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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Nuggs' IM Fusion 20 Nano Build


Nuggs

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I'll start by introducing myself.

I currently reside in Halifax, Canada. I've had tanks on and off for the last 20 years but they've always been fresh water (Cichlids, Shrimp breeding, High Light Planted, etc). About 2 years ago I converted my 50G tank over to salt water, and enjoyed it so much I quickly shutdown all my other FW tanks in an effort to fund my growing obsession. 50G became a 75G, 75G became a 150G.

With the recent addition of a second child, my families accommodations seemed to be lacking. Being that I'm in the Navy, I didn't relish the thought of trying to move to a new house, while managing two kids under two and trying to tear down a 150G reef and move it. With that said I decided to shutdown the 150G.

Since I started in salt water, I've lurked these forums, looking at the beautiful Nano tanks. Inspired by some of them I decided to downsize rather than shutdown completely.

This tank journal is cross posted from some older threads on a local reefers forum.

Current Systems Specs.

Fill Date: 5-Aug-2015

Tank: Innovative Marine 20 Gallon NUVO Fusion Nano Aquarium
Display Tank Dimensions: 24" x 15" x 13" (Display 24" x 12 x 13)
Stand: Bathroom Vanity 24" x 21.5" x 35"
Lighting: AquaIllumination Prime LED w/ Tank mount arm
Return Pump: Jebao DC-2000
Water Circulation: 2 x Jebao RW-4
Skimmer: Innovative Marine Desktop Skimmer
Reactor: Innovative Marine MiniMax Desktop All-In-One Media Reactor
Heater: Fluval E-50 Electronic Heater
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
Tank Water: Red Sea Coral Salt Pro

Tank At Its Current State: (30-Aug-2015)

IMG_9557_1.jpg

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The Current Stock-list: (Updated: 16-Sep-2015)


Fish:

1 x Purple Firefish

1 x High Finned Banded Goby

1 x Yellow Clown Goby



Invertebrates:

2 x Porcelain Crab

1 x Tri Colour Hermit

2 x Scarlet Reef Hermit

1 x Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

1 x Randall's Pistol Shrimp

1 x Bumble Bee Snail

2 x Banded Trochus Snail

2 x Spiny Star Astraea

2 x Cerith Snail

2 x Nassarius Snail

1 x Red Bubble Tip Anemone

1 x Crocea Clam



Corals:

Green Trumpet / Candy Cane

Hollywood Stunner Chalice

Purple Torch

Gold Torch

Purple Frogspawn

Green Star Polyps

Blue Clove Polyps

Aussie War Coral

Aussie Lord Acan

Red and Green Monti (Trying to grow them into a mixed piece)

Duncan

Rainbow Hornet Zoas

Purple Hornet Zoas

IA Rainbow Zoas

Unknown Pink Zoas (Possibly Pink Flamingo)

Alpha and Omega Zoas

LA Laker Zoas

Clementine Zoas

Scrambled Egg Zoas

Watermelon Zoas

Tubb's Blue Zoas

Orange Bam-Bam Zoas

Blue Ringed Zoas

Radioactive Dragons Eye Zoas

Sunny Delight Zoas

IA Rasta Zoas

Fire and Ice Zoas

Unknown Orange Paly

Armour of God Zoas (I think)

Candy Apple Red Zoas

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Well my new tank arrived yesterday.

 

 

Shout out to the ReefSupplies.ca guys, great packing and free 2 day shipping. Just couldn't pass it up.

 

 

 

 

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Another fellow fusion 20! Somebody needs to make a Fusion 20gal thread for us all.

 

Great find on the stand

 

Tank looks great. That's an impressive stock list. Good luck

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I was unsure what to do for a stand. The one from IM has really poor reviews.

I did look at either building one myself, or reinforcing a 24" bathroom vanity.

Then I found this little gem on Kijiji, needs a paint job :)

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Lighting wise I probably hand an Evergrow temporarily, the plan is for an AI Prime


Unfortunately this stand isn't going to work. The measurements supplied to me were incorrect, and the tank overhangs in the back 5/8".
I was considering adding 1/4 oak plywood to the top that would be 24" x 15" and supporting the overhang in the back. When mudded and painted you wouldn't even see it.
I have one more stand option that popped up so I may go a different direction yet.

How's this?
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real wood and a granite counter top for $100 couldn't be beat.


I'm still in the process of shutting down my 150G and some issues on that side slowed me down.
First my Gyre 150 controller died out of the blue. Lucking the guys at Distribupet (Maxspects Canadian Warranty support), hooked me up and 2 days later its back up and running.
Of course for those two days I was running a mishmash of powerheads in there. One of my old Koralias was moved in from my salt mixing setup. Of course when I went to adjust the angel, the ball joint was jammed with calcium sediment and it broke of in my hand. Completely my fault, just a piss off to an already ****ty day. But it did make me think of a use for it, more on that in a later post.
And then to top it all of my driver went in one of my Chinese LEDs (full spectrum side). Another shoutout to Reefsupplies.ca, they've threw a new driver in my order that should arrive tomorrow. Thanks Ray!
Anyway... back on track...
I got the sand and water in 5 days ago. Decided to go with 15 lbs of CaribSea SeaFlor Special Grade, plus 1/4 cup of my old sand just to help seed it. I am a big fan of sand in a tank, looks more natural to me than bare bottom. I also can't stand that crushed coral look, too gravelly (Is that even a word?). In my last tank I went with Oolite, and although I loved the look, I could never run enough flow through it without creating sandstroms, and my Orange Spot Diamond Goby was always keeping just enough fine particles of it in the water column that the tank never looked completely clear. The SeaFlor Special Grade has a slightly larger grain size (1.0-2.0mm VS 0.1-1.0mm), and I can already tell it's going to work out much better.
The following day I moved over about 13 lbs of Pukani from my 150G. A quick hacksaw here and a little bone cutter there and I came up with this:
IMG_9347-4.jpg
I didn't really get much further, I had been ordered to recycle the box the tank had come in (APPARENTLY it had been "laying" around too long). So of course I did as ordered:
IMG_9364.jpg

 


As far as the cycle goes. I've never seen Ammonia, Nitrite hit .25ppm the day after adding the rock and was gone the following day, and Nitrate is steady at 4ppm.
I don't think I'm going to see any more of a cycle than I already have. Beyond the good liverock, and the slight sand infusion, I also cycled 1L of biomedia in a TLF-150 for 2 weeks in my old tank, and moved it over here temporarily until everything is solid.
I keep pulling out the odd Asterina Starfish or Collonista Snail, not all of them mind you, just enough to prevent plague proportions.
There is other life as well, I' counted about 4 "Micro" Brittle Starfish:
IMG_9357.jpg


Changed the rock a little bit.
The shelf piece gives me a larger cave, more crevices and a little more zoa garden room.
I'm pretty satisfied, barring any other spur of the moment changes in design I'll likely epoxy this together tonight.
IMG_9381.jpg
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I've always been a fan of the golden ratio two islands look.
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Added some livestock:
IMG_9389.jpg
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Got my box of stuff from Reefsupplies on Friday, just random bits, an ATO reservoir, and my new media baskets.
My helpers take unboxing seriously...
IMG_9394.jpg
They even test the packaging material to see that it meets my expectations.

I was going to go with the InTank media baskets but with the price of the US dollar and the crazy shipping prices I went with the IM baskets instead. Still very happy with them.
IMG_9419.jpg
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Overall a much bigger and more robust basket.


A couple pics I snapped while acclimating stuff:
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Most recent pics:

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Sorry for the long posts, moving everything over from another forum kinda strung it together.



So in the last 2 weeks since I got the livestock in, I've mostly just been rearranging coral and placing frags. I need to get up a full list of the coral.
I did upgrade the light to an AI Prime (using their mounting bracket), I've got to say I love the thing. The customizability and the wifi out of the box make the thing awesome. Currently running 18.5K @ 60%
IMG_9567.jpg
I also picked up the IM Desktop size skimmer and reactor. The reactor is currently running Bio Pellets. The skimmer was a bit noisy for the first 2 days but then quieted right up. I couldn't figure out my I couldn't get a proper head of foam out of it though. Figured it was just going to require a breakin period, but then I noticed this:
IMG_9564.jpg
IMG_9565%202.jpg
The IM QA department really failed on this one. The actual neck and the forcing cone aren't aligned, so the foam head starts to form and then just leaks over into the cup. I have the call the supplier and IM on Monday and see what can be done. Hoping I can just get a collection cup sent out vs having to RMA the whole unit.
I had upgraded the return pump to a Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200, which I found was the perfect amount of flow. Corals were doing great and no detritus settled. Apparently my Purple Firefish thought otherwise and won't come out if the pump was on. I did go back to the OEM pump from IM. Its 211 GPH va the 296 GPH of the 1200. He still stayed hidden. Given that the flow didn't make a difference and the OEM pump is really loud, I went back to the 1200 with a TLF ball valve in there. I'll slowly throttle the flow up over 2 weeks and see if that acclimates him. There is the possibility that I may pull the thing and put in a Jebao DC1200 or DC2000 yet.
After selling off the old 150G I was finally able to get the Fusion moved into its spot and then came the wiring job.
IMG_9577.jpg
At the same time I picked up a Apex Jr from a local reefer and the Jebao Module to run my RW-4s. I simply love the increased flexibility the Apex fives me with those pumps. Then a week later the opportunity presented itself to get a used Full Apex. I of course jumped at it and just finished the wiring last night.
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I did have one loss I forgot to mention.
My Banded Goby jumped and I found him crispy on the floor this morning. Not sure if he wormed his way out through the sides, or if he jumped when I was doing maintenance and running back and forth to watch the Jays trounce Detroit.


 

A quick pic I snapped tonight:
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If anyone else has / gets an AI prime and is looking for some example programming here is what I'm running currently:
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And here is the exported settings:


Well I got the mesh changed out.
Before:
IMG_9567.jpg
After:
IMG_9620.jpg
In can actually see through the top now, lol.
IMG_9621.jpg
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Another fellow fusion 20! Somebody needs to make a Fusion 20gal thread for us all.

 

Great find on the stand

 

Tank looks great. That's an impressive stock list. Good luck

Thanks man loving this tank so far.

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Kent building supplies.

 

Its actually a bathroom vanity. Someone dropped something in the sink and had cracked it. I bought it on clearance for $100.

 

25" x 21" x 35"

 

It's 1/4" plastic mesh.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/clear-netting.html

 

 

Yep looked like it to me and was wondering....

 

So what did you put where the sink went? Or is there no support anymore? Those dimensions would fit the lagoon would love to find something like that local to me......nice score!

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Awesome build fellow Canadian! I got a Nuvo 20 going too, they are great tanks! Where did you get your new screen mesh from? Been looking for one like crazy!

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Yep looked like it to me and was wondering....

 

So what did you put where the sink went? Or is there no support anymore? Those dimensions would fit the lagoon would love to find something like that local to me......nice score!

I put a thin price of plywood under the sink hole, this filled it with self leveler.

Awesome build fellow Canadian! I got a Nuvo 20 going too, they are great tanks! Where did you get your new screen mesh from? Been looking for one like crazy!

I got mine from a brs group buy through Canreef.

Where are you in Canada dude? Nuvo 20's are like... a ferarri up here LOL

Halifax.

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Halifax.

 

Oh very nice!! I'm in Alberta, the opposite end haha! Where did you order/ get your Nuvo 20 from if you don't mind me asking - how much was it?? :)

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Nice tank! Quick questions...did you glue the Zoas directly to the live rock or were they already on there? Looking for a "cleaner" look in my tank without all the frag plugs everywhere

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Nice tank! Quick questions...did you glue the Zoas directly to the live rock or were they already on there? Looking for a "cleaner" look in my tank without all the frag plugs everywhere

 

Cut them of the plugs and mount them onto the rock...or just take rock rubble and glue the frag to that then to the rock...

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Nice tank! Quick questions...did you glue the Zoas directly to the live rock or were they already on there? Looking for a "cleaner" look in my tank without all the frag plugs everywhere

 

Most of my zoa frags came in on small bits a rock removed from the main colony. I usually pop them off the plug, trim to size and glue that tiny piece of rock to a piece of rubble.

 

Cut them of the plugs and mount them onto the rock...or just take rock rubble and glue the frag to that then to the rock...

 

Yep exactly. I usually don't like to remove the zoas from whatever they're on. Less stress on them. If they are directly on a plug I'll usually take a dremel, cut the rod off the plug, cut the edges of the plug as close to the zoas that I can and then glue that to rock / rubble

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Upgraded my return pump from a Cobalt Aquatics MJ-1200 to a Jebao DC-2000.

 

Have it connected to my Apex currently running at 65%. Much, much happier with it.

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Upgraded my return pump from a Cobalt Aquatics MJ-1200 to a Jebao DC-2000.

 

Have it connected to my Apex currently running at 65%. Much, much happier with it.

Fits fine in the back chamber? Been looking at this pump for some time now! Also is it strong enough to remove a power head from inside the tank?

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