A request for your experience and knowledge in cubes...

[gencarson]

I was going to make this specific to the IM Nuvo Fusion 40, but I bet I'd be missing out on a lot of great stuff.

The purpose of this request:

As with most hobbies and crafts there tends to be a ton of information for beginners, as well as a ton of really advanced stuff, but a weird intermediate void. I'm finding it harder and harder to find the answers to questions I have without either reading the same thing over and over, or going down a rabbit hole so deep that I'll never get out. So I thought it might be easier to just post some questions and then deal with the inevitable shame that I'll feel looking back at this a couple years from now.

What I am working with:

Experience: 6 months, nothing prior relating to SW aquariums. I studied IT, Chemistry, Robotics, and Programming in College (Looking back, adding fish / reef husbandry would have made for an awesome foundation). So don't worry about being too detailed on those topics. In the last 6 months I've built up a 40 gallon IM Fusion Cube AIO from the unboxing to today. Nothing inherited and only knowledge from here, BRS, and my LFF. All have been amazing.

My Setup (Brief)

• IM Nuvo Fusion 40 AIO
• Stand - Built from scratch.
• Controller - Built from scratch. Raspberry Pi / Arduino based IoT system with 12 port remote managed AC and all the sensor bells and whistles. Probably worthy of a whole other thread. Maybe I can payback the knowledge you have with some I have.
• IM Ghost Mid Skimmer
• IM Mid Media Reactor
• (2) Custom Caddy Baskets interchangeable with standard filter socks and a stash of various filter media, Chemical, Mechanical, Biological.
• Ecotech Radion XR15w G4
• Ecotech Vortech MP10 Powerhead
• Ecotech Reeflink with integration via Echo to my frankencontroller.
• Stock Return Pump
• IM ATO Sensor with an otherwise homegrown top off.
• Some heater, I dunno the brand, but its 150w with another 100w failover heater on standby
• RO/DI System
• All required tests, done weekly and logged.

The biologics:

• Mixed Reef
• Mainly Softies (Zoas, Mushrooms, Duncan, Frogspawn, etc)
• Crabs. Snails. Mix of just about everything in regards to CUC. I'll elaborate below.
• 2 Clowns, 1 Scopas Tang, 1 Starry Eyed Blenny, 1 Neon Dottyback, 1 Blue Damsel, 1 Peppermint Shrimp, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Red Reef Lobster, 1 Emerald Crab, 1 hitchhiker crab who keeps to himself, 1 sand sifting star.
• 2 - 3 inches live sand on top of eggcrate
• Misc Rock, all clean, nothing live.
• Note: Other than some crabicide, nothing in the tank has died. Everything is doing well, which is almost exactly the reason I am posting. I want this knowledge before I need it.
• Parameters are right in line with a healthy system.

Questions:

1. Tank seems healthy, I test more than I probably should, change 20% water per week, but I don't know if I'm under-over when it comes to the filtration systems. Rather than tell you how I'm setup for it, I want to know what you think would be a solid setup. I have changed it around so much at this point I can't stop messing with it, and I know I need to. If you could go back to day 1, how would you setup a filter system? What indicators (other than testing) do you think reflect a healthy tank?

2. I actually worry I might be over-filtering. At times, I know I must be. Should this actually be a concern or should the inaccuracies of visual testing allow for enough trace nitrates to not register sometimes?

3. All-In-One Question... Should I be cleaning the chambers in the back? How often? What is the best way to do it? I've tried a few different ways, but nothing has really stood out. How clean should it get? Making sure there isn't any detritus or food is pretty simple enough, but do I need to worry about scrubbing? There is some red-brown slimy algae, but nothing that seems to be problematic. On that note, when is it problematic?

4. Sand Question.... to clean or not to clean.... After a while the larger pieces of shell and rock end up on the top, with the finer stuff working its way down. I clean it as best I can without turning it into a disaster zone for fear of causing some kind of chain reaction cycle. It always looks so much nicer after a simple cleaning, but is this bad?

5. Lighting, For the love of god will someone please just give me an idea of duration / intensity. The Coral Lab settings in the Radion are awesome, but I worry that its either too bright, or running too long, so just guess.... I'm at 8 hours @ 50% overall brightness.

6. Flow: Based on what I've written, and the fact that I am not sure about placement, intensity, duration, or the most advantageous modes, advise is more than welcome. Right now its in the back left aiming right, about 5 inches from the top, 3 inches from the rear.

7. Flow part 2: Good idea or bad idea.... Crank the MP10 up to 80-95% for a minute or 2 to get some turbulence. Not enough to knock things over, but enough to suspend particulates and get some water moving....

8. Flow part 3: Moving the MP10 once in a while to change the predominant flow pattern? Thoughts?

9. IM Spin Streams, cool not cool?

10. Reef Safe Animals -- I read that my lobster is not reef safe, and how they are monsters. He's a pretty chill guy. Hangs out in his cave, comes out at night or when a lot of food gets tossed in, doesn't hurt anyone, or eat corals as best I can tell.... My gut tells me that something like that is based more on the critter's specific personality and less on RED LIGHT / GREEN LIGHT call? I apply the same thoughts to hermits and such.

11. Vermitid Snails -- Concern or not really, if managed? Those jerks cropped up on a few LPS and I took the clippers and super glue to them.

12. Parting advise.... What do you wish you knew back in the day? I don't care if it is anecdotal or scientific. The more I get involved the more it looks like a lot of reefing is science coupled with large helping of winging it.

EDIT:

13. I want a clam. Good idea or bad?

 

[gencarson]

Ooops forgot. Pic of work in progress:

 

[Caswal]

I am at a pretty similar point in the hobby do you. So I am interested in peoples answers.

 

[Kremis]

1. for setting up a filtration system, it depends on what I have to work with. I would do what I have now, which is on my 180 I have GFO, Carbon, Filter socks, Chaeto, and big skimmer. on my 28 gallon there is almost no filtration but its a softie tank. I think coral growth and everything overall looking good indicates a healthy tank
2. yes over filtration is a thing and in your case I would be concerned about it because some of the corals that you listed that you have would like some nutrients. what test kits are you using?
3. i havent cleaned out the back chambers on my 28 in like 3 years, so i would say you should be fine not cleaning it. red slime algae is probably cyanobacteria. you dont have to worry about it really (it wont really kill anything) but it looks ugly and if you want it gone chemiclean is a good option
4. in my 28 there is a deep sand bed for my garden eels, and I used to clean it every few weeks. I stopped a few months ago and havent noticed that anything changed. if you like cleaning your sand there is no bad affect. however I saw that you said you had a sand sifting star. if the sand is too clean the star will starve
5. I am not really sure how bright the radions are, but 8 hours is generally good. as long as your corals dont look bleached or shrunken up they are probably getting the right amount
6. the corals you currently have prefer low/moderate flow. As for how to set up your flow, I dont really think it matters as long as your corals are getting the correct amount of flow they need. in my 180 I have set it up so there is low flow on my torch garden, low flow on my big frogspawn, and high flow for the sps at the top (this took hours to figure out lol) I recommend doing flow first then placing corals based on flow.
7. sand would get everywhere i think ? wouldnt really help anything. if you want to get particles off of the rocks you can use a turkey baster
8. change generally = bad for corals, they like stable conditions so I would not do this unless you are unhappy with the flow or the corals are unhappy with it
9. i dont know what these are
10. I have never kept a reef lobster so no comment on that, however "unkown hitchihker crab" will probably start attacking things sooner or later
11. these arent really a concern, people think they bother corals or something I personally havent really seen it happen. then again, my wrasses eat vermatids
12. Honestly I just wish I knew more about the "high end" coral market because I only just started to get into it and it personally adds a level of satisfaction that I didnt have before. however this is just me, other people dont care what the coral is called/worth as long as its pretty your preference.
13. go for it dont see any issues with getting one

about your stock list, dottybacks are extremely aggressive and it might end up harming tank mates / future additions. so are damselfish. the scopas tang will need a new home at some point down the line.

and welcome to r2r!