Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 - Coral/Invert QT

[bearings]

I'm slowly working my way back to the hobby and there are some things I'd like to do differently this time.. including having a QT process.

I still have some older equipment from around 2012 that I can re-use and get back going again, so I'm starting with a smaller system that will be my permanent fishless coral/invert QT tank in my office. This way I can get back in to making RODI water and saltwater on a small scale before figuring out how to do larger water changes and all of that.

My Nuvo 20 just arrived, but I still need to find or build a stand for it so it won't be wet for a little while.

For filtration I am going to keep it simple and just use Marine Pure balls wherever I can fit them and filter floss in the caddy. I doubt I'll use the filter sock since there is only the one that came with it and bioload will be super light.. but we'll see. No plans for a skimmer or reactors. Will just do regular water changes and see how parameters look over time.

For flow I'm going to use the included MightyJet DC return pump + a MP10 I had from before.

For lighting I'm going to try and match what my DT will ultimately use (Redsea LED 90s) as close as I can, so I have a Redsea LED 50 on the way.

Still need to figure out an ATO, I'm looking for any recommendations for a small tank like this if anyone has one!

 

[JBKReef]

I would look into doing some DIY media racks with light defuser, or if you want to go fancy the InTank media racks. They are great little pieces of filtration assistance. I use them on my IM14 and IM25. Hold floss on top, ChemiPure blue in the middle, and Marinpure gems on the bottom.


They also make a fuge basket which could hold in those balls pretty well.

Enjoy the new set up! I've heard great stuff about the RS50/90's

 

[bearings]

I would look into doing some DIY media racks with light defuser, or if you want to go fancy the InTank media racks. They are great little pieces of filtration assistance. I use them on my IM14 and IM25. Hold floss on top, ChemiPure blue in the middle, and Marinpure gems on the bottom.


They also make a fuge basket which could hold in those balls pretty well.

Enjoy the new set up! I've heard great stuff about the RS50/90's

Thanks for the tips! I will have to look in to making some media racks, I was planning on making use of the laser cutter at my local maker space for some frag rack/display stuff so I might do the same for media racks.

 

[btmedic04]

I use the icecap ato in my nuvo 20 and the autoaqua smart ato micro in my nuvo 10 and both are great! I'm actually upgrading to a 40b and my nuvo 20 will become a frag/qt tank

 

[bearings]

A few more pieces arrived today, including the ReedLED 50. Pretty nice light, even though I don't have water yet I couldn't resist setting it up to see it in action.

 

[Nanoreefer4ever]

Do you have any trouble mounting the light. They said it not working with 6mm thich tank

 

[bearings]

Do you have any trouble mounting the light. They said it not working with 6mm thich tank

I honestly didn’t even look at recommended thickness, but I didn’t have any issues mounting it

 

[bearings]

Filled with tap water for a few weeks of leak testing. Got new RO filters this week, will work on building a stand in a week or so. Slow going, but I’m not in a super big hurry

 

[Bape47]

Buy this stand if ur looking for it around 88$

 

[bearings]

Buy this stand if ur looking for it around 88$

Thanks, which one is that? I’m going to attempt building one this week, but it’s always nice to have options in case it goes badly

 

[PR_nano]

Following along from Orlando . We have similar equipment IM20, MP10es, and biofilter mine is sitting in a closet. I'm waiting for stand delivery and need a good ato.

The stand he link is the "Top Fin" which can be found in PetSmart.

 

[bearings]

Time for an update, stand is built and we've got saltwater. Going to kick off the cycle with some bacteria and a shrimp soon. Cables are a bit of a mess still, will get that cleaned up soon too. I was going to skin and paint the stand, but decided to leave it raw for a while and will add some later if I really feel like it's needed.

Added photo of it in my office with costumes on display for scale!

 

[bearings]

I went with the IM Hydrofill ATO for anyone following a long, I couldn't decide and just went with brand consistency with the tank for no good reason. Will get that installed this weekend hopefully.

 

[bearings]

Still chugging along, added second mp10 and moved marine pure balls to the back. ATO is up and running. Water was cloudy for about a week, but had cleared up a bunch.

The shrimp I was using to cycle is totally gone, but I’m not sure how much ammonia actually went in to the system. Added some ammonium chloride to dose up to about 2ppm yesterday, will keep watching to see how that goes.

 

[bearings]

Starting to see some sweet brown spots on the bare bottom, cycle is still moving along as expected. Nitrites starting to show up in tests now also, so probably a few more weeks to go.

Also, I upgraded my old MP10w drivers for the newer quiet ones and that was a HUGE improvement. I wish I had known about that sooner.

I dug out my old Apex JR (no display) to see if it still works and it does, I think it's great that Apex has supported the old hardware for this long. So far I'm just tracking temp + heater control, but I have a replacement pH probe on the way too. I'll probably end up using one of the outlets to control a dosing pump or something later on, but that's probably it.

 

[bearings]

Still chugging along, going fine so far. Trying a few early test corals from the $5/$10 WWC bin