Bringing my IM Fusion 25 Lagoon back to life... for the fourth time

[wesleyferrell94]

I have been in and out of the hobby since 2013. Currently keeping a 25gal IM Fusion lagoon that I originally bought to be a frag tank. not long after setting up the tank I got married and eventually moved the tank to my In-laws where it got basic maintenance for a few months, then a move to mine and my wife's apartment. it was hidden away in a spare bedroom for a year and then moved to the living room when our first son was born. Again, the only attention would be a monthly water change if I remembered. We then moved to our current home where it sat in the living room in a corner and mostly ignored. Finally after new interest from my son and after the birth of my second son in April 2021. I decided to start it back up for a 4th time and give it the love it deserves.


Around June 2021 I started the Process of slowly cleaning the tank as to not cause shock or stress on the tank inhabitants. This was done over a month and would end up taking the dirty sand out. Once I got the levels in my tank stable I decided to buy a 4 pack of stony corals from Tidal Gardens and a green star polyp. Of those 5 new corals 4 survived. During this time I had a bad cyano outbreak that ended up killing a birdsnest coral that was part of the 4 pack stony corals.

I Have been doing weekly water changes and keeping it clean. However, lately the cyano has returned and I am about to do another treatment for that.





The Left image is what my Hammer looked like before I restarted my Tank. The right is after. the Tissue is no longer receded, the polyps are full and extended and very happy.



My corals from Tidal Gardens that I got (a bit too early and almost lost them all)




Another before and after. The left was when I decided to restart. I had done a few water changes and got my nutrients down and that's when I got the corals.
the image on the right is current. everything is full and all the polyps are open.


Corals:
Branching hammer
Acan Lord
Neon green Stylophora
Bird of paradise seriatopora
Purple styliphora
Green star polyp
Quicksilver branching Hammer
Bicolor Candy Cane
UFO Aussie Lord
Fairy Dust Favia
Blow Pop Cyphastrea


my livestock is:
Ocellaris Clown fish
Blue damsel
Six line wrasse
Lawnmower blenny
Emerald crab &
Various blue and red leg crabs

Equipment:
IM protein skimmer
Kessil a360WE
Intank filter floss holder (x2)
Intank refugium basket
IM Chaetomax
Hydor koralia 240gph (x2)
Neptune apex controller
Jebao Dosing Pump DP-4

 

[blaxsun]

Good luck with the latest resurrection!

 

[doh_nutz]

Welcome back at it and look forward to seeing what comes of your tank now that you're slowly getting back into the groove of things.

 

[wesleyferrell94]

Welcome back at it and look forward to seeing what comes of your tank now that you're slowly getting back into the groove of things.

Yes, the biggest help was setting up a dedicated mixing station. That made water changes less of a chore.

 

[doh_nutz]

Yes, the biggest help was setting up a dedicated mixing station. That made water changes less of a chore.

That’s what I’m trying to plan out for myself too. Just sucks that my tank is t near my garage. I’ll make something work that won’t result in my wife scolding me for. Ha

 

[wesleyferrell94]

That’s what I’m trying to plan out for myself too. Just sucks that my tank is t near my garage. I’ll make something work that won’t result in my wife scolding me for. Ha

I still need to figure that out myself. I still use 5gal buckets. but I have my RODI in the garage and a 30Gal storage tank that I mix a large batch in once a month in.

 

[wesleyferrell94]

Yesterday my new corals I got from WWC came in, was simple enough to acclimate and put in the tank, they all stayed closed and today slowly opening up, I will update with pictures once they get settled in.

I also removed the refugium basket from my tank and turned off the refuge light. I was not getting any growth and the chaeto I got that was nice and green just turned to mush. Since I no longer have a refugium I will start dosing Vibrant again.