Duelling Nuvo 10s

[jurgenph]

So... time for a new build.

While most people seem to go bigger, and bigger, i decided to go the opposite way.
scaling down from a 40B to 2 IM Nuvo 10s. does that make it a 20?

why?

well, i've had a few tanks, started in 2004 with a 90 gallon. which became too expensive to keep running at the time 8 x 54w T5HO a cls, return and skimmer pump that ran hot, and a chiller that nearly ran all day, electric bill was nuts, and then kids happened.

tore it down, and replaced it with a aquapod 24. ran it with 150W MH.

up next was a Mr aqua 6 gallon bookshelf.
that one got nuked by my overfeeding neighbor while i was on vacation.

up next a 20 tall, turned into a DIY AIO tank.

and then i upgraded, to a 40 breeder, also turned into a diy AIO. don't want to deal with sumps anymore.
long story short, a few months ago, things started to go downhill, and first i overreacted, made it worse.

decided to reboot the tank, and moved some livestock over into the fluval 2.5G QT, and setup another fluval 5G to hold the rest.

and then i decided that i really like small tanks :) rather than restarting the 40, i'm replacing it with two 10s :)

tanks got delivered yesterday.
unboxed and put onto the stand today.
i really like the build quality. solid tanks.

rodi is making water as i type...

the plan is... if i can stick to it.

one SPS tank, one LPS tank.
both will get a few zoas as well

will be running a hydra26 hd over each one, as that is what i have.
depending on how that works out, i may get other lights.

livestock plans (these are currently in the two temp fluval tanks)

sps tank:
- black darwin clown.
- purple firefish

lps tank:
- red spotted trimma gobie
- blue neon gobie
- possum wrasse

and one or two cerith snails and hermits in each.
and when the lfs has them back in stock, a trochus in each one as well.

i'm supposed to have 6 sexy shrimp in the fluval 5G too... but they have been MIA for a while now.
hope they are just being shy and hiding when i'm around.

will be using the rocks from the 40B, some of them have been doing an extended cure/clean in a bucket.
it's mostly pukani.

corals that survived the disaster in the 40B
- a few zoas
- a small multi colored ricordea yuma, slowly recovering and coloring back up
- 3 heads of duncan. slowly recovering
- green goniopora, on the brink of death. two little green spots left on it, it's refusing to die.
- red goniopora, has a "ring" of life left on it, a bunch of small polyps are starting to show signs of life again.
- a small frag of a purple'ish encrusting monti. not really recovering, but not getting worse either.

everything else joined the pile of dead skeletons.

so... dry FTS :)

J.

 

[Devaji]

cool I like it. but think you need AI 26 on each? maybe you have them already but I think it's over kill. I bet 2 primes would do really well. might look "cleaner" too?

excited to see this come together. I am a sucker for build threads :D

 

[jurgenph]

cool I like it. but think you need AI 26 on each? maybe you have them already but I think it's over kill. I bet 2 primes would do really well. might look "cleaner" too?

excited to see this come together. I am a sucker for build threads :D

oh, yeah, i already own the two hydra 26HDs, i'll have to dial them down a bit :)
one of them needs to be sent in for repairs though. two of the royal blue leds are toast.

J.

 

[ZachR32]

Glad to see I’m not alone! I had dueling 14s but had to break one down. Setting the second back up once we move to our new place!

 

[jurgenph]

OMG! the included mightyjet 326 is strong!
even dialed down all the way this thing moves water. way more than i like flowing through the filter.

grabbed a spare sicce syncra 0.5 completely turned down, and that is much better.
it also fits better. that mightyjet barely fits.

i may even look for something smaller.

Glad to see I’m not alone! I had dueling 14s but had to break one down. Setting the second back up once we move to our new place!

got a build thread?

J.

 

[jurgenph]

Progress!

wet for about a week, added some of the liverock that has been curing for a bit, and one piece from the 5Gal.

not sure that i like the left tank, the one big chunk of LR does't look good to me.

not sure which ome will be the SPS tank at this point.

the left tank is lit without royal blue LED, that's why it looks less blue. it also has a rather white piece of rock in it :)

put a tester coral in the left tank, some rasta zoas.
they seem to be doing fine for now.

excuse the mess in between the tanks... :D

 

[jurgenph]

boxed up the right hydra26HD and dropped it off at UPS store, sending back to AI for repairs.
fingers crossed!

and it looks like disturbing the rocks in the 5 gal fluval was enough to make 3 sexy shrimp come out of hiding!
at least i now know that 50% of them are still alive!

and the little trimma gobie is finally getting a bit more brave and hanging out in the front, instead of in a dark corner behind a rock!

last weekend i restarted my birdsnest collection, after loosing them in the 40B fiasco...

here's a shot of the canary in the new tank tester coral.
one of my all time favorite zoas... rastas.

and now, i'm going to dig through my old box of dry rocks.... see if i can find something that looks and fits better in the Nuvo 10.


J.

 

[jurgenph]

and now, i'm going to dig through my old box of dry rocks.... see if i can find something that looks and fits better in the Nuvo 10.

found one pice that will look a bit better.
it's narrower, and taller. this will make a nice psp island/pillar!

11 inches tall! so this will almost stick out of the top of the water.

the bad news... it's never been wet, so this will take a few weeks before it is ready for the tank :(

J.

 

[jurgenph]

reducing the bioload in the small temporary tanks.

the possum wrasse has been moved into the left Nuvo10, which will become the low flow LPS tank.
and the Darwin clown has been moved into the right Nuvo10 (currently not lit!) and big'ole chunk of LR in it.

the firefish, trimma and neon gobie were much too fast to catch, i'll need to get those when i take the rocks out of the 5 gal :)

taking suggestions on wether to move the remaining fish into the low flow LPS or high flow SPS.
i'm kinds leaning towards the low flow.

J.

 

[jurgenph]

OH! and the new piece of dry rock has been put into a bucket of RODI / bleach.
Going to let that soak until next weekend, and then the curing/cycling can begin.


J.

 

[jurgenph]

let the bleached rock dry overnight.
didn't really dry completely, still smells like chlorine.
letting it sit another night in a bucket of rodi and a healthy scoop of seachem safe.

J.

 

[jurgenph]

so... i did the unthinkable...

trying to think how i'm going to contain it... and if it will go in the LPS or SPS tank.


J.

 

[jurgenph]

the "LPS" tank with tester zoas has gotten a few additions.
i've added another frag of rasta zoas about halfway up, to see how they do there compared to the ones on the bottom, trying to dial in the lights without a par meter.

and made two small birdsnest frags and put them in the same spots.

J.

 

[jurgenph]

the firefish, trimma and neon gobie were much too fast to catch, i'll need to get those when i take the rocks out of the 5 gal :)

well... i'm not sure what happened, i think the purple firefish is feeling brave now that he's the biggest one in the tank.
both the neon gobie and the trimma gobie ended up in the filter section of the specV.

the neon was easy to catch, as he was hanging out in the overflow section, chilling on the filter pad.

the trimma somehow must have jumped overthe divider, and made it all the way into the return section...

water change time, and got both of 'em into the Nuvo10 now.

the firefish has the 5 gallon all to himself now.

nearly impossible to get a good shot of the neon!

and a shot of the two new canary coral frags ;)

J.

 

[jguerin88]

Nice

 

[jurgenph]

boxed up the right hydra26HD and dropped it off at UPS store, sending back to AI for repairs.
fingers crossed!

three thumbs up for AI support!

received a replacement light :D

J.

 

[jurgenph]

as they say... no two tanks are alike, even though you try your best to set them up the same.

left tank developed what looks like a bacterial bloom :(
it started out barely noticeable, but over about a week or so, it's there. and running the IM filter sock doesn't filter it out, so whatever is floating in the water is smaller than 200 micron.

not sure why that one did and the other didn't.

i'm using this as an excuse to purchase myself a IM aquashield UV sterilizer, that should drop right into the overflow.


J.

 

[RWS6605]

Cool builds. I have a Nuvo 10 running as my QT currently. It may end up being a clowntank...maybe. I have two OC in my DT that I don’t like there. May change the 10 up and do a zoa garden with a mini max carpet nem and some sexy shrimp. Keep up the good work!

 

[jurgenph]

as they say... no two tanks are alike, even though you try your best to set them up the same.

left tank developed what looks like a bacterial bloom :(
it started out barely noticeable, but over about a week or so, it's there. and running the IM filter sock doesn't filter it out, so whatever is floating in the water is smaller than 200 micron.

not sure why that one did and the other didn't.

i'm using this as an excuse to purchase myself a IM aquashield UV sterilizer, that should drop right into the overflow.

So I ordered that uv sterilizer.

Then I thought, 1ml of H2O2 a day isn't going to hurt anything...

My uv sterilizer got delivered today.

And the bloom is gone! Looks like the peroxide took care of it.

Just my luck.

Thanks mother nature


J.

 

[Ckane2]

Did you use an ABS sheet to protect the bottom of the nuvo 10’s or no? Considering bare bottom for mine