5 month update and lessons learned...

Hi guys,

It's been five months since I set up my Innovative Marine Nuvo 38 gal. aquarium and wanted to share some updates. Everything has gone ok, but I have learned a thing or two the hard way. First off, this is a pic of my setup:



I have managed to get my hands on some corals. To be honest, I don´t remember all of their names. Here are a few:

Pulsing Xenia:



Hammer:



Green Star Polyp:



Some kind of Zoanthids:



Red mushroom (with some kind of clavularia growing beside it):



Papaya Clavularia (spreading fast):



Unknown mushroom, unknown coral and (closed) sun coral:



Lessons learned:

1.- Do not add a six line wrasse as your first fish. Mine has become extremely aggressive and has already killed a goby which was added last. It took one hour for the wrasse to kill him by beating the goby up.

2.- Scrape coralline algae from power heads before it completely covers the water intakes and cause malfunction.

3.- Don't get hermits. They mess everything up. Before I glued all my corals to the rock work, I had to rearrange everything on a daily basis. Also, they like to move into snail houses. Snails are not asked nicely for this.

4.- Don't get a sun coral if you are not up to it. I have to feed each polyp every three or so day. PITA.

5.- Lastly, and I know I'm going to get flamed for this one, do not trust every LFS employee. I was sold a very cool "pygmy angel" which turned out to be a mimic tang. Tank extremely small for him. Doing good, eating and pooping a lot, growing fast, but seems to be getting more nervous and jumpy every day. Looking to re-house ASAP.



Due to the six line issues I have, I'm afraid of adding any more fish. If someone has a good idea for an extra fish, I would appreciate it.

Anyways, it has been a very fun journey so far!

 

I had to learn each and everyone one of those lessons as well, it took me more than 5 months.

Hermits are monsters. Six-lines wrasses in nanos are monsters, I do not have the commitment to keep a Sun Coral.

Clowns, Royal Grammas, Fire Fish, a lot different gobies, just to not get a sleeper goby. Pigmy wrasses are supposed to be passive.

The unknown mushroom is a Rhodactis aka hairy mushroom, the soft coral looks like Capnella sp. or Nephthea.

I have been in this hobby a long long time and I still have my duh moments and frequently.

Your tank looks absolutely fabulous. And I mean it.

 

I agree! the tank looks fabulous! I've made so many mistakes over the years - too many to count. That you learn from the lesson is the important thing!

 

+1 on IDs, I would even feed the sun coral more frequently than every 3 days.

I love six lines, but as you stated they are just too aggressive in nano tanks, and anything bigger they just are too small.

I think a real dwarf angel would be a nice addition.

 

Good job, nice write up, and....................

IMHO- your tank should have no more then 4 swimming fish, including Gobies, etc.

 

we have all been there, nice setup! iv personally never tried it but i hear people have had success capturing 6 lines with a trap. might want to research that further. they can indeed be monsters in small systems and not only....

 

Beautiful!

 

I have a nice big home for it if youre willing to ship to Akron Ohio.

 

Also very nice tank @ 5 months