The Innovative Marine Nuvo Index Thread

[ghill1253]

I will take delivery late this week of your Nano 8 aquarium to be set up for salt water. It is my first saltwater tank in over 20 years. In addition to the aquarium I have purchased an Enhiem 50 watt heater with digital display (can be used in or out of the filter box); a reef octopus nano NS-80 protein skimmer (can be used in or out of the filter box); prepared salt water; live sand to depth of 3 inches (more in back, less in front); three small Lunar LEDs (two blue, one 12000 white) and will add live rock soon and coral later prior to adding 5 or 6 smaller fish. I will also utilize a small (120 gph) external canister filter with a 5 watt in-line UV light containing ceramic bio balls and fine filtration media.

 

Questions:

1. Has anyone else utilized an external filter? If so where was the input and output tubing placed in the tank?
2. What is the suggested small fish load for an 8 gallon tank filtered as above?
3. How many "cleaner" critters and what type are recommended?
4. What are the best coral for a tank like this?
5. What additional live plant or animal items were placed in the main filter tank to assist with biological filtration of as food for the fish and/or coral.

Thanks for any advice. I want to do it right the first time... too much invested to have it go sour!

[GHill762]

I will take delivery late this week of your Nano 8 aquarium to be set up for salt water. It is my first saltwater tank in over 20 years. In addition to the aquarium I have purchased an Enhiem 50 watt heater with digital display (can be used in or out of the filter box); a reef octopus nano NS-80 protein skimmer (can be used in or out of the filter box); prepared salt water; live sand to depth of 3 inches (more in back, less in front); three small Lunar LEDs (two blue, one 12000 white) and will add live rock soon and coral later prior to adding 5 or 6 smaller fish. I will also utilize a small (120 gph) external canister filter with a 5 watt in-line UV light containing ceramic bio balls and fine filtration media.

 

Questions:

1. Has anyone else utilized an external filter? If so where was the input and output tubing placed in the tank?
2. What is the suggested small fish load for an 8 gallon tank filtered as above?
3. How many "cleaner" critters and what type are recommended?
4. What are the best coral for a tank like this?
5. What additional live plant or animal items were placed in the main filter tank to assist with biological filtration of as food for the fish and/or coral.

Thanks for any advice. I want to do it right the first time... too much invested to have it go sour!

 

1.

2. very small.. a goby or two (two is pushing it), or one clownfish.. check out lgreen's guide to nano fish in the beginners forum

3. go to reefcleaners.org and get an idea from his quick crews, probably won't be able to ship though, as small as your CUC will be you won't have enough for him to ship. a small handful of snails and probably just one or two hermits would do the trick..

4. depends on how much maintenance you want to do.. softies will be low maintenance, sps will take more dedicated maintenance, lps would be somewhere in the middle..

5.

[Mckinney0171]

For any of the Nuvo 38 owners what are using for a stand? I can't bring myself to use the fiberboard one that IM offers after reading so many reviews of it wobbling and just being cheap looking. I also have no carpentry skills and wouldn't make a very good homemade stand. Miracles offered to make me one. But the shipping from Canada is as much as the stand.

I also looked at using a Marineland Ventura 24x24. But the edges of the aquarium wouldn't be supported.

Just looking for ideas...

[claval01]

Can you please add my build to the Nuvo 16 section?

Chris NUVO 16 setup***UPDATE***

 

Thank You

[TeamIM24]

We ordered the CUC yesterday from Reef Cleaners and they should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. We are starting to look at our fish options and as I read on here it appears we need a quarantine tank. With us having a Nuvo 24 I am thinking we need something between 5-10 gallons for quarantine. I am thinking we are going to start with a Royal Gramma and then eventually add a yellow goby and a clown fish. We will also be adding coral after the fish get all settled. What type of set up is recommended for quarantine? Do any of you just buy a smaller AIO for quarantine? I see JBJ has a 6 gallon AIO for $149 that we could use for fish and eventually coral. Are there better and/or more affordable solutions?

[defender.TX]

We ordered the CUC yesterday from Reef Cleaners and they should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. We are starting to look at our fish options and as I read on here it appears we need a quarantine tank. With us having a Nuvo 24 I am thinking we need something between 5-10 gallons for quarantine. I am thinking we are going to start with a Royal Gramma and then eventually add a yellow goby and a clown fish. We will also be adding coral after the fish get all settled. What type of set up is recommended for quarantine? Do any of you just buy a smaller AIO for quarantine? I see JBJ has a 6 gallon AIO for $149 that we could use for fish and eventually coral. Are there better and/or more affordable solutions?

 

It depends. $149 is pretty cheap for a full setup. However, keep in mind that a quarantine tank has special filtration needs. The goal of a quarantine tank is to be able to dose medications as needed and not stress the fish while they are sick. Here are the basic rules:

1. Anything in the tank should not be porous so that medications aren't absorbed.
2. Flow should be lower than in the main tank to not stress the quarantined fish.
3. Fish need hiding places to not be stressed. Use PVC pipe elbows and sections.
4. Filtration needs to be cycled before you put it in the tank. The easiest thing to do is use a simple sponge filter with an MJ pump. You can have a few of the sponges on hand since they are so cheap, and always have one in the sump on your main tank. If you need to setup the quarantine quickly you will have cycled filtration media always.

The easiest way to setup a quarantine is a 10 gallon standard from Petco. You can find them for $18 or cheaper. Then you need the MJ pump and sponge filter, that's another $40. Finally you need some PVC for hiding places and egg crate for frags (another $10?). For lighting you can use a simple 20" dual T5 HO fixture (or build your own with retrofit parts from Bulk Reef Supply). You can usually get a dual T5HO setup for around $50. That should work for anything you plan on quarantining. For corals I would just do 24 hours with Coral RX and make sure anything that falls off the coral doesn't get brought into the main tank. For fish you can do a week of observation.

[TeamIM24]

The easiest way to setup a quarantine is a 10 gallon standard from Petco. You can find them for $18 or cheaper. Then you need the MJ pump and sponge filter, that's another $40. Finally you need some PVC for hiding places and egg crate for frags (another $10?). For lighting you can use a simple 20" dual T5 HO fixture (or build your own with retrofit parts from Bulk Reef Supply). You can usually get a dual T5HO setup for around $50. That should work for anything you plan on quarantining. For corals I would just do 24 hours with Coral RX and make sure anything that falls off the coral doesn't get brought into the main tank. For fish you can do a week of observation.

Thanks for this. Do you have this setup? Can you post a couple pictures of yours please?

[Cameron6796]

Actually for fish I would quarentine way longer like 4weeks but yeah defender said correct, it's very bare bones heater, pump, cheap light tank and hiding places

[defender.TX]

Actually for fish I would quarentine way longer like 4weeks but yeah defender said correct, it's very bare bones heater, pump, cheap light tank and hiding places

Yea, to each his own on that one. I know a lot of people are very serious about quarantining or extended periods of time.

 

I personally don't quarantine at all, but if I did I would do a 10 gallon setup like I recommended.

[Cameron6796]

Touché lol I'm just saying if he's going to spend the money in the qt then he might as well do it long enough that it will have effect I would hate to add a fish to a tank and suddenly it has ich

[rdck99]

We ordered the CUC yesterday from Reef Cleaners and they should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. We are starting to look at our fish options and as I read on here it appears we need a quarantine tank. With us having a Nuvo 24 I am thinking we need something between 5-10 gallons for quarantine. I am thinking we are going to start with a Royal Gramma and then eventually add a yellow goby and a clown fish. We will also be adding coral after the fish get all settled. What type of set up is recommended for quarantine? Do any of you just buy a smaller AIO for quarantine? I see JBJ has a 6 gallon AIO for $149 that we could use for fish and eventually coral. Are there better and/or more affordable solutions?

I spent in the neighborhood of $80 on my QT. I have some details of what I went with in the below link and the first post of my tank thread (signature) has a link to a long thread on my battle with ich. Let me know if you have specific questions. Good luck.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/325830-rdck99s-16g-nuvo-reef-first-saltwater-tank/?p=4433775

[defender.TX]

Touché lol I'm just saying if he's going to spend the money in the qt then he might as well do it long enough that it will have effect I would hate to add a fish to a tank and suddenly it has ich

 

I totally agree. I just only have two fish in my tank, and don't plan on adding anything more than a Firefish in the future. I have read, although this could be wrong, that most fish carry Ich but don't succumb to it unless they are highly stressed. Tanks that are stocked correctly should never have Ich outbreak, even if some of the fish (or all of them) carry Ich. An Ich outbreak generally means the tank is overstocked and the fish are stressed.

 

That doesn't mean you shouldn't quarantine! There are a ton of great reasons to quarantine. I'm just saying that I don't personally because of my livestock choices.

[Brccklyn]

Great looking tanks everyone. Im looking to buy a nuvo 16 this week if possible after a few months of research. Thanks everyone

[defender.TX]

Great looking tanks everyone. Im looking to buy a nuvo 16 this week if possible after a few months of research. Thanks everyone

 

Great tank. You'll love it. They look awesome in person.

[Islandoftiki]

Here's another one to add to the list:

 

Islandoftiki's Nuvo 30 Peacock Mantis Tank

[B&Y]

Any suggestions on a good skimmer for the 16 Nuvo?

I like the AquaC remora nano skimmer.

 

Great thread. Can you add my Nuvo 16 build to the list as well ?

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/336719-black-and-yellow-im-nuvo-16g-nano-reef/

[TeamIM24]

Our CUC arrived yesterday from ReefCleaners and they did us right. A lot of them started moving after just 15 minutes. Vast majority are already active and naturally several have already gone through the overflows into the media baskets. Do any of you use mesh screens or something to allow the H2O flow but keep smaller fish and CUC members from going through? Also, several snails crawl up and camp out well above the water line. Do you move them back in? What are they doing out of the water?

[tlombardo]

I have heard that some of the snails live in tidal areas and are out of water sometimes so its probably fine. Unless they look lost I guess on the wrong side of the glass ha.

[HammerheadV13]

Our CUC arrived yesterday from ReefCleaners and they did us right. A lot of them started moving after just 15 minutes. Vast majority are already active and naturally several have already gone through the overflows into the media baskets. Do any of you use mesh screens or something to allow the H2O flow but keep smaller fish and CUC members from going through? Also, several snails crawl up and camp out well above the water line. Do you move them back in? What are they doing out of the water?

 

I had this problem with a few of my Nerite snails, just like tlombardo said... They are from tidal pools and carry saltwater in their shell, they can survive out of water for a few hours. I found several on the floor the day after I put them in the tank, plopped them back in and they were moving in no time. The best solution was to run my tank with the top on, this had two benefits. 1) Keeps the snails in 2) Less evaporation.

[TeamIM24]

Thanks. What temp are your tanks running? Normally ours runs right around 81.1 with minor fluctuation during the day with the lights. When I put the top on the day the CUC arrived it jumped to 82.6. My heater has never even had to come on and is looking like a waste of money at this point.

 

Do you have any mesh screens over the overflow to keep snails and fish from washing into the media baskets?

[Pals_id]

I liked my 8 gallon so much, I recently upgraded to the Mini 38.

 

Check it out here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337573-nuvo-mini-38-up-and-running/

 

Thanks

[HammerheadV13]

Thanks. What temp are your tanks running? Normally ours runs right around 81.1 with minor fluctuation during the day with the lights. When I put the top on the day the CUC arrived it jumped to 82.6. My heater has never even had to come on and is looking like a waste of money at this point.

 

Do you have any mesh screens over the overflow to keep snails and fish from washing into the media baskets?

 

Mine generally runs from 78-81 and that is with the lid on. I never used my heater either and just took it out. I believe Sanghelli uses a fan to help cool his tank. Something small and simple that he picked up on eBay.

 

I am not running any screens on my over flow at this time. Most of my snails and fish are too big to fit through the slots. The only thing that does fit are the cerith snails, and they always find their way to the fuge... Which is fine with me.

[TeamIM24]

Please add our Nuvo 24 to the build list:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/337615-teamim24s-innovative-marine-nuvo-24/

 

 

 

 

[slaychild]

Question for all 16g owners. Who thinks that a protein skimmer is not needed on the 16g? I have a IM skimmer, but I think it gets in the way. Wondering if some of you have done well without one. Thank!

[rdck99]

Question for all 16g owners. Who thinks that a protein skimmer is not needed on the 16g? I have a IM skimmer, but I think it gets in the way. Wondering if some of you have done well without one. Thank!

I don't have experience without using one, but my logic is this: nasty brown water collects in the collection cup, so I have to believe it's keeping the water cleaner than it would without, therefore, I'll continue using it. If the water wasn't obviously nasty, then I'd debate its real value, but I haven't had to do that. Plus, I use the MiniMax reactor with biopellets, so a skimmer is all the more necessary.