BIOtoper
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2026
- Messages
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- What state or country do you live in
- California
After starting in the fresh world and slowly building knowledge about the salt world, I got myself a WB 25P. It started well then ended in a crash, most likely due to terrible carbon full of metal from that one big box store everyone has near by and never admits buying anything from it and a magnet that popped out of the plastic. Rebooted with a red sea 300xl g2 in March 2025, which is currently ending exactly how every red sea post seems to end. 2 bubbles appearing at the top of the front pane, so its just a matter of time at this point. Which leads us to today's post, today was the day I ordered an IM 170 ext.
Its been a solid 12-16 months debating over where to place the big tank due to electrical and feng shui. But as the bubbles appeared the pressure to decide occurred, skip the custom, electrical concerns and get the tank that fits the best spot.
IM 170 EXT ordered, 8020 extruded ordered for the custom light mount, and now we wait. This tank will replace the 60gal freshwater tank spot, which means a battle to decide where to put the fresh tank. Great.....
Most, if not all, the equipment is coming over to the new tank. All of which includes:
- 2 Nicrew hyper reef g2 150w. Probably adding a 3rd to spread the light.
- 1 Orphek UV 3ft OR4
- 1 Orphek Blue Sky 3 ft OR4
- AI orbit 4
- AI Nero 5
- AI Nero 3. (refuge flow)
- Bubble Magus 5 Curve Skimmer
- Inkbird with a 200 and 100 watt brs heaters. Most likely getting a new 300 watt brs heater to replace the 100 watt.
- Hydros x2 for the ATO, refuge light, skimmer and temp. Likely to see an x4 or maybe a launch added.
- red sea 10gal jug ATO resivoior
- Current pump is Hygger DC but the IM comes with a pump, so now its just a back up.
- Refuge light is an amazon 50 watt that seems to be the light everyone gets, cheato seems happy about it.
- Currently using a custom 17gal refugium. Retiring due to the lack of room IM gives in the cabient. Its not really there to soak up nutrients, it's for pods. 2 dragonets drive this choice.
I run my tanks dirty, I limit the mechanical to just a skimmer. And as a result my tanks have a healthy amount of the green tearer everyone fights to eliminate. I sit in between paitence and laziness. I do scrub and change the water every 2 weeks but I do not fret over the amount of algae. My fish are fat and happy and my coral continue to live. Testing is next to zero but I use the livestock as the tell, not saying I am an expert but expierence is a good teacher. Everything in this hobby seems to hang on stability and paitence.
Stock:
- 2 Biota Paired Mandarins
- 2 Petco False Percula Clowns
- 1 Biota Coral Beauty
- 1 Biota Baun's Sleeper Goby
- 2 BTA that seem to not want to split, but I dont feed them so they just keep to themselves for now. Previous WB 25P was seeing splitting every 2-3 months but I directly fed them constantly.
- 1 toadstool.
- 3 Montiporia. Mystery pack from Tidal. 2 are encrusting and 1 is plating. Its was only added as a test round. SPS is my go to coral, I spend most of my time oggling the coarls near shore in Dauin, Philippines when I am there.
- 1 Pavona. Its like a weed, algae grows on it and it could care less.
For this new tank my plan is to keep to a biotope closley resembling the Dauin santuary. Close to shore its dominated by Montipora, acros and tangs. with spots of BTA and other long tentacle nems. The wrasse found near there is not great for tanks under 8ft, same with most of the tangs I can identify. So this tank will stick with most of the smaller less seen fish and inverts. Being in america, it's hard to set up a pacific specific tank, the rock will be from the ladies at Tampa Bay Saltwater. Most of this hobby is compromise, so a true biotope is difficult. Overall, looks is what I am going for. Not a fan of the windex mixed reef insta reefs. The snap shot of a dive I made in the past is enough to keep me invested.
I suppose testing and dosing are in the future for me.
Going forward, this is more of a journal for me, see my progress and trials. Happy to bring you all along. I'll post pictures as I able and willing.
Its been a solid 12-16 months debating over where to place the big tank due to electrical and feng shui. But as the bubbles appeared the pressure to decide occurred, skip the custom, electrical concerns and get the tank that fits the best spot.
IM 170 EXT ordered, 8020 extruded ordered for the custom light mount, and now we wait. This tank will replace the 60gal freshwater tank spot, which means a battle to decide where to put the fresh tank. Great.....
Most, if not all, the equipment is coming over to the new tank. All of which includes:
- 2 Nicrew hyper reef g2 150w. Probably adding a 3rd to spread the light.
- 1 Orphek UV 3ft OR4
- 1 Orphek Blue Sky 3 ft OR4
- AI orbit 4
- AI Nero 5
- AI Nero 3. (refuge flow)
- Bubble Magus 5 Curve Skimmer
- Inkbird with a 200 and 100 watt brs heaters. Most likely getting a new 300 watt brs heater to replace the 100 watt.
- Hydros x2 for the ATO, refuge light, skimmer and temp. Likely to see an x4 or maybe a launch added.
- red sea 10gal jug ATO resivoior
- Current pump is Hygger DC but the IM comes with a pump, so now its just a back up.
- Refuge light is an amazon 50 watt that seems to be the light everyone gets, cheato seems happy about it.
- Currently using a custom 17gal refugium. Retiring due to the lack of room IM gives in the cabient. Its not really there to soak up nutrients, it's for pods. 2 dragonets drive this choice.
I run my tanks dirty, I limit the mechanical to just a skimmer. And as a result my tanks have a healthy amount of the green tearer everyone fights to eliminate. I sit in between paitence and laziness. I do scrub and change the water every 2 weeks but I do not fret over the amount of algae. My fish are fat and happy and my coral continue to live. Testing is next to zero but I use the livestock as the tell, not saying I am an expert but expierence is a good teacher. Everything in this hobby seems to hang on stability and paitence.
Stock:
- 2 Biota Paired Mandarins
- 2 Petco False Percula Clowns
- 1 Biota Coral Beauty
- 1 Biota Baun's Sleeper Goby
- 2 BTA that seem to not want to split, but I dont feed them so they just keep to themselves for now. Previous WB 25P was seeing splitting every 2-3 months but I directly fed them constantly.
- 1 toadstool.
- 3 Montiporia. Mystery pack from Tidal. 2 are encrusting and 1 is plating. Its was only added as a test round. SPS is my go to coral, I spend most of my time oggling the coarls near shore in Dauin, Philippines when I am there.
- 1 Pavona. Its like a weed, algae grows on it and it could care less.
For this new tank my plan is to keep to a biotope closley resembling the Dauin santuary. Close to shore its dominated by Montipora, acros and tangs. with spots of BTA and other long tentacle nems. The wrasse found near there is not great for tanks under 8ft, same with most of the tangs I can identify. So this tank will stick with most of the smaller less seen fish and inverts. Being in america, it's hard to set up a pacific specific tank, the rock will be from the ladies at Tampa Bay Saltwater. Most of this hobby is compromise, so a true biotope is difficult. Overall, looks is what I am going for. Not a fan of the windex mixed reef insta reefs. The snap shot of a dive I made in the past is enough to keep me invested.
I suppose testing and dosing are in the future for me.
Going forward, this is more of a journal for me, see my progress and trials. Happy to bring you all along. I'll post pictures as I able and willing.
