Fishy's first reef tank - IM 25 Lagoon

[Fishy Guy]

I added 2 jars of Galaxy pods from Algae Barn last night after lights out and began dosing with OceanMagik phyto. Tested parameters this morning before completing a 5g water change.

	6-Jan-24	31-Dec-23
SG	1.026	1.026
NO3	11.5	8.7
PO4	0.15	0.07
KH	8.3	8.3
Ca	360	350

Ca is still low but I had mixed up this and the last batch of saltwater before discovering the low reading last time. I went to town shaking that 50lb IO bucket before making another batch so I'm curious to see if that fixes the issue. I'm hoping it will as IO is supposed to mix in the 400-420 range at that salinity.

 

[Katrina71]

Excuse me...um...are you hiding a tailspot and no pics???

 

[Fishy Guy]

Excuse me...um...are you hiding a tailspot and no pics???

Haha. I’m compiling a more thorough update post. Standby.

 

[ESABOE]

No the pistol shrimp does not count ( I feel you smiling) and pods can be added once the cycle is complete. Make sure you get phyto for them to eat also. We have sponsors on here that provide great quality and customer service. @Dinkins Aquatic Gardens , Reef by Steel and Algae Barn. Just finished your thread and wow how nice it all came together. I don’t know why I wasn’t getting alerts along the way.

100% agree. I started pods as soon as ammonia cycle was done and feed phyto daily. I did Algae Barn and their Ocean Magik, but the other vendors are very good as well. It really helped in my ugly stage being minimal.
Clowns first!

 

[ESABOE]

100% agree. I started pods as soon as ammonia cycle was done and feed phyto daily. I did Algae Barn and their Ocean Magik, but the other vendors are very good as well. It really helped in my ugly stage being minimal.
Clowns first!

Haha, should have read through the whole thread before I commented; but you will love the pods and ocean magik and those clowns are so beautiful!

 

[Fishy Guy]

100% agree. I started pods as soon as ammonia cycle was done and feed phyto daily. I did Algae Barn and their Ocean Magik, but the other vendors are very good as well. It really helped in my ugly stage being minimal.
Clowns first!

Haha, should have read through the whole thread before I commented; but you will love the pods and ocean magik and those clowns are so beautiful!

Thanks so much! Good to know I’m generally on the right track.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Another big update!

Went to the LFS and did not come home empty handed. Added the following livestock:

Tailspot Blenny
Cleaner shrimp
2x Trochus
2x Nassarius
3x tiny blue-leg hermits

The blenny and shrimp are both hiding on the back of my rock scape but I was able to get a couple of pictures.

Also we have first corals!

Probably a little earlier than ideal but they gave me a really good deal on a little zoa colony on a piece of live rock with a lot of coralline to seed my tank with. Also got a nice little Duncan frag with 3 heads.

I did a 15 minute dip (didn’t find any hitchhikers) and added them to the tank. About an hour later they were starting to open back up.

 

[kevgib67]

Another big update!

Went to the LFS and did not come home empty handed. Added the following livestock:

Tailspot Blenny
Cleaner shrimp
2x Trochus
2x Nassarius
3x tiny blue-leg hermits

The blenny and shrimp are both hiding on the back of my rock scape but I was able to get a couple of pictures.

Also we have first corals!

Probably a little earlier than ideal but they gave me a really good deal on a little zoa colony on a piece of live rock with a lot of coralline to seed my tank with. Also got a nice little Duncan frag with 3 heads.

I did a 15 minute dip (didn’t find any hitchhikers) and added them to the tank. About an hour later they were starting to open back up.

This is getting fun! Love the blenny and the zoas look great!

 

[ESABOE]

Another big update!

Went to the LFS and did not come home empty handed. Added the following livestock:

Tailspot Blenny
Cleaner shrimp
2x Trochus
2x Nassarius
3x tiny blue-leg hermits

The blenny and shrimp are both hiding on the back of my rock scape but I was able to get a couple of pictures.

Also we have first corals!

Probably a little earlier than ideal but they gave me a really good deal on a little zoa colony on a piece of live rock with a lot of coralline to seed my tank with. Also got a nice little Duncan frag with 3 heads.

I did a 15 minute dip (didn’t find any hitchhikers) and added them to the tank. About an hour later they were starting to open back up.

Oh ohh; Kev is gonna be jealous of that zoa garden! I’m actually talking about me. Hehe. I love Duncans too. So hardy and always fluffy happy

 

[Fishy Guy]

Food is the universal language that brings us all together!

After dinner the Blenny found himself a nice place to perch out in the open.

 

[kevgib67]

Food is the universal language that brings us all together!

After dinner the Blenny found himself a nice place to perch out in the open.

So it is universal, tail spot blennys are little piggies?

 

[Katrina71]

So it is universal, tail spot blennys are little piggies?

Yes!

 

[Fishy Guy]

The uglies are starting! Started noticing spots of diatoms on the rocks and sand. Going to stay the course and let my pods and CUC do their thing and try not to worry about it. That's the plan anyways ha.

On filtration - tldr; I'm an idiot. So I've been noticing that I've got perpetual surface scum even with good surface agitation and detritus wasn't being pulled out of the display very well. Well it turns out that this being my first AIO (and I've never had a tank with a sump) that I just didn't understand how it was supposed to work. I've got my water level too high and it's the same in the display and all rear chambers so while I do get some turnover the overflows are not working as intended so I need to make some changes.

My tank is the first version of the IM Fusions which does not include the high tide water risers. I would like to keep my water level a bit higher than I think I would need to get everything dialed in correctly so I've ordered a couple of the inTank Surface Skimmers to achieve this. Then I will need to lower my return chamber so there is a 1/4" to 1/2" drop from the middle chamber. I will probably need to move my heater to one of the middle chambers to keep it submerged; any issues with doing this? I will keep the ATO sensor and tubing in the return chamber.

Any other thoughts or tips on getting this dialed in correctly? As much reading and research I did in preparing to setup this tank I'm kind of embarrassed that I missed this lol.

 

[saltcats]

I don't have the lagoon model but I do have a small IM AIO - my heater is in the middle chamber and I think that's actually where most other people I've talked to keep theirs as well! It's safer as well in case your ATO fails off, since the water level shouldn't change and expose the heater.

 

[Fishy Guy]

I don't have the lagoon model but I do have a small IM AIO - my heater is in the middle chamber and I think that's actually where most other people I've talked to keep theirs as well! It's safer as well in case your ATO fails off, since the water level shouldn't change and expose the heater.

Thanks! I was assuming it would be fine but seeing as I setup everything completely wrong to start it wouldn't hurt to ask ha.

 

[saltcats]

Thanks! I was assuming it would be fine but seeing as I setup everything completely wrong to start it wouldn't hurt to ask ha.

Did the opposite of me; I didn't put enough water in mine to start with sooo many bubbles in the display with the level that low in the pump chamber!

 

[X-37B]

My 20g nano aio. This is where I ran the last chamber at, about 3" from the surface. Level was controlled by a tunze ato. No surface oils and the ow 20 keeps everything moving.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Quick update - everything is tracking along.

DIATOMS!

It's tough to tell from the picture but I got the water level in the sump compartments fixed so it's actually filtering well now. I didn't end up needing the inTank surface skimmers which is good as they would've interfered with my lid plan.

Added in a bottle of Purple Helix and Pink Fusion Coralline. Hopefully between them and my zoa garden/seed rock I won't have completely white rocks for long.

Finally Benny the Blenny!

 

[kevgib67]

Looking great, aw the face on Benny! I think I’ve seen it somewhere before? So additional way to kick start coralline growth is with a razor blade remove and collect some from someone else’s established tank or your lfs. Hand pick all your snails and hermit crabs with coralline on their shells.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Made a few more additions.

On the coral side I added a Devils Hand Leather, a Maze Brain, and GSP.

The Leather was standing tall in my LFS but has been laying down on the job since coming home ha.

The Maze Brain has some great coloration and love it’s growth pattern.

The GSP hasn’t opened back up in my tank but here’s a picture of it before I bought it. I’ve got the rock leaned up against the back wall of my tank with hopes it will grow up the wall.

After adding the GSP rock.

For livestock I added a Banggai Cardinal and a Red Banded Goby/Randalls Pistol pair.

The cardinal is stunning in person and I’m absolutely in love with it. He has been hanging out with the clowns and everyone seems to be getting along swimmingly.

The goby pistol pair are super tiny and have disappeared into the rocks for now. Hopefully they’ll get more comfortable and find a nice visible home. Just prior to adding to the tank; the diameter of the bottom of this cup is 1.75” for size reference. The goby is a little pale here but he had nice crimson bands and bright yellow face in the store.

I also added 4 cerith snails to my CUC.

Diatoms are in full bloom. Should I keep everything the same or reduce the lights a bit?

Will do full testing and a water change later today. Also have a screen lid I’ll finish today too.