IM Nuvo 40 (or similar) setups

IAReefer · Oct 29, 2019

I’ve had this tank up and running since February. Have a few softies, LPS & SPS. Decent cleanup crew including a fighting conch, blood shrimp, various snails (mostly trochus), and a few blue & red legged hermits.

I run 3 of the blocks, filter floss and occasionally GFO in a bag in the IM filter baskets. Not entirely sold on the AIO setup. Is anyone her running a similar setup with a refugium for Macro filtration? My P04 is always near zero, but, my N03 runs high.

I feed mainly LRS Frozen Reef Frenzy Nano & Reef Nutrition Beta Brine.

ruskimax · Oct 29, 2019

I have the same tank. Wish I had gone bigger but that's part of the experience I guess. I started out too complex: hang on fuge, marine pure, NoPox, Nuvo skimmer, UV, carbon, gfo, reef energy, reef roids, 2 part dosing, and trace colors. Had constant battles w this or that nuisance until I was abt ready to give up the hobby. Took off the UV, marine pure, and UV. Increased WC frequency and stopped feeding the roids and the trace colors. Things started to look great w time, and now a few months later things have seemed to stabilize. No longer cycling through GFA and cyano, coralline is starting to take off, corals all look super happy. Long story short, in such a small volume of water it makes much more sense to change water as this replenishes the good and removes the bad in predictable ratios. Another point I wish paid more attention to is that things go south much quicker w low nutrients than w high nutrients. GFO and overdosing NoPOx has been the bane of my existence. Happy reefing man, good luck w your Nuvo.

IAReefer · Oct 30, 2019

Ruskimax- good to hear simpler worked better for your tank. I currently change 5g/week of around 30-32g volume, so approximately 16-17%. Being such a small setup, I’ve been buying both RO & Salt mix from a LFS. Just don’t know if it’s worth buying my own RODI system for a 5g/week water change. I’m sticking with it, the kids and I love watching everything in the tank! I just didn’t know if there was something I can do to keep my N03 down, especially for the corals. I only have 5 fish which doesn’t seem like I should be overstocked by any means.

Zeal · Oct 30, 2019

I have one, hate it. How do you clean the sump in the back? Mine is filled with ****

IAReefer · Oct 30, 2019

Zeal said:
I have one, hate it. How do you clean the sump in the back? Mine is filled with ****

Yes! That’s why I posted the pics of a couple of the chambers. I think that’s where the N03 is coming from? It looks like pineapple sponges, and crap, that just sits in there

Zeal · Oct 30, 2019

IAReefer said:
Yes! That’s why I posted the pics of a couple of the chambers. I think that’s where the N03 is coming from? It looks like pineapple sponges, and crap, that just sits in there

It’s possible. Mine is filled with literally **** and I’m not really sure how to remove it

ruskimax · Oct 30, 2019

Yea stuff accumulating in the sump area was and still is a problem. Thats why having so much stuff was killing me, needed to unplug too much stuff to do routine maintenance. Do yourself a favor, invest in a home RODI kit and an auto water change system. Seems like a big investment but will save you money and stress in the future. PS what is your NO3 running around. If its a bit high you can dose a bit of carbon source like NoPox to get the number down but if youre not having major algae issues id say just cut back feedings a bit and change a few extra gallons every week. Keeping things simple will make troubleshooting easier and more likely that you stay around long enough to really enjoy how rewarding an established tank can be.