Nuvo20 Update

[DaveZ]

Updated picture of the Nuvo 20 today. I know a few of you have gotten to see this in person when coming over to get coral or berghie’s but figured I’d share with the group.  

For those who say you cannot have an awesome mixed reef nano tank with tons of acros, I beg to differ. Tank is going on 6 years old and been through lots of different iteration of corals kept but going strong as a solid sps dominated mixed reef.

I’m open for any questions people might have on the system but here are a few key points to the system and philosophy: 

1. Keep nano tanks simple. The only mechanical filtration on this tank is using two chemi-pure blue nano packs. Just water, sand, rock, lights, flow, heater & cooling fan. No controllers, just using a simple wifi controlled power strip (6 wifi, 6 always on). Using ESV B-ionic for 2 part. Consistent water changes ever week to 2 weeks.

2. Patience is key. There’s a reason why those who hit 5+ years in the hobby say this over and over. This tank does not look like this over night. You measure tank success by 3 month, 6 month and yearly intervals. This shouldn’t be a week by week hobby. 

3. (nano tank specific) Don’t have many fish. If you want a jam packed acro nano, you cannot have fish pooping all over the place and sky high nutrients. Nutrient control is the most challenging aspect of a nano in general. If you want acros in a nano, give up having many fish. Just 3 small fish in here: clown, Starcki damsel, small Mandarin Goby. 

[Abarger16]

Keeping coming back and looking at this beautiful tank. Would you mind doing a mini build thread on this? Or if you have a link to a thread that would be nice!

[DaveZ]

38 minutes ago, Abarger16 said:

Keeping coming back and looking at this beautiful tank. Would you mind doing a mini build thread on this? Or if you have a link to a thread that would be nice!

Thanks @Abarger16! It’s been a long process. Wish I would have vloged the process but it was my first tank I ever setup. 
 

I am personally not a huge fan of build threads as it just takes so much time to write out for what feels like little amount of information shared. 
 

not sure if we are allowed to upload videos on the forum but I’m always open to making a video walkthrough talking about the system. What would be the main things you’d want to know about it?

[Abarger16]

I suppose im looking for a more in depth look at the equipment side.

[DaveZ]

Sure thing. I can always do a video showcasing more in-depth aspects. But here’s a quick rundown:

Lighting: Nanobox Quad LED (discontinued), AliExpress PopularGrow LED strip (custom spectrum of my own design I worked with the manufacturer). 
 

Pumps: 2 powerhead wavemakers - Jebao SLW 10 (always on 100%) and a Jebao SLW20 (pulse mode 75%). Return pump is a basic Sicce Syncra 1.5. 
 

Heater: Ehiem set to 80° but master controlled by standard Inkbird set to 79°. Also a simple triple aquarium cooling fan from Amazon. 

Dosing: 2 Kamoer X1s using ESV B-ionic. 
 

If there are real specifics you or anyone else would want to know about, I’d love to hear what you’re hoping to see. Or specifics you would like to get my ideas on. I like talking and discussing more than writing so making videos would always be preferable medium to share. Plus I have always liked seeing real proof of the tank than someone just getting one good picture of it when it’s at its peak. 

[Emerald525]

Nice write up Dave and I can attest that his systems and coral look spectacular!

You have any tips in regards to annoyance algae and problems with cyano or dinos? 
 

 

[DaveZ]

Thank Kim! Algae and Dino’s are an interesting aspect because I measure it against time and effort it takes to deal with vs the ideal span of the system running. So although I can for sure see people’s frustration with it, if it’s a system I plan on having for 10+ years, a 3 month algae battle is relatively small time. A couple weeks for Dino’s is for sure frustrating but keeping it in perspective of longevity of the system is helpful. 
 

Full transparency I have only dealt with Dino’s once in over 9 systems I’ve setup. And advice from both Jeff and Bryan at reef box helped me: you need more nutrient balance. So Jeff said to do phyto dosing and Bryan said to add more fish. I did both without changing any maintenance routine and Dino’s was gone in a few days. I will always try natural remedies before chemical (with the only exception being cyano and chemi-clean). 
 

Algae’s, I’ve seen Brightwell Microbacter Clean work wonders. I usually give the system a month to see if it will work its way out. Just be really good about maintenance in that time. But if it doesn’t have change, I start doing recommended dosing of Clean and I’ve seen it yet cleaned up great. Granted in new systems (under 6 months old), I don’t stress about any algae. Getting algae is a natural part of the tank settling in. I’ll manually remove it with water changes but not stress on it much. 
 

The two things that the Nuvo has that I can never seem to get rid of and have had to learn to live with: bubble algae and diatoms. I hate bubble algae but nothing works for me and I’ve tried it all. So I just manually remove when it starts encroaching on coral. Eventually there will hopefully be zero visible rock showing so no room for the bubble algae to take hold. Diatoms on the sand, I just don’t know. It comes and goes all the time. I’ve never been a great at keeping a pristine sand bed. So there’s always room for everyone to learn and grow. 👍

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, DaveZ said:

... Diatoms on the sand, I just don’t know. It comes and goes all the time. I’ve never been a great at keeping a pristine sand bed. So there’s always room for everyone to learn and grow. 👍

Have you put put this sand layer of diatoms through a microscope yet?   In my Dino-Journey, I beat the non-sand dinos in record time.  It's a different species that lives in the sand, and comes and goes.  I'm still working on them.  

[Eatfrenchfries]

If interested in natural remedies I can offer Thalassiosira W (diatom) to help consume organic waste, silicates, and form aggregate (easier to export) + Purple Non Sulphur Bacteria would act as a probiotic, consume organics, and compete for space on/in the sand bed as it establishes itself. Together it would help balance the diversity of your sand biome. Personally using Thal as a delivery system for PNSB to the sand bed. 

I'm all about biological solutions and trying new things. Happy to send some your way just to see what happens.

 

*also got some ostracods that might help. If you can't force the migration of dinos/diatoms at night then these guys like to do that for you. 

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, Eatfrenchfries said:

*also got some ostracods that might help. If you can't force the migration of dinos/diatoms at night then these guys like to do that for you. 

@Eatfrenchfries How difficult would these be for me to propagate to a volume enough to dose my tank gravel?   Do these grow out the same basic way as other pods, large container - constantly feed green water?

[DaveZ]

2 hours ago, Eatfrenchfries said:

If interested in natural remedies I can offer Thalassiosira W (diatom) to help consume organic waste, silicates, and form aggregate (easier to export) + Purple Non Sulphur Bacteria would act as a probiotic, consume organics, and compete for space on/in the sand bed as it establishes itself. Together it would help balance the diversity of your sand biome. Personally using Thal as a delivery system for PNSB to the sand bed. 

I'm all about biological solutions and trying new things. Happy to send some your way just to see what happens.

 

*also got some ostracods that might help. If you can't force the migration of dinos/diatoms at night then these guys like to do that for you. 

That would be awesome! I mean, I don’t regularly vacuum my sand bed anyways as it’s quite packed with coral. So not being able to really get a good gravel vacc on it is really the challenge. I would need a really small diameter tube in order to get to the sand, but then dealing with too fast of a siphon when it’s too small a diameter and it just ends up sucking up all the sand anyways rather than sifting. 

My process thus far I usually replace portions of the sandbed every 6 months. I just suck out a whole section (especially where the fish sleep) and replace it with brand new sand in that section. 

I am 95% sure my diatoms are related to fish waste collecting in it. So if there is a better way to outcompete the diatoms naturally, I’m all for it.

I haven’t dealt with Dino’s since my first year of feeding. I tend to keep pretty balanced tanks and have set routines for my systems that I’m pretty consistent with. One of the benefits from working remotely for a tech company and my office is my tank room in the detached garage. So I’m just right there all the time to be able to perform the necessary maintenance quickly and efficiently without worrying about rogue spills, so I go fast. 
 

I am not into the biology aspect and the microfauna is a whole new world for me. So I’m always open to learning more and getting some of these cultures to see how this can help improve upon an already solid foundation.  

[Eatfrenchfries]

@obrien.david.j to culture marine ostracods would be rather intensive but would functionally be the same as copepods. Primarily benthic creatures that inhabit surfaces with free swimming naupli. It would require lots of surface area with phyto + detritus deposits. They love to eat bacteria + algae.

-it is possible to collect natural sea water to isolate ostracods. They do rather well in jarrariums after other critters die out.

-can be quite prolific in a reef tank.

-no personal luck maintaining them in density outside of a reef tank. Haven't had time to develop the local PNW species and the original seed from Florida always dies out in isolated culture after a couple weeks. Unsure if cultured bacteria additives help but natural seawater does. 

Culturing any of the vernal varieties for live freshwater food is quite easy and a unique expierence. 

 

@DaveZ Amphipods are suckers for diatoms but can be really annoying if allowed to reach swarm status. They also contribute to detritus. (I call them the bane of berghia breeders)

Curious if your diatom + bubble algae issue are related to leaching from dissolved organic matter in the sand bed. Getting your hands on a vortex would be nice.  Always nice to see how nature fills the void.

[obrien.david.j]

@Eatfrenchfries - Okay, No Culture Attempts!  

BTW - I can attest, Amphipods make Berghia ineffective.   In all my old Aptasia infestations, I just used Berghia.  In my last round (long thread posted on this site), I bought a BUNCH of berghia and they just DIDN'T WORK.   So I went back to the original literature and found a reference to killing all your amphipods (and shrimp) in your system, before using them.      

Of course, I'd subscribed to "pod of the month club" from https://floridapets.com/, and had been adding a bags of pods for months.     (And thus, I had to figure out how to get peppermint shrimp to clean my aptasia.)

[DaveZ]

2 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

@Eatfrenchfries - Okay, No Culture Attempts!  

BTW - I can attest, Amphipods make Berghia ineffective.   In all my old Aptasia infestations, I just used Berghia.  In my last round (long thread posted on this site), I bought a BUNCH of berghia and they just DIDN'T WORK.   So I went back to the original literature and found a reference to killing all your amphipods (and shrimp) in your system, before using them.      

Of course, I'd subscribed to "pod of the month club" from https://floridapets.com/, and had been adding a bags of pods for months.     (And thus, I had to figure out how to get peppermint shrimp to clean my aptasia.)

Interesting as I farm Berghia and have no issues using them in this very tank. They are not as fast at taking them down but this tank also has heavy flow. 
 

The amphipods will for sure eat all the Berghie egg clutches. So you’ll likely not raise berghies in a tank with tons of pods as the eggs will be eaten. 
 

My farm for Berghia have a zero pod setup. Everything other than Berghia that goes into the tank gets massive freshwater dips to kill everything…but the aiptasia, nothing kills those.