Daasmo's IM 200EXT

[Daasmo]

I'm upgrading from my Tideline 62g AIO and I knew if I was going big I wanted to go as big as I could. I'm a buy once, cry once kind of guy once I decide I want something. So after doing some research I decided on the IM 200 EXT. I ordered late December fully comfortable with the listed lead time since it would give me time to prepare. Instead I got contacted a couple weeks later by IM to setup a delivery date. So first job was making enough room in the garage to accommodate the pallet. The only issue with delivery was they came a day earlier than they were supposed to do while I was at work. Thankfully someone was at the house so they dropped it in my parking spot.

I managed to get it on some Harbor Freight dollys so I could maneuver it out of my spot and there it sat for several months while I went through my list of preparations.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Daasmo]

Thankfully my wife has just let me do my thing on this slow process. First order of business was a complete rearrangement of our living room. Then I needed to touch up some paint and place a new outlet from the circuit on the other side of the wall. I also put the stand together which my 4 year old thought was a fantastic play house.

The big question was how to support the floor in the crawl space. The floor joists are parallel with the tank so I knew it needed some support. I worked with my dad who has more construction knowledge than me to come up with a plan and then waited on him to get me some lumber. He had a guy.

 

[Skibi]

Nice cant wait to see the progress!

 

[Daasmo]

So while I waited I bought some rock and started working on the aquascape. I used the Reef Dude method of Nyos Reef cement and BRS general bonding glue. I definitely recommend doing this outside because the fumes are terrible. I really just wanted a lot of overhangs and some caves so I just started putting stuff together.

I'll be adding rock from my existing tank as well. I'm not certain if this will be the final look but I have these rocks in a stock tank seasoning.

 

[Daasmo]

Now to the present. My dad came and helped me add floor support. Getting everything to the front of the crawl space was a process. We used an under bed storage container to load things in then pushed them under the plumbing and duct work that we had to crawl around. I didn't get great pictures because I was just glad to be done but we placed 2 beams covering 4 joists. 2 that were directly under the tank then one on either side. We ended up using 6 construction blocks, 6 floor jacks and 2 treated 3x5 beams.

Finally I called a moving company to move the tank. I was able to move the sump myself using a hand truck and a ratchet strap. But the tank is an absolute unit. The moving company sent 4 big guys but I had to pitch in as well to get it on to the stand. I definitely recommend at least 5 people and preferably 6. That was yesterday so I'm excited to work on plumbing this weekend.

I'll post an equipment list soon.