Chapter 1: IM Nuvo40

I have a quick question - I started this reef tank with dry rock. I have 4 small fish and 3 small frags of coral. Everything seems to be doing well.

Is there any point to add one piece of live rock to the tank at this point?
If ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, nitrates are something other than zero - you're good to go unless you just want to add more rock.
 
Since the Duncan appeared to be thriving, I decided to stop by Atlanta Aquarium to look at some other corals.
I picked up a 2 head hammer, 5 head candy cane and a 2 head frogspawn.
Hammer is doing great.
Candy cane is ok - I took it off the drag plug and glued it on to another one. Half the heads have forgiven me and the other half is still pissed.
The frogspawn wasn’t looking too hot so I put him in the corner with low flow. I also feed him some reef roids which made him look a little better. I don’t think he was fully extended at the store either but he was 1 of the few available.
I also picked up a 5 head acan from Nemo. Very poofy and looks happy. Nemo had some nice small clams but I’m not ready. They also had some elegance corals which were interesting.

Two clowns and coral beauty are looking great. Purple firefish only comes out during feeding time. And I have 2 trochus snails crawling around the rocks.

92A892F7-A2C3-4C69-8BB7-16D6CF1DF2FD.jpegD0E76695-EE1B-4A99-A775-B9FC2EBA8D6E.jpeg579BA8A9-118F-4A25-9CF8-F228BCA87BC3.jpeg52F977F5-FBE4-4E32-982B-3070E8118C28.jpegC69EE01A-631E-4759-8605-C60E2190C86F.jpeg
 
A little late to the party, but I will echo the recommendation for a mesh cover of some kind. I *had* two firefish, one disappeared after about a month, no idea what happened, the other managed to wedge himself between the netting and frame of my cover while I was out of town. They are very cool fish though and I had no trouble getting mine to eat mysis.
 
Yep, I've got it covered.
But I hate it.

I'm planning to pick up a yellow coris wrasse and a diamond goby sometime in the future so, unfortunately, I know that ugly cover is staying on the tank.
 
Diversity is always good. There are pros and cons though. The problem with using actual live rock is the risk of introducing a pest or something else that's undesirable.
 
Diversity is always good. There are pros and cons though. The problem with using actual live rock is the risk of introducing a pest or something else that's undesirable.
Yes, I've read a lot about the pros and cons of live rock.
I did end up buying 1 piece of cured live rock from Atlanta Aquarium and added it to the tank. I inspected, rinsed and shook it really well before adding it to the tank.
I picked a smaller piece with a lot of coralline algae so...we'll see what happens.
 
In the post above I thought I was replying to a more recent post. I guess the coffee hasn't kicked in yet sorry. lol.

There are some good ways to make a netting cover look pretty good. Please remember that any fish can jump. Just because they are listed as a commonly known jumper, like wrasses or other torpedo shaped fish, doesn't mean you're safe. Sometimes people just need to learn the hard way, I know that was the case for me too. Take heed though, it sucks seeing a prised fish dead and dried up on the floor.
 
Agree. I’ve had 2 of the red firefish before at separate times which just hid and eventually wasted away, 1 purple that eventually came out but very skiddish and only ate when nothing else was close by then darted back. This time I went with 1 red and 1 purple together and they’re out all the time. Might just be the luck of the draw though lol
They do better when you have more than one in same tank.

You guys are absolutely correct. I added a red firefish and now the purple is out and about.
I have yet to see the red go into a burrow.
 
I was reading about diy chaeto reactors and don't really see a downside on adding one.
I guess the worst scenario is that it strips everything down to 0 leaving you open to dino? Beyond that, is there anything else negative?
 
I am going to set up a chaeto reactor in the 2nd compartment of the Nuvo40.
I ordered the phosban reactor from 2 fishes $41. The intake will be split from the return pump.
I was going to ask for some free chaeto but saw the BRS video about getting bugs & other yuckies from using someone else's chaeto so I ordered some from algaebarn...a whooping $42 of chaeto & red ogo
And I am thinking about using one of these drop in submersible RGB LEDs because it seems that red is the spectrum to grow chaeto? Also I don't want to cut the black off the back of the tank...mainly because I cannot reach back there.

Thoughts?
 
You guys are absolutely correct. I added a red firefish and now the purple is out and about.
I have yet to see the red go into a burrow.

Well, it seems now that the purple fish is out more and the red fish has gone into witness protection. They each have their own burrow.
 
Well, it seems now that the purple fish is out more and the red fish has gone into witness protection. They each have their own burrow.
Good to hear that the purple is out more. I just put in my purple tang that I’ve been quarantining and both my firefish are in hiding so hopefully they’ll get used to their new tank mate.
 
I think its just a timid variety. If I could turn back the hands of time, I probably would've passed on the purple.
 
Back
Top