schgr.cube's Innovative Marine 25 Lagoon (Photo dump 10/31/2017)

[schgr.cube]

21 hours ago, samnaz said:

The Nanobox is gorg. Love that finish. Good call. Worth the wait I'd say!

Oh definitely! I was very impatient, but so happy I was able to withstand the wait!

[schgr.cube]

8 hours ago, Fishy snowman said:

Wow.  That's Awesome. Good for you. 

Yeah, I was very excited! i know Dave has been interacting with them as well, so I was pretty honored to be selected. 

7 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Awesome, I do hope they pull through.  Yay for new stand!

 

Yay! I'll send you a photo tonight. 

[schgr.cube]

FTS 09/20/2017:

 

My fire shrimp has been coming out quite a bit more lately, but still mostly stays in his little cave:

 

Two different types of green star polyps (@Lula_Mae)

 

Armor of god?

 

Not sure if these are technically blow pops, but close enough:

 

And my frogspawn is getting pretty big!

[kimberbee]

Beautiful pictures. That hammer looks like a frogspawn though...? Oddly enough, I have a frogspawn that suffered, almost died, is coming back, but looks like a hammer. 

[schgr.cube]

27 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Beautiful pictures. That hammer looks like a frogspawn though...? Oddly enough, I have a frogspawn that suffered, almost died, is coming back, but looks like a hammer. 

Doh! I totally meant to write frogspawn, but my brain typed hammer for some reason. I got it right on the other forums I post on....

 

But thanks! I'm glad your frogspawn is coming back, I need to pick up some more euphyllias soon.

[Lula_Mae]

18 hours ago, schgr.cube said:

FTS 09/20/2017:

 

My fire shrimp has been coming out quite a bit more lately, but still mostly stays in his little cave:

 

Two different types of green star polyps (@Lula_Mae)

 

Armor of god?

 

Not sure if these are technically blow pops, but close enough:

 

And my frogspawn is getting pretty big!

Nice GSP! 

[Bunster]

Hey! I recognize you from IG! Great tank.... keep the nice photos coming

[schgr.cube]

17 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Nice GSP! 

thanks! I didn't think I would like the mixed look, but I kind of do now...

5 hours ago, Bunster said:

Hey! I recognize you from IG! Great tank.... keep the nice photos coming

Hey! Yeah, I recognized you when I saw you and had to follow! And Thanks, I am doing the best I can, I don't have a ton of photography experience.

[schgr.cube]

Stand was delivered....

[Thrassian Atoll]

Nice photos!  Tanks looking good.

[schgr.cube]

4 hours ago, TILTON said:

Nice photos!  Tanks looking good.

Thank you!!

 

 

 

 

More to come tomorrow!

[schgr.cube]

Innovative Marine Nuvo APS Stand review part 1: Assembly and first impressions

 

The APS stand for the 25 Lagoon also fits the Nuvo 40.

 

So I mentioned earlier on in this post that Innovative Marine reached out to me, and offered one of their new APS stands. Although this isn't necessarily a sponsorship or affiliation yet, the basic idea is that I would be given the stand in exchange for an honest review, some decent photos, and of course a little exposure.

 

For those who haven't heard of it, the Nuvo APS (Aluminum Profile Series) is Innovative Marines new aluminum cabinet stand, which features a series of interlocking extruded "profiles" for a lightweight and sturdy stand. It comes in either black, or a faux wood and black finish. 

 

Completed stand, just a little dirty from the construction experience.

 

I was a little worried at first, as the huge outer box was somewhat rough looking, but it did the job in protecting the packaging inside. Everything inside the box was wrapped up well, and covered in protective plastic. Also included was the instruction manual, a hex wrench, 4 pre cut feet, and 4 screws to affix the top panel to the frame. The only thing you will need to provide yourself is a phillips head screwdriver.

 

The lock on one of the profiles in the locked position.

 

Assembly was easy enough with the instructions provided, although IM does have a video on their YouTube channel if you need further assistance. The biggest issue I faced throughout building the stand came when I went to install the cross braces that run along the top and bottom. They appeared to be a lot bigger than the space they were supposed to fit, so I assumed I would have to spread the "profiles" apart in order to fit them in. The amount of effort it took to spread them far enough made me really nervous, as I thought I might break something, and I stopped two or three times to see if maybe I was sent the wrong parts. I eventually built up the courage to work them in properly, and once I got them in I knew it was fine. Still very nerve wracking.

 

This picture doesn't really do my struggles any justice, as there is a brace below that is already spreading the profiles apart. There was about a 1" difference prior to this.

 

All in all, I would say it probably took me 20-25 minutes to put together, with a large portion of that time spent trying to figure out if I was going to break the profiles. I did not need any assistance throughout the process, and the whole stand is light enough to lift very easily. The overall construction is very nice, and the finish is pretty unique looking with the anodized aluminum and gloss black acrylic.

 

The magnetic pop out doors are also a nice touch.

 

There are certainly a few cons with this stand, with one of my biggest gripes being in the protective plastic. The whole thing was absolutely covered in various types, and I felt that keeping most of it on throughout building would help things stay scratch free. This came back to haunt me later, as both of the large acrylic pieces in the pre-built sides had plastic running all the under the profiles holding them together. I wouldn't have necessarily thought to take the side pieces apart before building, since they came pre-built, so I ended up having to cut them out after the fact. There are still remnants along the edges that I am just going to ignore.

 

Torn pieces of plastic covering that I eventually had to cut out.

 

I will have to post some pictures of it later, as I didn't take any, but there are also some poor cuts on pieces of aluminum that ended up being visible on the final build. The doors also look a bit off, as the corner pieces look like painted plastic, and have a slightly different finish from the aluminum that really makes them stand out. The back of the stand could also use a few small touches, just to increase usability and bring this stand to a whole other level. A 3/4 or 1/2 back panel would be great to mount some electronics to, as right now there are only really the sides and you may not want to do that depending on your situation. I would also love for IM to create some sort of light mounting bar attachment, or even their own light hanging system that you could adapt to whatever light you have. I debating drilling into mine for some piping to run up the back of each side, but will stick to leaving mine mounted to the wall instead.

 

Switching these out is going to be a huge PITA, but the APS stand definitely looks better than my unfinished DIY stand. Ignore my droopy door.

 

I am very happy with the stand overall, and any opportunities it has are really mostly quality of life improvements. I am very glad they sent me the black version, as I would had to have a pretty interesting room to pull off their faux wood option. A white version would be great, and somehow finding a way to do a raw aluminum with clear anodization would be prefect for me with my raw metal NanoBox Hybrid! I'll have to post more pictures once I make the switch, and see how I will manage the interior and my cable management. Let me know if you have any questions about anything! Thanks for reading.

[Thrassian Atoll]

That's pretty cool.  Looks like the same size as the regular IM stand.

 

How are you going to move the tank over?  Wonder how much it weighs?

[Reefkid88]

Wow,that stand is too damn clean !!! Good luck on the change over,I know the feeling all too well. 

[schgr.cube]

5 hours ago, TILTON said:

That's pretty cool.  Looks like the same size as the regular IM stand.

 

How are you going to move the tank over?  Wonder how much it weighs?

 

1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Wow,that stand is too damn clean !!! Good luck on the change over,I know the feeling all too well. 

 

Agreed, I do like it quite a bit! I wish I had a nice white painted brick wall for it to sit against lol. 

 

I have carried a mostly drained IM10 down a flight of stairs on my own, so I imagine myself and another would be able to do the same with this tank. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!

[xthunt]

I agree on the white color option. Would make a nice contrast with the tank. One reason why I’m building one. No way I would paint a $350 stand. 

 

ETA: can you show pictures of the inside of the stand? Does it have a shelf? Adjustable?

 

Are the feet adjustable?

[schgr.cube]

15 hours ago, xthunt said:

I agree on the white color option. Would make a nice contrast with the tank. One reason why I’m building one. No way I would paint a $350 stand. 

 

ETA: can you show pictures of the inside of the stand? Does it have a shelf? Adjustable?

 

Are the feet adjustable?

I think I go back and forth on color. Now that I am seeing the black stand with the black background, it does kind of flow more, but I agree about the contrast of the white. Either way, I agree, and won't be painting this even if it was free! The feet are basically thick pre-cut foam, so I did have to shim underneath for leveling.

 

No shelf inside, below information on the stand now that it is set up.

[schgr.cube]

Innovative Marine Nuvo APS Stand review part 2: Setup with aquarium

 

I was going to do this part a little more in depth, but I don't really have the equipment that I really want in order to set up the inside properly. I think I have a few upgrades to make before I am going to start laying this out fully. There is likely an Innovative Marine ATO reservoir in my future (not free, unfortunately!) that will be going inside, and I am still debating between a few power management / battery backup options. Either way, here is the tank on the stand:

 

My cats are never far away, they are always wanting to see what I am doing.

 

Although I mentioned in the first part of my review that white would be a nice option, I do love how the black of the stand blends into the black on the tank for a nice clean transition. If I were to ever remove the AIO portion of the tank (which is certainly a possibility in the future), I think I would likely prefer white again. Either way, the stand looks super slick, and has a nice blend of modern / classic feel to it with the combination of design and materials. I don't love that I can see through the gap around the doors with my light on, but I don't quite know what I would do to solve that.

 

Cable management? WTF is that?

 

A few people have asked if the inside has any sort of shelf or anything. The short answer is no, and I do find that somewhat disappointing. While I wish it was at least an option, I am also partially glad that it does not include one. Unless it was height adjustable, and not spanning from front to back, having a built in shelf would certainly limit certain configurations and equipment options. If I were to ever sump this tank, a shelf would only get in the way. I have a few equipment changes coming soon, so I will really wait to figure out how I will mount / route everything after I have made those purchases. I'll try to get updated pictures once that has happened.

 

Now that the transition to this stand is complete, I can definitely say I am happy with it, and would highly recommend it to anyone with an IM tank. The price tag is probably going to scare a lot of people off, but I would certainly see it as a better investment than any of the particle board stands you will find out there, and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than those.

[Thunder Goose]

I had the same light leak between the doors on my tank. My husband attached a strip of black painted wood to the back of one door so that, when the doors are closed, it's behind the entire gap.

 

One thing I would change about my tank stands is I wish the INSIDE was white so I can see better - black equipment in a dark, black painted stand is hard to see well.

[Lula_Mae]

Wow, that looks really sharp now that it's on the stand!  Very nice!

[xthunt]

27 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Wow, that looks really sharp now that it's on the stand!  Very nice!

This^^

[schgr.cube]

3 hours ago, Thunder Goose said:

I had the same light leak between the doors on my tank. My husband attached a strip of black painted wood to the back of one door so that, when the doors are closed, it's behind the entire gap.

 

One thing I would change about my tank stands is I wish the INSIDE was white so I can see better - black equipment in a dark, black painted stand is hard to see well.

Yeah, I have had that same complaint regarding black stands. IDK, I may have some modifications to do on the inside of this guy. I may install a little light inside as well. That is an interesting idea for the light leak, I may be able to do something similar.

3 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Wow, that looks really sharp now that it's on the stand!  Very nice!

 

3 hours ago, xthunt said:

This^^

 

Thank you both!!

[schgr.cube]

A few pickups tonight:

 

Godspawn and Jawbreaker mushrooms:

 

Grafted monti cap:

 

Free little broken birdsnest:

 

I forgot I had taken a picture of the Jack-O-Lantern lepto, but this one is better anyway:

[schgr.cube]

Sorry, a lot of picture spam lately, but I caught my little green banded goby out and about for once, so I decided to snap a shot.

 

 

They are so cute!

[medinar83]

Amazing tank, your tank helped me pull the trigger on ordering one, I should be getting it in a few days, any need for a mesh cover? Any jumpers?