I've had this setup for a little over 2 years, and figured it was time to get around to posting a little about it.
It's an IM Nuvo Black 30gal long, with one of those miserable Eshopps Eclipse overflows (terrible piece of equipment). I originally picked this up with the intent of plumbing it as a display refugium for my main tank. Due to a couple of poor assumptions and lack of proper planning, after getting it, I realized there was really no way for me to make the plumbing work. So, it turned into it's own system that I planned to be low maintenance, where I could keep stuff I thought was pretty, but didn't want to have take over in my main system. It started with a 10 gallon tank as a sump on the floor (I know, one of many terrible ideas) only filtered using a good 'fuge light and chaeto , and a pair of Kessil A160's. Later, I decided an acrylic sump would be better and picked up a Trigger system Crystal. Then I found a deal on a used A360, and then another good used one so the 160's were upgraded.
So here it is, filtered only with chaeto (no skimmer), not dosed with anything, and water changes are done with water from my main tank... I've only very recently been able to detect nitrates (1 ppm per salifert). Right now, there are 7 bubble tip 'nems, a coral banded shrimp, 5 green chromes, 1 blue reef chromis, 2 yellow tail damsels and a pair of gold bar maroon clowns. In a 30 gal tank. Yes, I know, terrible idea.
The main reason I'm posting this is, today, I'm going to start taking it down. It's going to be replaced with an Advanced Acrylics all-in-one with basically the same volume. I'm also moving the herd of chromis to my main tank where they'll have some room. I've really enjoyed this little setup, but the combination of the crappy overflow, and sump sitting directly on the floor, is just more risk and hassle than I want think about. Especially because I've gone back to traveling frequently for work.
I'll take pics of the process to document.
It's an IM Nuvo Black 30gal long, with one of those miserable Eshopps Eclipse overflows (terrible piece of equipment). I originally picked this up with the intent of plumbing it as a display refugium for my main tank. Due to a couple of poor assumptions and lack of proper planning, after getting it, I realized there was really no way for me to make the plumbing work. So, it turned into it's own system that I planned to be low maintenance, where I could keep stuff I thought was pretty, but didn't want to have take over in my main system. It started with a 10 gallon tank as a sump on the floor (I know, one of many terrible ideas) only filtered using a good 'fuge light and chaeto , and a pair of Kessil A160's. Later, I decided an acrylic sump would be better and picked up a Trigger system Crystal. Then I found a deal on a used A360, and then another good used one so the 160's were upgraded.
So here it is, filtered only with chaeto (no skimmer), not dosed with anything, and water changes are done with water from my main tank... I've only very recently been able to detect nitrates (1 ppm per salifert). Right now, there are 7 bubble tip 'nems, a coral banded shrimp, 5 green chromes, 1 blue reef chromis, 2 yellow tail damsels and a pair of gold bar maroon clowns. In a 30 gal tank. Yes, I know, terrible idea.
The main reason I'm posting this is, today, I'm going to start taking it down. It's going to be replaced with an Advanced Acrylics all-in-one with basically the same volume. I'm also moving the herd of chromis to my main tank where they'll have some room. I've really enjoyed this little setup, but the combination of the crappy overflow, and sump sitting directly on the floor, is just more risk and hassle than I want think about. Especially because I've gone back to traveling frequently for work.
I'll take pics of the process to document.
