Panda's IM Nuvo 40 Upgrade Build

BadPanda

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This build will be a little post dated due to work schedule. This build is actually an upgrade from my Nuvo 20.
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Unfortunately, all SPS except for oregon tort and my no name looking bonsai RTN'ed for unknown reasons. Also from hard experience, all three clams passed away due to bumble bee snails. I blame it on these snails due to the only snails lingering around the clams the next day.

When I originally wanted to start reefing, I was dead set on the Nuvo 40 but compromised with 20 so not too much to invest. I was completely kidding myself and hence why this thread started. So on to the build. Though I started out with a Nuvo 20, the tank itself gave me a really good experience with reefer with lots of ups and downs. A hobby wouldn't be a hobby if there weren't a hobby if there weren't any challenges to overcome. Nuvo 40 will be coming from BRS with extra 10 lbs of Fiji pink sand. Had a quick discussion with fellow R2R reefers Sod Buster and PatW regarding reusing old sand.

Equipment list:
Ice cap 1K
Sicce 3.0
X2 Spin Streams
Aqueon 150W auto temp
IM ATO
InTank Filter floss holder
InTank Fuge basket
IM fuge light (old version)
X2 AI Primes
Eshopps Nano Skimmer

Old tenants:
X2 Clowns
Pistol shrimp
Blue star leopard wrasse

New tents:
Pearly jawfish
Yellow watchman
Red fairy wrasse
Possum wrasse

Evicted tents: Traded with LFS
Flame angel (I will miss this guy)
Purple tang
Blue velvet damsel (Actually hosted my BTA before being evicted)

So this tank came in and the first thing I noticed was a big gash about 8x2.5 inches on the box. Expecting the worst, I opened it and inspected the next day (I work evening shift as a nurse). Next day comes around and while opening the shipping box, I noticed that the packaging box had roughly the same gash. That's when my heart sank. I slowly opened the box again expecting to hear broken glass. No broken glass and not even a scratch. The gash on both boxes is actually where the front of the tank is. Thank you BRS and IM for packaging your product and product you sell. I fully inspected the rest of the tank with no impairment.

Nuvo 20 dissassembly:
Who would have thought that breaking down a 20 gallon tank can be such a chore. I can't even imagine reefers with 200+ gallon tanks that need their tank broken down. Back to my little 40. I had 20 gallons of new SW circulating in a bin with a heater night prior upgrading. Turned ATO off and started mixing my old water to the new water. I think I did half a gallon every 30 mins. While removing old equipment, I had the idea to keep both AI Primes running on the holding bin during transfer. I later saw how exposed and vunerable the lights were to water splash and decided to just keep them off. Would have been a very expensive emergency mistake. So rocks out first along with my remaining SPS. I noticed one dry rock had dozens of pineapple sponges. This rock is where my pistol shrimp lived. Next came fishes.... Really didn't have a hard time capturing the fishes. I really didn't like the fact that not all will be coming back for the upgrade. I will both miss my flame angel and purple tang. I was already irresponsible putting a purple tang in 20 let alone do the same mistake twice. It's the right thing to do and I hope the go home to a better environment. Last came my loose corals. Next came rinsing sand. Holy crap, I did not know how much gunk accumilated with 20 lbs of sand in a span of 10 months. I really could siphon some areas due rock formation and will be carried over of how rock formation will be for the 40. I used a filter sock to strain the dirty water while sifting through the sand. It was so dirty and foul that i had to rinse the sock every two to three fills. I went from pure white to almost black after three scoops. I think next time I'll just won't reuse sand. Honestly, if it wasn't for other possible baby RFA's I would of picked up new sand instead.

Nuvo 40 assembly:
Now comes the fun part, a lot of new sparkly stuff. This also gave me the time completely break down and clean old equipment that will be going to to the 40. Nuvo 40 in place and new rock work implemented. Didn't occur to me till when it was too late to also rinse the new sand. I was a little rushed when I did my rock formation since all three RFA's were attached on of my big rocks. I was filling up the tank and noticed that I didn't have enough water. Grabbed my jugs and packaged evicted fishes and headed down to Tongs LFS for more SW and new tenants. I picked up a Pearly jawfish, Yellow watchman, Red fairy wrasse and a possum wrasse. Also decided to pick up another Aqueon autotemp heater. I love this heater due to its small package eight inches long for a 150W heater. The heater keeps the water at 77.9 to 78.5 F which is not bad. Back at home and slow introduced more water to compensate. I ran the extra heater along with the stock Nuvo 20 pump in the tank till it filled up. I have completely forgotten how new sand can turn the water so murky. When the tank was about half full, I slowly started introducing the fishes to their new home. First came the old tenants then the new. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have placed the new fishes first. Started glueing my SPS next. BTW I really like glueing my SPS to frag rocks just so I can move them at any given time. Only downside to this is how awkward they look bare. They should look better once the SPS have fully encrusted over. Then came my loose LPS corals. I love how my clowns love my black torch. I was hoping that they would forget my torch, but once I placed it on the tank, both clowns went straight for it. Tanks was about 3/4's full when I noticed that I did not have enough water again. When I get my own place, there will an RO/DI with a mixing station way before we even move in. So went back to LFS to grab some more water and hopefully the last time. When I was installing the equipment for the 40, I noticed two problems. One, the Sicce 3.0 did not fit the third chamber rightside up. You would have to turn it 90 and then rightside up once it clears the baffles. I was thinking that this would be an extra step when performing return pump maintenance which I do monthly. You also have to remove and replace return line in order to remove the pump. If things didn't get any worst, I realized that the sicce 3.0 used 3/4 inch outlet instead of the 1/2 inch outlet I was used to with the 1.5 and that I would have to trim my return line. Back to the LFS we go..... LFS finally realized why I kept coming back so many times that day. Needless to say I felt a little embarrased. Picked up a stepdown and trimmed my return line. Finally back home and installed return pump. Second problem. My Eshopps skimmer would not fit on the second chamber. When I shoved it down the chamber I felt great resistance. Feeling defeated, I decided to not run it for now and see what happens. I went to IM's website to check the dimensions and realized that the Nuvo 40 is supposed to a tenth of an inch wider than the Nuvo 20. The skimmer slides down on the 20 (like a chucking a hotdog through a hallway). The skimmer stops sliding on the Nuvo 40 once the pump hits the baffle. I'll let the tank break in and try again sometime. I might also replace my current ATO with another one. It works but the prongs looses my water line every other month. I clean the prongs monthly. When it works its awesome but once it looses the line, it's audibly noticable.

This whole ordeal lasted roughly for 12 hours due to multiple trips to LFS and rushed build. Better planning next time. Sometimes though ideas in your mind might come out the way you planned. If I were to do it again, I planned a little better. That day was my only day off for the week till week after and the wife and I don't like unnecessary stuff laying around. Also paying more attention to new equipment specs would have been nice. The good things is that it's over with no collateral to livestock. Will monitor livestock during the next week for any latent effects from the move. I will be posting pics later on since I wrote while at work. Thanks in advance.

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NY_Caveman

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Bad news this morning. Thanks to my urchin, my oregon tort fell and landed to another SPS and started to turn white. I noticed about almost half the frag was completely white. Could my tort come back from this?
It definitely could. If there is a solid part unaffected, maybe frag that part to be separate. If you try that I would still keep both pieces and see what happens. It the frag is very small and unfragable, you may still be fine waiting it out.
 
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BadPanda

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It definitely could. If there is a solid part unaffected, maybe frag that part to be separate. If you try that I would still keep both pieces and see what happens. It the frag is very small and unfragable, you may still be fine waiting it out.
The frag is only half an inch so there's no way I can frag. The frag looks like a snow cone with the syrup only on one side.
 

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The Oregon Tort tends to be slow growing (from my research, I have not owned one). Not sure how that may factor in. It is such a beautiful piece though, I would let it ride and cross the fingers.
 

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I really like your aquascape! Having the
negative space to the right really makes the eye focus on the rock work and corals.
 
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BadPanda

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Some progress to my tank.
As far as the Oregon tort is concerned, it had a little necrosis beyond the actual sting site. Hopefully, the necrosis stops which leads me to my next update. Purchased an IM Hydra 26 and replaced one of my Primes. The Hydra was a good call. Thanks to the extra puck, Mt. SPS is fully lit with minimal shadowing. I put the light on acclimate mode till April 15th. I did notice a slight difference between both lights. The Prime seems to be slightly brighter compared with the Hydra. Would this be from the acclimate mode? On the bright side, LPS island seems to be fluffier after implementing the Hydra. Granted, it's only been 48 hours but time will tell. My wife's Pearly jawfish is a piece of work. Very territorial and killed both my scissortails. Scored a great deal yesterday with my new Potters wrasse. The moment I saw it eat mysis, it was a done deal. Planning on coming back next week to pick up my second Blue Star Wrasse. Purchased Bacto reef balls just for crap and jiggles. My frag rack looks to be lost in the sauce with USPS. Tried to fit my eshopps skimmer again to no avail. I really don't get. It fits with slack on my nuvo 20 second chamber but not on the 40. I checked for specs and found that the 40 second chamber is supposed to be a tenth of an inch wider compared to the nuvo 20. I'll try to go skimmer less for another two weeks and see what happens.
 
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