IM Fusion 30L Build for my boy

[BetURWrasse]

This all started so my son could get a fish and since I always wanted a saltwater tank we both get what we want!!

Original Fill Date: 8/7/14
Current Water Parameters (08/26/14)



Temperature: 78.5

Ammonia: 0

Nitrates: 0

Nitrites: 0
pH: 8.11


Salinty: 1.0254
Alkalinity: 9.0 dKH
Calcium: 400ppm
Magnesium: 1340
Phosphates: 
0.01

Aquarium Specs

Tank: Innovative Marine Fusion 30L

Stand: Custom
Sand and Rock: 20ish lbs of Live Rock from LFS tanks and 20lbs of Carib-Sea Hawaiian Black sand

Lighting: 2x Radion XR15's
Powerhead: 2x MP10wES

Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm 75 Watt

Fan: Tunze Aqua Wind Twin Aquarium Fan
Chiller: JBJ 1/15 Titanium (not used yet/purchased used just incase)
Filtration:
Factory media baskets with factory filter media plus filter floss
Custom Caddy setup as refugium
Tunze 9001 Skimmer
MiniMax Reactor with carbon



Equipment: BRS Refractometer, Apex Magnetic Probe Rack, Red Sea Nitrate Pro (NO3) Test Kit, Red Sea Nitrate / Nitrite Test Kit, Red Sea Ammonia Test Kit, Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro Multi Test kit (Ca,Alk,Mg)


Salt Mix: Aquavitro Salinity
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

Controller: Apex with PM2, lab grade salinity probe, lab grade PH, WXM, and AFS
RO/DI Unit: BRS with 150gpd water saver upgrade, with RO float valves




Livestock


Fish:
 1xSnow Flake Clown, 1xFancy Clown


Cleanup Crew:
 4x dwarf Red tip Hermit, 1xElectric Blue Hermit, snails(2xBlack Turban, 3xAstraea, 4xNassarius)
Coral:


 



Maintenance

: Weekly water changes


Notes
 : Thanks to Neptune's Reef in Columbus, GA

Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr

Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
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Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr

 

[BetURWrasse]

Current Inhabitants:
If you have a little kid you know why:
Snow Flake and Fancy Clowns
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Originally 5 but due to a home invasion and homicide by a hermit crab now 4 Nassarius Snails:
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2x Black Turban
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3x Astraea
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4 Dwarf Red Tip Hermits
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1 Electric Blue
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2x Serpent Star hitchhikers
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Various worms and snails also hiding in the rock.

 

[BetURWrasse]

Water Prep Station
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[BetURWrasse]

Forgot the under tank shot

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[XtremeATC]

Nice set up... Very Clean... I like the way you hung the lights, are they the Radion lights?

 

[BetURWrasse]

Yes Radion XR15w Pros

 

[Reloadeddevil]

Wow niceeeeee

 

[fishroomlady]

that is a very nice setup! it's so organized and CLEAN as stated above

 

[Rpujol85]

Beautiful setup. Why the fan though?

 

[BetURWrasse]

Fan will be coming off, I had an issue with the temp getting higher than I want it but changing out the stock return pump solved this. It hasn't come on in a couple days now.

Trying to keep the temp between 78 and 80.

 

[reggaedrummin]

That's great! Your setup is very clean and has the look of experience. I wouldn't have guessed this was your first build but since it is I'll offer some advice. I'd suggest you beef up your cuc a bit. You can keep as many as one hermit per gallon though I think they can be more trouble then benefit in large numbers so my $.02 would be to stick with what you've got and focus on snail. One per gallon is a good starting point. 10 nasarius, and 20 astrea. Generally I try to keep a 1/2 or 1/3 ratio between nasarius and astrea/turbo/margherita/nerite. You'll probably want to increase from there but that will depend on your bio load. Also, those are brittle stars, not serpent. Brittles come in both micro full size varieties. My guess from the pic is micro though I can't really tell. Micros are harmless and will pop up in most reefs, the full size variety while being very common and a star that some reefers intentionally keep, can be a real nuisance, catching and killing fish, stealing food from coral, and in some cases eating inverts or even coral. I'd look further into those stars and if they get any bigger than about 3 inches across, it's time to get rid of them.

 

[BetURWrasse]

That's great! Your setup is very clean and has the look of experience. I wouldn't have guessed this was your first build but since it is I'll offer some advice. I'd suggest you beef up your cuc a bit. You can keep as many as one hermit per gallon though I think they can be more trouble then benefit in large numbers so my $.02 would be to stick with what you've got and focus on snail. One per gallon is a good starting point. 10 nasarius, and 20 astrea. Generally I try to keep a 1/2 or 1/3 ratio between nasarius and astrea/turbo/margherita/nerite. You'll probably want to increase from there but that will depend on your bio load. Also, those are brittle stars, not serpent. Brittles come in both micro full size varieties. My guess from the pic is micro though I can't really tell. Micros are harmless and will pop up in most reefs, the full size variety while being very common and a star that some reefers intentionally keep, can be a real nuisance, catching and killing fish, stealing food from coral, and in some cases eating inverts or even coral. I'd look further into those stars and if they get any bigger than about 3 inches across, it's time to get rid of them.

Thanks for the feedback,
I am already working CUC, my LFS is running low and I didn't like what I saw the other day. Told the owner to order more along with a Pistol, Skunk and find my Dracula Goby.

The more I look at I see you are correct on the stars, it was hard to tell when they first appeared and I kept going back and forth. so far they are still just hiding in the holes and cracks in the rocks. I'll keep an eye on them when I start adding more to the tank.

 

[BetURWrasse]

Finally got the camera working thru Fusion, what a pain in the *** I made this and it wasn't really that hard in the end to setup. I am going to be traveling most of SEPT and OCT for work so this will be nice to utilize.

Also I think I got the Radions and Vortech to where I want them.

Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr

 

[reggaedrummin]

Thanks for the feedback,
I am already working CUC, my LFS is running low and I didn't like what I saw the other day. Told the owner to order more along with a Pistol, Skunk and find my Dracula Goby.

The more I look at I see you are correct on the stars, it was hard to tell when they first appeared and I kept going back and forth. so far they are still just hiding in the holes and cracks in the rocks. I'll keep an eye on them when I start adding more to the tank.

If they are staying in the rock with only legs sticking out but never showing their body, they are micros. They'll stick a leg or two out and look almost like a worm but never come out and move around on the surface of the rock. They're a welcomed hitch hiker. A serpent, by the way, would do great in your tank if you want more stars

 

[BetURWrasse]

Thanks, thats what they are doing mostly showing some leg. One ventured out at night to change positions but that is the only time I saw one of them.

 

[Jimbo662]

Beautiful set up! What camera are you using?

 

[João Azevedo]

Nice equipment o:

 

[BetURWrasse]

Picked up my first corals Friday:
1) I was told this was a torch but I believe it is a Duncan
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2) GSP
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3) Blasto, couldn't get a good focused shot.
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More on the way from a certain weekend sale Saturday night, hope I didn't overload.

 

[BetURWrasse]

Got my AquaSD Corals in from this weekends sale, they look great. Finally getting some color.
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Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
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Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
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Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr

 

[reggaedrummin]

Picked up my first corals Friday:
1) I was told this was a torch but I believe it is a Duncan
Untitled by ryan.saalman, on Flickr

That is a torch. A pretty one at that.