Flybywbl's Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 30L Build

[flyboywbl]

Ok so i've found that the tank evaporates about 1/2 gallon of water a day. Seems like a lot. Any way I threw in a piece of raw table shrimp in the tank last night to start the cycle. I tested for ammonia this morning and it's at 4 PPM. Should I take the shrimp out now? or should I leave it in?

-Matt

 

[ErinCahir]

Leave it in and let it rot. Evaporation is super dependant on your area. The drier the climate, the more you lose.

Also your stock list looks good.

 

[flyboywbl]

Ok so the coralline on the piece live rock is starting to get a diatom bloom with little bubbles all over it. Ammonia is at 8ppm (that's as high as my test kit will measure).

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Diatoms are completely normal for a new tank. One all the silicates are eating up, the diatoms will go away on their own. 1/2 a gallon sounds pretty normal. If you want to make things even easier for your wife, you can check out some ATOs. This way, all she has to do is fill the reservoir every so often, and it will handle the rest.

 

[flyboywbl]

Well nitrite spiked last week and went to zero over the last few days. Nitrate was around 10ppm. I did a 50% water change and that brought the nitrate down to near zero. Three weeks to the day! I think I will add a cleanup crew tomorrow and possibly a gobi.

SO EXCITED!!!

-Matt

 

[flyboywbl]

Cleanup crew is here. I ordered it from Live Aquaria on Monday. It got stuck in KY, at the airport for a day. When I came home from the store the box was on it's side (thanks UPS guy). It was -4 out today so the heat pack did no good. The water was ice cold. It looked like everything was dead. I quickly floated all the bags in the tank and, slowly most everything has come back to life. Some of the bags are black so I can't tell yet.

Fingers crossed.

-Matt

 

[Aquarian]

Good luck, but FWIW I don't think they "came back to life" but if they did you may be the reef tank Jesus:D

 

[flyboywbl]

Haha, most everything came back. Out of the 60 critters I ordered, only 6 died. I mean, this water was ICE cold. I acclimated them for 2 hours and now everyone seems to be happy.

We'll just have to see if they survive

 

[flyboywbl]

Ok so it's been a week and I'm happy to say that everything is doing great! The peppermint shrimp is the only animal who I can't find. Either it's hiding, it got munched, or it died.
The cat loves the tank!



I'm still trying to figure out what corals and fish I want to keep.


-Matt

 

[SigEpLucas]

Looks great! Shrimp and crabs can be so hard to find sometimes. Once my emerald crab disappeared for like two months and then one day he came back out.

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Can you hatch live brine shrimp? If so, do pipefish!! They are awesome! :)

 

[flyboywbl]

I ended up with a Yellow Gobi and a Tanaka's Pygmy wrasse. I also got a mushroom leather toadstool, a Ducnan, a candy cane coral and a feather duster.

The Pygmy wrasse is cool but he never comes out.

The candy cane button does not look so good. It never inflated. The tentacles do come out at night though. I'm hoping it will come around. All the other corals seem happy.

 

[flyboywbl]

Here are a few picks from feeding today...

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

Is the Red/Green thing what you were calling the candy cane? Cause, to me it looks like a Blasto

 

[Becky]

Here are a few picks from feeding today...

I've only just seen this - you've got some great shots there! :thumbsup:

 

[flyboywbl]

Tank is almost one year old. I have not lost any fish. I still have the yellow goby, the pigmy wrase and the filefish. I was thinking about adding one more but I can't decide. I only lost a few frags. I added a second power head and that cleaned things up nicely. There are no more detritus pockets.

The dry rock is all covered in coreline algae as well.

 

[Becky]

Your tank is looking beautiful! :thumbsup:

Be sure to check out the Photo of the Month competition - the theme is 'Corals' and the deadline for entries is today! You should definitely enter :D

https://www.livingreefs.com/threads/february-photo-of-the-month-corals.50358/