[Innovative Marine Nuvo 24] April Giveaway Build Thread

[defender.TX]

Hmm good idea,

 

So far what do you think of this tank, I'm interested in it but also interested in the. NEw cadlights tanks

 

Honestly, I love it. The dimensions are awesome and have a lot of potential for some very cool rock work. The stock return pump actually gives the tank a lot of flow, the dual overflows give a lot of potential for filtration, and you have plenty of room to work with in the sump. With an open top and some hanging pendants I don't think there are many other tanks out there that look this sharp.

 

Of course, a lot of that depends on if you prefer squared or rounded corners. I think the rounded corners look awesome, but if you prefer squared corners the CAD Lights might be a better fit for you.

[novice]

Any pump is going to introduce stray voltage. It doesn't have to do with the quality of the pump, it has to do with the size of the magnetic field generated by the pump. Some people with very large tanks (and very large return pumps) will measure 30-40 VAC in the tank. It's usually low current so you don't feel it. If you take off your shoes and have a cut or scrape where the current can easily travel (skin is not a great conductor), then you can feel it.

 

my concern is, you've had your tank less than a year, less than 6 months really and you believe your pump is going out? i've had cuts on my hands and dipped them in the tank before. actually i seem to always have cuts on my hands and knuckles for some reason. i've never felt any current. oh and my shoes are always off in my house. so i'm pretty sure i'm grounded. i will measure with a volt meter though.

 

i already purchased 2 cobalt mj1200's for my Nano 28, i may move them over to my Nuvo 24 and use a wavemaker.

[defender.TX]

my concern is, you've had your tank less than a year, less than 6 months really and you believe your pump is going out? i've had cuts on my hands and dipped them in the tank before. actually i seem to always have cuts on my hands and knuckles for some reason. i've never felt any current. oh and my shoes are always off in my house. so i'm pretty sure i'm grounded. i will measure with a volt meter though.

 

i already purchased 2 cobalt mj1200's for my Nano 28, i may move them over to my Nuvo 24 and use a wavemaker.

 

I hope that my pump is not going out. I have no idea if it's going out or not. I don't even know if when a pump fails it puts more stray voltage into the water. So many unknowns. The pump is moving water, so to the best of my knowledge it's still working. I bought the Titanium Grounding Pole to ensure that if it does somehow go out I won't die. I'm not sure why the tank has enough stray voltage right now that I can feel it.

[defender.TX]

Screen Top and Auto Top Off

 

So I finally got my Screen Top Kit in the mail from Bulk Reef Supply and got it all put together. I ordered this because I want to get a fire fish, which is known to jump, but my tank gets too hot by the end of the day if I have the glass top on. BRS a video on their website on how to do this but I didn't think it was necessary. If you aren't used to DIY projects you might want to watch it before you try and assemble the screen top. For the Nuvo 24 you need to buy the 3 Foot kit because this tank is ~35.5" long. I used the plastic clips that came with the tank to hold the screen top, so that means I had to measure it to the interior dimensions of the tank. If you are going to just set the screen top on the top of the tank you can measure to the exterior dimensions of the tank.

 

Construction is easy. You basically measure, cut the pieces of channel to size, construct the frame, check fit, and then attach the screen and trim the excess.

 

 

Checking the fit:

 

 

The netting, spline, and spline roller that comes with the kit:

 

 

Before I trimmed the excess netting:

 

 

The new top! (Ignore my 1 year old rearranging furniture )

 

 

I also got my Tunze Nano Osmolator installed and it's keeping my water level perfect.

 

 

Next up I'm installing a GFCI outlet this afternoon and my Vertex Titanium Grounding Pole should be here Monday. That combination should trip the GFCI outlet if there is any malfunctioning equipment which will save anybody from a potentially deadly shock. I still haven't determined if my pump is going bad or not but it scared me enough to do things the right way. Every single person with an aquarium should be running a GFCI outlet with a grounding pole - it's just too cheap to not do it.

[TeamIM24]

We switched our first generation IM24 yesterday to the newer, thicker one. Plan on doing a mini cycle as I added more sand. Once we add the CUC (2 weeks or so I hope) I will post some pics.

 

I noticed the temp on the old tank had climbed to 80.8 without the Razor on and without the screen ever being in place. Right now the new tank is at 78 (no light and no screen). What temp are your tanks running at?

[defender.TX]

With the glass they would both get above 80F by the end of the day. My house is generally 73F if we have the AC on or 70F if the heat is on. Open top would just barely creep up to 79F by the end of the light cycle. The screen top performs just like the open top, which is kind of the point. I highly recommend it. Looks pretty sharp too!

[TeamIM24]

New tank is right back where the old tank was 80.8. Still don't have the lights or the top on. Our house has been at 77 but it is finally cooling off in central florida so I will see if the temp drops with the change in our weather...

[defender.TX]

Just FYI, your LED should add almost no heat at all. Almost all the heat is coming from the pump right now, which is fairly high wattage for the water volume.

[TeamIM24]

Yes, turning on the Razor for 3 hours yesterday bumped the temp from 80.8 to 81. The tank is at 80.6 this morning. I finally hooked up the Tunze ATO this morning and it kicked right on and turned off at the right level. As we changed tanks this weekend I am going to let it run through a mini cycle and then add the CUC (finally).

[chicagoreef]

Stand question - i just rewent through your thread and noticed you mounted some egg crate onto your aquatic fundamentals stand. You prob dont remember but I asked you a bunch of questions about that brand and ended up also buying one. The insides of my stand look like an electrical death trap. How did you mount that egg crate? Did you screw it into the stand? I guess any more info on what you did would be greatly appreciated!

[defender.TX]

Stand question - i just rewent through your thread and noticed you mounted some egg crate onto your aquatic fundamentals stand. You prob dont remember but I asked you a bunch of questions about that brand and ended up also buying one. The insides of my stand look like an electrical death trap. How did you mount that egg crate? Did you screw it into the stand? I guess any more info on what you did would be greatly appreciated!

 

I did screw it into the stand but with standoffs. Basically, I went to the hardware department at Lowes and found some black 1/2" standoffs, washers, and screws. Then I screwed the egg crate into the stand like so: washer, egg crate, washer, then standoff.

 

So the egg crate is sandwiched between two washers and the standoff is keeping it 1/2" off the stand. Then I zip tie anything I want to the egg crate to keep it out of the way.

[chicagoreef]

Thanks once again! Any idea on the length of the screws?

[defender.TX]

Thanks once again! Any idea on the length of the screws?

 

I want to say they were 1 and 1/4 inch? The walls the Aquatic Fundamentals stand aren't that thick so you really just want to eyeball it and get something that bites a few threads into the stand.

 

Also, I picked up two SpinStreams from Marine Depot's cyber monday sale for $14.99 a piece! Can't wait to get those on the tank.

[defender.TX]

Updates! I've started feeding BRS Reef Chili 3 times a week and the corals are responding very well to it. Everything is doing great.

I wanted to try a little something different, and since it's cold enough here that I don't really want to go outside right now, I shot some video of my coral on my iPhone and put it on YouTube:

[Cameron6796]

Purrdy I love the euphylia and everything else,

[novice]

your corals look great. your tank is really filling out nicely

[defender.TX]

Purrdy I love the euphylia and everything else,

your corals look great. your tank is really filling out nicely

 

Thanks guys! I have a long way to go and a lot of corals still to get. Here's some on my short list:

• Montipora capricornis
• Acropora
• Green Star Polyps
• Ultra color mushrooms
• More zoas and palys

[HammerheadV13]

I got some reef chili and haven't started using it yet. Any advice?

[defender.TX]

I got some reef chili and haven't started using it yet. Any advice?

 

Sure, just use it exactly as directed on the bottle. I use 1 scoop three times per week and my entire tank goes nuts for the stuff. Basically, I mix 1 scoop with about 4-5 oz of tank water, turn off my pumps, and spot feed the corals with no flow and dump whatever is left into the tank. After a minute or two I turn the pumps back on and just watch it "snow" for a while until it's all eaten or filtered by my floss. Even my nassarius snail, who is usually always under the sand, comes out during feedings to get in on the action.

[novice]

i wouldn't buy GSP. most of the time at least around here, when you buy zoas from a local person, they'll give you some for free. you don't need much as it will grow pretty fast.

 

do you find it hard to squeeze the Reef Chili out of the bottle they gave you? i'm going to cut the tip back b/c that hole is way too small.

 

try some of the KZ stuff. i bought the Nano package b/c it was on sale at BRS. my Nuclear Green Candy Cane has been splitting heads and growing like crazy since i started using it. not too sure of the performance of my zoas, but i know for my LPS it's been great. I don't feed my LPS though, i think i might start needing to.

[HammerheadV13]

I ordered mine on amazon and it did not include the bottle. Have to find something similar. I tried to mix it earlier today but the container I used leaked a bit.

[defender.TX]

i wouldn't buy GSP. most of the time at least around here, when you buy zoas from a local person, they'll give you some for free. you don't need much as it will grow pretty fast.

 

do you find it hard to squeeze the Reef Chili out of the bottle they gave you? i'm going to cut the tip back b/c that hole is way too small.

 

try some of the KZ stuff. i bought the Nano package b/c it was on sale at BRS. my Nuclear Green Candy Cane has been splitting heads and growing like crazy since i started using it. not too sure of the performance of my zoas, but i know for my LPS it's been great. I don't feed my LPS though, i think i might start needing to.

Yes, the hole in the tip of the mixing bottle was way too small. I just cut it back with scissors and I have no trouble now. I definitely want to try some of the KZ products later on but right now all my coral combined cost less than most of those products! I went with Reef Chili because it was independently and scientifically proven to increase coral growth by the University of Hawaii Marine Biology Program.

[defender.TX]

I threw some GSP in the tank a week ago and its doing great. I've seen visible growth already. I pulled the rock it was on about an inch away from the rest of the rock to isolate it incase it tries to take over! It's a metallic green star polyp so the green is slightly different than the "yellow green" GSP can take sometimes.

 

Picture from my iPhone - I plan on doing a full set with my DSLR soon.

 

 

I'm also starting a second project, a nano tinker tank. Basically I'm cleaning out my Fluval Spec III by running a white vinegar solution through it for a while and will be creating a bare bottom coral/frag tank that's just for fun. I have no idea how well it's going to support corals but I'm going to try and make it work.

 

 

I plan on building a dimmable LED pendant using an old AMD CPU heatsink controlled by an arduino.

 

 

I'm sure once I get things going the Fluval Spec Tinker Tank will have it's own build thread but for now it will go in here.

[defender.TX]

Finally got the DSLR out for a new FTS:

 

[Cameron6796]

Very cool, that frag tank sounds promising hope it turns out good