MiamiRice's IM Nuvo-Fusion 30L Build Thread

[MiamiRice]

Hello Reef2Reef! I'm a nano-reef keeper (who is now wanting to get into much larger tanks, but we can talk about that later!) and I'm *really* getting into the hobby for the first time here. I'm 26 and the bulk of my reef-keeping experience came between the ages of 15-18 where I was doing mostly amateur stuff in high school. I came down to the University of Miami to study marine-biology at RSMAS and eventually ended up majoring in Biology/Chemistry. I missed the hobby too much during my 1st year of college, so I decided to setup a 12 gallon JBJ Nano Cube with 2 true perculas + a rose bubble anemone which I kept for 6 years. Admittedly, this system was pretty neglected at times due to the workload/stress of school, which is something I really do regret. That being said, the clowns from that tank lived through it and were the first fish in this new setup. Unfortunately towards the end of my college career when I got very busy, the RBT slowly withered away. When I started this new tank, I decided to give what was left of it to my LFS which was a tough loss. It may be relevant to mention (since I know a big part of this hobby is documenting our beautiful displays) that when I graduated college I got serious into photography - which is now my full time career. I do my best to pull out my cameras as often as possible and photograph the tank, but sometimes a quick iPhone shot is better than nothing!

Here are some flashbacks from previous tanks:

2010: 29-gallon saltwater tank in high school...

2015: 12 gallon Nano Cube...

May 2018: the new setup...

I'm currently approaching the 3 month mark (July 19th) of adding water to the new system, and am going to totally rip apart the aqua-scape this coming month to really create something interesting and start placing corals accordingly.

I really want to note that this tank would not even be *close* to where it is without the constant help, support and insight from my buddy @HomeSlizzice. Probably the coolest thing that has come from this entire setup has been the beginning of a new friendship with an overall awesome dude. I can't thank you enough, man!

I know I'll miss some of the beginning stages of the build since I started it at the end of December 2017; however, I'll do my best to recap what's gotten me to this point in this initial post and the ones to follow...

The Guts:
- Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 30L

- Custom stand built by local woodworker

- (2) AI Prime HD (white) with aluminum mounting brackets

- (2) Aqua-top return pumps to replace the single return that came with the setup in order to split the "Y" tubing to make more space in the center chamber

- (2) IM aqua-gadget reactors (DeskTop)

- (2) IM aqua-gadget refugium LED

- (2) inTank 2nd chamber fuge baskets

- (2) inTank surface skimmers to raise water level

- Tunze Comline DOC Skimmer 9004 DC + custom acrylic mount for it to fit in the center chamber

- Auto Aqua AWC

- VorTech mp10WQD

- Marine Depot 6-stage RO/DI

- 200 GPD RO/DI upgrade kit

- Bel-Art 20 gallon reservoir for saltwater

- (2) five gallon plastic hedpak for AWC

- 2.5 gallon plastic hedpak for ATO



Adding in the coming month:
- Custom built cover from Top-Lids

- SMF Drop 1.4x

- Innovative Marine UV Sterilizer



Livestock:

- Fish
- (2) true percula clownfish
- yasha goby
- leopard wrasse
- sunburst anthias
- sailfin blenny
- helfrichi firefish
- catalina goby
- (2) neon gobies

- Inverts
- pom pom crab
- (2) cleaner shrimp
- sexy shrimp
- pencil urchin
- coco worm
- feather duster
- candy cane pistol shrimp
- assortment of snails & hermits

- Corals
- orange monti cap
- green/purple rim monti cap
- Aussie green/blue tip Frogspawn colony
- (2) green/blue tip frogspawn frags from @CherryCorals
- pink torch
- Aussie Elegance
- Red Goniopora
- green star polyps
- red mushroom
- florid ricordea
- assorted zoanthids

 

[HomeSlizzice]

I'm glad to see you finally made the build thread! Also thank you for the shout out, you're far too kind. I'm glad to continue to help, and watch the tank grow and thrive!

P.S. Pull out the camera and get some good shots of the tank for the people!

 

[MiamiRice]

Stand & Plumbing

The first step was getting the stand made after I ordered the tank and I wanted something that meshed with the "mid-century modern" vibe of our apartment. I opted for a solid wood, full-grain look with a clear coat for extra sealing. This has probably been the hardest thing to work backwards from, as I didn't have a very clear "vision" for the stand going in (didn't plan for the AWC when I had it made because I learned about it later, didn't plan for a doser, etc etc). One of the reasons I went with this all-in-one setup was because I wanted to keep everything minimal and "in the tank" - reserving the stand for dry-storage only, which I learned was wishful thinking. I now have so much more appreciation for how important a well-thought out stand design is. Since then, I've had to make minor adjustments, drill extra holes here and there, plane wood for areas that were too tight-fitting and sort of make all my equipment choices work around the stand, not vice-versa. This is definitely something I will take into account when I design my next setup

In the picture above, the left 5 gallon hedpak is for the waster water, the center 2.5 for the ATO and the other 5 gallon on the right is the in-stand saltwater reservoir connected to the AWC system

The next thing I had to tackle was all the plumbing between the tank, AWC/ATO chambers, saltwater reservoir, and RO/DI unit. After I mounted the RO/DI unit, my single goal was to make *any* interaction with it EASY so I spent a fair amount of time doing some custom threading + plumbing to make everything very straightforward and accessible.

The above image shows the 20-gallon, gravity-fed Bel-Art reservoir where I mix my saltwater

in the picture above this union direct water directly into 1) the 2.5gallon ATO reservoir in my stand or 2) the 20 gallon gravity fed reservoir where I mix saltwater

In the image above you can see the that the tubing splits for an "air purge" which I quickly realized I needed in order to clear the hose when I was done using it

The picture above shows what it looks like when both the gravity fed saltwater reservoir and the RO/DI unit are connected to their respective reservoirs for filling.

The 20-gallon gravity-fed saltwater reservoir I was able to manage has been extremely convenient and you can see how I plumbed different connections directly into the lids of the AWC/ATO reservoirs in order to eliminate the need to remove them when it comes time to refill (I even extended the hoses off of the lids so I wouldn't have to work too hard to access them with all the storage being in front). Maintaining the lids meant some sort of plumbing was necessary, and everything was plumbed using quick connects in some way or another, as I have completely fallen in love with that system. Having tight fitting lids has been great, knowing that no contaminants are getting into the reservoirs, not to mention they all but eliminate evaporation. The last thing I want to point from the pictures above is the RO/DI plumbed directly into the bathroom sink for both source + waste water. It's been great to have everything securely "in-place" every time I want to use the unit.

Any questions on the plumbing welcome - this was one of the most rewarding parts of the build!

 

[TNT32D]

Nice! What pump did you use in the 5 gal jug?

 

[MiamiRice]

Nice! What pump did you use in the 5 gal jug?

I used the little DC pump that come stock with the Auto Aqua AWC unit (it comes with 3)

 

[MiamiRice]

Lighting, Filtration & Circulation:

For lighting, I'm running 2 AI primes that I had been holding onto (1 which was in use on my previous 12 gallon). I started by running these on a 12-hour photo period during the initial cycle of the tank, but the hair algae/diatoms became too much for me to handle, so I cut it back to 7hrs. I'm slowly working my way back up to 12 as I see appropriate for the stock + also balancing it with the systems I have in place for algae control.

That brings me to the filtration part:

I have always liked to keep peaceful fish and "push" the limits of small aquariums from both a bio-load & territory standpoint. This system has become a testing ground for my *next* tank, which will be much bigger (so cliche, I know) and my ultimate goal is to create a "smart aquarium" of sorts that can effectively handle all the stock even when I travel every month. I am currently running 2-3% daily water changes which helps a lot with nutrient export, but i'm finding that hasn't been enough on it's own. I recently started to run phosphates pretty high (0.35) which ticked off some corals, so I finally began using some GFO in one of the reactors.

In the back, I run two media baskets in the 1st chambers with floss on top, sponges, and matrix media by Seacham. In the coming month, one of these media baskets is getting swapped out for the IM UV sterilizer to help increase water clarity and also act as a safeguard for any bacterial/parasitic infections. The 2nd chambers each have a refugium with chaeto, one of which is being replaced by an algae turf scrubber (drop 1.4x) by Santa Monica Filtration this coming month. The center chamber is where I put in a lot of work to create space, as it holds two reactors (currently running matrix carbon & GFO) + the Tunze 9004, as well as two designated return pumps and the small DC pump for the AWC system.

I don't have a picture of it which bums me out, but I designed a custom acrylic piece to act as a false baffle (with cutouts to allow continuous flow in the center chamber between the "sides" that it created) where the Tunze 9004 mounts. Most people who run this skimmer in the 30L put it in the first chamber since it only fits one way in the back and needs to connect to a baffle 1) so that it sits off the floor and doesn't vibrate 2) so that you can control the water level going in, which greatly effects its output . Creating the acrylic piece allowed me to securely run it in the center chamber and reserve the 1st intake chamber for floss + a media basket.

For circulation, I run the mp10WQD at about 30% on lagoon mode, pretty simply put. Before I scaled it back, I ran it at 40-50% power, but was finding that 100% of my fish were living in less than 50% of the tank on the opposite side of the mp10.....not good. I initially decided to add surface skimmers by inTank simply to raise the water level in the setup, which I found awkwardly low. That worked well, but since then I have realized the great benefit they provide in creating extra surface turbulence on the intakes, which really goes a long way in keeping anything from settling on the water's surface.

 

[MiamiRice]

Initial Aquascape, Cycling, & First Stock:

For the initial aquascape, I wanted multiple islands with ample negative space for swimming & coral placement. My goal was to keep everything off the sand-bed for an ultra-clean look to emphasize the feel of a "channel" between the islands. I decided to go with dry, un-painted rock for two reasons: 1) I have had pests in previous tanks come in via live-rock and 2) I am not a fan of the painted rock look aesthetically, and would rather watch the transition of my tank + rocks as they grow true corralline algae.

I switched from using natural ocean water in my older tank to mixed (Brightwell NeoMarine Salt) in this setup and used Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride solution in tandem with BioDigest to help speed my cycle, which completed in ~4-5 weeks. I also seeded my sandbed with sand from my older tank + added some rubble rock/media to the refugiums in the back of the tank which helped to kick-start the cycle.

Once my cycle was complete, the Sailfin Blenny in the image above was the first fish added after my true percula clownfish.

 

[MiamiRice]

Some current stock updates:

 

[Djhype97]

Some current stock updates:

Nice! Is that a leopard wrasse?

 

[infinite0180]

Nice setup! I love your stand

 

[MiamiRice]

Nice! Is that a leopard wrasse?

Yup it's a tiny one. That's been the point of this tank - getting lots of super tiny specimen!!

 

[MiamiRice]

A few new photos:

 

[Dustinryan2010]

A few new photos:

Your tank looks amazing. I’m getting the Fusion 30 soon. Mind sharing what AI schedule you’re using?

 

[infinite0180]

Hey, looking over your pics i noticed your ATO res has two RO lines and bulkheads. Out of curiosity, why two? I see you use one to refill it, but whats the black hose for?

 

[LAFANBLUE]

Any updates on your tank?