Nautical Nathaniel's IM Nuvo 20

[nautical_nathaniel]

Beautiful Nano!! Do you run any Micro algae in the back of it?

Thank you!

No micro algae, but I do have two Red Mangroves growing pretty well in the back left accessory chamber. I did have a 28w grow light on them but that was burning the edges of their leaves, so I switched to like an 8-10w grow light and it appears to be much better for them.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Stand looks good and tank looks clean! Glad to see it moved nicely.

 

[JBKReef]

I finally got around to getting my new stand set up!
After:

You're about a year in with the skimmer... whats the lasting opinion with it?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

You're about a year in with the skimmer... whats the lasting opinion with it?

It's like any other "nano" skimmer. Once you have it dialed in it works great but any changes to the water consistency and it's out of whack again. For instance, I added a few nassisarius snails a while back and you would have thought I put soap in the water with the way the skimmer was acting. I guess their slime did something to the water haha

I will say that out of the 4 skimmers I've had on the tank (Coralife Biocube Nano Skimmer, AquaticLife Nano, Innovative Marine Ghost Desktop, and Icecap K1 Nano) the Icecap is by far the easiest to deal with, fits really well, and pulls the most skimmate in the long run. It is a bit noisy though but that's not as big of an issue anymore since I moved the Aquarium out of the bedroom

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Stand looks good and tank looks clean! Glad to see it moved nicely.

Thanks man!

 

[jk_s124]

Beautiful tank and great thread! How have you liked your flame angel? That has always been a dream fish of mine, but I hestitate because of the possible coral nipping.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Beautiful tank and great thread! How have you liked your flame angel? That has always been a dream fish of mine, but I hestitate because of the possible coral nipping.

Thank you!

Unfortunately my Flame Angel all of the sudden stopped eating a few weeks ago and I lost him. I'm not sure what happened but I suspect the stress of the move affected him more than I had originally thought and it just took me a while to realize that he wasn't doing good. By that point it was too late despite the addition of many different healthy foods feds multiple times a day (all my other fish got significantly fatter...).

I never had a problem with mine nipping corals. It would only really bother one of my turbo snails (which didn't bother me because that snail in particular had an affinity for popping off glued frags from the liverock).

 

[jk_s124]

Thank you!

Unfortunately my Flame Angel all of the sudden stopped eating a few weeks ago and I lost him. I'm not sure what happened but I suspect the stress of the move affected him more than I had originally thought and it just took me a while to realize that he wasn't doing good. By that point it was too late despite the addition of many different healthy foods feds multiple times a day (all my other fish got significantly fatter...).

I never had a problem with mine nipping corals. It would only really bother one of my turbo snails (which didn't bother me because that snail in particular had an affinity for popping off glued frags from the liverock).

Sorry to hear that.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Sorry to hear that.

It happens to all reefers at some point, so live and learn I guess thanks though.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I recently won the Photo of the Month Contest for February, and my Avast Marine Porthole came in today, and I immediately tore it out of the box and used the smartphone attachment to take a few pics!

View attachment 20190401_160943.jpg

 

[actik]

hi, i currently have the same tank, also running a BB, prob 60% blue and 10% white, no corals yet... canada is pretty difficult to get livestock where i love. But my question is im using the stock filter socks not a huge fan, do you think you can show a pic and explain your filtration system ? i know you have a k1 skimmer, but i am curious whats all in the media baskets. thank you

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

hi, i currently have the same tank, also running a BB, prob 60% blue and 10% white, no corals yet... canada is pretty difficult to get livestock where i love. But my question is im using the stock filter socks not a huge fan, do you think you can show a pic and explain your filtration system ? i know you have a k1 skimmer, but i am curious whats all in the media baskets. thank you

Certainly!

Right now I am experiencing some issues with keeping certain corals happy and thriving, so I'm trying to figure out if some filter media I was using (Accurel Phosphate and Nitrate removing pads) was causing the issues by running my media baskets without them. So right now I have polyfiber on the top and bottom of the racks and Accurel Carbon pads in the middle of both racks. My skimmer is also not running great right now, probably needs a good cleaning in the impellor area haha. I have two mangroves currently growing in the back, but I may be switching those out with Chaeto soon since mangroves don't really pull that much nutrients (you would need like 50-100 to match what Chaeto does on a tank this size).

Here's how things look right now. I recently introduced a pistol shrimp, to the delight of my Diagonal Goby, so things are a bit dirty from it's digging haha

Right Side (Facing Tank)

Left Side

 

[actik]

thank you, much appreciated !

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

thank you, much appreciated !

Happy to help!

 

[rkpetersen]

Nice thread! I'm thinking of setting up a new tank, a nano, and specifically probably this exact tank.
I was thinking about getting one baby Gyre for it but was concerned that even that might be too much flow.
From your previous comment, that may be right!
Are you still running the Gyre, or switched to a different powerhead?
Thanks!

And, I like the look of that Maxspect light. Never owned one though. Do you feel it is providing your tank with the light it needs?

 

[JBKReef]

Nice thread! I'm thinking of setting up a new tank, a nano, and specifically probably this exact tank.
I was thinking about getting one baby Gyre for it but was concerned that even that might be too much flow.
From your previous comment, that may be right!
Are you still running the Gyre, or switched to a different powerhead?
Thanks!

And, I like the look of that Maxspect light. Never owned one though. Do you feel it is providing your tank with the light it needs?

From running the lagoon 25 with the baby gyre I can confirm its WAY too much flow.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Nice thread! I'm thinking of setting up a new tank, a nano, and specifically probably this exact tank.
I was thinking about getting one baby Gyre for it but was concerned that even that might be too much flow.
From your previous comment, that may be right!
Are you still running the Gyre, or switched to a different powerhead?
Thanks!

And, I like the look of that Maxspect light. Never owned one though. Do you feel it is providing your tank with the light it needs?

I ended up getting rid of the gyre, just too powerful for this size tank IMO. I switched instead to the Aqamai KPS by Hydor, which is a much better powerhead for what I've got going on in my Nuvo 20.

I feel like the Maxspect Ethereal ticks off all the necessary boxes for a reef spec light, but it can be a hassle to deal with. At this point, if I had to do it over again, I would have save up for 2 Prime HD's or a Hydra 52 or 26 HD, maybe even a Radion... There's just better lights out there in my opinion that are easier to setup and make adjustments too.

Do they look as cool as the Ethereal though? Not really haha but looks only go so far in this hobby.

 

[rkpetersen]

I
I feel like the Maxspect Ethereal ticks off all the necessary boxes for a reef spec light, but it can be a hassle to deal with. At this point, if I had to do it over again, I would have save up for 2 Prime HD's or a Hydra 52 or 26 HD, maybe even a Radion... There's just better lights out there in my opinion that are easier to setup and make adjustments too.

Thanks! I was also considering the Prime HD and wondering whether 1 would be enough.
From what you're saying, sounds like I'll probably go with 2.
I think that would work better than just one 26HD, and a 52HD is probably more than a tank this size needs.

Do they look as cool as the Ethereal though? Not really haha but looks only go so far in this hobby.

It's true! The overall design of the fixture is really sharp but the layout of the LEDs seems unusual, so wasn't sure how that worked.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Yo hows the tank?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

@nautical_nathaniel how's this tank doing?