Getting back into hobby with Nuvo Fusion 10g

[K-Dubbs]

Been busy lately so haven't done much testing, but I've continued to dose and things seem to be running well. I went through a small outbreak of cloudy water and what I think is white hair algae, the cloudy water went away after about 48 hours abut there is still some algae in the tank

Current tests:
Temp: 80
pH: 8.16
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 75

At this point I'm about 12 days into the cycle. Will update next time I get a chance, also some pics as best i could get of what I believe to be the white hair algae:

 

[K-Dubbs]

Parameter update:

Temp: 80
pH: 8.10
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10

Going to do a water change today. Do another dose of the Ammonium Chloride and do more tests the next two days, but it is looking like my cycle is coming to an end. Hopefully I will be adding livestock soon!

 

[illest]

Thoughts on livestock:

Contemplating a pistol shrimp/goby combo, they were really fun to watch in my last tank and having them in here would be nice.

I am still thinking of going with a cool colored pair of clownfish. I really like the snowflake/black ice or gladiator colorations of clowns.

If I do get clowns, what is everyone's opinions on anemones for them?
Are they too much trouble?
Will they push out all the corals and grow too big?
Am I better off just getting a LPS coral that will act the same way for the clowns?

Mandarin Dragonettes used to be pretty much impossible to keep but my LFS has a few that are eating frozen mysis. Are they possible to keep if that is the case?

Tanks looking good so far! I recently started a new tank, a Nuvo 20.
I had a candy-cane pistol shrimp/black-ray goby combo in my Nuvo 40. The second day The Goby was no where to be found and the pistol shrimp had a huge maze with openings under everyone of my rocks. I never saw the pistol shrimp unless I shined a light into one of the holes. I always heard him though!

For my nuvo 20 I ended up getting a sweet deal ($15) for a Grade A Davinci at petco! This black friday I also picked up a nice $30 snowflake & they get along great!

I contemplated making the tank an anemone/clown only tank but decided I wanted to pack it full of LPS and SPS. I don't really care to mix anemones and other coral after having a large green bubble tip walk all over everything in my Nuvo 40. I've also read too many horror stories of them walking into powerheads!

As for a mandarin I'd say wait until you have a large and healthy population of pods (in 6 months to a year) even if the LFS says its eating frozen.

 

[K-Dubbs]

Thanks illest!

I think I will be skipping the anemone and the mandarin.
I got myself two clowns and a few snails and hermits!
May still add a goby/shrimp combo down the road.
Going to probably find a nice LPS to substitute as an anemone for the clowns. I will just have to keep my eye out!

Here is a few pics of the clowns!

 

[JRR1285]

Very nice clowns.

I will be setting up a new tank myself in a few weeks. I have a Fluval Evo XII on the way. I still have a 40 breeder with quite a bit of coral in it but it's in my basement. I need something on the main floor to look at. That tank has been without fish for about a year now. Hoping to get a clown pair myself.

 

[K-Dubbs]

Very nice clowns.

I will be setting up a new tank myself in a few weeks. I have a Fluval Evo XII on the way. I still have a 40 breeder with quite a bit of coral in it but it's in my basement. I need something on the main floor to look at. That tank has been without fish for about a year now. Hoping to get a clown pair myself.

Awesome! These guys weren't hard to find, I picked them out of a tank with about 40 clowns in it. All different variations of snowflake/picasso.

 

[K-Dubbs]

Tank parameters:
Temp: 80
pH: 8.03
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 25

Going to do another water change in a few days. Possibly add some zoa's or mushrooms if I find something in colors I like. With such a small tank I have to be picky!

I'll also probably pick up a few more test kits. Phosphate, Magnesium, Calcium and alkalinity/hardness.

The clowns are doing well, active and hungry. Right now just feeding with spectrum pellets. Hoping the pellets will help keep the excess waste down, whenever I fed frozen before it always seemed like there was a lot of waste that went into water. Was thinking on sometimes feeding other things, anyone have any suggestions?

Also going to start keeping an eye out for a suitable coral to substitute for an anemone for the clowns. In my previous tank a frogspawn worked well for that, any other suggestions?

 

[JRR1285]

Also going to start keeping an eye out for a suitable coral to substitute for an anemone for the clowns. In my previous tank a frogspawn worked well for that, any other suggestions?

Torch coral. Nice long tentacles like an anemone.

 

[K-Dubbs]

Thanks for the suggestion! Torch corals do look pretty nice. Have to keep my eye out for a nice one.

 

[Maxmax_025]

I agree, nice looking clown fish....

 

[K-Dubbs]

Update on tank parameters:
Temp: 80
pH: 8.2
ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10

Going to do a water change today and then go look at some corals, maybe I will find something I like to add to the tank... probably a softie of some sort, mushroom, zoanthid, etc

 

[danromero87]

Excited to see if you get anything today! Will say with these designer clown fish it difficult to get them to host just about anything. It has been done and I talk to someone that was able to do it, it just took him close to a year. Super bummer because that is exactly what I am looking to do with mine as well. How do you like your skimmer? I know some people say its not needed but honestly I feel like more filtration the better. I am for sure in the market for one.

 

[K-Dubbs]

The skimmer seems to be working nicely, I haven't figured out the perfect sweet spot height for the skimmer cup yet but it is defenitely pulling stuff out of the water! Next time I empty it I can post a pic if you like, as well as what it looks like in the tank. Off to the store!:rollface:

 

[K-Dubbs]

Well I had a successful trip to the store to get a few coral frags, then I came home to a tank which had cooled to 70! I quickly checked that my heater was on, it indeed was on showing that it was set to the 78 degree setting, but it was blinking that it was down at 70 degrees and it was trying to heat up. But the heater itself is cold to the touch.

I threw my backup heater in there and the temp is slowly rising back up. That was scary!

I did some research and apparently this issue has happened before, they solved the issue by unplugging the heater for 30 min to reset it. I will do that and see what happens... but I've already ordered a new heater, I can't trust this one now. Sad because I loved the design.

 

[K-Dubbs]

I unplugged the heater for 30 mins, re-plugged back in and it still isn't heating after 15 minutes, cold to the touch. heating element must have failed. Will be running on my backup heater until the new heater arrives. :mad2:

 

[K-Dubbs]

Temp is back up to normal with the backup heater. :fun5:

New corals I added:
Some neon orange colored zoanthids
Red and green acan
Bright green rhodactis mushroom
Orange and purple colored Leptastrea (this is a coral I had never seen/heard of previously)

All are very small frags that I hope will grow out!
I am acclimating them now and will add pictures once i get them in tank and they have opened up.

 

[K-Dubbs]

 

[K-Dubbs]

best i could get for now
don't have a good angle on the acans, will show when i can

 

[ssick92]

Got a recent full tank shot?