My first saltwater tank - IM Nuvo 40

[00Dan]

Since I'm about to add livestock I figured I'll go ahead and make a build thread.

My equipment:

• Innovative Marine Nuvo 40 tank
  • Stock return pump
• AI Hydra 26 HD
• Tunze 9001 skimmer
• Jebao PP-25 powerhead on the left back
• Jebao OW-10 powerhead on the right back
• Eheim Jager 150W heater controlled by an Inkbird ITC-306A
• Hydor Smart Level ATO controlling some generic pump in a bucket inside the stand

My rear AIO chambers are currently configured as follows (Left to right):

1. Tunze skimmer
2. Inkbird temp probe #1 and a homemade refugium basket (nothing in the basket right now)
3. Stock return pump and heater
4. Inkbird temp probe #2
5. Homemade media basket tower - right now just running filter floss on the top but have bags for carbon/GFO/whatever if I want

I have a 20 gallon brute for mixing saltwater, using a Hydor Koralia 3rd gen and a 100W Eheim Jager inside it. I have a chinese pump I bought on amazon to pump water from the brute to the display. I have a Python for draining water and vacuuming sand. I have a 75 GPD AquaticLife RO Buddie unit for making water; I usually store up to 14 gallons of FW at a time in some 7 gallon Walmart containers.

I'll be updating this thread as I add livestock or equipment, and with any relevant parameters.

 

[00Dan]

 

[jcook54]

Looks good man, I'm totally a sucker for caves. Please do keep us posted! In particular, how that Inkbird Controller works for you. I've always used the ITC 308S with the single probe.

 

[Pilsburynlove]

Looks great. Love how you placed your aqua scape.

 

[ZapataInc]

That looks amazing. I like how you have a lot of flat surfaces. Your scape looks way better than mine did when I had that tank. I may have a frag that i can give you if you will be at the meeting. I have to make sure that my old tank gets some love.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Your off to a good start

 

[00Dan]

I got saltwater in this tank on January 5th. Yesterday I tested my water after having cycled using Dr. Tim's and Ace ammonia - my tank was successfully processing 2PPM ammonia into NitrAte in less than 24 hours. I specify nitrate because I learned as I was testing and dosing ammonia that the ammonia to nitrite bacteria grow way faster than the nitrite to nitrate - it took about 1.5 weeks for the process to go all the way through to nitrate in 24 hours. Anyway, yesterday I tested and found nitrates to be about 40 PPM. I performed a 50% water change at that time.

Fast forward to this morning and I went through a full test routine; I am planning to go pick up a couple clownfish this afternoon. Context on the parameters below: testing was performed with API test kits (what I have ATM)so add some fudge factor in for that. Salinity was testing with a Petco refractometer zero'd with RODI. I'm mixing my water with plain old Instant Ocean.

Salinity: 1.026 S.G / 35 PPM
Nitrate: 20 PPM
Phosphate: 0 PPM
Calcium: 320 PPM
Alkalinity: 9 dKH
pH: 8.2

I question the validity of the calcium test as one, I have nothing in the tank that consumes calcium right now, and two, the alkalinity would imply a higher concentration of Ca (I haven't seen any precipitating). I'm not too worried about it right now since there aren't any corals in the tank yet. The nitrate is high but for fish only right now I'm not concerned, I'll be getting it down with water changes over the next couple weeks as I make more saltwater.

 

[00Dan]

I purchased two picasso clownfish from iQuatics yesterday. I bag acclimated them for about 2 hours followed by a 30 minute bath in tank water dosed to 150 PPM H2O2. They're been in the tank a little over 24 hours at time of writing and appear to be settling in. I tried feeding them some Tetra Marine Flakes and got a timid feeding response from both; I suspect the flakes may be too large as I saw them going after the little tiny bits that had broken apart a bit more eagerly.

One thing I noticed when I bought them is the major salinity difference between the retail tanks and mine - Michael said he keeps his tanks at 1.016 S.G.; I measured the bag water at 1.018. Hopefully my ~2 hour acclimation was sufficient - its something I'm going to be watching out for in the future as I get fish and inverts that may not be as forgiving as clowns.

At this juncture I do not have room for a QT tank so I'm making due with carefully choosing what I buy along with doing the dip. With nothing else in the tank right now I justify this by knowing I can use non-copper medication directly with only fish.

I'll also note that today I turned on the lights. I set up the Radion AB+ spectrum emulation in the AI app and configured it for a 9 hour photoperiod with a 1 hour ramp on each end. I did enable acclimation mode and turned the intensity down considerably so they weren't running full blast. My aim here is to not only acclimate the fish but get some algae going before I add snails and hermits. Once I start to see some of the rocks turn no-so-white I'll add some inverts and perhaps look at acquiring a tailspot blenny.

Parameters today were consistent with the day before - pH and salinity were stable at 8.2 and 35 PPM, respectively. Ammonia and nitrite both tested zero - the two little clowns aren't having any impact there at this point, which is good.

 

[jcook54]

How long have you been doing this? I thought you were on point with the initial build post and the aquascaping but the last 2 updates have been terrific with lots of information and detail. Did you used to run some commercial coral grow operation or something? Perhaps you used to run a 600g frag systems specializing in only high end acros? Maybe you're Dan Fox, like Jason Fox's brother?

All kidding aside though, you seem to have a terrific grasp on what's going on, keep it up, I'll be hitting you up for pointer shortly. You'll be shocked at how low stores and commercial livestock dealers run their salinity. I guess if you've got hundreds of gallons, saving on salt can really add up. I think the 2 hr acclimation was adequate and your new clown's will be just fine.

 

[00Dan]

How long have you been doing this? I thought you were on point with the initial build post and the aquascaping but the last 2 updates have been terrific with lots of information and detail. Did you used to run some commercial coral grow operation or something? Perhaps you used to run a 600g frag systems specializing in only high end acros? Maybe you're Dan Fox, like Jason Fox's brother?

All kidding aside though, you seem to have a terrific grasp on what's going on, keep it up, I'll be hitting you up for pointer shortly. You'll be shocked at how low stores and commercial livestock dealers run their salinity. I guess if you've got hundreds of gallons, saving on salt can really add up. I think the 2 hr acclimation was adequate and your new clown's will be just fine.

I've made my share of mistakes in freshwater over the years so I'll just say I'm trying to do this right. I also fancy myself an avid reader so that helps; I've been reading what I can on the topic of reef aquaria husbandry over the past couple months. I'm glad my level of detail here has been helpful for those following; I aim to provide enough information for someone more experienced than I to call me out if I'm doing something particularly ill advised.

As far as the clown acclimation, they're acting fine for now so I'm inclined to agree that they made it fine. I'll consider them in the clear after about 96 hours, from my research that's about the upper end of time for osmotic shock symptoms to manifest.

 

[00Dan]

One of the clowns was looking a bit off today. It's head and mouth were a bit pale compared to the rest of it, and there are some white fringes visible on the tail and on the dorsal fin. Neither of the spots looks like ich or velvet, its more of a splotch or patch than a defined spot. These factors combined with the fish swimming mouth open compared to the other, although it didn't look like heavy breathing. The other clown looks fine and is hyper as ever. Both fish ate this morning when I put some flakes in.

To play it safe I made another 150 PPM H2O2 bath and pulled the one clown and gave him a 30 minute bath, which he took fine. While he was in there I tested parameters and found nothing too far out of wack. Nitrite was undetectable; pH and salinity stable at 8.2 and 35 PPM, respectively. Ammonia did register 0.5 PPM but I'm not sure if this is potentially an API false positive given the zero nitrites. I'll be checking ammonia again later today with a SeaChem test to validate.

For now after the bath the clown went and rejoined the other and both are surfing the glass together; I'll continue to monitor and see how his head colors up - I'm not prepared to rule out it just being my lighting/paranoia.

 

[jcook54]

Paranoia on your part and the stress of moving on the clown's. As long as they're eating an doing their thing, you're gold. I know the tank is good and cycled but having an actual bioload might bump it up a bit as things even out. Regardless, thanks for the update and don't google brooklynella. It'll kick your paranoia into high gear.

 

[00Dan]

Paranoia on your part and the stress of moving on the clown's. As long as they're eating an doing their thing, you're gold. I know the tank is good and cycled but having an actual bioload might bump it up a bit as things even out. Regardless, thanks for the update and don't google brooklynella. It'll kick your paranoia into high gear.

Unfortunately I've already read about brook - it's what prompted me to give the second peroxide bath.

The one clown that is a bit slack jawed right now isn't flashing or swimming in the powerheads so I'll continue to monitor for right now. I haven't seen any sort of slime coat issues like the brook pictures I've seen, the spots I described are limited in area to the fins.

 

[00Dan]

Unfortunately I've already read about brook - it's what prompted me to give the second peroxide bath.

The one clown that is a bit slack jawed right now isn't flashing or swimming in the powerheads so I'll continue to monitor for right now. I haven't seen any sort of slime coat issues like the brook pictures I've seen, the spots I described are limited in area to the fins.

I wanted to follow up on this with some pictures.

 

[ZapataInc]

Those are some nice looking clowns. I have two Picassos as well.

 

[00Dan]

Those are some nice looking clowns. I have two Picassos as well.

I thought so too when I bought them. I hope those spots on the tail aren’t anything to be concerned about, is all.

 

[ZapataInc]

I thought so too when I bought them. I hope those spots on the tail aren’t anything to be concerned about, is all.

Well I don't know if it's the same thing...but my Picassos has some spots on them as well. But it looks like it's just part of their coloration.

 

[wake125122]

This looks great! When you get a chance it would be a good idea to keep some seachem metroplex, focus, KanaPlex, & Cupramine on hand for your fish heath. Nothing like seeing Ick or something and then having to rush at the last min to grab some medications.

 

[wake125122]

For an all in one tank since you are limited in space and when your ready to reduce your phosphates you might wanna try looking into chemi-pure blue. I've ran it in a few of my tanks before with good results. Just make sure you read the directions carefully.

Chemi Pure Blue (11 oz) - Aquarium Filtration Media - Boyd

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[00Dan]

Tested the water yesterday and all parameters were in line. Alkalinity dropped a little bit but other than that all stable. The API calcium test sill reported only 320 PPM; I'm disinclined to trust it. I performed a 20% water change this morning.

I did purchase a Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5 as a replacement return pump. While a bit lower GPH than the stock IM pump (357 vs 476) I have two powerheads in the tank to make up for flow and I wanted something quieter. While the new pump isn't silent it is quieter than the IM pump, and I anticipate it may quiet down more as it breaks in.

The clownfish I thought may be having issues is acting fine and eating heartily. The spots on the tail are still there but aren't growing; I think it may be either coloration or perhaps a minor case of lympho at this point. The other clown shows no exterior issues but I did observe some stringy white poop from him the other day. Watching them feed I also notice him sometimes trying to eat then spitting it back out. I have some PraziPro and API General Cure in the mail; hopefully that will knock out whatever may be affecting him.

As far as algae growth goes, the rocks are slowly turning more brown and green as the days progress. At the current rate I think perhaps one more week of grown will be appropriate for adding some snails.

Other than that the only equipment item on my to-do list right now is to modify my screen top. The top I have is sized to rest on top of the glass; I think I'm going to cut it down for use with the clips that allow me to set it inside the glass.