IM Nuvo40 AIO budget reef tank build

[Patrick Fox]

Hello all,

I wanted to make a build thread to document the progress of my latest aquarium build. This nuvo 40 will be my second reef tank and so far, my largest. To me, the thought of moving up from my 5 gallon reef tank to something as large as 40 gallons was initially very scary, and expensive sounding. Hopefully this thread will be of some help to other people making the same kind of upgrade and show that it doesn't have to cost a million dollars. I'll make sure to include prices and other info as well.

I'll start of by listing the equipment and prices up til this point and come back periodically to update.

Quick backstory:
My wife and I were shopping for a 30-40 gallon tank, and considering the aquatop 40 AIO cube. A local fish store here in Columbus, OH had them for $500 and it was pretty tempting. (I put together my 5 gallon with the intention of housing only corals and Inverts at my desk. Turns out my wife really loves marine fish, and it made her sad that we couldn't keep any in an already stuffed 5 gallon - so that was a convenient excuse to start shopping for an upgrade).
Then I stumbled across an ad for a used IM Nuvo40 on a local Facebook reefing group. We went and got it that afternoon - too good of a deal to pass up. (And the seller was really cool and It looks like I might have made a new reefing friend now)

Equipment/cost:

- Tank/Stand/Return pump/upgraded Lid/100W heater/CustomCaddy Media Basket - Used - $235 - local seller
- Maxspect Gyre XF130 - used - $59 shipped - FB for sale post
- 27.5 lbs Dry Rock @2.99/lb - purchased new/fresh - $82 - Matt's Corals
- 20 bag Caribsea Arag-Alive sand - $25 - Matt's Corals
- Marinepure Gems - 90g box - $14 - Marine Depot
- Fritz Turbostart 900 bacteria - $30 - Matt's Corals
- 9 ft. * 1/2" vinyl tube - $5 - local plumbing supply house
- ATO pump - $18 shipped - Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/KEDSUM-Subme...mersible+pump&qid=1553687860&s=gateway&sr=8-6
- 5 gallon aqueon aquarium ATO "reservoir" (i already had this, but it was like $15 new from Petco) - not included in total
ATO horizontal float switches - qty. 4 - I already had these, but i think a pack of 5 was like $7 on amazon) - not included in total
- ATO main relay - $9 - advance autoparts
-ATO secondary replay - free from a friend
- ATO large airhose - $3 - petsmart
- Spectrepure 90GPD RODI filter - free gift from a very generous local reefer who has been guiding me along the way = 40 gallons RODI made at home for "free"
- 200 gallon's worth of Reef Crystals salt - $55 - Amazon
- Chemipure elite (to be used later when i have some level of bioload) - $11 - Marine Depot
- 20 gallon rubbermade BRUTE trashcan for saltwater mixing - $25 - Home depot
- 2 additional 5-gallon buckets w/ lids - $10 - Lowes
- additional IM custom caddy (to use as refugium) $45 (with $5 off loyalty coupon at marine depot)
- aquatic life 115 protein skimmer - $50 - amazon

Running total of items i care enough to track the cost of: $691 (as of 3/26/19)
I hope my wife never sees this thread - id be sleeping with the fishes. ;Nailbiting

Pics and progress/commentary to come in next post

Patrick

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sounds like a nice setup. Some shrewd shopping there.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Sounds like a nice setup. Some shrewd shopping there.

Thanks NY_Caveman, I know some people are a little funny when it comes to discussing money, and would rather just post pretty pictures of the end product...but as someone new-ish setting up a larger tank for the first time, i know that i wish i had the complete cost breakdown available to me. im a nuts/bolts kind of person when it comes to planning for the cost of a system. so i wanted to make the information available to others. Shrewd shopping is the goal - i dont want to buy the "cheapest thing possible", but i also dont feel the need to go buy something new and pay full retail if i can help it.

All the second-hand gear that ive purchased for this build has gotten a really thorough vinegar bath/ soaked/wiped with RODI water. i did my best to remove any traces of life from the gear thats going into my tank so that i get a fresh start without bringing someone elses problems into my nice clean tank.

 

[Gonebad395]

Really nice thread following along.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Ok, here comes an attempt at pictures. (I'm uploading via the app on my phone, so I hope it works out. If not, I'll edit.

So the first picture should be a shot of the tank when we first got it into the house and up on the stand. I scrubbed it with warm water and white vinegar fir like 3 nights in a row to clean out all of the funk from the previous owner. The sump/rear chamber was really a fun time...

Then once it was reasonably clean, I filled it with tap water and let it sit for a couple days to make sure there were no leaks. Everything checked out, and I drained it. And cleaned with vinegar and RODI again. It cleaned up pretty nice.

Next I had to chase down a return nozzel since the previous owner of the tank only included one of them. IM uses some strange size of proprietary hardware for the return nozells and I didn't have the patience to order the right thing and wait, so I ended up getting a loc-line nozzel and bulk-head style fitting with a 90 degree barbed connector. I had to use my dremmel to expand the hole in the acrylic back pannel, but it worked out fine. I think I spent about $15 all together. It was worth it to just be done with that mess.

After about 2 days worth of "playing with rocks" my wife and I settled on a rock formation that we like and then we let it sit for a couple more days to be sure. We wanted to have some swim-thrus for the fish, and places for them to hide, but also maximize coral-space so that things weren't in shadow later on. I think we nailed it, but please give me your opinions. Nothing is glued. We just sort of locked everything together. The dry rock we got is really good about it.

Also, I got the auto top off all setup. I'll make a separate post about that because it's a bit complex and over-engineerd for a DIY system, but I'm reasonably confident in it and feel that it's more than safe enough. The horizontal floatswitch mounts in the back of the sump are just something that I designed on SketchUp and 3D printed real fast one night. They worked out perfectly.

 

[Patrick Fox]

DIY home-made Auto top off system:

I have a hard time with the thought of paying the high prices that manufacturers seem to charge for ATO systems. My background is engineering/aviation, and I have always been a DIY kind of hobbyist in all of my other hobbies. (Rc airplanes especially)

So I built what I consider to be a very robust, very safe auto-topoff system for my Nuvo.

Parts:
- 4 x horizontal float switch ( DerBlue 6 Pieces Side mounted Horizontal Liquid Float Switch Water Level Sensor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HLPGJUQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KeTOCbWT9643X )
- Kedsum 550 GPH submersible pump ( KEDSUM 550GPH Submersible Pump(2500L/H,40W), Ultra Quiet Water Pump with 5ft High Lift, Fountain Pump with 6.5ft Power Cord, 3 Nozzles for Fish Tank, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017R708QO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_OR5eDjVtIxtOM )
- various lengths of wire
- heat shrink
- solder/soldering iron
- 2 x 4-pin 12v relay
- simple 3ft extension cord
- Large Airline tuning
- 3d printed parts
- aqueon 5g glass aquarium
-1 amp 12v DC power supply

The system I have put together has 2 floatswitches in the rear chamber of the tank, and another two floatswitches in the reservoir. The float switches open and close the 12v circuit which energizes the relays. The relays are spliced inline into the extension cord in series to turn power to the pump on and off.

The water-level controlling floatswitch in the back of the tank as well as the one of the switches in the ATO reservoir are connected to the same 12v circuit and relay. Low water level in the back of the tank will close the circuit and turn the pump on until the water level rises enough to cause the switch to open the 12v circuit and turn off the pump. The switch in the reservoir is on the same 12v circuit and it opens the circuit when the water level is low to turn the pump off and prevent running it dry.

The second floatswitch in the back of the tank is connected to the same 12 power supply, but has its own circuit and triggers the second relay. In the event that the first relay gets stuck closed, or the water-level floatswitch gets stuck closed, the water level will rise until it moves this floatswitch and opens the circuit , which opens the relay and turns off the pump.

Lastly, the second floatswitch in the ATO reservoir turns on a green LED powered by a 9v battery which shines through the glass door to alert me that the water level is low. The light comes on a good while before the second switch shuts the pump off. I decided to do this as a dummy-proof option. In the future, I might try to rig up a raspberry pi microcomputer to this switch and figure it a way to have it email me an alert when the water level is low.

I think that I have accounted for all possible failure cases with this system. I've accounted for switch failures, relay failures, and my own stupidity. Also, in the event that the 12v power supply fails, the relays will default to the open position, so it can't run away in that case either.

Sorry for the lengthy write up. I just wanted to out this it there for anyone else who is considering a DIY auto topoff. Take a look at the pictures, and feel free to ask any questions.

I'll work up a total price for my ATO system and out it here in an edit later

Patrick

 

[steelwrap]

Nice looking aquascape

 

[Patrick Fox]

Ive got the RODI/mixing station setup in the basement. for now, the RODI unit isn't mounted to anything, but ill get it on the wall next to the washer later. (im using a Y-valve on the cold water source for the washer, and then running the waste-water down the washer drain for the moment. maybe later in the summer ill collect the waste and use it to water the lawn, but at the moment i don't have anything to do with it except make my lawn muddy.)

I quickly realized that i needed more containers, than just the two 5-gallon buckets id been getting by with on my 5 gallon tank. so i ran out to grab some buckets and a brute can. man, those things are pricey. but i id my research and learned that the 20 gallon grey brute can should be reef-safe, and i know for sure that the HDPE buckets are fine as well. over the span of a couple days, i made up 40 gallons of RODI, plus another 5 gallons to put in my ATO reservoir. I only overflowed a bucket once before i decided to 3d-print a bracket to mount the float-valve to the bucket. (i found a design on thingiverse and printed it out - its meant for a home depot bucket, which has a slightly different profile than the lowes bucket...so i did the lazy thing and just took a heat gun to it and "massaged it" into the shape i needed. ill revisit that later.

link to thing-file for the float mount: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3033540
If anyone is interested I may upload my float-switch mounts to share later.

Waiting for my salt to come in the mail was painful. But amazon had the best price, and i figured why not save a few bucks? My dog, Stark, thought there may be something inside for him...but no luck for the pupper this time. (he has enough toys anyway).
I got busy mixing salt up to my preferred salinity of 1.026, (usually just a hair under that to be honest. I attached my Gyre pump to the trash-can vertically and ran it at full blast on constant speed mode. this seemed to get a nice vortex going in the bucket, and helped mix the salt up in no time. then i got it to roughly the right temp with a spare heater just to be safe.

I made a huge mess adding sand to the tank, but it all worked out ok. That's what vacuums are for. i used about 3/4 of a 20 lb bag of arag-alive caribsea live sand. it got me to about a 1-1.5 inch sand bed, which is substantial for my needs im pretty sure (i was going to run this tank bare-bottom, but my wife really loves nassarious snails,and they way that they burrow in and out when there is food available. so we did the sand-thing. I'm OK with the added maintenance, and honestly, I prefer the way it looks.

once i got all of the water in, i let it sit overnight. in the morning it was crystal clear, up to just about the right temp, and the salinity is where i want it!

Also, got my order from marine depot. I rinsed the dust off of the Gems with RODI and put them in the middle chamber of my custom-caddy media tray. for now they are all in the one. in the future ill make/get another media tray for the other side's overflow, and put half of them over there. other than that, i jsut put some standard white filter pad on the top of the custom caddy to grab sand particulate and all that. ill refine the filtration later after the cycle.

 

[SDK]

Sounds like a nice setup. Some shrewd shopping there.

Seriously, and great job!

I spent twice that setting up a smaller tank. If your wife does see this, make sure she scrolls down as far as my post before she heads for the kitchen knife drawer

 

[Patrick Fox]

Seriously, and great job!

I spent twice that setting up a smaller tank. If your wife does see this, make sure she scrolls down as far as my post before she heads for the kitchen knife drawer

Thanks! haha. glad to hear im not spending insane amoutns of money, because it sure feels that way sometimes. I keep finding new things i need to get.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Also, dont worry - the wire mess on the floor behind the tank is being addressed. I picked up a 6-plug surge-protector with a long cord and a flat-low-profile plug last night. Now only the one visible wire runs from the plug behind the liquor-cabinet over to the tank, and all of the plugs and other wires are inside the stand. ill do some cable management soon and post pics when i feel better about it. haha

 

[SDK]

Thanks! haha. glad to hear im not spending insane amoutns of money, because it sure feels that way sometimes. I keep finding new things i need to get.

No worries and that will still go on for a while yet lol.

Test kits jump out at me. I saw that pic of an API calcium kit. You need more and will want them asap during cycling and immediately after. One tip would be to resist saving a few bucks on the API kits, which most seem to replace in short order with better ones.

Look at Red Sea and Salifert (or Hanna Checkers if you really want to find out how much your wife loves you )...

 

[Patrick Fox]

No worries and that will still go on for a while yet lol.

Test kits jump out at me. I saw that pic of an API calcium kit. You need more and will want them asap during cycling and immediately after. One tip would be to resist saving a few bucks on the API kits, which most seem to replace in short order with better ones.

Look at Red Sea and Salifert (or Hanna Checkers if you really want to find out how much your wife loves you )...

Thanks for the concern, SDK.
This is my second reef tank, so I'm not starting from scratch. I have a half-equipped test kit that's been enough to get by for the past 9-10 months. But I do plan on upgrading moving forward. I'll probably go with salifert in the longrun.

Currently I have
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
High range pH
Phosphate
Copper
Calcium

I plan to grab a salifert Alk test soon but at the moment I dont really need it (and I'm running out of money for this pay period)

 

[Patrick Fox]

Nice looking aquascape

Thanks!

 

[Patrick Fox]

Once the salinity and temp we're settled it was time to start the cycle. Since I used new, dry rock that's never seen water before, there is no chance of undesirable hitchhikers, but also no beneficial bacteria for a biological filter. So I got a bottle of Fritz turbostart 900 (4oz.) And then went to the seafood counter at the grocery store to buy 2 raw cocktail shrimps. I got a funny look from the guy at the counter, explained that it was for my aquarium, paid $0.77 and headed home.

Before kicking off the cycle, I tested ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, oh, and phosphate just to make sure I didn't majorly good anything up or contaminate the system whole getting things together. All clear!

Then I dropped my new pet shrimp onto the sand bed front and center and dumped in the whole bottle of turbostart. Immediate cloudy Nasty water.

After just 2 hours, my wife and I noticed a pretty rank smell coming from the tank. I guess that bacteria went to work right away and a decaying shrimp doesn't make for good air freshener. So I put some redsea activated carbon that I had sitting around into a knee-high panty hose and dropped that into the back if the tank. After about 24 hours, things are smelling fine again.

Did an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test at about the 24 hour mark. Looks like we have the start of a cycle!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I really love that aquascape. Nice job.

 

[nickkohrn]

Everything is looking good, Patrick!

I’m glad that you threw carbon into your tank during the cycle because that odor can really make significant others unhappy; my wife wanted to beat me because of it.

The bacteria is, clearly, making a snack out of that shrimp. You should have a nice population of bacteria in a few days.

 

[Patrick Fox]

Everything is looking good, Patrick!

I’m glad that you threw carbon into your tank during the cycle because that odor can really make significant others unhappy; my wife wanted to beat me because of it.

The bacteria is, clearly, making a snack out of that shrimp. You should have a nice population of bacteria in a few days.

Thanks Nick,
It was getting pretty ripe smelling in there. haha my wife called me form work the next day to say that it stunk. But i think after around 24 hours the smell sort of dissipated - guess the carbon needed some time to get to work. its fine now. Thanks for the good advice!

 

[Patrick Fox]

The water has really cleared up today! Basically back to crystal clear again! The shrimp is looking pretty gross now too.

Did a quick water test tonight. Maybe a bit less ammonia and a bit more nitrite? I'm not in any kind of hurry. Just kind of want to keep an eye on things so that I know how things are doing.

 

[nickkohrn]

Looking good! Your cycle is well on its way.