Ghurlag's IM Nuvo 25 Lagoon

[ghurlag]

Hi, all! Spanning the past 12 years, this is my fourth reef tank. I'm coming off a crashed IM Nuvo 10 reef that didn't do so well with the move to the new house last summer.

But I digress...

Over the course of a month or so, I put together all the kit for this build, and it's currently cycling with two Ocellaris Clowns, Dr. Tim's One and Only, and a daily capful of Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7.

I opted for 2 AI Hydra 32HDs so I can run them as low or as high as is necessary and get the coverage I need. It may well turn out to be overkill. Time will tell! I'm also running an MP10 with an anemone protector, as I plan on maintaining a RBTA (selling off clones as it splits).

At the time I was putting things together, the CHEAPEST I could find the IM stand was approaching $600 (BRS has it for $424, free shipping again, but by the time it was back in stock, I'd gone another direction)! So it was DIY at a cost, including a new cordless drill, of ~$175.

First pic on the stand:

And finally taking on water! As you can tell, even through cloudy water, I'm going with Marco rock. This will be my second time starting a tank with dry rock, so I've had to throw out all I know about cycling with live rock, and take it slowly.

If anyone is interested in the stand build specs, let me know. I couldn't find anything anywhere, so had to attack it from scratch. I don't have it skinned as yet, but that's a future consideration. Where I have it sitting, your eyes naturally go to the tank, even without any color in the water column, yet, so it's of little urgency.

I have a Seneye on order, as well as a Hannah checker for Nitrate, both to keep an eye on the cycle, and overall general health of the tank - plus, the Seneye can operate as a PAR meter (allegedly), so it will aid in getting the lights dialed in, hopefully. In fact, there's a good chance the package is waiting for me at home right now . I'm leaning heavily toward also obtaining a phosphate checker for the long term.

I don't want to leave out that I have a 75 GPD 5 stage RO/DI for water, and am currently using Fritz RPM (blue box). I added the clowns from my crashed 10 gallon on Sunday, 3/12, and so far so good, as far as their behavior and eating. There remain a dozen or so hermits, and a coral banded shrimp, to come over to the new tank, but the 10 gallon is holding for now, and I want to get a good month on the cycle before I add anything else to the bioload.

 

[Peace River]

Thanks for sharing! It looks like you are off to a great start with this new adventure!!!

 

[jordan10]

Hi, all! Spanning the past 12 years, this is my fourth reef tank. I'm coming off a crashed IM Nuvo 10 reef that didn't do so well with the move to the new house last summer.

But I digress...

Over the course of a month or so, I put together all the kit for this build, and it's currently cycling with two Ocellaris Clowns, Dr. Tim's One and Only, and a daily capful of Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7.

I opted for 2 AI Hydra 32HDs so I can run them as low or as high as is necessary and get the coverage I need. It may well turn out to be overkill. Time will tell! I'm also running an MP10 with an anemone protector, as I plan on maintaining a RBTA (selling off clones as it splits).

At the time I was putting things together, the CHEAPEST I could find the IM stand was approaching $600 (BRS has it for $424, free shipping again, but by the time it was back in stock, I'd gone another direction)! So it was DIY at a cost, including a new cordless drill, of ~$175.

First pic on the stand:

And finally taking on water! As you can tell, even through cloudy water, I'm going with Marco rock. This will be my second time starting a tank with dry rock, so I've had to throw out all I know about cycling with live rock, and take it slowly.

If anyone is interested in the stand build specs, let me know. I couldn't find anything anywhere, so had to attack it from scratch. I don't have it skinned as yet, but that's a future consideration. Where I have it sitting, your eyes naturally go to the tank, even without any color in the water column, yet, so it's of little urgency.

I have a Seneye on order, as well as a Hannah checker for Nitrate, both to keep an eye on the cycle, and overall general health of the tank - plus, the Seneye can operate as a PAR meter (allegedly), so it will aid in getting the lights dialed in, hopefully. In fact, there's a good chance the package is waiting for me at home right now . I'm leaning heavily toward also obtaining a phosphate checker for the long term.

I don't want to leave out that I have a 75 GPD 5 stage RO/DI for water, and am currently using Fritz RPM (blue box). I added the clowns from my crashed 10 gallon on Sunday, 3/12, and so far so good, as far as their behavior and eating. There remain a dozen or so hermits, and a coral banded shrimp, to come over to the new tank, but the 10 gallon is holding for now, and I want to get a good month on the cycle before I add anything else to the bioload.

Looks great man I have always been interested in the innovative Marine all-in-one systems.

And nice work on the stand. And you could always get some cheap paneling for the front and sides. Build a shelf or two and make the front removable or put some hinges on it. Best luck to ya

And I think you could spread your lights a little further apart give a little room between them

 

[cconnolly]

Love the stand you built. Looks awesome!

 

[ghurlag]

Thanks, all!

The clowns seem to be doing all right. From my Salifert test kit it looks like total ammonia is at 0.25 mg/L about a week in.

As far as distance between the lights…. I’d like them further apart but that then interferes with the secondary chambers in the back, so I’m still considering where I can improve.

 

[happyhourhero]

Nice start! Don’t forget to watch/dose phosphates.

 

[TomC_Philly]

Looking good. I just ordered an IM 25 lagoon and feel the same about stand prices. Planned on building stand today but work had other thoughts. A few questions/thoughts. I plan to attach the main support legs to the longer (length) sections of top/bottom; your main support legs are attached to shorter (width) sections, any reason from a structural standpoint?

For the top piece of plywood, I plan on having a 1/4" or 1/2 lip.

What paint did you use? I understand there is marine paint on the market but I have not gotten that far in my planning.

Also, food for thought, I plan on using luan panels connected by french cleats on the front and sides, probably adding fish themed drawer pulls/handles. The panels would be easily removed for ease of access and 1/4" or 1/2" lip would provide a smoother look.

 

[ghurlag]

Looking good. I just ordered an IM 25 lagoon and feel the same about stand prices. Planned on building stand today but work had other thoughts. A few questions/thoughts. I plan to attach the main support legs to the longer (length) sections of top/bottom; your main support legs are attached to shorter (width) sections, any reason from a structural standpoint?

For the top piece of plywood, I plan on having a 1/4" or 1/2 lip.

What paint did you use? I understand there is marine paint on the market but I have not gotten that far in my planning.

Also, food for thought, I plan on using luan panels connected by french cleats on the front and sides, probably adding fish themed drawer pulls/handles. The panels would be easily removed for ease of access and 1/4" or 1/2" lip would provide a smoother look.

The reason the uprights are oriented that way is because the wife said . I think on a footprint this size it’s basically 6 of 1, half dozen of the other.
Having a lip is good. If you cut 24”x20” you effectively get 1/4” all around, which is what I ended up with.
We just used regular spray paint for now, since it’s not enclosed.
I’ll look into the luan and French cleats to see if I might want to do similar. I have an ATO reservoir that will sit in the bottom of the stand, so not sure if I’ll do a shelf or anything, though that might help brace against sheering.

 

[ghurlag]

I got my Seneye hooked up and monitoring pH and NH3 (ammonia). When I tested with my Salifert kit I got somewhere below .25 total ammonia yesterday. As you can see by the pic below NH3 is negligible.

I also tested nitrate with my Hanna checker and got 9ppm. I’m going to test with the Salifert kit again and see if I get a lower total number with that. If so, I?d be willing to call the nitrogen cycle effectively complete, so I can start moving over hermits and my coral banded shrimp.

 

[Luna Lagoona]

Nice stuff! You should do par tests with the seneye when you can!

I agree on prices of the stands. It's wild. They would be wise to lower them just got the smaller tanks in their series and then when people upgrade they might actually be likely to consider them.

You likely don't need to worry yet but later on I'd look to mount your lights with a much space between them as you can. You've got 4 light pucks so the middle will have a lot of overlap.

I know I'm loving my Lagoon and (other than how cramped the back chambers are) I'm sure you will too!

Good luck!

 

[ghurlag]

Nice stuff! You should do par tests with the seneye when you can!

I agree on prices of the stands. It's wild. They would be wise to lower them just got the smaller tanks in their series and then when people upgrade they might actually be likely to consider them.

You likely don't need to worry yet but later on I'd look to mount your lights with a much space between them as you can. You've got 4 light pucks so the middle will have a lot of overlap.

I know I'm loving my Lagoon and (other than how cramped the back chambers are) I'm sure you will too!

Good luck!

Yeah, I'm not super happy with how close the lights are right now, but I'm not sure how to get them further apart with how I'm going to be utilizing the back chambers... time will tell!

 

[ghurlag]

Just a quick update. 5 gallon water change a few days ago and the clowns continue to do their thing. I also installed an ATO with a 5 gallon reservoir to aid in stability and convenience (I can't believe in 12 years I've continually done this manually - and poorly if I'm honest).

I'm due for some more testing, and my phosphate checker has arrived as well, so we'll see how that goes here soon.

Seneye measurements seem to be stable:
- NH3 continually at 0.001ppm
- NH4 starting to come down from 20+ ppb down to low 17s ppb.
- pH is at 8, give or take.

Again, I need to test with Salifert for Ammonia, and Hanna for Nitrate and Phosphate, just to keep a baseline on file and see where I need to go from here.

Since I'm starting with dry rock, in spite of live sand, starting with Dr Tim's One and Only, and dosing a capful of Microbacter7 daily for first 2 weeks, I'm going to perform an extended "cycle" to allow the biome to get established before I turn the lights on. Meaning about 4 months of only ambient lighting.

I also had a bottle of purple coralline algae from Algae Barn arrive yesterday. Haven't added it yet, but will do so by this weekend.

I'll try to get another pic or 2 posted soon for interest!

 

[ghurlag]

Proof of life

added the Purple Helix coralline algae in a bottle yesterday. Come on purple stuff!

 

[ghurlag]

Total Ammonia on Salifert is showing <0.15 ppm
Hanna colorimeter results:
Nitrate: 8.8
Phosphate: 0.02

Nitrate seems a little high for what little I’m feeding, but a test of my well water shows little to no nitrate, so I guess I’ll keep an eye on it.

attached a top-down shot for those interested. Plenty of swimming room for the inhabitants.

 

[ghurlag]

Just wanted to provide an update for anyone following along. I didn't test this past weekend, and didn't do a water change. I have water mixed, but have been busy... ugh, so it begins already. To be fair, very little bioload and the fish are looking pretty good. Still holding out for Purple Helix coralline algae to actually take effect over the next few months and start coating the rocks.

According to the Seneye:
pH has stabilized at 8.3
NH3 is at 0.001 ppm
NH4 is below 10 ppb

---
On another note, my 10g was treated a week and a half ago with chemiclean to address cyano. I followed directions and it worked! Now I just have to get control of the GHA that's wreaking havoc. I still have all my hermits and my coral banded shrimp in there, since there's nothing for them to eat in the 25g yet - and I most certainly don't want them bringing problems from that tank over on their shells. So I'll keep that tank up and keep working on it for as long as it needs.

 

[ghurlag]

So I'm a few weeks behind on water changes ALREADY. We were out of town last week, and this week has been full of work stuff and house stuff. And with the weather finally turning, I have 4 acres that I have to mow this weekend!

It looks like at least the early part of summer will be busy enough to pull my attention away from the tank, so it's good I had planned on an extended "cycle" to allow the biome to mature.

I'm also checking with some other hobbyists on what equipment they use to get their killer macro shots so I can provide some better eye candy (we all love eye candy, don't we?) I have an older Nikon D3100 (I think that's the model), but it's still adequate. I just need to spend the money on a good macro lens probably.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[ghurlag]

 

[Luna Lagoona]

Proof of life

added the Purple Helix coralline algae in a bottle yesterday. Come on purple stuff!

Yeah I'm still trying to boost my coraline algea too! I got scrapings from my LFS not too long ago and added them in plus I use red sea's Coralline Gro as my main all supplement right now and I'm finally starting to see it popping up all over.

Be patient though it can take months to even get as much growth as in the pic below and you need an alk of around 8.2+

 

[eluna89]

What filtration you have in the back?

 

[ghurlag]

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated! Still no coralline algae, but I have diatoms! I ordered from ReefCleaners.org and everything arrived today. Within minutes of being introduced to the tank most of the new crew is already active. Here’s a bad pic of them racing to the top of the front glass