[Innovative Marine Nuvo 24] April Giveaway Build Thread

[TristanC]

Nice! That scape is perfect for this tank, very well done.

[Jay Wee]

Did all the particles cleared up in your water? Looks like it did.

[defender.TX]

diggin the scape real nice man!

Sweet aquascape.

Nice! That scape is perfect for this tank, very well done.

 

Thanks! The scape was my wife's idea and I found some rock that was just perfect at Austin Aquadome. I love how it came together.

 

Did all the particles cleared up in your water? Looks like it did.

 

Totally cleared up. It took about a week of running the Poly Filter Floss from InTank in the top of my media baskets but it's crystal clear now. I can't wait to get the InTank media baskets when they come out as well.

[Stussi613]

This build has really progressed since the last time I checked it. You're doing that tank you won proud my friend. Can't wait to see it with some corals in it! Get on that $39 pack zoa/play pack you were talking about!!

[defender.TX]

This build has really progressed since the last time I checked it. You're doing that tank you won proud my friend. Can't wait to see it with some corals in it! Get on that $39 pack zoa/play pack you were talking about!!

 

Hah! I was actually just thinking about picking it up on the way home today...

[chicagoreef]

First - what an awesome build thread! Thanks for all the great insights.

 

Second - I recently bought a used 35 gallon aquarium off of Craigslist. The guy had it custom built and well, it isn't easy to find a stand. I've checked out some furniture shops, but am not sure if a $500-$700 cabinet would support 300+ lbs. I haven't yet looked into a custom stand. However, the aquatic fundamentals 50/65 should work - you seem happy with the stand so far. Can you describe the inside or provide a picture or two? Any insight on the stand is appreciated - I am willing to spend more for something more stylish, but maybe safety is the most important criteria.

 

Thanks in advance!

[defender.TX]

First - what an awesome build thread! Thanks for all the great insights.

 

Second - I recently bought a used 35 gallon aquarium off of Craigslist. The guy had it custom built and well, it isn't easy to find a stand. I've checked out some furniture shops, but am not sure if a $500-$700 cabinet would support 300+ lbs. I haven't yet looked into a custom stand. However, the aquatic fundamentals 50/65 should work - you seem happy with the stand so far. Can you describe the inside or provide a picture or two? Any insight on the stand is appreciated - I am willing to spend more for something more stylish, but maybe safety is the most important criteria.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

I really do like the aquatic fundamentals stand so far. It's extremely sturdy and the powder coating is really resistant to spills. Really my only complaint about the stand is the door to the cabinet; it's only about a third of the total cabinet width. This means that for me I have a narrow opening to get into the back corners of the cabinet. It isn't a show stopper - in fact it's very usable. I just wish that the entire front of the cabinet opened up like some of the custom stands. It's so cheap, though, because it's very simple. Having a small door allows for more structural support since it's got a mostly open back, so I can understand why they designed it that way.

 

I'll try and get some more pictures today.

 

In other news, one of my clowns started bullying the other one last night out of the blue. It backs the smaller one into a corner or chases him all around the tank. Right when I was trying to go to sleep I heard a splash from the tank, turned on the light, and saw the smaller clown laying on top of the glass cover! Immediately my wife and I ran over and dumped him back in. He seems fine and is eating normally but he's still being bullied. I'm hoping one is turning into a female and this will be over soon.

[chicagoreef]

Thanks for the quick response on the stand - I actually did find some photos on the net. Its amazing how flimsy the stand looks, especially with no back, and yet can support so much weight. I looked at some pottery barn, west elm, and crate and barrel furniture that seemed much better built, but yet had much lower weight maxs - around 200lbs. I also looked at Ikea and had my wife and I sit on top of some of the pieces without any issues.

 

Good luck with the clowns!

[defender.TX]

Yea, I agree that in the pictures it looks flimsy but trust me - it's not. In fact, it's rather heavy for it's size, heavier than anything I have from IKEA. My wife and I both sat on it at the same time (350ish lbs) and it didn't even budge. The metal locking cam system that it uses is very solid. Anyway, I'm just giving you my opinion on the matter: for the money, if constructed properly, it can't be beat. I've seen a lot of reviews where people said it feel apart on them and I completely reject that - they had to assemble it improperly. There's no way it wouldn't support the weight if everything is put together correctly.

[chicagoreef]

Sounds great! I just stopped by the LFS where my used custom acrylic aquarium was made - I'm now waiting for a quote for a custom stand.

[defender.TX]

Sounds great! I just stopped by the LFS where my used custom acrylic aquarium was made - I'm now waiting for a quote for a custom stand.

 

I don't blame you. Honestly, if I had the tools I would have built a stand myself. I had the plans ready, posted them earlier in the thread, but in the end it just didn't make sense for me to buy the tools right now when space in my current rental is an issue. If I ever move into a larger place I probably will build an ADA style stand for this tank and use the Aquatic Fundamentals to hold a freshwater tank for my kids playroom.

[defender.TX]

Just a quick update today. Not much is going on, just letting the tank mature with the clowns and doing my regular maintenance. I ordered some Purigen and ChemiPure today, so I'm going to be adding that to my stock filter boxes soon. I also checked the InTank website and it says the Media Basket and Fuge Baskets are going to be done in July - this month! So I shouldn't have much longer to wait there.

[spartan1391]

I took out my fuge basket and swapped it out for an ac 70. Idk if the chambers are wider on the 24 but mine was always getting bogged down and catching a bunch of crap. Nothing wrong with the basket design I just felt it didnt work for me.

[chicagoreef]

I don't blame you. Honestly, if I had the tools I would have built a stand myself. I had the plans ready, posted them earlier in the thread, but in the end it just didn't make sense for me to buy the tools right now when space in my current rental is an issue. If I ever move into a larger place I probably will build an ADA style stand for this tank and use the Aquatic Fundamentals to hold a freshwater tank for my kids playroom.

 

Custom acrylic stand = $550 + taxes

 

So I will probably go with the acquatic fundamentals since I can't find anything else that would roughly fit my tank dimensions (26" wide x 19" deep)

[defender.TX]

Filter Media Change

 

So the Chemipure Elite and Purigen came in yesterday and I got both in the tank. The Chemipure bag was too big to fit in any of the stock filter basket chambers so I cut the middle section out and made the bottom two chambers into one larger media chamber. I finally threw away all the stock filter media. I've said this before but it's worth repeating: Innovative Marine makes an extremely nice aquarium but the filter media is just not good. Plain and simple. Honestly though, I don't mind - if they included more expensive filter media it would up the cost of the tank and they know we're all going to replace it anyway.

 

I did make one huge newbie mistake that really pissed me off: reading the directions on the Chemipure bottle. It says, and I quote, to "Rinse Lightly". I'm not sure who is writing the directions, but "Rinse Lightly" does not mean "Rinse until water runs clear" - especially if you have to rinse it for 5 minutes straight for the water to run clear. So I dropped this bag of Chemipure Elite into the tank and it immediately clouded my entire tank with black dust. Awesome. I've switched out the Filter Floss 3 times in the past 12 hours and every time it's just black as midnight. The water is finally clearing but there is a fine black dusting over everything in my entire tank. I'm thinking I'm going to siphon off the top layer of sand, add more sand (which I needed to do anyway), and take a toothbrush to my rock.

 

Anyway, it's probably my fault for being so dumb on this one, but I really do wish the directions were a little more clear about what level of rinsing is necessary on that product. I'm still hopeful it's going to bring my Nitrates and Phosphates down.

 

Moving Forward

 

Looking ahead, I'm going to be picking up a Phosphate test kit to make sure my new filter media is working out. I really want to get this algae issue taken care of before I add corals and I'm 100% positive it's caused by Nitrates and Phosphates being too high. I know Nitrates were around 1 ppm before I switched filter media so I'd also like to get a good benchmark on Phosphates before I add anything else.

 

Next up on my "to buy" list:

• Protein Skimmer
• InTank Filter Baskets & Fuge Basket (should be out this month!)
• Digital Aquatics RKL

If I'm still having a phosphate issue even after the skimmer I'll be adding a reactor with more GFO. I swear, I will have corals in this tank one day!

[chicagoreef]

So how much Chemipure rinsing should be done - I read somewhere that you should rinse for a minute, not until when it ran clear? How long did you rinse?

[defender.TX]

So how much Chemipure rinsing should be done - I read somewhere that you should rinse for a minute, not until when it ran clear? How long did you rinse?

 

Honestly, I rinsed my bag for 2-3 minutes before I put it in the tank the first time and it clouded the entire tank so badly you could barely see two inches into the aquarium. Once I saw how bad it was, I took it back out, and rinsed it for another 5 minutes or so until the water ran clear out of the bottom. The size bag that I'm using is the 11.74 ounce bag, which claims it treats up to 40 gallons. Even on the InTank website they say not to rinse it for more than a few seconds, but that is seriously a recipe for a black, cloudy tank in my experience. It's going to take me hours to clean up this mess. I thought maybe I had a hole in my bag, but upon inspection it seemed fine. Bottom line, if you're going to use Chemi-Pure I would rinse it longer.

[chicagoreef]

How interesting! Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

BTW - my stand should arrive today in the mail. I'm not sure how companies can make money on these things - $119 for a 65-75 pound item shipped to my door.

[defender.TX]

On the plus side when I was changing my filter media I found a few pods in my baskets, so I've obviously got some in the tank! Hopefully once I get the fuge going it will give them some place to setup shop. One of my longer term goals is to have one of those beautiful Mandarins.

[Jay Wee]

Never put it under a gushing running tap cuz you'll never get it clear. The gushing water will just disturb the media and you'll always get black water. I soaked my chemipure in a shallow bucket then put it under the running tap to create an over flow. Once the water looks somewhat clear I soak it again a few times but in RO/DI water so as not to introduce any tap water nutrients into my tank.

[defender.TX]

Never put it under a gushing running tap cuz you'll never get it clear. The gushing water will just disturb the media and you'll always get black water. I soaked my chemipure in a shallow bucket then put it under the running tap to create an over flow. Once the water looks somewhat clear I soak it again a few times but in RO/DI water so as not to introduce any tap water nutrients into my tank.

 

Yea I'll try that in 6 months or so when it's time to replace it. Lesson learned. My wife claims the tank is looking pretty clear today, hopefully a few more filter pads and some siphoning and I'll be back to normal.

[rdck99]

Filter Media Change

 

So the Chemipure Elite and Purigen came in yesterday and I got both in the tank. The Chemipure bag was too big to fit in any of the stock filter basket chambers so I cut the middle section out and made the bottom two chambers into one larger media chamber. I finally threw away all the stock filter media. I've said this before but it's worth repeating: Innovative Marine makes an extremely nice aquarium but the filter media is just not good. Plain and simple. Honestly though, I don't mind - if they included more expensive filter media it would up the cost of the tank and they know we're all going to replace it anyway.

 

I did make one huge newbie mistake that really pissed me off: reading the directions on the Chemipure bottle. It says, and I quote, to "Rinse Lightly". I'm not sure who is writing the directions, but "Rinse Lightly" does not mean "Rinse until water runs clear" - especially if you have to rinse it for 5 minutes straight for the water to run clear. So I dropped this bag of Chemipure Elite into the tank and it immediately clouded my entire tank with black dust. Awesome. I've switched out the Filter Floss 3 times in the past 12 hours and every time it's just black as midnight. The water is finally clearing but there is a fine black dusting over everything in my entire tank. I'm thinking I'm going to siphon off the top layer of sand, add more sand (which I needed to do anyway), and take a toothbrush to my rock.

 

Anyway, it's probably my fault for being so dumb on this one, but I really do wish the directions were a little more clear about what level of rinsing is necessary on that product. I'm still hopeful it's going to bring my Nitrates and Phosphates down.

 

Moving Forward

 

Looking ahead, I'm going to be picking up a Phosphate test kit to make sure my new filter media is working out. I really want to get this algae issue taken care of before I add corals and I'm 100% positive it's caused by Nitrates and Phosphates being too high. I know Nitrates were around 1 ppm before I switched filter media so I'd also like to get a good benchmark on Phosphates before I add anything else.

 

Next up on my "to buy" list:

• Protein Skimmer
• InTank Filter Baskets & Fuge Basket (should be out this month!)
• Digital Aquatics RKL

If I'm still having a phosphate issue even after the skimmer I'll be adding a reactor with more GFO. I swear, I will have corals in this tank one day!

 

Never put it under a gushing running tap cuz you'll never get it clear. The gushing water will just disturb the media and you'll always get black water. I soaked my chemipure in a shallow bucket then put it under the running tap to create an over flow. Once the water looks somewhat clear I soak it again a few times but in RO/DI water so as not to introduce any tap water nutrients into my tank.

 

 

A few things from my experiences...

• If you're not already, buy the ChemiPure Elite Mini (3.1 oz bags). They fit wonderfully in the InTank baskets. I think you'd have trouble getting the standard size to fit in the InTank baskets as well, and you definitely don't want to "doctor" those.
• I ran my ChemiPure Elite under tap water from the sink, until the water ran clear and had no problems. I wasn't blasting it with my sink's spray option, but I also wasn't soaking it in a bucket. It took about five minutes for the water to run clear (again, I was using the 3.1 oz bag), and all is well in my tank.
• My phosphates were around .25 ppm before adding the Purigen and they're now barely detectable.

[defender.TX]

 

A few things from my experiences...

• If you're not already, buy the ChemiPure Elite Mini (3.1 oz bags). They fit wonderfully in the InTank baskets. I think you'd have trouble getting the standard size to fit in the InTank baskets as well, and you definitely don't want to "doctor" those.
• I ran my ChemiPure Elite under tap water from the sink, until the water ran clear and had no problems. I wasn't blasting it with my sink's spray option, but I also wasn't soaking it in a bucket. It took about five minutes for the water to run clear (again, I was using the 3.1 oz bag), and all is well in my tank.
• My phosphates were around .25 ppm before adding the Purigen and they're now barely detectable.

 

That's basically exactly what I did the second time around. Ran it under the sink until the water went clear. Wish I had known that the first time around. Also, I'm planning on getting the InTank media baskets which luckily (according to the InTank website) fit the much larger ~11 oz Chemi-Pure Elite bags. So, I bought the larger bag in anticipation of buying the aftermarket media basket.

[rdck99]

That's basically exactly what I did the second time around. Ran it under the sink until the water went clear. Wish I had known that the first time around. Also, I'm planning on getting the InTank media baskets which luckily (according to the InTank website) fit the much larger ~11 oz Chemi-Pure Elite bags. So, I bought the larger bag in anticipation of buying the aftermarket media basket.

Perfect! I was initially thinking your (24g Nuvo) InTank media baskets would be the same size as mine (16g Nuvo), in which case the 11 oz wouldn't fit, but I now see that the 24g's are an altogether different size. You definitely won't be disappointed!

[chicagoreef]

Back to the stand discussion - i just put it together. Very easy. Wife also commented that it does not look too bad.

 

Are you able to "move" the stand with the tank. I will have this against the wall and at times might want to push it away from the wall a few inches to work on stuff. I am wondering about putting some sliders underneath.

 

 

Thanks!