Denise's Nuvo Fusion 20 Build

[dmw913]

Good evening all!

I just wanted to share my new build with you to see if I'm missing any major components, or have gone off the boat with the plan. All feedback is welcome.

Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 20 AIO + stand
Lights: Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue on Kessil gooseneck w/ Spectral controller
Skimmer: IM Ghost Desktop
Mechanical: IM Custom Caddies with Chemi Pure Blue and floss
Heater: Transfer from older tank - submersible.
Return pump: crappy one that came with tank. Replacing with Ehiem Compact 1000
Powerhead: Ecotech MP10 on reefcrest mode (lowest setting)
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano (on order)
Supplements: B-Ionic (on order)

Inhabitants: 15 lbs live rock, two tank-raised clowns. Assorted coral / frags from old tank which was broken down to do this build.

Thoughts?

 

[dmw913]

 

[ooja3k]

What's the latest with this build??

 

[dmw913]

Ryan - Thanks for the update request!

I have installed the Tunze ATO. This is a lifesaver!!! I went out of town this weekend and didn't have to impose on mom to fill tank with water. Very handy. As an aside, the skimmer works much more consistently now that the water level doesn't fluctuate as much.

I also coughed up and bought an Apex system. This is partially setup. Everything is plugged in and running off of the Apex but I still need to set up the WXM module (I have to change the MP10 to wireless). I have to admit, it was pretty sweet to turn off pumps to feed coral, something I didn't do back in the day.

I have picked up several nice frags from local club members. In fact, I will have to share some mushrooms fairly soon which is a nice problem to have!

I am now also dosing 5ml per day of B-Ionic and Brightwell's magnesium 2x/week.

I have to re-order my test kit as it leaked during shipping and I can't get a valid reading now. Will post numbers when I have them.

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[dmw913]

I also obviously figured out how to link photos from Photobucket and now to figure out how to adjust their gigantor size.

 

[dmw913]

June 2 Update: After a really smooth start, have hit a couple of snags in the second month of tank but things continue to move along with mostly positives.
1. Mushrooms and zoos appear to stretch for light outside the dead center of the tank. Moved them around to different light levels and they quit stretching somewhat verifying my theory. I was quite frustrated as I like the Kessil 160 and love their controller but it was clear one puck wasn't going to give me a 24" spread even though documentation said otherwise. Toyed around with adding another Kessil (voted no - didn't want total disco ball shimmer from hell). Considered adding XR15Pro and leaving current Kessil on to do experiment on what does better under each light. (voted no - great Youtube project but would look like garbage over the tank). Briefly considered no-name brand hard sold by my LFS. (No - DIY mount was nasty). A chunk of change later, Radion XR30Pro will be here in two days.
2. Cannot, for all that is good and holy, get my nitrates under 4. Best guess is that the IM Ghost Desktop sucks rocks and isn't pulling out enough to help get a sister down into SPS levels. Researched nano skimmers and physically tried Cadlights PS-50 elite. Did not fit. Only skimmer other than the Ghost that will fit appears to be the Eshopps version and it doesn't have any better reviews than the Ghost. Considering upping water change schedule to every 5 days to see if that might help. All other levels are acceptable. Dosing B-Ionic and Brightwell's Mg.
3. Lost first fish. Hector's goby. Do not know whether six line picked on him or he just never ate well so got weak and moved to the great aquarium in the sky. 2 clowns and six line are fat and sassy. Clowns are trying to host in large wellso brain.
4. Fragged my first corals!!! Cut up two pretty ricordea into frags which have healed and been passed on to friends. Also fragged Duncan which was getting too big for it's britches. Also healing nicely.
5. Found hitchhiker frag. Bought shroom frag from local club member and when moving it around something fell off. No worries - rubble. When more blues came on tank pieces of the rubble glowed highlighter yellow. Inspected to find glue on the back of rubble. Clearly a frag that had gotten lost and attached to mushroom rock I purchased. Glued it to proper location and waited. Looks like small piece of very pretty favia so far. Still wildly tiny but polyps are clearly getting bigger.
6. Bought PM2 and salinity probe for Apex. Need to calibrate and attach.
7. Added IM reactor. Now there's a nice nano product! Dead silent, carries a good quantity of media and works well with room to spare. 5 stars.

What am I missing??? Surely, there's something. Pics tomorrow!

 

[rjkrejci]

I also have the Nuvo 20 and really like it!

How often do you change your floss? I ditched floss altogether and just run the skimmer. Use a turkey baster to stir things up every day or 2 (the skimmer head increases, removing some of it), and vacuum the gravel when you do water changes. I'd bet doing all those things will help get your nitrates in control. I also added some Chaeto to one of the overflow chambers with a JBJ nano fuge light and I pull out about 1/2 cup of Chaeto a week. I have a heavy load (jawfish, 2x occ clowns, royal gramma, cherub angel) and my nitrates are 0. I do about 20% water changes weekly. I put some Kalk in my ATO water to keep calc and alk in line. No other dosing.

I tried the ghost skimmer as well and really disliked it. Very noisy and just not that great. I then went with an Aquamaxx HOB-1, which is a great skimmer, but I didn't like the larger bubbles getting sucked into the back chambers. Plus it was still pretty noisy (not quarter as bad as the ghost) and I get nervous hanging stuff off the back for flooding. And being quite oversized, I felt it wasn't as effective as it could be at collecting crud. It tended to accumulate in the neck.

I now have the Cadlights PS-50 elite and absolutely love it. It is as close to silent as any skimmer I've owned and is very effective. You have the mod the bracket to fit in the 2nd chamber, but it's pretty easy:
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/351489-cad-lights-pls-50-elite/#entry4839549

With the hang-on bracket cut off, I had to boost it a few inches to get is working well (so pump bottom to water level is about 5.5 inches), so I put some eggcrate to set it on to boost it a few inches. It does stick up above the tank quite a lot more than the ghost, but it's not nearly as obtrusive as the HOB-1. It pulls more consistent nog than either skimmer ever did.

 

[dmw913]

@rjkrejci, thanks for the fantastic link on the 50 Elite. I'm debating whether or not to pull out the Dremel! I like to buy one used in case I goof it up, but I may just bite the bullet and try the mod.

I change my floss at least twice a week and usually more. I have also set the Apex to run nutrient export every morning right after the light turns on. I'll do baster with my next water change to see how much extra gunk I blow up.

Great suggestions!!!

 

[rjkrejci]

As long as you don't cut into the areas holes circled in green, you should be fine. My cuts were pretty sloppy.

Twice a week should be just fine for floss. It is satisfying to see the crud actually exported when you change. It''s mainly if you leave the floss or sponges in there for weeks that it becomes more of an issue.

Have you tried out your XR30W pro? I'm interested to hear about your impressions vs. the Kessil. Notice any "disco" effect in the tank. I know the radions aren't too bad for that, but was just wondering with such a short distance to the gravel and probably good surface movement with the MP10. THe black gravel would tend to minimize I suppose.

You certainly have a solid setup!!!

 

[dmw913]

@rjkrejci,

Thanks very much for the compliment. I'm limited for space so I wanted to make sure I had good gear to get the very most out of a nano tank. Additionally, I have kept tanks on and off for many years and I nearly always find myself frustrated if I have gear that isn't working well or not the right fit for the job.

Picked up and installed XR30 Pro this evening. Was nervous at first because it has so much more heft both by way of mount and light than the Kessil. Was feeling like I really overdid it. Turned it on and enjoyed the fact that I could probably sun tan under the thing! Hooked it to Apex in about 2 seconds (seriously, the display auto-selected the right config button and I clicked it . . .) and backed down the light to a more reasonable level. Reading up on a light schedule for the tank tonight after the little one goes to bed. Didn't notice any disco ball and the shimmer is subtle compared to the Kessil. I can't tell if I like it better or will miss the sparkle. On the positive side, at very low percentage and in the "deep blue" setting, the neon colors of the corals are more pronounced which is really cool.

Light centered on tank (front/back as well as side/side) at 9" above water surface. Per Ecotech manual, I should have spread of 24-30". More than adequate for my needs.

Tried "lightning" setting. Wow, what a bad idea that was . . . Might be cool for a tank with a canopy, but without it, it just blasted light throughout my room and nearly induced a seizure.

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[rjkrejci]

Very nice! Based on looking at the mesh, looks like coverage is about perfect. Yea, you'll blow everything out of the water if you turn it all the way.

One thing I did which I REALLY like better is to replace the really dense mesh with a fine transparent mesh from BRS (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/clear-netting.html). Let's far more of the light through, and your eyes/camera don't get blasted (nor do you get a lit ceiling). It's pretty easy to replace, just like a screen door. Here's a pic of mine with it replaced:

 

[dcmatranga]

+1 on BRS mesh!

 

[dmw913]

Did you guys use the same frame and just remove the IM plastic and put in the BRS mesh?

 

[rjkrejci]

Yep. Just remove the beading, remove the old, put the new on with the same beading (although the beading got a little beat up) and then trim the new to be neat.

 

[dmw913]

Done deal. Will get it ordered this weekend. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[jaylensdad06]

nice tank

nice tank

Very nice! Based on looking at the mesh, looks like coverage is about perfect. Yea, you'll blow everything out of the water if you turn it all the way.

One thing I did which I REALLY like better is to replace the really dense mesh with a fine transparent mesh from BRS (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/clear-netting.html). Let's far more of the light through, and your eyes/camera don't get blasted (nor do you get a lit ceiling). It's pretty easy to replace, just like a screen door. Here's a pic of mine with it replaced:

this tank is awsome.....

 

[cherubfish pair]

Denise, where's Denephew?

Hahaha I had to do that !!

Coral list?

 

[Michael B]

What a great looking tank!

 

[dmw913]

Ok, update time!

Got Radion XR30Pro setup and things were going fine - see above. It set up to Apex beautifully right out of box and then my dumb *** decided to try to set up an EcoSmart Live acct. to see their pre-programmed spreads. Doing so unlinked my Radion from Apex and it took about 6 solid hours to get it back up. So annoying. Don't try this at home.

Still researching light schedules. Right now I don't go past 14% intensity on my lighting schedule and even at that, some of the zoos are pretty angry. They seemed to be acclimating and the color is really fantastic but wow, that light packs some punch. Most everything else has really flattened out and seems to be enjoying the suntan.

@cherubfish_pair asked about a stock list. Wasn't ignoring you @cherub, I was just waiting until I got my shipment from the Cherry Corals live sale on last Saturday. Current stock is the following:

Fish
Clowns - 1 orange and 1 black tank-raised. Answer to Jeff and Emmett
6 line wrasse - Clark the Shark

Softies
Various ricordea
Vapor trails 2 'shroom from Cherry Corals
Red discoma
various zoos
Pinky Way palys

LPS
Neon green candycane
Wellso brain
Duncan
Chalice
Various blastos
Various acans (getting my first babies on my favorite one!!!) I think acan lords are my new favorite LPS
Hitchhiker frag still to small to identify

SPS

hydnophora
chalice (include the other one here as the first chalice is clearly LPS and this one seems much more SPS and I understand the are often categorized as both depending on what kind of chalice). This one isn't doing well. Tank is likely too young and I'm a dipshit.

Hardware Update

Have had a couple of issues with Tunze ATO - once it didn't shut off until it's timer was triggered and then didn't turn on when it was supposed to - I think the turning on issue was Apex-related though. Otherwise, continues to function as it should.

Looking for used/cheap Cad Lights 50 Elite skimmer. I understand it can be modded to fit in my tank but I want to buy one used in case I screw up the cuts and ruin the unit. Still using Ghost desktop - the bane of my existence.

Replaced media in IM reactor. Love that thing. So easy to use and to change media.

Hooked up PM2 module and need to second temp probe to get best possible calibration. Nice to see salinity in the Apex window.

Maintenance

Battling a little bit of diatoms. Not surprising in such a young tank but I don't like them. Thoughts on how to deal or just wait it out? No other algae to speak of in any way whatsoever.

10% water change every week

filter floss changed at least twice per week at both overflows

dosing 5ml of B-Ionic 2 part daily and Brightwell's mg 1 time per week.

I'll post an updated pic tonight when I get home.

Thanks for your continued interest!

 

[ReefWreak]

Love the tank. I'm sure the dinos will eventually go away as the tank matures. Just takes time and skimming+water changes. All about that nutrient export.

I'm curious as to what Chalice is considered an SPS? The only thing I can think of is something like a cyphastrea? They're beautiful corals that sometimes have smaller polyps or larger polyps, but usually don't have any thick flesh like a chalice would have. Dunno, curious as to what it ends up being