Fostering Fillory - Mixed Reef - IM 25g

Reef of Fillory

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Current Tank Pic [7/14/2021]:

1626290599411.png


Tank [3/11/21]:

Here's a video I shot of the tank yesterday. If you notice anything and have any suggestions for things like adjusting flow, powerhead placement etc. let me know!



Current Parameters [4/8/21]:
Salinity: 1.025
ALK: 8.6 [goal of a steady 8.5]
Calcium: 445 [goal 430ish]
Nitrate: 0.2 [goal 2-4]
Phosphate: 0.00 [goal 0.05]
Magnesium: 1300

1616595555195.png



Hi everyone - I started with a Fluval EVO a couple of years ago, shut it down and moved south [from MI to FL] and then started up another EVO.

Turns out there was a good deal on a used IM 25 Lagoon, so I picked it up and moved everything over. The IM25 is almost exactly the footprint of two EVOs side by side.


Old Tank:

PXL_20210202_032537874.jpg


New Tank - IM Lagoon:

PXL_20210204_225349393.jpg


PXL_20210204_053122460.jpg



Equipment list

Innovative Marine 25 Lagoon
Hamilton 150w Metal Halide
2x AI Prime HD's
Jebao SW2 [I think] powerhead - Pointed behind the rockwork
2x MP10's
InTank Floss/Chemipure blue/MarinePure Spheres in right chamber
Floss/Chemipure blue/MarinePure Spheres shelf in left chamber
IceCap K1 in second right chamber [Collection Cup off]
Chaeto refugium in second left chamber w/ some MarinePure Spheres
Sicce 1.5 Return pump V plumbed to the returns with random flow nozzles
Marinepure spheres in/around the return pump in the third [big] chamber w/ heaters
Tunze Osmolator nano 3152 ATO
Inkbird heater/chiller controller
Reefkeeper Lite w/ 4 plug bar - For Refugium light/timer
Apex classic
Trigger Systems 5 gallon ATO reservoir

Livestock

20lbs Live Rock
Black sand
Various SPS
Various zoas
A few chalices
Bubble Tip Anemone
Gold Indo hammer [2 heads]
Green frogspawn [2 heads]
Pair of Ocellaris clownfish
Small Regal Tang
6 line wrasse
Large Cleaner shrimp
Small Cleaner Shrimp

Feeding

mixed for 5ish days worth:
1 cube PE mysis
1 cube Artemis(?)
1 Chunk "LRS" frozen food
1 scoop Reef Chili

Eheim auto feeder feeding flake/pellet mix twice per day

2 "splashes" per day Red Sea Reef Energy Plus (AB+) - Amino Acids [morning and night]
1/2 ounce phytoplankton twice per day [morning and night]


Ca/Alk management

Currently mixing 1 tbsp/5 gallon RODI in ATO reservoir


Future plans

Upgrade current bulb to phoenix 14k
Buy battery backup for MP10


1612538276877.png 1614903885689.png 1615147451942.png 1616595694303.png
 
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Reef of Fillory

Reef of Fillory

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Like it, do you have pictures yet.
It's still not set up yet - got some water in it and some stuff set up.
Just sold the clownfish that came with the tank purchase, and the Kessil as well so now it's time to get it in place, move my old tank and get to aquascaping the additional 13lbs rock I bought today.

One thing that I hate is when LFS mix their saltwater to anything but 1.026... Luckily I have a small box of salt mix at home - the water I bought is at 1.023-1.024 =(
 
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Reef of Fillory

Reef of Fillory

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Tank has been moved! Long night - headed to bed


It started in this little Fluval EVO 13 [shown here after the move]

PXL_20210204_053109145.jpg

First I got the water ready in the new tank, moved the old tank out of the way and then tried to move the EVO rockwork over 1:1. Of course, all of the pieces broke apart and we couldn't get them put back together the same way...

PXL_20210204_053122460.jpg

So we spent [way too long] some time trying to re-aquascape and finally came up with something that the wife liked, but wasn't what I originally hoped for. So I was a little bummed, but still think she did a good job!


I ran a lot of the wires, got the control screens put up on the doors, and got the switches labeled.

I still want to tidy up the cords some, but I'm really not sure what else I can do.

PXL_20210204_053138920.jpg


I'm thinking that I want to add another shelf in here [or a basket in the bottom] so that I can put all the stuff from the old stand in this stand.

I had two drawers before just for "fish stuff" so hopefully I can figure out a way to keep it all in this stand.


PXL_20210204_053203199.jpg
 
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Tested parameters tonight (test kits just came in from BRS)
And.....


Salinity: 1.0265
ALK: 8.2
Calcium: 475
Nitrate: 10ish
Phosphate: first test was 0.22, second test was 0.56!

I did the first phosphate test before I fed, and the second after I feed frozen/reef chili and red sea aminos.

Might need to get some phosphate/purigen to run in one of the back chambers.

No algae growth at all so far - started the fluval with 8lbs live rock, water, coral and the pair of clownfish.

Added another 14lbs live rock and moved everything over to the new tank.
 

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Nice! I also have the IM Lagoon 25 and going for SPS dominated system.

I had a bubble tip anemone too, but it grew too much that it was taking too much space and was afraid of moving in the small tank. So keeping in a breeder box on the side for now.

Your light choice is interesting! Metal Halides!

Very interested how this tank turns out :)
 
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Every tank I've run in the past had been ulns and has needed me to dose both nitrate and phosphate, so I'm interested to see where these high nutrient levels take me in this tank.

I would guess they'll find a lower level in a bit. I've always had to both overstock my tanks and dose. It would be nice to avoid that this time around.

Also I dosed 8ml all for reef tonight - never used it before.
 
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Nice! I also have the IM Lagoon 25 and going for SPS dominated system.

I had a bubble tip anemone too, but it grew too much that it was taking too much space and was afraid of moving in the small tank. So keeping in a breeder box on the side for now.

Your light choice is interesting! Metal Halides!

Very interested how this tank turns out :)
I ran MH on my 13.5 gallon in the past and I just love the look and simplicity.

 
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Just ordered some Brightwell Phosphate-E on Amazon to bring the phosphates down. I didn't have the Hanna checker until now, so I never got a measurement on my old tank.

I'm guessing that hammering the new rocks for the aquascape, and the new rock in general alongside my HEAVY feeding is to blame. I'm not willing to cut down feeding [fish and corals] so I'll need to find a maintenance dose of the Phosphate-E.

I'll dose it into the filter floss in the overflow of the AIO section. This goes Filter Floss --> Chemipure Blue --> Marinepure balls --> Auto Aqua skimmer --> Marinepure balls --> Return

A local guy [garage seller] just got a small Tomini Tang for me as well. Getting this as a flash of color/movement as well as algae control. He will be traded in/gifted to another reefer once he grows to a larger size, and will be replaced with another small guy.
 

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How do you like the IM25 so far? Do you feel the AIO gives you ample filtration with your SPS set up? I’ve been debating upgrading to the IM25 or saving a little more money to get something slightly bigger with a sump.
 
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How do you like the IM25 so far? Do you feel the AIO gives you ample filtration with your SPS set up? I’ve been debating upgrading to the IM25 or saving a little more money to get something slightly bigger with a sump.
If you have the space and willingness to work with overflows/drains/plumbing I would always recommend having a sump from my experience. I have only had the IM 25 for 3 days now, so I'm not so sure on how effective the smaller equipment/design is going to work, but I never had any issues even in the Fluval 13 gallon.

I have floss, Chemipure, skimmer, chaeto refugium, 1L of Marinepure spheres, ATO, temp probe(s) and auto feeder in the back section of the tank, so I think there is plenty of room. I really like the form factor of this tank [lagoon style].

On the 14 gallon, I ran the skimmer and let it overflow back into the tank, ran chaeto in a smaller area and didn't have any Marinepure and my SPS seemed happy to my eyes. I won't claim to know much of anything about corals really.

Check out my 13 gallon tank journey that I linked for SCK1027 above if you're interested in seeing what my last tank looked like, and what worked/didn't work for me.

Edit to add: I've always fed very heavily in all of my tanks - the 13 gallon had bottoming out Phosphate/Nitrate [I had to dose regularly on top of heavy feeding/aminos]. This tank so far has pretty high Nitrate and Phosphate, but it's new so we'll see where it levels out at.
 

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If you have the space and willingness to work with overflows/drains/plumbing I would always recommend having a sump from my experience. I have only had the IM 25 for 3 days now, so I'm not so sure on how effective the smaller equipment/design is going to work, but I never had any issues even in the Fluval 13 gallon.

I have floss, Chemipure, skimmer, chaeto refugium, 1L of Marinepure spheres, ATO, temp probe(s) and auto feeder in the back section of the tank, so I think there is plenty of room. I really like the form factor of this tank [lagoon style].

On the 14 gallon, I ran the skimmer and let it overflow back into the tank, ran chaeto in a smaller area and didn't have any Marinepure and my SPS seemed happy to my eyes. I won't claim to know much of anything about corals really.

Check out my 13 gallon tank journey that I linked for SCK1027 above if you're interested in seeing what my last tank looked like, and what worked/didn't work for me.

Edit to add: I've always fed very heavily in all of my tanks - the 13 gallon had bottoming out Phosphate/Nitrate [I had to dose regularly on top of heavy feeding/aminos]. This tank so far has pretty high Nitrate and Phosphate, but it's new so we'll see where it levels out at.
I’m having that problem in my current tank. Can’t keep Po4 and No3 up
 
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I’m having that problem in my current tank. Can’t keep Po4 and No3 up
I had to add two additional fish, and double up my feeding in the last tank to keep detectible nutrient levels...

I think the rock I have gotten is loaded with phosphates, so I'm going to use Phosphat-E (lanth chloride) to work them down over time
 
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Welcoming Tommy to the tank - you probably can't see him because he likes to swim in the back side of the rock work.

I asked for a small Tomini from a local guy and this is what he got me in. I was hoping for a bit smaller than this so that it would be a longer time between getting him and taking him in for a smaller tang, but he'll work for now. Not much personality so far - the clowns really like him though!

PXL_20210206_172722537.jpg
 
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Welcoming Tommy to the tank - you probably can't see him because he likes to swim in the back side of the rock work.

I asked for a small Tomini from a local guy and this is what he got me in. I was hoping for a bit smaller than this so that it would be a longer time between getting him and taking him in for a smaller tang, but he'll work for now. Not much personality so far - the clowns really like him though!

PXL_20210206_172722537.jpg
Tommy didn't make it through the weekend. I did not quarantine, and he came directly from the wholesaler, then had an air stone in a container, then into my tank.

He hid in the rocks and stayed out of all flow in the tank. Went to check on him this afternoon and he was barely moving on the sand bed, being munched on by hermits... I pulled him out and put him in the freezer to be sure.

Always sad to lose a fish no matter how long they're with you.
 
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Reef of Fillory

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So far here's my dance with Phosphates in the tank:

1613063925444.png


I'm using Phosphat-E to reduce and it seems my rock/sand is leeching. Dripping it into the filter pad on one side of the overflow, then it goes through Chemipure Blue, some Marinepure spheres, then the skimmer.

I have had no cloudiness at all, and while I did dose after receiving the Tomini Tang, he was acting poorly from the moment I got him from the bag and into the tank. I don't attribute my LC dosing to the Tomini's death.

On another note, here's my progress with Alkalinity. It seems like the corals aren't yet doing much growing.

1613064125675.png


I lost the lid to my skimmer, so I'm going to have to figure something out since that skimmer is no longer manufactured... =(

I want to run a CO2 scrubber on it eventually [once I get the ability to monitor pH]. I'll need to figure it out by then so that I can run the input from the skimmer cup. Any ideas on this?
 
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Reef of Fillory

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I've also just ordered a replacement ALK and Phosphate testing reagent pack. Running out of Phosphate packs very quickly!

As corals begin to grow, I'll need to test Alkalinity more often. Eventually I plan to either use a single dosing head to dose all 4 reef, or buy two dosing heads and switch over to 2-part.

I bought kalkwasser, but the unknown scares me away from using it [how much I evaporate vs how much to mix in, and the swings of corals not growing consistently and being over/under dosed].
 
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Reef of Fillory

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Got a used MP10 in today! Put that on the tank, and added a bag of purigen. The purigen bad leaked some pieces and the display is full of them... Not sure why they wouldn't use an appropriate sized bag??

PXL_20210212_203333519.jpg


PXL_20210212_203321725.MP.jpg


PXL_20210212_203347234.jpg



PXL_20210213_014820264.jpg


On another note, I ordered replacement ALK reagents and phosphate reagents from liveaquaria and they sent me the phosphate, and a hydra 52 bracket... Email is off to support!

If I owned or needed a 52 bracket I'd consider myself lucky (double the price of what I paid for) but sadly it's of no use to me.
 
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Reef of Fillory

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Went away for 6 days on a trip to the mountains in Estes Park, Co.

Didn't program the fish food feeder to actually drop food (by accident) and so the fish didn't get fed for 6 days.

Anywho here's some updated pics.

PXL_20210224_225901975.jpg

PXL_20210224_225934225.MP.jpg
PXL_20210224_225940764.jpg

PXL_20210224_230003146.jpg

PXL_20210224_230245555.jpg

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