Nick’s 20G Nuvo Fusion

[Nick Steele]

Zoas are slowly opening up little by little I get a glimpse of their skirts when lights come on but that’s it so far. I have noticed a new head start to grow though so I guess it’s not all bad.

New head is the little bulb toward the top of the frag.

 

[Mr.Guns]

I like the direction you're headed with the tank! I have a 20g Nuvo Black- it's not an AIO, but it'd drilled. I'm battling the new tank brown uglies right now... Well, I'm not doing much to battle them, they're just getting uglier. I didn't want to throw a CUC in there until they had something to eat, and now they should have plenty to chew on!

 

[Nick Steele]

I like the direction you're headed with the tank! I have a 20g Nuvo Black- it's not an AIO, but it'd drilled. I'm battling the new tank brown uglies right now... Well, I'm not doing much to battle them, they're just getting uglier. I didn't want to throw a CUC in there until they had something to eat, and now they should have plenty to chew on!

Thanks! I think I got lucky and won’t experience a horrible ugly phase as mine has been browning for 2 weeks or so but hasn’t gotten any worse so I’m hopeful the snails and hermits are able to keep up with it.

Plus the glass was getting dirty daily for a little over a week but now it’s been 3 days without cleaning so I’m hopeful that phase has passed as well.

 

[Mr.Guns]

Thanks! I think I got lucky and won’t experience a horrible ugly phase as mine has been browning for 2 weeks or so but hasn’t gotten any worse so I’m hopeful the snails and hermits are able to keep up with it.

Plus the glass was getting dirty daily for a little over a week but now it’s been 3 days without cleaning so I’m hopeful that phase has passed as well.

I did a fishless cycle, and it's only been going about 2 weeks now with my clowns in there. I have been tempted to do a build thread, but I'm not taking a camera anywhere near it until the uglies are cleared up!

 

[Nick Steele]

I did a fishless cycle, and it's only been going about 2 weeks now with my clowns in there. I have been tempted to do a build thread, but I'm not taking a camera anywhere near it until the uglies are cleared up!

Aww come on part of the fun is watching tanks go through he uglies! You get to see the progression of the reef tank ecosystem!

 

[PR_nano]

Hey Nick, are those 2 new heads on the zoa or just 1? Maybe move it a bit more to the light, looks like it's under shade.

 

[Nick Steele]

Hey Nick, are those 2 new heads on the zoa or just 1? Maybe move it a bit more to the light, looks like it's under shade.

It’s two new heads since I got the frag, first one popped up around Dec 29th (this is the bigger bulb toward the bottom). The one near the top is new like between last week when I dipped it for algae and today when I noticed it.

And it’s in full light in that pic the male clown was probably above it trying to bite me through the glass. He has taking to showing off for his girlfriend by attacking my hand anytime I’m in the tank and will even bob his head out of the water when I’m around it.

 

[Nick Steele]

In between house chores I took the time to make the final rubble rock holder from some egg crate and zip ties. I didn’t want to spend $50-100 on two intank media baskets so I opted to make my own.

I hope that this can be home to some copepods that will help feed my possum wrasse in the next few months. I’m going to let these sit for a month or so then I’ll add some pods to seed the tank.

These fit perfectly in the chambers (2 and 4) right next to the overflows.

 

[Nick Steele]

Feed my corals tonight and seen a bristle worm come out from under my gsp. I grabbed the rock and plucked it off and found two others I removed. All other corals are looking good besides the candy cane which got over run with gha and isn’t doing so well. The spongodes has wonderful polyp extension and I’m waiting for it to start encrusting!

Also I believe I found some copepods on my glass which I’m super excited about! Still planing on buying a pack of Tisbe pods to see with as well

Bristle worms

spongodes polyps!

What I believe to be pods (white dots on glass)

 

[Nick Steele]

Grabbed some nice pics from my iPhone today.

Female clown giving the male the stink eye

Cuddling after above photo

Side view on tank

 

[Nick Steele]

All of my trochus snails have passed away from unknown reasons. As I pulled out the last one this morning some of the flesh fell out and my clowns went nuts for it! Was pretty cool although I hope they don’t get a taste for escargot.


Also added some more hermit crabs today as I’m liking them more they I did the snails. I grabbed 4 more dwarf blue legs and a single red leg hermit I believe. I will keep a close eye on it and if it misbehaves I’ll be taking it back.

 

[Nick Steele]

I did some test today because of all my trochus snails passing away and nothing weird popped up so I’m clueless as to why they died.


Dkh 10.5
Calc 480
Mag 1260
Phos .03
Nitrate 2
Ph 7.8
Temp 77-78

 

[PR_nano]

Parameters look good, how about salinity? It's weird all of them die.

 

[Nick Steele]

Parameters look good, how about salinity? It's weird all of them die.

Forgot about salinity, it’s at 1.025. I might just wait a little to add them again the hermits now are my go to cuc I just like watching them. Plus I’m cleaning the glass every 2-3 days and leaving the back glass alone so it can sustain some of my pods.

Also just noticed little male clown has a torn up pelvic fin little hard to see but it’s on the left.

 

[Mr.Guns]

Hermits ate my snails because I didn't have shells for them to move into... that's my theory anyway.

 

[Nick Steele]

Time for an update Have some good and some bad news, let’s start with the bad.

Bad news
Sometime last week I noticed my spongodes started to bleach for some unknown reason. Some have suggested alk burn from being to high at 10.9 so I guess I’ll see if it turns around here soon or I might have to lower it to 8ish dkh if it doesn’t come around.

Good news
Other corals have been doing good. The Xenia has grown off the frag plug and is now two separate pieces on two different rocks. Acans are getting super fluffy and looking good. Also I was able to add two neon gobys tonight and the clowns didn’t pay them any attention.

Sorry for the blue pic only one I have at the moment

Acans

New neon gobys

Full tank shot

 

[Nick Steele]

Tank is doing good!

I had a 90 minute power outage tonight and had a mini heart attack thinking about oxygen for the tank without power heads and pump. Couldn’t find any of my battery powered air pumps I use for fishing so I will be buying a few soon for the next time!

Also I believe I found out the cause of my montipora spongodes bleaching. I totally forgot I switched from my modified saxby light schedule to the AB+ for a day or two before going back. Lights were probably 30% higher intensity. They have been back to the modified saxby for a week and I see vast improvement in the color of the coral!

light schedule I run

I also was able to get a pic of the corner of the tank full of copepods! I’m sure I could do a mandarin But probably stick to the possum wrasse.

 

[Nick Steele]

Tank is still going good! Slowly adding corals due to budget. Picked up a pink hammer yesterday and it is opened more in my tank than at the lfs! The acans have grown in some and are starting to get that super puffy look that I love! Montipora spongodes is slowly coming back with different colors than before, now it’s a deep green base with green polyps so I shall see how it continues.

Now time for the fun part pictures!

pink hammer being acclimated first two pics and then finally resting spot (going to remove from plug)

Acans

Monti spongodes

 

[Nick Steele]

Haven’t been much change in the tank lately. All corals are still doing great zoas/Xenia are growing hammer and acans are puffy and beautiful. Monti frag is still chugging along with reverse colors after bleaching.

I did have one fish die recently.I believe the female neon goby I had was gravid and died due to complications of releasing her eggs. When I found her dead there was what I believe to be eggs coming out of her. The rest of the stomach was lumpy and off looking. Nothing else in the system seemed off so not worried.

I have officially started the ugly phase and algae is growing like crazy! I have backed off of my feeding to help combat it and I’m switching to weekly changes for a month or so. This is the time I wish I had a sump that I could siphon water into a filter sock to rid the algae.

Here is a full tank shot.

 

[Nick Steele]

Been a little since last update. Some good and bad news.

Water parameters (all done with salifert test)
1.026 salinity
10.5 alk
450 calc
1300 mag

Bad news:
I have added a green clown goby from a different lfs then usual. In store it looked fine and when I acclimated him nothing of worry so I just dropped him then added to the display. He ate the very first night so all was well. Two or three days later I notice a few white spots on him I started to feed heavily to help fish fight off infection. So far it seems to be working and the green clown goby doesn’t show any signs of ich atm so maybe it won’t comeback!

Good news:
I seem to be fending off the algae after a good scrub of the rocks a few weeks ago. All corals are still growing well besides the candy cane which I’m chalking up to a loss now although I’ll keep it in tank just in case.

Here’s some pics!

Acans looking nice!

Full tank shot