IM Nuvo sps dominant (hopefully)

[refridgeRAIDER]

hey guys pretty new here, just picked up an IM Nuvo 40gallon AIO setup and am planning on going sps dominant. I've done mixed reefs and nano tanks but my wife finally let me pull the trigger in this bad boy. We are currently living in an apartment so I felt this tank would be the best compromise (and by that I mean the biggest I could get away with lol). All of this build so far has been pieced together off of Craigslist but here's what I have so far,

Innovative Marine Nuvo 40g

Tunze comline doc skimmer 9004

I filter caddy

Stock return pump and a spare I have moving water in display

Hydor koralia mid sized

Ehiem heater

Giesemann sprectra MH/T5 combo that someone cut the T5 lights out of so I jerry rigged a marine land actinic blue in place for now.

I have water cycling and content to be patient as I want to do this one right. As soon as I learn how to upload photos I'll have some up. Any experience or recommendations you guys have are more then welcome! I am very excited to be apart of a community on this build and learn/share together so thanks for having me!

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

Also going bare bottom with this one is there anything special I need to do while cycling to help since I don't have the sand and all the extra bacteria it brings? Am using Seed to establish the tank ATM

 

[tdileo]

I would reccomend a better skimmer unless you only plan on having like 2 fish that stay on the smaller side. Most SPS corals like cleaner waters so for an SPS tank with a nice amount of fish in there I would say get a skimmer rated for 3x your tank volume if possible. I will be upgrading the skimmer on my 46G to one rated for up to 140 gallons. I would also probably reccomend you get either a gyre pump for flow or something with lots of control like a Vortech MP10.
Just out of curiosity, why not use LED lights? I hear some people prefer the look of MH/T5, but LEDs can put out more power, are cheaper in the long run since you should never have to replace them and in addition they stay cool and many are extremely controllable.
I wish you the best of luck with your tank, SPS dominated tanks can be gorgeous

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

I would reccomend a better skimmer unless you only plan on having like 2 fish that stay on the smaller side. Most SPS corals like cleaner waters so for an SPS tank with a nice amount of fish in there I would say get a skimmer rated for 3x your tank volume if possible. I will be upgrading the skimmer on my 46G to one rated for up to 140 gallons. I would also probably reccomend you get either a gyre pump for flow or something with lots of control like a Vortech MP10.
Just out of curiosity, why not use LED lights? I hear some people prefer the look of MH/T5, but LEDs can put out more power, are cheaper in the long run since you should never have to replace them and in addition they stay cool and many are extremely controllable.
I wish you the best of luck with your tank, SPS dominated tanks can be gorgeous

Thanks I'll definitely be getting a bigger skimmer, and the light I chose I got for 75 bucks off of Craigslist it fit the budget for right now and I'm going to be socking money aside to upgrade the light in a couple months here. I have been looking into both the gyres and the mp10 it's hard to decide which because they are both really nice powerheads. I'll have to be patient there as well we just had a new addition to the family, my son was born last week I also have a 4 year old daughter, so have to play it cool with the tank so my wife doesn't kill me lol

 

[tdileo]

Oh thats a great deal for the lights! Congratulations on your son as well. Slowly is definitely the way to go, just do the important things first. As long as your lights grow the coral and your water is good then you can slowly upgrade other stuff. Maybe put aside a small percentage of your paycheck every month and eventually buy it. Or get lucky, win the lottery, get everything you want and give me the extra money lol!

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

Oh thats a great deal for the lights! Congratulations on your son as well. Slowly is definitely the way to go, just do the important things first. As long as your lights grow the coral and your water is good then you can slowly upgrade other stuff. Maybe put aside a small percentage of your paycheck every month and eventually buy it. Or get lucky, win the lottery, get everything you want and give me the extra money lol!

Hahahahaha thanks!! Yeah I was planning on socking some away every paycheck and trying to be a responsible adult which is very difficult in this hobby! As far as livestock and CUC what would your recommendations be?

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

And I'll work on winning the lotto, if I do I'm going with a tank big enough to dive in. Everyone's invited [emoji41][emoji1362]

 

[refridgeRAIDER]

Another question, I'm extremely strict on WC's. Would this be enough to make this skimmer work as long as I'm doing a consistent wc every week?

 

[tdileo]

Oh if you do weekly WCs you could get away with that skimmer then. I just personally am a bit lazy with WCs because I have to get my parents to drive me 15 minutes to get salt water lol.
Livestock really depends on what you like. I would say probably no more than 5 or so fish in a 40 but if you have lots of hiding spots and good water quality you can do more. CUC also depends on what you like. Some people like crabs, some people hate them. Same for hermits. Can't really go wrong with snails. I'd probably say no less than like 20 snails total and do a mix of trochus, turbo, astarea, cerith, nassarius, etc. If you have a lot of algae you may want more and if you dont have a lot maybe less.