jnbrex
Active Member
Introduction
Hello everyone! After a long break from the hobby, I recently got back in with a nuvo fusion 20. My vision for this tank is a clean, sps dominated reef with a few small fish.
A little background: I started my first aquarium back when I was 11 or 12 years old, by stocking a 10 gallon freshwater tank with some random minnows/tadpoles I caught in a stream in the woods near my house. From there, I switched to a 10 gallon tank with store-bought fish from Petco, then made the switch to saltwater when I was 13. A family friend of ours gave me his old 75g tank, stand, and sump, and I kept that aquarium until I went to college around 5 years later.
Fast-forward to today: I recently graduated from college, started my first real job, and have my own apartment. Now that I have some stability back in my life (moved from place to place in college pretty much every year) I decided to reenter the hobby.
About 2 months ago, I posted a thread asking for recommendations regarding the equipment I would need to realize my vision here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/starting-a-no-expense-spared-10g-sps-nano-advice-needed.508699/
Equipment
Tank: Innovative Marine 20 NUVO Fusion AIO Aquarium
Stand: Innovative Marine Fusion 20 APS Cabinet Aquarium Stand
Light: AI Hydra FiftyTwo HD LED
Light Mount: AI HMS Single Light Mount Kit
Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump (251 GPH)
Auto Top-Off: AutoAqua AWC Auto Water Changer (Plus ATO)
Skimmer: Tunze Comline DOC Skimmer 9001
Heater: Finnex HMO-200 Heater
Powerhead: EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10QD QuietDrive Propeller Pump
RO/DI: Bulk Reef Supply 4 Stage Value 75GPD RO/DI System
Rock: MarcoRocksReef Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock
Sand: CaribSea Arag-Alive Caribbean Live Sand
Salt: Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
Initial Tank Setup
First step was building the stand, and placing the tank. I highly recommend the stand I bought. It was easy to set up, looks great, and feels solidly constructed. The nuvo fusion 20 is also a great tank.
I don't have any pictures of the process, but I made one small modification. In the back area of the tank, there are multiple chambers separated by glass panes attached with silicone. I removed one of the panes by using a very sharp and thin metal knife to cut away the silicone attaching the glass pane on each side. I made this modification to allow me to fit the Tunze 9001 skimmer in the side chamber. In my opinion, putting the skimmer in the main chamber is a bad idea because 1) You need to modify the skimmer by gluing the magnet to the side, and 2) The closer the skimmer is to the return pump, the higher the likelihood that there will be micro-bubbles in the display area.
Next, I attached the light, added sand, water, put two of the three MarcoRocks in, added the heater, and set up the MP10.
Let there be light!
I ordered 25 lbs of MarcoRocks, but unfortunately received three very large rocks not suitable for use aquascaping such a small tank, as you can see above. I bought a hammer, chisel, and some reef-safe epoxy, and went to work.
I used my bathtub to rinse off all the dust created by breaking the rocks.
Then I tried out a few different structures before creating two structures using the epoxy to glue the rocks together. I went with the rock wall setup when setting up my first saltwater tank 10 years ago, and wanted to try a more minimalist approach this time.
The finished aquascape!
Plenty of hiding places for fish and spots to attach coral, while also leaving a lot of negative space.
Some pictures of the inside 0f the stand with the ATO reservoir and controllers for the MP10 and ATO.
And the filtration setup. I am using a filter sock for one of the overflows, and am considering switching it for a media basket. I filled the chamber next to the filter sock with chunks of the rock that broke off while I was chiseling out the pieces I created the aquascape with.
Next chamber has the return pump and the ATO.
Final chamber (the one that was originally two chambers that I combined) houses the heater and skimmer.
After putting everything together I added some bottled bacteria, dumped in some pellets I had left over from my last tank, and began the waiting game. I didn't want to use a shrimp because of what I've read about the smell.
Here are the graphs of the water parameters over time since I started the cycle. Looks like the cycle is nearing completion. Not sure how the nitrates got so high, but I suspect they came from die-off from the live sand and from the rock before I started tracking the parameters. I'll do a few large daily water changes to reduce the nitrates before adding livestock. I have verified that my RO/DI unit produces water with near-zero nitrates. PH is 8.1 and salinity is 1.025.
Future Plans
I plan on adding a small CUC once the cycle is complete, then if all goes well to begin stocking fish and coral!
I currently plan on keeping the current fish:
1. Clown Goby (first fish I plan to stock)
2. Helfrichi Firefish pair
3. Undecided!
Let me know what you think, and if anyone has any advice or suggestions I'm all ears!
Hello everyone! After a long break from the hobby, I recently got back in with a nuvo fusion 20. My vision for this tank is a clean, sps dominated reef with a few small fish.
A little background: I started my first aquarium back when I was 11 or 12 years old, by stocking a 10 gallon freshwater tank with some random minnows/tadpoles I caught in a stream in the woods near my house. From there, I switched to a 10 gallon tank with store-bought fish from Petco, then made the switch to saltwater when I was 13. A family friend of ours gave me his old 75g tank, stand, and sump, and I kept that aquarium until I went to college around 5 years later.
Fast-forward to today: I recently graduated from college, started my first real job, and have my own apartment. Now that I have some stability back in my life (moved from place to place in college pretty much every year) I decided to reenter the hobby.
About 2 months ago, I posted a thread asking for recommendations regarding the equipment I would need to realize my vision here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/starting-a-no-expense-spared-10g-sps-nano-advice-needed.508699/
Equipment
Tank: Innovative Marine 20 NUVO Fusion AIO Aquarium
Stand: Innovative Marine Fusion 20 APS Cabinet Aquarium Stand
Light: AI Hydra FiftyTwo HD LED
Light Mount: AI HMS Single Light Mount Kit
Pump: Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump (251 GPH)
Auto Top-Off: AutoAqua AWC Auto Water Changer (Plus ATO)
Skimmer: Tunze Comline DOC Skimmer 9001
Heater: Finnex HMO-200 Heater
Powerhead: EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10QD QuietDrive Propeller Pump
RO/DI: Bulk Reef Supply 4 Stage Value 75GPD RO/DI System
Rock: MarcoRocksReef Saver Aquarium Dry Live Rock
Sand: CaribSea Arag-Alive Caribbean Live Sand
Salt: Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
Initial Tank Setup
First step was building the stand, and placing the tank. I highly recommend the stand I bought. It was easy to set up, looks great, and feels solidly constructed. The nuvo fusion 20 is also a great tank.
I don't have any pictures of the process, but I made one small modification. In the back area of the tank, there are multiple chambers separated by glass panes attached with silicone. I removed one of the panes by using a very sharp and thin metal knife to cut away the silicone attaching the glass pane on each side. I made this modification to allow me to fit the Tunze 9001 skimmer in the side chamber. In my opinion, putting the skimmer in the main chamber is a bad idea because 1) You need to modify the skimmer by gluing the magnet to the side, and 2) The closer the skimmer is to the return pump, the higher the likelihood that there will be micro-bubbles in the display area.
Next, I attached the light, added sand, water, put two of the three MarcoRocks in, added the heater, and set up the MP10.
Let there be light!
I ordered 25 lbs of MarcoRocks, but unfortunately received three very large rocks not suitable for use aquascaping such a small tank, as you can see above. I bought a hammer, chisel, and some reef-safe epoxy, and went to work.
I used my bathtub to rinse off all the dust created by breaking the rocks.
Then I tried out a few different structures before creating two structures using the epoxy to glue the rocks together. I went with the rock wall setup when setting up my first saltwater tank 10 years ago, and wanted to try a more minimalist approach this time.
The finished aquascape!
Plenty of hiding places for fish and spots to attach coral, while also leaving a lot of negative space.
Some pictures of the inside 0f the stand with the ATO reservoir and controllers for the MP10 and ATO.
And the filtration setup. I am using a filter sock for one of the overflows, and am considering switching it for a media basket. I filled the chamber next to the filter sock with chunks of the rock that broke off while I was chiseling out the pieces I created the aquascape with.
Next chamber has the return pump and the ATO.
Final chamber (the one that was originally two chambers that I combined) houses the heater and skimmer.
After putting everything together I added some bottled bacteria, dumped in some pellets I had left over from my last tank, and began the waiting game. I didn't want to use a shrimp because of what I've read about the smell.
Here are the graphs of the water parameters over time since I started the cycle. Looks like the cycle is nearing completion. Not sure how the nitrates got so high, but I suspect they came from die-off from the live sand and from the rock before I started tracking the parameters. I'll do a few large daily water changes to reduce the nitrates before adding livestock. I have verified that my RO/DI unit produces water with near-zero nitrates. PH is 8.1 and salinity is 1.025.
Future Plans
I plan on adding a small CUC once the cycle is complete, then if all goes well to begin stocking fish and coral!
I currently plan on keeping the current fish:
1. Clown Goby (first fish I plan to stock)
2. Helfrichi Firefish pair
3. Undecided!
Let me know what you think, and if anyone has any advice or suggestions I'm all ears!
. Only Issue I see is that 2 firefish in a nano never (ok maybe once or twice) work out. You have to buy them as a bonded pair and even then you can be 100 percent sure. As for your undecided fish I say Pygmy Wrasse!
