Innovative Marine Nuvo Int 200 (1 Viewer)

[BlindSwordsman]

I'm a not very 'high tech' guy and I do a lot of weird things. I know people use fancy stuff, and things like filter socks and such? I'm too cheap for my fish tank. When I did my sump, I left a wider gap than recommended between the baffles (shown between the skimmer and the return pump in your diagrams). I put cheap filter floss there. I wash those when I want or throw them out and replace them if needed. That takes care of large particles, broken chaeto, waste, air bubbles, and whatever else .

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I finally got around to plumbing in my refugium tank, or whatever I put in there. Ended up throwing a bunch of extra dry rock I had sitting around in the bottom. I tried cycling for about a week or two with tank water. Not sure if it made any difference. Might give some hiding spots for some critters.

Ended up going with my option A design from what I posted a little while back. The pump (VarioS-4) fits in this chamber the easiest and since I just used nylon braided tubing it simplified a lot of things. I tried sliding the pump as far left as I could and just tucked the drain and e-drain line right behind the ReefMat. From the front you can hardly tell I even did anything.


In the back room I ran the return with 3/4" tubing to a reducing 'T' which brought it down to two 1/2" lines. On the inside of the tank, I used 12" of modular Loc-Line segments to a 2 1/2" flare nozzle on each side. For the main drain I am just using the bulkhead with no fitting inside the overflow box. The E-drain I was able to fit in a street 90 with a few inches of vertical pipe. There is float sensor built into the tank, so it is just below that. Not sure if I will use it though.

The main drain has a gate valve. Mounting this was a little tricky. I screwed some boards to the wall to give a little extra room for the valve. I then used four 'J' hooks in reverse directions to keep the valve tight. It is actually more secure than I expected it to be. I can make adjustments without anything moving.

This is what it ended up looking like with it all running. Took a bit to adjust water level in the sump with two pumps running. When both pumps are turned off the water is only about 1 inch higher than before (maybe less) so hopefully I will not overflow my sump anytime soon.

Had to shift my other two Octo controllers (skimmer and main return) over because the new pump would not reach. Fortunately, I left room for another controller when make the cabinet.

Now I just need to get some type of macro algae and a light. Debating a little if I want to try and put a divider in the new tank and use half of it for a frag tank. At some point I would also like to add a UV sterilizer. I have not really researched much into it yet so for now I will just let the extra water volume do its thing.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

The chaeto mass that @BlindSwordsman was kind enough to frag forward appears to be doing well. It has expanded nicely and from what I can tell appears to be growing. I did not anticipate the chaeto to sink so the par might be a bit too low for the depth. Online recommendations say 250+. I have not measured it but I doubt that the light I am using provides that at this depth. I just went for the default settings on the light but adjust the time to run about 8 hours while my main display lights are off.

I still need to buy a jar or two of pods to boost the population. Might add some cleanup crew to this as well but I do not want to add anything I will need to feed or that has the potential to escape. It still looks pretty clean despite never cleaning the acrylic yet, so I am in no rush for that.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Had a rainbow nem that was about the size of a quarter stay in the same spot in my tank since it was added to the tank. Probably almost 6 months ago. Went away for the weekend and came back and I couldn't find it. Found a really small peice a day later that looked like it attached to a rock. I honestly thought it just shriveled up. Found another peice tonight that was spinning around in current. Now I have two pieces, each about the size of a pea. Pretty sure it let go and Found its way through a powerhead. Really curious if either of the pieces I found will survive. The one is still stuck to a rock and the other I put in a coral cup with a piece of rock. I found it weird the nem never really got any bigger in the six months I had it. I just hope I don't have random nems scattered around my tank clobbering corals.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

It has been a few weeks since I added the chaeto to the refugium. You can see from the picture above to what I have now it has grown quite a bit. This is my first time ever having a refugium. I indicated my plumbing in an earlier post but the refugium is an external tank with a dedicated pump, drawing water from my sump where my Reefmat drains into. It then has an overflow that drains into the same chamber. The second chamber of the sump is my skimmer.



Up until this point in time my skimmer, if tuned properly, would get that dark sludge and slowly accumulate. If it happened fill up in a few days it may be that dirty brown color. I removed the skimmer top and did a good cleaning this past weekend. I have checked the level a few times since I did some adjustments and it was slowly filling the collection cup as you would expect. This time however, this is what the contents of the collection cup looked like.


As you can tell it is mostly clear. Has the slightest tint of brown to it. My question is, is this normal? If this is what it looks like after 3 or 4 days, it is not doing much. Is there any concern over this? Should I shut the skimmer off? The picture of the refugium above is almost a month to date from when it was filled with water, and I have yet to clean the acrylic. I did throw 4 turbo snails and a bag of pods in there this past weekend though. I just do not know if I am pulling too many nutrients from the water.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Tank Update 6/14/23. Just posting some pictures.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

 

[Fishfoo]

Looks great! Nice pictures as well

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Wanted one of these for a while now. Decided to set it up in an isolation tank to monitor health. Hoping not to have to medicate it. Trying to make sure it will eat well before adding to my main display tank. For now it will live in our dinning room so I will probably watch it more than any of my other tanks. Took out live rock and some chaeto from my refugium. If I end up medicating the rock will come out for sure. Just want to observe for now.

If anyone has had success with one of these feel free to give me some advice. They said it was eating frozen mysis at the store so hoping to continue with that but giving other options as well.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Disappointing news, the CBB didn't make it through quarantine. Made it a solid week with me feeding it 3x a day. I would watch it eat and everything looked good. No indication of any issues. This morning I saw it swimming near the surface so I through an air stone thinking it may just be unoxygenated water. Fed it but didn't notice it go after anything. Just drastically declined by the end of the day. All the water parameters were in check. I suppose it could have been an internal parasite or it just wasn't eating enough of what I fed it. Probably the only time I try with this. A lesson I suppose I needed to learn for myself.

On different news I ended up ordering two baby BIOTA yellow tangs. Still on the fence if two was a smart choice. I had anticipated adding them at the same time as the CBB. I might have to settle for just one and get rid of the other. Hopefully they both make it through shipping. Will find out that next week.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Received the baby BIOTA yellow tangs yesterday. Was not really sure how they would be shipped as I have never tried ordering direct before. If anyone is curious here is an unboxing video. They have a 7 day DOA or DAA guarantee so I was not sure what type of proof I needed to verify I followed all of their instructions.
View attachment 20230713_480p.mov

I cannot say I am surprised by their size as they were listed at 1.25"+. I would say that was a pretty accurate description. One is by far paler than the other. After reading some comments on R2R, I guess it is pretty common. Even to even appear slightly translucent. This size puts them around 3 months old. The medium size is listed at 2"+ and is estimated to be about 6 months. For the first week, basically for their warranty period, I put them in my refugium. This way I can monitor them closely and acclimate them to all my system parameters. They are basically just hiding in the rockwork at the bottom of the tank but appear to be doing just fine after almost 24 hours.



So far, they just hang out together. Still debating if two was a wise choice. As they mature, I will monitor aggression. Who knows, I might have to get rid of one or fined another to make it three. For now, I just want both of them to stay healthy.

 

[KJoFan]

Received the baby BIOTA yellow tangs yesterday. Was not really sure how they would be shipped as I have never tried ordering direct before. If anyone is curious here is an unboxing video. They have a 7 day DOA or DAA guarantee so I was not sure what type of proof I needed to verify I followed all of their instructions.
View attachment 63117

I cannot say I am surprised by their size as they were listed at 1.25"+. I would say that was a pretty accurate description. One is by far paler than the other. After reading some comments on R2R, I guess it is pretty common. Even to even appear slightly translucent. This size puts them around 3 months old. The medium size is listed at 2"+ and is estimated to be about 6 months. For the first week, basically for their warranty period, I put them in my refugium. This way I can monitor them closely and acclimate them to all my system parameters. They are basically just hiding in the rockwork at the bottom of the tank but appear to be doing just fine after almost 24 hours.

View attachment 63118 View attachment 63119
View attachment 63120 View attachment 63121
So far, they just hang out together. Still debating if two was a wise choice. As they mature, I will monitor aggression. Who knows, I might have to get rid of one or fined another to make it three. For now, I just want both of them to stay healthy.

I have two Biota YT’s in my display. They do a lot of tail slapping at one another, and like to chase each other out of their “spot” but no real damage and both eat well and are healthy.
I considered a trio but didn’t do it. I’m not sure I’d they would have helped a bit or not. Nor am I sure if I could add a third to the two already established.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have this nice display tank with corals and fish. Where do I end up sitting and watching fish? Under my stairs in the dark, on a 5 gallon bucket of salt, stairing at my refugium tank with my baby tangs. Just watching them and making sure they eat while they swim around and hide in the rocks.


Glass isn't very clean but the snails stay busy.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Full tank shot.
Left side

Middle

Right side

Close up

Tangs out and about.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Has anyone ever experienced a situation where a partiular fish breaks out with ick whenever a new addition is added to the tank? I added a fish recently and it broke out 2 days later. It has happened to me the last 3 times I have added a fish. After a few days it tends to go away and I have not seen it affect any other fish. Is it just emotional/stressed? Seems strange as the tang is the second largest in the tank, only behind the foxface, and the new additions were all small juveniles.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I once had a tang that kept fighting against its reflection on the glass, stressed itself out and got iche occasionally. So, I would say 'Yes, it could be the case'. The fish is bigger than the rest does not mean it will not be stressed due to some factors. Think about you and me, you are bigger than I am but if I come to live in your house, you might still be stressed out regardless, thinking I'm taking up your space among other things .

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have been putting this off for a while now. I recently lost power in my house (I was home) and my sump came very close to overflowing. This was never an issue before the refugium tank, but I think it started to siphon from the return on one of the tanks anyway. I was able to shut off the return shutoff valve. I was planning on adding a UV sterilizer to the tank anyway so maybe I just update everything at once. I was wondering if anyone would take a look and give me any suggestions that you may have. Here is the proposed layout after the modifications.
Things I want to add with this modification:
1) check valve on my main return. (3/4" to match plumbing)
2) Apex FMM flow sensor (1" - FS-100)
3) check valve on refugium tank (probably 1" to match flow sensor)
4) 40 Watt UV sterilizer (thinking Lifegard Aquatics 788379318208)

The UV would be added something like this:


The Varios4 only runs at about 40%. No idea what the flow is but I can throttle that to whatever is needed. That is really the only reason I want to add the flow sensor. I have an open channel to use on my FMM so it ends up being the cost of sensor (~$60) and some extra plumbing. Ideally, I would get this tuned into around the 160/270 GPH.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Playing with video settings. Hope it looks ok.

 

[Varig]

Looks absolutely amazing.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

Dirty looking full tank shot.

Been awhile since I did a full list so here is the current livestock:
Snowflake moray eel
Marine Betta
Ocellaris clown pair
Royal gramma
Banggai cardinal
One spot foxface
Hippo tang
Powder brown tang
Yellow tang x2
Lyretail anthias x5
Solar wrasse
Coralbanded shrimp
Fire shrimp
Halloween crab
Anemone crab
Various clean up crew