[Innovative Marine Nuvo 24] April Giveaway Build Thread

[yikesjason]

That is a good point about being able to reuse the fixture for a planted tank if you want.

 

I have a Razor and like it, but just getting started.

 

T5 would be a good fit I think. So many of the LEDs are laid out for square tanks. I think a nice slim t5 would look good above a nuvo.

 

The other option that I was considering was building LEDs with CNCReef's 4"x18" heatsink.

[defender.TX]

That is a good point about being able to reuse the fixture for a planted tank if you want.

 

I have a Razor and like it, but just getting started.

 

T5 would be a good fit I think. So many of the LEDs are laid out for square tanks. I think a nice slim t5 would look good above a nuvo.

 

The other option that I was considering was building LEDs with CNCReef's 4"x18" heatsink.

 

I'm debating between an ATI SunPower 4x24W and BuildMyLED 36" 20K Halide spectrum strip. BuildMyLED is local to me here in Austin and my LFS is a huge supporter of them. The lights are cheap but the build quality and spectrum are excellent. The 20K Halid spectrum they just came out with is the best looking LED spectrum I've ever seen.

 

Sometime before summer I'll be getting one of those two lights. I've also got a re-scape still coming up and I've got a good direction to go with new livestock. All will be revealed soon .

[Roshan8768]

I've seen the BuilMyLed strips in person and they're top notch, so it would get my vote. If you wanted to do t5s though, you can't beat that ATI fixture for quality

[defender.TX]

This is the BuildMyLED 20K Halid spectrum over my local fish store's display Red Sea Max:

 

[rdck99]

The color in your pictures looks amazing...what's your reason for looking at a new light? Does the IM Dualstrip not support the SPS you're wanting, has growth been slow, and/or do you think you could get even better color pop from a full spectrum light?

[chicagoreef]

Ok I am pathetic. Your post reminded me that sometime last year I went to home depot and bought screws and those spacers.

[defender.TX]

The color in your pictures looks amazing...what's your reason for looking at a new light? Does the IM Dualstrip not support the SPS you're wanting, has growth been slow, and/or do you think you could get even better color pop from a full spectrum light?

 

I want a new light for two reasons: I can't get hardly anything but mushrooms and GSP to grow under this light and I don't particularly like how blue it is. The BuildMyLED 20K Halide spectrum has a lot more white and purple mixed in with the blue (in reality this is from the red/violet LEDs mixing with the blues/whites).

 

If you look at the differences between the picture I posed of the BML 20K Halide spectrum and my tank, you will notice that in my tank the sand takes on a blue hue while in the tank with the BML 20K the sand is still white. That's basically the best way I can describe the difference between the two lights. Also, the Dimmable Dualstrip is not as bright as I would like and has no good way to hang them above the tank (I don't like lights that rest directly on the top of the tank).

[gsgentry]

Good point. My lfs has the sake light you have on their display 24, and I know what you mean. It seems like most pictures you see on eBay or sites selling corals say that picture was taken under 20k halide. And I don't think it's the halide as much as it is the 20k spectrum. Didn't you say your lfs is running this light? How does it look? Would you supplement it with one of their actinic strips as well?

[defender.TX]

My LFS actually is not running the 20K "Halide Spectrum" from BML, although they do have quite a few BML strips over their various tanks. The picture I posted is their Red Sea Max 650 with the 20K Halide Spectrum over it. BML uses that tank to show off the various spectrums. The tank normally has the stock Red Sea T5HOs over it so I haven't actually seen the BML in person.

[defender.TX]

Here's an update that doesn't have much to do with my tank but still great anyway: my wife delivered our third boy on Friday and everything is good! He was just over 8 pounds and really healthy. Needless to say I skipped my water change this weekend but the tank is doing great as well.

[chicagoreef]

Congrats!!! And good luck!!!

[gsgentry]

Way more important than a water change!! Congrats!!!

[defender.TX]

So I made some pretty big changes to the tank yesterday. I did what I would consider to be a major rescape and used the live rock that I pulled out in a side project (more on that later). I plan on taking some pictures later today if my corals open up. The GSP in particular is still really mad about the whole thing.

[defender.TX]

New Aquascape

 

I rescaped the tank for a few reasons, mainly that I felt there was too much rock in the tank and wanted to open it up a little. Secondary concerns were to further isolate the Green Star Polyps from the rest of the rock and move my green Zoanthids to the other side of the tank. Just an aside, I used the Tunze Aquarium Gloves to protect my hands during the work to from any nasties. I really liked them and they didn't start to leak until the very end. Major bonus points that they protect from Clownfish bites. It took everything about two days to recover from the big move. The GSP in particular were very upset. Here is a new Full Tank Shot:

 

 

New valley between the GSP island and the arch:

 

 

Best shot I could get of my Zoas without a macro lens:

 

 

Almost all the livestock in my tank congregating together:

 

 

My mushroom garden. I started with 1 metallic red and 1 green. Now I have around 3 green and 5 red.

 

 

A shot of the GSP and Metallic Red Mushroom that I liked:

 

 

Coming Up

 

I do still have a lot of plans for this tank. I've been going back and forth a million times between a hundred different solutions on lighting and I think I'm getting close to making up my mind. I still need to install a skimmer. I still have a handful of corals on my "must have" list.

 

Thanks for looking!

[Maniu]

Congrats!!!!!

[defender.TX]

Congrats!!!!!

Thanks! It's been pretty exhausting so far. Kind of amazing how used to missing out on sleep you get by the third time.

[rdck99]

Sheesh. I REALLY need to learn how to properly adjust the white balance. Very good-looking photos...again!

[Maniu]

Thanks! It's been pretty exhausting so far. Kind of amazing how used to missing out on sleep you get by the third time.

I faintly remember those days/nights but I wouldn't trade those precious moments for anything. But mothers get all the credit IMO We do what we can but it's still a drop in the sea in comparison. Hats off to all mothers

 

[defender.TX]

I faintly remember those days/nights but I wouldn't trade those precious moments for anything. But mothers get all the credit IMO We do what we can but it's still a drop in the sea in comparison. Hats off to all mothers

 

My wife is an inspiration. I do what I can, but I could never do as much as she does. She also lets me spend money on the tank!

 

Sheesh. I REALLY need to learn how to properly adjust the white balance. Very good-looking photos...again!

 

Thanks! Honestly, I appreciate it. I gave up trying to adjust the white balance on the phone and started shooting in raw. This allows me to edit the white balance after the fact in iPhoto to get it to look like it does to the human eye (although your monitor might show it a different color than my monitor).

[defender.TX]

I just ordered an Innovative Marine Skimmate Protein Skimmer, should be here Friday. Will be nice to finally have a skimmer. I've heard a lot of bad things about the IM Skimmate but I've also heard that the Tunze needs to be adjusted weekly. We'll see if I can get it broken in and producing a nice skim.

[gsgentry]

I just ordered an Innovative Marine Skimmate Protein Skimmer, should be here Friday. Will be nice to finally have a skimmer. I've heard a lot of bad things about the IM Skimmate but I've also heard that the Tunze needs to be adjusted weekly. We'll see if I can get it broken in and producing a nice skim.

 

I think they are all finicky at first until they get broken in pretty good. I was getting a ton of micro-bubbles from my 2 new IM reactors, but that seems to have slowed down now. I think its just the pumps they use. Good Luck!!

[defender.TX]

Protein Skimmer

 

I got the Innovative Marine Skimmate Desktop assembled, adjusted, and in the tank. It's obviously going through a break-in period but pulled some tea colored skim out overnight. The big problem that I'm having is it is LOUD. I mean, the loudest thing in my living room, I can almost hear it over my TV, loud. I think I just need to pull the pump apart and check the impeller. It might require replacing the pump. We'll see, I'm going to work on it. Overall, I love the simple design and it looks very nice with all the clear acrylic. This was my first skimmer and it couldn't have been more simple to setup. When I get the noise issue sorted I can tell I'm going to be very happy.

 

[ward827]

New Aquascape

 

I rescaped the tank for a few reasons, mainly that I felt there was too much rock in the tank and wanted to open it up a little. Secondary concerns were to further isolate the Green Star Polyps from the rest of the rock and move my green Zoanthids to the other side of the tank. Just an aside, I used the Tunze Aquarium Gloves to protect my hands during the work to from any nasties. I really liked them and they didn't start to leak until the very end. Major bonus points that they protect from Clownfish bites. It took everything about two days to recover from the big move. The GSP in particular were very upset. Here is a new Full Tank Shot:

 

 

New valley between the GSP island and the arch:

 

 

Best shot I could get of my Zoas without a macro lens:

 

 

Almost all the livestock in my tank congregating together:

 

 

My mushroom garden. I started with 1 metallic red and 1 green. Now I have around 3 green and 5 red.

 

 

A shot of the GSP and Metallic Red Mushroom that I liked:

 

 

Coming Up

 

I do still have a lot of plans for this tank. I've been going back and forth a million times between a hundred different solutions on lighting and I think I'm getting close to making up my mind. I still need to install a skimmer. I still have a handful of corals on my "must have" list.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Your new scape is spot on! Balance, neg space, and the small valley are all working really well. Well done!

[defender.TX]

Your new scape is spot on! Balance, neg space, and the small valley are all working really well. Well done!

 

Thanks! I really appreciate the compliment. I much prefer the new scape.

[TeamIM24]

Protein Skimmer

 

I got the Innovative Marine Skimmate Desktop assembled, adjusted, and in the tank. It's obviously going through a break-in period but pulled some tea colored skim out overnight. The big problem that I'm having is it is LOUD. I mean, the loudest thing in my living room, I can almost hear it over my TV, loud. I think I just need to pull the pump apart and check the impeller. It might require replacing the pump. We'll see, I'm going to work on it. Overall, I love the simple design and it looks very nice with all the clear acrylic. This was my first skimmer and it couldn't have been more simple to setup. When I get the noise issue sorted I can tell I'm going to be very happy.

You are more brave than me. I saw way too many negative reviews of the IM skimmer to purchase it. I completed the mod for the Tunze and plan on installing it after the ich in our DT is gone.