The Trash Can (IM Nuvo 20) - Slow Go

[robotrash]

Yesterday I fed a small amount of phyto for the copepods I added as well as half of an algae wafer (since my CUC is crushing it in the rock department) and a small squirt of baby brine (saw some open coral mouths).

I noticed today my ammonia is back up to 0.2. Not panicking, going to check again tomorrow and do a WC if it hasn't dropped.

 

[robotrash]

Still looking at 0.2ppt ammonia today. Everything is looking happy but water is a bit hazy. Going to pick up some Seachem Prime to see about knocking it down. Will maybe add some more microbacter as well. We will see.

EDIT: Upon further research it appears Seachem Prime may be completely inconsequential when it comes to removing Ammonia.

 

[robotrash]

Doing some additional research here on the forums and elsewhere it sounds like it isn't uncommon for the Red Sea tests to read a low grade ammonia (0.2 or less) even on a 0ppm system. I will do a small WC to calm my nerves and monitor regularly moving forward. I don't have any fish yet to monitor for behavior but coral seems happy and open.

FTS from today (got a filter for the DSLR finally)

 

[slogan315]

Looks great so far! How did you decide on the reefi uno? I really want to try one on my 60g, but seems like overkill for a 20g LPS/Softie tank.

 

[robotrash]

Looks great so far! How did you decide on the reefi uno? I really want to try one on my 60g, but seems like overkill for a 20g LPS/Softie tank.

I did a ton of research and kept in the back of my mind that I'll likely be moving to a larger tank within a year or two so with that in mind I figured I'd grab the uno with the intention of grabbing a second, if needed, for a larger tank.

No doubt it would be overkill if I ran it high but I figured I'm spending the money anyway so I may as well future proof a bit. That, combined with the fact that I ultimately want a mixed reef with some harder stuff up top, is what sold me.

I actually run it a bit lower than the black box light I had before (visually) but I'm also still waiting for a PAR meter.

 

[slogan315]

I did a ton of research and kept in the back of my mind that I'll likely be moving to a larger tank within a year or two so with that in mind I figured I'd grab the uno with the intention of grabbing a second, if needed, for a larger tank.

No doubt it would be overkill if I ran it high but I figured I'm spending the money anyway so I may as well future proof a bit. That, combined with the fact that I ultimately want a mixed reef with some harder stuff up top, is what sold me.

I actually run it a bit lower than the black box light I had before (visually) but I'm also still waiting for a PAR meter.

Nice! Excited to see how it progresses

 

[robotrash]

Ordered far too many coral over the last week. Arrived and in tank:

• Pink Hammer
• Candy Cane

Ordered:

• CC 21 Tails Torch
• JF Nuclear Trumpet
• JF Vegas Strip Palys
• JF Crazy Lady Palys
• JF butt Monkey Zoas
• Free mystery frag from CodyBot games
• List may grow as I won $30 to TCK too...

Next weekend I will be going to pick up my Black Storm Clown pair I've had reserved for a couple weeks, nervous about first fish but they're too good to pass up and gorgeous to boot.

Wife fell in love with em so they're the ones we got. LFS is giving me a nice deal at $200 for the pair, seems decent based on looking around online.

Everyone in tank seems happy. Inverts are busy, coral are open, copepods are abundant and all over everything pretty much 24/7.

I've got reef roids and polyp-booster on the way as well so I can start spot feeding all these beasts.

Lastly, I started the mixing station in the garage after tearing out some very old, very ugly cabinets:

Got a lot of plumbing to do of course but this will more or less be the layout. Not pretty but mobile if I need to move it out of the way and fairly inexpensive. Plus pretty modular if I want add shelves or storage using all of the peg holes.

 

[robotrash]

TCK coral purchase:

• TCK Insane Hellfire Torch ($50 seemed good for it!)
• TCK Peach Favia ($5 auction)
• TCK Baby's Breath Favia ($5 auction)

I'm not sure how I'll like the Favia but for $5 I figure I'll give em a go and if they aren't what I'm looking for I'll trade em in at my LFS.

I've pretty much filled my tank at this point... we will see how it all glues up

Spot fed Reef Roids for the first time this evening. Got an immediate feeding response from the candy cane, my mushrooms did a weird thing, not sure if I irritated them or if that's how they feed:

Will see how they look tomorrow, otherwise everything in my tank went nuts, even the starfish was cruising when I started feeding so must be some good stuff!

Black Storm Clowns coming next weekend! Excited and nervous for those!

 

[robotrash]

Some research showed that mushrooms will do that when food/detritus shows up so jury is still out but they're open and happy this morning. The candy cane has got some nearly fully extended tentacles which gives me a good idea of range on those for final placement.

Wednesday is delivery day for both coral orders. A bit worried about the big step up in nutrient load but hoping to combat that with weekly water changes for several months. Using LFS mixed water for now until my mixing station is up but so far tests indicate theirs is pretty stable from visit to visit so not too concerned.

Trying to avoid chasing numbers so early in the tanks life as it seems that leads to big swings and a host of other issues.

 

[robotrash]

Here's an updated FTS and Side shot from today - Candy Cane pulled its tentacles in so seems to be looking for a morning feed : )

Planning on getting the pink hammer (now that it has reinflated post-shipping) and candy cane glued up today before everything else shows up this week.

Peep that starfish. It spends the night and midday under the sand, morning and evening seems to be spent trawling the surface looking for a place to dig. Haven't seen any climbing behavior so I think it's still eating well.


I am debating pulling the top rock off of the scape, or at least moving it over and down some to clear up some more swimming room. Front to back my scape isn't very large, however, so not sure if that will be necessary. I won't really be able to grow anything up top though, I think it's too shallow for SPS unless there are some that grow more horizontally, maybe something encrusting on that rock actually.

 

[robotrash]

Received my large orders from TCK and Jason Fox. I am absolutely stunned by how bright the nuclear trumpet is, almost hard to look at directly in person

Did a 2 gallon WC to offset the movement and kicked up crap in the tank as well as changed the mechanical filter media. Added a small rock under the right arch to host some additional coral. It's a bit hard to tell in pictures since I don't have a front light but there's quite a bit of space around it for swimming.

FTS today:

And from the side (Zoa garden will mostly be on this side which is easily viewable in the space my tank is in):

 

[robotrash]

Finally added fish yesterday!

Bonded pair of Black Storm Clowns - I have not seen any that look quite like this and we feel in love with them right away.

Also added:
1x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
4x Rock Flower Anemones (bought them bleached but otherwise seem healthy)

Here's an update video of the tank:



Some things I am trying to be cognizant of now:

• Flow for the clowns (too much?)
• No more life is being added for a while. Hoping to go a couple months with no new additions to give everything the best shot at stabilizing now.
• Working on getting a clearer picture of how much everything eats to make feedings quicker/less messy

 

[flexiblewater]

Finally added fish yesterday!

Bonded pair of Black Storm Clowns - I have not seen any that look quite like this and we feel in love with them right away.

Also added:
1x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
4x Rock Flower Anemones (bought them bleached but otherwise seem healthy)

Here's an update video of the tank:



Some things I am trying to be cognizant of now:

• Flow for the clowns (too much?)
• No more life is being added for a while. Hoping to go a couple months with no new additions to give everything the best shot at stabilizing now.
• Working on getting a clearer picture of how much everything eats to make feedings quicker/less messy

Tank looks awesome, keep up the great work.

 

[robotrash]

Water tests today, all values are under which is a bit concerning. Trying not to chase numbers but they seem low

Salinity: 1.025 (Electronic test and refrac)
Ammonia: 0 (Red Sea)
Nitrate: 0 (Red Sea)
PH: 8.3-8.7 (electronic test and strip)
Alk: 6 dkh (tested twice, Red Sea)
Calc: 355 (Red Sea)
Temp: 78
Phos: .015 (Red Sea)

Is it worth doing anything for this? I have a bottle of AfR but haven't used it as I've read plenty about dosing too early and spiraling on it. I will probably spin up a separate thread since I have other questions around this, primarily switching from LFS water to home-mixed for better stability.

Worth mentioning that everything is open and happy, coral and fish are eating well so focused on stability over everything. May just up my water changes for now.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Received my large orders from TCK and Jason Fox. I am absolutely stunned by how bright the nuclear trumpet is, almost hard to look at directly in person

Did a 2 gallon WC to offset the movement and kicked up crap in the tank as well as changed the mechanical filter media. Added a small rock under the right arch to host some additional coral. It's a bit hard to tell in pictures since I don't have a front light but there's quite a bit of space around it for swimming.

FTS today:

And from the side (Zoa garden will mostly be on this side which is easily viewable in the space my tank is in):

Coral look great!

 

[slogan315]

if everything looks good and is growing, may be best to just keep on going.

But, if you do want to chase that dragon….

Your nitrates and phosphates are low. The softies especially would benefit from more. That is unless you are doing a lot of particulate feeding and they’re getting their nutrients from organics. IME, if corals aren’t looking like they’re starving, and you aren’t getting Cyano or dinos, then there’s no issue.

As for your alk/Calc, increasing these overtime would be good. It’s not as important now as you don’t have much LPS or SPS though. It is good to see that your alk/Calc are in balance but low. So a combined additive like AFR would work. Also I think AFR has other elements that may benefit your corals.

What salt are you or the LFS using now?

 

[robotrash]

if everything looks good and is growing, may be best to just keep on going.

But, if you do want to chase that dragon….

Your nitrates and phosphates are low. The softies especially would benefit from more. That is unless you are doing a lot of particulate feeding and they’re getting their nutrients from organics. IME, if corals aren’t looking like they’re starving, and you aren’t getting Cyano or dinos, then there’s no issue.

As for your alk/Calc, increasing these overtime would be good. It’s not as important now as you don’t have much LPS or SPS though. It is good to see that your alk/Calc are in balance but low. So a combined additive like AFR would work. Also I think AFR has other elements that may benefit your corals.

What salt are you or the LFS using now?

The LFS currently uses Fritz blue box as well which is what they recommended for me. I took a look around the forums for a bit and it seems fine enough and in general it seems like the salt you choose isn't as important as maintaining stability overall so ultimately went with Fritz since I know I can grab a box locally if needed.

Based on my levels historically, however, I'm not certain they keep things as high as I would like and I assume are dosing post-mix to make up for that. For example, my salinity has trended down over water change periods and I'd like to control that better.

Ultimately, though, I'd like to just get confident with mixing myself so that if/when I move to a larger tank I'll be better equipped (and be able to save money/trips to LFS). I'd say that's the number one reason I intend to switch TBH, otherwise I'm sure I could continue on with their water.

Not here to chase number dragons for sure, just want to be able to control the process start to finish so I have a more complete picture of what's going in my tank so I can ensure stability over everything

Quick edit, I do currently spot feed reef roids for the smaller mouths and usually give the euphyillia, nems, trumpet and candy cane some brine or even mysis when I feed that. Overall I'd say the coral are eating 3 or more times per week. They all typically have enthusiastic feeding responses, especially in the evening, and especially if I put in a few drops of polyp booster first.

 

[robotrash]

Coral look great!

Thank you!

 

[slogan315]

The LFS currently uses Fritz blue box as well which is what they recommended for me. I took a look around the forums for a bit and it seems fine enough and in general it seems like the salt you choose isn't as important as maintaining stability overall so ultimately went with Fritz since I know I can grab a box locally if needed.

Based on my levels historically, however, I'm not certain they keep things as high as I would like and I assume are dosing post-mix to make up for that. For example, my salinity has trended down over water change periods and I'd like to control that better.

Ultimately, though, I'd like to just get confident with mixing myself so that if/when I move to a larger tank I'll be better equipped (and be able to save money/trips to LFS). I'd say that's the number one reason I intend to switch TBH, otherwise I'm sure I could continue on with their water.

Not here to chase number dragons for sure, just want to be able to control the process start to finish so I have a more complete picture of what's going in my tank so I can ensure stability over everything

Quick edit, I do currently spot feed reef roids for the smaller mouths and usually give the euphyillia, nems, trumpet and candy cane some brine or even mysis when I feed that. Overall I'd say the coral are eating 3 or more times per week. They all typically have enthusiastic feeding responses, especially in the evening, and especially if I put in a few drops of polyp booster first.

Yea making your own water is a good feeling of independence. I have no experience with fritz salt but I’m sure it’s fine. If it is a salt mix low on the macro elements, your situation may be better suited for a complete salt mix. For those that want exact control of their macro levels, it may be better. But for most, it’s not worth the added complexity or risk of dosing post-mix. Kinda like cooking with unsalted vs salted butter…

I have been over confident with my salt mixing ability, and overestimated the accuracy of my testing equipment. Had my tank at 1.030 for a week because my Hanna checker wasn’t calibrated. Also turns out salinity testing is very temperature dependent. So making salt water in a hot garage can be tricky. I think I’ve got it figured out now though!

With the spot feeding, your corals are probably getting enough nutrients, without all the excess inorganic nutrients that will cause algae.

 

[robotrash]

Had a fun little weekend, found my first aiptasia on a frag which I scraped off (outside the tank) with an xacto knife. Tested nutrients again, still 0/0 on phos/nitrate. Been feeding quite a bit to work against this so the coral don't suffer. At the very least I can see some growth on most of my pieces, especially the zoas. I've ordered neophos and neonitro to try and get these up a bit, also removed the chemipure from my filtration.

Spent a while this morning/afternoon worried about my male clown because he keeps laying on a rock but I think I've landed on goofy clown behavior as I'm not seeing any other signs of illness. Will keep an eye on this. I'm also planning on cutting off the wavemaker and just doing the return for tonight to see if it's a sleep issue.

Working on my water mixing station and glued the wrong piece into the pump plumbing adapter so have to wait 10+ days to get a new set from eBay.

I digress, all told things are still going quite well, just a bunch of turds in a couple day span!