Nuvo 10 Auto Aqua AWC Suggestions/Help

[JoshH]

Do you take water from the second or third chamber? Also do you have it so that your return pump turns off during the change?

My setup is slightly different than yours as mine pulls very little at a time to not mess with my ATO. Everything in my setup keeps running while the change occurs. In your case you would have to come up with a way to turn off the return pump while the change occurs. Even something as simple as a basic plug timer will work. The best thing I can offer is do your research on what method will work best for you and implement it.

I pull from the first chamber and replace into the third myself but as I said my setup is slightly different...

 

[Juka087]

My setup is slightly different than yours as mine pulls very little at a time to not mess with my ATO. Everything in my setup keeps running while the change occurs. In your case you would have to come up with a way to turn off the return pump while the change occurs. Even something as simple as a basic plug timer will work. The best thing I can offer is do your research on what method will work best for you and implement it.

I pull from the first chamber and replace into the third myself but as I said my setup is slightly different...

Alright well good news. I put the pump in the second chamber, and did a auto water change. I get 1.25 gallons. My tank holds 7.5 gallons of water. That is almost a 20% change. think every 4 days would be good enough?

 

[JoshH]

Alright well good news. I put the pump in the second chamber, and did a auto water change. I get 1.25 gallons. My tank holds 7.5 gallons of water. That is almost a 20% change. think every 4 days would be good enough?

That's plenty, even once a week and you'd be set. If your tank is still cycling I would hold off on the Water changes for now though...

 

[Juka087]

That's plenty, even once a week and you'd be set. If your tank is still cycling I would hold off on the Water changes for now though...

It converts 2ppm ammonia to nitrates in about 24 hours, and so it is done cycling. However. I am still feeding it ammonia, and bacteria to just keep things going. I am sorry to ask so many questions. I used to have a 20 long, and I did pretty good, but ultimately failed as I did not have the time and or money. Now with this try. I am doing everything I possibly can to succeed. I want a tank filled with beautiful coral.

 

[JoshH]

It converts 2ppm ammonia to nitrates in about 24 hours, and so it is done cycling. However. I am still feeding it ammonia, and bacteria to just keep things going. I am sorry to ask so many questions. I used to have a 20 long, and I did pretty good, but ultimately failed as I did not have the time and or money. Now with this try. I am doing everything I possibly can to succeed. I want a tank filled with beautiful coral.

No need to worry about the questions, you probably don't need to keep the bacteria additions coming as long as you're feeding the current system. As usual, take your time which you seem to be doing. What were your plans for livestock? Do you happen to have a build thread?

 

[Juka087]

No need to worry about the questions, you probably don't need to keep the bacteria additions coming as long as you're feeding the current system. As usual, take your time which you seem to be doing. What were your plans for livestock? Do you happen to have a build thread?

I plan to have mainly zoanthids as I am obsessed with them, and 1 designer clown. I may dip into some light lps as well. I do not have a build thread, but I thought it could be really cool to document the whole thing. I am just now at the very beginning so it could be done. So far the tank has been running for about 3 weeks. The whole time it has been covered in cardboard, and is now currently. While it is cycling I do not want any possibility of light entering so as to stop algae from growing. The only thing in the media rack currently is 250ml of seachem matrix. It is the absolute max I can fit in the rack. My biggest fears about reef keeping are nitrates. I just do not understand how people can run a nano tank with a nitrate level of 5 without doing weekly 80% water changes. I am hoping that with such a large amount of seachem matrix in such a large tank. I will be able to culture a good amount of anaerobic bacteria. Enough to keep the nitrates at perhaps 5-10 with a good light feeding schedule. I at first spiked the tank with a bottle of bio spira, and added ammonium chloride. Once it converted over. I began to add 1 cap of seachem stability daily, with ammonia. Waiting each time for the ammonia to process fully before adding more. Using two sources seemed to be a great idea.

 

[Bpp124987]

With such a small tank large water changes are not a big deal to execute.
What is your nutrient export strategy?

With matrix filling the chamber water is going to be flowing rapidly thru the media, preventing any anaerobic zones. Such media’s need to be in minimal flow to get anaerobic.

In my Im 10 I run a im skimmer in second chamber, awc in third as mentioned, and a tiny fuge with chaeto in first chamber with an intank basket and a im chaetomax light from the side. Does great. Awc changes a modest amount of water twice a day

 

[Juka087]

With such a small tank large water changes are not a big deal to execute.
What is your nutrient export strategy?

With matrix filling the chamber water is going to be flowing rapidly thru the media, preventing any anaerobic zones. Such media’s need to be in minimal flow to get anaerobic.

In my Im 10 I run a im skimmer in second chamber, awc in third as mentioned, and a tiny fuge with chaeto in first chamber with an intank basket and a im chaetomax light from the side. Does great. Awc changes a modest amount of water twice a day

I really just plan to use water changes for nutrient export. Everything I have read about having a fuge in a nuvo 10 seems to be a waste of time, as it would be to small to make a impact. It is possible that I may make a nitrate reactor, and house it below the tank. A brs mini media reactor and a small dc pump would work well for this.

 

[Bpp124987]

I really just plan to use water changes for nutrient export. Everything I have read about having a fuge in a nuvo 10 seems to be a waste of time, as it would be to small to make a impact. It is possible that I may make a nitrate reactor, and house it below the tank. A brs mini media reactor and a small dc pump would work well for this.

i had read the same thing about a fuge not working due to the small size! I was struggling with algae and then dinos after upping water changes. Letting the tank get dirty (cutting off water changes) and adding the fuge on a whim (I also considered building an external algae reactor, but tried this first since way easier) and I was back in business. Tank is really thriving. I think just the added biodiversity from the fuge has helped, I also have some ogo in there.

I think the concerns about the space being too small for a fuge is just wrong - it’s a tiny tank so the fuge is proportional. The strong water flow thru there and strong lighting make up for the small size in some way.

 

[Juka087]

i had read the same thing about a fuge not working due to the small size! I was struggling with algae and then dinos after upping water changes. Letting the tank get dirty (cutting off water changes) and adding the fuge on a whim (I also considered building an external algae reactor, but tried this first since way easier) and I was back in business. Tank is really thriving. I think just the added biodiversity from the fuge has helped, I also have some ogo in there.

I think the concerns about the space being too small for a fuge is just wrong - it’s a tiny tank so the fuge is proportional. The strong water flow thru there and strong lighting make up for the small size in some way.

I think I would have to go the way of a reactor. I have the heater in my second chamber along with the AWC. The first chamber is FILLED with seachem matrix. The third has my sicce .5 and ato sensor. Yes I think I would have to use a reactor of some sort.

 

[Bpp124987]

I think I would have to go the way of a reactor. I have the heater in my second chamber along with the AWC. The first chamber is FILLED with seachem matrix. The third has my sicce .5 and ato sensor. Yes I think I would have to use a reactor of some sort.

tunze has come out with an (expensive) external algae reactor, fyi

 

[Juka087]

tunze has come out with an (expensive) external algae reactor, fyi

Yea that is insane. It is not worth that much.

 

[RWS6605]

I don’t want to hijack the thread but I am curious. I have a NUVO 10 and just put a spin stream on the return. There isnt much water movement so I am thinking I need to upgrade my return pump. What are you running?

 

[Juka087]

I don’t want to hijack the thread but I am curious. I have a NUVO 10 and just put a spin stream on the return. There isnt much water movement so I am thinking I need to upgrade my return pump. What are you running?

I run a sicce .5. From what I hear if you get a spin stream you'll want a sicce 1.0 to 1.5 as it lowers flow.

 

[RWS6605]

I run a sicce .5. From what I hear if you get a spin stream you'll want a sicce 1.0 to 1.5 as it lowers flow.

Thanks!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Actually that reactor is worth it. Compared to the competition, the tunze is half the price. Nevertheless, there’s much better alternatives to nutrient export. Skimmers, purigen, and biopellet reactors are all good choices. You could try to do a cheato reactor but It doesn’t look like you have much room for one. Remember, you shouldn’t be too concerned about “nutrient reduction” you’re going for a zoa tank. Zoas love dirty water, trust me

Yea that is insane. It is not worth that much.