NUVO INT 50 - First Build for a Newbie! (Would love Suggestions)

[Avocaadotoast]

I’m getting set up for my very first reef tank after scouring these forums for a bit, and I would love to document my journey, and would love to hear your feedback and advice as well! Throughout this first post I will probably have some interspersed questions, so feel free to help a newbie out! A lot of the equipment is not yet purchased, just wanna make sure everything checks out!

Equipment

Tank - Innovative Marine NUVO INT 50 w/stand
Sump - Trigger Systems Platinum Sump Cube 20
Return Pump - NYOS Viper 3.0
Heater - 200w Finnex HMS Heater
Circulation Pumps - 2 x VorTech MP10WQD
Light - Kessil A360WE Tuna blue
Skimmer - S-120 Space Saving G4 Protein Skimmer - Eshopps
ATO - Duetto Dual Sensor Complete Aquarium ATO System
Media Reactor - BRS GFO and Carbon Reactor w/ Sicce Syncra 1.5 pump
Rocks - 40 lbs CaribSea Life Rock (Regular and Shapes)
Sand - 40 lbs CaribSea Special Grade Arag-Alive! Reef Sand
Doser - X1 Pro Wifi Dosing Pump, dosing All for Reef Tropic Marin

Based on some other posts here, it looks like the trigger systems cube 20 sumps should be able to fit within the cabinet, so I’m hoping that's the case. I think I’m alright with spending a bit more on the platinum sump in order to get the automatic filter roller right off the bat. Some questions I have are, would the Kessil light be sufficient to light this tank? I plan to stick to mainly soft corals, with maybe only a couple hard corals or clams. Also, I’m thinking I would try just using the single doser for the All for Reef Tropic Marin, as I have heard it works, anyone have experience with only dosing the All for Reef? Does all my equipment seem compatible or is there anything I’m missing?

Fish
Clownfish - 2
Midas Blennie
Royal Gramma Basslet
Yellow Watchman Gobie
Flame Hawkfish
Orchid Dottyback?
Wrasses? - 2
Dragonet?

For Fish, the first 5 listed here are pretty set, and the last 3 are up in the air. My questions are, is this 50G cube tank big enough for a couple of flasher wrasses? Any problems with compatibility with an Orchid Dottyback or Dragonet? Is this tank big enough for all of these fish listed?


Inverts/Others
Blue Tuxedo Urchin
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Pistol Shrimp
Fighting Conch
Squamosa Clam
Banded Trochus Snails

Coral
Various Zoa for Zoa Garden
GSP
Blastomussa
Branching Hammer
Suggestions?

For inverts and corals, a zoa garden, conch, and a blue tuxedo urchin are my only must haves, but will take other suggestions, thanks for reading!

 

[Devaji]

welcome!
like any hobby everyone is going to have there favorite X here in reefing its fish, corals, lighting, filters etc. so your will prob. get alot of thoughts so here is mine....for what ever there worth. lol

tank:
I would go with the IM ext over the int here's why those filter box sure do have up a ton of real estate. when your scaping and trying to get that oh so perfect rock structure it might just be in the way.

you will find in reefing there are pro and cons to it all. the int can go right up to the wall looks pretty slick. but you lose intank space.

the ext sure you got to leave room behind the tank for the overflow and plumbing but you will need space for the wave makers anyway....
something to think about.
while your thinking about it maybe the 75 is the right tank? them dems are very close but you get an extra 25 gallon of water. that's a lot in a small tank. of course it's all up to your tank goals and budget. but so many people get in then a upgrade pretty soon.
I just want you to get the tank that will last for years to come.

skimmer:
again lot of options out there. but I like reef octopus and life reef
speaking of life reef...

sump.
jeff at life reef makes some killer reef gear might price out a custom sump skimmer and reactor set up. I dont own any of his stuff but I hear alot of great things about it.

heater:
I would recommend a heater controller of some sort. dose not have to be a fancy reef controller but heater go all the time and when they do it most of the time on...

rocks:
I like real reef rock over the caribsea stuff


fish:
dotty backs can get nasty I hear, for that reason I never kept one.

your off to a great start that is one heck of a tank alot better than my ebay special when I started years and years ago.

again this is just my thoughts.
good luck!

 

[Avocaadotoast]

welcome!
like any hobby everyone is going to have there favorite X here in reefing its fish, corals, lighting, filters etc. so your will prob. get alot of thoughts so here is mine....for what ever there worth. lol

tank:
I would go with the IM ext over the int here's why those filter box sure do have up a ton of real estate. when your scaping and trying to get that oh so perfect rock structure it might just be in the way.

you will find in reefing there are pro and cons to it all. the int can go right up to the wall looks pretty slick. but you lose intank space.

the ext sure you got to leave room behind the tank for the overflow and plumbing but you will need space for the wave makers anyway....
something to think about.
while your thinking about it maybe the 75 is the right tank? them dems are very close but you get an extra 25 gallon of water. that's a lot in a small tank. of course it's all up to your tank goals and budget. but so many people get in then a upgrade pretty soon.
I just want you to get the tank that will last for years to come.

skimmer:
again lot of options out there. but I like reef octopus and life reef
speaking of life reef...

sump.
jeff at life reef makes some killer reef gear might price out a custom sump skimmer and reactor set up. I dont own any of his stuff but I hear alot of great things about it.

heater:
I would recommend a heater controller of some sort. dose not have to be a fancy reef controller but heater go all the time and when they do it most of the time on...

rocks:
I like real reef rock over the caribsea stuff


fish:
dotty backs can get nasty I hear, for that reason I never kept one.

your off to a great start that is one heck of a tank alot better than my ebay special when I started years and years ago.

again this is just my thoughts.
good luck!

Thanks for all your suggestions! I see what you mean about the overflow box taking up some real estate, but I do like the cube form factor of the 50 INT, so i'll just live with the less real estate within the tank. Thanks for the suggestion for the lifereef sump, I looked them up and they look very well built! It looks like there's a bit of a lead time to get them built so I'll have to think about it and see if I have the patience to wait. I'll definitely look to get a heater controller.

 

[Devaji]

Thanks for all your suggestions! I see what you mean about the overflow box taking up some real estate, but I do like the cube form factor of the 50 INT, so i'll just live with the less real estate within the tank. Thanks for the suggestion for the lifereef sump, I looked them up and they look very well built! It looks like there's a bit of a lead time to get them built so I'll have to think about it and see if I have the patience to wait. I'll definitely look to get a heater controller.

your welcome my friend and there just that suggestions the good thing is its your tank so make it how you want it. but they do offer the same 50 cube in an ext. overflow just saying.

yeah the lead time on the life reef sumps are a bit i guess. did you check out his FB page? lots of cool examples of skimmers and sumps there. that sias nothing wrong with the one you was thinking about.

have fun on your journey!

 

[Avocaadotoast]

After some additional research, I ended up buying the Cade Reef 600 S2. I'm going to be starting up a different build thread for that one once it comes in, so stay tuned!

 

[thom_smith]

I’m getting set up for my very first reef tank after scouring these forums for a bit, and I would love to document my journey, and would love to hear your feedback and advice as well! Throughout this first post I will probably have some interspersed questions, so feel free to help a newbie out! A lot of the equipment is not yet purchased, just wanna make sure everything checks out!

Equipment

Tank - Innovative Marine NUVO INT 50 w/stand
Sump - Trigger Systems Platinum Sump Cube 20
Return Pump - NYOS Viper 3.0
Heater - 200w Finnex HMS Heater
Circulation Pumps - 2 x VorTech MP10WQD
Light - Kessil A360WE Tuna blue
Skimmer - S-120 Space Saving G4 Protein Skimmer - Eshopps
ATO - Duetto Dual Sensor Complete Aquarium ATO System
Media Reactor - BRS GFO and Carbon Reactor w/ Sicce Syncra 1.5 pump
Rocks - 40 lbs CaribSea Life Rock (Regular and Shapes)
Sand - 40 lbs CaribSea Special Grade Arag-Alive! Reef Sand
Doser - X1 Pro Wifi Dosing Pump, dosing All for Reef Tropic Marin

Based on some other posts here, it looks like the trigger systems cube 20 sumps should be able to fit within the cabinet, so I’m hoping that's the case. I think I’m alright with spending a bit more on the platinum sump in order to get the automatic filter roller right off the bat. Some questions I have are, would the Kessil light be sufficient to light this tank? I plan to stick to mainly soft corals, with maybe only a couple hard corals or clams. Also, I’m thinking I would try just using the single doser for the All for Reef Tropic Marin, as I have heard it works, anyone have experience with only dosing the All for Reef? Does all my equipment seem compatible or is there anything I’m missing?

Fish
Clownfish - 2
Midas Blennie
Royal Gramma Basslet
Yellow Watchman Gobie
Flame Hawkfish
Orchid Dottyback?
Wrasses? - 2
Dragonet?

For Fish, the first 5 listed here are pretty set, and the last 3 are up in the air. My questions are, is this 50G cube tank big enough for a couple of flasher wrasses? Any problems with compatibility with an Orchid Dottyback or Dragonet? Is this tank big enough for all of these fish listed?


Inverts/Others
Blue Tuxedo Urchin
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Pistol Shrimp
Fighting Conch
Squamosa Clam
Banded Trochus Snails

Coral
Various Zoa for Zoa Garden
GSP
Blastomussa
Branching Hammer
Suggestions?

For inverts and corals, a zoa garden, conch, and a blue tuxedo urchin are my only must haves, but will take other suggestions, thanks for reading!

Building a Nuvo Int 50 and struggling with sump selection myself. What has been your experience with the Platinum Cube 20? I have a sump from a different manugacturer with a fleece roller in my larger tank and really like it. It works well for me because I sometimes don't stay on top of changjng filter socks as frequently as I should. And they become nutrient factories! That draws me to the Platinum 20 but for the price and sacrificed skimmer chamber space to accomodate the mammoth fleece. On the plus side it does have the third moveable fitting. Has it been worth the significant premium over something like Trigger Triton 20 or the Fiji Cube 20?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

any update on your tank?