Jackal's Nuvo EXT 50 Lagoon

[Jackal227]

13 hours ago, 10001110101 said:

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.

Thank you.  I hadn't seen any of the IM tanks in person prior to this one but I'm very impressed with it.

[Jackal227]

The paint for the light mounts is now dry and they are up.  I chose the Noopdyche K7 Pro II's for the tank.

 

One of the struggles that I faced when planning this tank was how to light it.  One light didn't seem like enough given the width of the tank.  The external overflow prevents mounting a light too far off of the center of the tank.  I tried the mounts on the sides but I feel it takes away from the rimless look of the tank.

 

So to fix this I used the two standard mounts and cut a piece of flat aluminum to spread the lights out evenly.  I drilled the holes and added some screws and nuts to attach the new bar to the existing mount.  I added it on the top side to support the bar and prevent it from bowing down:

 

It turned out to be an easy fix.  I finished it off by spraying it with some flat black rustoleum paint to protect it from rusting:

 

It blends in pretty well and I like the look mounting from the back a lot better.  I also really like the two tone black and white look of these lights too:

 

I mounted them front to back due to the depth of the tank.  Should be plenty of light coverage.

[Jackal227]

The tank is now leveled.  I added around 45 lbs of Tropic Eden's Mini Flakes for the sand.  It gives me about 1 1/2" all the way around the bottom.

 

For the aquascape I used CaribSea's Liferock.  With the deal on Amazon it was cheaper than dry rock so I couldn't pass it up and bought 80 lbs which is way too much:

 

It's a very nice looking rock and arrived fully intact.  So naturally I immediately broke out the hammer and chisel to break them apart into more manageable sized pieces:

 

My goals for the aquascape are to have lots of caves and swim thrus for the fish, have lots of flat areas for corals, and to top out at around half the height of the tank to allow for coral growth.  It was all glued together with a large quantity of super glue and BRS instaset.

 

Here's what I've come up with:

 

The main structure in the back left actually has four large caves with swim throughs on all sides, a large arch across the top, another arch across the front, and flat areas on both sides where the arches connect.  This will obviously give ample area for the corals with lots of placement options.  There's even areas in the back that are seen from the top down view.  In the back right there is a small pillar island.  In the front right I made a little cave with lots of holes that I'm hoping might be a good place for an anemone to place it's foot.  And in the front left is another island separated from the main rockwork.

 

Top View:

 

FTS:

[Poodges]

Get it wet!!!

[DNR88]

Looks great! Normally I like the high right to the low left more. But if you have the right view, this looks the right way probably. 😉

[mitten_reef]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:15 AM, Jackal227 said:

The paint for the light mounts is now dry and they are up.  I chose the Noopdyche K7 Pro II's for the tank.

 

One of the struggles that I faced when planning this tank was how to light it.  One light didn't seem like enough given the width of the tank.  The external overflow prevents mounting a light too far off of the center of the tank.  I tried the mounts on the sides but I feel it takes away from the rimless look of the tank.

 

So to fix this I used the two standard mounts and cut a piece of flat aluminum to spread the lights out evenly.  I drilled the holes and added some screws and nuts to attach the new bar to the existing mount.  I added it on the top side to support the bar and prevent it from bowing down:

 

It turned out to be an easy fix.  I finished it off by spraying it with some flat black rustoleum paint to protect it from rusting:

 

It blends in pretty well and I like the look mounting from the back a lot better.  I also really like the two tone black and white look of these lights too:

 

I mounted them front to back due to the depth of the tank.  Should be plenty of light coverage.

👍🏼 nice work on the lighting. 

 

7 hours ago, Jackal227 said:

The tank is now leveled.  I added around 45 lbs of Tropic Eden's Mini Flakes for the sand.  It gives me about 1 1/2" all the way around the bottom.

 

For the aquascape I used CaribSea's Liferock.  With the deal on Amazon it was cheaper than dry rock so I couldn't pass it up and bought 80 lbs which is way too much:

 

It's a very nice looking rock and arrived fully intact.  So naturally I immediately broke out the hammer and chisel to break them apart into more manageable sized pieces:

 

My goals for the aquascape are to have lots of caves and swim thrus for the fish, have lots of flat areas for corals, and to top out at around half the height of the tank to allow for coral growth.  It was all glued together with a large quantity of super glue and BRS instaset.

 

Here's what I've come up with:

 

The main structure in the back left actually has four large caves with swim throughs on all sides, a large arch across the top, another arch across the front, and flat areas on both sides where the arches connect.  This will obviously give ample area for the corals with lots of placement options.  There's even areas in the back that are seen from the top down view.  In the back right there is a small pillar island.  In the front right I made a little cave with lots of holes that I'm hoping might be a good place for an anemone to place it's foot.  And in the front left is another island separated from the main rockwork.

 

Top View:

 

FTS:

whoa!   If I must critique one thing, that front right rock could be a tad bit shorter/flatter to finish off the swooping slope look on the right side.  I really love the three remote islands that is going on in here!  

 

 

[Jackal227]

7 hours ago, Poodges said:

Get it wet!!!

First 5 gallons of water is in, this may take a while to fill.

 

6 hours ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

Looks great! Normally I like the high right to the low left more. But if you have the right view, this looks the right way probably. 😉

The tank is most viewable from the front and right sides for me so it works better that way.

 

6 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

👍🏼 nice work on the lighting. 

 

whoa!   If I must critique one thing, that front right rock could be a tad bit shorter/flatter to finish off the swooping slope look on the right side.  I really love the three remote islands that is going on in here!  

 

 

Thank you.

 

I agree with the front cave.  It's currently sitting ontop of the sand so I can either push it down or build up the back pillar a bit.

[Jackal227]

The best piece of equipment that I ordered was 25 ft of rodi tubing:

 

It'll also be useful for filling my ato reservoir that'll be hidden behind the tank.

[Jackal227]

I programmed the lights today.  Here's the current schedule that I'm going to start with:

 

1:  6:00  0% 1% 1% 1% 0%

2:  8:00  4% 15% 15% 15% 4%

3:  10:00  11% 45% 45% 45% 11%

4:  12:00  14% 60% 60% 60% 14%

5:  19:00  11% 45% 45% 45% 11%

6:  20:00  4% 15% 15% 15% 4%

7:  22:00  0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

 

It's giving me between 300-350 par at the surface of the water.  This seems like a good place to start with and see how it does.

 

The tank should be done filling tonight so it's about time to kick on the heater and pour in a bucket or two of salt.

[Jackal227]

The salt is now in and the heater is going to town.

 

It also appears that the skimmer needs some time to break in:

 

Tomorrow the tank should be up to temp and I'll add in the media from my Biocube to cycle the tank.

[Jackal227]

It's been another busy and exciting day.  The tank is up to temperature so I added the matrix media from my Biocube into the sump.

 

I've also assembled the mesh lid.  I went with the DD Jumpguard Pro because it uses black mesh instead of the clear ones.  I think the black blends in better and it's barely noticeable:

 

I also set up the ATO today.  So now all systems besides the doser are up and running.  

 

I added the first test corals to the tank today and they appear to be happy.

GSP:

Duncan:

 Zoas:

 

For the rockwork I built up the back island a bit with the front arch to open up the front view.

Front:

Right Side:

 

With the skimmer still overflowing the display is filled with micro bubbles making everything look cloudy.  It'll go away once it breaks in.  Also the lighting schedule was set up to mimic the AB+ schedule.  It's very blue in person and I may have to adjust it to something more visually pleasing.  I'll wait until the water clears to see how it looks.

[Jackal227]

The skimmer has started to settle in, reducing the bubbles in the display.  It's not completely cleared but starting to look much better:

[DNR88]

I like the patch of green GSP, giving the tank a much more natural look and contrasts nicely with the purple rock and the white sand.

[Jackal227]

8 hours ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

I like the patch of green GSP, giving the tank a much more natural look and contrasts nicely with the purple rock and the white sand.

GSP is one of my favorite corals.  It adds movement unlike anything else that I've found.

[Jackal227]

I pulled over a few more tester corals.

 

War Coral:

 

Green Trumpet:

 

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:

[Jackal227]

I moved the Clowns over today from the Biocube:

 

The Royal Gramma is going to be harder to catch but I've setup a small Icecap fish trap for it.

 

The sandbed has shown a light dusting of diatoms but it's surprisingly been very short.  I also scraped the glass for the first time.

 

I emptied the skimmer cup for the first time today and almost threw up from the smell.

 

The test corals are all doing well so far and seem happy.  

[Jackal227]

I setup the refugium light today and moved over some of the red macro algae from the Biocube:

 

I also have made two small adjustments to the plumbing.  I added about two inches to the emergency drain so that it reaches the water level to silence the overflow.  I also cut the return line and added a small piece of silicone tubing between the return pump and the pipe to silence the humming noise.  It's made a big difference in noise from the tank. 

 

I also moved over the dosing pump from the Biocube.  It's still running Bionic 2 part.  Here's the sump fully setup:

 

 

And finally I've moved over the remaining corals today.  It was quite a lot of work because most of them were encrusted onto the rock.  I'll get some pictures up once they settle in.

[Jackal227]

The corals have mostly started to settle in.  The encrusted ones are still a little pissed from being crudely cut up but they look like they will bounce back shortly.  It was a pleasant surprise to see how big some of them have grown:

 

Right Side:

 

Left Side:

 

Top Down:

[Jmevox]

You are making me want a sump

[Jackal227]

2 hours ago, Jmevox said:

You are making me want a sump

It's nice to have everything hidden down in the sump.  Plus I've found it's a lot easier to work in than trying to stuff my hand into the back of an AIO.

[Jmevox]

31 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

It's nice to have everything hidden down in the sump.  Plus I've found it's a lot easier to work in than trying to stuff my hand into the back of an AIO.

Yeah.  I really want  a fuge and they are a real pain in an AIO.  I was going to resurrect my Nuvo 16 but think i'll just use it as a quarantine tank and go for a red sea or a Nuvo EXT/INT

[JurisReefer]

Looking SO good so far. I have the same exact tank. What has your experience been with the coral box RN pumps? I'm looking for a pump now but that double pane back glass makes it tough. Has the magnet on those been strong enough?

[Jackal227]

3 hours ago, JurisReefer said:

Looking SO good so far. I have the same exact tank. What has your experience been with the coral box RN pumps? I'm looking for a pump now but that double pane back glass makes it tough. Has the magnet on those been strong enough?

I really like the RN-1 pumps they are low profile which I liked and they move a lot of water.  The magnet seems to hold well on the back glass.  I'm only running them at 40% max and they still move the sand around.

[TotesMaGoat]

Looks good! I’m about to pull the trigger on a lagoon 50 

[Jackal227]

10 hours ago, TotesMaGoat said:

Looks good! I’m about to pull the trigger on a lagoon 50 

It's a great tank.  The dimensions of it fit my space better than other tanks that were similar in size.  I'm very happy with it.