Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion — 40 and Lagoon 25 — all-in-one aquariums — a review

© 2019 Peter Free

 

19 April 2019

 

 

Looked better than they performed

 

Innovative Marine's all-in-one aquariums — in my case the Nuovo Fusion 40 and Lagoon 25 — looked nice, but displayed disappointing performance over time.

 

 

Notice first that the 25 is apparently discontinued

 

You may see why, if you continue reading this review.

 

 

Undersized, poorly designed sumps

 

All-in-one aquariums incorporate sumps and filter columns out of sight behind the tank proper. In Innovative Marine's case, these compartments are behind a black plastic wall at the rear of both tanks.

 

These compartments are smaller than a serious hobbyist would be likely to choose. The small sizes limit pump capacity, as well as the amount of filtration that you can apply.

 

The back compartments' narrowness also makes it impossible to conveniently and reliably keep them clean.

 

In both the 40 and 25, the floor of the sump runs beneath the bottoms of the two filtration and two accessory columns. This means that one cannot get into the inaccessible part of the sump to scrape or easily clean it.

 

You can see a diagram of this design (for the 40) here.

 

The 25 shares the layout, but with smaller dimensions. The distance between:

 

 

(a) the 25's sump floor — which, like the 40, spans the width of the tank

 

and

 

(b) the bottom of its filter and accessory column floors

 

is

 

(c) only 1.5 centimeters.

 

 

That's just stupid.

 

This flaw may be why the Lagoon appears to be out of production.

 

 

Other glitches — noisy pumps and easily clogged media filtration columns

 

Both aquariums come with water pumps. But both are surprisingly noisy. I eventually substituted Sicce Syncra Silents for the Innovative Marine pumps.

 

On the favorable side, I was impressed with Innovative Marine's filter socks. They fit well and are durable. I ran mine through the clothes washer a number of times.

 

Unfortunately, the socks — by themselves — don't do much with regard to providing adequate biological filtration. I replaced both with In Tank media baskets. The In Tanks reportedly fit better than Innovative Marine's versions of the same thing.

 

Despite the aquarium pumps' reasonable water movement, both Innovative Marine tanks' filtration columns are inadequate — when judged on their ability to keep water consistently clean.

 

Part of this flaw may have been due to living in south Texas. Local water here combines alkalinity (pH 8.0) with high silicate content. The combination encourages the growth of brown diatoms. Varying light levels and silicate remover did not impact this growth. See here and here. This was not an aquarium cycling problem.

 

The diatoms would begin covering surfaces, including clogging the filtration slots in the black plastic sump-tank divider, as well as the filter floss in the tanks' filtration columns.

 

When these filtration slots narrow even a little, water flow is very much reduced. Scunge begins to build on the water surface because it can't get through the slots and back through the water circulation pump.

 

 

Note

 

A reverse osmosis water production system would (probably) have cured these problems. But the rental home that we are in had no area to mount one, without damaging a wall in violation of our rental agreement.

 

 

My filtration fix?

 

I substituted an Eheim Professionel 4+ (model 250) external aquarium canister filter for Innovative Marine's all-in-one design.

 

This successfully prevented filtration and media column clogging. And it extended my tank-cleaning intervals from  10 to 14 days to 60.

 

The drawback is that the Eheim's output tubing and spray bar have to go into the tanks' main compartment. Sump areas — on both the 25 and the 40 — are too small to conveniently accommodate the Eheim's large diameter output tubing.

 

In-tank placement of the Eheim's large spray bar noticeably reduces the visual appeal that all-in-one aquariums are designed to deliver.

 

 

Is Innovative Marine trash? — not at all

 

The construction quality of the two tanks is very respectable.

 

It's just the execution of their all-in-one design that is, arguably, flawed.

 

 

A closing example of the irritation that these designs pose

 

Yesterday, I emptied the Lagoon 25 in preparation for yet another military PCS. In doing so, I had another occasion to experience this all-in-one tank's less than adept design.

 

Even with the tank empty and working outside — where I could get at it with a garden hose — the sump area was difficult to clean. Hardwater deposits had built up at water level everywhere.

A razor-equipped aquarium cleaning tool couldn't get at all of the deposits, due to the sump and compartments' tight clearances.

 

It took an hour of determined scrubbing (with vinegar) to get the majority of the reachable deposits off.

 

I was unable to clean under the glass column floors, through which I could see spots of scum, diatom and algae deposits.

 

Drying these areas was also a PITA.

 

South Texas is humid. Moisture in tight spaces takes forever to evaporate, if at all. Even a hairdryer, used by itself, did not work.

 

I had to tilt the tank from side to side, sopping the water — which runs out from under the column floors — with a towel and a ruler. I used the ruler to push the towel cloth flush with the edges of the sump compartment. This went on, with repeated sideways tilts, for a surprisingly long time.

 

I was concerned that my wife's hairdryer might give up its ghost, due to the long periods that it had to run to dry up the rest of the moisture.

 

As I earlier suggested, these design flaws may be why the Lagoon 25 is no longer in stock, even at its manufacturer.

 

The 40 works the same way. There is, however, substantially more room under its column floors. I was able to wedge a towel partially under them to speed up the drying process.

 

Still, the emptying and cleaning process for both aquariums remains a comparatively unnecessary annoyance.

 

Day-to-day, the more equipment you have stuffed in the Nuvo Fusion's comparatively small compartments, the more of a pain it is to keep everything clean and running properly.

 

For example, I tried Innovative Marine's medium size MiniMax — an all-in-one "nano" aquarium reactor — in the 40. The MiniMax didn't work well enough to be useful. It was undersized, given what it was supposed to be doing. But it couldn't be any larger because then it would not fit into the tank's filtration or accessory compartments.

 

If you see an overall theme, with regard to Innovative Marine's overall performance mediocrity, you can be forgiven.

 

 

Innovative Marine is now venturing into producing aquariums designed for external sumps

 

Perhaps the company noticed the practical shortcomings of its all-in-one designs. I conclude that I have not been unduly harsh in this review.

 

If you are serious about this hobby, these under-performing all-in-one aquariums (and their Innovative Marine components) are probably not for you.

 

 

In truth — a cheap PetSmart 5.5 gallon outperformed both Innovative Marine tanks

 

I think this comparison was the ultimate eye-opener.

 

I bought the old-fashioned (rimmed and cheap glass) PetSmart kit to use as a holding tank, midway through my Innovative Marine ownership experience.

 

The PetSmart came complete with an inexpensive hang-on-the-back filter and a good-enough LED-lighted lid. All for only $35.

 

Easy to clean. Happy fish. No problems whatsoever.

 

 

An added consideration — the 25 and 40's shapes

 

These two tanks are large and squarish.

 

That makes them awkward to carry, especially through narrow doorways. This is especially true, when there is a bit of water left in them. As there will be, even after siphoning out as much as you can.

 

The 25 has virtually the same footprint as the 40. Over time, I found both tanks more trouble to move around than I would want.

 

If you keep their manufacturer's packing boxes — so as to protect the aquariums, during future home moves — you will also be unfavorably impressed with how very much room they take up.

 

 

The moral? — Innovative Marine's questionably executed all-in-one design persuades me "never again"

 

That said, these aquariums' construction quality is respect-worthy.

 

As a result, Innovative Marine's new external flow (Nuvo EXT) line of tanks might be worth a try.