My Nano Monster

MDAquatics

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Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 15
System:
15 Gallons Launched 7/20/24
ATO: Prism
Mixed Reef: Soft, LPS, small SPS
Corals: 10 mixed
Fish: 2 - Nearly naked Clownfish (George), Twin Spot Goby (Also George)
Cleanup Crew: 8 Blue Leg Hermits, 2 Tongan Nassarius, 4 Trochus, 3 Nerites, 5 Florida Ceriths, 5 Nassarius Vibex, 15 Dwarf Cerith, 2 Emerald Crabs, Tuxedo Urchin

Return Pump: Sicce Sincra Silent 1.5 full out w/IM Spinstream
Skimmer: IOAIO Nano 30G Skimmer - Not turned on
Mechanical: NUVO Desktop Roller
BioMedia: Brightwell XPort Brick (Cut)
Chemical: Chemi-Pure Blue
Heating: Inkbird 306T - 100 Watt Titanium heater
Lighting: AI Prime
Pumps: Jaebo SLW3 run very low
Primary Testing: Hanna Marine Master
Dosing: All For Reef 5X.1ml Daily out of Kamoer X1. Dosing container on mixing stand
Feeding: Custom Frozen Mix (Manual), Reef Jerky (auto - on hold)
Vitamins: None
Dipping: Coral RX
Other Equipment: Poseidon Reef Macro Reactor, InTank Refugium basket, Luxury Top Lid, Custom built ATO reservoir, BRS C02 Scrubber, Plank Autofeeder

My office tank is getting a major overhaul. I have a cool future plan for my Eshopps Deskmate that is currently in my office, so the office space is getting a big upgrade. I tore everything down and started with the cabinet. I knew what space I had to work with so I spent a lot of time planning out the cabinet. Every time I thought I was done I gave it a few days and another idea would always come up. After I couldn't think of anything else I dug into the build. The entire thing is built from 3/4 AC, well sanded and painted with enamel. 3 coats with sanding in between. I wanted good support in the center and oversized for storage with a nice control panel. The Control panel is held in place by magnets and is removable and swappable to allow for future upgrades. All the shelves are purpose built to hold something specific although all of the gear is not on site yet. I do however have all the essentials.
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Keeping from the old tank are just a few pieces of livestock. Really just a trachy, two zoas and a handful of snails. I don't have a lot left to do. I'm waiting on a dosing container I will be using for skimmate and some fittings so I can connect the scrubber. I will need it because I fight with CO2 in the closed up office. My lid is still in production and I have to finish a cover for the control panel that will just be a frame with tinted glass. Eventually I will swap the panel and put an apex on it.

The prime is running Saxby. I have it tuned down a fair bit, maybe 20-25%. I'll get a par meter on it soon enough. The fuge is running on a 12 hour night schedule offset from the skimmer that runs during the day. I'm still dialing the flow in with the fuge, its a bit tricky but I am almost there. My plan with it is to run a small amount of chaeto that I will harvest regularly, its mainly for the pods. This skimmer by the way is a beast, pulls great skim right away.

I'm feeding fairly heavy at the moment because I have a weak heart. I was at my LFS looking for odds and ends and saw a twin spot that was in terrible shape, there was no way he was going to make it. Good news is he's coming around pretty well. I'm stuffing him full of pods and mysis and some frozen mix which he eats readily. I shouldn't have cracked and tried to save him at this stage in the tank but I couldn't help myself.

I also pulled my doser off the old tank that was running AFR but I'm obviously holding off until the tank is more established. In the photo below, that dosing container is sitting on a mixer that runs for 5 minutes a day. Depending on how things go in the next couple months I might dose bacteria.

I'll post some video of the whole setup pretty soon.

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MDAquatics

MDAquatics

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Just a quick update, Ill be adding a new video soon in the next couple days. This tank is in my office and I just returned from a two week vacation out of state. Despite leaving detailed instructions....my staff failed me!

To make a long story short no maintenance was done and the tank look atrocious when I returned. Its infested with algae and I lost almost everything except my two fish and one trachy. Im not sure what they did to cause such big issues, it seems hard to lose so much progress so fast without something detrimental being done. The most unfortunate part is that I have been taking my time with everything and have been diligent on my maintenance. Everything was shaping up great and the tank seemed to be hitting its stride.

In the end dealing with staff is what it is. I just manually cleaned everything I could, did an emergency water change and reloaded my cleanup crew from reef cleaners. Its amazing how much work they can do in a short amount of time because it's looking pretty good right now compared to my return just a short few days ago. I've learned my lesson. Next time I will try to find a local reefer and give them a few bucks to check in on the tank when I'm gone. But this catastrophe is over, time to move on and up and hopefully much more progress to come soon!
 
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MDAquatics

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I have a ton of updates coming to the tank, I have been doing a lot of work. But for now I havent been happy with my lighting and schedule so I decided to run a test on my lights. I pulled the trigger on an inexpensive PAR meter. My thoughts there being that as long as it gave consistent readings which it seemed like it would based on the reviews. I would give it a try.

So far I am pretty happy. I've run a variety of tests with the tank lights at different intensities, with external lights on and off, testing the same spots repeatedly and the readings all seem very consistent.

So the reason for getting the PAR readings aside from obviously wanting to know, is that I am suspicious of my lid. I felt like I'm losing a TON of light through the lid and as suspected its true in the lower levels of the tank. This is mainly due to the bracing and it's something that everyone may not think about when setting up their lights.

The Tank is a NUVO fusion 15 with a single AI Prime mounted 8 inches off the lid and centered. I like to run a 1.5/8/1.5 schedule.

My lid is a TOP LIDS brand luxury lid with custom cutouts and an EVAP cover. I wiped it down before testing.

I took readings with the lid both on and off. For the “LID ON” readings I used the feeding port for the PAR meter.

I want to note that the EVAP cover was a waste for me. My PAR readings with the EVAP cover are abysmal so I’ve set that in a dark corner of the basement

This is more of an informational post than anything for anyone wondering about lids and PAR on this particular tank and light. I'm very happy with the light and the lid and I'm hopeful I can help someone with a similar setup.


View of the lid from the top


Readings without the lid


Readings with the lid


AI Prime Settings
 

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