Jackstone's Nuvo 16 to Fusion 30L Upgrade

January 10, 2015

Hey Everyone,

I've been meaning to create a thread to document the progress of my tank. I'm about 6 months into the hobby and, unfortunately, I'm only now finally getting around to posting anything.

I always wanted a marine tank. I had a few freshwater aquariums when I was younger but never anything too complicated.

After about a month or two of research last summer, I decided to jump in and I picked up a fully setup IM Nuvo 16 from someone on Craigslist in July. The Nuvo 16 I picked up was the standard fare you've all already seen a million times. It was basically completely stock with the stock media baskets and stock LED lights. Over the course of the next couple months I made several modifications and ended up with the configuration below. I never really got it to where I wanted it to be before deciding to upgrade due to size limitations and the ongoing fear of the infamous corners blowing out.

Equipment:

Tank: Innovative Marine Nuvo 16

Lighting: ~~Stock LED~~ AI Vega in CNC Reef Enclosure

Skimmer: None

Reactor: IM Desktop with Carbon and GFO

Heater: Some cheap one

Filtration: IM CustomCaddy experimenting with various media

Fuge: InTank Basket with chateomorpha

ATO: JBJ

Pump: Vortech MP10, Stock return pump with one Spin Stream

Controller: ReefKeeper Lite Basic

Feeded: Eheim (only for vacations)

Livestock:

Clownfish

Magenta Dottyback

Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Various Snails

Various Emerald Crabs

Blue Leg Hermit Crab

~~Fromia Star~~ RIP

~~Green Mandarin~~ RIP

Here is the last pictures I have before taking it down.

The change from the stock LED to the Vega was definitely the biggest change. I bought the Vega used but I hated the astetics and couldn't really hang the light in the room the tank is in. The CNC Reef enclosure really cleaned up the light and I really like the gooseneck but there were some challenges finally getting it all together.

After a few months, I started thinking about upgrading. I got a quote from Pico Aquariums but ended up with the IM Fusion 30L since the price was considerably lower during Black Friday. I really liked the long tank and wished I had bought the 30L instread of the 16 originally.

I purchased the new Fusion 30L from Premium Aquatics along with new sand (Tropic Eden Miniflakes). I also purchased a different stand to support the heavier tank as well as a new heater (Cobalt Neotherm 100W). Everything else was transferred over after letting the new tank simmer for a week with just water and sand. After the transfer, it never had any kind of ammonia or nitrite spike. I guess the live rock had enough filtration in it. I did add some additional dry rock I cured but it was a simple transfer.

1/9/2015:

I've made a few additions since moving to the new tank so I'll keep updating this thread. I just need to figure out how to take better photos.

January 10, 2015

And yes, the coverage from the one Vega is not very good on the ends of this new tank. I did order a new Nanobox Quad though so I can't wait to check that out.

January 23, 2015

Still waiting for the Nanobox Quad so I don't have any new pics yet. I did pickup some new coral from an AquaSD sale. Unfortunately they put too many heat packs in and they cooked during shipping. They sent out a new package and everything survived this time.

Here are their pics of the pieces I ordered. Of course, it's not the exact piece in the picture as those are gone. The SPS also look really brown now and I think it's going to take some time to color up. I don't even recognize them anymore, they're just brown sticks (but alive). Is that normal?

ASD Hyper Valida