# New to plants IM Nuvo 10 build



## Tmr8188 (May 25, 2016)

Hello all,

I am new to planted tanks but not new to aquarium keeping. I have an extremely over built reef tank that I need to keep my hands out of and let mature. Going from a world of vortechs and ati's I started having no fun.
So the seed was planted. I started a low tech shrimp nano that failed spectacularly. So this time I want to do it right.

I love the look of the Nuvo line and decided to use one of the 10 gallon ones. I have a very rough list to start with.

Innovative Marine Nuvo 10
Some finnex grow light that I used for a fuge
Sand
Some rock
Some wood
Some easy plants (from my reading I came across crypts, java ferns, mosses, and this amazing looking plant called frogbit)
For stocking I was thinking of:
Black Harlequin Rasboras
Some cory cats (which ones?)
What other fish are possible?

And I am stuck. I talked to all of my reefing buddies about this and they don't know anything about plants. Amybody want to help out a new guy?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

For cory cats I think the only ones you can do are Pygmy cories but I'm also not 100% sure (never kept them before). If you go with Rasboras that may be all you can stock, a school of them. I prefer to go for smaller fish in tanks like a nano something like CPDs of something from the Boraras genus.
As for plants, if you do go for the plants listed they may be able to survive purely on fish waste, but I wouldn't be so averse to dosing either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

I am currently running a Nuvo 10 reef and a Nuvo 20 planted. Just some words of advice.

1) Get the upgraded media baskets.
2) With nano fish, you really want to get the overflow covers. These make the holes smaller so that small fish and shrimp don't get through to the overflow area.
3) Overflow covers can clog in a planted tank especially in the beginning when you have a lot of die off from plants acclimating to your tank. Make sure they stay clean.
4) Detritus builds up in the rear chambers and is moderately difficult to clean. Every few weeks, I get a gallon jug and fill with treated water. Then aggressively pour it into the rear chamber with the pump on. This will push the detritus into the main display. I then kill the pump and remove the detritus with a water change.
5) For the media baskets, I recommend running filter floss on the top. I run 2-3 pieces of craft store 100% polyfill. Every few days, I remove and replace. Makes keeping the tank clean a hole lot easier.
6) If going with black sand, I really like black diamond blasting sand.

Other recommendations:

For stacking a nano, I would go with 3-4 amono shrimp after you start to get some algae. Then I would add some 6-7 fish that range from 3/4-1 1/4 inches. This will make the tank appear much larger than it is. I think some of the rasbora or CPDs or something like that would be great. The main concern with stocking the nuvo 10 is swimming room since the tank is square. I would recommend looking up 5 gallon tank stocking lists as they are closer to the horizontal size.

Another thing is with a small square tank, you need to determine whether you want a large aquascape or a small. With a large scape, you will cut your swimming space even more. 

Overall, the IM tanks look amazing, and you can easily run a successful planted tank with them.


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