Ky's Nuvo 30 Build

ya they make a great pair and fun to watch (used to have a pair a few year back). Only problem I ran into was corals on the bed used to get sand etc piled on them.

 

Nice progress. I think your plan of ~8% water changes bi-weekly is just fine. I try to stick to 10% bi-weekly, though sometimes I go an extra week or two!

 

everything looks really good. You appear to have a huge CUC which is always good. Love the little shells at the top of the burrow - glad to hear your watchman is doing well. I love the goby/pistol combo. They're very entertaining!

 

Everything's looking great! I've always loved watching Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp pairs build burrows.

Nice bedazzled scissors 8)

 

chris adams - I'll have to watch out for that when the time comes

marshall o - Thanks for the confirmation. I'll do my best to stick to the schedule. But I definately know how it is sometimes

oldfishkeeper - CUC was the recomended quick crew from reefcleaners. I guess they want your tank to be... well... clean lol. The shrimp is trying to make another entrance like this one on the other side of the rock but keeps grabbing live snails. He gets them set in place and covered with sand then they just take off. Pretty funny to watch.

camkha1234 - Thanks! That's what you get when you ask your daughter to bring you scissors lol.


My wife came home from work yesterday and found a couple snails on the floor next to the tank. I guess they crawled out and dropped. Sometimes gravity doesn't take you back to the ocean... All is good though she put them back in and they are still going strong.

 

As for water changes, I'm at 5 gallons every two weeks seems to be working out pretty well. What kind of salt do you use?

 

I have been doing 5gal a week on my 38nuvo. Nitrates have been running between 5 and 10 but just took out 3 cardinals and changed filter media 2 days ago. Seemed to drop it a little yesterday and will be checking again today.

Also going to go with the custom media basket, refugium led light, and chaeto (so thanks for pointing that out.. had not seen that).

 

I still have the stock media baskets from day one, right side running brs carbon, and gfo with sponge ontop. left side running sponges and filter mesh with chaeto ontop. Have a clip on HD light with a 65 watt cfl daylight bulb. I was thinking about putting chemi pure in left side media tray would be better than a sponge right?

 

Brianj - I may have to try 3 gallons next time. I'm going to try and empty the water from the back of the tank next time. I want to try and avoid the line on the back wall where the coraline doesn't grow because of the water changes. I also want to put corals on top of the rock columns and they stuck out of the water during the last water change. Has anyone tried to do a simultaneous water change? Like emptying water on one side of the tank while filling on the other side of the tank at the same time?

As for filters. Correct me if I'm wrong but Chemipure is a carbon product. The Chemipure elite is carbon and ferric oxide product (like mixing carbon and GFO). Are you having problems with Nitrates at the moment? If not I suggest ditching the sponges and making more room for your chaeto. The more chaeto you have the more pod production and natural nutrient removing ability you have. GFO in the sacks doesn't work very well IMO. If you need GFO I suggest getting IM's media reactor. I haven't totally checked on sizing but I'm pretty sure the desktop version will fit in the ""skimmer"" section as listed on the owners manual (if that makes sense).

chris - Thanks so far I think it's working well. I can see large and small pods running all over the place in the filter compartment. I would definately check out IM's media reactor for your tank and getting the fuge with chaeto going. I still haven't figured out a good light to use with it but I will after getting other necessary equipment first. Right now I only have the cheap test kits and nitrates say zero but I need to get the nice ones to make sure my Nitrates are staying at zero. I'll let you guys know the results when I do.

 

Oh and I'm using reef crystals at the moment. After getting the proper testing kits I might be making some changes. But for now I've read reef crystals is a pretty good salt.