NUVO-40EXT (Quality Photos & YouTube Videos)

[BlackLabelCorals]

Welcome to my IM Nuvo 40 EXT build!

I’ve been out of the hobby for three years now and after heavy consideration over the last 6 months, I decided to take the plunge back into it. Before my recent three year break, I had multiple tank setups. I was “that guy” who couldn’t keep a setup long enough to get a show stopper. Even though I would invest lots of money in equipment, my patience was lacking big time.

I’m a sucker for SPS. The challenge, growth patterns & jaw dropping colors are the biggest draw but with this build i’m striving to keep a mixed reef to showcase SPS along with some of my favorite LPS corals and select soft corals.

I hope you all enjoy the process of this build thread. I will be posting a lot of photos along the way PLUS creating videos and updates as well that will be uploaded to my YouTube channel “Black Label Corals” if you care to watch!

Here is the classic “new tank” photos!

 

[PokeFish]

following along

 

[BlackLabelCorals]

following along

Sweet, thanks! Hoping to get the stand built this weekend.

 

[maceto]

Which SUMP are you thinking to use? Following!

 

[BlackLabelCorals]

Which SUMP are you thinking to use? Following!

I did purchase a Trigger System Sapphire Cube 20 with this tank at a steal of a price immediately thinking I would use it. Though, it’s roughly the same size as the tank so my stand would have to be oversized to accommodate fitting my ATO reservoir under there too.

Since this will be in my office/YouTube studio, space is at a premium(It’s a spare room in my house) and due to that, I’ll be changing up my sump plan to allow for a stand similar to Red Sea Reefers, how they are the exact dimensions of the tank and look seamless from top to bottom.

I will make an updated post going over the sump design in detail but to answer your question:

I’ll have a dual sump configuration. The drain will go into a settling/future frag DIY 5G tank, that will then flow into a DIY 10G sump that will house my skimmer, heater & return section.

again, I’ll cover those in detail and why in a later post.

 

[maceto]

I did purchase a Trigger System Sapphire Cube 20 with this tank at a steal of a price immediately thinking I would use it. Though, it’s roughly the same size as the tank so my stand would have to be oversized to accommodate fitting my ATO reservoir under there too.

Since this will be in my office/YouTube studio, space is at a premium(It’s a spare room in my house) and due to that, I’ll be changing up my sump plan to allow for a stand similar to Red Sea Reefers, how they are the exact dimensions of the tank and look seamless from top to bottom.

I will make an updated post going over the sump design in detail but to answer your question:

I’ll have a dual sump configuration. The drain will go into a settling/future frag DIY 5G tank, that will then flow into a DIY 10G sump that will house my skimmer, heater & return section.

again, I’ll cover those in detail and why in a later post.

Hi!

I can wait to see more photos.

Thanks
Martin

 

[PokeFish]

Me too

 

[BlackLabelCorals]

Return pump came in last night. Went with a Jebao DCT-4000. I’ve used them years ago and they always did the job and never had any issues with them so hopefully that continues with this tank.

I also made a quick sketch of the future sump setup I plan to run.

The Nuvo comes setup with a herbie style drain. It will drain into the 5G Settling/Future Frag tank. No filter sock or floss. The idea behind the settling tank is to have all the detritus “settle” in this area. This will be achieved with medium-high/high flow in the display, bare bottom & (2) 5-minute periods of 100% constant flow from the power heads(currently planning to run 2 Nero 3’s once back in stock.

I’ll create a baffle at the end of the 5G settling/frag tank(indicated with the thin blue line on the sketch) to act as an overflow for bulkheads I’ll install in the bottom or side to then drain into the 10G DIY sump below that. It will also make sure to keep a constant water level when the return pump is turned off or the power goes out.

From the settling tank, that drains into the 10G DIY sump that will house my protein skimmer(unsure what skimmer as of now) and my return pump along with a heater. I’ll only have one baffle in this sump just to keep a constant water level for the skimmer. I don’t plan to have a bubble trap but it wouldn’t hurt to do one since I’ll have the extra space for the extra baffles. We’ll see.

This configuration with solve a few things for me:

-I don’t want to run any mechanical filters because I simply won’t change it as often as I should, thus, defeating the purpose. This Settling/Future Frag tank should make it easy to siphon all the detritus out during my water changes.
PLUS, a future space for freshly cut Frags later on in the tanks life that will be lower flow than the display & no racks in the display.

-Elevating the 5G tank will allow me to fit a ATO container underneath it along with anything else I need. Trying to keep everything under there to free up space in the room this will be in

-More room in the actual sump, less crowded. Room for any future equipment.

-Everything under the stand will allow for a very sleek look.

 

[Ashibashi]

Updates?