DC’s IM Nuvo 20 Ride Along

[der213]

Hey whoever’s reading, I decided to start a little journal on my up coming tank build to track its progress and to share my journey with all of you.

 

I’m prettt new into the hobby, just under a year. I currently have a Fluval Evo and when I saw this tank for sale I couldn’t pass on the price and decided to start up a second tank. 
 

I finally finalized my scape and am just waiting on some live sand (CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand 20lbs) before I can get her wet. I went with 4 CaribSea LifeRock Nano Arches and a couple other LifeRock pieces from my LFS. I plan on housing mostly softies and LPS with a little dabble into the world of sticks. 
 

Still can’t decide which bio media I want to use between Seachem Matrix, MarinePure Bio Balls or Brightwell XSport Cubes, feel free to chime in. 
 

Equipment:

Tank: Innovative Marine Nuvo 20 Pro

Pump: Stock Mighty Jet DC Pump

Light: EcoTech Radion XR15 Blue with RMS Mount

Wave Maker: EcoTech MP10w QD 

Protein Skimmer: IM NuvoSkim Desktop

Heater: Cobalt NeoTherm 50W

2x InTank Media Baskets

InTank Refugium Basket (just for extra bio media)
 

Fish Ideas:

Tailspot Blenny

Bengai Cardinal

Royal Gramma

Red Dragonet

Helfrichi Firefish

Pink Streaked Wrasse

 

 

 

 

[der213]

Finally got the tank set up, took a little longer than expected due to Covid. I used about 17lbs of CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand and ended up going with MarinePure Gems. I swapped out the heater for a 75W Cobalt Accu-Therm. I will eventually be running it off of an InkBird Temperature controller in the summer, but so far its been pretty consistent keeping the tank around 78F. I ended up running my Radion XR15 Blues on the AB+ setting on a 10 hour cycle running at 20% intensity. Need to rent a PAR meter from my LFS to see if that's the right amount of light for this tank.  The MP10 I have running on the schedule seen below (Constant->ReefCrest->NutrientTransport->Lagoon->Constant). At first they were running at a higher intensity but it seemed like too much flow for my new little friend. 

 

I quick cycled the tank with Fritz TurboStart 900 and added my first livestock, a Royal Gramma. After hiding the first day or two, its been out and about exploring his little new home eating frozen food daily. No corals just yet, but am thinking of moving some corals over from my Evo 13.5.

 

Will hopefully be adding more livestock and possibly corals in the coming week, so stay tuned!

[der213]

Looking at my tank this past week my Gramma seemed a little lonely, so I hit up my LFS this past weekend and grabbed a couple goodies. I decided to get a second fish in the tank and went with the Bengaii Cardinal. I tested the water and everything looked good, Ca-385 KH-9.2 Mg-1440. I decided to get a few frags (pics below). I also added a light CUC, 2 margarita snails, an astrea snail, and 2 dwarf hermit crabs. Seeing some diatoms in the tank, but that should clear up this week. Gonna beef up the CUC this weekend and hopefully add a protein skimmer and ATO in the near future!  

 

Brain Coral

Teal Blastomussa 

Superman Encrusting Monti

Super Yellow Goni

JF Grafted Sun Cap Monti

[Zer0]

I really like your scape. I think it's going to look awesome when things start filling out.

[der213]

2 hours ago, Zer0 said:

I really like your scape. I think it's going to look awesome when things start filling out.

 

Thanks! Can't wait to see it grow out as well! 

[der213]

Not too many changes with this update. My diatom bloom has past and the sand bed is clean and white again. Got a new friend in the tank, meet my Tailspot Blenny. Everyone's been getting along nicely, no aggression what so ever. I added some Tigger and Apex pods to the tank to seed the tank for my next fish! What does everyone else feed their fish? I switch between frozen LRS Nano Frenzy and Reef Nutrition Arcti Pods.

 

I also added this beautiful Volcano Chalice, picture does not do it justice! More corals to come!

 

I added more to my clean up crew, I got a conch, and a blood red fire shirmp ( couldn't get a picture of either unfortunately).

 

Last addition was a Kamoer ATO. What I love about this ATO is that not only does it come with an optical sensor, but it also has a back up overfill float sensor! Definitely do not miss manually topping off the tank!