8 gal. Nano

Nice!!! This looks good, I also have the 8w Skkye light on my 5g

 

about to have some serious algae

Just an update, my tank is still cycling and my ammonia is finally at 0. My nitrites are still through the roof and my nitrates are fluctuating. Here are the nitrate readings over the past 4 days:

5/9 - 60ppm
5/10 - 5ppm (started seeing first signs of algae)
5/13 - 60ppm

I did a 30% water change on Saturday and then let the tank sit until today. As you can see the nitrates are now spiking again which means I'm about to see a lot more algae. I'm going to get water mixed for a 60% water change and make sure it's the same temp/salinity as the current water. I want to try and lower the nitrite/nitrate as much as possible until the tank gets more stable. The fact that my ammonia was originally at 8ppm and now at 0 shows I have a good start to some bacteria.

Any objections to a 60% water change at this stage? There are currently no inhabitants in the tank.

 

...are you running any media in the back overflow chamber??

any water change more than 20% scares me. there are free floating elements to a reef that you might not want to take out. 60% sounds like you are nervous. Nitrate spikes can happen in a new reef Tgood. No worries there. continue small water changes with quailty salt (RS coral pro for example) and RO/DI. Test the RO/DI before the salt has gone in and see what you get for TDI and nitrate levels. Should be close to 0ppm for both.

and give it a few weeks. I started my Pico (5 gallon) two months ago and am JUST NOW thinking of adding my one and only fish. I added a snail and hermit, some GSP/Xenia frags and mushrooms after about 3 weeks just to see how they would respond and all of them are doing great. All corals have grown, and attached themselves naturally to substrate

::EDIT, the following does not apply to intermediate-advanced corals::

I am currently testing around 15ppm nitrate which is absolutely fine for a tank under 10gallons that has NOTHING but natural filtration. I have had amazing success with many tanks that had anywhere from 5-20ppm nitrate. They could all support any soft coral (with good growth), anemones and fish for years and years...as long as you only maintain having just a dash of algae, most animals with gladly graze some green algae.

BUT If you have a tank with anything about 5ppm nitrate, that is not lit properly, there can be massive algae blooms. The key is consistent and correct lighting, quality water changes/tops offs, and a hard working CUC !!!
::BACK TO BASICS::
My suggestion to reefers who want to rush (I understand, a Nuvo is exciting), is to slow down !! These all in one systems are not magic. The members on my site take incredible time with their Nuvo systems, possibly more than I do with my "homemade" pico. LOOKS FOR COPEPODS AND AMPHIPODS..when you see those little buggers multiplying like wildfire, its time to add inverts like your snails and hermits, and cleaner/decorative shrimp. See how they do, add some basic corals, see how they do, and BAM !! in a month or so go buy a fish !!!

 

Thanks for the info. Vizzle1717. This definitely takes patience and I have no intentions of rushing this cycle. I also do not plan on adding anything until the tank is more stable. When I do add something it will be a small CUC.

I do run the stock media basket and some activated carbon. The basket contains Mechanical Sponge, Activated Sponge and Phosphate Sponge. My water is RO/DI from a 3-stage Spectrapure unit and I'm currently using Instant Ocean Salt. I only bought 10 lbs. of it to get me through the cycle phase. My intentions are to go with Reef Crystals Salt once I'm closer to adding livestock. I will probably change the salt on my last water change before I'm ready to add the CUC. I wanted to use cheaper salt at first because it's going to be getting changed during my water changes anyways.

To explain my drastic water change:
When I was starting my cycle someone mentioned to add raw shrimp and leave it in for 3 days. I added a media bag of cut up raw shrimp and left it in for about 12 hours. The tank is so small that my ammonia immediately went through the roof at over 8.0 ppm. So I took the bag out and just let the tank start to cycle knowing that this was a lot of ammonia. After the first signs of Nitrites I started to do small water changes to bring the Ammonia down. My Ammonia is now 0 but my nitrites have been over 5.0 ppm for the past few days. With my Nitrites being so high I know my Nitrates will continue replenishing my algae until it becomes out of control. The Nitrates are spiking, then disappearing (due to algae growth/consumption), then spiking again. I am trying to keep the algae somewhat contained. That is why I thought a big water change would help because it will lower my Nitrites to a smaller amount and prevent these huge amounts of Nitrate. I plan to add raw shrimp again later to get the Ammonia up to about .5 ppm and see how long it takes to be broken down.

I will also get my water at the same temp and salinity as the current water so I don't "shock" the bacteria that does exist. Thanks again for the advice, I’m still on the fence about the big water change though… if I do end up doing it I will keep you posted with the aftermath.

 

we are here for you buddy !!!

 

So I've done a smaller water change - about 25% - and my nitrites/nitrates weren't diluted like I thought they would be. They're still both off the chart, Nitrites 5.0+ ppm and Nitrates are now at 80ppm. I'm assuming this will lead to a huge algae bloom, should I turn the lights off for a few days? I'm using the stock SkkyeLight LED that came with the NUVO.

I'm going to test my RO/DI water too just to make sure there isn't anything wrong with what I'm putting in the tank...

 

I would figure out you Nitrate problem before messing with the light. If you get everything under control while the light is on the tank, then you wont have to worry. Turn it off now and it could mean just having to deal with it later.

The stock light on a nuvo 8 is the 4w or 8w skkye light???

 

stock is 8w

 

hmmm...I own the light and have not experienced any algae except for diatoms so end my cycle and a consistent battle with dinoflagellates

 

Good news, it's nothing that I'm putting in the tank. I tested my water that was left over from when I changed it... Nitrites/Nitrates are both 0. So I know the water/testers are good. I must just have a high concentration of Nitrite in my tank due to the high amount of Ammonia I started with.