New Innovative Nuvo 16G

[WhiteTang]

Hi everybody!

I just purchased a 60L (16G) aquarium mostly for reef keeping and a couple small fish. The aquariums is this one (http://www.nordicreefshop.eu/productpage.php?productid=35&mcid=12).

The following days I going to buy RO/ID water, salt, sand, live rock, test kits for chemicals (PH, nitrates etc), a salinity meter, skimmer and a heater.

Do you guys think I missing something to get the aquarium started? Im not sure about the filtration system of the tank.
Do you have any suggestions as which kind of setup might work better?
Thanx in advance.

[Sabres429]

You could run a fuge. They have a media basket you could buy cheaply and put some cheato in there. Innovative marine makes a fuge light goes over the back on the right side for the fuge.

[agranoff]

I own a Nuvo16. An auto top-off is not required but would be very helpful. I'd also replace the stock media baskets at some point and replace the IM filters that go in those baskets with a more widely used media (Chemi-pure elite, purigen etc...). I run a refug in one of the chambers but I am not sure it helps much. The IM media reactor is a good purchase at some point. If budget isn't a concern, I'd highly recommend a controller - it will make things easier and can prevent diasters etc... I run a neptune apex. The other thing depending on what you want to stock in there coral-wise you may have to upgrade the ligths at some point. Good luck!

[WhiteTang]

Hi, and thank you for your advise!

I think I will pass on the controller for now. Looks quite expensive and kinda complicated.
Im really new with this. First marine aquarium!
I do have a question about the IM media reactor.

Do you think if I use two seperate media reactors and the skimmer, it will be enough to keep my water clean?
Im planning to put in a max of 3-4 small fishes, a shrimp and a couple slugs. (plus some corals, whichever I can support with the light that came with the tank)

[Sabres429]

The water is extremely clear without GFO and carbon reactors. I'm going to run my tank without the reactors and skimmer. If you don't over feed the tank you shouldn't need much but weekly water changes of five or so gallons and your nutrient levels should remain low. I would however upgrade the lights unless you plan on keeping just mainly lps like zenia and mushrooms, easy to keep corals.

[WhiteTang]

So what filtration setup do you have? I am assuming you also have IM Nuvo 16G?

[agranoff]

How do you plan to run 2 reactors and a skimmer? There isn't a ton of room in the back of the Nuvo so unless you plan to have the reactors out of the tank (using a pump) that may not work.

I run a combo of Carbon and GFO in 1 reactor - the IM MiniMaxx and it works nicely. I have the IM skimmer in one chamber and the reactor in the opposite side chamber.

You may not need to run Carbon or GFO at all. Many people suggest running them only if you actually run into issues. I took a more preventative approach.

The skimmer, I highly recommend although frequent water changes could replace it I guess. The IM desktop skimmer, works but throws off tons of mico bubbles so you will need some filter floss between it and your return chamber if you plan to use it.

[WhiteTang]

Hej Agranoff!

The tank will arrive today so I havent had a look if 2 reactors and a skimmer would fit. I did thought about it but after doing some research it sounds, like you said, that it wont fit.

So what im going to use is one reactor which will run GFO.
The Tunze 9002 skimmer.
And I will have the two cannisters that came with the tank. One filled with carbon and the other with purigen.

Im also a preventative person and would like to set up the tank as smooth and good as possible.

REgarding these skimmer bubbles! Could you please explain? is it bad for the tank and if so, in what way?

[agranoff]

Your skimmer is a different brand than mine so you may not have this issue but my produces a lot of small bubbles which escape into the main display tank. Whether or not they are dangerous to the fish / coral is up for debate I think (I've read differing opinions) but they certainly don't look good. I found an easy solution to fix it though. I place a piece of filter floss in the return chamber up against the area where the water flows from the skimmer chamber.