B.A.Prince IM Nuvo 20

BAPrince · Apr 3, 2020

My name is Patrick, and I am a new reefer. I did fish-only systems back in the 90's and early 2000's, but I've been out of the hobby for a solid 15 years. A few months ago, the wife gave me permission to set up my dream tank (which will be in the 170-180 range), and I hope that tank will become a reality in the next 3-6 months. I've watched so many YT videos and read through 100's of forums, to the point that I feel like my head is going to explode. To fix that, I picked up two, used AIO cubes. One is a AquaTop 24g... and the other is a IM20. The AquaTop is going to be a fish observation tank. The IM20 will be my test ground for setting up a reef tank... and when the big tank comes later this year, will serve as coral quarantine/frag tank. I may put a few fish in it for now, but as the big tank gets closer, it will become a "fishless" coral quarantine tank. I need a place to document my journey, and ask questions.... so WELCOME to my build thread for the IM20!!

Here's what I have so far with the IM20. This stuff all came with the tank.
-- Tank and stand
-- Two overflow caddies (see picture below)
-- An Eheim CompactON 600 (says it's rated for 66-145gph)
-- One MP10
-- Tunze 3152 nano ATO

Here's what I'm thinking I need/want....
-- AI Prime HD
-- Vivid Creative Aquatics return line to loc-line adaptor (16mm or 19mm?) and RFG's
-- Caribsea special-grade sand and LifeRock

Questions....
1. Is that Eheim return pump sufficient, or does it need an upgrade?
2. What media is the BEST to put in the overflow caddies?
3. What (if anything) should I put in chambers #2 and #4 (between the overflow chamber and the return chamber?

Thank you for any assistance you can provide, and know that I appreciate all of your feedback/suggestions/thoughts.

Tahoe61 · Apr 3, 2020

Welcome to R2R Patrick.

I did use the socks that come with this tank to polish the water from time to time.
In one caddy you can place charcoal if you like. Or products like Chempure Elite.
I used foam in the same caddy. I do not think you need to use both caddys.
An ATO is really a must, I used a Smart system on my IM 20.
A good affordable skimmer is Tunze 9001. The IM Ghost skimmer was a disappointment.

Sounds like a solid plan.

BAPrince · Apr 12, 2020

Got her wet last night. She's nice and clear this morning!

Waffen06 · Apr 12, 2020

Looks nice! Just got a nuvo 20 yesterday myself. Also looking to put an AI Prime on mine

BAPrince · Apr 30, 2020

Tank is cycled! 6 months of research, and suddenly I feel like I don't know ANYTHING!? This is going to be a fishless coral QT/frag tank. Do a water change, and then I can add a coral? What am I missing?

Also, recommendations for my first coral? Only real request is that it NOT be anything that will take over the tank.

Snailpowered · Apr 30, 2020

You cant go wrong with Zoa and Paly's as your first corals, plus they are nice and colorful. If you dont want them to take over the tank stay away from Mohawk's, Radio Active Dragon Eyes, Armor of God's. Ricordia and other mushrooms are good ones to start with as well, and as long as you have the right lighting chalices are pretty awesome as well.

BAPrince · May 19, 2020

First two corals are in the tank.... and my first attempt at reef photography!!

Tahoe61 · May 19, 2020

Very nice! Good choice of corals.

Duncans would be a good choice as well as Micromussa/Acan.

BAPrince · May 19, 2020

Thank you! Acans are definitely on the "want" list.... and I'd like to get a Euphyllia in there for some movement sooner rather than later.

PR_nano · May 19, 2020

Nice seeing other IM 20 builds. I run filter floss, carbon and ceramic spheres on the caddies. For pump that one should work until you start adding more corals or want more flow. A lot of folks run the IM Mighty Jet pump that comes with the tank or the sicce.

BAPrince · Jun 8, 2020

Can someone ID this algae? Obviously I know my tank will go through an ugly phase, and yet I'm wondering if this is a "normal" algae, or one of the super aggressive ones?! I think it's time for a Clean Up Crew!

BAPrince · Jul 24, 2020

UPDATE! Everything is progressing nicely! Added some snails about a month ago, and they cleaned up all the algae. Picked up a frogspawn from the LFS... and got a cool zoa frag from a fellow reefer for helping him move a tank. All in all, I've VERY pleased with everything.

Question... I am ready for the next level of filtration. Remember that this is a fish-less coral QT tank, only corals, snails, and a newly added shrimp. The only filtration I have is rock, sand, and filter floss. I have been managing nitrates with water changes AND now I'm having trouble keeping them down. Is there something I can put in the overflow caddies that will help keep nitrates down? Carbon? Chemi-Pure Blue?

Tahoe61 · Jul 24, 2020

Looking really good.

The scrambled eggs are one of my favorite zoanthids. The Favia has really grown.

What is the nitrate value, and test kit?

With no fish it seems like nitrates would not be a problem. A skimmer would be the next logical step. Neither product you mentioned will manage nitrates, and you can not use a carbon like bio pellets, vodka.....without one.

BAPrince · Jul 24, 2020

I got nitrates down to about 5 (Red Sea test kit), with about 3-4 20% water changes in a week... it was up around 20. I feed the corals a small dose of Reef Roids about once a week (which seems to keep my PO3 in a good range of 0.07-0.12), and I've tossed a half-cube of mysis shrimp in the tank twice in the last month to keep the snails fed. I know a protein skimmer would be ideal, but it doesn't seem like anyone likes their nano skimmer. Is there a good one out there?

BAPrince · Jul 24, 2020

I wonder if I have a snail (or more than one) dead in the sandbed somewhere?!

Nick Steele · Jul 24, 2020

I would just up your water changes if you can’t get a count of how many snails are alive. I had a hard time keeping nitrates in my tank the first couple months even with heavy feeding.

Only filtration I use on my nuvo20 is filter floss in both over flows and rubble rock in chambers 2/4. I believe people underestimate how useful rubble rock type media is. My chambers are crawling with pods/worms and sponges and who knows what else.

BAPrince · Jul 24, 2020

Nick Steele said:
I would just up your water changes if you can’t get a count of how many snails are alive. I had a hard time keeping nitrates in my tank the first couple months even with heavy feeding.

Only filtration I use on my nuvo20 is filter floss in both over flows and rubble rock in chambers 2/4. I believe people underestimate how useful rubble rock type media is. My chambers are crawling with pods/worms and sponges and who knows what else.

I filled up the 2nd chamber of the In-Tank caddy of the right side with rubble rock... figured it can't hurt to have more surface area!!

Nick Steele · Jul 24, 2020

BAPrince said:
I filled up the 2nd chamber of the In-Tank caddy of the right side with rubble rock... figured it can't hurt to have more surface area!!

Gotcha. Yeah I have chamber 2/4 packed full of it which might be too much as tank gets too clean if I don’t feed for a few days.

Part of the appeal of smaller tanks (to me) is the fact you don’t need as much equipment to be successful

BAPrince · Jul 24, 2020

I hadn't given TOO much worry to nitrates with the LPS I have in the tank to date... And I received a red-banded snapping shrimp today from LiveAquaria, and they were pretty emphatic about how nitrates affect shrimp. Got me worried. Hope 5 is an acceptable level for him.