Eddie79's 16g Nuvo

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Eddie79

Premium member
Hello everyone. I am 100% new to this. I purchased a Nuvo 16 last week and set it up this weekend. I got live rock, live sand and 20 gallons of water from Xzotic Aquatic World (a place someone mentioned on here) on Saturday. Btw, they had Nuvo 16 gallons with the lights on sale for $195 each, I paid more than that just for my tank with no lights from Marine Depot. My mistake I guess. I set it up with the heater on one side and Chemi Pure Elite on the other side. I was wondering how long I should let the tank cycle before I put anything else into it (there were a few snails and a small crab that were in the live rock). I'm trying to determine what I should add and when. I'm looking to have 2 to 3 fish (maybe a pair of clowns and a goby) and some soft coral. Any advice/guidance you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I tried to upload a photo of it but I couldn't figure it out. Would like some advice on aquascaping so I can grow soft coral and have it look ok.

Thanks!
 
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Eddie79

Premium member
Oh, one quick question. If I am going to do a 2-3 gallon water change this weekend what is the best way to make the water? I have one extra 5 gallon bucket of RODI that I purchased from Xzotic. Do I need to do anything to the RODI water?
 
jayjigga

jayjigga

Active member
Don't forget you'll need some RODI to top off to compensate for evap. I think most people make their water a day before they want to do the WC.
 
frostyjay1

frostyjay1

Active member
We kinda need the pics to help with the scape suggestion. Lol, for the cycle you need to watch the parameters for a while and make sure you get the ammonia spike then it drops to 0. Or go get some Dr Tims and have it ready in a few hours.

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Herbie

Herbie

Banned
Don't run your chemipure until you have stock in the tank or you're just muting your cycle. Even though everything you got was "live", some is going to die off in the transport and moving of the rocks. You need to let that stuff die off and test for a spike of ammonia that will move through your system. It's good that you have critters on your LR (live rock), because you'll have something to watch while you wait for your cycle (read read read, about the nitrogen cycle). Put up some pics of your scape, and then read more. You could probably put clowns in there today, but you and your guests will be much better served if you wait for the cycle to occur.

To upload a photo either use [\img] around a photo link (.jpeg file). Or go to community and create an album here for uploading. Emisis did a tutorial on that I think or you can find more info in the photography section. Good luck and read more and remember that only terrible things happen fast in this hobby and with 16g, you don't have a lot of room for diluting mistakes. Read more. π

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Herbie

Herbie

Banned
Not really much of a science to that brother. 5g of rodi in a bucket add approximately 2.5 cups salt (every brand is different) then drop in a small pump and a heater and wait until it's nice and clear to use it. If you don't have a refractometer you'll want to get one before you try making salt water (I make 1.026 SW for my WCs). Check out bulkreefsupply.com for nice instructional videos. Marinedepot.com is good too and Aquacave.com is in gurnee and has will call. Don't let any one LFS get their hooks in you until you are better equipped to translate between their desire to sell and your desire to succeed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
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Eddie79

Premium member
Hey everyone, I was looking at my tank last night and there is a ton of stuff on my live rock. Can anyone tell me what these are and if they are good or bad.

Thanks

1. Not sure what these are but there are aobut 5 of them (are they good or bad)
View attachment 16983

2. One rock is covered in these. It looks like cob webs
View attachment 16984
 
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Eddie79

Premium member
Here are the rest. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

3. This is about the size of a grape and just sitting on the live rock. It looks like it has a hole at the top
View attachment 16985

4. This looks like piece of cotton and is about the size of a marble
View attachment 16986

5. I think I've seen this before and it's called afeather duster. There are a ton of these in the rock.
View attachment 16987

If you could tell me what each number is and if it is good or bad for my tank I would really appreciate the help.

I want to keep the tank healthy considering I got it up and running three days ago.

Thank you all.
 
Herbie

Herbie

Banned
1. aiptasia. a pest that will sting coral. definitely want to get a handle on those. google search is your friend. I doubt the world needs another thread about handling them. LOL.
2,3 and 4. I believe that is a cryptic sponge and a feather duster on the left.

Cryptic sponges are great filter feeders in our tanks but they grow in dark areas and are a great example of why we wait for the cycle. If you simply added a bunch of stock it would have to suffer through the die-off and roting of that sponge. That sponge was happy in the place where you got the rocks, but it will die now because it won't tolerate light (hence "cryptic"). Simply turning over a rock tends to kill something on either side.

5. yes feather duster. good rock (minus the aips).
 
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