First Tank - IM Nuvo Fusion 15G

[Sheogorath]

Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 15 with APS stand & mesh screen lid
Light: AI Prime 16HD
Pump: Mightyjet Mini 266
Powerhead: Ecotech MP10
Heater: Helio 100w
Filtration: IM Media Caddy
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Starting the cycling process with Dr. Tim's fishless cycle. Not sure what I'm going to stock this with yet so I'm open to suggestions

 

[Subsea]

If you are new at Reefing, consider a mixed garden of softies & filter feeders.

Many new reefers start out with dry sand & rock, with varying degrees of the nasties for the first year as they bounce back & forth between methods shouted out from computer screens thousands of miles away.

I suggest getting more focused with the science. Get John Tullock’s book “The Naturall Reef” and ingest the knowledge. Amateurs learn by mistakes, Professionals read the Book.

The most important part of your journey into Reefing is how you set up diversity in your ecosystem. Add nitrification bacteria from bottle and feed them to start nitrogen cycle, that’s where you are now. I throw a raw shrimp in and don’t bother testing. After a week, bring in biodiversity of micro fauna & fana with diver collected live rock.

The reason I like Gulf Live Rock is that the biodiversity is compatuable with Caribbean mixed garden lagoon that is heavy on inverts.

Gulf Live Rock.com

gulfliverock.com

Good diversity available here.

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

Indo-Pacific Sea Farms produces captive-bred marine life for healthier reef aquariums: invertebrates, detritivores, live sand, snail grazers, amphipods, beneficial worms, macro algae, plankton, corals, coral food and beneficial bacteria.

ipsf.com

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 15 with APS stand & mesh screen lid
Light: AI Prime 16HD
Pump: Mightyjet Mini 266
Powerhead: Ecotech MP10
Heater: Helio 100w
Filtration: IM Media Caddy
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Starting the cycling process with Dr. Tim's fishless cycle. Not sure what I'm going to stock this with yet so I'm open to suggestions

Tank is off to a good start!!

 

[tydeck]

Looks great. Quality equipment will make a difference. You have that covered.

Watching this build. I started my IM15 with the same rock. 3 nice chunks. So far I’m super happy. 6 weeks in now.

 

[Sheogorath]

Looks great. Quality equipment will make a difference. You have that covered.

Watching this build. I started my IM15 with the same rock. 3 nice chunks. So far I’m super happy. 6 weeks in now.

One month in and everything is going well!

I've added a Bubble Magus MiniQ Skimmer which is working for the most part but is still creating micro bubbles. Still working on fine tuning the water height.

The MP10 is a beast so I have to keep the power level at 1% which turns out to be around 440gph. I'd say its worth it to keep wires out of the display.

Current Stock:
- 2x Clownfish
- Rainbow BTA (i know its early but it was given to me by a friend)
- Cleaner Shrimp

Clownfish are enjoying their tank and have not ripped each other to shreds (yet). Rainbow BTA found a spot and looks happy.

The only problem so far is I'm already planning a bigger build...

 

[jman4x]

Following along on as many of these IM 15 builds as I can! I love this tank!

 

[NanoReef_lover143]

Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 15 with APS stand & mesh screen lid
Light: AI Prime 16HD
Pump: Mightyjet Mini 266
Powerhead: Ecotech MP10
Heater: Helio 100w
Filtration: IM Media Caddy
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152

Starting the cycling process with Dr. Tim's fishless cycle. Not sure what I'm going to stock this with yet so I'm open to suggestions

I'm a fan of IM fusions. This was on sale so I thought we'd start another tank at work. The tricky part is that we're "upgrading" from the current tank and it's going to the same exact spot as the current tank so it could take time. Looks good so far though!

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Looking great! I just wanted to respond because I just started my first reef tank about a month ago and have a lot of the same equipment as you. I’m running an IM 14 peninsula with the same rock and sand I believe. I have the AI Prime, the Nero 3 power head, the Helio 100 heater. I’ve been running the BRS AB+ light spectrum on the AI prime. I run the caddy with filter floss, fiber balls, and carbon. Current stock is 2 clownfish and several LPS and Softies. About to add a cleanup crew. I don’t have a skimmer but I did have micro bubble problems for awhile. I ended up figuring out that I had to keep my ATO set at about a 1/4” - 1/2” lower than the baffle before the return chamber and the micro bubbles were gone. When I had it at 3/4” to 1” the micro bubbles were crazy. Not sure if that info will help you since you have a skimmer running though. Anyways good luck!

 

[NanoReef_lover143]

Looking great! I just wanted to respond because I just started my first reef tank about a month ago and have a lot of the same equipment as you. I’m running an IM 14 peninsula with the same rock and sand I believe. I have the AI Prime, the Nero 3 power head, the Helio 100 heater. I’ve been running the BRS AB+ light spectrum on the AI prime. I run the caddy with filter floss, fiber balls, and carbon. Current stock is 2 clownfish and several LPS and Softies. About to add a cleanup crew. I don’t have a skimmer but I did have micro bubble problems for awhile. I ended up figuring out that I had to keep my ATO set at about a 1/4” - 1/2” lower than the baffle before the return chamber and the micro bubbles were gone. When I had it at 3/4” to 1” the micro bubbles were crazy. Not sure if that info will help you since you have a skimmer running though. Anyways good luck!

Did you remove the filter sock that the tank came with when you added the caddy that had the fiber balls and carbon and GFO?

I just started cycling the tank last week but the ammonia seems a high so I thought I'd let it continue to cycle now with the caddy.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Did you remove the filter sock that the tank came with when you added the caddy that had the fiber balls and carbon and GFO?

I just started cycling the tank last week but the ammonia seems a high so I thought I'd let it continue to cycle now with the caddy.

I did end up taking the socks out mainly just because filter floss is easier for me right now. I’m running the caddy with filter floss, then the fiber balls, and carbon on the bottom. My ammonia was down in about 7-9 days total but I don’t think I added filter sock until day 7 or so?

 

[Sheogorath]

Went and picked up some hermit crabs to do algae clean up around the tank (LFS was out of snails). Sand bed was surprisingly clean after a day or so! One crab decided to dislodge one of my frags though.

Adds some life to the tank for sure

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Went and picked up some hermit crabs to do algae clean up around the tank (LFS was out of snails). Sand bed was surprisingly clean after a day or so! One crab decided to dislodge one of my frags though.

Adds some life to the tank for sure

I added some hermits, some carnivorous snails and some algae eating snails as well as a couple porcelain crabs just because I think they are neat. I had some brown hair algae stuff on my Zoas and it was bothering me. I was even trying to cut it back with scissors and wa having a hard time. I added those hermits and they had them all cleaned up within a few hours