Gator's new Nuvo 50 tank

Gator1970 · Nov 27, 2016

Hello All - very friendly & knowledgeable forum you seem to have here!

After a hiatus of several years from the hobby I've decided to jump back in, and have taken the plunge and ordered the following (after some careful research):

Innovative Marine NUVO Aquarium - Fusion Lagoon 50 w/ Stand
Tunze osmolator NANO 3152 - auto top off
Innovative Marine AUQA Gadget Ghost Protein Skimmer
Ecotech Marine Vortech MP10wQD Quietdrive
Ecotech Radion Mounting System - RMS Radion XR30
Red Sea High Accuracy Seawater Refractometer
Eheim (Ebo) Jager 200W Heater
Ecotech Marine Radion XR30 G4 Pro LED Fixture
Neptune Systems Apex Lab w/ Display Module, PH & Temp Probe & EB8

I'm really looking forward to setting this up and getting the cycling process going. From what I read it seems LED lighting will be fine for LPS and SPS..... the last lighting system I had was MH & VHO fluorescents.

I hope to update this thread as things arrive and the process of set up and cycling starts.

helen ann · Nov 27, 2016

Welcome back to the addiction!

Gator1970 · Nov 27, 2016

Thanks - I am super excited!

Daniel@R2R · Nov 28, 2016

Awesome! Welcome back!!

revhtree · Nov 28, 2016

Welcome back!

Gator1970 · Nov 28, 2016

Thanks very much! I got an email confirming the order has been filled - I find out delivery date tomorrow.

Gator1970 · Nov 29, 2016

I just received confirmation that my order should be coming in tomorrow! Now I need to figure out how I'm going to pay for all this stuff, lol....

Elementalj · Nov 29, 2016

Can't wait for pictures!

Gator1970 · Dec 1, 2016

Well - slight snag - they tried to deliver today without calling, so I will go to the shippers after work tomorrow and pick up myself. Pictures tomorrow!

Gator1970 · Dec 2, 2016

Well - I picked up my stuff - here's a shot of some of the stuff. The tank and stand are still in the car - I have to talk my better half into helping me lug it in the house! Have to work tomorrow so likely won't be able to start setting everything up until later tomorrow or maybe Sunday. Previous tanks I've rushed the set-up and had to move everything around and tweak things while the tank was up and running - this time I'm going to take it nice and slowwwww and make sure I do it right the first time.

Gator1970 · Dec 4, 2016

Well, all I got done this weekend was to put the tank on the stand, and peel away some of the paper from the return nozzles. So far I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the tank and fit and finish of the stand.

Elementalj · Dec 4, 2016

Gator1970 said:
Well, all I got done this weekend was to put the tank on the stand, and peel away some of the paper from the return nozzles. So far I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the tank and fit and finish of the stand.

I think they're a stunning setup. Congrats!

Gator1970 · Dec 5, 2016

Well - I trial fit the heater in the return pump compartment and it is about 2" long - du-oh! I might have to step down to the 150 watt ebo jäger...since I will be controlling it with the apex I wanted to oversize it a little.

Gator1970 · Dec 6, 2016

Well I tested the radion on the tank. I used the longest mounting bar that came with the kit. It seems to produce lots of light. The IM ghost skimmer fits in its spot, but I'm dubious that it's going to work well. It's square and only has a cone shape at the very top - I have to say I would have more confidence if it was round, or the cone was deeper. Oh well - it seems to have pretty decent reviews and time will tell if it needs replacing.

Gator1970 · Dec 7, 2016

I got one of these small RO/DI units from Aquatic Life. Going to start making water tonight!

Lysix · Dec 7, 2016

Very nice tank, and I like your equipment choices. Looking forward to updates.

Gator1970 · Dec 9, 2016

Salt mixing with rodi after leak test. Using instant ocean because it was on sale. I need to get a smaller heater that fits in the return compartment, but for now the 200w ebo jäger can do the job on the display side.

Gator1970 · Dec 9, 2016

Hmm - does anyone know what is going on with the two times in the top right of the fusion dashboard? The amber one is the correct time, but the blue one seems to be behind by three hours?

Gator1970 · Dec 10, 2016

I added some aragonite and a few pounds of cured live rock to start things off. ATO is up and running. Not runnng the skimmer for now. Apex is hooked up and powering everything. I have a few questions if someone could help with one or more of them:

1) will the apex radion module control the radion fixture as well as a reef link?
2) if no to the above, will one reef link control multiple vortech pumps and a radion fixture?
3) is there a way to view/control the reef link from the apex fusion dashboard?
4) is it still acceptable practice to dose kalkwasser with ATO water (using a power head in reservoir for mixing)?
5) I would like to use fewer than 1 to 1.5 pounds of live rock per gallon - something on the order of 0.75 pounds per gallon - bioload will be a couple of small clowns and maybe one other small fish, a shrimp or two, and some snails and hermits. For coral, I'm thinking mostly LPS and softies, with maybe a few acro sticks up higher. Are there any other reefers having success with lower than typical amounts of live rock?
6) I'd like to keep a shallow sand bed this time - I am convinced from my experience that deep sand beds trap nutrients and lead to algae blooms eventually. I would like to go bare bottom but I don't like the look. Is anyone aware of any dangers with a shallow sand bed (1 to 1.5 inches)?

Any help or guidance re the above would be greatly appreciated!!!

WDKegge · Dec 10, 2016

1) Should only need one or the other, either get the radion addon for the apex or use a reef link, I would go with the radion addon as I have had connection issues with the reef link, lots of other people have problems with them as well
2) One reef link will control quite a few lights and pumps
3) no, the reef link is a stand alone system
4) I personally think running kalk can be a bit of a weird situation, your tank isnt going to evap at the same rate all the time, diffrent flow, temp in the house can all affect how much your are running your ato
5) If you are concerned about the ammount of live rock surface area you have you can always look at getting some marine pure blocks or balls, they add tons of surface area and you could probably find a chamber in the back of the nuvo to stick it, they can be cut to size
6) No real dangers to running a smaller sandbed, I ran it for quite awhile in my tank, I eventually moved to barebottom and I personally love it, I have montis and coraline encrusting the entire bottom of the tank to the point where you cant even see the glass anymore, a shallow bed is a great option if you want the look of sand.