IM Nuvo40 AIO budget reef tank build

[Patrick Fox]

Anyone got any cocktail sauce?

 

[Patrick Fox]

Looking clear again

 

[Patrick Fox]

I believe I'm nearly cycled. The ammonia has dropped off to almost nothing, and the nitrite is also dropping off. Still a decent amount of nitrite, but I'm pretty sure that won't go away until I remove the shrimp and do a water change or two.

I did a bit if cable management this morning and also got a few pictures of the ATO. I'll be making a post back on the first page showing/explaining the ATO system that I put together with so e DIY gear.

Might go to reef systems in New Albany today to pick out/reserve a fish or two to be quarantined until after we get back from our vacation. (Todd at reef systems has orequarantined fish and will also quarantined anything he selling for a small fee. I figure 4 weeks should be plenty of time)

 

[Patrick Fox]

Yesterday we stopped at the local Goodwill to take a look around, (sometimes people donate aquarium gear...or just the occasional funny/cool t-shirt) and I happened to find these really cool little battery powered LED lights. I stuck one on each level of the stand cabinet and it's really nice and functional.

Today I did a full set of tests, and decided it was time to remove the cocktail shrimp. Things are looking good!

I want to say that the shrimp was THE MOST FOUL, DISGUSTING, HORRIBLE, STINKY, OFFENSIVE, GELATIONOUS SNOT-BLOB of anything that I have ever had the misfortune to come into contact with. I gagged several times and nearly lost my lunch when it got above the water. That **** went into a bag and straight out to the trash outside immediately.

My wife and I decided we are going to go ahead and get a pair of ORA gladiator clowns. We will getting them sometime in the next week, from a local coral farm - special ordered from ORA! This is partially why I decided it's time to pull the shrimp. I will do a substantial water change tomorrow and see where things stand after that. I think we should be in good shape. We are really really excited to finally have some fish that will hopefully have personality, be pleasing to watch, and live long, healthy lives! And the fact that they are tank-raised and from OTA means virtually no chance of parasites/disease.

Also, I should be getting my light soon-ish. My friend has gotten all of the parts in and begun testing. It's going to be a really unique setup, and hopefully will make my tank look beautiful and provide plenty of light for the corals. More to come on that later.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Did a 10 gallon water change this afternoon, changed out the filter floss, and put a knee-high of redsea carbon in there. (I figured it might be a good idea to get the remainder of the shrimp funk out of there). Cleaned the glass, and all is well.

We got video/pictures of the ORA gladiator clowns that the coral farm got in today! My wife and I picked out a pair of gladiators that we fell in love with pretty much immediately. They are a yellow/gold color with some amazing white puzzle-piece markings and great gladiator helmets. We may be picking them up tomorrow afternoon depending on how things are looking. We are really excited to have a unique pair of clownfish that will be in our tank for many years!

More to come later.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Wednesday after work was a big day for us!

after work, my wife and I met up and drove to Reef Systems Coral Farm to go pick up our clownfish pair for the Nuvo! They got in a huge order of fish from ORA the day before, and we thought we were going to grab those yellow gladiator clowns that i mentioned. But once we got there and saw them in person, they really weren't all that yellow or all that exciting. more of a pale tangerine color. and my wife watched them for a while and noticed that they were really aggressive with other fish compared to the other designer clown varieties available. so in the end, we picked out a great looking pair of medium sized Black Snowflake clownfish. then we got to the register, i grabbed a net, and some pellet food, and right before we checked out, the owner stopped to take a look. he commented that the pair we picked out were very similar in size, and it may cause some issue with deciding which is the dominant fish and would thus become the female. So we took his advice and swapped one of them out for a much smaller black snowflake clown so that there is a very obvious size difference now.

we got them home safely, did about a 30 minute temperature acclimation while adding about a cup of water from my tank to their bag every 10 minutes. I also picked up a 4 oz bottle of Fluval cycle and added most of that a while before the fish, just to be extra certain that i had plenty of bacteria in the tank to handle the increased bioload. (of course i checked ammonia multiple times before introducing the fish).

so far, they have been in there a couple of days, and they are doing really good. yesterday evening I attempted to feed some pellets, and the bigger fish went right after them. but the smaller guy seemed too timid/scared. I thawed out some mysis and tried that - the smaller clown got one or two bits, but the bigger one was a lot more aggressive and snatched up nearly all of the food before the smaller one could work up the courage to get any. Im a bit nervous about the smaller one not eating at this point...im worried that he may be so much smaller that we might have a hard time getting him to eat in the presence of the larger one...but maybe he just needs more time to get comfortable in the new tank. im not sure if Reef Systems would let me swap him out for a slightly larger guy...but i really dont want to do that unless i have to. (I like the fish we picked out!)

These guys are beautiful though, and im really excited to have them. my wife is in love with them for sure. im really happy to see them in our tank hopefully we can get through the initial rough patch and end up with some really happy fish in there. patience...

 

[Patrick Fox]

Forgot pics. Also, the light is just temporary. I borrowed it from my 5G to get a quick picture.

 

[nickkohrn]

Looking good, Patrick!

You may want to try feeding on opposing sides of the tank; get the fish on opposite sides and feed both at the same time. That should help keep the larger one distracted with food while the smaller one gets a chance to eat.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Looking good, Patrick!

You may want to try feeding on opposing sides of the tank; get the fish on opposite sides and feed both at the same time. That should help keep the larger one distracted with food while the smaller one gets a chance to eat.

Thanks for the tip Nick. I'm going to experiment with feeding practices this morning since it's finally the weekend.

Also, good news everyone! Today when I woke up and walked over to the tank, I saw that the low-level LED had come on to tell me that the water level in the ATO reservoir is low! Glad to see that works, and that I still have several days worth of water once that happens. It looks like I should be able to go 14 days on a full 5 gallon ATO reservoir. So that's a relief.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Once again failed to attach the picture. I'm still getting the hang of the mobile app. Lol. Oh well, this is my thread and I don't give a crap about double posts.

 

[Patrick Fox]

The smaller clown ate brunch today! Haha. I went to the LFS this morning to grab some filter pads and they had frozen cyclops. I was told they are much smaller than the whole mysis I was feeding. (the smaller fish kept trying to eat the mysis and then spitting it out because it was too big to swallow.) We have success!

I put a cube in a mug along with some tank water and gave it time to thaw/warm up and then used a turkey baster to squirt some in. He ate it right up!

 

[Patrick Fox]

Just another quick update. After 36 hours in between the last feeding, I fed my clowns today. A mixture of cyclops, mysis and some soaked pellets in there too.

I used a syringe to squirt some into the tank after turning off the return pump and the Gyre pump. And BOOM. As soon as it hits the water the little clown zoomed over and started going for it! Both clowns ate a solid meal today. I'm feeling much better about things now.

Also, I spent a little more money recently to get a nice flipper scraper for the tank. Hopefully it'll be worth it - clean clear glass and hopefully no scratches. And some Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef flakes because why not have options for keeping my fish happy and well fed.

Otherwise, things are going well. We will be going on vacation for two weeks starting this Friday. When we get back hopefully my friend will have worked out the final version of the light that will go over the tank. Assuming that goes smoothly, it'll be time to move some corals over! (I have a 5gallon tank currently bursting with frags waiting to go into the Nuvo40. )

 

[Patrick Fox]

I got a new package from. Marine Depot today! My flipper and some prime reef flakes.

I gave the flipper a whirl and cleaned the white-gray film off the glass that was leftover from when I cycled with the cocktail shrimp easy peasy. The thing works great! I'm glad I just bit the bullet and got a flipper instead of buying a cheaper alternative and then regretting it.

Also, wasn't supposed to feed the clowns today (I wanted to get them on an every-other-day schedule until after our upcoming vacation to save my friend from coming over every day to feed them)...but since the new food looked so tempting, I fed some flake! They killed it in short order. Both seemed to love it.

Things are going smoothly. I did a test the other day and saw zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and maybe 10ppm of nitrate. Once I get a skimmer on there and a fuge-chamber with some cheato going, I should be looking good. [emoji41]

Cheers!

 

[nickkohrn]

Your clownfish are gorgeous!

 

[Patrick Fox]

Your clownfish are gorgeous!

Thanks Nick! My wife mainly picked them out. [emoji16]

 

[ruskimax]

Love my Nuvo 40, only thing I would have changed is definitely going bare bottom and not buying so much crap for the sump area. Simple and disciplined is usually a good way to set yourself up for success. Good luck man, congrats on the tank.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Love my Nuvo 40, only thing I would have changed is definitely going bare bottom and not buying so much crap for the sump area. Simple and disciplined is usually a good way to set yourself up for success. Good luck man, congrats on the tank.

Thanks Ruskimax,

I struggled with the bare-bottom vs. sand decision...but in the end, I want this to be a hobby that my wife and I can share. And she LOVES nassarious snails - and watching them burrow in and out if the sand bed. So I made the decision to go with a small sandbed - knowing it'll mean more work to keep things clean. Plus, if I'm being honest, I prefer the look of a nice white sandbed anyway.

Can you please tell me more about your setup and share any pics etc.? I currently only have a custom-caddy media basket in the back with a bunch of marine-pure gems and a little filter floss. (Plus a bag of carbon in the other side since it's empty) My intent is to add a small skimmer very soon, and then maybe make a clear acrylic box drilled full of holes to hold cheato in another chamber and I'll cut away some vinyl and put a light on the back chamber to shine through the glass/acrylic and grow chaeto. (it works well enough that way in my 5g tank.)

 

[Patrick Fox]

Hello again!

Just wanted to share a quick video of the clownfish doing what they do. Sorry it's verical-video. I suck. Oh well. At least it's in focus. (hopefully YouTube doesn't compress the hell out of it.)



Things are smooth/stable/good. Tank params are perfect. Clean and clear, and both clowns have a big appetite now. I did a 4 gallon water change yesterday. No sweat.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Also, we have pretty much settled on names for them. The larger one will be Rhonda (because likely female), and the smaller male will be Fes. Bet you could never guess our favorite TV show...

 

[Patrick Fox]

Update/pictures time!

Big news! We have a light on the tank and coral moved in!

Things have been really crazy for the last month and since we got back from our vacation it's been a whirlwind. In the last week I have set up a refugium chamber in the back of the tank, put a light on the tank, and moved 70% of the coral over.

The fuge is simple and dirty. I found a food-safe plastic bottle that my wife was nearly done using. It was from one of those fancy coffee syrups. Cleaned it out really good, removed the labels, cut off the top, and turned it into Swiss cheese with my dremmel. Then I filled it up with healthy Cheato algae from my 5g tank, and cut out a window in the vinyl on the back glass. Instant refugium. (The light is a custom pannel that a friend made for me. He's really great with circuit design and this thing has grown a crazy amount of cheato in my 5g tank.

Next up is the really exciting part. THE NUVO HAS LIGHT!

The same friend who made the refugium light had been working on a seriously upgraded setup for me to tell so test out on my reef tank. The circuit boards he designed and had made are amazing. He had the boards made up by some manufacturer that he sent a design to. And he sent me the cad files for the housing that he designed to go along with them. I 3D printed the housings out of ABS plastic and wired them up. The original plan was to put 6 of these modular light pannels over my tank... But after receiving them and doing some real life testing, is looking like 3 will be more than enough. Currently I only have 2 up because the old laptop power supply that I'm using can't support 3 of them. I also used an audio with a couple of simple lines of code that I worked out to control the brightness of the blue and white channels individually. currently, white and blue are both around 30% power.

For now I have to hook up a computer to make changes, but eventually I'll work out a better solution like wifi or at least a push button that cycles through a couple of preset settings. Just need more time later to play with the code.

I'll take see better pictures today after he light comes on. I need to eventually get one of those yellow/orange coral filters so that the whole picture isn't blue/purple. But that's a later kind of thought.

Next task is moving over the last couple of corals. Today I think I'll try and move the frogspawn and toadstool leather. I have a nice encrusting coral that I want to move over and I dont want to bring the whole rock into my new tank. So I think I need to find someone local with a coral bandsaw to help me cut up the rock it's on...any ideas?

Thanks!