Innovative marine Nuvo peninsula 20 log

Reefermadness89

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So I’m going to contain the majority of my posting for this tank into this thread.
I picked up this tank second hand. It came with a Pygmy volitian lionfish, he has been rehomed, the tank is here, and I’m ready to get started.
The lighting is a 30” dual lamp t5 ho.
The tank was running two water already, so I have set it up with that for now, and have done 4 water changes to get the substrate cleaned, get a majority of the funk out,
And to get the algae I scraped to then get out of the tank.

I’ve been told by some to pull everything and start fresh, but also that I should just
Clean clean clean and keep the cycle running. If I do the second option, what can I put in there that Won’t die from the changes but would keep it cycled properly.This is my first personal saltwater tank, but I work with animals and that does include some saltwater fish.

I’d like to get a mixed reef and a few fish.
I’m thinking either a mandarin, or somthing that would pair with a pistol shrimp.
Wouldn’t mind a couple clowns but that doesn’t have to be.

For the clean up crew I’m thinking 2 nassarius snails, an emerald crab,
And either a peppermint shrimp for aptasia, or a cleaner shrimp and a file fish for aptasia (I want somthing in there for a preemptive strike, I did see one aptasia but was removed with the tank empty of water)

Will be getting some sort of protein skimmer, a wavemaker, an ai prime led light, and an ato system with a 5g capacity.

Any tips, pointers, objections just leme know I’m here to learn.
 
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Reefermadness89

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Alright so I’ve gone ahead and taken EVERYTHING out.
I have new sand, a fresh piece of cured rock from a local, and have drained and deep cleaned the tank as was recommended by a few.
Took a qtip to the motor, glad I did, pretty gross, pulled it apart, even worse lol.
The tank is running with fresh water and no sand, at normal temps, with purigen carbon and floss to get any little things I might have missed during the deep dive.
Pump is twice as fast now so that’s cool.
Will keep everyone posted as I get more going
 
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Reefermadness89

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Sand is in, salinity is perfect, added some fish food to start it up, and will be adding 10lbs more rock next week, going with cycled live rock from a lfs that has the best livestock in town. I guess they just keep adding ammonia to feed the rocks or whatever, but seems legit and tons of options for size/shape.

DB07B858-6289-48CE-9458-F49923B2F5A1.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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So the water has cleared up, and it has 10ish lbs of live wet rock and will be adding another 15 or so lbs directly in when I get around to ordering it.
I added some ammonia (had a bit left from the freshwater days)
Ammonia was around 2ppm a few hours after adding.
There is now zero ammonia, less than .25ppm nitrites and nitrates we’re raised a bit the following day. Not bad!
Added a bit more ammonia and have been ghost feeding, but maybe the live wet rock plus biospira got my tank cycled that quickly?
If so I will always buy live wet rock from not on, that’s a huge time saver.

I’m still waiting on the rock,
I’m a slow shopper and didn’t take much home today from the lfs (cycled in a no fish or critters tank, just rock and water plus ammonia)
Can I put a small fish like a little clown in there now, since the bacteria is for the most part managing the ammonia I’m adding?
 
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Reefermadness89

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Water looking good, levels are right where they should be. Going to get some more rock this weekend 10-12lbs, picking up a skimmer, a diy IM brand lid, and a Wavemaker.
I’ll get the ai prime end of the month.
Very exciting, and I’m blown away the live rock and live sand plus biospira got this cycled.
I know the clowns will need to be rehomed, once this is setup, I’ll be working on getting a frag tank I guess they are called, the low square ones. They should be fine for now.

Deciding on a hammer, frogspawn, or torch as one of my first corals, to give them something to host.
Leaning towards branching hammer or frog.

90B7F6C5-B351-4639-AFEE-1B828FB5E4DC.jpeg E66668D3-EA46-400C-95D5-AAA4A2CB7C5D.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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This cluster of Ora orange zoas seems to be enjoying the new tank.

Just got in my current marine ic pro dual led strip set, hooks up to my phone via bluetooth.
Currently running it at 80blue 40white 14red and 8green.
2gr ramp up and down, with 4 hour moon light @20blue 8red

The zoa already looks better than it did at the lfs, they just seem more open, and there is more noticeable orange
Both pics are the best I could take but doesn’t show the exact look they have.

Going to pick up a pulsing Xenia and frog spawn in the next 14 days.

13760D9F-7E84-42A5-9A67-7A000D93B772.jpeg 5BD015EA-A8FB-4011-9D53-C0393ACC913E.jpeg 746602D3-3C3E-4073-BD90-F48B10C4F2FD.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Oof came home and my zoa was upside on the sand. dang snails.
This is my punishment for setting him up and not glueing him down.
My tons of reef safe superglue will Be here tomorrow and then I’ll button everyone down (rocks and my current 1 zoa frag)

Any thoughts on the rock work?
Total weight is about 22-23lbs, wanted a double arc look but wanted it busy but not cramped.
Guy is selling hammer coral and candy canes 10 bucks each, so I’m gunna try out a hammer but idk much about the candy canes.
Lights seem pretty bright and the specs for these seem to be pretty accurate from what I’ve read online (they are the current orbit ic pro 2 strip Bluetooth setup, using the compatible wave maker.
Going to add a second wave maker possibly.

Diatoms are starting to fade away.

BF805A82-2437-4E15-A37A-598AD7CE6833.jpeg
 

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Looks great so far! Candy cane coral (aka trumpet coral or caulatrea) is a very good beginner LPS coral. Very hardy, but a fairly slow grower. I bought a single polyp last December and it's only split into 3 different polyps. Growth rate could probably be sped up by feeding them (they do eat frozen mysis etc) but I dont like risking my water quality. Here's tidal gardens care and tips video

 
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Reefermadness89

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I’ve been slowly going through their videos I love them.
Also looking at their c-137 zoas they have. Suuuper cool.
How will I know the zoa is getting enough light?
More opened than at the store, I assume too little or too much and it would close back up?
 

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Too little light and they will stretch towards the light and go dull color wise. Too much and they try to get as close to flat on the rock as they can and start to become pale from my experience
 
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Reefermadness89

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Too little light and they will stretch towards the light and go dull color wise. Too much and they try to get as close to flat on the rock as they can and start to become pale from my experience
So here is them this morning after the lighting ramp up. They’d eriously look better today than yesterday (they are Ora orange zoas from a local petstore chain, and I know for a fact that store had 1yr or older t5ho lights.
They are flat but also look brighter, even the specks of blue sparkly looks brighter.
It’s also a small frag, 12-13 polyps but it’s about the size of a half dollar

47318925-050A-4404-8D76-0D2DC8E0CCA7.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Some gsp and a hammer coral I paid 5$ each for.
The dip stressed them out, but after about a day they seem better than they did in their home tank (likely just me staring at the in awe)
I dipped coral rx in the bag water i got with it, and then drip acclimated with revive coral cleaner.
Hammer was cut and healed before I got it, gsp was a fresh cut.
No bugs, and I’m super stoked with how it came out

46430B68-53ED-4FD3-87DE-2C7B7128686E.jpeg 74479326-F9C5-43FA-8144-4F18415F6580.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Full tank shot.
Hammer, gsp and zoas are loving live.
This chalice of sorts was free, it’s angry from the coral rx dip followed by a coral revive acclimation, but should be fine. Removed some tube worm things and some other critters, dips R good.
It was in a relatively low light poorly kept lfs tank, and was free so I figured I’d try it out.

F4D03973-CB8C-4DAB-BE4D-A414F1AD09A2.jpeg BD2BC083-FEDE-4C8F-83DA-425E355DF498.jpeg 7E6E2E2D-F25A-4C1B-A4A9-04FF67BD6701.jpeg BB24B606-FF52-4CD3-A77A-D6EAD013B676.jpeg 7E1DDF1B-DB2C-4609-BAD2-82E6D2EC3047.jpeg 1BEAAEAE-7F82-4A25-9BCF-6E92CC692C66.jpeg
 
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Alright so the tank today is officially 3 weeks old ;Joyful
It’s come a long ways in what I now realize
To be an incredibly short time.
My diatom bloom went from holy crap what’s happened :eek: to on its way out. The turbosnails and astrea snails loved it though.
Now that my sand is a bit dirty from 3 weeks of life, I’m going to try to get some nassarius snails, I’m thinking 4 or 5 since it’s a long sandbed.
Corals are all doing just fine and all seem to be growing which is cool.

Things I’ve learned this far:
1. Just start with some live cycled rock, that saves the time, ready to drop in dry rock for
the rest no regrets.
2. Plan rockscape when tank is dry. This round I got some live rock and then set that up and ordered dry rock, would have preferred to have more time arranging rocks.
3. Find locals to buy corals, 5$ hammer vs a smaller 90$ hammer of the exact same
Color and type.

I’m picking up some candy canes, another hammer or 2 (maybe 3 ;)) and a few more
Zoas this week.
Considering I put gsp in the tank, I may or may not get pulsing Xenia. My concern is too much roaming growth from 2 sources could make the tank hard to manage. Keeping gsp on the sand only (or will try to do so)

The maroon clowns are going into a bigger tank soon, and will be replaced with either a single misbar ocelaris, a black ocelaris, or a frostbite.
Pistol shrimp goby pair maybe next week going in.
A couple other shrimp, maybe an anemone shrimp for the hammers?

I’ll keep it posted.

Settings in tank are
Led:blue100/white60/red25/green10
Everything is 1/2that for ramp up
And down. Moonlight is blue2/white1/red0/green4 looks pretty cool but doesn’t distrurb coral sleep, lasts for 4 hours. Sun up at 9 sundown at 9
I gave one Wavemaker set to gyre mode100%power 10sec intervals , it’s set up on the side opposite my intake, 2/3down facing up 55deg. Angle. No deadspots, but I’ll add a second one to desync and add more movement, not just flow.
I might go skimmer, I might go refugium for chaeto in the back filter section, both would achieve the same, but a refug could house pods n such, so idk.
That’s all, and anyone who’s kept up with this tank thanks for reading!

F485B51F-EF9A-40B8-88B5-7F53A59482CA.jpeg
 
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Tank is doing good, but I’m wondering if my coral banded is picking on my gsp, he’s always moving towards it and picking at it. I assume just grabbing bits of food in between the polyps
 
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Alright so my coral banded seems to really like picking food that falls into the gsp,odd but noones getting hurt so that’s cool.
Picking up some more local corals this weekend, some green candy cane, hopefully blue mushrooms and some gorgronian of Some sort, maybe a kenya?
Also got this mini maxi carpet that looks super cool. My lighting should more than Be enough, and it’s found a lower flow zone and isn’t slowly opening up. 2hr acclimation to keep it smooth but lfs water was pretty much the same as mine so likely overkill
Not good at getting blurb light pics, I’ll have to get a filter. The anem. Has a few white tentacle patches, and seemed a bit out of the ordinary from the others.

B5A9DE54-D19F-454C-8467-74D92B1C0A4A.jpeg F5C44B30-71BC-45BE-AA14-D93899DE5804.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Setting up shop this morning! Looks like he’s scootching his foot into the sandbed. Hopefully he stays off the glass, I don’t want to move him, and won’t for a week but it doesn’t go with the look I want lol

CA223738-2225-4D85-B5C6-2BE88A327A6D.jpeg 33468D61-5137-4AD9-95EC-F2AB0F3C392F.jpeg 59819E5F-D3FD-43FE-8D31-CC9F0C9DDC6C.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Updates:
The mini carpet has found a rock and is hiding inside it. Still seems healthy but it doesn’t like my leds (I’ve turned them down, but it’s been in t5 or halides before coming here so this should be normal. Haven’t tried to feed yet just giving it time to figure out it’s happy spot


10$ for some new corals



I’ve added a grubers (?)gorgronian (the photosynthetic kind) a green candy cane coral, the mini carpet anemone, and 5 small mushrooms for 10$ not bad.

Water is doing fine, I’ve done several rodi water only waterchanges since getting the tank stocked,diatom bloom is gone and just a small bit of green hair algae.

I’ve begun dosing Kent nano 2part reef
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 (my tank has been very low nitrates I guess the cycled rock is taking care of some plus the corals taking the rest I guess.
Calcium 350 as of most recent waterchange /re dose.
Phosphate less than .2
35ppt sg all day.

I’m going to take some sand out, keep it at 1/2 -3/5 inch or so, the maroon clowns will be out and a pistol goby combo, and maybe a psudochromis or somthing similar to replace the clowns.
Considering adding a few more things, mostly lps and zoas plus a Duncan, That will pretty much fill the tank and then I’ll start on a 50frag tank I’ve been eyeing.
That tank will be a whole new log and I’ll be using black box leds and maybe a sump but I’m thinking no sump and more tinkering to keep it sexy, with a few hob refugiums to get chaeto and pods to add to both tanks.
Anyways, here’s some pics

Hammer had just been fed and was still puffin back up

7F3022B7-F418-40DD-9A65-2ABAE299544E.jpeg 84CEF1EF-5ABD-4330-805E-1A46214F8438.jpeg 2E582085-1999-4E26-9B09-7F12D70FF1D7.jpeg F0620F74-564A-419A-AF4B-9BE18BAD6F18.jpeg FC32A665-496F-4315-9857-3DDDABC559E0.jpeg C02B8B5D-C1B9-44D1-846C-3633F8268BB4.jpeg


Also some sort of mystery chalice, it was free and dying. Seems to look way better and this was the reason I started dosing 2part with just lps ect.


Also here some other animals enjoy 1DB8FF6A-7555-4F84-9F24-EFD9EB2A7898.jpeg F8246B8C-4F5E-409B-A697-5840D52D0EEF.jpeg 96738FCA-AF6E-4529-8D0D-83272E3691C2.jpeg A570EA83-DC6D-417C-9894-A3EED96380E0.jpeg CEBE28BC-9B54-4EC2-9812-2DC7D566276D.jpeg A5FC3795-408B-48EB-B5BF-CDF10141DFAB.jpeg 70DA480F-A491-4893-9934-92AD80C7F9ED.jpeg ACBD27C6-CBDC-441B-9CA4-F5C27E22BC21.jpeg 2723823A-E04D-4CDF-8C82-5763896A78C1.jpeg A5AD4482-8200-418B-B66F-65B1CA04A88C.jpeg 49E97C94-ADBC-4693-A3A9-B190901D7975.jpeg
 
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Reefermadness89

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Picked up 13heads of hammer, plus 2 finger leather cuts, as well as this Acropora. The Acro is 6-8in from the led, polyps actually opening up and it looks good time will tell.
The real reason I spent another 10$(for all of that lol) was to get that chunk of hammer. It’s slowly opening up. Finger leather looks rough but it was a free add in with the hammer so whatever lol.

82916084-E164-4AB0-B89C-B066C8645E0C.jpeg F01E9364-29B8-430F-A085-996F97E08522.jpeg 6F599A2D-9EDF-4551-AB0E-F5FB3C72A47D.jpeg E5400607-3BF0-4C61-8973-876B7A79A570.jpeg
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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