Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion Pro 2 40 AIO Build

randomnerd865 · Dec 9, 2022

A little back story here. My reefing journey started about 6-7 years ago when I got my first apartment by myelf. I had a 5 gallon fluval freshwater tank that I bought and just wasn't pleased. I did A LOT of research and converted it into a marine tank with a modified aqua clear filter/refugium. Let it cycle and added a tiny clown and some xenia. My clown grew and so did my frustration with having a small tank. It was time to upgrade. So I hopped on Craigslist and found a used oceanic biocube 14 and stand for cheap. I transplanted everything from my 5 gallon and it flourished for 2 years. It taught me a lot and I kept upgrading it. Intank media basket, custom LED's into the stock hood, refugium in the back. Corals grew rapidly and my fish were happy. Then the time came for me to move. I broke the tank down, sold/ gave away my livestock, and put everything in dry storage. I just had too much going on. Fast forward a couple of years my new house was built and I was ready to have a tank again. I pulled the biocube out of storage and set everything back up exactly the same. Long story short the tank just never did as well as it once did so I ran it FOLR for another 2 years. My clowns were happy having the tank to themselves, but I was not. It just didn't bring life to my new home. This black Friday I picked up a new Innovative marine nuvo 40 and APS sand on sale from my LFS and got to work transplanting. This was the perfect time to join R2R and share my journey. I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures, but trying to do better!

The transfer went great and I was able to get everything moved over in less that 30 minutes. I started with new live sand, ~15lbs of dry rock + the ~15lbs of established rock from my BioCube. Once the tank was mostly cleared and heated up I transferred my clowns: Trick & Treat purchased on Holloween of 2020. Picture #1 was taken at this point.

william Lutman · Dec 9, 2022

Welcome to R2R

randomnerd865 · Dec 9, 2022

We are now two weeks in and things are looking great! I took advantage of some cyber Monday sales.

I've added:
A tunze 3152 nano ATO. So far very happy with it. Coming from the closed lid biocube I wasn't ready for the amount evaporation this tank had. I was topping off around a half gallon daily so this was a must.

AIPrime 16hd. I chose this light because its so well known and proven. The app is working great and setup was easy. Plus it's easy to add another in the future once the need arises.

Nero 3 Powerhead. It was between this or the MP10. I ultimately chose the Nero 3. #1 being cost #2 it uses the same app as my light. #3 I can mount this cleaner on the back side of the tank and put the magnet inside the filter chamber.

randomnerd865 · Dec 21, 2022

Small update from last week: I've added a jar of pods, some more CUC, and several corals. I think adding some hearty corals at the beginning help to soak up some extra nutrients and out compete some of the ugly algae. Mostly LPS and some GSP to hopefully start climbing up the back wall.

randomnerd865 · Dec 27, 2022

Found a great deal on a second used AI Prime 16hd and mount so I went ahead and snagged it. Also fired up the 3d printer and printed 2 shades to help knock down the glare in my living room. It's working well so far.

tydeck · Dec 28, 2022

Looking like a great start. Will be watching this thread. can’t wait to see it grow

Gumbies R Us · Dec 28, 2022

Great start to your tank, keep it up!!

RobbieMaynard · Jan 2, 2023

Great start! I have same tank and really enjoy it.

DonTavo27 · Jan 2, 2023

You’re off to a great start. The only thing I would point out, you might want to reconsider your top off container, I believe it has to be food grade/bpa free. It might be better to replace it with a regular 10g glass aquarium, or invest in a nice ato container.

reefstarterpack · Jan 2, 2023

Your scape looks good! Welcome to R2R

DonTavo27 said:
You’re off to a great start. The only thing I would point out, you might want to reconsider your top off container, I believe it has to be food grade/bpa free. It might be better to replace it with a regular 10g glass aquarium, or invest in a nice ato container.

I got the IM 5 gallon ATO container and it’s super nice and only $129 bucks.

randomnerd865 · Jan 3, 2023

DonTavo27 said:
You’re off to a great start. The only thing I would point out, you might want to reconsider your top off container, I believe it has to be food grade/bpa free. It might be better to replace it with a regular 10g glass aquarium, or invest in a nice ato container.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have much room inside the stand. I eyed the innovative marine ato container, but I cant justify paying that much when a $5 bucket works just fine. I may pick up a BPA Free food grade bucket in the future. I and many others store saltwater and RO/DI in lowes and home depot buckets without issue though.

randomnerd865 · Jan 3, 2023

reefstarterpack said:
Your scape looks good! Welcome to R2R

I got the IM 5 gallon ATO container and it’s super nice and only $129 bucks.

Thankyou! I'm not very artistic, and I was limited on my scape because half the rock was from my existing Biocube. I just did what I could with what I had.

Maybe the IM ATO container will go on sale one day. I can't justify the price for that thing.

DonTavo27 · Jan 3, 2023

Something like this might work

reefstarterpack · Jan 4, 2023

You can just get a 5 gallon jug on Amazon. This is what I was using before.
5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack with cap https://a.co/d/1ia0FMs

randomnerd865 · Jul 11, 2023

It's been a while since I posted an update. Several months ago I fought a massive algae outbreak. Picture taken at its worst. Manual removal wasn't cutting it so I tried fluxRX. All I can say is wow! What a great product. No coral casualties and the algae is gone.

randomnerd865 · Jul 11, 2023

On top algae outbreak I'm sad to say I lost 2 fish. Before I added the flame hawk I tried a tail spot blenny. He seemed to be doing great and then stopped eating and became lethargic and passed. Then I added the flame hawk. Gorgeous fish and great personality except I later found out he's a little demon. He harassed my clowns for about 2 days until he decided they were tolerable. Which bring us to the next fish I lost. My final fish was going to be a 6 line wrasse for pest control. The flame hawk attacked as soon as I put it in after acclimation and injured it before it could even find a hiding spot. It eventually did find a spot, but the flame hawk was relentless

. I just added 3 blue green chromis as a last ditch effort for some more movement. Luckily the flame hawk completely ignores them and they've been doing good.

Here is the current state. I added a second nero 3 and some more frags. I've got several more frags on the way. Trying to start some SPS at the top of my scape.