IM Nuvo Fusion 10 SPS only

[Zythum]

Hi,

I am getting back in the hobby after 4 years. I've had many tanks, up to 125G, freshwater and reef. My last tank was a 45G 24x24x18 for SPS only, did the mistake of having a closed top with a 250W MH and 2x T5-HO. Plus the room was in the basement but with heating water pipes, ran into overheating issues. Also did the mistake of going ultra low nutrient but with too much light. This time I will start a small tank to make it easier to maintain and try to master the art of reefing.

I will put the tank on my work desk, this way I see it most of the time since I use this room for computer, weight lifting, spinning, playing guitar, fiddling with my bikes.

I will buy RODI from a local fish store since I rent, I don't want to install a RODI filter. I will use 2x 2.5G camping water containers, and I will have a third one for the evaporation reserve.

I didn't buy anything yet and will get all my stuff new to make sure I don't buy someone else's problems.

I've chosen a Nuvo Fusion 10, it fits perfectly on my desk, can be viewed from front and 1 side, doesn't require a sump, and I can get aroung with 1-2G weekly water change.

I will go bare bottom to ease the management of nitrates, phosphates and flow. I would also like to have a noiseless setup as much as possible.

This is the gear I am planning for this build, please comment to help me get the right things first.

- Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion 10, rubber mat under
- Filtration: IM media basket with filter floss on top (replace twice a week), other media like carbon, purigen depending on requirements
- Return pump: Mighty jet desktop with a RFG random flow generator
- Heater: 50W Cobalt heater
- Skimmer: Eshopps nano skimmer, will wait to see if required
- Lighting: AI Prime HD with a gooseneck 12inch mount
- Powerhead: Aqamai KPS
- ATO: Tunze nano 3152 with a 2.5G water jug
- Rocks: 10 pounds of Caribsea liferock, no real live rock since I don't want any surprises (flatworms, bubble algae, briopsys, critters, etc)
- Salt: aquaforest reef is available in smaller quantities and fits my target parameters
- Refractometer + thermometer: not sure do these work https://www.amazon.ca/Hydroponics-Ga...salinity+meter
- Preparing water change: Ehein 50W heater and the IM pump that came with the tank, 2x 2G buckets, one for new and one for old water
- Dosing: eventually, the new Kamoer wireless dosing pump look nice, 2 or 3 of these
- Powerbar: Tripplite ECO green 7 outlet
- Tests: I will go with all Salifert tests, I always have good experience with them, ammonia and nitrite while cycling, alk, calcium, magnesium, nitrate and phosphate with corals
- Maintenance: mini siphon, flipper nano for glass cleaning, little fish net,

For livestock:
- Snails like cerith and trochus for clean up crew
- Maybe one crab or 1-2 hermit
- Pair of clownfish, not sure percula or true percula
- SPS corals, will gets small frags

Parameters that I will aim for:
- Salinity: 1.026 or 35ppt
- Temperature: 80
- Alk: 8.2
- Calcium: 430
- Magnesium: 1310
- Nitrates: 2-5 ppm
- Phosphate: 0.02-0.07

I am planning to use ESV 2 parts for dosing, should not be that bad on such a small tank.

To start the cycle, I will try to dose dr tim ammonia to get a solid cycle and reduce the lighting in the beginning to prevent algae and bacteria bloom.

Any help would be appreciated, I did a lot of reading + I have some experience.

[ABzReef]

Just curious, will the water be stable enough in a 10 gallon for sps,

[Zythum]

It should be stable enough with a top off, daily dosing and eventually dosing pump. I will stick with 2 hardy fish to have bioload big enough to maintain some nitrates. I will add the skimmer only if required, but I think I can manage with a 1-2G weekly WC.

[Smite]

Looks like a pretty solid plan. Only concerning point is relying on your LFS for zero TDS RO/DI but I get not wanting to buy a unit for producing such small amounts of water. Will your LFS let you see their TDS meter before you buy each time?

[Zythum]

Yes. It is a small store but I know the owner, I have to see the tds meter to be sure the water is pure. It's a less than 5 minutes drive from my place.