Mr.Rocc's 40 Nuvo Build (Picture heavy!!!)

[Mr.Rocc]

I have the XR30 G3 Pro and love it. I don't think the 15 will give you enough coverage

I was watching videos and noticed a huge difference between the Gen 3 and the Gen 4 but its also a 400$ price difference. How are your Gen 3's holding up?

 

[datBme150]

I was watching videos and noticed a huge difference between the Gen 3 and the Gen 4 but its also a 400$ price difference. How are your Gen 3's holding up?

At the end of the day they are both great lights. For me in was coming from a Current USA light so it was a huge improvement for me and would have been for either the gen 3 or 4. My tank is super happy right now.

 

[THE_MAD_REEFER]

Good stuff!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Great thread. Not only has your aquarium progressed nicely, but so have your photo skills.

 

[Mr.Rocc]

HELLO everyone!! So I have been holding off on everyone because I have been waiting for my new light. I just recently bought myself a Radion Xr30Pro Gen 3 for my Nuvo and so far I love it. The colors are so much more clear and vibrant. Honest colors is the word that comes to my mind. Anyhow here is the comparison from one to the other. They are at different times so the radions are blue.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Curious as to why you parted with the SB Reef 16”? I recall you went to SB from Kessil and seemed pleased with the result (I too have the 16” WiFi, but tank is still in setup stage). Also, if you tested, any difference in PAR, or was the shading more of the issue? Any other thoughts would be great. Thanks.

 

[Mr.Rocc]

For starters I LOVED my SB's. However, there were a few things that I found out in the long run that I didn't like. There was a super bad hot spot right in the middle of the tank where I couldn't grow anything, the programming app was decent but nothing saved to the device it only saved to your phone or w.e. so that became annoying, it didn't have the same spectrum as these do. I never actually check par, I just acclimate my corals and hope for the best. LOL well I look at my tank every day and If I dont like the results I move them. Last but not least I am growing more and more sps and the colors just dont match the actual corals that you buy. As soon as I switched over to the radions and put them on everything was so much more clear and colorful. But the corals will adapt and hopefully I will be even more happy with the results.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

SBs have a horrible hot spot right under them, and not much spread side to side. The spectrum isn't the greatest either. It will grow coral, but not colored how a Kessil or Radion or AI can. I removed all but a few of the reflectors from mine before I traded them for a pair of A160s. On my 20" cube, they both provide almost a flat blanket of even light... Up at the top of the tank there is a hot spot directly under the light, at 450 par but that's at the surface of the water. 6" down the par distribution is as flat as you're going to get at about 300 par. My sand bed is a flat 100 par, no differences from center to sides... I'd say with my two 160s at 100%, it's almost equal to what most people would run a XR30 at for SPS growth. Not sure the % power on that, I've never owned one. One single Kessil makes for a very shadowed tank, I will agree with that. I have a single 160 on my 14g Fusion tank.

 

[NY_Caveman]

For starters I LOVED my SB's. However, there were a few things that I found out in the long run that I didn't like. There was a super bad hot spot right in the middle of the tank where I couldn't grow anything, the programming app was decent but nothing saved to the device it only saved to your phone or w.e. so that became annoying, it didn't have the same spectrum as these do. I never actually check par, I just acclimate my corals and hope for the best. LOL well I look at my tank every day and If I dont like the results I move them. Last but not least I am growing more and more sps and the colors just dont match the actual corals that you buy. As soon as I switched over to the radions and put them on everything was so much more clear and colorful. But the corals will adapt and hopefully I will be even more happy with the results.

Thanks for that guys. I plan on utilizing some diffusion on the SB (going to test some different ones, probably from Barbizon in NY, who provide gels and diffusion for the TV and film industry - I work in TV and am familiar generally with what they have) so hopefully that will help with the hot spots. I may pull some lenses as well.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I should mention my tank (JBJ 30) is 16” deep and the LED will only be 8-9” above so I feel the diffusion will be necessary.

 

[datBme150]

HELLO everyone!! So I have been holding off on everyone because I have been waiting for my new light. I just recently bought myself a Radion Xr30Pro Gen 3 for my Nuvo and so far I love it. The colors are so much more clear and vibrant. Honest colors is the word that comes to my mind. Anyhow here is the comparison from one to the other. They are at different times so the radions are blue.

What overall intensitity are you running the radion

 

[VSVP bet]

great tank. do you like the filtration on the IM? i had one and i had problems with it. not sure if my pump was dying or what, but i never got the flow i needed. i'm curious as to what your experience has been.

 

[Mr.Rocc]

What overall intensitity are you running the radion

So I literally just put this on my tank at 6pm last night and I'm running an acclimation period of 5 weeks. It will ramp from 20% to 40% once the 5 weeks are up.

 

[Mr.Rocc]

great tank. do you like the filtration on the IM? i had one and i had problems with it. not sure if my pump was dying or what, but i never got the flow i needed. i'm curious as to what your experience has been.

WELLLL, I hate the filtration and the pump on mine as well. I clean my pump every 2 months because, as you said, it starts losing flow. However I will be upgrading to a larger pump hopefully soon. I have used the media baskets, reactors, and filter socks that everyone rants and raves about. They all blow! I guess the media basket does what it says but thats about it. The filter socks are hard to clean and the reactors just don't work well at all. I have upgrade all of the filtration to a larger skimmer, a carbon/gfo reactor, and a cheato reactor to solve these issues. Next to upgrade is either the return pump and lines, or a gyre on the opposite wall. I haven't decided yet.

 

[datBme150]

WELLLL, I hate the filtration and the pump on mine as well. I clean my pump every 2 months because, as you said, it starts losing flow. However I will be upgrading to a larger pump hopefully soon. I have used the media baskets, reactors, and filter socks that everyone rants and raves about. They all blow! I guess the media basket does what it says but thats about it. The filter socks are hard to clean and the reactors just don't work well at all. I have upgrade all of the filtration to a larger skimmer, a carbon/gfo reactor, and a cheato reactor to solve these issues. Next to upgrade is either the return pump and lines, or a gyre on the opposite wall. I haven't decided yet.

Agreed on all fronts. Filter socks only work if you change them every other day. The rest is a pain and under powered as well. Just bought a drilled 42 Gallon from planet to get a sump for the same package size. Too frustrated with IM

 

[VSVP bet]

@datBme150 @Mr.Rocc glad to hear I wasn't alone with my IM frustration! I ended up ditching my nuvo 20 and building my own tank. Good luck with the upgrades !

 

[Mr.Rocc]

@datBme150 @Mr.Rocc glad to hear I wasn't alone with my IM frustration! I ended up ditching my nuvo 20 and building my own tank. Good luck with the upgrades !

I was about to drill my Nuvo to put a sump in thats how rough it is. Anyhow, im just adding to my 15+ years in the hobby with this tank. The next one is going to be the beast!

 

[Mr.Rocc]

Agreed on all fronts. Filter socks only work if you change them every other day. The rest is a pain and under powered as well. Just bought a drilled 42 Gallon from planet to get a sump for the same package size. Too frustrated with IM

Well with the small water volumes the filter socks blow. They just hold nitrates and left over food.

 

[Mr.Rocc]

Well it has been way too long for a real update!
For starters I went through multiple swings just from having a young tank as well as moving my tank. I lost a few coral from bleaching or for low nutrients. I took out my filter socks and added a cheato reactor. IF YOU OWN AN AIO TANK GET A CHEATO REACTOR! This thing saved my life! Besides that I switched to a Radion XR30Pro Gen 3. Here it is!!

 

[Mr.Rocc]

I also want to show a nice update on some corals!
First!
I bought this WWC blueberry fields back in June 2017 and it survived so much nonsense!
June 2017

March 2018