Jackal's Nuvo EXT 50 Lagoon

[Jackal227]

I'm excited to announce my upgrade from a Biocube 16 gallon to the Nuvo EXT Lagoon 50 gallon.  

 

Tank:. Innovative Marine Nuvo EXT 50 Lagoon

Sump:  Trigger Saphire 26

Saltmix:  Tropic Marin Pro @ 1.026 S.G.

Aquascape:. CaribSea Liferock

Sand: TropicEden Miniflakes

Lighting:. Noopsyche K7 Pro II x 2

Powerheads:   Coralbox RN-1 x 2

Heater:  Finnex Titanium 300 Watt with ITC 306-A Controller

Skimmer:  Reef Octopus Classic 150SSS INT

Return Pump:  Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0

ATO:  XP Aqua Duetto with Eshopps 5 gallon reservoir

Chemical Filtration:  Matrix Carbon

Mechanical Filtration:  Poly Filter

 

The current plans for the tank include continuing the mixed reef theme from the Biocube and expanding on that theme in a larger body of water.  It'll open up possibilities for additional fish and corals that I couldn't add to a smaller tank. 

 

This will be my tank of firsts.  First sump, first ato, first large tank, first skimmer, first tank move, first time plumbing, etc.  It's going to be a journey and I have a lot of new exciting stuff to learn along the way.

 

I will document my journey so that hopefully others may learn from the countless mistakes that I'm about to make.

 

Livestock:

-Banggai Cardinalfish

-Leopard Wrasse

-Neon Dottyback

-Longnose Hawkfish

-Yellow Tail Damsel

- Black Phantom and Snowflake Clownfish

 

Inverts:

-Green Speckled Bubble Tip Anemone

-Nassarius Snails

-Scarlett Hermits

-Turbo Snails

-Cerith Snails

-Fighting Conch & Tiger Conch

-Purple Urchin

 

 

Corals:

-Green Star Polyps

-Various Zoanthids & Palythoas

-Favias

-Green and Purple Hammer

-Orange Montipora Setosa

-Purple & Red Blastomussa

-Various Acans

-Red Chalice

-Frogspawn

-Purple Blade Gorgonian

-Joe the Coral

-Bird of Paradise

-Green Birdsnest

-Krypto Montipora Cap

-Orange Montipora Cap

-Montipora Setosa

-Montipora Digitata

-Rainbow Delight

-Tealah Monster

 

1 Year FTS:

 

11 Months FTS:

 

9 Months FTS:

 

5 Months FTS:

 

1 Month FTS:

 

Aquascape:

 

[Jackal227]

We'll start off with some good news.  The tank has arrived in one piece.  It was delivered on a pallet 🤤.

 

It showed up early in the day so I went ahead and assembled the APS stand.  The stand came together very easily and is amazingly lightweight.  I couldn't be happier with it.  It's very sleek and feels very strong.  It's much taller than the old biocube stand so I won't have to bend over to look at it.

 

The stand came together so quickly that I decided to relocate my Biocube so that I had a place for it.  It was a little scary moving a running tank.  One slip and it'd be done.  I ended up draining out all but a couple inches of water and lifted the tank with everything inside off of the old stand.  After moving the old stand to the bedroom I carried the tank and placed it back on top.  The whole move was completed in around an hour.  The fish were pretty freaked out and the corals were pissed off overnight but they all recovered.  Luckily they are back to looking normal and doing well.

 

So with the new stand in place I opened the tank and set it on top.

 

The tank looks great.  I'm amazed at the quality of this tank.  The 24" of depth is a lot of space and I'm looking forward to aquascaping it.  I didn't have a lot of space for a wider tank so this gives me a lot of water with a narrow footprint.

 

Now I have to learn how to plumb the sump without flooding the house 

 

[banasophia]

Woohooo... looks like this is happening, and sooner than I expected!! So excited to follow along on your upgrade!

[Poodges]

Sweet tank.  I look forward to seeing it set up.

[JurisReefer]

I was in your same spot in July! Coming from a 20g AIO to a Nuvo ext 50. First time plumbing, having a sump, etc. Feel free to shoot me any questions

[Jackal227]

15 hours ago, banasophia said:

Woohooo... looks like this is happening, and sooner than I expected!! So excited to follow along on your upgrade!

There's still a lot to figure out before I get livestock in it but I'm already missing watching the biocube so I guess that I have motivation to get it going.

 

9 hours ago, Poodges said:

Sweet tank.  I look forward to seeing it set up.

I really like the dimensions of this tank.  It's only 30" wide but has a lot of volume.

 

37 minutes ago, JurisReefer said:

I was in your same spot in July! Coming from a 20g AIO to a Nuvo ext 50. First time plumbing, having a sump, etc. Feel free to shoot me any questions

How are you liking yours?  Do you have a build thread?

 

I started cutting the plumbing today.  Most of it went well but I'm short 2 fittings.  One I accidentally ordered the wrong size and the other I found out I needed in order to connect the return pump to the piping (I should've opened it earlier).  Not bad for a first attempt I guess but it'll delay glueing it together for a few days now.

[Gravity]

Looking forward to your new build! However, it will be sad to see your biocube go. 

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, Gravity said:

Looking forward to your new build! However, it will be sad to see your biocube go. 

Thank you.  

 

I still haven't fully decided on the future of the Biocube.  I know that it'll be used as an observation tank for new fish additions before going into the lagoon.  However I'm still deciding on what to do with the rock and corals.

[ef4life]

Looking forward to this build up, I really like the Nuvo ext series tanks.

[JurisReefer]

On 12/14/2019 at 4:58 PM, Jackal227 said:

There's still a lot to figure out before I get livestock in it but I'm already missing watching the biocube so I guess that I have motivation to get it going.

 

I really like the dimensions of this tank.  It's only 30" wide but has a lot of volume.

 

How are you liking yours?  Do you have a build thread?

 

I started cutting the plumbing today.  Most of it went well but I'm short 2 fittings.  One I accidentally ordered the wrong size and the other I found out I needed in order to connect the return pump to the piping (I should've opened it earlier).  Not bad for a first attempt I guess but it'll delay glueing it together for a few days now.

I really like it. Not the biggest fan of the overflow design, but other than that I'm glad I went with it over the other options I was considering. Only other gripe with it is that the back glass is a double panel, so the magnet on a pump has to be pretty strong to keep it up. Don't have a build thread but I might do one soon.

[Jackal227]

20 hours ago, ef4life said:

Looking forward to this build up, I really like the Nuvo ext series tanks.

Thank you.

 

3 hours ago, JurisReefer said:

I really like it. Not the biggest fan of the overflow design, but other than that I'm glad I went with it over the other options I was considering. Only other gripe with it is that the back glass is a double panel, so the magnet on a pump has to be pretty strong to keep it up. Don't have a build thread but I might do one soon.

I hadn't thought about the double pane that's a good point.

 

I'm struggling with how to mount the lights around the overflow box.  I really don't like the look of mounts on the sides.  I may have to DIY something.  What are you using for lighting?

[JurisReefer]

13 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

Thank you.

 

I hadn't thought about the double pane that's a good point.

 

I'm struggling with how to mount the lights around the overflow box.  I really don't like the look of mounts on the sides.  I may have to DIY something.  What are you using for lighting?

I'm using two Hydra 26s. Instead of using the mounts I made a hanging mount out of some square aluminum rods from HD. Pretty easy DIY and all you need are the rods, nuts & bolts, and the bit to make the holes if you don't have one already.

[DNR88]

So much potential and possibilities. Take a good time to decide what kind of look and scape you're looking for. 

 

Something like this would be great I think:

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

So much potential and possibilities. Take a good time to decide what kind of look and scape you're looking for. 

 

Something like this would be great I think:

That looks really nice.

[Jackal227]

It looks like the last two plumbing fittings will be here on Friday so that I can wrap that up and start glueing it all together.

 

I finally made a decision on the lights, wavemakers, and ATO reservoir and ordered those today.  

 

Once the plumbing is done I can work on getting everything wired, leveling the tank, and then it'll be time to finally start aquascaping.

[Jackal227]

Well, I got busy so the plumbing won't get glued until after Christmas.  If I'm lucky I may get some water in this before the new year.

 

In the meantime I've been playing around with some rocks to hold me over.

 

 

I definitely ordered too many 😦.  I'll probably only end up using half of them.

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, Jackal227 said:

Well, I got busy so the plumbing won't get glued until after Christmas.  If I'm lucky I may get some water in this before the new year.

 

In the meantime I've been playing around with some rocks to hold me over.

 

 

I definitely ordered too many 😦.  I'll probably only end up using half of them.

Much better to have more for options. 

[DNR88]

The more rocks, the more possibilities for the scape. I think the shape of the different rocks look pretty much the same, so I bet you're not going to get a nice scape easy, good luck! 🙂

[Jimeni1]

I just got my lagoon ext plumbed today. Thought I would share.

[Jackal227]

1 hour ago, Jimeni1 said:

I just got my lagoon ext plumbed today. Thought I would share.

It looks great!  I also opted for the strainer on the main drain.  Your setup looks very close to what I did.

[TheKleinReef]

I’m planning on getting the 100g version. So excited to see this one come together!

[Jackal227]

8 hours ago, TheKleinReef said:

I’m planning on getting the 100g version. So excited to see this one come together!

I love the dimensions on the new 100.  The lagoon fits my living space really well being only 30" wide it still provides a nice amount of space over the 24" tanks.  I was initially concerned over having a shorter tank but I'm really liking it.

[Jimeni1]

I am switching from an aqueon 60 corner flow, 24x24x24. What a fricking nightmare tank! Low quality glass and craftsmanship. Over flow takes up a whole corner. I let a black friday special over ride judgement a few years ago. And don't even get me started on the skimz sump. Those 2 things have made the aquarium a chore, not a hobby. I already had a nuvo fusion 10 and love it so this was a no brainers. My first trigger sump though. You do get what you pay for. Fortunately, I didnt skimp on my components. Not trying to hijack your thread, just excited to see another in progress. Merry Christmas!!

[Jackal227]

I finally was able to make some progress today.

 

I cemented the pvc pipes together.  On the main drain I added a gate valve for the Herbie drain.  I used unions on both pipes so that they can be removed if needed.  1 inch Blue pvc pipes with schedule 80 connectors.

 

For the return line I used 3/4 inch pvc pipe with schedule 80 connectors.  On the return line I added unions at the top and bottom so that it can be removed if needed.  The bottom union also makes it easy to remove the return pump.  I also added a manifold off the return line to a ball valve.  I currently don't have plans for it but I wanted to add it incase I decide to run a reactor.

 

From left to right I have the main drain, emergency drain, manifold, and return line:

 

Overview:

 

After glueing the pipes, I also made a bracket for the lights.  Once the paint dries I'll get those mounted.  I built the skimmer today and it barely fits in the sump.  It's much bigger than I anticipated.  Once the lights are up I can start running the cords and get the stand leveled.  Once we're level I'll get to leak test all of the plumbing 🤞.

 

It's finally starting to take shape.

[10001110101]

Looking awesome, can’t wait to see the scape you come up with!!! I thought about buying that same tank I really like the IM tanks.