My ULM Office Tank- Nuvo 30L

[New&no clue]

Corals have been in for almost a week. Everything is looking good, but my Elegance Coral has really opened up and looks amazing. This is one of my favorite corals in both my tanks

 

[New&no clue]

Looking good!
What have you settled on for the equipment placement and layout of your filtration compartment?

Chamber 1: Flitter Floss and Cobalt Heater

FIX Mechanical Filter Media

Eheim Fix is filter floss material used for mechanical filtration. Restrain coarser materials and filters out particles Commonly used in reactors and canister filters

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Neo-Therm Submersible Heater

Cobalt Neo-Therm heaters are very unique. They have a super thin profile that allows them to fit into tight spaces like on AIO compartments, or sump baffles. With its easy to set and easy to read control system, setting a heater has never been this easy. Easy to set "One Touch" control...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Chamber 2: Bio Blocks


Chamber 3: stock return pump(MightyJet 538 GPH Return Pump ) although I would like to upgrade to two pumps, and Aqueon heater

MightyJet Midsize AIO DC Return Pump (538 GPH)

Fits almost all All In One Aquariums! Innovative Marine MightyJet DC Pumps are perfect for any AIO or in-sump application. Set the perfect flow rate for your tank with the included DC controller. The tiny pump fits into most back compartments of all in one aquarium and is a perfect upgrade from...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Chamber 4: IM Midsize Skimmer

Midsize NuvoSkim DC Protein Skimmer

Keep your Innovative Marine All-In-One tank running crystal clear with the NuvoSkim DC Protein Skimmer! Finding a skimmer that will fit in the back chambers of an AIO aquarium can be challenging, but Innovative Marine's NuvoSkim DC has a small form factor and gives great results. The DC powered...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Chamber 5: Media Caddy

Auqa Gadget CustomCaddy (Midsize)

Add the CustomCaddy Media Basket to your Innovative Marine Nuvo tank to create a custom media basket for the included PurityPacks or any other type of filtration you may need. Each CustomCaddy includes Innovative Marine's PurityPacks that combine physical and chemical filtration...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[New&no clue]

I started this office tank before any of the COVID-19 craziness started. It wasn't even a possibility that I would be away from work for weeks/months. Now with more and more places getting shut down I'm starting to plan, and re-plan what to do for my tank if I can't be here.

FEEDING- I had decided against an automatic feeder when first planing a tank. Looking at the pros and cons it didn't seem worth it, the fish could go a couple days without eating. Now there could be no options. I bought the EHEIM feeder. I have it set up right now to feed once a day. This way I can monitor it and see how much it is dumping out and make sure it is working properly. The nice thing about this one is you can feed up to four times a day, and do two feedings each time.



REDUNDANCY- I've already added two heaters so if one goes the other will cover it. I finally ordered a second return pump so now I will have each one going to one return instead of one being split between the two. Again if one fails the other can still be working and cycling water.

MAINTENANCE- I would love to get a refuguim up and running, but I'm just not sure if I will be able to pull together everything I need. However, this would help with water changes while I'm gone to have another method to process out nutrients.

ATO- This is the one I'm most concerned with. I currently have a 7 gallon ATO which usually last about two weeks before it needs to be filled again. I keep it full and then I have brought in 6 gallons of extra water to be on hand in case I am out of the office but others are around. While I have not had other people involved in the tank, I may need to have people doing something to help out.

I work at a Utility so we are deemed essential, which means I will be able to come to work every day as long as the current situation stays the same. However, my husband works at a hospital so there is a risk of him bringing it home. I'm hoping that both of us will stay healthy, but just trying to have my backup plan if something changes.

 

[New&no clue]

@Sabina shared this video with my on my other build thread and I thought it would be perfect for here as well.



One of the things he hits on is a refugium. So I'm going to double down my efforts on getting one started. I've already started to pull together some stuff on Amazon.

The first is a Fuge Basket. I'm just not sure this is necessary or not?



The second is lights. One of the other 30L tanks I follow uses these light. He has said though that two might be better, and at that price I might as well start with two.



Now I'm just wondering what Macro to pick. I know most people go with Chaeto, but I'm wondering if that is right for such a small area. Maybe something that grows up and down, instead of in a ball would be better.

 

[New&no clue]

My lights arrived yesterday so today I decided to cut the film on the back and peal it away. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I used an X-acto knife to cut the film and then pulled it away.

The lights have this lip on both ends so I couldn't put them flush against the glass, the way I had planned. So instead to attached them I used some good old fashion duck tape. Not the prettiest, but seems to get the job done. I am slightly worried about the heat the lights are putting off.

I have them on a timer and have it set to run 8 hours during lights out on the tank. I will adjust the time as needed to keep nutrients low, but not zero. Tomorrow I get in my fuge basket, and maybe tomorrow I will get my chaeto as well, not sure when that is shipping. I had hoped to buy it locally, but with everything going on it wasn't possible.

 

[New&no clue]

The Refugium is up and running

 

[monti mike]

The Refugium is up and running

That’s brilliant. Can’t wait to see how it works out for you!

 

[New&no clue]

Thanks, we will have to see. One of the issues I've heard is that there is little flow in the chambers so the chaeto doesn't tumble. I've thought maybe if I stir it up each day might help some.

 

[New&no clue]

One week later Chaeto is growing

 

[New&no clue]

This chaeto is growing like crazy, I’m pretty excited about it as I went with some cheaper lights. I’ve also seen a drop in my Phosphates from .37 to .22. I’ll be watching that closely as I don’t want it to bottom out.

I also bought a couple new corals that are acclimating right now. Once they’ve settled I’ll post some pictures

 

[mcshams]

oh man. I haven’t named anything in my home tank and I’ve had no issue... man now I think I’ve jinked myself.

We've always named our fish...and I would agree, it seems to hurt more when something bad happens...but we find their personalities so unique that we still fall into the habit of naming them.

Great office tank. I have a freshwater office tank as I can't get myself to do the saltwater at the office and not freak out about it. I love yours!

 

[New&no clue]

Great office tank. I have a freshwater office tank as I can't get myself to do the saltwater at the office and not freak out about it. I love yours!

I freak out about it, but I live close enough that I can stop in whenever to check on it.

 

[New&no clue]

Added some new corals yesterday and they are settling in nicely.

I added a Blue Grey Sinularia

Yellow Elegance Toadstool

Pink Gorgonian

I'm not 100% on the placement of these yet, I will probably move them around a little as they start to grow, but this seemed to work for the time being. I really liked the rockwork before I started to add corals, but now I'm finding it a little difficult.

 

[New&no clue]

I added an urchin today. Thought he might help with some algae cleanup. Instead he’s decided to just wear some GHA as a hat

 

[New&no clue]

Monthly update

The tank is going well. Chaeto is growing nicely in the back and everything else seems good. There are a couple corals I am having a hard time finding their happy place. Both are toadstool and they just never seem happy where they are. I think I have finally found a place the yellow one is happy, next I need to get the purple on happy.

Here are some pictures of the tank. and some new additions. I've decided that the tank will be mostly a zoa garden on one side and a mushroom garden on the other, with a couple other softies in there. And of course my elegance and duncan, just for fun.

FULL TANK SHOT

MUSHROOM GARDEN

ZOA ARCH

ZOA GARDEN

URCHIN-also with a zoa hitch hiker

 

[ludnix]

It's coming along great!

 

[mike550]

Monthly update

The tank is going well. Chaeto is growing nicely in the back and everything else seems good. There are a couple corals I am having a hard time finding their happy place. Both are toadstool and they just never seem happy where they are. I think I have finally found a place the yellow one is happy, next I need to get the purple on happy.

Here are some pictures of the tank. and some new additions. I've decided that the tank will be mostly a zoa garden on one side and a mushroom garden on the other, with a couple other softies in there. And of course my elegance and duncan, just for fun.

FULL TANK SHOT

MUSHROOM GARDEN

ZOA ARCH

ZOA GARDEN

URCHIN-also with a zoa hitch hiker

Looks great! I like the idea of the different sections like Zoa Arch, Mushroom Garden, etc.

 

[New&no clue]

Please excuse my terrible iPhone pictures, with no lenses. I wanted to add some pictures of the individual zoas and mushrooms.


ZOAS
Twizzlers

Rasta

Butterfly Nebula

King Midas

Fruit Loops

Scrambled Eggs

Sunny D

Watermelon

Nirvana

Sour Lemon

Dragon's Eye

Misc freebie

MUSHROOMS
Superman

Two Tone Ricordia

Green Frill

 

[New&no clue]

I noticed the other day that I had Aiptasia. While I will probably regret this in the future, I decided to go with a more natural way to get rid of them. Several sites praise peppermint shrimp. I decided to buy some for Algae Barn who claims they are specifically breed to eat it. I ordered 6 shrimp, 2 for this tank and 4 for my other. When they shipped them they came in a jar of 1 and a jar of 5. I was worried about trying to get one out of the other jar so that is how I split it. These shrimps were tiny tiny tiny. The aiptasia is bigger than the shrimp so I'm not sure how useful it is going to be, but we will try.

 

[Nanorock1970]

Please excuse my terrible iPhone pictures, with no lenses. I wanted to add some pictures of the individual zoas and mushrooms.


ZOAS
Twizzlers

Rasta

Butterfly Nebula

King Midas

Fruit Loops

Scrambled Eggs

Sunny D

Watermelon

Nirvana

Sour Lemon

Dragon's Eye

Misc freebie

MUSHROOMS
Superman

Two Tone Ricordia

Green Frill

try putting your sunglasses in front of your phone as a way to filter out some of the blue in your pix. Depends a bit on your sunglasses but I have had a little luck with mine and better then nothing at all.