My (hopefully) triumphant return to nano-reefing!

[scottkoji]

Hi guys! I hope you’re not too tired of nuvo10 builds because here comes another one! I’m a new member on R2R but I've used this site for years and have become completely dependent on the information and advice that is shared here so I finally felt like it was time to stop lurking and start contributing. I've been working on setting up a new tank after a few years away from the hobby. This will be my fourth nano reef over the last 10 yearsish and I thought it would be fun to document the experience. Super excited about this build and setup so far!!!

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

-Nuvo 10
-IM Mighty Jet DC return
-Jager 50 watt heater
-Inkbird heater controller
-Refractometer
-IM media basket
-AI Prime 16HD reef (haven’t decided on mount yet)
-API test kit
-Marine pure gems
-About 7 lbs of Marco rock plus a few foundation pieces

The plan with this tank is to keep a light bioload and mainly focus on corals while also keeping it relatively low maintenance. So I'm thinking softie tank. As of right now, I'm not planning on running a skimmer and or an ATO. I've had an ATO disaster before and because of that, I'm a little scared of them despite their convenience. The big new thing for me on this one is that I'm going to go bare bottom. This will be my first BB tank so I'm sure I'll have questions down the road. I did go ahead and silicone a piece of textured ABS plastic to the bottom of the tank just to protect the glass.

I'm going to start working on aquascape tonight and hopefully start the cycle this weekend! Any advice is more than welcomed. Thanks for following along!

8/7/21 - About 4 months after the move/upgrade

10/7/22 - After adding a few new rock structures and moving some coral around for better placement

 

[scottkoji]

Here is a pic of my loot so far because I'm just that excited.

 

[Seeds13]

Welcome. Can’t wait to see it all come together. Like you I was a stalker and just joined.

 

[Caseyoidae]

Great start! Welcome R2r!!

 

[scottkoji]

Great start! Welcome R2r!!

Thanks!!!

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R! Congratulations on your new tank, looking forward to seeing more

 

[scottkoji]

When I started this build my intention was to stick as closely as possible to the BRS/WWC hybrid method and post progress updates regularly. Well that didn’t happen. Lol. Life got busier and I haven’t posted any updates at all!

The hybrid method involves a four month cycle to prepare the tank for corals well... that also didn’t happen. We grew impatient real quick and started stocking. We found a few deals that were to good to pass up and were given a TON of frags by a local vendor in exchange for some work. Luckily we still haven’t ran into too many problems! We found one aptasia that came in on a frag that we eliminated quickly and we also went through the inevitable ugly stage. I also believe this tank is taking longer to stabilize than some of my previous builds due to the fact that it’s a bare bottom and a tiny one at that but I’m starting to see coralline algae growth so I’m stoked about that. Growth from the zoas and the favias has been shockingly fast. Luck has definitely been on our side with this one because I ignored all advice and logic and rushed the first few months. Here’s to hoping that luck holds up!

 

[Chrisfish]

Beautiful!!!

 

[scottkoji]

Beautiful!!!

Thank you so much!

 

[blasterman]

I've added SPS to new tanks a couple days after pouring water in them. My current best tank is a 10gal iabout 4 months old and loaded with massively growing SPS - mostly digis.

Corals dont really care about cycling since ammonia is just food to a coral. Hard corals just want stable alk.

What bites you is what I call the secondary cycle which starts about when the diatom blooms start. Nuisance algae are what kill you in a small tank. The small water displacement makes everything that much worse. Softies and palys and zoas get the worst of this in terms of bio warfare. You are on the right track keeping nutrients low. You've got to minimize the chance for nuisance algae blooms to crop up. Too many small tankers dont follow this, over stock and end up with big problems.

Good luck and nice tank.

 

[scottkoji]

I've added SPS to new tanks a couple days after pouring water in them. My current best tank is a 10gal iabout 4 months old and loaded with massively growing SPS - mostly digis.

Corals dont really care about cycling since ammonia is just food to a coral. Hard corals just want stable alk.

What bites you is what I call the secondary cycle which starts about when the diatom blooms start. Nuisance algae are what kill you in a small tank. The small water displacement makes everything that much worse. Softies and palys and zoas get the worst of this in terms of bio warfare. You are on the right track keeping nutrients low. You've got to minimize the chance for nuisance algae blooms to crop up. Too many small tankers dont follow this, over stock and end up with big problems.

Good luck and nice tank.

Thank you so much. This is awesome advice! I am definitely trying to stay on top of my nutrients and have been religious about water changes.

 

[scottkoji]

Well...it's been almost 2.5 years since I've updated this build thread but the tank is still up! We ended up having to move in April of 2021 which definitely set us back but I was able to make some upgrades at that point. Went from a IM Nuvo 10 to 20 which doesn't seem like a huge difference but doubling the amount of DT space really was a game changer. But upgrading to a slightly larger tank meant that almost everything else had to be upgraded at the same time...lights (might already be time to upgrade those again), PH's, stand, and heater. The tank has definitely had its fair share of struggles - I rushed in the beginning when everyone (including myself) told me not to but I've learned a lot though that experience. This is the first time in a while that I've truly felt like it has been thriving.

The issue I'm dealing with now is a lack of phoshhates and nitrates. I got some Hanna checkers to get more accurate readings and plan on starting to slowly dose with neonitrate and neophos. I will be better about updating this build thread for those who are interested or who are running a similar setup. Thanks for reading!

 

[scottkoji]

Well, almost time for my annual update lol

Lots of changes. Mostly aesthetic - equipment cover was just installed and I have a new lid from @Kraken Reef on order.

I lost a bunch of SPS in the top middle section due to P and N bottoming out a while back. A few things are starting to bounce back but it still looks bare up top and the things that did survive lost all color. Going to focus on LPS and softies for now. Added new ATO and I’m dosing AB+ in small amounts a few times daily now.

Starting to run out of space. I’ll have to be especially picky about any new additions.

 

[scottkoji]

getting ready to say goodbye to these gods pawns in a few days. Going to new home

 

[scottkoji]

Torch garden coming along too

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Well, almost time for my annual update lol

Lots of changes. Mostly aesthetic - equipment cover was just installed and I have a new lid from @Kraken Reef on order.

I lost a bunch of SPS in the top middle section due to P and N bottoming out a while back. A few things are starting to bounce back but it still looks bare up top and the things that did survive lost all color. Going to focus on LPS and softies for now. Added new ATO and I’m dosing AB+ in small amounts a few times daily now.

Starting to run out of space. I’ll have to be especially picky about any new additions.

Glad to see your tank is still doing great!