Justin's IM Nuvo 30L build

[Fasthandsslowmind]

After a 15 year hiatus I've been pulled back into the hobby. I'd been planning a big expensive peninsula build with a custom integrated pass-through stand - and felt things snowballing quickly.

SOOOO- I took a step back and bought a IM 30L AIO, and dug into researching the build. A lot has changed since I've been away, and the equipment seems much better. Also seems like the basics and biological concepts haven't changed, so what little knowledge I've retained might be useful.

My Build so far:

IM Nuvo Fusion Pro 30L AIO
DIY shelf (semi-floating and supported by braces)
Stock return pump, media insert, sock
1 x Nero 3
2 x Prime 16HD lights
Tunze 3152 ATO
Liferock - around 20 lbs.
Carribsea sand - one bag

I'll be using this thread to seek advice, find my footing again, and show off my failures and successes. Looking forward to it.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Let there be light!

Today - Mounted the lights and did a little cable management.

What's the recommended light program for initial cycling? None?

 

[dphan2007]

loving the tank build brotha

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

This week I added an Intank media basket with a box of Marinepure gems. Pretty sure each or the three chambers is able to hold about 1.5 boxes. Maybe one box each on the IM media tower.

Currently running / planned:

Chamber 1 (from left looking at DT)
Stock media tower with -
Intank floss
Carbon pouch
Coarse GFO pouch - Might change this to add more mediapure gems.
and room for whatever media might be needed on condition (purigen / gfo / phosguard)

Chamber 2
Aquael 150W heater - maybe another fuge if needed

Chamber 3 - return
Stock return pump (MightyJet 538gph)

Chamber 4
Empty (will house Intank Fuge tower with Chaeto once the tank is cycled)
Plan to run an ACKE 12w light attached to the back.

Chamber 5
Intank Media tower with -
Floss
Mediapure gems + 2 balls (plan to add more, and run chaeto in the remaining chamber, adjacent to the fuge tower in chamber 4, if there's enough light.
empty bottom chamber

SO - essentially like the Fuge / Media Heavy diagram below.



I tested my water for the first time after the tank had been circulating for a week (no lights)
-
Ammonia - 0.65-0.75 ppm
Nitrite - 1.0
Nitrite 3.17
Temp 81.0
Salinity 1.025


Would love some setup feedback / advice!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Well, I think I'll add a fish this week. Ammonia has been undetectable for 10 days, nitrates at 5.0 and falling, and stable PH, temp, and salinity. I added two more boxes of Marinepure Gems. I also bought an IM UV sterilizer that fits one of the main compartments, but haven't decided if I should install it now, or wait until my tank is more mature. Kinda leaning towards installing now, I don't think it'd hurt anything. I can move the media to the opposite side and not loose any bio filtration.

Found a bargain on a used Apex EL and installed that - pretty cool - Not $600 cool, but I spent $200 and it's worth that. Next project is researching how to add ALK monitoring to it, if possible. I know ORP is easy to add, but I need to research that, as my understanding of ORP is limited. For now, being able to monitor PH and temp, and having a safe failsafe temp controller with two heaters is really nice.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided I was unhappy with the aquascape and pulled all the rock, took it to the shop, and took a saw to it. Results are pictured and I'm much happier with it now. Not perfect, but someday hopefully it'll all be covered in coral anyway.

I also purchased gear to make a small refugium - An Aquamaxx media reactor that will be filled with chaeto, a Sicce pump, and a small light. I'm going to wait a few more weeks to start that project I think.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking good!!

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Looks great, looking forward to updates!

 

[ThecitydatREEDS]

Looking good! Love the shelf for display. Cool shop also! I will be starting my new tank build with my IM 30L soon as well and will be following yours closely!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Update-

The tank is looking great. I've been out of town for a month or so, but the wife is doing a great job of taking care of the tank. Had a minor Dino outbreak that was quelled with the IM UV sterilizer and dosing Microbactr7. I suspect we've not seen the last of them.

Her friend gave us a few big frogspawn colonies from his tank and they're looking awesome. Only other coral so far is a small acan frag from the LFS (seen below eating a piece of table shrimp while the betta watches jealously. Over the last few weeks we've also added some more CUC and a few fish.

Current stock is:
Small Extreme DaVinci Clown
Small BIOTA Marine Betta
9x blue leg hermits
5x astrea snails
4x small nassarius snails
small Acan frag
3x large frogspawn colonies

Yesterday I installed the media reactor turned refugium. Hope it works, but I suppose if I can't grow Cheato, I can always use it as a media reactor. Time will tell. Knock on wood, everything is going great.

 

[srobertb]

Let there be light!

Today - Mounted the lights and did a little cable management.

What's the recommended light program for initial cycling? None?

Lights off. But what’s the fun in that?

 

[polyppal]

cool setup!

 

[steveschuerger]

Nice! I’m running a IM 30l myself. Upgrade from Biocube 16 . Still pretty new to reefing after having a freshwater Discus setup for a while, but enjoying the xperience.

 

[ReeferJay86]

What schedule are you running on your primes?

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

It's called the "Lower setting Saxby" from a file I snagged on the FB group. Seems to be working fine. I'm keeping the lights pretty mild for now but will start ramping them up a bit soon.

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

UPDATE:

All is well for the young tank. The Dinos haven't reappeared in several weeks. I do have a tiny bit of hair algae clumps in the sand bed, but not enough to bother me.

I purchased a used Neptune Trident. It's been a bit fiddly, but once it's dialed in, hopefully I'll have reliable auto testing. Anything I can do to cut out the manual workload is well worth it. The makeshift refugium seems to be a success story, as it's growing chaeto and I see copepods swimming around in there. Haven't had to harvest any yet, but soon. Hard to quantify what effect it has on my water quality, but it holds a LOT more chaeto than the back chamber would have, had I gone that route. Adds more flow to the tank also. The return line is a little ugly, going into the DT but no biggie. Maybe I'll find a more elegant solution someday.

For the last few weeks, I've been playing around with dosing. My ALK was around 6.6, so I dosed about 5ml per day of Red Sea part B, bringing it up to around 10 in a week, then switched to All For Reef hoping to maintain around 8.5-9.1. I'm doing about 5ml/day and everything is very stable. Trying to bring my Mag up from 1280 so I added 100ml of Red Sea Foundation C to the ATO water. Nitrates today are 2.8, Phosphate 0.07.

I manually dose Microbacter7 every two days, and some Phyto I buy from @Eldredge here on R2R. I think that combination has been hugely responsible for my success (so far) in the battle against Dinos and the ugly phase.

Current stock is:
Small Extreme DaVinci Clown
Small BIOTA Marine Betta - SUCH a cool fish. Beautiful, can watch her all day.
9x blue leg hermits
5x astrea snails
4x small nassarius snails
Acan frag - Growing very fast and spawning several new heads
3x large frogspawn colonies

NEW stock -

- Lemon lime Favia 3 weeks ago, growing quickly. fun to watch it eat reefroids and BS.

- Ricordia mushroom rock - Also doing really well with a big appetite. Eventually figured out there was a massive vermatid snail hitchhiking on the rock. I cut it off after maybe a week in the tank. Fingers crossed that I don't end up with an infestation. Lesson learned on adding a whole rock from the LFS.

- purple / green birdsnest frag - I know, it's too early for SPS, but the LFS gave me this frag really cheap, and it's colorful. I cut off some dead branches, and so far so good. I really just wanted to test the waters for SPS.

It's hard not to just fill the tank with every cool coral I see. I need to slow down and have patience. As always, I'd love some constructive criticism, advice, or comments - (forgive the crappy photos)

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

Making great progress! Honestly don’t see the refugium return line in your pics, but you could possibly try lily glass tubes commonly used in freshwater aquariums as a replacement for the ugly canister filter plastic.

 

[jcolliii]

AFR is a great product, but your Ca and Mg may slowly drift over time. It seems that I have to adjust both once every 1000ml of AFR that I go through. If you dose for ALK, just keep this in mind. My monthly Ca test a few days ago was 390 - just to give you some idea of what you may run into. But, I use the DIY AFR recipe using the separate components and mixing my own. I use a pretty good postage scale for massing out my dry components, so I could be introducing error there. I am sure TM's mixing methods result in a more balanced product - just something to keep in mind though. Looking good!

 

[Fasthandsslowmind]

Yeah, I'm keeping an eye on the balance. I've heard that AFR doesn't do a very good job of changing the alk or calcium levels, but will maintain them once set. I dosed Red Sea Foundation products to get the Alk and Calc where I want them, now switched to AFR to maintain them, hopefully, without buying several dosing pumps. Since my Magnesium wasn't where I wanted it, and I'm using my only dosing pump for AFR, I've added 100mg of Red Sea Magnesium to my 5 gallon ATO container to slowly raise Mag. So far so good, as it's increasing by about 10ppm per day.

 

[misturrtinnie]

Looking good so far, always have loved the 30L dimensions.

 

[ncmonserud]

Do you think the reef roofs helped with the favia growth? How often do you feed them?