Super noob Nuvo 40 build

[AK707]

Well its been almost a year since i purchased my first house so i figure its time i scratch this itch. On friday i pulled the trigger and ordered an Innovative marine nuvo 40 "starter kit" from BRS and today it was delivered. The starter kit comes with the tank, 2 heaters, power head, 40lbs of live sand, 40lbs of reef saver rock, a magnetic tank cleaner, refractometer, bio spira, dechlorinator, salt and fish food. i also purchased the stand, hydra 26 led light, light mount, an ATO, 3lbs on live fuji rock and 3lbs of tonga shelf rock

 

[AK707]

I'm hoping i got the image hosting figured out...lets see

 

[AK707]

i was up till 4am this morning stacking rocks, at first i was super discouraged but after a few hours i was on to somthin..
heres my first attempt, looking back now its not as bad as i originally thought.

second attempt looks like crap

so i busted out a hammer and chizzle, started all over and I'm pretty sure this is my final answer, i been looking at it all day and i don't hate it yet

all thats left is to cut a few inches of the back of the big rocks on left with a hack saw and hopefully remember how i had them when i transfer em to my tank, for the most part its pretty sturdy but i going to epoxy a few of em together to make it more solid

 

[AK707]

i went and bought 40 gallons of ro/di water today and started mixing it all up waiting for the stand to be delivered so i couple put this baby together and get the cycle going but of course the stand shows up and its damaged and some key hardware is missing. its the gloss black stand for this tank from innovative marine. I will say the stand looks good but i feel like i was putting together a piece of ikea furniture. I guess i was expecting more for the $300 price tag, at least i only had 3 pieces together when i realized a couple were damaged and some hardware was missing. For the record BRS packaged it very well, I'm pretty sure it was damaged because the way innovative marine packaged it....uuuugh now i gotta wait a few more days

 

[falcona2552]

Rockscape looks really nice, smart to epoxy a few to keep them nice and sturdy

 

[chammergren]

I am looking forward to following your build! I have been thinking of getting a NUVO Fusion 40 sometime early next year as well. Keep us updated as you progress!

 

[AK707]

quick update, brs is sending out a new stand today replace the one damaged during shipping. i got about 6 lbs of fiji dry rock and tonga shelf im gonna clean off with acid some time today so it should be good to go by the time the new stand arrives. im so anxious to get this thing cycling

 

[AK707]

well i did the whole acid thing, it went well. im happy i decided to do that as there was a lot more dry organic material on that 6lbs of rock than i initially thought. I feel my tank would have taken much longer to cycle with all that left on the rocks.
yesterday i spent more $$, go figure and bought a BRS RO/DI system, one of those long python hose things you hook up to your sink to do water changes, a media basket, and a red sea marine care test kit which tests ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph and alkalinity.
lol im already about 60% over my original budget...FML

 

[Tooboot]

regarding your rockscape:

keep in mind that you will want your rocks to sit on the bottom of the tank (or on egg crate at the bottom of your tank) rather than on the sand bed, in case something burrows in the sand and topples the rocks.
I am raising this because your little passthroughs at the bottom may end up getting filled up with sand. you could consider the aquascape you ended up with and simply add some larger rocks at the bottom as a base.

 

[Tooboot]

well i did the whole acid thing, it went well. im happy i decided to do that as there was a lot more dry organic material on that 6lbs of rock than i initially thought. I feel my tank would have taken much longer to cycle with all that left on the rocks.
yesterday i spent more $$, go figure and bought a BRS RO/DI system, one of those long python hose things you hook up to your sink to do water changes, a media basket, and a red sea marine care test kit which tests ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph and alkalinity.
lol im already about 60% over my original budget...FML[/QUOTE

we are all in the same boat. I had bought my tank and stand used, great deal at 80$, but then came all of the add ons I needed (protein skimmer, power heads, return pump, lights.....) I first thought I could get up and running for under $500 with some DIY, I am at close to double my original cost planning (that is with building my own lights and ATO, and a used DIY sump). enjoy the hobby, it will all be worth it in the end (hopefully since I don't have fish in yet either, hopefully this weekend).

 

[AK707]

ive been slacking on keeping this thread updated.
im on the 12th day of my cycle, its very close my ammonia has been at zero since the 3-4th day my nitrites have been going down past couple days as well its at 0.01 now, nitrates been steady at 15ish since day 3-4.
i ordered heaters, air stones, prazipro, formaline ms and prime the other day so once all that gets here ill go to LFS and get a tail spot blenny and purple firefish and put them through TTM by the time thats done my tank will be ready for them.

heres the latest pic of the tank, i think im going to take that shelf rock on the top right out its making too much shade, i think i want to cover that whole rock on the right with various zoas

 

[AK707]

so far everything is going smooth. my tank is just about cycled. i haven't tested anything in a few days. i figured since its so close i can go buy a couple fish and by the time ttm is done the tank will be ready for a water change and fish.
i got 2 little clowns from the LFS and they are 36h into TTM and both seem happy and healthy. They have been eating pellet food and frozen mysis shrimp the whole time. They both came from the same tank at LFS along with about 15 other clown in the same tank. they seem to be getting along very well, they swim together and 1 chases the other around every now and again, I've actually seen one of them do the little twitch submission thing a couple times already. I can't wait to get them into my main tank so there is actually something to look at other than rocks haha. My GF named them Fred and Wilma lol