my Nuvo 20 AIO

[reefmaster70]

I am just starting up a new tank, it's a Nuvo 20 AIO currently in the cycle process. Has 20 pounds of Carib Sea live sand base, and 15 pounds of Pukani liverock. Doing the old school cycle method by just adding a frozen shrimp and some bacteria starter, letting it do its thing.

 

[Marinus]

Looks really nice! Which aquascape did you go with? I really like the arch. What pets do you plan on keeping?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Following! I can't wait to see how this build progresses!

What are your plans for the tank? I'd love to hear them!

 

[reefmaster70]

Im not really sure just yet. For fish and such, probably a clownfish of some sort, maybe a pair of firefish, pair of banghaii cardinals, possibly a shrimp or two. and then several softies (zoas, mushrooms, maybe some GSP, possibly some pulsing xenia). That's the plan anyway.

 

[Marinus]

Im not really sure just yet. For fish and such, probably a clownfish of some sort, maybe a pair of firefish, pair of banghaii cardinals, possibly a shrimp or two. and then several softies (zoas, mushrooms, maybe some GSP, possibly some pulsing xenia). That's the plan anyway.

A lot of good options there!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Im not really sure just yet. For fish and such, probably a clownfish of some sort, maybe a pair of firefish, pair of banghaii cardinals, possibly a shrimp or two. and then several softies (zoas, mushrooms, maybe some GSP, possibly some pulsing xenia). That's the plan anyway.

That sounds amazing! I can't wait to see!!

 

[Tahoe61]

Love the IM 20, one of my favorite tanks.
Congrats. Scape looks great, is that an AI Prime?

 

[reefmaster70]

Love the IM 20, one of my favorite tanks.
Congrats. Scape looks great, is that an AI Prime?

Yep, AI prime, it's such a great light.

 

[reefmaster70]

Looks really nice! Which aquascape did you go with? I really like the arch. What pets do you plan on keeping?

not sure I understand your question about what aquascape? Do you mean what live rock did I use? If so, I actually used dry rock, it's Pukani that came from a friend that is no longer able to be imported, so I feel very lucky to have it. And then I seeded it with 3 small pieces of liverock out of a friends 8 year old reef tank.

 

[Marinus]

not sure I understand your question about what aquascape? Do you mean what live rock did I use? If so, I actually used dry rock, it's Pukani that came from a friend that is no longer able to be imported, so I feel very lucky to have it. And then I seeded it with 3 small pieces of liverock out of a friends 8 year old reef tank.

Sorry about that, it looked like a different aquascape in the pictures. The room lights compared the blue lights. You're so lucky to have Pukani, that stuff is rare now.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Yep, AI prime, it's such a great light.

I agree! Expensive, but very high quality!

 

[steveschuerger]

You’ll really like the tank. I’ve had mostly IM tanks myself. Picked up the same tank today when my little BioCube decided to crack down the back. Ironically I had to downsize from a 90 due to moving fairly soon. Used a modded Cube but possibly aided by an earthquake this morning it cracked. So back to a new IM .

 

[reefmaster70]

Sorry about that, it looked like a different aquascape in the pictures. The room lights compared the blue lights. You're so lucky to have Pukani, that stuff is rare now.

Sorry, I did rearrange my rock. The blue pic was taken with just a few pieces that I used to see the tank and the clear pic is once I added my Pukani rock.

 

[Marinus]

Sorry, I did rearrange my rock. The blue pic was taken with just a few pieces that I used to see the tank and the clear pic is once I added my Pukani rock.

Looks good! Please keep us posted on your progress

 

[reefmaster70]

Will keep you all updated here. So my question right now is I am just 3 days into the cycle. I am doing a fishless cycle. I used "arag-alive" reef sand (the wet kind with bacteria in it) and then I used a majority of dry Pukani rock, but I did also seed my tank with 3 small pieces of actual live rock from an 8 year old reef tank. I also seeded my sand bed with one cup of live sand from the same 8 year old reef tank. Right now my temp is 78F, my pH is 8.0 and I have a salinity of 1.024. My water parameters are: Ammonia 2.0ppm, Nitrite 0.5 ppm and Nitrate 5.0 ppm. My question is, how is this looking as far as the cycle? I also used a pinch of fish food for ammonia and I also added one frozen shrimp from a bag of raw shrimp we had in our freezer. I am just wondering if I'll see much of an Ammonia spike or anything? Right now everything is remaining fairly low. Oh, I should say I also dosed with a the dosing chart on a bottle of Fluval Cycle, concentrated biological bacteria. Any thoughts?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[reefmaster70]

UPDATE: For those following along. I started my little 20g AIO on January 27. Today it looks like this! So far so good. 2 green chromis, 2 black ocellaris clowns, a variety of hermits. several Soft corals. and one BTA.

 

[reefmaster70]

did my first 20% water change on my tank tonight. All went well. I did test some of the old water I took out of the tank. I like all the numbers, except my Nitrates are higher than I like. Here they are:
Temp: 78F
pH: 8.0
SG: 1.023
Ammonia: 0ppm
Phospate: .02 ppm
Nitrate: 25 ppm

Everything is looking good as well,
current inhabitants:
waving xenia, red frilly shrooms, green frilly shrooms, short tentacle goniapora, GSP's, green candycane coral, yellow leather, rainbow bta.

Fish: 2 electric green chromis, mated pair black ocellaris clowns, dwarf pygmy/cherub angel, firefish goby

That's it for now.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Tank's looking very nice.