Mike's Innovative Marine Nuvo EXT 100

Mike Kearns

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At the beginning of the year I felt like I was ready for a bigger tank. I decided i was going to switch my 46 gallon bow front freshwater tank to a reef tank. I have had saltwater tanks for over a year, all nano. A 5, 10, 13.5 and 20 Long was my biggest. I condensed my 2 freshwater tanks into one 29 gallon tank (neither the 46 or the 20 was heavily stocked). After moving tanks around the living room my wife said "Why don't you just buy a bigger tank?" So I started researching what I could get. Do to the space I had available, a Red Sea Reefer 350 would fit nicely. Well then Covid-19 happened and rather than spending the money I had saved, I kept it in case we needed some emergency money. I went ahead and converted the 46 gallon to a reef, and really love having a bigger tank. Well my wife and I are doing good and she came to me with a proposition. She is a massive book lover and collector, and wanted to basically convert our bedroom into a library. She said what would she have to do to make it happen? I told her I would like to take out one of the book cases in the living room so I could get a bigger tank. To my surprise she agreed.

After getting her library set up lol, I began researching bigger tanks. Even though I had the room, I decided that I wanted to stay in the 48" wide range but try to get 100 gallon in the display. I looked at the Red Sea tanks, but was getting worried about some of the issues people were talking about. I also looked at the Waterbox 130 which seemed like it would fit the bill. Then I saw the mode aquariums with external overflows that had no box of any kind in the tank. Unfortunately as a company they have bad reviews. Both on their tanks, and on their customer service. After a little more research I found the Innovative Marine EXT tanks, but was bummed they didn't come with sumps. I did like the aluminum stands though. I began researching sumps, and realized that picking out my own sump was a better thing anyway. Low and behold I checked back on their website a couple of days later and the Nuvo 100 ext was $200 dollars off! I pulled the trigger right then and there and ordered it. The website said they won't ship until the end of July so I had time to start pulling all the other stuff together. About a week later I got an email saying my tank had Shipped! Almost 2 weeks early. I thought it was nice that someone from the company called and talked me through the shipping process as I have never had a LTL shipment to my house before.

As of today my tank is in Portland and hopefully I get a call in the next day or 2 to schedule the drop off. I plan on the next few posts will be about the equipment I decided on, and then the arrival and setup of the tank. I plan on assembling and testing everything in my garage before moving it into the house. I have been wanted to start a build thread so I finally sat down and typed all this up to get it started.
 

AZReef13

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I own an IM40, love this tank. Like you I am planning an upgrade to thier 112. Just need to keep saving all my pennies. You will find if you call IM, Paul is an amazing person there any will work with you to solve any issues that come up. Paul told me they were not planning any sumps, theu wanted to leave that to us for our own customization. The APS (stand) goes togather in minutes, super strong.

I will be following along
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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I own an IM40, love this tank. Like you I am planning an upgrade to thier 112. Just need to keep saving all my pennies. You will find if you call IM, Paul is an amazing person there any will work with you to solve any issues that come up. Paul told me they were not planning any sumps, theu wanted to leave that to us for our own customization. The APS (stand) goes togather in minutes, super strong.

I will be following along
I though about the 112, but i really like the external overflow. I think it was Paul who called me. Blew me away lol.
 

fishface NJ

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Congratulations and best of luck with it. You're the second one today that I read getting the EXT 100! That is my favorite tank. Look forward to following your thread
 

revhtree

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Congrats and following along!
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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Equipment: Lights
For my lights I am going with 2 Reefi Duo Extremes. I actually bought them back in February, before I even knew what tank I wanted. I am lucky that I live in Oregon and am a member of PNWMAS. @danlu_gt, the creator of the Reefi is also a member. I got to see the lights in person on @SuncrestReef's tank and was blown away. Funny thing is right before the meeting at his house, I found the build thread on his tank (IMO one of the best build threads ever), and read the whole thing, not realizing I was going to see this amazing tank in person at the club meeting. Then at the January club meeting I won the raffle drawing for $100 gift card for a reefi light so I bought them.
IMG-2158.jpg

Here they are above my 46 gallon Bow front
IMG_1974.jpg

Here is kind of an underneath shot
IMG_1774.jpg

And I actually set up one on my 20 Long before moving everything to the 46.
I love the way the lights themselves look. The little status screen is cool. There is hardly any light spill or glare into the rest of the living room. Also the web interface is easy to use and there are so many options. I can't wait to see how they look on the Nuvo.
 

SuncrestReef

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Congrats on the new tank, and glad you were able to put that ReeFi gift certificate to use!

Good luck on your build. Let me know if you have any specific questions about my build that you'd like to incorporate on yours.
 

spschiebel

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Hi Mike. I'm looking at this model myself. I'm still several months away from pulling the trigger, but will definitely be following to see how your experience is. Curious to see what sump you end up with.
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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Congrats on the new tank, and glad you were able to put that ReeFi gift certificate to use!

Good luck on your build. Let me know if you have any specific questions about my build that you'd like to incorporate on yours.
Thanks! I guess I need to make a post on PNWMAS too lol.
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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Hi Mike. I'm looking at this model myself. I'm still several months away from pulling the trigger, but will definitely be following to see how your experience is. Curious to see what sump you end up with.
Thanks. Sump post coming soon!
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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Equipment: Sump
Being as the tank does not come with a sump I had to start researching sumps. I looked at several on different websites and it seems like the same ones were out of stock at all of them. Fortunatly the one that seemed to most match what I was looking for was in stock. The one I decided on is the fijicube 30.
IMG_2159.jpeg

The sump was well packaged. 2 of the corners of the box were damaged but the sump was not.
IMG_2160.jpeg

Here is the box of accesories. It came with 2 1" and 2 3/4" bulkheads.
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Assembled and testing my protein skimmer height.
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Leak Test.
IMG_2179.jpeg

You can swap the filter socks with a media basket.

I chose this sump for a few reasons. I wanted a sump with at least 2 4" filter socks where the drain doesn't go straight into the sock. So much easier to change. I am surprised how big the media basket is. I also wanted a sump with a dedicated refugium chamber. The skimmer section has removable heater holders and probe holders and is large enough for a skimmer and some media reactors. Some of the other cool features are: the drain plate is swap able with one that has holes for I am guessing 11/4" bulk heads. The water height in the skimmer and refugium are adjustable. It has 3 drain holes ( I had an extra 1" bulk head for the backup emergency drain).
The only bad thing is one of the holes on the drain adapter plate was not tapped so I can only use 3 of the screws. Over all I am very happy with this sump. And I even like the color.
 

infinite0180

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I recently set up the IM EXT 50 lagoon with a Fiji Cube 20. Your going to love your new tank, i promise you that! I just really hope IM is still making the EXT in a few years when im ready to upgrade. I should have went with the 100 but i was being cheap. I regret it now..
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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I recently set up the IM EXT 50 lagoon with a Fiji Cube 20. Your going to love your new tank, i promise you that! I just really hope IM is still making the EXT in a few years when im ready to upgrade. I should have went with the 100 but i was being cheap. I regret it now..
I am so excited for it to get here. It’s been sitting in a warehouse in Portland since Sunday. I wish they would hurry up and call to make my delivery appointment. The lagoon tanks are cool, so I hope you don’t regret it too much
 

infinite0180

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I am so excited for it to get here. It’s been sitting in a warehouse in Portland since Sunday. I wish they would hurry up and call to make my delivery appointment. The lagoon tanks are cool, so I hope you don’t regret it too much
Dont get me wrong, i love my tank. I just wish i had gone bigger so i wouldnt need to upgrade in a few years... the IM tanks are soo nice. Not to mention the stand is solid and looks great!
 

SPS2020

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Is your tank shipped via Road Runner? Mine was and sat for two days a couple of hours from my house. I had to call three times to get a delivery time scheduled. Just a heads up...be proactive.
 
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Mike Kearns

Mike Kearns

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Is your tank shipped via Road Runner? Mine was and sat for two days a couple of hours from my house. I had to call three times to get a delivery time scheduled. Just a heads up...be proactive.
Yeah it is Roadrunner. I am going to call them today. Thanks
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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