Denise's Nuvo Fusion 20 Build

You asked for it, @neurotivity!  Here's my build thread!  :)

Edited by dmw913 - July 22 2015 at 8:16pm

Thanks so much, @reefer4ever!  The sand is CaribSea Hawaiian Black live sand - which interestingly, due to it's volcanic nature, will stick to your magnet cleaner so you have to be careful when scraping at the sand line.  I use the Tunze nano scraper which is working well so far and has a gap between the magnet and the glass so if I pick up an odd piece of sand, I can pick it out before scratching the heck out of my glass.  I also have a random wood chopstick thing from a wok (odd christmas gift) that is long enough to keep my hand out of the tank.  I use it daily to stir a small section of sand to kick up detritus and export it to keep the sand looking nice.

Update:  I have been running a new maintenance scheme for a week now.  It is based off of the information generously provided by @neurotivity.  

Thanks, @ptronsp!  I see you're in St. George.  My folks live down there.  Where do you get your corals?

August Update: The improved maintenance plan continues. I have added a Neptune DOS and am now changing .75 gallons of water per day over a two hour period. I am lucky enough to have my tank up against the wall of a bathroom so I ran two small lines into the bath - one runs to a 6 gallon container of fresh saltwater and the other line runs to the toilet bowl to dispose of the waste water - just ran the line under the seat.  The DOS was easy to set up and seems to be running well so far (4 days into the process). However, important note on the DOS: IT IS HUGELY HUGELY NOISY!!! I have it run while I'm away from the house because it's really annoying. Husband heard it and was not pleased. 

Unhooked reactor and made custom filter bags with nylons/carbon/GFO. Running one of those bags in each overflow mid-section and then a bag of Purigen in the bottom section of the caddy. Pushing the caddys forward has made a big difference in catching the maximum amount of detritus in the filter floss which is still changed daily.

Corals have all shown marked improvement. LPS are eating well and fully inflated. Zoas and shrooms seem happy and I found a baby shroom in a totally different part of the tank from where the parent lives which is always fun and exciting. 

I have also removed probably about 2 cups of sand from around the front areas of the tank a little bit at a time. There is still plenty to make a nice base but less depth to hide detritus. I stir sand areas daily and blow off rocks with small baster. Now that the floss is working better, I'm noticing a reduction in the total amount of detritus when I do this cleaning. Nitrates are slowly lowering.

I think that's about all for now.