JoJo's Office IM Nuvo 40L AIO

[JoJosReef]

Current FTS:

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Finally happening! I am merging my office IM Nuvo 10g and home Fluval Evo 13.5g into a new Office IM Nuvo 40L AIO!

This was a long and hard decision. I waffled between the SR60, the SR80, the 112INT and even the SR120, because I dream of having tangs. And most recently with the massive sale on EXTs, I did an in depth cost/benefit analysis of the 40L EXT. In the end the 40L AIO and the 40L EXT were about the right size for my office and with a budget I could swallow. So why the AIO instead of the EXT? Well, the idea of having sump flexibility really appealed to me, but all things considered, I thought that the AIO had the better safety features with the emergency overflow and pumps within the same circular system--and safety is paramount to me keeping a tank in my office! One major spill, and it will be O-U-T out!


Space reserved for more build details:

• Tank: Innovative Marine Nuvo 40L AIO
• Stand: Innovative Marine black APS stand
• Light: 2x Noopsyche K7 Mini, AI Prime 16HD as third/backup
• Pump: 2x MightyJet 538gph DC return pumps
• Powerhead: Maxspect Jump 2K gyre pump
• ATO: IM TI Hydrofill + 5g carboy
• Skimmer: NuvoSkim mid-size skimmer
• Filtration: IM Custom Caddy w/floss + carbon + phosguard if necssary; Intank floss holder
• Heater/fans: IM Helio 200W titanium heater/controller as primary wih Finnex 300W titanium element + USB fans connected via Inkbird as failsafe
• Rocks: 40lb old school rock from Fiji and Marshall Island (pics below, this stuff is super light and porous, not heavy solid bricks!) to be seeded with rock rubble from Tampa Bay Saltwater (currenty in my IM 10g AIO chambers) + all of the TBS rocks in my Office IM Nuvo 10g
• Sand: Aragonite special grade + seeded with Tampa Bay Saltwater sand from my 10g + seeded with Fiji Mud
• Automation: Reef Factory dosing pump for All-For-Reef; Mini fridge + Reef Factory dosing pumps for Reef Nutrition liquid food; eventually Reef Factory KH Keeper for automated testing/dosing; will eventually move toward a full Reef Factory ecosystem assuming the good reviews keep up--I like the modular, controller-on-phone nature of the ecosystem with all the standalone devices
• RODI system: RODI buddy for now
• Salt: Fritz, will likely start mixing in a 20g Brute can

More details to follow

For now, here is the visual representation of my buid plan:

It will include a mini fridge with dosing pumps for automatic Reef Nutrition liquid food feeding (no more weekend fasting for my fishies/inverts). Will start with dosing AFR, but maybe eventually move on to 2-part. I opted against an AWC system since there is too much risk of overflow in an office setting. If there is a failure in the ATO, it should not be enough to overflow the tank, but if it does, then the overflow will first go into a galvanized steel pan under the tank, which should hold 4 gallons before spilling onto the office carpet. In the future when the budget eases, I will go for a KH Keeper to automate dosing.


And of course, my stocking plan:

Just kidding. Stocking plan is still a work in progress. Currently:

Fish:
Tailspot Blenny
Exquisite Firefish
2x occelaris clowns (currently in Evo)
...
Current wishlist in order of likelihood for addition of 3-4 more fish:
Yasha shrimp goby
2 Banggai Cardinals
Midas blenny
Blue star leopard wrasse
Flameback angel
Sunburst anthias
Horn shark



Crabs/False Crabs:
Spotted anemone crab
Green porcelain crab
Blue porcelain crab (currently in Evo)
Emerald crabs

Shrimp:
2x sexy shrimp
Randall's pistol shrimp (currently in Evo)
Skunk cleaner shrimp (currently in Evo)

Nems:
Black Widow BTA
Rainbow BTA (currently in a cup in my Evo)
Acid wash green BTA
7x RFAs, likely more
Maxi Minis

Coral (almost all of these are already in tanks):
Zoas galore
Hammer
Octospawn
Torch
Lots of gorgonians
Branching GSP
GSP island
Candy Cane
Duncan
Monti setosa
Monti cap orange
Mint potato chip pavona
Green branching psammacora
Birdsnest (teal and neon green)
Peach monti digitata
Milka stylophora
Xmas favia
Scoly
Trachy
Fungia plate
Rhodactis mushrooms
Ricordea FL mushroom
Alveopora
Isolated pulsing Xenia
Blasto wells
Blasto merl
Acans
...
hoping to get more meat corals, maybe a bubble coral, fox coral and any pretty impulse buys!

Macros (most already have):
Gracilaria hayi
Codium
Botrycladia
Dragon's breath (on the lookout)
Gracilaria
Halymeda monile/incrassata
Caulerpa prolifera
Cryptonemia crenulata

Sponges/tunicates:
Hitchhikers from TBS rocks
Would like to order some sponges from GCE or RUSalty, definitely some colorful ball sponges and finger sponges

Clams (will get once I add a Kessil A180we with 30degree reflector):
Derasa or squamosa
Crocea or Maxima or Noae

CUC (already have):
Tuxedo urchin
Pencil urchin (may be donating this guy)
2x Turbos
Lots of different types of ceriths and LOADs of dwarf ceriths
Different types of nerites, but lots of virgin nerites because they look cool
Dwarf and regular Trochus
Astraeas
2x conches
2x money cowries
Worms, lots of worms, but no bristleworms so far, just peanut worms, spaghetti worms and such.


Enjoy and ask any questions you like! I will try to keep this much more updated with photos and progress!

 

[Fish Styx]

Sounds really well thought out. Looking forward to it coming together.

 

[JoJosReef]

Many thanks to Omar from @Innovative Marine for answering so many questions and going over all of the minutia of their excellent tanks! Top notch!!

 

[Fish Styx]

Many thanks to Omar from @Innovative Marine for answering so many questions and going over all of the minutia of their excellent tanks! Top notch!!

Their customer service is amazing.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The planning for this tank looks good!! I can't wait to see it!

 

[JoJosReef]

The planning for this tank looks good!! I can't wait to see it!

Thanks! Haven't gotten notice of the tank shipping yet, but other equipment is on the way.

Next, ordering dosing pump, mini fridge, salt mix brute can. Also the steel pan and other emergency leak/overflow measures.

Still working out which gyre to get and heater. Other components as well to automate feeding. Lot of prep!

 

[JoJosReef]

More stuff on the way!

 

[JoJosReef]

It's happening!!!

 

[JoJosReef]

Getting some more corals/nems ready for the big tank! This is a new nem sitting in a cup in my Evo. So now I have a black widow in my IM 10g (in a cup) and this "whatever-it's-pretty" nem in my Evo:

Running out of space in these nanos fast!!

Setup starts next week when I get the steel pan to go under the APS stand:

 

[JoJosReef]

Few more items on the way!

I have the Finnext Titanium that will go with the Inkbird, but I am now planning to use the Helio as the primary heater set to 77 degrees with inkbird kicking in at 78 degrees for the fans, and then I will have a low temp of 75 degrees on the Inkbird to turn on the Finnex heater as a backup in case the Helio fails.

The PARwise is so that I don't have to drive half an hour and back to borrow an Apogee every time I need to check PAR, which might be more often now, as I want to dial in the lights better on this tank and eventually get set up for clams.

Next purchase will be the dosers once I decide on Red Sea vs. Reef Factory dosers...

 

[JoJosReef]

Baby steps. Got the stand and tank set up at least! I'm not 100% pleased with the APS stand. The particle board "floor" of the stand is super flimsy, and it is not really set up to maximize the "sitting space" inside the stand. I ended up taking off the bottom magnets that were intruding on the interior of the cabinet and put the wooden shelf on the bottom, because I want to load up heavy stuff like AWC and ATO water and the refrigerator. Thus, I don't have an actual shelf in the cabinet and will likely make one or maybe ask IM for an additional one. I would like a control panel, but I don't know how to make one, so will likely throw everything in there haphazard for a while.

 

[JoJosReef]

Finally have some finalist designs for the aquascape! I'm going with a broken pattern of rock mounds with space for islands. Hoping to attract the BTAs to one side of the tank and keep corals on the other 2/3rds.

Left and center rock mounds. ~1 inch sand bed will be around it.

Space in the 35"x15" display for the current 10g transfer (once I get the bubble algae under control!)

Close up on the left and center rocks. Nice swim-through space above and cave space below.

Close-up on the left rock mound.

Left corner view. Trying to keep about hand width space between rocks and glass. The left side has a more sheer drop-off instead of slope. That side will be the least viewed side.

Top view with a few potential islands.

Top view with a few other potential islands and a few broken branches (maybe line with zoas?):

Some of the extra pieces I have to work with for making islands:

Tomorrow will start cementing pieces together with the coral reef putty!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love the aquascape design!!

 

[JoJosReef]

Love the aquascape design!!

Thanks! Hoping to make a blenny/goby (incl. firefish) paradise--the clowns will have 4 return nozzles to choose from as their "host", so they'll figure themselves out.

 

[JoJosReef]

This just in! Now gotta finish cementing the scape, making water, and rinsing the sand so that I can get this all wet!

 

[On1]

Getting some more corals/nems ready for the big tank! This is a new nem sitting in a cup in my Evo. So now I have a black widow in my IM 10g (in a cup) and this "whatever-it's-pretty" nem in my Evo:
View attachment 3026097

Running out of space in these nanos fast!!

Setup starts next week when I get the steel pan to go under the APS stand:

View attachment 3026102

My friend, excellent documentation for your tank. You must write technical manuals for a living.
I'm going to be copying you all the way.

 

[JoJosReef]

My friend, excellent documentation for your tank. You must write technical manuals for a living.
I'm going to be copying you all the way.

Haha, thank you! I do a lot of grant writing, so maybe that feeds into this. And, I am determined to track progress more on this tank than I did with my nanos (which have a ton of photos and side-posts, but poor build thread updates).

I am currently working on a plan for a super simple "control rack" for the various devices: ATO controller, Heater controller, Pump controllers, etc, plus bricks. Thinking of using a pull-out wire rack with zip ties to keep everything down, as I don't plan to mess with them much and the wire rack might keep things cool.

 

[SnaI1993!]

Hello,

Loving the content so far, I think your initial stocking plan is missing one or two more tangs if I am being honest though.

I am currently starting a build with the same tank as you and trying to keep some costs down by using existing equipment, unfortunately IM doesn't ship to Canada directly so the pricing on their tanks are pretty steep and especially if you factor in the APS stand. Local resellers here tend to sell the glass and stand separate making about a 300-400$ difference in price!

I am wondering if you've managed to get water into the tank yet or are you still working out rockwork?

Would love to hear feedback about your cycle stage and the flow you get from your mightyjet/gyre.

What kind of bed depth are you planning on going for/what kind of sand, do you plan do build your rockwork on-top of egg crate so future goby's don't F*&k stuff up?

Good luck regardless of your plans and hope to see more from you!

 

[JoJosReef]

Hello,

Loving the content so far, I think your initial stocking plan is missing one or two more tangs if I am being honest though.

I am currently starting a build with the same tank as you and trying to keep some costs down by using existing equipment, unfortunately IM doesn't ship to Canada directly so the pricing on their tanks are pretty steep and especially if you factor in the APS stand. Local resellers here tend to sell the glass and stand separate making about a 300-400$ difference in price!

I am wondering if you've managed to get water into the tank yet or are you still working out rockwork?

Would love to hear feedback about your cycle stage and the flow you get from your mightyjet/gyre.

What kind of bed depth are you planning on going for/what kind of sand, do you plan do build your rockwork on-top of egg crate so future goby's don't F*&k stuff up?

Good luck regardless of your plans and hope to see more from you!

Getting wet this week! Last week was in Grand Cayman islands for family vacation and snorkeling.

Will give details on the cycle. Plan is to throw in a bunch of gulf rock rubble that's sitting in my nano AIO "sumps" to seed, add a small bottle of Fritz Turbo Start, and add Fiji Mud to the sand (I'll actually just dirty up all the water with it so any living microfauna gets into the rocks as well). I'm expecting a mini-cycle from this, but not too much. Pods going in on Thursday, so I'll be dumping some dead phyto in to help them populate. Diatoms should come soon thereafter, but by then I'll be adding my CUC (2x conches are going to love it the diatoms).

RE: sand, you'll see from my rocks that they are all raised up a bit from the glass due to multiple points touching the glass, so the sand will only come up about 1-1.5", leaving some natural caves and area to excavate. There will also be a few sizeable islands that the pistol/goby can perhaps use. We'll just have to see!

 

[JoJosReef]

Planning out the "Control Board", haha. I'm not dumping a ton of money into a piece of plywood or plastic with pre-cut holes, so I'm making it work best I can. Here's the idea:

Device controllers and bricks get zip tied to this pull-out basket that will be screwed to the upper shelf. Here's the design so far, to relative scale.

Will use the MightyJets the most, so they'll be in the front, followed by the Gyre. The LED cords/bricks will just come in from the side and be attached to something else on the shelf. Here's hoping it works!