IM Nuvo 75 EXT

marky · Nov 14, 2022

Believe it or not, I started this journey when my wife came home with a betta in a bowl last July. The kids convinced her to buy one, and she knew she'd need a bigger tank and some decor for the fish, so I went with her to the aquarium store, and we made the mistake of wandering over to the saltwater side.

I started out as most do, thinking of doing this in an economical manner, so I started building a tank stand, and bought a 40 gallon breeder at Petco when they were on sale for cheap. Then I found a 65 gallon Aqueon collecting dust in a fish store. I promptly tried to drill a hole in the 65 for an overflow and after that disaster, I bought this 75 gallon IM Nuvo EXT from BRS. It's all about where you end up.

Anyway, some specifics on this build:
Innovative Marine 75 EXT
29 Gallon Aqueon with Fiji Cube Sump Kit
Bubble Magus Curve 5 Elite Skimmer
Sicce 3.0 and 6.0 SDC Return Pumps (6.0 on return line with Manifold)
Sicce SDC Xstream Powerheads
AI Prime 16HD LED lights
Innovative Marine 400W Helio PTC Smart Heater
IM Aqua Gadget ChaetoMax Refugium Light
2 KASA Smart WiFi Power Strips
5 gallon tank for ATO (ATO currently a poorly functioning used Tunze)

Stand still needs doors but I'm in no rush since for now I'd like to see what's going on down there.

AKG · Nov 14, 2022

Nice setup, I can definitely appreciate the diy tank stand, those take a lot of sweat!

Looking forward to seeing it get fleshed out! The aquascape is nice too.

Gumbies R Us · Dec 21, 2022

Any Updates? Your tank looks great so far!

marky · Dec 22, 2022

Gumbies R Us said:
Any Updates? Your tank looks great so far!

Thanks! Nothing major so far, just going slow now that the tank is cycled. Only new things so far are 2 clowns, a flame hawkfish and some macro algae in the refugium, which I don't have a picture of yet. Skimmer is still overflowing, I went with the Curve 5 Elite and it seems as though the 8-10" water depth is too deep for just starting out, I've got some parts to DIY a skimmer stand this weekend, hopefully that will help.

Not sure what tank mate to get yet. No signs of any algae yet, nor much of a need for a CUC. I'm probably being overly cautious but I'm not in a rush.