schgr.cube's Innovative Marine 25 Lagoon

[schgr.cube]

Nice rock work!

Thank you! I have made a few small changes since even this post, but I was pretty happy with how it came out!

In other news, Innovative Marine has decided to upgrade my stand for me, so I will be receiving one of their new APS stands this Friday! I will definitely post pictures and a short review once I receive it, so stay tuned.

 

[schgr.cube]

Just got back from a work trip, and decided to take some more shots of the tank now that some of those recent pickups opened while I was gone.

New FTS, September 20th, 2017

My fire shrimp has begun making more of an appearance lately, instead of hiding in his cave all day:

Picked up some GSP from a local, two different kinds! Not sure if I will keep both together, but it does look kind of cool:

The armor of god-ish palys:

Look like blow pops to me, maybe need to color up a bit more:

And my frogspawn has been growing pretty steadily!

 

[schgr.cube]

What could this be?

;Woot

More to come tomorrow!

 

[schgr.cube]

Innovative Marine Nuvo APS Stand review part 1: Assembly and first impressions

The APS stand for the 25 Lagoon also fits the Nuvo 40.

Sorry for the little teaser last night, but I was too excited not to post something. Last week Innovative Marine reached out to me, and offered one of their new APS stands. Although this isn't necessarily a sponsorship or affiliation yet, the basic idea is that I would be given the stand in exchange for an honest review, some decent photos, and of course a little exposure.

For those who haven't heard of it, the Nuvo APS (Aluminum Profile Series) is Innovative Marines new aluminum cabinet stand, which features a series of interlocking extruded "profiles" for a lightweight and sturdy stand. It comes in either black, or a faux wood and black finish.

Completed stand, just a little dirty from the construction experience.

I was a little worried at first, as the huge outer box was somewhat rough looking, but it did the job in protecting the packaging inside. Everything inside the box was wrapped up well, and covered in protective plastic. Also included was the instruction manual, a hex wrench, 4 pre cut feet, and 4 screws to affix the top panel to the frame. The only thing you will need to provide yourself is a phillips head screwdriver.

The lock on one of the profiles in the locked position.

Assembly was easy enough with the instructions provided, although IM does have a video on their YouTube channel if you need further assistance. The biggest issue I faced throughout building the stand came when I went to install the cross braces that run along the top and bottom. They appeared to be a lot bigger than the space they were supposed to fit, so I assumed I would have to spread the "profiles" apart in order to fit them in. The amount of effort it took to spread them far enough made me really nervous, as I thought I might break something, and I stopped two or three times to see if maybe I was sent the wrong parts. I eventually built up the courage to work them in properly, and once I got them in I knew it was fine. Still very nerve wracking.

This picture doesn't really do my struggles any justice, as there is a brace below that is already spreading the profiles apart. There was about a 1" difference prior to this.

All in all, I would say it probably took me 20-25 minutes to put together, with a large portion of that time spent trying to figure out if I was going to break the profiles. I did not need any assistance throughout the process, and the whole stand is light enough to lift very easily. The overall construction is very nice, and the finish is pretty unique looking with the anodized aluminum and gloss black acrylic.

The magnetic pop out doors are also a nice touch.

There are certainly a few cons with this stand, with one of my biggest gripes being in the protective plastic. The whole thing was absolutely covered in various types, and I felt that keeping most of it on throughout building would help things stay scratch free. This came back to haunt me later, as both of the large acrylic pieces in the pre-built sides had plastic running all the under the profiles holding them together. I wouldn't have necessarily thought to take the side pieces apart before building, since they came pre-built, so I ended up having to cut them out after the fact. There are still remnants along the edges that I am just going to ignore.

Torn pieces of plastic covering that I eventually had to cut out.

I will have to post some pictures of it later, as I didn't take any, but there are also some poor cuts on pieces of aluminum that ended up being visible on the final build. The doors also look a bit off, as the corner pieces look like painted plastic, and have a slightly different finish from the aluminum that really makes them stand out. The back of the stand could also use a few small touches, just to increase usability and bring this stand to a whole other level. A 3/4 or 1/2 back panel would be great to mount some electronics to, as right now there are only really the sides and you may not want to do that depending on your situation. I would also love for IM to create some sort of light mounting bar attachment, or even their own light hanging system that you could adapt to whatever light you have. I debating drilling into mine for some piping to run up the back of each side, but will stick to leaving mine mounted to the wall instead.

Switching these out is going to be a huge PITA, but the APS stand definitely looks better than my unfinished DIY stand. Ignore my droopy door.

I am very happy with the stand overall, and any opportunities it has are really mostly quality of life improvements. I am very glad they sent me the black version, as I would had to have a pretty interesting room to pull off their faux wood option. A white version would be great, and somehow finding a way to do a raw aluminum with clear anodization would be prefect for me with my raw metal NanoBox Hybrid! I'll have to post more pictures once I make the switch, and see how I will manage the interior and my cable management. Let me know if you have any questions about anything! Thanks for reading.

 

[schgr.cube]

Innovative Marine Nuvo APS Stand review part 2: Setup with aquarium

I was going to do this part a little more in depth, but I don't really have the equipment that I really want in order to set up the inside properly. I think I have a few upgrades to make before I am going to start laying this out fully. There is likely an Innovative Marine ATO reservoir in my future (not free, unfortunately!) that will be going inside, and I am still debating between a few power management / battery backup options. Either way, here is the tank on the stand:

My cats are never far away, they are always wanting to see what I am doing.

Although I mentioned in the first part of my review that white would be a nice option, I do love how the black of the stand blends into the black on the tank for a nice clean transition. If I were to ever remove the AIO portion of the tank (which is certainly a possibility in the future), I think I would likely prefer white again. Either way, the stand looks super slick, and has a nice blend of modern / classic feel to it with the combination of design and materials. I don't love that I can see through the gap around the doors with my light on, but I don't quite know what I would do to solve that.

Cable management? what the heck is that?

A few people have asked if the inside has any sort of shelf or anything. The short answer is no, and I do find that somewhat disappointing. While I wish it was at least an option, I am also partially glad that it does not include one. Unless it was height adjustable, and not spanning from front to back, having a built in shelf would certainly limit certain configurations and equipment options. If I were to ever sump this tank, a shelf would only get in the way. I have a few equipment changes coming soon, so I will really wait to figure out how I will mount / route everything after I have made those purchases. I'll try to get updated pictures once that has happened.

Now that the transition to this stand is complete, I can definitely say I am happy with it, and would highly recommend it to anyone with an IM tank. The price tag is probably going to scare a lot of people off, but I would certainly see it as a better investment than any of the particle board stands you will find out there, and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than those.

 

[in2aqua]

Looks sweet! It looks very roomy under there. Out of curiosity is the novo aps decal removable? or could the decal have been made to face the rear if desired?
also from your perspective is it relatively straightforward to add shelving or panels for mounting controllers, powerbars etc?

 

[schgr.cube]

Looks sweet! It looks very roomy under there. Out of curiosity is the novo aps decal removable? or could the decal have been made to face the rear if desired?
also from your perspective is it relatively straightforward to add shelving or panels for mounting controllers, powerbars etc?

Yeah, there is a ton of space! I will have to plan out the best way to manage everything, as I really don't want to drill into anything. I am thinking I will somehow utilize the parts in the aluminum profiles that the locking pieces go into, as I may be able to mount something into it that way. The logo appears to be held on with a stronger double sided tape, but I haven't tried to remove it....yet.

 

[kyleinpdx]

So tell us, how'd you end up moving the tank?

 

[TonapahNorth]

That’s fantastic. Keep this updated. Love the look of the new stand. I’m gonna have to upgrade my 40 stand to this.

 

[schgr.cube]

So tell us, how'd you end up moving the tank?

hah! Just good old fashioned lifting. I was able to slide the entire setup to the right to put the new stand in place and level. I then drained it almost to the halfway point, and a buddy helped me lift it onto the new stand.

 

[schgr.cube]

That’s fantastic. Keep this updated. Love the look of the new stand. I’m gonna have to upgrade my 40 stand to this.

Thanks! I submitted my feedback to IM with a few ideas I have, so we shall see what comes in the future. Definitely post pictures if you do end up grabbing one of these, I'm sure they would love to see it.

 

[schgr.cube]

A few pickups last night:

Godspawn and Jawbreaker mushrooms:

Grafted monti cap:

Free little broken birdsnest:

I forgot I had taken a picture of the Jack-O-Lantern lepto, but this one is better anyway:

 

[Esage]

Beautiful build! Do you have any pics of how you hung the light? How long are you running the T5 bulbs and what bulbs are you using?

 

[schgr.cube]

Beautiful build! Do you have any pics of how you hung the light? How long are you running the T5 bulbs and what bulbs are you using?

Thanks for the kind words! I used speedrail to mount the light, which is an aluminum piping that is commonly used to set up temporary railings / dividers. I got it for free, and it is more than strong enough to hold the light. I will definitely have to paint it better, but I messed up some of the cuts and will have to redo it.

I realized after taking these that I need to level things out a bit!

I am running an ATI Coral+ and an ATI Blue+ for now. I can post the settings for anyone who has a NanoBox fixture, but I opted to have my white and mint LEDs on separate channels, so they may not apply to everyone! Light schedule as of 09/26/2017

Light Settings :

Morning - 60% - Royal Blue, Violet, Blue/Cyan 0% - Mint 0% - White ( 45 Minute Ramp, 120 Length, starts at 1:00PM )
Midday - 80% - Royal Blue, Violet, Blue/Cyan 30% - Mint 0% - White ( 60 Minute Ramp )
Evening - 80% - Royal Blue, Violet, Blue/Cyan 0% - Mint 0% - White ( 60 Minute Ramp, 120 Length )
Night - 0.3% Royal Blue 0% all other channels (Starts at 11:00PM)

T5s come on at 4PM and go off at 7PM

Overall Length - Ten Hours

 

[Steven Garland]

So you run no violet/blue/cyan at all huh ?! Any particular reason ? Its Reefkid from NR btw lol

 

[schgr.cube]

So you run no violet/blue/cyan at all huh ?! Any particular reason ? Its Reefkid from NR btw lol

Oh hey! Fancy seeing you here.

It's the opposite actually, I run mostly violet / blue / cyan, no white at all, and a little mint. The percentage is in front of the color in that chart (I just copied daves color chart).

 

[Steven Garland]

I definitely read that wrong lol.

I have been a memeber for awhile,just never posted antthing. The nano crowd isn't huge here. But figured I'd post my new setup here too.

 

[schgr.cube]

Lots of new SPS, current FTS:

I am going to do a little test run of taking out a rock to drill for frag plugs tonight, so my tank should get cleaned up a little bit.

Here are a few of todays pickups:

Walt Disney Acro:

Forest Fire Digi:

Hawkins Echinata:

Bad picture with a birdsnest in front, but Sunset Milli:

Bonsai:

Another bad picture, Meteor Shower Cyphastrea that was attached to the Bonsai plug:

The guy I bought from also had a bunch of nano conches, but only two that he was able to find to give me. Not sure where the other is, but one immediately got to work. I'll definitely have to get more soon!

Enjoy!

 

[Steven Garland]

Good score on all the sps,that Mille looks super happy.

I was at one of my lfs's yesterday and they had so many nice cheap $10-$20 sps that I want to put in the sps pico.

 

[schgr.cube]

Good score on all the sps,that Mille looks super happy.

I was at one of my lfs's yesterday and they had so many nice cheap $10-$20 sps that I want to put in the sps pico.

Thanks, yeah I was pretty happy. I only paid $120 for all of it too, which is pretty amazing.

Thats awesome, I can't wait to see the progress on the SPS pico.