Updated FTS 6/2/22
Weeks 1-2: Tank start on 3/27/22
Hi all! After having an IM Nuvo 8 for the past 7 years I decided to get a new tank and a fresh start. Over the years I have moved the Nuvo across the country and back several times, at this point it's probably moved to about 7 different locations from several apartments in NYC, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia and back to NYC. Over the course of the moves the tank has slowly deteriorated and a few months back the glass was chipped. The only coral left in the tank is the GSP I started with as a small little frag when I first set up the tank, needless to say it has basically taken over the entire tank and is just one giant GSP now. Also still in the tank from day one is the hitchhiker pistol shrimp (Mr. Shrimp), I got him from a friend on some live rock and estimate he is about 8 years old by now. Along with him I also have had his companion a yellow watchman goby, Weebay, for about the past three years. Over the past 4 years or so I've been going to school out of the country so my wife has been doing her best but the tank is not in great shape (see pics).
So, I recently set up a new Waterbox 10g to make a new home for Mr. Shrimp and Weebay and will hopefully be getting some cool corals growing soon. I will try to trade the GSP to the LFS i guess (anyone know if it's worth anything?) and will NOT be getting another one. Below are some pics of the old tank with a shot of it in it's current state as well as a couple of the new one.
What's inside the Waterbox:
1. 10lbs of CaribSea AragAlive sand
2. 10lbs of CaribSea Life Rock
3. 1 small piece of my old rock (the only one without GSP)
4. Sicce 0.5 Syncra Silent return pump
5. Jebao SL-10 wavemaker (any tips on settings for this guy would be appreciated)
6. InTank media basked
7. Chemi-pure Elite 3.1oz in the middle rack
8. Filter floss in the top rack
9. Eheim 50w heater
10. AI Prime 16HD
11. Seachem Ammonia Alert
Pic of the old tank before I left for school:
Pic of the old tank in it's current state (yikes):
Pic of the new tank just after I set it up (was like this for one week):
Pic of the tank today:
Looking forward to seeing where this goes! I had the tank set up for about 10 days with just the one old rock inside while I waited for the new rocks and everything else to arrive (it was at room temp so I imagine the bacterial growth was limited). I added the rock, lights, and wavemaker etc... last Thursday (7 days ago) with 50mL of Instant Ocean BIO-Spira. I have been adding 4-5 pellets of food (mashing them up recently as they tend to just sit around otherwise) pretty much everyday for the past week. I added a second 10mL dose of BIO-spira about 2 days ago. So far I have tested the water three times (RedSea Marine Care), the first time I may have had a hint of ammonia but since then I've tested 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites every time, nitrates around 5 for about the past 5 days. As far as I can tell this means the tank is pretty much cycled (17 days since adding water) at this point I think. I'm seeing a nice biofilm form on the wall and the rocks so I think thats a good thing. Yesterday I added the largest hermit I had in the old tank and hes been going to town on the buffet of pellets that have accumulated.
Some questions I have right now:
1. Planning on testing one more time Sunday (approx 3 weeks total since adding water) and if ammonia / nitrite are still zero going ahead with the move of Weebay and Mr. Shrimp. Is this safe or should I wait longer?
2. I ordered some SeaChem Matrix Biomedia but after doing some reading it seems like this might be totally unhelpful and just a waste of money, is there any real benefit?
3. Is there anything else I should be doing at this stage? Planning to do my first 10-20% water change on Sunday prior to adding the fish and shrimp.
4. Is it safe to throw a few small corals in there next week or would I be better off waiting? Have some friends coming over on the weekend and would love for there already be some cool new corals in there.
5. Theres an area in the back corner, directly below the stock outflow, where pellets and stuff is accumulating, should I adjust something to improve flow here or just make sure to vacuum it up every couple of weeks?
6. Should I wait for things to mature a little bit more before adding a full cleanup crew? I feel like there isn't much to go around right now.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Weeks 1-2: Tank start on 3/27/22
Hi all! After having an IM Nuvo 8 for the past 7 years I decided to get a new tank and a fresh start. Over the years I have moved the Nuvo across the country and back several times, at this point it's probably moved to about 7 different locations from several apartments in NYC, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia and back to NYC. Over the course of the moves the tank has slowly deteriorated and a few months back the glass was chipped. The only coral left in the tank is the GSP I started with as a small little frag when I first set up the tank, needless to say it has basically taken over the entire tank and is just one giant GSP now. Also still in the tank from day one is the hitchhiker pistol shrimp (Mr. Shrimp), I got him from a friend on some live rock and estimate he is about 8 years old by now. Along with him I also have had his companion a yellow watchman goby, Weebay, for about the past three years. Over the past 4 years or so I've been going to school out of the country so my wife has been doing her best but the tank is not in great shape (see pics).
So, I recently set up a new Waterbox 10g to make a new home for Mr. Shrimp and Weebay and will hopefully be getting some cool corals growing soon. I will try to trade the GSP to the LFS i guess (anyone know if it's worth anything?) and will NOT be getting another one. Below are some pics of the old tank with a shot of it in it's current state as well as a couple of the new one.
What's inside the Waterbox:
1. 10lbs of CaribSea AragAlive sand
2. 10lbs of CaribSea Life Rock
3. 1 small piece of my old rock (the only one without GSP)
4. Sicce 0.5 Syncra Silent return pump
5. Jebao SL-10 wavemaker (any tips on settings for this guy would be appreciated)
6. InTank media basked
7. Chemi-pure Elite 3.1oz in the middle rack
8. Filter floss in the top rack
9. Eheim 50w heater
10. AI Prime 16HD
11. Seachem Ammonia Alert
Pic of the old tank before I left for school:
Pic of the old tank in it's current state (yikes):
Pic of the new tank just after I set it up (was like this for one week):
Pic of the tank today:
Looking forward to seeing where this goes! I had the tank set up for about 10 days with just the one old rock inside while I waited for the new rocks and everything else to arrive (it was at room temp so I imagine the bacterial growth was limited). I added the rock, lights, and wavemaker etc... last Thursday (7 days ago) with 50mL of Instant Ocean BIO-Spira. I have been adding 4-5 pellets of food (mashing them up recently as they tend to just sit around otherwise) pretty much everyday for the past week. I added a second 10mL dose of BIO-spira about 2 days ago. So far I have tested the water three times (RedSea Marine Care), the first time I may have had a hint of ammonia but since then I've tested 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites every time, nitrates around 5 for about the past 5 days. As far as I can tell this means the tank is pretty much cycled (17 days since adding water) at this point I think. I'm seeing a nice biofilm form on the wall and the rocks so I think thats a good thing. Yesterday I added the largest hermit I had in the old tank and hes been going to town on the buffet of pellets that have accumulated.
Some questions I have right now:
1. Planning on testing one more time Sunday (approx 3 weeks total since adding water) and if ammonia / nitrite are still zero going ahead with the move of Weebay and Mr. Shrimp. Is this safe or should I wait longer?
2. I ordered some SeaChem Matrix Biomedia but after doing some reading it seems like this might be totally unhelpful and just a waste of money, is there any real benefit?
3. Is there anything else I should be doing at this stage? Planning to do my first 10-20% water change on Sunday prior to adding the fish and shrimp.
4. Is it safe to throw a few small corals in there next week or would I be better off waiting? Have some friends coming over on the weekend and would love for there already be some cool new corals in there.
5. Theres an area in the back corner, directly below the stock outflow, where pellets and stuff is accumulating, should I adjust something to improve flow here or just make sure to vacuum it up every couple of weeks?
6. Should I wait for things to mature a little bit more before adding a full cleanup crew? I feel like there isn't much to go around right now.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
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