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Jumping in Again

Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
I figured it was time to get salty again. Back in 10/2020 my wife and I decided that there wasn't enough turmoil in our lives so we moved across country to NJ. Unfortunately I haven't had a saltwater tank since. Before our move I broke down and sold the vast majority of the equipment that I had so I decided that I would set up my little IM Nuvo 10 now to get back into the swing of things before I set up my larger tanks again (plus now I need to re-purchase everything). It's nothing super special but it is nice to have even a small tank to look at.

I went a bit against the mold and used the basic black aquarium sand since that is what I had on hand and I like the look of it. I ordered a few small softy colonies (regular mushrooms, Ricordea, and GSP) to get a little color in the tank and will be adding to it as time goes on.

Here's a super basic rundown of what I currently have:
  • IM Nuvo 10
  • Radion XR15 G3
  • Small hydor powerhead
Again, it's super simple and basic but it's enough to get me started and maybe grow a few things out a little before I start setting up my larger tanks. My ultimate goal is to do some finishing on my basement and then set up my 3x 120g tanks into a single system and use my Nuvo 10 & Nuvo 40 as small frag/qt tanks. This will definitely take some time but that means I'm not going to rush it and set it up hastily (or so I tell myself).

Now for the meh picture.


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M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Welcome to NJ and back to the hobby. The only real knock on the black sand is it has iron in it which can stick to magnets and scrape your glass IF you are using a magnetized scraper. In a nano like that, you won't have that issue so enjoy the sand, I have always like the look of it.
 
Mark_C

Mark_C

Staff member
Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
Moderator
Welcome! Thats a great small tank, had one a while back and wish I kept it.
200 lbs of dry rock sounds about right for a 10g.
 
Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
Mark_C said:
Welcome! Thats a great small tank, had one a while back and wish I kept it.
200 lbs of dry rock sounds about right for a 10g.
Click to expand...
It's a fun little tank. I've used it for all sorts of setups in the past. It even did well at raising some tadpoles
 
Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
Today I upgraded the return pump to a Sicce Nova and it's so much better. It's set at 1/2 power and still allowed me to pull the powerhead out which I'm thrilled about.

I got a few pieces of the rock cleaned off and put in the tank so now everything is trying to settle into its new home. The GSP still hasn't really opened so I'm hoping it relaxes a bit now that I'm done making changes for the time being.

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I started filling up one of my other tanks to get the rest of the rock cycled and ready for when my larger tanks are ready. I still have to add a little water but currently all the rock in there is submerged so it's good for now.

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Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
I added a bicolor blenny, a cleaner shrimp, 10 small blue legged hermits, and two small bits of pulsing xenia to the tank today. I also received the two hammers I ordered. Six of the heads on the bicolor hammer broke off during shipping which I was a little bummed about, but they broke in such a way I was able to stick them into the rock so all is well. They're still angry from shipping and being dipped so I'll give them a couple of days to fully relax.

My GSP was nice and happy until all the hermits and the blenny decended upon it at the same time.

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Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
I noticed today that there wasnt really enough flow in the tank for the euphyllia to move so I put my mp10 on the tank. I set it on reefcrest at 8% power and it's enough to get everything blowing around pretty good without causing problems (except the xenia getting sucked through it but it's, well, xenia). It appears that everything is starting to open up more with the higher flow so I'm happy about that.

Now for the problem I have with the tank... I want bigger. I'm seriously considering moving the stuff over to my 40g in the next couple of weeks. As much as I want to move it all right now I don't want to make so many changes at the same time that I crash everything.

Now a legit question, is there an easy way to secure some loose mushrooms to a rock?

Here's a picture of my puppy since the tank looks the same as yesterday.

20230902_222946.jpg
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Getting mushrooms to attatch is always a waiting game. There are mushroom "traps" that people sell that is essentially a box with the mushroom and some rubble in there and hopefully the mushroom attatches to a rock that you can then glue to a frag plug. You can DIY it with just about any container that you can put rubble on the bottom and have the mushroom in there not getting blown around by flow or disturbed from tank mates.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
mnat said:
Getting mushrooms to attatch is always a waiting game. There are mushroom "traps" that people sell that is essentially a box with the mushroom and some rubble in there and hopefully the mushroom attatches to a rock that you can then glue to a frag plug. You can DIY it with just about any container that you can put rubble on the bottom and have the mushroom in there not getting blown around by flow or disturbed from tank mates.
Click to expand...
I have also heard of people placing the mushroom on top of a frag plug and then tie it all together with mesh. They take the mesh off once mushrooms attaches; not sure how long this takes.
 
Squirrel

Squirrel

NJRC Member
mnat said:
Getting mushrooms to attatch is always a waiting game. There are mushroom "traps" that people sell that is essentially a box with the mushroom and some rubble in there and hopefully the mushroom attatches to a rock that you can then glue to a frag plug. You can DIY it with just about any container that you can put rubble on the bottom and have the mushroom in there not getting blown around by flow or disturbed from tank mates.
Click to expand...

MadReefer said:
I have also heard of people placing the mushroom on top of a frag plug and then tie it all together with mesh. They take the mesh off once mushrooms attaches; not sure how long this takes.
Click to expand...

In true forum user fashion I asked the question first then did the research. I saw both of these as well as a few instances of people saying to sew it onto a pice of rubble (pierce the foot with a needle/thread, legit sew it on) but knowing how big a PITA mushroom can be I'm not sure how effective that is.

I have a bunch of seedling cups from my planted tank that I can put it in with some rubble and then mesh over the top. Hopefully that'll work.
 
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