Ark's IM Nuvo 25 Lagoon

[Gumbies R Us]

Thoughts on this rock scape?
I am having a rough time scaping such a small tank. With half of the dry rock being purple also throws me off some.

In my first post to the thread I had my minimalist version of the scape but I feel like it may not he enough rock.

Aquascape looks perfect! You have plenty of room for fish to swim around and hide. Plus good room for corals to grow

 

[Arkaeus]

Thanks guys, the scape is starting to grow on me. I do feel like I have more places for the fish to hide plus more surface area on the added rock for beneficial bacteria.

 

[bvickery1974]

I prefer the Aragonite.
Great job on the stand, and no one makes a stand for the IM 25.
The stock return pumps are meh at best, upgrade those when able.

Welcome back to the hobby.

Alufab does. Expensive since it is extruded aluminum. I got one after issue with my Osmolator 3 nano overflowed and covered my wood stand.

Swithched to reefbreeders ATO ince I run a Sicce Synecra 3.0 and not much room in return chamber.

 

[Arkaeus]

Its been a minute, I have a few updates.

I have added a IM Helios controller with a 200w titanium heater. Also grabbed a Radion XR15 Blue that was used for 6 months at a price I couldnt pass up. I plan to run the intensity around 20 to 40 percent max.

On order to add more benefical bacteria diversity: AF Life Source Mud and some cultured bio blocks
TBS is not shipping sand this month. The soonest they were able to get sand out was early December. I may still end up doing it, however this will get me going for now.


I added water to the tank on the 7th. I added 4oz of Dr Tims One and Only yesterday afternoon. I added 2ppm of ammonia and I am already seeing 2ppm of nitrite. Nitrate still zero.

 

[Arkaeus]

I also grabbed this ATO used for 10$ and thought I would take a chance on it. Cleaned it up with cleaning vinegar (30%) and water. Good as new. I was nervous at first however its working very well.
I grabbed a dog food container from target for 10$ and drilled a hole at the top right for the tubing.

 

[Fish Fan]

I also grabbed this ATO used for 10$ and thought I would take a chance on it. Cleaned it up with cleaning vinegar (30%) and water. Good as new. I was nervous at first however its working very well.
I grabbed a dog food container from target for 10$ and drilled a hole at the top right for the tubing.

I actually just purchased two of these inexpensive ATO's to try on what for me are non-critical tanks, but so far so good! They get really good reviews, and I didn't know this until they were delivered, but you can (supposedly) use these to setup a simple Auto Water Change system too; I think that's pretty cool

The only thing I don't like so far is the green light, I think that should have been blue, it makes more sense for reef tanks.

 

[Arkaeus]

I also grabbed this ATO used for 10$ and thought I would take a chance on it. Cleaned it up with cleaning vinegar (30%) and water. Good as new. I was nervous at first however its working very well.
I grabbed a dog food container from target for 10$ and drilled a hole at the top right for the tubing.

I actually just purchased two of these inexpensive ATO's to try on what for me are non-critical tanks, but so far so good! They get really good reviews, and I didn't know this until they were delivered, but you can (supposedly) use these to setup a simple Auto Water Change system too; I think that's pretty cool

Learned something new, I didnt realize you could set them up as a auto water changer. That may come in handy later on.

 

[Fish Fan]

I added water to the tank on the 7th. I added 4oz of Dr Tims One and Only yesterday afternoon. I added 2ppm of ammonia and I am already seeing 2ppm of nitrite. Nitrate still zero.

Is some of your rock real, wet live rock from a fish store? Or maybe it's the mud you added, but I'd be a bit skeptical of your water test results here. Unless you used some real rock, or that mud is in fact very effective (it may be), I wouldn't expect the cycle to be progressing that quickly. Usually, it take solid couple of weeks to see ammonia going down and nitrite increasing when using dry rocks and Dr. Tim's One and Only.

Furthermore, nitrite causes a false high result for nitrate testing. If your 2.0 ppm nitrite was real, it should also be reading as quite a lot of nitrate.

Again, it could be that your mud very very effective, but just in case I'd double check your test results

I hope that helps!

 

[Fish Fan]

Learned something new, I didnt realize you could set them up as a auto water changer. That may come in handy later on.

I didn't know that until they were delivered. I believe it's on the box somewhere? I have yet to try it, but if it works, it would be a very inexpensive way to implement and AWC system.

 

[Fish Fan]

On the back of the box for the ATO, they show both and ATO and an AWC configuration

 

[Arkaeus]

Is some of your rock real, wet live rock from a fish store? Or maybe it's the mud you added, but I'd be a bit skeptical of your water test results here. Unless you used some real rock, or that mud is in fact very effective (it may be), I wouldn't expect the cycle to be progressing that quickly. Usually, it take solid couple of weeks to see ammonia going down and nitrite increasing when using dry rocks and Dr. Tim's One and Only.

Furthermore, nitrite causes a false high result for nitrate testing. If your 2.0 ppm nitrite was real, it should also be reading as quite a lot of nitrate.

Again, it could be that your mud very very effective, but just in case I'd double check your test results

I hope that helps!

Interesting, I would believe the reading may be incorrect. For ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate I am using the cheaper API test kits. The tank has been running with ammonia at 2ppm for 5 days then I added the Tims. Nitrate came back as zero so if you are correct it may be a false reading. I will be checking it a few times a week. I haven't added the AF mud or the seeded blocks from High Tide Aquatics yet. I used dry rock and Caribsea Fiji Pink.