My IM Nuvo EXT 100 Build

LenG · Nov 30, 2019

I am pleased to see your build....very nice! I am new to this, but studying hard and thinking about buying this tank (as my first) and possibly the APS stand. Are you pleased with this tank having owned it for a while? Also, you mention 15mm glass. Did the manufacturer switch to 12mm? That's what they show in the specs now. It appears that this tank is unavailable at this time and sources that I've contacted are unable to accept orders for it right now, delivery time unknown....strange.

cedwards04 · Nov 30, 2019

I am well pleased with the tank. As far as the glass thickness goes, idk if they have now switched to 12mm or not but mine is definitely 15mm.

CasaReefer · Nov 30, 2019

Hi... Just wanted to say.. First Class... All the way First Class work.. Very impressive Build.. Thank You for sharing it.

cedwards04 · Dec 18, 2019

Finally finished up the light canopy. Getting closer to the finish line.

cedwards04 · Jan 16, 2020

Finally got around to building my ato reservoir. I used some polycarbonate and carbon fiber vinyl wrap I had laying around. Holds roughly 11 gallons of water. From what I can tell, this should last me approximately 10 days. I also installed a float switch in the bottom which is connected to my apex. It will alert me when I have approximately 24hrs worth of top off water remaining. In the event that I cannot refill it within 12hrs, it will shut the ato pump off and alert me again. This should ensure that my ato pump never runs dry.

Glad to be rid of the little plastic trash can I had been using for my top off water haha.

I also switched my wavemaker setup. I decided to go with 4 jebao sw8's. I have placed them on the back wall pointing forwards. I then wired them to my apex, and use it to create random flow patterns throughout the day. This seems to be the best balance I have found for getting good flow throughout the tank without blowing the sandbed all over the place. I know the jebaos wont last, but as cheap as they are I will just keep a spare handy and swap them out as they die. I tried a lot of high end pumps. In the end, I found the cheap jebaos actually work better for my setup.

CivicS14 · Jan 17, 2020

cedwards04 said:
Finally got around to building my ato reservoir. I used some polycarbonate and carbon fiber vinyl wrap I had laying around. Holds roughly 11 gallons of water. From what I can tell, this should last me approximately 10 days. I also installed a float switch in the bottom which is connected to my apex. It will alert me when I have approximately 24hrs worth of top off water remaining. In the event that I cannot refill it within 12hrs, it will shut the ato pump off and alert me again. This should ensure that my ato pump never runs dry.

Glad to be rid of the little plastic trash can I had been using for my top off water haha.

I also switched my wavemaker setup. I decided to go with 4 jebao sw8's. I have placed them on the back wall pointing forwards. I then wired them to my apex, and use it to create random flow patterns throughout the day. This seems to be the best balance I have found for getting good flow throughout the tank without blowing the sandbed all over the place. I know the jebaos wont last, but as cheap as they are I will just keep a spare handy and swap them out as they die. I tried a lot of high end pumps. In the end, I found the cheap jebaos actually work better for my setup.

At first glance before I read the post, I was like wow! did you really build an ATO reservoir out of carbon fiber. LOL.

I had Jebaos in my last tank and mine lasted the 3 years I had that last tank and never had an issue. I even carried over my Jebao return pump into my new tank until I decided to just get something new for the hell of it. Mainly cause I got a promotion and I could afford it. Same thing goes for the wavemakers - I could afford mp40's and liked the aesthetics of it, so I got it.

cedwards04 · Jan 17, 2020

Haha, yeah I do actually have some real carbon fiber and epoxy laying around as well, but that stuff ain't cheap! Haha.

I had jebao pp4's on my last tank for 2yrs problem free. If I get that long out of these pumps i will be thrilled. I really wanted this build to be more of a higher end build equipment wise, but in the end the jebaos seem to work better for the setup and my needs. Could have saved A LOT of money up front if i had just skipped the gyres/mp40's haha.

CJ Monty · Feb 5, 2020

Did the sump glass baffles hold up? I heard the stuff at lowes and hd is too thin. What was the thickness?

cedwards04 · Feb 5, 2020

CJ Monty said:
Did the sump glass baffles hold up? I heard the stuff at lowes and hd is too thin. What was the thickness?

So far they have been fine. I used the same glass on a 20l sump on my last build. No issues there either. I believe it is 1/8". It is pretty thin.

Coach_M · Mar 2, 2020

Just out of curiousity, is that black on the back of the tank removable? Wasnt sure if it were more like smoked glass, or if it were some kind of plastic adhesive

cedwards04 · Mar 2, 2020

It is not removable. It appears to be black acrylic that is glued inside the tank.

Coach_M · Mar 2, 2020

Cool thanks. Following along. In the market and been eyeing this and the WB 105 Frag. Love the external overflows on these. Lookin good!

cedwards04 · Mar 6, 2020

Quick update for those following a long. After a long, hard fought battle with dinoflagellates, I believe i finally have them under control. Took several months, but at this point, I'm on day 8 with no signs of dino's.

Also of note, I lost some corals due to some minor trace elements being out of whack. Icp testing/dosing has ne back on track and the tank is looking much better. I have 1 torch coral that receded some about 2 months ago, but it is still holding on, so I am hopeful that it will pull through. Time will tell.

mattzang · Apr 5, 2020

hey, i'm thinking about getting the 100 EXT myself, how do you like the tank?

cedwards04 · Apr 5, 2020

I've been happy with the tank. I do sometimes wish the glass was thinner, as it is difficult to find wavemakers that work with 15mm glass. Other than that, I love it.

I'd also recommend checking the length of the bean animal pipes inside the overflow. I just uses them as they came, and feel like they are a touch to short, causing the water to trickle into the overflow, making a small amount of noise.

mattzang · Apr 5, 2020

cedwards04 said:
I've been happy with the tank. I do sometimes wish the glass was thinner, as it is difficult to find wavemakers that work with 15mm glass. Other than that, I love it.

I'd also recommend checking the length of the bean animal pipes inside the overflow. I just uses them as they came, and feel like they are a touch to short, causing the water to trickle into the overflow, making a small amount of noise.

yeah I noticed someone said MP10s wouldn't work on that thick of glass, so got me thinking..

what have you found works? I'm guessing the more powerful pumps are probably the way to go since they're made for larger tanks

appreciate the thoughts especially on the pipes

cedwards04 · Apr 5, 2020

I tried icecap 3k gyres, they barely held on but ended up being to strong. I tried mp40's, they hold ok, not great, but also a bit too strong. Unless you go bare bottom. I had trouble with them blowing sand or sucking air if I moved them up. I ended up with 4 jebao sw8's across the back wall. The jebaos actually have really strong magnets, and hold on great. They are also small enough that I can use multiples to keep dead spots to a minimum while not blowing sand everywhere or sucking air. I know the jebaos have a bad reputation, but they are cheap enough that I'll just replace them as they fail. I really feel like they are the best option for the tank. I use my apex to program their flow patterns. It's working out well for me at the moment.

mattzang · Apr 6, 2020

hmm that's a bummer as i have an icecap 1k i was hoping would work. i have 2 jebaos, but you're right on their magnets. their only bummer is i've had them for about a year and i can tell they're running out of steam even freshly cleaned

guessing my small tunze won't work..

jeez just went looking around and it seems most pumps are borderline at best.. was thinking about a nero 5 but that max thickness is 1/2" or 12 mm or so. guess i'll be stocking up on some newer jebaos

cedwards04 · Apr 6, 2020

I looked hard at the nero, some seemed to think they would work while others said no. I never tried them. The icecap 1k may work, I believe they have the same magnet ratings as the 3k. Since you already have one, I'd try it before giving up on it.

cedwards04 · Apr 9, 2020

Got tired of the junky jebao wavemaker controllers and all the clutter from having 4 pumps on the tank. I also wanted better control over wave patterns and intensity throughout the day. So I decided to make a wiring harness to allow me to use the 0-10v variable ports to control the jebaos and completely bypass the jebao controllers altogether.

I did some testing with a volt meter and figured out which wires did what. So there is a 24v power wire (tan), a ground (blue), and a 0-5v variable (yellow). The controller on its lowest setting produces 2.8v, at its highest setting it produces 4.9v.

I then used a network cable to plug into the variable speed port on my apex. I played around with profile settings until I figured out what percentage gave me 2.8v (27%) and what percentage gave me 4.9v (48%). This gave me a starting range for programming.

I know from looking at their adapters you can buy, that 1 power supply can run 2 pumps. So I took 1 power supply, and cut off the end. I spliced the red power wire to the tan wire on each pump. I then spliced the black ground wire to the ground on the network cable, and then to the blue wire on each pump. Finally, I spliced the yellow wire on the pumps to the variable output wires on my network cable coming from the apex. Everything was soldered and adhesive heat shrink was applied for water resistance.

Once I had that done and everything plugged in, I played around with intensity percentage until I found the lowest percent that would still turn the pump on (8%).

I decided I will probably use 10% as my minimum threshold, and 48% as my maximum threshold.

Now it is just a matter of writing all the profiles I want to create. I did run a few test profiles before calling it a night. Everything appears to be working perfectly. I have 4 pumps total. So I made 2 harnesses that both run 2 pumps each. Each individual pump is controllable. I thought about piggy backing 2 pumps so as not to use up all my variable ports, but I like the idea of independent control over each pump so thats what I decided on.

Overall it wasn't too bad of a project, and would have only cost me a network cable, but I decided to add in some extra 3 way connectors closer to the pump heads to make taking them out of the tank for maintenance easier. I don't remember what I paid for the connectors, they were cheap on ebay or Amazon. They look almost identical to the stock Jebao connectors but are slightly different.

I also could have just cut the connector off the controller instead of buying the extra connectors, but doing it this way allows me to sell the controllers, or keep one around incase my apex craps out on me.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try to answer them. Going to bed now, and tomorrow ill tackle all the programming.