UPDATE: Innovative Marines Nuvo Fusion 15 gal

[be_ninja_pancake]

Hi all! Started this tank in January (my first one!) and I figured I’d update on it. I added a Yasha goby, 1 nessarius snail, 4 blue legged hermit crabs, and 3 trochus snails this weekend. I said that my pair of clowns would be my last fish, but my partner convinced me to get the Yasha goby while we were getting some more inverts I couldn’t resist, it’s just too cute.

Tank specs: Innovative marines nuvo fusion 15 gal 3-1 tank
Kessil light

Livestock
Corals:

• 6 frags of various zoas (real steel, bam-bam, pink diamond, spyro, scrambled egg, palythoas
• 1 Radioactive branching hammer frag
• 1 Jason Fox fender bender cyphastrea
• 1 gollum platygyra frag
• 1 blueberry and oranges ricordea mushroom frag
• 1 mint stylophora frag
• 1 crimson stylocoeniella frag
• 1 hobgoblin lithophyllon frag

Fish & Inverts:

• 2 clownfish (Tom and Jerry)
• 1 yellow watchman goby (Simon)
• 1 tiger pistol shrimp (Garfunkel)
• 1 fire dart fish (Phoenix)
• 1 yasha goby (Amaranth)
• 1 Halloween hermit crab (Mr. Krabs)
• 2 red legged hermit crabs (Sebastian and Tamatoa)
• 3 nessarius snails (Rob Zombie, Clash, and Metallica)
• 3 trochus snails (Curly, Larry, and Moe)
• 4 blue legged hermit crabs (Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde)
• 1 sand sifting sea star (Patrick)

Water Parameters for Today (3/27/23)
NO3-: 0ppm
NO2-: 0ppm
pH: 8.2
KH: 10 drops or 179ppm
NH3/NH4+: 0-0.25ppn
PO4(3-): 0ppm
Ca2+: 420ppm or 21 drops
Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 28C or 82F

Front of tank:

Right side:

Left side:

Top view:

Side note: I know Patrick is missing a few limbs, he’ll be ok tho, he’s been healing good and is still very active in the tank.

Amaranth the Yasha goby:

Bonus pic of Amaranth looking like he’s screaming (the low quality makes the picture funnier in my opinion):

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Looking good! I have the same tank in my office. Keep us updated with your progress

 

[LiLinka]

Raise the salinity to 1.025-1.026. 1.023 is recommended for fish only, for coral it’s a little low. Temp is also a little high in my opinion it’s tolerated by coral and fish but I find around 78 F is perfect. Your nitrate is also low I like the 15-15 PPM range. As far as phosphates they are low as well. You need some nutrients in the water .03-.09 is recommended. Otherwise you will have issues with cyano and Dino’s as a result of 0 nutrients. As well as some coral that like the dirtier water like zoas. I would maybe try some turbos or astrea as well to help spice up the cleanup crew. Overall you have a beautiful tank there and are doing an amazing job! Happy reefing!

 

[Ober_Reef]

Great Tank! Just started the cycle on mine yesterday ! Excited to follow your build, to agree with what other have said I do also think you need to bring those nutrients up especially with the corals you currently have. Maybe reduce skim time to help ! Best of luck !

 

[be_ninja_pancake]

Looking good! I have the same tank in my office. Keep us updated with your progress

Thank you! I also have mine in my home office.

 

[be_ninja_pancake]

Raise the salinity to 1.025-1.026. 1.023 is recommended for fish only, for coral it’s a little low. Temp is also a little high in my opinion it’s tolerated by coral and fish but I find around 78 F is perfect. Your nitrate is also low I like the 15-15 PPM range. As far as phosphates they are low as well. You need some nutrients in the water .03-.09 is recommended. Otherwise you will have issues with cyano and Dino’s as a result of 0 nutrients. As well as some coral that like the dirtier water like zoas. I would maybe try some turbos or astrea as well to help spice up the cleanup crew. Overall you have a beautiful tank there and are doing an amazing job! Happy reefing!

Thank you so much for all the good advice! I guess I kinda just assumed most of the numbers except for salinity, calcium, and temp that I test for every week should be lower numbers I’ll turn off the protein skimmer for now to get more nutrients in my tank, add more salt to the water before I pour it in, and I realized that the sticker temp is off, the actual temp of the tank is 79F. Again, I appreciate all that you’ve said! I will keep this thread updated.

 

[be_ninja_pancake]

Great Tank! Just started the cycle on mine yesterday ! Excited to follow your build, to agree with what other have said I do also think you need to bring those nutrients up especially with the corals you currently have. Maybe reduce skim time to help ! Best of luck !

Thank you so much! Yeah, I’ll turn off the protein skimmer for now or at least limit its use.

 

[immo]

Do you shop local? I’m about an hour away from you and we have no stores. Curious if there are some there.

 

[be_ninja_pancake]

Do you shop local? I’m about an hour away from you and we have no stores. Curious if there are some there.

I do! I either go to the Christiansburg Petco (the staff are very knowledgable and the fish I got there are very healthy) or Alien Aquatics in Roanoke. Love going to Alien over weekends for RO fresh and saltwater, super nice guys that work there

 

[be_ninja_pancake]

UPDATE:

Wow, been a while since I’ve updated this thread. Lots happened since March. I’ve graduated college, went back to my hometown with my folks, and waiting to move for my new job soon.

As a first time reef hobbyist, I’ve made lots of mistakes and encountered a lot of heartbreaking obstacles. I lost my two favorite corals of the tank, the hammer coral and torch coral. The hammer got overtaken by BJD and eventually both heads were beyond saving. The torch coral was a freak accident. It happened while I was moving, and I think the cup covering it bumped against it, leaving barely any flesh left until it became a skeleton (RIP).

I also realized that having SPS and some LPS in my tank wasn’t a good idea since I have such a new tank. My partner got me a bunch of coral at once from a WWC sale, and most of them were initially happy, but then unexpectedly died within a few days. My pistol shrimp, one sexy shrimp, one pom pom crab, and my Halloween hermit bit the dust unexpectedly. It could be anything from a failed molt, didn’t acclimate correctly, or just old age.

There are some good things that happened though. Despite the torch death, all of my livestock made it across a few states with me alright! And my duncan is growing a new polyp! I cleaned the tank just now: