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Nuvo 20 Build (1 Viewer)

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I recently picked up an Ultra Rainbow Bubbletip nem for my clowns. While getting them acclimated to it (put them all in a small basket the sump). The wife and I have talked of moving somewhere with 5+ acres and now plan to do so sometime in the next year +/-. Part of that will require sale of our current house and moving into a temporary rental for 6 months. The thought came to me that a nano tank would be muuuch easier to deal with during a move than the big tank, as well as accepted in more placed. So I picked up a Nuvo 20 and stand from another club member with the intention of putting the clowns and the must keep corals in it. Then later when moving day is upon us shut the big tank down and sell off the other corals and livestock. Then later once moved in and settled go for the dream tank setup.

The Setup is:

Nuvo 20 AIO
Upgraded the dual pumps to a single MightyJet DC pump
Hygger Mini Wave Maker
Marine Magic ATO
x2 Prime HD's for more even light coverage
Modified ReefLED mounting arms by Redsea.
Twin Innovative Marine custom filter caddy's
Colbalt Neo-Therm 150w with Hygger temp controller
AquaMax FR-SE hang-on reactor - This will be put in stand and setup to grow macro algae as well as pods and other micro fauna. A separate pump will be used for this once all the parts are in.


This was the setup when I got it.

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The stand was a bit too tall and did not go with the rest of the décor. So I tore it down, lowered it by 6", re-skinned, and painted it to match the other stand.
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Plenty of space for storage as well.

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The controller for the Hygger Mini Wave Maker. While the controller is rather large, the pump is about the same diameter as a silver dollar, moves a surprising amount of water for its size. Also you can set up to 5 different profile modes depending on the time of day, creating different flow patterns in the tank.

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Not the best picture of the wave maker, but this thing is tiny, but absolutely silent and perfect for a tank this size. prop guard is small enough that there is not much risk to a wandering nem.

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I had the Redsea mounting arms from last year and found that they would hang the Prime HD's in the perfect spot over the tank if I could mount them to the arms. I picked up some stainless screws and nuts, drilled a single hole in the middle of the plastic mounting cap of the mount and everything mounted up perfectly.

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The LED mounts work on glass at 8mm or thicker and the Nuvo 20 glass is only 6mm. So I took a 4mm sheet of acrylic and snapped out squares large enough for the mount and filled the gap so the mounts are secure.
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Updates will come once I have the algae reactor up and running and have moved the nem, clowns and a few corals over to it. It's already about 1/2 way through cycling with Turbo Start 900 that was added on Saturday.
 

frankc

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Looks good, but isn't 150W heater a bit much for 20 gallons?

We moved from a typical lot in The Woodlands to 6.7 acres four years ago, and we love the extra peace and quiet and privacy. Plus, when trimming shrubs or trees, we just toss the trimmings in the woods and let nature recycle it, instead having to bag it or tie it in perfect size bundles.
 
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PorpoiseHork
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Thanks. We're looking at places that already have or are large enough to get an Ag exemption for it. One of the biggest roadblocks for us has been lack of high speed internet where that sort of land is available. As a result, buying property like that has been more of a possible retirement option than a now thing. All that has changed now that Starlink is nearly ready for open beta testing having gone for speed/latency certification. It makes the possibility of moving out past Navasota or even further out far more attractive. Especially for me since I need the high speed bandwidth for my job.

Yeah.. It is a tad large. I started with a 50w and it struggled to keep the tank at 82F for cycling purposes. My house night time air temp is set to 68, and only climbs to 74 during the day. So I needed something with a little more oomph and it was the only one I had in that range that fit in the pump area. I'll probably drop to a 75w or 100w once the cycle is done and bring the tank temps to down to 76-77 like the other tank.
 

ITreefer

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Nice build!
I love that small form factor powerhead.

I hear you on the lack of high speed internet, that's a clear deal breaker.
My parents have 15 acres in Tomball and the only option is satellite internet, which is terrible.
 
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PorpoiseHork
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Thanks! I wanted a small/inexpensive powerhead or wavemaker to create some turbulent flow patterns in the tank. Most of the products available are either not that small or cost as much as the entire tank setup. I found this one on Amazon and the reviews were favorable, and figured why not give it a try. So far the only complaints are that the pump mounting tabs are made from rubber so while they isolate noise and vibration very well, they pop out of the magnet fairly easily. Reinserting them isn't a big deal as they pop right back in, but they are almost but not quite evenly spaced, so getting them all to line up takes a couple of attempts. The other downer is these are stand-alone units and cannot link two or more together like other wavemakers can.

Yeah current satellite internet is horrifically slow and way overpriced for what you actually get.
 
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PorpoiseHork
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Tank cycle is complete so now I have to decide if I want to move the clowns and nem to it now or wait a little bit. The tank was started up with cured live rock, fresh live sand, and Fritzzyme Turbostart 900. I know normally you would want to wait for a few months to move a nem to a new tank, but I need to get it and the clowns out of the sump. I guess I could move them to it and if the nem starts acting off or anything I can always move it back to the sump of the main tank.
 
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PorpoiseHork
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She's up and running. I added a pair of 3D Reefing diffusers to the lights to eliminate the disco and improved blending. Light settings are set to 66% on the UV, 58% blues, 0 Green, 4% red and lastly 20% White is producing about 300 PAR at the top of the rockwork on the left side, and a fairly even 125-150 across the bed. This is nearly identical to the big tank so the frags I put in there are already acclimated to this spectrum and PAR level. There's still more corals to move over, but I'm doing it in stages.

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Thanks!

No, it's different. I went spelunking in the live rock tank at FJW's for most of it. Hoping to get well seasoned rock, I dug down the bottom to pull stuff that hopefully had been in there for some time. The thought was that would speed things along a little bit, and hopefully avoid some of the common issues a new tank has. The only piece that was pulled from other tank is the one on the left side with the feather duster and all the various corals including the two blasto colonies attached to it.
 
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