George's Atlanta IM Nuvo Peninsula 14g

[Merfin70]

Starting a placeholder as I know I will have questions as it's been 8 years since I started a tank from scratch. My 65g is still running but all it has left in it is rock and a purple dottyback. The former inhabitants have all found much larger homes which is what was needed.

I'd raised a derasa clam that ultimately grew to 16" across and became a complete PIA when he would get po'ed at his positioning and start spewing water 5+' out of the tank to get more comfortable. Very very messy with a shallow tank.

My other giant was a purple carpet anemone that I coached back to health from 2" to nearly 24". He made adding new fish almost impossible as the first instinct always seemed to be to dive right into his loving tentacles.

With the hope of refinishing my wood floors next year, I am breaking it down and downsizing to a more manageable 14g IM Nuvo. Since I'm on vacation this week, I spent some time ordering gear. Hopefully I made wise choices. It's been a while and a lot has changed in 8 years !

Equipment:

Sicce 1.0 Return Pump which has a little more gusto than the stock pump and should be more quiet

AI Prime HD - My first time with LEDs. 65g was T5s

Tunze Nano Osmolator as I hate manual work so an ATO seemed necessary.

Will see how this proceeds once all of the gear arrives in the next week or so.

p.s. - With Photobucket no longer an option, what are folks using for hosting or pic posting these days ?

 

[MK3_LUV]

I use and highly recommend flickr. Best of luck, it looks like you have a good start going, excited to see pictures of the old and new setups

 

[Brett28]

Sounds exciting! I landed a 20g pen. I love it. Keep me tuned in on the ATO. I have seen a few mixed reviews but i think that will be my next add.

 

[Merfin70]

I use and highly recommend flickr. Best of luck, it looks like you have a good start going, excited to see pictures of the old and new setups

Thanks. I was debating between Google Photos and Flickr. Will see which one is the easiest for me to nav now that Photobucket is no longer an option. Which sucks as that had all of the pics of my old tank.

Sounds exciting! I landed a 20g pen. I love it. Keep me tuned in on the ATO. I have seen a few mixed reviews but i think that will be my next add.

Will do. I put in orders for most of my essential gear before I left for Florida so I'm eager to get back and see what shows up in the mail and get started. In the mean time, I built the rock work I want for the new tank and have it sitting in the old tank to get it fully cultured.

Oddly, even though my 65g is still running, I'm super excited to start a new project with entirely new dimensions. Going to 14g is going to have me thinking very differently. Pics to follow soon once I get home.

 

[Reefpuck]

Flickr seems pretty easy to use.

Would love to see pics of that 16" clam!

 

[Merfin70]

Toying around with Flickr so will post 3 old pics I found of my 65g tank that is coming down. The first is my clam about 3 years ago when it spawned the first time. He was about 3" long when I first got him 8 years ago. Spawning went on for about an hour and made everything in the tank go crazy.

The 2nd and 3rd were of the carpet who decided one day to stretch all the way out to grab an adjacent rock full of junk palys , rip them off the rock and eat them. At first I thought he was going after the Roses but he never bothered them though they frequently touched. Never did it again.

Flickr seems pretty easy to use.

Would love to see pics of that 16" clam!

 

[Merfin70]

Back from a quick Florida vacation to lots of tank supplies and gear in boxes. I was able to upgrade the return pump to the Sicce 1.0. Also installed my AI Prime HD and started fooling around with some settings. Slipstream nozzle is also in along with the InTank Media Rack.

Question: should the mounting arm for the Prime go on the inner wall (i.e. in the display tank) or should it be on the outer wall where it's in the AIO sump area?

If i do it on the inner wall, it is more on Center with the display since the tank is a Long peninsula.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zombiereefer84]

Updates???

 

[Merfin70]

Updates???

I'm on a brief pause waiting for some final gear to come in. The pump to my ATO was DOA so a replacement is on the way. I also realized like a spaz that I got the 25w Neo Heater which just isn't cutting it so I had to return that for the 75w that I should have clicked on in the first place. I guess it's a good thing as the new rock is getting some extra soak time in the existing 65 gallon so it should be completely ready to go once the new gear is in. The rock has been in the old tank for over 3 months now waiting to get moved to it's new home.

Hopefully will be able to add some life to the tank in 1-2 weeks. I am SO READY to not be caring for 2 tanks at the same time.

 

[Merfin70]

Been slowly building out the rock scape from pieces of BRS Pukani that have been marinating in my 60gal for the last couple of months. I'm pretty happy with the little shelves and ledges which should do well for coral when I'm ready. Now on the hunt for a possum wrasse as my First Fish.

Wish the iPhone handled white balance better as the pics aren't the best.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Merfin70]

Opinion from the Nano Reef community. I upgraded the stock pump in my IM 14 Peninsula to the Sicce 1.5 which should be around 350 gph. It creates a pretty fast circular flow based on where the return is placed.

Too much or just right in terms of return flow?

 

[E.intheC]

That seems like a lot of flow IMO.. is the tank / overflow section loud? The general rule with tank turnover is 5x - 10x your display volume, so you're easily twice that.

Any way to throttle the pump down w/a valve or adjust the outlet? I know the larger Sicce pumps have a knob that you can turn. Not sure about the smaller models.

Worst case you can buy a smaller pump and use the 1.5 for a water mixing pump.

 

[Merfin70]

That seems like a lot of flow IMO.. is the tank / overflow section loud? The general rule with tank turnover is 5x - 10x your display volume, so you're easily twice that.

Any way to throttle the pump down w/a valve or adjust the outlet? I know the larger Sicce pumps have a knob that you can turn. Not sure about the smaller models.

Worst case you can buy a smaller pump and use the 1.5 for a water mixing pump.

It was a bit of an experiment. I was trying to avoid using a powerhead + return as space is at a premium in the tank and I don't like the aesthetic of stuff in the tank. But pushing it all through the return might not be the answer. I will say the overflow is still pretty quiet and the Sicce is dead silent. It has the same throttle as the larger models so I might tone it down a little. I just hate having to put another powerhead in there.

 

[E.intheC]

I don't blame you for wanting less equipment in the tank. I can relate. If it's working out fine so far, and there's not a lot of noise or excess salt creep, may as well keep the larger pump.

 

[Merfin70]

I don't blame you for wanting less equipment in the tank. I can relate. If it's working out fine so far, and there's not a lot of noise or excess salt creep, may as well keep the larger pump.

I made the swap right before I went on a week long business trip so we'll see what I think when I get back tomorrow night. Only bad effect I noticed before I left was a sand mountain in one corner from the spinstream positioning.

Nice to see you on here still too after I took a hiatus from the forums for a couple of years. You and I used to chat when I lived in N. Babylon.

 

[Merfin70]

Had a rough return from a week in Florida. Came back to find that my heater died somewhere during the week. Not sure how cold the tank got at its worst but it was a shade below 70 degrees yesterday. Unfortunately I seem to have lost my bicolor blenny and my orchid dotty back. The clown and the Hectors Goby have survived. Threw in my spare underpowered heater to at least get things to 74 by morning. The fun of reef keeping.