Slow Reintroduction

[sheaD]

Welcome! Well after 10 years out of the hobby the itch came back and I just couldn't ignore it. Man has a lot changed in 10 years. For starters pricing!! Prices on everything from corals to equipment have skyrocketed. Additionally, equipment choices are more abundant than ever. 10 years ago it was basically metal halides or T-5's and that was it. Now LED's rule. This will be a place to follow along my build process as I reintroduce myself to the hobby.

The plan will be to create a mixed reef using the Innovative Marine Nuvo 40 as the footprint. I now live in a small beach house and space is rather limited. My previous tank was a mixed reef using a custom 150 gallon with closed loop system that I wish I still had pictures of, but needless to say the reduction in tank real estate will be quite the journey for me.

Equipment List:
Tank:
Innovative Marine Nuvo 40 All in One

Stand:
Custom made by myself

Circulation:
Innovative Marine Mighty Jet Midsize return pump (538 GPH) with two Innovative Marine Spin Stream flow nozzles to create a more random flow pattern
Maxspect Jump Gyre 2K

Filtration:
Innovative Marine NuvoSkim DC Midsize (I wanted a Tunze Comline 9004 DC Skimmer but couldn't find one in stock. This will likely be upgraded as the tank matures)
Intank refugium with small ball of chaetomorpha lit by an 9 Watt Innovative Marine ChaetoMax 2-IN-1 Refugium LED Light

Lighting:
Radion XR 15 Pro with Radion Mount

Random:
Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO
Bulk Reef Supply 300Watt Titanium Heater with Finnex Digital Heater Temperature Controller
Two In Tank Media Baskets which will hold Filter Floss, Chemi Pure and Purigen
Intank Filtration Cover to hide all of the rear chamber parts

 

[sheaD]

Pictures of the tank and equipment goodies

 

[sheaD]

 

[sheaD]

I'm not 100% quite sold on the Gyre pump. My tank will separate my living room from my kitchen and dining room so it will be 100% visible on all 3 sides. My hope is to keep all viewing angles as clear as possible hence the reason for the gyre. I really struggled finding a combination of pumps that would keep 3 sides viewable. I like that I can place the gyre up high on the tank relatively out of the way. I took a good hard look at the Vortech pumps but ultimately didn't want two pumps on either side sitting in the middle of the glass taking up valuable viewing real estate.

I'm hoping that the gyre coupled with the random flow return nozzles will be enough flow to reach most areas of the tank. If not, I may need to add a Tunze Nanostream to the middle pointing towards the front of the glass to help flow towards the bottom of the tank. Time will tell.

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R and back to the salt life

 

[sheaD]

Made some progress on the stand over the last couple of days. Wish I would've taken more pics of the build process.

 

[sheaD]

 

[Zach B]

Welcome, sounds like a great build! Following along

 

[sheaD]

Spent some time yesterday getting all the equipment on the tank.

 

[sheaD]

First step cut your brand new tank!! Took a razor blade to the back of the tank to make room for the refugium light

 

[sheaD]

After the fuge light area was cut it was time to place all the equipment into the aquarium.

 

[sheaD]

I really didn't want to see a bunch of wires hanging around underneath the stand so I made a little bracket to hang on the back of the stand to run the wires through for all of my controllers.

 

[sheaD]

After the "controller board" was placed in the stand I was able to grab some time to tidy up the wiring.

 

[sheaD]

After the wires were run and zip tied I made a door to hide all the wires from view. I really wanted to keep the wiring as clean as possible.

 

[sheaD]

 

[sheaD]

Spent the weekend working on the aquascape. Went with approximately 30-40 pounds of Marco Rock of various forms and sizes. Foundation rock, shelf rock and regular marco rock. The goal here was to create a Negative Space Aquascape where I could not only see through the front of the scape but I also wanted to see through the scape to the other side when viewing the sides of the tank. I'm happy with the way it came out other than how large I made it.

 

[sheaD]

Putting it together:

 

[sheaD]

Final Product:

 

[sheaD]

 

[sheaD]

and then here it is in the tank.