Another Innovative Marine 50 Fusion Build Thread

[Lor]

Do the lights that come wih this support sps?

 

[pompeyjohn]

No lights come with the tank unless it is a bundle that your local fish store has put together.

The lights in this build should be able to grow sps at all levels in the tank.

For a tank this shallow most of the mainstream led lights will grow sps at the top of the tank, if not top, middle and bottom. Hope that helps.

That reminds me; I need to work out the par levels. Those meters are so expensive though.

 

[pompeyjohn]

There are lots of updates coming! I am having problems getting the pictures off the phone. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier right?

 

[Reef Able]

I like that inTank gadget..i agree the water level on these tanks are a bit lower to my liking as well..i was just going to cut 2 small pieces of black acrylic and glue it on the inner side of the overflow but that wont give me the clear look...the intank gadgets seems nice sleek looking...i have my own build thread that i will ask the mods to move it here...

 

[ranchhand02]

I really like that rock work.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Thanks @ranchhand02 - I have added a new rock for the 50. Now if I could only get the pictures off this ******** phone!

 

[pompeyjohn]

Okay, so here we go...

Here is how the area looked with the old tank moved out. You can see hole back left where the electrical cables ran through. The smaller holes were for the dosing. The cable channel was to try and hide the power wires for the lights. Pretty ratty looking huh?

 

[pompeyjohn]

Here you can see how it looked inside. This is a new house for us, and it was not in the best shape when we bought it. I *think* this was intended to be a cubby for a TV or hifi system.

 

[pompeyjohn]

It took quite a bit of sweat (and some swearing) to get the counter top removed. On the way out it scored up the walls a bit. There way no power outlet in the cupboard below. So I needed to run a line from the existing outlet. Whilst trying to get into the work box the dry wall around it practically crumbled. So, that needed to be patched up.

 

[pompeyjohn]

So for now the inhabitants of the tank were in a rubbermaid container on the floor. I didnt bother to put light over the tub thinking it would only be a day or two. In the end it was four or five days.

 

[pompeyjohn]

It is starting to take shape now. Some fresh plywood to skin the inside of the cabinet. Dosers and Apex mounted.

 

[pompeyjohn]

At this point I have the "blue glow" going again. It was helpful having the light to work from. Here you can see (on the left) the holes where the power cables will run up from below. The other side of the stud (on the right) is where the dosing lines come up.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Next step was to put the new butcher block down. It is one inch thick (from lowes) and has had several coats of sealer/stain on it. Sadly I dont have any photos of that. Once the block was down I was able to sand the rest of the walls to smooth out the mud, and start putting paint back up. Then fitted the grommets, and started fishing the cables and lines.

 

[pompeyjohn]

... and then the new tank is put back in place. I added another caribsea rock (it is on the right side) - did a huge water change from the rubbermaid, and livestock are happy again. I am sorry all these pictures are below. When I have more time I'll try to sort out some proper white balanced pictures.

 

[pompeyjohn]

So there was some drama along the way.

• - The return pump the IM provided crapped out. I am running a sicce 1.5 I had laying around.
• - The tunze 9004 skimmer is now really loud and not skimmer well at all (I have turned it off)
• - My RODI unit died just when I needed to make up 4o gallons of salt water.

Fun fun fun.

So, the tank right now is as follows;

• Lighting 2 x 26hd lights running the saxby preset. They are 8 1/2 above the water level.
• The water level was raised 1/2" by doing the plastic in the overflows hack. Very happy with that.
• Back compartments from left to right:
  • Tunze 9004 skimmer (it is currently turned off)
  • Little compartment - empty
  • return pump, ato sensor, heater probe
  • ph, orp, and salinity probe. Dosing lines for cal, alk, aquavitro fuel, and vodka. Also ato return
  • in tank caddy. Filter pad on top. Carbon middle. Purigen at the bottom.
• The main flow in the tank is a 3k icecap gyre, run on forward/reverse switching mode. Both set at 20%.
• I ditched the spinstreams because they stopped working (even after a cleaning)
• At the very back of the tank (each side of the return pump and under the overflow "shelves" are bags of seachem denitrate. In total I was able to pack around 3 liters of the stuff in.

 

[chefjpaul]

Looking awesome. Love the rock work.

 

[leahfiish]

Following, love the aquascape.

 

[Esage]

Looks great. How are you liking the 3k? Are you running paddle A and paddle B? How long do you run forward and than reverse

 

[pompeyjohn]

Good questions. I am liking it, but can see why people complain that it is loud at higher speeds. It is pretty quiet at the lower speeds though. I like it a lot.

Here are my settings:

forwards
max speed 20%
ramp speed 10 seconds
hold speed for 2 seconds

reverse
max speed -20%
ramp speed 10 seconds
hold speed for 2 seconds

I have been toying around with the 30% setting, but it tends to push the fish into the side of the glass.

Not sure about the paddles - I didn't do any config of that. I literally just took it out of the box and dropped it in. Are there other paddles? I guess I should have read the manual! lol

 

[Esage]

Good questions. I am liking it, but can see why people complain that it is loud at higher speeds. It is pretty quiet at the lower speeds though. I like it a lot.

Here are my settings:

forwards
max speed 20%
ramp speed 10 seconds
hold speed for 2 seconds

reverse
max speed -20%
ramp speed 10 seconds
hold speed for 2 seconds

I have been toying around with the 30% setting, but it tends to push the fish into the side of the glass.

Not sure about the paddles - I didn't do any config of that. I literally just took it out of the box and dropped it in. Are there other paddles? I guess I should have read the manual! lol

Thanks for the response. I was thinking of the Maxspect Gyre. I also have a IM 50 lagoon, I’m running two MP10s, but I’ve been toying with the idea of replacing them with a gyre