Nautical Nathaniel's IM Nuvo 20

[mrpizzaface]

This tank looks great.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

This tank looks great.

Thank you!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

General update 3/9/2018

The tank is doing pretty well, I've sort of neglected some maintenance duties due to having a sinus infection or some sort of upper respiratory virus, but I'm starting to over it finally so I should be able to catch up now. The only things wrong at the moment is that the glass is a little algae covered and my corals need feeding, so all-in-all the negligence has been pretty minor.

I guess I will give a current stocking list since some changes have occurred (explained below):

• Longnose Hawkfish
• Stsghorn Damselfish
• Pink Streaked Wrasse
• Randall's Goby
• Tiger Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus bellulus)
• Black Shortspine Urchin
• Fire Shrimp
• Peppermint Shrimp

I lost my Royal Gramma to some sort of flesh eating bacterial infection or fungus that attacked its nose and face area. I tried to save it in a QT system but was unsuccessful. I don't think I will be looking for a replacement fish anytime soon since I will be moving in a few months.

In preparation for the move, I will be trying to empty the tank of as many loose frags and other corals. The goal is to have zero frag racks in the tank before the move and to have all corals attached/encrusted fully to rocks so they can ride around in the cooler without too many breaking off and bouncing around. The move is most likely going to be either an hour or so to my parents house or a full 10 hour drive to South Florida, so I will be heavily researching how to move an aquarium for either scenario. Thankfully I only have a 20 gallon aquarium to move, otherwise I might be parting out livestock and breaking down the tank entirely.

Here is a current full tank shot, you'll notice I removed the DIY frag rack to make room for my Randall's Goby, who really appreciates all the extra space.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to share

 

[Sipec]

Didnt you used to have a neon dottyback? What happened to it and how did you keep it with the shrimp?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Didnt you used to have a neon dottyback? What happened to it and how did you keep it with the shrimp?

I did have a neon dottyback but not any more, I rehomed it to someone with a much bigger tank to spread it's aggression out in. My shrimp was much bigger than the dottyback and I got it before the dottyback so I believe that helped with the aggression in regards to dottyback vs. shrimp. Did it help with dottyback vs. everything else, especially things added after the dottyback?? Nope, not at all. The dottyback I had would get mad at other fish for getting the piece of mysis he wanted and bite at their faces and eyes until they spat it out, the little fella was a pure menace!

 

[jtvaughn]

Hey everyone! I haven't updated my original tank thread in over a year, so instead of trying to catch up, I thought I would make a new thread starting from where the aquarium is now.

If you would like to see the original thread, which shows how I put together most of the aquarium, you can go <here>.

Thanks for coming by, now let's get to the good stuff!

Here is how the reef currently looks:

Here's a wider shot:

Here is an equipment list:

Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion 20 Aquarium
Jebao DC2000 Controllable Return Pump
Eheim Jager 150w Heater
Innovative Marine Ghost Desktop Skimmer
Innovative Marine Minimax Desktop Media Reactor
Tunze Nano Osmolator/ATO
2x Innovative Marine Custom Caddy
2x Innovative Marine Spinstreams
Jebao PP-4 Controllable Powerhead
SB Reef Lights SBox PRO 16"

I think that's everything. Most of this was purchased on a college student budget over the last year and a half. Next post is current fish stock!

Love your nano! I need to get my hands on some acans like yours.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Love your nano! I need to get my hands on some acans like yours.

I've actually gotten rid of those Acans haha I'm not the biggest Acan fan, not sure why since they come in a ton of colors and patterns. Zoas, Torches, Acros, and Blastos are my favorites

 

[Sipec]

I've actually gotten rid of those Acans haha I'm not the biggest Acan fan, not sure why since they come in a ton of colors and patterns. Zoas, Torches, Acros, and Blastos are my favorites

I like most everything, except for some of the bigger polyp lps like meat corals and some scolys

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I like most everything, except for some of the bigger polyp lps like meat corals and some scolys

I don't have any room for corals like that in this tank but I don't know if I'll ever get any because I like sand beds and gobies/jawfish too much haha scolys are also super pricey for something that rarely duplicates, I can't frag and sell a scoly basically to buy more scoly's

 

[Zuma]

Great tank, following!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Great tank, following!

Thank you!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

It's been a while, so here's a quick update (I'm also after that additional entry in the WWC contest )

I haven't done a whole lot of anything with the tank besides enjoying it and taking pictures for my Instagram account. I've added a new chalice coral that I got a pretty sweet deal on. The LFS I got it from is known for not having much, especially anything of quality, but they're mostly in the business for tank maintenance so I don't hold it against them. The other day I popped in for a quick look and spotted this pretty unique looking chalice. The owner said he would give me a $10 discount on it because he knew it was going to a good home, so that made me feel pretty good about it Here is a pic of it:

I'm hoping it colors up some more, a lot of corals in that store tank were a little paler than they normally would be.

I'm getting closer and closer to moving, still not sure if I'm moving to South Florida or back in with my parents temporarily until I get a job secured in the West Palm Beach area. Either way, I have some aquarium prep to do, like getting a few containers of DI water secured for salt mixing at the new destination and removing any clutter from my tank and stand. Right now I have about 10 frags hanging out on racks in my tank, so they will either be secured to my aquascape permanently or hopefully sold together to another local hobbyist.

I did change out my skimmer from the IM Ghost Desktop Skimmer to the IceCap K1 Nano Skimmer. So far it has the potential to work much better than the IM skimmer, but it is a bit finicky with the adjustments and seems to be easily affected by the type of food I put in the aquarium or if I use super glue or something in the tank, so it's safe to say I'm still figuring it out.

If you have any questions about my tank, don't hesitate to ask me!

#reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

 

[FredsNJReef]

Chalice looks good, and good luck with the move and getting a new job!
I'm boatinglifeNJ on IG. Moving to FL, if you get a bigger tank you could catch some new beautiful fish down there! (half kidding )

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Chalice looks good, and good luck with the move and getting a new job!
I'm boatinglifeNJ on IG. Moving to FL, if you get a bigger tank you could catch some new beautiful fish down there! (half kidding )

Thanks!

My girlfriend is a Marine Biology major and she plans on having a "native tank" filled with small fish found in the Palm Beach area (plenty of public snorkeling reefs and such to collect from) as well as native macroalgae and marine plants. I've already determined that I want a pair of yellowhead jawfish in it

 

[FredsNJReef]

That's awesome! GL has some beautiful fish and the boating/fishing life is superb!

 

[LuizW13]

Awesome system. You've help give me some inspiration i needed to get mine back on track.

I have a IM 25g that was started in july, and crashed after the holidays. Did my first water change in almost 3 months a few days ago, ordered a sicce 1.0 pump to replace the noisy IM pump, bought a small bottle of microbacter and a HOB filter for the QT ;Cat.

Will be ordering a captive-bred goby from Biota in a couple of days and will visit the LFS this weekend to get 2-3 cheap test corals.

Surprisingly, there are still a few hermit crabs alive. ;Bored


How's that protein skimmer working out for you?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Awesome system. You've help give me some inspiration i needed to get mine back on track.

I have a IM 25g that was started in july, and crashed after the holidays. Did my first water change in almost 3 months a few days ago, ordered a sicce 1.0 pump to replace the noisy IM pump, bought a small bottle of microbacter and a HOB filter for the QT ;Cat.

Will be ordering a captive-bred goby from Biota in a couple of days and will visit the LFS this weekend to get 2-3 cheap test corals.

Surprisingly, there are still a few hermit crabs alive. ;Bored


How's that protein skimmer working out for you?

Thanks! Good to hear that you're trying to get back into the swing of things!

I have a quick question, are you using the HOB as a QT or is it on a separate QT system?

The protein skimmer is a bit finicky but it works for the most part. I'm still figuring it out

 

[LuizW13]

Thanks! Good to hear that your trying to get back into the swing of things!

I have a quick question, are you using the HOB as a QT or is it on a separate QT system?

The protein skimmer is a bit finicky but it works for the most part. I'm still figuring it out

The HOB will go on my 10gal QT. Previously, i just relied on water changes to keep ammonia down, but i figured i should add at least some type of filtration to keep my stress levels lower lol.

hm, I was always on the fence about getting a skimmer. Show us some of that skimmer gunk?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

The HOB will go on my 10gal QT. Previously, i just relied on water changes to keep ammonia down, but i figured i should add at least some type of filtration to keep my stress levels lower lol.

hm, I was always on the fence about getting a skimmer. Show us some of that skimmer gunk?

Okay, that makes a lot more sense and yes, it will definitely help keep the QT system cleaner and better for fish.

Here is 24 hrs after I first set the new skimmer up:

I emptied it for the first time about three days after those pictures were taken. It was about half filled with tea/brown water and had a bunch of skimmer gunk in the bottom of the cup and around the neck. To put things in perspective, my last skimmer, the Innovative Marine Ghost Skimmer, would only ever make slightly stained water and leave gunk around the neck of the cup, no matter what kind of adjustments I did to it.

 

[LuizW13]

Okay, that makes a lot more sense and yes, it will definitely help keep the QT system cleaner and better for fish.

Here is 24 hrs after I first set the new skimmer up:

I emptied it for the first time about three days after those pictures were taken. It was about half filled with tea/brown water and had a bunch of skimmer gunk in the bottom of the cup and around the neck. To put things in perspective, my last skimmer, the Innovative Marine Ghost Skimmer, would only ever make slightly stained water and leave gunk around the neck of the cup, no matter what kind of adjustments I did to it.

That looks like a neat little skimmer. I'm going to look into that one for sure! thanks!