Jim's NuvoMini 38

Bear with me on this. I just set up a photo bucket account, and trying out the posting options here. This was taken on Saturday (3/10):

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Interesting when I select the full size view the right side is clipped. Any suggestions on avoiding that?

its all in the resolution of your screen its a bug in the site that we haven't been able to work out.

Nice tank BTW, Is that an MP40 in the tank?

The aquascaping looks great.

I have the Innovative Marine (http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/mini38-black-stands.html) 38 gallon Mini with their Spin Stream Nozzles on the return. The return system uses a single 476 GPH pump split between two return paths. I have added a JBJ NanoZapp 3 Watt Inline UV Sterilizer to one of the return paths. Lighting is 92 watt Skkye Light Tablet LED Illumination 14K. This unit is over half the cost of the system and provides:

• Daylight, Sunrise/Sunset, & Moonlight

• Extruded Aluminum Arm

• Rimless Clamp

• Frame Clamp

• Independent Power Cords (each for: daylight, Sunrise/set, Moonlight)

• Low Voltage Transformer

• Actively Cooled w/ low noise frameless fan

• Thermally Protected

• Low Profile

• Individual LED Reflectors

Below is a Par Value spread by distance from center and depth:


They also provide a table which provides:

Par Value:Corals

50-100:Mushrooms, Zoonathids, Soft Corals
100-200:LPS, Clams, few SPS
200-500:Acropora, Montipora, SPS
600-1000:Very few SPS

I'm not sure of the accuracy of their chart. But based on the Par Values of the light and the table, I should be able to keep just about any coral that I want at the given locations in the tank.

I also added Ecoxotic Stunners one 445nm Royal Blue and one Magenta/453nm Blue.

I used 45 lbs of the Caribsea dry aragonite Flaming Reef Sand and 42 lbs of BRS "Reef Saver" ECO Dry Aquarium Live Rock for the base. I chose to go with dry rock and sand to avoid all the parasites and unwanted critters that come with live rock and live sand. It took longer to go through the cycling, but not having to deal with the pests was worth it to me.

I opted for the Reef Angel controller plus their dosing pumps attachment and their moonlight option.

I'm using Tropic Marin BIO ACTIF salt and Bio-Calcium additive. I opted for the Bio-Calcium additive because it was recommended for use with the BIO ACTIF salt.

For short term power outage (up to an hour), I'm using the CyberPower CP1350PFCLCD UPS 1350VA 810W PFC Compatible Pure Sine Wave. One advantage to this unit is that it also conditions the incoming voltage/frequency for 120Volts pure sine wave. The equipment really likes that.

For ATO I'm using the Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155.

For the skimmer, I'm using the Hydor Koralia Nano-Skim. This required some sorting in the back chamber to use. I moved the filter basket from the chamber where the skimmer is to the chamber on the other side of the tank to catch overflow from the first basket. I found that the carbon and phosphate sponges offered by Innovative Marine were not that effective, so I use only their mechanical filter sponge in the top bin with a layer of Eheim EHFISYNTH Filter Floss on top of the sponge with ChemiPure Elite in the middle chamber and Eheim EHFISYNTH Filter Floss in the bottom chamber.

I also have a CPR Nano Reactor with bio-pellets in the chamber next to the skimmer.

For flow in the tank, I have a Vortech MP40W set in nutrient export mode. Overkill for tank, but I already had the unit.

Well, that's my aquarium to date. It has been up since October 27 of 2011, and is just now maturing. I have added a number of corals which I will post later.

Thanks for looking!!

dwolson2 wrote:its all in the resolution of your screen its a bug in the site that we haven't been able to work out.

Nice tank BTW, Is that an MP40 in the tank?

Thanks for the photo info. Yes it is an MP40 - I had two of them in my 150. I gave one to my son, and kept one. Since I had it, used it. Set in nutrient export mode, it provides all the flow I need to every point in the tank.

Nice setup! I like that they give you additional information with the light.

Thanks sisterlimonpot and sandman for the feedback. Kudos are always nice.

Setting up this system was quite an experience because the aquarium is a recent release and there was no information to be found at the time I did my build. I went through a number of issues that had to be resolved. If you are interested, I have a thread on 3reef of the build. http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/jims-nuvo-mini-38-a-123820.html

How do you like the spin stream nozzles? I currently have the hydor rotating deflector. I seen the spin stream and decided to go with the lower price of the hydor. Now I'm starting to regret it because I have to take it apart and clean it practically once a week to clear any cheato or culerpa that gets caught up in it from the fuge.

reefer87 wrote:How do you like the spin stream nozzles? I currently have the hydor rotating deflector. I seen the spin stream and decided to go with the lower price of the hydor. Now I'm starting to regret it because I have to take it apart and clean it practically once a week to clear any cheato or culerpa that gets caught up in it from the fuge.

So far the spin streams have been great. I do clean them occasionally with water changes. But I don't have to take them apart. I just run a toothbrush in the intake and outtake to remove any algae build up.

Thanks for the review. I will look in to getting one for my Biocube 14.

hey jim great looking tank! do you think we can get some pics of the back of the tank with the protine skimmer and biopellet reactor?

clownfish14 wrote:hey jim great looking tank! do you think we can get some pics of the back of the tank with the protine skimmer and biopellet reactor?

Here's a pic of the ATO, skimmer and biopellet reactor:

Oh ok so u put the skimmer in the overflow chamber?

Here are some pics of corals. Some may be blurry, I'm still learning the trics of taking photos of this tank:

Radioactive Zoanthids:


Sour Apple Zoanthids:


War Coral:


Alien Moon Favia:


Purple Tip Frogswawn:


ORA Screaming Green Birdsnest:


Vivid's Ultra Pink Millepora:


Vivid's Tri-color Acropora:


Sunset Montipora:


Superman Montipora:


Montipora undata:


Orange Ricordia:


Hulk Zoanthids:


Green and Blue Ricordia:


Eagle Eye Zoanthids:


Blue Devil Zoanthids:

clownfish14 wrote:Oh ok so u put the skimmer in the overflow chamber?

Yes - I purchased and tried two other skimmers and put them in what Innovative Marine calls the skimmer chamber (where my bio-pellet reactor is), but they would barely fit did a poor job of skimming and provided no escape for the micro bubbles. I purchased a Hydor Koralia Nano-Skim, moved the basket from the chamber where the skimmer is to the other overflow chamber as an overflow catch for the first basket, and a mid water change swap. Most of the debris is swept to that chamber because of the MP40 export mode. I was reluctant to place the bio-pellet reactor in the chamber on the out side of the skimmer (rather than the inside), but they are so close together, it worked out well. It took about 4 weeks for the bio-pellets to kick in, but I'm now having an issue of enough algae to keep my clean-up crew going.

Lol very cool!