IM Nuvo 25 Lagoon

[PR_nano]

Hello R2R, starting a new build for a recently acquired IM Nuvo 25 Lagoon. I came across a "Marketplace" listing that was hard to pass. So spent some time this Black Friday weekend picking up the tank and setting it in the garage to do a much-needed deep cleaning. The "Build Thread" will be somewhat slow in the beginning as I figure out things (mostly equipment/fish stocking) but should pick up shortly afterwards.

The main purpose is to have some backup of the corals from my other tank. To setup another tank, let's be honest who doesn't like setting up a new tank. A chance to test out new equipment and see what one can do with a new reef canvas. The wife is also claiming the space where the Nuvo 20 sits for a "Coffee Bar" so we compromised.

The tank this morning in the garage. I have since leveled it and fill it with water and vinegar. I will leave in the garage running overnight and have the vinegar do its magic.



I been reading on different Nuvo 25 lagoon "Build thread" to get some ideas and look at different equipment folks are using. Also watching some YT and looking at Instagram pictures of this tank.

 

[TheNative192]

It is a great tank! Following along!

 

[Sam7]

Nice...cant wait to see what you do with it

 

[Tahoe61]

Awesome that you got one with a stand! I love my IM 25 lagoon. Congratulations.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Fantastic choice for a tank/stand. You are in your way.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love the stand!

 

[PR_nano]

It is a great tank! Following along!

I see you also got the same tank pretty recent with another crazy deal. I will be following your thread as well.

Nice...cant wait to see what you do with it

Same here, let us see how it turns out.

Awesome that you got one with a stand! I love my IM 25 lagoon. Congratulations.

Thanks, I just saw you got the same tank with the Meridian 11 and bot arm. Looks great! btw looking forward to seeing what you do with your Nuvo 25 and will follow your build.

Also came across richmans_reef on Instagram since you mentioned you would have liked to do an X4 in this tank. His reef looks amazing with the X4 but too $$ at least for me. I still haven't decided on light, now leaning towards the ReeFi Uno 2.1.

Fantastic choice for a tank/stand. You are in your way.

The dimensions on this lagoon are great and hard to pass a good deal.

Love the stand!

Same here, the space/nook I have is only 28" wide and was having issue finding a stand that fit the tank. Glad I came across the combo in the marketplace.

 

[PR_nano]

Slow progress but at least got to clean the glass and remove the calcium build up. Vinager + Flipper with Stainless Steel Algae Scraper blade works miracle.



The rear chambers next, hopefully tomorrow.

IceCap K1-nano skimmer (reuse) also needs some soaking/cleaning.



Some wave makers after Sicce Pump cleaner. The Ecotech Wet Frame Assembly look suspicious. May need to replace it.


The plan will be to run a Sicce 1.5 as return (reuse from Nuvo 20) with the VCA random generator (reuse) and a single MP10 (reuse). The tank came with a Sicce .5 which I will use to mix water going forward.

 

[Sam7]

Slow progress but at least got to clean the glass and remove the calcium build up. Vinager + Flipper with Stainless Steel Algae Scraper blade works miracle.



The rear chambers next, hopefully tomorrow.

IceCap K1-nano skimmer (reuse) also needs some soaking/cleaning.



Some wave makers after Sicce Pump cleaner. The Ecotech Wet Frame Assembly look suspicious. May need to replace it.


The plan will be to run a Sicce 1.5 as return (reuse from Nuvo 20) with the VCA random generator (reuse) and a single MP10 (reuse). The tank came with a Sicce .5 which I will use to mix water going forward.

Looking good

 

[Segalplayer]

Hello R2R, starting a new build for a recently acquired IM Nuvo 25 Lagoon. I came across a "Marketplace" listing that was hard to pass. So spent some time this Black Friday weekend picking up the tank and setting it in the garage to do a much-needed deep cleaning. The "Build Thread" will be somewhat slow in the beginning as I figure out things (mostly equipment/fish stocking) but should pick up shortly afterwards.

The main purpose is to have some backup of the corals from my other tank. To setup another tank, let's be honest who doesn't like setting up a new tank. A chance to test out new equipment and see what one can do with a new reef canvas. The wife is also claiming the space where the Nuvo 20 sits for a "Coffee Bar" so we compromised.

The tank this morning in the garage. I have since leveled it and fill it with water and vinegar. I will leave in the garage running overnight and have the vinegar do its magic.



I been reading on different Nuvo 25 lagoon "Build thread" to get some ideas and look at different equipment folks are using. Also watching some YT and looking at Instagram pictures of this tank.

Congrats on the tank and looks great!


Pm if you have any questions etc. I have a 25 lagoon in my tank trio lol. Be careful the love spreads have a tank at work / kids room and living room lol

I run radions on my tanks (XR-15’s) / bubble magus and random flow nozzles / inTank media baskets & fuge one but I use chemipures in it since I don’t think that much Chaeto will really do anything for the tank since it’s on the smaller side.

I have a AquaMaxx HOB for my 25 coming to move the bubble magus over to my drop off tank.

 

[PR_nano]

Slow progress but received a box of goodies last night.



I will be running Tropic Marine Pro salt. I used this salt for over 5 years and like how easy/clean it mixes and the close to natural sea water parameters.

I do plan to use All-for Reef when the times comes. My other tank runs ESV which I have no complain but trying to keep this smaller tank as simple as possible equipment wise. So, the idea of keeping a single doser head is appealing.

Dr Tim one and only for cycling the tank since I have some dry rock. Talking about rocks I pull a box of some mix rock I had laying in around.



I will do a bleach cure on the used dry rock, hopefully start today. That will allow me to do the wash, sun dry and have the rock ready by next weekend to start building. I chisel all these larger rocks into smaller pieces. I might need more rocks, we shall see.

I saved some pictures of aquascape that I liked to get ideas for mine.







Some with corals that I liked

 

[braaap]

If I could find just the stand I would pay a large sum of money. I have the 50. I want a 25 as a frag/growout.

 

[TheNative192]

Slow progress but received a box of goodies last night.



I will be running Tropic Marine Pro salt. I used this salt for over 5 years and like how easy/clean it mixes and the close to natural sea water parameters.

I may try out that salt myself. Right now I have a bag of instant ocean purple that is like half empty but it always shocks me that the Alk is so much higher than the other parameters. I have been using it more often as I did not have an RODI system so I used to buy my RODI & saltwater rather than mixing my own but I have since been using my own saltwater for my 3 small nano tanks.

It seems like the Alk is lower which I kind of like for dosing purposes and have you had good experience with it mixing quickly. Also is there residue left over after it mixes usually?

 

[PR_nano]

Congrats on the tank and looks great!


Pm if you have any questions etc. I have a 25 lagoon in my tank trio lol. Be careful the love spreads have a tank at work / kids room and living room lol

I run radions on my tanks (XR-15’s) / bubble magus and random flow nozzles / inTank media baskets & fuge one but I use chemipures in it since I don’t think that much Chaeto will really do anything for the tank since it’s on the smaller side.

I have a AquaMaxx HOB for my 25 coming to move the bubble magus over to my drop off tank.

I know what you mean with the addiction, lol.

I have the IM refugium led but don’t plan to use it. Looks like the previous owner use one since there is a cut out of the rear vinyl.

A friend runs the Aquamaxx HOB on his IM 50 that skimmer is a beast.

If I could find just the stand I would pay a large sum of money. I have the 50. I want a 25 as a frag/growout.

Agree, I was looking at this tank just the tank and had a hard time finding a nice reasonably priced stand for it. So when the deal showed up I didn’t hesitated to jump on it. Especially when I saw it was white and knowing IM no longer sells it by itself. In a distant future I would like to set up a larger IM next to it, should look great. Best of luck finding one but keep searching, perseverance pays off.

I may try out that salt myself. Right now I have a bag of instant ocean purple that is like half empty but it always shocks me that the Alk is so much higher than the other parameters. I have been using it more often as I did not have an RODI system so I used to buy my RODI & saltwater rather than mixing my own but I have since been using my own saltwater for my 3 small nano tanks.

It seems like the Alk is lower which I kind of like for dosing purposes and have you had good experience with it mixing quickly. Also is there residue left over after it mixes usually?

For sure, it mixes quick and clean no residue. Like you, I had use Instant Ocean since the person who I purchased my first tank from gave me a bag. The issue for me was that it runs high Alk and I was running low nutrient which lead to some burn tips and issue with some corals. So I switched to a lower Alk salt to solve the issue.

 

[PR_nano]

Started to think about stocking for this tank.

I will need to research a lot more as this could become a fight club style tank. The idea will be to have color, movement, and provide a reef environment where they can all coexist.

• Yellow cardinal blenny * 1 - semi aggressive (venom fang)

• Azure damsel * 2 - semi aggressive (one of the most peaceful of the damsel, if that’s a thing)

• Flame Hawkfish *1 - semi aggressive

Let me know what you think, especially if you have experience with any of these fish.

 

[TheNative192]

Started to think about stocking for this tank.

I will need to research a lot more as this could become a fight club style tank. The idea will be to have color, movement, and provide a reef environment where they can all coexist.

• Yellow cardinal blenny * 1 - semi aggressive (venom fang)

• Azure damsel * 2 - semi aggressive (one of the most peaceful of the damsel, if that’s a thing)

• Flame Hawkfish *1 - semi aggressive

Let me know what you think, especially if you have experience with any of these fish.

This list looks good other than 2x Damsel in the same tank. They likely will get very territorial and then harass the others like the Hawkfish who will retaliate. Each fish is different though. The good news is in a lagoon style there is a lot more horizontal space although it would not surprise me if they split the tank and go after anyone including the blenny & Hawkfish if they enter their territory

 

[higher99]

Congrats on the tank and looks great!


Pm if you have any questions etc. I have a 25 lagoon in my tank trio lol. Be careful the love spreads have a tank at work / kids room and living room lol

I run radions on my tanks (XR-15’s) / bubble magus and random flow nozzles / inTank media baskets & fuge one but I use chemipures in it since I don’t think that much Chaeto will really do anything for the tank since it’s on the smaller side.

I have a AquaMaxx HOB for my 25 coming to move the bubble magus over to my drop off tank.

Man I have no livestock in my IM 25 lagoon and I'm already down a few thousand on equipment lol.

 

[TheNative192]

Man I have no livestock in my IM 25 lagoon and I'm already down a few thousand on equipment lol.

Yeah I think without rock, sand, or livestock if I bought everything new my tank would be close to $3k in gear and equipment. That being said I probably spent around 1.8k since I got a lot of deals from Facebook Marketplace of second hand stuff.

 

[PR_nano]

Progress for this build has been slower than anticipated. The wife mentioned it might be due to the Christmas season. We are both due for a mini vacation (looking at 3–4-day cruises).



Tanks still not in place, rockwork is half done, tank is not cycled and @Pieces of the Ocean have some Afterparty Sale. What I do, buy more corals... Now I need to go and clean some frag rack to add to the other tank. This gives me more reasons to get the build going.

Monday is my last day at work until Jan 5, 2026, can't wait!! The plan will be to setup this tank next week and start the cycle. I believe I have everything to finally get this stood up, just need time...

 

[JumboShrimp]

Time for less talk, more action! lol.

You can do it. We're all in your corner.