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Author Topic: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure  (Read 3106 times)

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Offline ghurlag

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Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« on: November 22, 2019, 13:17:55 »
Hi all,

I’ve been lurking off and on all summer and fall, work, life and fishing put the 10g on autopilot for awhile.

I picked up a couple frags from the swap and have started paying more attention to the tank again since it gets dark at noon these days :)

Adding a couple gratuitous pics for interest!





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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2019, 13:27:05 »
Ive had a couple misadventures since setting up the tank this past February.

The first firefish I added died because of an over salinity failure on my part - I knew better but didn’t think to account for evap in my mix barrel.

I then got a second firefish and a skunk cleaner shrimp.  They were perfectly happy for months until the shrimp suddenly died, and I then underfed the firefish and it ended up dying.

Now I have an issue with only orange zoanthids trying to melt in my tank. I seem to be able to keep other colors, but orange are struggling.  I have a colony of rastas mixed with some light purple no names that are loving life right now. But even the orange polyps on that plug seem to have been covered with champ and melted.

Just last night I added some purple and some green zoanthids to see how they do.  I dipped them in Revive prior to adding to the tank, then the crabs swarmed them to get at anything fresh.  The crabs are done with them now so I’m hoping to see them open up - pics with filter if they do!

I knew a small tank would be a challenge, but it magnifies things to a greater degree than my former hubris allowed me to anticipate


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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2019, 15:57:13 »
The new additions


The struggling orange colonies, note one is doing a little better than the other lately



A crab scurried across the Rastas as I was getting my macro and 20k lens on, so no good pics of those (next time).


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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2019, 22:19:17 »
New euphyllia



New spongiodes(?)




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Offline Agame43

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2019, 20:58:46 »

Great looking frags - good looking tank. It was very nice to meet you at the club meeting yesterday.

Cheers
Rick

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2019, 16:18:19 »
Thanks, Rick!  You too!


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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2019, 16:54:47 »
FTS with new firefish.  Corals need fish poop!




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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2019, 11:08:26 »
So, some more minor drama in this little tank.  The firefish I added wasn't outgoing and hid all the time.  Then it just disappeared.  I was able to get it to eat, but as far as I can tell now it's gone, and polyp extension on the stonies has retracted considerably.  Time to do another big WC for sure.  I've had and lost 3 firefish in this tank, so no more of those.  I'm thinking of adding a small clown and swapping it out when it gets too big for the tank's footprint. 

All in all, while it scratches the itch and keeps me busy, a nano of this scale is obviously a lot less forgiving than what someone like me needs.  I just haven't been able to find a balance yet.

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2019, 13:45:58 »
Added a black clown over the weekend.  So far it’s happy and personable.  Will post a pic when I have a chance to get a good one.


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Offline ghurlag

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Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2019, 16:17:40 »
Long-term mixed water storage:

I don’t have any massively cool test kits to confirm, but based on the brown sediment in the bottom of my mixed barrel (55g) I’ve had some things precipitate out.  This might explain the less than stellar reef performance over the past couple months, regardless of water changes. 

I last mixed water long enough ago that I can’t remember, but probably in the  spring.

New plan is to start mixing in 5 gallon buckets as I only change about 5 gallons at a time anyway.

I dumped the last of the water because it just looked awful, and picked up a small container of  Aquaforest sea salt in a pinch from Aquarium Artisans today (their new location is awesome).  Made up new RO/DI and heating up now to mix salt in later this evening and hopefully get a good water change in tomorrow.

I’m hoping this sheds some light in the lack of thrive I’ve been seeing in the tank.  At first I thought it was the lighting so I cut that by 50% and zoas are bouncing back - but montis are fading away still.

I’ll keep developments up to date here.


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« Last Edit: December 21, 2019, 17:26:44 by ghurlag »

Offline dbjonesjr

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2019, 16:19:27 »
What salt have you been using? Also, heating water before mixing can also lead to some precipitation depending on the salt.

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2019, 17:28:33 »
Was using Live Aquaria’s salt.  I think it was the time it sat.  Months and months... also kept a power head running that some have said might not help.

I just needed salt now, but I’ll probably order more Live Aquaria to stick with that


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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2019, 17:48:15 »
Also managed to screw my back up dealing with the water barrel.  Reefing can be dangerous!


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Offline dbjonesjr

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2019, 18:34:30 »
Dang, I like LiveAquaria but it does give me troubles mixing if I preheat the water.

Offline SweetReefOH

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2019, 20:01:01 »
I’ve never had an issue mixing LA, Red Sea or Reef Crystals at water temp of 78. Clear within 10 minutes and no residue. Leave it mixing more than a day and it starts growing slime algae. But I never store saltwater.

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2019, 20:40:46 »
I just did a 5 gallon change on the 10 gallon reef.  Time will tell.  Running a nano has a fun set of challenges, having to scale everything down.  I have at least another year or two before I can finally go big and stretch my legs.

I bought a food grade bucket at Menards this evening and will be using that to mix water just before each water change.  It'd be pretty cool if I could see a turnaround in a few things.  If not, I guess I'll just raise zoanthids in this nano and save the rest for something bigger.

Offline ghurlag

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Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #16 on: December 22, 2019, 12:04:55 »
Because everyone likes pics:




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Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2020, 17:26:39 »
A couple new additions that I got from Lazy’s Coral House last week.  They appear to be thriving in their first week.

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2020, 15:55:46 »
I’ve picked up a few more specimens over the past couple months.  I still haven’t glued anything to rock work, but the tank is looking lively nonetheless.

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #19 on: March 07, 2022, 14:06:28 »
Pic to follow, but I wanted to let everyone know this tank is still up and running - barely.  After moving in to our new house, and obviously moving the tank, things have gone sideways.  I added a new cleanup crew, and shortly after, hair algae broke out, and then dinos, and now, currently, cyano, from what I can tell. 

I've added Brightwell Aquatics Purit, and that seems to be having a positive impact, though I really need to ramp up water changes.  If there's one thing I know from 12 years of reefkeeping, it's that nothing good happens quickly!

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #20 on: March 07, 2022, 14:10:30 »
Here?s how bad it can get.  Crabs, shrimp and fish are doing okay, but corals were choked out and it looks bad?

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2022, 14:09:24 »
I dosed chemiclean and the cyano cleared up for now.  I'm trying to keep this tank up and running for the inverts until ready to transfer them to the Lagoon.  I'd like to get rid of the GHA so the hermits' shells don't carry it over, though they are all clear of any stands of the stuff - I assume there are microscopic bits on the shells that would carry over into the new tank, so I'm constantly coming up with reasons not to move them over for a long while.  If I can beat the GHA though water changes and manual removal I'll feel better about the situation.

You know it's in a bad way when even the GSP gives up!

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2022, 15:36:20 »
The tank has completely crashed.  I have a couple hermits to get out, then will be tearing down for now.  Might do a small FW in this down the road. 

Offline ghurlag

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #23 on: August 21, 2022, 12:03:14 »
Officially tore the tank down today.  It?s gonna take a lot of scrubbing to get it suitable for any more living things.  It was a good experiment.  I learned a lot about my skills, my interest, what not to do on a small tank.  Even more important is to GO SLOWLY.  The tank crashed after adding a new CUC, my assumption being I was sloppy with letting foreign water into the tank.  It had even survived the move to the new house initially?

If anyone is interested in an AI Prime 16HD WiFi that had about 2.5 years on it (never at full blast), shoot me a message and maybe we can work something out.

If anyone might be interested in a super dirty Innovative Marine Nuvo 10, before I clean it out, let me know.

Otherwise these things will just sit.  I have my hands more than full with other projects and hobbies. :)

Thanks for following along!

Offline JSellars

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Re: Ghurlag’s 10g NUVo adventure
« Reply #24 on: August 23, 2022, 10:30:00 »
I have this same tank and it?s setup as freshwater. I love the tank! I?ve been wanting to switch it over to saltwater though. Definitely need a way to do an ATO on it because it evaporates so much water every week! And I need a better light. But for now the freshwater has been working great in it!


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