 

[JJHLH]

I placed my aquascape and about an inch or so of CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand into my tank, and mixed up some saltwater using AccuraSea 1 in a 10-gallon Rubbermaid Brute trash can.

My initial 5 gallon mix was too dilute. Only about 30 ppm. I should have erred on the side of being too concentrated, because it‘s a simple fix to add RO water to bring the concentration back down. A rookie mistake. I had to make my second batch more concentrated to compensate, but the final result in the tank tested 34.7 ppm.

I added a heater and set it to 77 degrees F. The pH tested 7.8 and ammonia tested 0.

I also made sure all the wires from the tank are off the floor and have drip loops, and plugged a GFCI in-line outlet cord into my wall socket so it will be less likely that I electrocute myself.

I also realize that whenever my hands are in the water the electricity to the tank should be turned off. So please ignore the second photo haha.

Tomorrow I plan to add some Brightwell QuickCycl, Start XLM, and 3 Bio Cubes to start the cycling process.

 

[JJHLH]

I started cycling my tank on September 26 using Brightwell QuickCycle, Start XLM, and BioCubes.

I‘m in the waiting phase now, using dry rock and dry sand, but it looks like ammonia is starting to drop and nitrate is starting to rise.

I also went to Ajax Glass and for $5 they cut a thin (1/16”) piece of glass that I placed on top of my mesh lid to reduce evaporation. I only need to add a small amount of water every four days to the back compartment. I don’t know if this is going to interfere too much with the lighting, but if it does I’ll simply remove it.

I‘m using the free Google Sheets app to keep track of the water parameters.

 

[JJHLH]

My tank finished cycling today so I drove to the LFS and bought a bonded pair of clowns. I did a 25% water change and slowly acclimated them to their new home. They seem to be doing well so far. Hopefully that continues.

 

[JJHLH]

It’s a little over a year later. Unfortunately I didn’t acclimate my first pair of fish properly and they both died within 24 hours due to my ignorance. I posted a separate thread regarding that sad event. I almost gave up but decided to give it one more try.

I found a local fish store that helped me a great deal, and bought a new pair of fish shortly after losing the first ones. They have done well, and my tank has been a lot of fun to watch. Here is a photo I took this morning.