NUVO Fusion Micro 30 – DIY CLONE (Help appreciated)

[roberthein]

Hi guys,

Im a newbie in the reef hobby, so bare with me, if i'd be talking gibberish.
Anyhow this thread is for my first DIY tank project, and the aim is a standard beginner setup, with a limited budget, sort of..

I felt in love with the "NUVO Fusion Micro 30L" tank, but unlucky for me, i am not able to get hands one of these tanks, unless i pay 3 times the tanks price in shipping cost (I live in Bangkok)

Then i thought, i can do this myself or at least pay someone to put the glass tank together ;-) its pretty cheap in thailand, just have to make sure i get some low iron glass.

So, i've pulled everything i could find on the Fusion 30 from google and various forums (including this) and basically my plan is to "clone" the fusion 30, but with some size modifications, otherwise same setup.

As i said, its a beginner tank, so i wont be going full-on with fancy features.. it'll be tank, skimmer, filter tray, flow pump with fans and light, and possibly a fish or two ;-)

Now before i go out and pay someone to build the tank (without acrylic work) could one of you old sharks please help a newbie and tell me if this setup would work or its calling for a disaster.

Especially the back chamber im not sure of.. How high the overflow should be placed against the vertical dividers, i guess it matter quite a bit for the waterflow. Ill be using same compartment size as the original IM tank though, so i can use the ghost skimmer and filter trays.

Also im not sure, by looking at the photos around, should there be a glass wall to split up the tank and support the back chamber wall, or will it be ok to only use the acrylic wall?

And yes at this point, i have thought a million times, that it would in fact be so much easier if i could buy an original, but in my case... thats not an option. Phew!

So here goes, please help me out a bit guys.

A few specs:

Inspiration: NUVO Aquarium Fusion Micro 30L

NEW Tank dimensions L: 80 cm W: 40 cm H: 38 cm

High clarity glass: 8 mm

Acrylic dividers: 5 mm

Rock on - it'll be done by the afternoon ;-) ..kidding.

Cheers

Newbie-soon-to-be-reef-ower

[roberthein]

Bump!

[iceman211]

you're probably going to want the difference in height be greater for the tops of the baffles. By this I mean either increase the length of the baffles closest to the overflow or shorten the second baffles so the difference in heights is >5cm

[Jasoned]

I converted a 10 gallon with almost the same design except only 1 overflow and one return... my first baffle closes to the overflow slots was the full height - 1.5 inches (10 inches)... was flush with the top of the separation wall. The 2nd baffle was 8 inches from the bottom going up.

Also I used 1/8 inch ABS black plastic sheeting which can be scored and snapped.. much easier to work with and you can use abs cement, but possibly can;t find a sheet the size you need for your build. I used a Ehiem 3100? 80gph return pump since it has a small footprint ~ $20 Canadian.

for the back wall I used some small pieces of the abs sheeting at the 4 corners and in the center where the heater etc would go for extra rigidity of the back wall... think of it like a dinner table with 4 legs tipped on it's side... I built my own little pull out media basket from eggcrate and again using the abs plastic (you can heat it and bend it to make hooks etc)

I kept 2.5 inched of space in the back compartment... so my display dimensions are 20 inches wide, 12 inches high and 7.5 inches deep giving me about 8.5 gallons in the display... just extra info

Jason