Tmm87
Well-Known Member
Good evening,
My Nuvo 10 has been up and running since the beginning of July. Went through the ugly phase as expected (still got some uglies going on) and I've taken it slow on adding coral. The stock list is finalized at a pair of Wheeler's gobies and their pistol, a yellow banded possum, a tail spot blenny and a geometric pygmy hawk. For coral it has a nice sized frag of neon green toadstool, a good size green nepthea, a small sheet of GSP on the back wall and a single orange mushroom. In addition to that I've got a small squamosa, a small/medium sized derasa and 3 small BTA (used to be 1 but it decided 3 was more fun). There's also a small emerald crab, a small conch, a handful of snails and a single blue leg hermit.
I'm currently looking to start adding some more coral to the tank but wanted to check on the parameters as I'm a little concerned by the low readings on the PO4 and NO3 and with this being my first true nano tank I want to make sure I'm not going to be wasting money on coral that are going to have issues. I'm also assuming it's the clams that are sucking up the mag/cal/alk as well. Salt is red sea blue bucket (but considering changing to something else). The parameters have been fairly consistent over the last couple months following the cycle, I had planned to move the hawk to my other tank if it was too much for the Nuvo 10 but things seem ok. PO4 and NO3 have all been consistently low, only recently has the NO3 started reading 0. I have a hard time thinking that either are actually that low and wondering if it's the little bit of algae growth I've got going on that's sucking it up and giving a false low reading. RO water is 0 TDS coming out.
The only other thing in the tank is 4 red mangrove sprouts that I keep in the media basket. But I can't imagine they'd be doing that well of a job sucking up nutrients from the water. I've always been lead to believe that they're not the best idea for a refugium because of their poor nutrient uptake. For what it's worth, I'm seeing growth out of everything with the parameters the way they've been. Just looking to head off any potential issues.
Parameters as of about 30 minutes ago using Red Sea test kits for everything but salinity and temp. Salinity and temp measured using Hannah tester.
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
PH 8.6
DKH 7
PO4 0.01
NO3 0.0
Cal 400
Mag 1200
These readings are consistent and are taken with multiple daily pellet feedings (I alternate between Omega One marine mini pellets, New Life Spectrum Probiotix and PE Mysis PE pellets) as well as daily small feedings of frozen brine, mysis or LRS Reef Frenzy (I alternate here as well).
My Nuvo 10 has been up and running since the beginning of July. Went through the ugly phase as expected (still got some uglies going on) and I've taken it slow on adding coral. The stock list is finalized at a pair of Wheeler's gobies and their pistol, a yellow banded possum, a tail spot blenny and a geometric pygmy hawk. For coral it has a nice sized frag of neon green toadstool, a good size green nepthea, a small sheet of GSP on the back wall and a single orange mushroom. In addition to that I've got a small squamosa, a small/medium sized derasa and 3 small BTA (used to be 1 but it decided 3 was more fun). There's also a small emerald crab, a small conch, a handful of snails and a single blue leg hermit.
I'm currently looking to start adding some more coral to the tank but wanted to check on the parameters as I'm a little concerned by the low readings on the PO4 and NO3 and with this being my first true nano tank I want to make sure I'm not going to be wasting money on coral that are going to have issues. I'm also assuming it's the clams that are sucking up the mag/cal/alk as well. Salt is red sea blue bucket (but considering changing to something else). The parameters have been fairly consistent over the last couple months following the cycle, I had planned to move the hawk to my other tank if it was too much for the Nuvo 10 but things seem ok. PO4 and NO3 have all been consistently low, only recently has the NO3 started reading 0. I have a hard time thinking that either are actually that low and wondering if it's the little bit of algae growth I've got going on that's sucking it up and giving a false low reading. RO water is 0 TDS coming out.
The only other thing in the tank is 4 red mangrove sprouts that I keep in the media basket. But I can't imagine they'd be doing that well of a job sucking up nutrients from the water. I've always been lead to believe that they're not the best idea for a refugium because of their poor nutrient uptake. For what it's worth, I'm seeing growth out of everything with the parameters the way they've been. Just looking to head off any potential issues.
Parameters as of about 30 minutes ago using Red Sea test kits for everything but salinity and temp. Salinity and temp measured using Hannah tester.
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
PH 8.6
DKH 7
PO4 0.01
NO3 0.0
Cal 400
Mag 1200
These readings are consistent and are taken with multiple daily pellet feedings (I alternate between Omega One marine mini pellets, New Life Spectrum Probiotix and PE Mysis PE pellets) as well as daily small feedings of frozen brine, mysis or LRS Reef Frenzy (I alternate here as well).
