Nuvo 30L Build Thread - Started build December 2018

[tankstudy]

Your ammonia looks more like 8 ppm to me.

 

[mwbeach]

Your ammonia looks more like 8 ppm to me.

It does in the picture but in person it is not that dark. I think it is the lighting

 

[mwbeach]

12/22/18

Ammonia still holding around 3ppm
The nitrite kicked in today around .25ppm
The nitrate started as well around 3ppm

Looks like it is all starting to kick in. Now the wait for it to cycle through.

 

[mwbeach]

.

 

[mwbeach]

Sorry I havent posted in a few days. Here are the tank parameters:

12/23/18
Ammonia - 3 ppm
Nitrite - .5 ppm
Nitrate - 7 ppm

12/24/18
Ammonia - 2.5 ppm
Nitrite - 2 ppm
Nitrate - 12 ppm

12/26/18
Ammonia - 2.5 ppm
Nitrite - 5 ppm
Nitrate - 30 ppm

 

[mwbeach]

@revhtree
Can you please move this thread to the member tank section?

 

[mwbeach]

12/27/18

Found a new piece of rock at the LFS. It’s a nice arch rock. It is the purple rock on the left side. Thoughts on the Aquascape now?

 

[mwbeach]

12/27/18

Cycle is working and numbers are coming down.

 

[293482398]

Good looking tank!

Congratulations, this will be a fun build to follow

 

[mwbeach]

Thanks!

 

[mwbeach]

12/30/18

Ammonia dropping fast. Nitrite and nitrate slowly

 

[Evan28395950]

Nice tank

 

[mwbeach]

Nice tank

Thanks!!

 

[mwbeach]

12/31/18

Getting close to the cycle being done. However I cannot add fish or anything for two more weeks. So, I am adding another shrimp to get the ammonia back up and let the bacteria continue to multiply.

 

[mwbeach]

1/1/19

Put the shrimp in yesterday to get some more
Ammonia since I cannot add fish for two more weeks. Going to build up as much bacteria as I can.

Numbers are starting to turn back up.

 

[mwbeach]

1/14/19

Sorry for not posting lately with updates. Did some traveling. The tank spiked up again in ammonia due to adding the shrimp again and it quickly knocked it down. The ammonia is at 0, nitrites at 0 and nitrates were at 5 but jumped back up to 20.

When it was at 5 I added 3 red legged hermits, 3 blue legged hermits, 9 Astrea snails and a Scarlet cleaner shrimp. Since this and adding some food periodically for them the nitrates jumped up to 20. Working to get those back down.

Here are a few pictures of the tank and new critters added.

 

[mwbeach]

1/20/19

Tank is doing well. Was traveling this week and couldn’t test throughout the week.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20 (was around 10 when added clowns)

I added two clowns yesterday. One black and white and one standard. Not the best picture.

 

[mwbeach]

1/24/19

Everything is going well at this point. No algae breakouts. Clowns and shrimp are doing well.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 25

Warming up water now to do a water change.

 

[mwbeach]

1/25/19

Tank is continuing doing well. Not a lot of changes. Nitrates did drop to around 10. Today we added the smallest Blue Chromis I have ever seen. She is about 3/4 inch long. My daughter picked her out and named her ‘Elsa’ due to her being silver, white and blue.

Going to be adding a Tunze 9004 DC later today to one of the compartments on the back.

 

[mwbeach]

1/30/19

Parameters are doing good. Ammonia still holding at 0, Nitrites at 0, Nitrates are at 15.

Recently added the Tunze 9004 DC and am in the process of it breaking in. Still not pulling out good skimmate yet.

I also added an Icecap 1k Gyre to the tank a few days ago. Boy does this have some power. Had to play around with the settings but have it very light right now and will gradually bring it up over a couple weeks.

The fish are doing OK. Unfortunately the clowns showed signs of Ick today. I was recommended from the LFS to soak their food in Metroplex and make sure to keep them well fed. I am looking online and see a wide array of treatment and eradication options that I am exploring. This is my 3rd tank over 5 years and never had any issues before.

Today I added a piece of Green Star Polyps. A friend of mines was outgrowing where he wanted it so gave me a piece. The polyps started to open as the lights are going off for the night. I’ll grab a pic tomorrow to share.