Coalminer
Non-member
In another thread, someone mentioned doing a build thread for our tank. Since there isn't much building involved here, it is more of a progress thread. I haven't had time to post it yet, but since finals are done, here we go.
I bought the tank off of a guy in Wakefield, MA, who has posted it on Craigslist. I drove down on Labor day and picked it up. The tank had been running for about a year, but the guy was moving back to the West Coast. For $200 I got the tank, pump, sand, water, light, and a couple of rocks. After getting it home, and set up on a very sturdy Target end table, it looked like this:
For anyone who is curious, this is what the back of the Nuvo looks like:
In addition to the rock that came with the tank, you can see a couple of pieces of dried rock that we added right away. I had read up on cycling and thought I had a pretty good grasp on how it works, but what made this different was the fact that this was an already-running "mature" tank, so I wasn't sure how that would affect the setup. Basically I just began checking ammonia and nitrite levels, waiting to see how the sand bed and the couple of pieces of live rock handled the move.
One if the first things we added was an emerald crab. You can also see some brown zoas that came with the live rock piece.
As ammonia and nitrite levels stayed low, we eventually added hermit crabs and a lawnmower blenny. The first blenny committed suicide by jumping out, so we replaced him and bought egg crate at Lowes.
The next step was to build a stand to replace the end table. I built a frame out of 2x4s with legs, encased with 1x8s for trim to dress it up a little. The lip around the top comes up and covers about the bottom ½ inch of the tank, but it’s really secure. Basically we slid the tank into the top and then shifted the whole stand back against the wall. That was really the only way to get it in, since the Nuvo has almost nothing to hold onto other than the bottom.
You can also see the stock light that came with the tank. It was a simple 3 position switch for white, blue, or off. Needed to be upgraded.
My parents were coming to visit at the end of October, so we wanted the tank looking nice. The next step was to purchase about 17 lbs of live rock from Jay’s Aquatics. Ideally, we would have quarantined it first, but we didn’t have anywhere to do that. So after a brief exterior scrub, it went into the tank.
We picked up a few hitchhikers from these, most notably bristle worms and a little bit of aptasia. This photo is a little out of order, but it shows our original rock setup. You can also see the new light bar (http://www.amazon.com/Current-USA-Fixture-Orbit-Marine/dp/B00WFDCL52). This was also bought at Jay's, cheaper than Amazon, by the way.
I bought the tank off of a guy in Wakefield, MA, who has posted it on Craigslist. I drove down on Labor day and picked it up. The tank had been running for about a year, but the guy was moving back to the West Coast. For $200 I got the tank, pump, sand, water, light, and a couple of rocks. After getting it home, and set up on a very sturdy Target end table, it looked like this:
For anyone who is curious, this is what the back of the Nuvo looks like:
In addition to the rock that came with the tank, you can see a couple of pieces of dried rock that we added right away. I had read up on cycling and thought I had a pretty good grasp on how it works, but what made this different was the fact that this was an already-running "mature" tank, so I wasn't sure how that would affect the setup. Basically I just began checking ammonia and nitrite levels, waiting to see how the sand bed and the couple of pieces of live rock handled the move.
One if the first things we added was an emerald crab. You can also see some brown zoas that came with the live rock piece.
As ammonia and nitrite levels stayed low, we eventually added hermit crabs and a lawnmower blenny. The first blenny committed suicide by jumping out, so we replaced him and bought egg crate at Lowes.
The next step was to build a stand to replace the end table. I built a frame out of 2x4s with legs, encased with 1x8s for trim to dress it up a little. The lip around the top comes up and covers about the bottom ½ inch of the tank, but it’s really secure. Basically we slid the tank into the top and then shifted the whole stand back against the wall. That was really the only way to get it in, since the Nuvo has almost nothing to hold onto other than the bottom.
You can also see the stock light that came with the tank. It was a simple 3 position switch for white, blue, or off. Needed to be upgraded.
My parents were coming to visit at the end of October, so we wanted the tank looking nice. The next step was to purchase about 17 lbs of live rock from Jay’s Aquatics. Ideally, we would have quarantined it first, but we didn’t have anywhere to do that. So after a brief exterior scrub, it went into the tank.
We picked up a few hitchhikers from these, most notably bristle worms and a little bit of aptasia. This photo is a little out of order, but it shows our original rock setup. You can also see the new light bar (http://www.amazon.com/Current-USA-Fixture-Orbit-Marine/dp/B00WFDCL52). This was also bought at Jay's, cheaper than Amazon, by the way.
