Another Nuvo 16

Well, I'm gonna go ahead and have some SPS shipped for tomorrow since the Drs have never messed up an order.

I noticed one negative about the mp10 during its short momment in the tank. I couldnt get it quiet by any means! Will it quiet down after some time?

I also noticed that getting a wave requires the pump to be turned up really high before going into pulse mode. There was quite the sand storm going on in there. Is that the only way I'm going to get a wave going in such a small tank?

The reefcrest mode sounds like it would mimic the water movement closest to the ocean but didnt mess with that mode. Wonder if zoos and lps would be able to handle it.

It will ultimately depend on which mode works the best without causing a sand storm.
 
Just finished installing the Tunze ATO unit. That is one simple little unit! I have a salt bucket full of water sitting beside the tank for now. I dont like how it looks but until I can find a stand that I like it will have to do; although, there are two closets that I could use behind the tank.
 
looking good!

Thanks!

Have some new additions coming Tuesday since had to return the original mp10 to Bulk Reef. Oh well. That will give me the weekend to get the new one dialed in and will give me some more time to get the hammer back to the sand bed.

I even ordered a plate monti so hope it does ok without a skimmer.
 
Had something happen that really made me wonder about my tiny snapping shrimp (1/2"). I've never put anything this small into a tank before because I was affraid it would never be seen. Well even this little guy is never seen 100% in the nuvo since he'll only stick his claw out far enough to get some food from his caves when I hold it up to them.

He has built 3 different cave systems in the past week. The most recent one he is staying in was covered up when a snail or urchin knocked the hammer down to the sand bed. The entrance was literally covered/filled in with a lot of sand so I got a little worried about whether he was trapped or not. This was aprox 10-12 hours after his entrance was filled in when I noticed it. Since I was worried about him I removed the sand until I saw a little hole and it wasnt 2 seconds before it was throwing stuff out and coming out farther than I have every seen him come out with the lights on.

Could he have gotten trapped had I not removed the sand? This is a tiny tiny shrimp and had never thought about him getting killed from a cave collapse. He was obviously ready to see some light when I made the opening for sure.
 
Oh, and the new mp10w isnt nearly as loud as the mp10 that I sent back. I've read that some are louder than others so can understand why some people just dont like them at all. I mean the new one's audible sounds are even a completely different frequency as well. Its more of just a slight vibrating sound than a whine like the other.
 
Heres a riddle.

Night before last I brought 5 gallons of mixed saltwater in out of the hot garage way it would cool down to house temperature.

Last night I did the water change. Third water change out of this batch of mixed water.

After the water change was done (aprox. 2.5 gallons) I measured the salinity as I was hooking the ATO back up. It read 1.0205 when it was supposed to be 1.0245.

I read the refractometer in the bathroom.

Went back in the kitchen to mix up some higher salinity water. Raised the tank to 1.021.

Today I got some water into containers to dip the arriving corals and started matching the salinity to the tank.

I got a little water out of the tank and read it at 1.021 in the bathroom.

I still had the water on the refractometer and walked into the kitchen to test the water in the containers and looked through the refractometer before cleaning it off. It read 1.0245 looking through the bay window.

So, went back into the tank room got another sample and read it right there looking towards the tank. It read 1.021.

Walked to the bathroom and it read 1.021 then walked to the kitchen and it read 1.0245

I did the same thing one more time just to confirm what I was seeing. It read two different numbers by almost .004 against different light sources.



What in the world was going on with my refractometer? It is now acting fine and reading correctly in any light.

I tried using water that was 57* to see if mayber the water was changing temps and giving different readings but no it reads the correct salinity no matter what the temp is.

Weird!!!!
 
On another note, I got the corals into the tank. Once I get them in a good location I'll glue them and get some pics.
 
I'm noticing that the mp10 isnt really causing the polyps of the sps on the opposite side of the tank to really move any. Is this because they havent fully extended yet or was I over rating the ability of this little pump? I have it set to short pulse and have the largest wave going that it can make (5/8").

I actually took the koralia nano ph out of the tank since some of the frags where way larger than what the description said they were. I guess that both a good and bad thing. Was looking foward to having a bunch of tiny frags to watch grow but one of them that was supposed to be 2" is well above 4 and has multiple large branches.
 
I'm starting to keep a log of what the elements are doing way can start dosing. Using brightwell solutions, calc two part, mag, and replinish.

What do I do when the calc is needed but alk is reading ok? Just dose the one part? I'm sure it will start changing but not yet.

7/17
Calc-400

7/18
Calc-380-400

7/19
Calc-380
Alk-9.5
Mag-1600 seems high but thats where I was going to try to get it up to-tested twice to make sure

So, I've lost aprox 20 on the calc in right at 48hrs. Should I dose 5ml of the Brightwell? Seems like a lot to dose at once. I was thinking of dosing 3 and 3 spread out over about 8 hours although according to the directions I'll need more than that to get it up to 450 if I understand them correctly.
 
7/20

Cal-380
Alk-9.5
Mag-1600

Cal read the same after 24hrs even though I dosed 5ml of cal. I did not add anything else. Guess I need to up the dose. Will try doing two doses and see what happens.
 
Green Prostrata I guess its doing fine as there arent any noticable polyp extensions though. Not much to look at really.
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German Blue Polyp The polyps are much more blue in person-iphone doesnt do justice
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Peach Branching Monti-4" tall may give some perspective how big this one is. It is also much more colorful I'd say between peach and red
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Digitate Acro- Not really colorful and nowhere near the color of the pic from LA The tips are nice looking but the body is such a dark green that its almost brown. None of the different settings on the Radion throughout the day make it look any better either. It runs 12,14,18, and 20k throughout the day.
http://
 
7/21
Cal-400 raised dose to 5ml and 7ml

7/22
Cal-420 raised dose to 5ml and 10ml
Alk-9 and still not dosing will try to leave it aroun8.5 once it gets there.
Mag-did not test

Wish I could go back and edit posts way could keep all this on one post. Not really much on spreading this out throughout the thread, oh well.

It will still give me something to look back at or give someone else an idea of how much this little nuvo is needing in calcium. I'm quite surprised at how much the 6 sps, hammer, and zoos are sucking up!
 
I guess something was wrong with the prostrata as it RTNed within hours. It never once showed any polyp extension at all. Everything else looks great and seems to be doing fine. Zoos have almost doubled in two weeks, dig acro looks like it is growing, hammer seems to be doing much better so dont know what happened.
 
Well have some crazy growth in under 10 days to show but also think have monti eating nudibranchs.

Heres what I pulled off the peach monti
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Heres 9 days ago

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Now today. There is a LOT of growth for 9 days but as you can see the lack of polyps and the base is fleshy from the parasite. Sorry for the pic but flash shows the lack of polyps and the base the best.
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Heres the Cadmium Pocillopora 9 days ago
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Today although the polyps are closing for the night you can still clearly see the growth.
http://
 
Not much growth on the acro
9 days ago
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Tonight. The base is where I'm noticing the most growth and the brach that sat up against the monti before it was glued is now growing flesh back. It turned solid white after sitting up against the monti over night before I saw what the snail had done. And now the flesh is almost completely covering it.
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Monti plating not much that I can report
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Tonight
http://
 
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