Diving Back In - Innovative Marine 170 EXT

[strich]

One thing I've always disliked about wall/ceiling mounted lights is that it often results in being hit with the raw light when you're in a sitting position near the tank. Do you worry about that?

 

[Dom_P]

One thing I've always disliked about wall/ceiling mounted lights is that it often results in being hit with the raw light when you're in a sitting position near the tank. Do you worry about that

Fortunately this is in a room in our basement that we turned into a “game room”. So it is less of an issue as we don't hang out there most of the time. With past tanks I’ve had at a different home, I only had room for them in our living room and I made sure they had had a canopy to deal with the issue you describe. Of course back then I was running metal halides and T5s so it was an even bigger issue.

But honestly it was always the noise that bothered me back then more than the light. Especially when watching a movie or listening to music. But the drain on this tank along with the DC return and gyres are surprisingly quiet. Pretty much all that can be heard is the minor trickle noise of water going into the overflow. Which is really kinda soothing :). I haven’t added the skimmer yet so hoping that won’t add too much more noise.

BTW Ammonia continues to drop. It’s down to .62 ppm. Guessing I’ll need to dose some more in a couple days.

Also it seems I exhausted my DI resin already. Looks like I got about 300ish gallons of water out of it. I decided to place an order to buy an add on two stage unit for the RODI system to give me three canisters of DI total. Probably should have just done that initially. Penny wise pound foolish

 

[Dom_P]

Cycling continues. Ammonia is down to .26ppm. Nitrites are still over range. I even tried diluting it 5x and it still over range which means it’s north of 3.29ppm. Nitrates are now over range as well (greater than 75ppm) so Nitrite is definitely getting converted to Nitrate.

 

[Dom_P]

Earlier today ammonia dropped to under 0.1 ppm so I added a couple teaspoons of ammonia. Now it’s 0.6.

I decided to dilute the Hanna Nitrite ULR test 20x to see if I could get a general reading. Doing this yielded a result of about 3 ppm nitrite.

I didn’t bother measuring Nitrate as it was already over max test range of 75 ppm. So I’m sure it is only getting worse.

The Chaeto shipped today and in preparation I setup the refugium lighting and connected to the hydros and configured. Given the super high nitrates I’m thinking it should grow pretty quickly. I’ll probably keep light on it 18 or so hours a day until I’m ready to turn the main lights on. Then I’ll run the fuge light opposite hours to main lights.

Once ammonia and nitrite get to zero. I’ll dose another couple teaspoons of ammonia. If that goes to zero in 24 or so hours then I’ll think about introducing a couple of live ammonia generators

 

[Dom_P]

Chaeto arrived on Monday but heat packs were exhausted as package was delayed. Critters in the chaeto were all dead. I rinsed it well and threw it in the sump. It’s a little darker in color than I’d like so hoping it will be ok.

Day 14 - Cycling seems to have stalled a bit. I dosed some ammonia to bring it up to 1ppm, but it’s now a little slow to drop. Would like to try to get from 1ppm to 0.5 ppm in 24 hours before adding any livestock.

Tested nitrites again as well. Still off the scale - but granted that’s on the Hanna ULR test . So conversion to nitrate seems slow as well. Won’t bother testing nitrate until ammonia and nitrite conversion happens faster.

If the chaeto is alive I’m guessing it should thrive in this environment :)

Also added the additional two DI stages to the RODI system. Back to zero TDS again.

 

[Dom_P]

It's been a few days so I thought it might be a good time for an update.

Cycling continues, ammonia seems to be starting to covert pretty quickly into Nitrites, Nitrates still very high, but also could be testing issues given where nitrites are.

So, I decided it may be time to add some live stock. I placed an order for a bonded pair of Ocellaris clowns and a Royal Gramma. I'm waiting for those to ship

In the meantime, I did a 15% water change.

I added the skimmer to the sump last night (an OCTO Regal 150-INT). When I turned it on it overflowed immediately. I opened the gate valve fully and decreased the pump speed to the lowest setting. Ran that way overnight, and it settled down. I was able to increase the pump speed slowly over the course of the morning to max speed, and have been slowly adjusting the gate valve. I'm guessing it will take a week or so to break in and I'll keep adjusting as I go. Here's a picture:

 

[Dom_P]

Still waiting for the fish to ship. But maybe that’s ok as it’s gotten cold here again the in northeast.

In the mean time I’m dosing a few drops of ammonium chloride daily to keep the cycling going.

I ordered an Octo Lid from @cromag27 last week as well. I’m looking forward to getting that.

And also bought an Avast Plank Autofeeder. That arrived last week but haven’t set that up yet (made sure to get a custom cutout in the lid for that)

Additionally I placed an order for copepods and phyto from @Reef By Steele. I think those ship tomorrow. I’d like to see if can get a pod population going before getting too many fish in the tank

 

[Dom_P]

Another quick update.

Copepods and Phyto showed up earlier in the week. I put 3/4 of the pods in the display and 1/4 in the fuge. Haven’t seen any in the last couple of days. I assume they are in the sand and rocks but who knows .

I also started dosing about 100ml of day of phyto daily. I don’t think it’s a coincidence but it seems pH has risen slightly since dosing started. As there aren’t any predators yet in the tank, since the fish haven’t shipped yet, I’m hoping the pods will start multiplying if they have survived.

I got to thinking that I would ultimately need to get my own phyto and pod cultures going. So I also decided to order a PhytoTank Copepod System from Poseidon Reef Systems. Let’s see how that goes as I’ve never done done that before

 

[Dom_P]

Been a bit since my last update.

My fish haven’t arrived yet from Dr Reefs. Guess they are in QT.

In the meantime I did get my Phyto and copepod cultures going. Today I collected about a liter of phyto and did pour some more pods in the tank. Im dosing about 100ml a day of phyto so a liter a week should me more than enough for now.

My ammonia is still floating around 0.2 ppm. I suppose the phyto dosing is keeping it up there. But it is a little odd. I’ve been adding some Fritz 9 every few days to see if this will come down. But it’s being stubborn . I haven’t checked nitrites in a few days. Maybe will see how that is looking tomorrow

 

[bradreef]

Great looking setup. I have had me ext 170 up for 6 ish months now. I still really enjoy it.

 

[Dom_P]

Thanks @bradreef. IM has put together a nice setup. I hear they are working on a fleece roller for the sump. Hoping they release that


I know it’s been a while since an update. I’ve been dosing about 100ml of phyto a day and adding copepods weekly. The tank did take longer than expected to cycle. But it’s done now.

I added a bonded pair of clowns this week as well as a royal gramma. Here’s some pics.

The clowns have taken quickly to things and are checking things out around the tank. The Royal Gramma is more shy. But shows up for food. They all seem to be eating.

Next up is to add a clean up crew and probably a Foxface

 

[bradreef]

I grow pods so my tank doesn't have a shortage. It shows on the belly of my mandarin. Adding the Gramma early should pay off with more aggressive fish later. I have a one spot in mine as well.

 

[Uff_Da]

Hi all,

After a very long (15 year) hiatus from this amazing hobby I've decided it's time to setup a reef tank again. This time around I'm going to be focusing mostly on SPS (though I love the look of clams, so I'm sure I'll have a few).

I've been lurking for a couple of months doing research and ended up deciding on the Innovative Marine EXT 170 (I also chose quite a bit of equipment/items based on recommendations researched on R2R that I'll document in future posts).

This week this beast arrived at the tail end of a snow storm, and with a little coaxing ($$) I convinced the delivery person to pull half a ton of crates up a slightly icy driveway and into my garage

Here's some unboxing pictures

Sump:

Tank:

Building the stand:

And the controller cabinet for the Hydros gear (X4, XP8, Wave Engine LE, and Minnow - more on this later)

Mounted the wall brackets for the lighting (3 x ReeFi Uno 2.1 Pro):

Mounted the ReeFi lights, installed the under cabinet lighting, and leak tested the sump last night:




And now I'm waiting for a local aquarium maintenance company to arrive today to move this heavy tank down some stairs and onto to that stand. Wish me luck as I think it's about 450 lbs


More to follow...

Hi all,

After a very long (15 year) hiatus from this amazing hobby I've decided it's time to setup a reef tank again. This time around I'm going to be focusing mostly on SPS (though I love the look of clams, so I'm sure I'll have a few).

I've been lurking for a couple of months doing research and ended up deciding on the Innovative Marine EXT 170 (I also chose quite a bit of equipment/items based on recommendations researched on R2R that I'll document in future posts).

This week this beast arrived at the tail end of a snow storm, and with a little coaxing ($$) I convinced the delivery person to pull half a ton of crates up a slightly icy driveway and into my garage

Here's some unboxing pictures

Sump:

Tank:

Building the stand:

And the controller cabinet for the Hydros gear (X4, XP8, Wave Engine LE, and Minnow - more on this later)

Mounted the wall brackets for the lighting (3 x ReeFi Uno 2.1 Pro):

Mounted the ReeFi lights, installed the under cabinet lighting, and leak tested the sump last night:




And now I'm waiting for a local aquarium maintenance company to arrive today to move this heavy tank down some stairs and onto to that stand. Wish me luck as I think it's about 450 lbs


More to follow...

Awesome! Could you tell me where to get the wall brackets for the lighting?

 

[Dom_P]

Awesome! Could you tell me where to get the wall brackets for the lighting?

Sure. Here's the link to the Reef Fi Labs page with all the details. The page has links to vendors that sell the anodized aluminum (it can be ordered in the lengths required), the hardware needed to make the "L" bracket, and also contains a link to purchase the 3D printed wall mounts made by Daniel at Reef Fi.

 

[PhamousPhish]

Thanks @bradreef. IM has put together a nice setup. I hear they are working on a fleece roller for the sump. Hoping they release that


I know it’s been a while since an update. I’ve been dosing about 100ml of phyto a day and adding copepods weekly. The tank did take longer than expected to cycle. But it’s done now.

I added a bonded pair of clowns this week as well as a royal gramma. Here’s some pics.

The clowns have taken quickly to things and are checking things out around the tank. The Royal Gramma is more shy. But shows up for food. They all seem to be eating.

Next up is to add a clean up crew and probably a Foxface

Hey Dom, I'm thinking of getting the same rock, the Eden Morroca. Could you send an update of your tank? Did the purple color last or did it fade over time? Would you do the same rock over again??

 

[Dom_P]

Hey Dom, I'm thinking of getting the same rock, the Eden Morroca. Could you send an update of your tank? Did the purple color last or did it fade over time? Would you do the same rock over again??

Hi,

There’s been no issue with the color. I’ve had in in place for about 5 months and no sign of fading or anything else. At the price point I would certainly do it again. I probably would have ordered a bit less in hindsight as it’s pretty light and fills the space quickly. Besides that I can’t think of a reason not to use it if you are starting out with dry rock

 

[Jrhunter0000]

Loving this build im going with the 112 ext!

 

[Dom_P]

Loving this build im going with the 112 ext!

Thanks. Congrats on the 112ext

I’ve got an CUC order in. As well as a few more fish. Adding a Magificant Foxface and a goby. After that will start with the some easier SPS. Likely will order a Battle Box based on reviews here.

I do want to add a Juv Emperor. I know that’s controversial. But gotta try… :)

 

[Dom_P]

Oh. I did add an Octo Aquatics custom lid and a Plank auto feeder. Here’s a top down picture

Also added a Reef Octopus CO2 scrubber. I haven’t filled it yet as I’m waiting for a collection cup from FishofHex to deal with the moisture seen here

 

[Dom_P]

I got the moisture collection cup attached and added media to the CO2 scrubber. Try to guess by the graph below where I added the media .

Quite the impact. I even had to open the valve on the other side of the Y valve on the scrubber to get it to drop a bit. I may add a solenoid there and add that to the Hydros to try to keep pH in a tighter range