Justin's IM Nuvo 30L build

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Fasthandsslowmind

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One Year update!!

The little 30L has been going well. All of my original equipment seems to be hanging in there. I've temporarily removed the refugium (a media reactor serving as refugium anyway) as I've resorted to a treatment of Vibrant in order to gain the upper hand on the most persistent problem I've had. The hair Algae. The dang hair algae. ugh.

I've added a Bubble Magnus miniQ skimmer. It's pulling some nasty wet skimate and is pretty silent, so no complaints there.

I'm still dosing AllForReef at a rate now of 15ml/day to keep the All around 8.5 and Calc / Mag reasonable.

The only fatalities:

A ruby red mandarin jumped out the first night I got him. Should've had the lid on.

A pincushion Urchin died, presumably from gorging himself on hair algae.

The only coral that haven't been doing great are the Acros. I've lost a few. Everything else is growing well!

IMG_7534 (1).jpeg
 
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Fasthandsslowmind

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Update:

The long and slow battle against nuisance algae is coming to a decisive victory.

I tried:

Waiting. The algae (I think it was hair algae + bryopsis) was resistant to patience. I should’ve acted sooner.

Fluconazole. I think the one Fluc treatment did help, particularly Allowing the hair algae to outcompete the bryopsis. Glad I did it, but marginal gains.

Pincushion urchin: This little guy put in work. Like a fleet of turbo snails. I always prefer the most natural solution. When he died, he was replaced by a small pencil urchin that wasn’t nearly as effective and was booted back to the LFS. Drawbacks: In a small tank like this, it’s a ”bull in a china shop” situation.

Refugium: Set up details in previous post. Meh. I was hoping this would be effective nutrient export. If there were any benefits, it was only a pod haven. Wouldn’t do this one again. Without a sump, refugium in a tank of this size is less about nutrient export, more about pod production. An algae scrubber could be used, but would be overkill.

Dosing photo: While I am continuing this, I don’t think it’s much of a contributor to the battle against nuisance algae. Good for the good stuff and the bad I think. Necessary, but not an algae weapon. I get it and pods from @Eldredge as a subscription and it’s WAY better in every way than other commercially available stuff.

I attribute the victory to:

Skimmer: If I had to do it over, I’d start here. I bought the little $50 Bubble Magnus skimmer. Works well, pulls a lot of nasty stuff. I took several weeks to begin having a visual effect. Now I worry less about over feeding. Win.

Vibrant: This one I hated to resort to due to all the controversy. I hate to take the chemical approach. However….I think it was quite effective. Yes, it’s probably algaecide. I diluted a bottle of Vibrant and began dosing maybe 2 months ago. Tiny amounts. After the hair algae was in control, I stopped dosing, and it stopped retreating. It’s not gaining ground, but if it looks like it will, I’ll kick the dozer back on. I’m very cautious about overdoing the vibrant. It’s probably had some negative effect on coral growth, but has done more good than bad. Win.

ANYWAY… The tank is looking pretty dang good and is low maintenance (finally)
LPS is growing fast! Acans are thriving, Zoas spread like fire. Monipora is doing great. Unfortunately the Pociliporra is VERY prolific. Wish I’d have never added that. The one Jawbreaker mushroom is now 3.

In bigger news, I’ve started another build - A Cade 1800 S2/p penensula. Check out the build thread!

 

Being sticky and staying connected: Have you used any reef-safe glue?

  • I have used reef safe glue.

    Votes: 134 88.2%
  • I haven’t used reef safe glue, but plan to in the future.

    Votes: 9 5.9%
  • I have no interest in using reef safe glue.

    Votes: 6 3.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 2.0%
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