Griev's IM-200 Mangrove Lagoon

Griev · Sep 26, 2020

I have a move coming up, and I think I'm going to take the opportunity to go all out and set up my planned 10+ year tank, designed from the start to be as automated as possible with minimal or zero water changes. I've been running my current tank (a 50 gallon lagoon AIO) this way for six months now, and want to go much bigger!

I really like the dimensions of the IM 200, I think it'll give me a lot of depth to play with.

I want to try something potentially different with this tank. I used to keep jungle/nature style freshwater tanks, and always loved the look of dutch style aquascapes, but you had to go high tech with CO2 and fertilizer, which made the plants grow quickly. This meant to keep them looking nice you had to trim them almost constantly, the exact opposite of my goals of near zero maintenance.

So I got a crazy idea in my head. What if I tried to do the same but with different colors of euphyllia, encrusting LPS, and softies?

By buying a large colony and fragging myself, or working with a vendor to special order a large number of the same species/color would allow me to set up the same flows of color and texture that dutch style tanks are known for.

Still in the planning phases, but I'll be using this thread to walk through how I'm planning, setting up, and eventually running the tank.

jandlms · Sep 26, 2020

The look is awesome
Not sure if the zero or low maintenance part is going to be attainable.Good luck!

925Reefer · Nov 28, 2020

Updates?

Griev · Dec 28, 2020

925Reefer said:
Updates?

Step 1: Buy a house

Ordering the new tank as soon as we close.

sfin52 · Dec 28, 2020

Griev said:
Step 1: Buy a house

Ordering the new tank as soon as we close.

Pics or it never happened.

Griev · Feb 7, 2021

jandlms said:
The look is awesome
Not sure if the zero or low maintenance part is going to be attainable.Good luck!

Yeah we'll see! I'll run export methods at first and do water changes as needed until I find stability. It's more of a north star goal for the tank.

sfin52 said:
Pics or it never happened.

Closed on the house last Friday!

Here's the room where I'll be putting the tank (after we rip that bar out);

Should be ordering the tank officially in a few more weeks!

Griev · Apr 20, 2021

We're all moved in, the tank is ordered (ETA end of April) and I'm working on getting my livestock from where it's being fostered back in CA. Here's a quick preview of what I'm designing!

sfin52 · Apr 20, 2021

Its getting real

DiefsReef · Apr 22, 2021

I see you have found the local clubs site in ATL

Just joined and asking for help to move in this behemoth

Lots of great folks, to help move a tank!
Looking forward to seeing this come together!

Griev · May 4, 2021

Well good news and bad news...

Good news is that my tank is at the port waiting to be cleared by customs. Innovative Marine estimates another two weeks or so for delivery.

The bad news is that I might have hit a significant setback with the stocking plans.... :mad:

I've been trying to get in contact with the Local Fish store back in the Bay Area that's been fostering my livestock for the last two weeks and was finally able to talk to the owner today. He's claiming that an employee stole a large number of fish and corals (including my livestock) and the police and insurance are involved. This includes the dozen+ heads/frags of my golden torch, and my giant mat of blue sympodium that were going to be the foundations for my new aquascape.

Hopefully I get some compensation for the stolen fish and corals, but I'm pretty gutted... Anyone ever deal with anything similar?

TheWB · May 5, 2021

Griev said:
Well good news and bad news...

Good news is that my tank is at the port waiting to be cleared by customs. Innovative Marine estimates another two weeks or so for delivery.

The bad news is that I might have hit a significant setback with the stocking plans.... :mad:

I've been trying to get in contact with the Local Fish store back in the Bay Area that's been fostering my livestock for the last two weeks and was finally able to talk to the owner today. He's claiming that an employee stole a large number of fish and corals (including my livestock) and the police and insurance are involved. This includes the dozen+ heads/frags of my golden torch, and my giant mat of blue sympodium that were going to be the foundations for my new aquascape.

Hopefully I get some compensation for the stolen fish and corals, but I'm pretty gutted... Anyone ever deal with anything similar?

Wow, that stinks. Sorry to hear that happened. I hope the store owner does the right thing and compensates you properly and/or helps you source replacements.

Griev · May 5, 2021

TheWB said:
Wow, that stinks. Sorry to hear that happened. I hope the store owner does the right thing and compensates you properly and/or helps you source replacements.

Yeah I hope so too. Owner has supposedly been out of town and is going to go to the store today to send me pictures of what is left. He thinks some of it might still be there, but isn't sure.

Griev · May 10, 2021

The owner of the store shipped me what was still in the store. Amazing how fast he checked his store and shipped it once I casually mentioned the value was well above the limit for felony theft.

Excuse all the algae, the rock is still leaching some nutrients so even with water changes there's nothing I can really do about it until they're done.

Torch looking a bit rough but 8 heads are still there. I don't think it was getting enough light. Going to be keeping an eye on it;

Some of the clumps of Blue Sypodium he still had;

World's happiest algae blenny;

The before ;Dead;

I sent him an updated list of what's been stolen and at replacement costs right now it's a hair under 2k in livestock still missing. Hoping to have a police report and next steps with his insurance company early this week, but not holding my breath...

Never moving again. :/

TheWB · May 10, 2021

Griev said:
The owner of the store shipped me what was still in the store. Amazing how fast he checked his store and shipped it once I casually mentioned the value was well above the limit for felony theft.

Excuse all the algae, the rock is still leaching some nutrients so even with water changes there's nothing I can really do about it until they're done.

Torch looking a bit rough but 8 heads are still there. I don't think it was getting enough light. Going to be keeping an eye on it;

Some of the clumps of Blue Sypodium he still had;

World's happiest algae blenny;

The before ;Dead;

I sent him an updated list of what's been stolen and at replacement costs right now it's a hair under 2k in livestock still missing. Hoping to have a police report and next steps with his insurance company early this week, but not holding my breath...

Never moving again. :/

That’s it? The torch and the blue sypodium? So that really nice pair of angels and all the nems are gone? I’m so gutted for you man, that sucks. This guy better make it right. There’s nothing worse than a thief. Hopefully you had some sort of written agreement on what was there so you can sue him if he won’t pay up.

Griev · May 11, 2021

TheWB said:
That’s it? The torch and the blue sypodium? So that really nice pair of angels and all the nems are gone? I’m so gutted for you man, that sucks. This guy better make it right. There’s nothing worse than a thief. Hopefully you had some sort of written agreement on what was there so you can sue him if he won’t pay up.

Yeah, everything else is still missing. I'm not sure how likely it is that this guy is going to make it right. He keeps telling me the police are giving him the run around, and it's really challenging to get a straight answer on what I need to do next since I'm currently in GA and the theft happened in CA, I keep getting conflicting answers on if I need to start a report here vs there (both departments seem to want to defer to the other).

The only "written" agreement was the notes in my customer file that I entered (so I know it exists) for the services they were providing, but I don't have a copy in my possession, only text message logs with the store employee confirming drop off times and stock list.

Looks like next step might have to be a lawsuit. What a pain in the butt.

TheWB · May 11, 2021

Griev said:
Yeah, everything else is still missing. I'm not sure how likely it is that this guy is going to make it right. He keeps telling me the police are giving him the run around, and it's really challenging to get a straight answer on what I need to do next since I'm currently in GA and the theft happened in CA, I keep getting conflicting answers on if I need to start a report here vs there (both departments seem to want to defer to the other).

The only "written" agreement was the notes in my customer file that I entered (so I know it exists) for the services they were providing, but I don't have a copy in my possession, only text message logs with the store employee confirming drop off times and stock list.

Looks like next step might have to be a lawsuit. What a pain in the butt.

I guess small claims court is really the only option if he doesn’t do the right thing. It’s not enough money for a regular lawsuit or to get an attorney involved is it? I doubt it would be worth it to fly back to CA for a small claims appearance either. Got any friends in CA who are also lawyers who wouldn’t mind making this guys life miserable for free?

Griev · May 19, 2021

Putting the finishing touches on the false wall/accent wall that I'll be mounting my lights on. Those CoralCare Gen 2s are heavy!

Once the finish is dry, I'll be bolting in the 8020 aluminum hardware and doing some stress tests before there's glass under them.

No progress on getting any more of my livestock back. I've got a police report finally, but that's about it. :/