IM nuvo fusion mini 50 show build (or trying to at least lol)

[hugo franco]

hey guys here trying to build a show quality tank out of this IM nuvo fusion 50.

i started out in with fresh water fish tank when i was younger (about 15 years ago now)and it was very successful...as time went on tho i grew bored of the fresh water hobby and just ended up giving everything away to a friend (it was a parrot fish tank and a few discus communal fish's with fresh water plants/log aquascape)

fast forward a few years and now that technology has gotten way better i thought to myself why not jump into salt water fish tank and really challenge myself...but i just dont want any live stock in this tank...

my goal is to have a show caliber tank with nothing but expensive/rare coral/livestock.
(mostly sps/lps but its going to be a mixed reef)

so i watched millions hours of youtubes videos/REEF2REEF lurking and....

4-18-2018: took me a long time to finally choose a all in one tank and my LFS had 1 in stock so i picked it up and brought it home

Items Purchased:
- IM nuvo fusion 50 AIO with stand

4-19-2018: i went back to my LFS and i got cycled live rock and RO/DI salt water and started aquascaping and putting in all the sand/water.(this is the first set up but i end up changing it a few times as you'll c in the build) so i started the cycling process.
Items Purchased :
- 2x 20lbs Carib sea fiji pink
-40lbs of live rock
-50 gallons of pre mixed salt water
- Instant Ocean Bio- Spira live bacteria
- Dr Timms One and Only

 

[hugo franco]

4-20-2018: Went back to my LFS to purchase all my filtration needs (it came with 2 filter socks but i didn't think that would be enough filtration for my tank so i bought a few other things to help out.)
Theres 4 chambers in the back so i put the skimmer on the far right chamber and tok out a filter sock, (i have the chamber open on the right side im not sure what else i want to put in there just yet)
On the left side i left the sock there and i added the Chemi Pure inside the sock to help get out anything from the water and make it clear, in the other chamber i decided to make it into a Refugium.
I also ordered the Refugium Starter Pack from algae barn
Items Purchased :
- Chemi-Pure Blue nano(heard great things about it)
- Marine Pure Biofilter Media
- Tunze 9004 Skimmer
- IM Chaeto Max Refugium LED
-Algae barn refium starter pack

4-23-2018: Went back to my LFS and i saw that he had a yellow tang and i couldnt help but take him home (DONT JUDGE ME PLEASE LOL )
he was a very skinny shy little guy i felt so bad for him in there i fedlt like i had to take him home and help him ....ATM i dont have a quarantine tank but my LFS runs copper in there system and i asked them to feed him before i went home so i could watch his appetite...he ate great and swam fine and visually he looked good so i brought him home...fresh water dipped him and put him in my DT.

4-28-2018: 5 days have passed since getting the tang...aside from being shy hes doing great but hes hiding a lot behind the rocks and seem to make himself a little hole/home
went back to my LFS that day and i purchased a light.
Items Purchased:
-Kessil 360 WE Tuna Blue
-Kessil Gooseneck

 

[lbacha]

What type of corals do you plan on keeping

 

[hugo franco]

4-30-2018: after visiting a lot of my LFS for my coral selection......it just wasn't what i was lookingfor....and after researching i decided to work with 1 coral supplier to help stock my tank and i selected Unique Coral since ive heard nothing but good things and there selection is AMAZING... so i picked 2 items...after dipping them i put them in my DT
Items Purchased:
-Unique Coral - Toxic Green Wall Hammer coral
- Uunique Coral - Red Mint Blastomussa

5-1-2018: My refugium Starter Pack from Algae Barn finally came in. (i didn't take any pictures on the inside of the box sadly)
so i set it up that day in the 2nd left chamber next to the filter sock...and i added the biopellets at the bottom of the refugium.

5-2-2018: went back to my LFS( at this point we know each other on a first name basis LOL) and i decided to pick up a power head to get some more water flowing thrue out the tank.
Items Purchased:
-Vortech Quietdrive MP10

 

[hugo franco]

What type of corals do you plan on keeping

its a mixed reef tank but going to be SPS/LPS dominant

 

[hugo franco]

5-4-2018: so i know i said i was only going to do a Unique Coral only tank...but i found a coral place about 10 minutes from my house so i stopped by to check it out.
the place was called Two Guys Corals nice place with a huge selection but mostly focusing on acros...everything looked great and healthy...but the prices were a little high here...had Matt helping me out in my selection and AWSOME GUYS...couldn't of had better help..so i ended up getting 3 pieces total....like i said it was a little expensive and i liked the selection at unique coral a little better personally....so other then these 2 pieces im going to stick to my Unique Coral only tank.

i also stopped my usual LFS and picked up cleaner Shrimp pair
Items Purchased:
Two guys coral
- Green and Purple tip Anemone
-Chalice white / pink spots
-Pink Encrusting coral
On this haul i just got things i liked visually but im hoping some one might be able to identefy the type of chalice i got and the type of pink encrusting coral i got

Items Purchased:
LFS
-2 cleaner chrimp (a pair)

5-9-2018: went to my LFS yet again and i purchased my kessil controller and programmed it to ramp up and down and mimic the sun like it would out on the ocean.slowly automating the tank
Items Purchased:
-Kessil Spectral Controller

5-15-2018: after getting my salt water from the LFS for a few week i got a refractometer a week ago and started testing the salitity...well it ended up at 30 PPT and i just wasnt happy about hwere it was....cuz if salitity is low then that means everything else is low too(i only have 5 pieces of coral in here ATM but i still want them to grow and get as much color as possible...so i bought a 55 salt mix of Red Sea Coral Pro Salt...lets c how it goes now with the new salt mix. also did my first ever water change in a month (only did a 20% change since i was switching salts).( nitrates stayed under 5 the whole time so i didnt c a need to change the water and even tho the salt came low from the LFS i always added salt water to the top off since the salt stayed but the water evaporated it was a quick fix to elevate the salt levels)

5-16-2018: went back to Unique Coral today and i got a little baby maximus clam! i wanted 1 of these little guys ever since i wanted to start my tank and i finally got 1..hes so happy now and so am i


5-28-2018: did a 10% water change this week and i started dosing coral rejuvinator(only 2 drops every 2 days)
i dont have a phospate checker or a alkalinity checker so i cant post all the reading =( sorry guys ill have that soon

 

[hugo franco]

5-31-2018: Went back to Unique Corals and i picked up a few more frags today SORRY I TOTALLY FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES THIS DAY! =(
Items Purchased:
-Montipore - Orange digitata
-montipora - Solomon Islands Purple Digitata
-Seriatopora - Thick Branched Green Birdsnest
- Goniopora - UC Rising Sun Goniopora
-Micromusa - yellow/red Acan lord


6-4-2018: anothere 10% water change i also changed my aquascape a bit but again i didnt take pictures =(
salitity: 35PPT
nitrates: 3-5
Alk: ??
mag: ??
calc: ??
im gonna order the test kits soon promise guys

6-6-2018: started dosing kalk wash thrue my top off water that i usually put in everyday 3 times a day....i need to invest in a ATO to make my life easier lol

6-9-2018:everything has been going great and stable...corals growing, tangs seems very healthy, as does the anemone things r getting to the "boring stable growing" part of the hobby heres my tank as it sits today. im going to start addings Acros next and i also want to put more livestock in there so make more movement anybody have any suggestions on what new fish to get?
thanks guys

 

[Jeremy Fowler]

Nice build! You move fast, them trips would have cleaned my account out lol i did 2 builds one for the wife and one for me lol its cleaned my spare cash right out. How do you like the 9004 skimmer? I got one for my m90 havent set it up yet tho.

 

[hugo franco]

Nice build! You move fast, them trips would have cleaned my account out lol i did 2 builds one for the wife and one for me lol its cleaned my spare cash right out. How do you like the 9004 skimmer? I got one for my m90 havent set it up yet tho.

the 9004 is a good skimmer...just gotta play a little with it to dial in how much it bubbles...aside from that ive no problems with it.
wow TWO TANKS? thats a lot of money 2 lol ive been saving a little bit for a tank tho and having unique corals so close by is just bad for my wallet lol
what type of tanks are you and your wife doing?