HHH’s attempt at an IM 25 Lagoon

happyhourhero

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Happy to be getting back into the hobby after about a year off that started with a move across town/ renovation. I have never tried with a smaller tank and am looking forward to the challenge. My favorite corals to grow are acros so I hope I can get a decent sps reef going in due time.

Tank came in today but am waiting on countertop to be done at Lowe’s before I can set it up.

Here’s where I am at so far:

Equipment:
IM 25 tank
Random shaker cabinet with some modification
Mighty Jet return pump
Reef Breeders Photon V2+ Light
Reef Breeders Prism ATO
Hygger powerhead

Substrate:
Marco dry rock. 1 small base, 1 bag of nano shelf, a couple pounds from lfs
Aragalive sand 10lb (in with the gobies)
Tropic Eden Reef Flake 30lbs
Marine Pure Spheres

Livestock:
Pair wheelers shrimp gobies
2 cerith, 1 trochus, 2 astrea, 1 nassarius

Spheres have been cycling with quikcycl and Microbacter XLM for 2 months in an old 20 gal. Gobies have been with me for a month.

My rock scape was created using the rock powder and thin glue method.

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Topics and products in this build: Dinos, UV, Ostreopsis, All for Reef, NeoNitro, NeoPhos, Microbacter7, LRS Reed Frezy, Rods, Egg Brew, Marco Rock, GlueMasters, NLS, Battlecorals, Divers Den, POTO, ReefBreeders, Prisim ATO.
 
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happyhourhero

happyhourhero

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Placed an order for ipsf live sand activator package and coralline booster. Should be here towards the end of March. Going to add a couple of mollies to the mix tonight so I can come in with elevated nutrients and hopefully miss the dinos.
 
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happyhourhero

happyhourhero

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Supposed to have the countertop in tomorrow so I can finally finish the stand and get this tank set up. Snagged a pink streaked wrasse and royal gramma that should be here on Monday. So ready to get back in the game!
 
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Picked up some jungle juice and fruitopia zoas over the weekend (not huge in less known names but whatever) so I can look at something besides rock.
I really want to add as much microfauna and biodiversity as I can to get through the ugly stages of a new tank. I ordered some of Tommy’s phyto that will be here later in the week. I would like to get my pod population going strong from the get go.
Sadly, one of the gobies made it thru the mesh top and onto the floor and was dry before I found it :(. The remaining goby is the shy one and it darts away if I am within 20 feet of the tank now.
I get my pink streaked and RG tomorrow so crossing fingers they arrive alive and acclimate well.
For some reason I can’t photograph this tank at all. My phone camera seems to align with the flickering of the light and I legit can’t get a close up pic. Need to find my digital camera and hopefully can fix that.
 
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happyhourhero

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I realize this thread is lame without pics but still going to journal until I get that figured out. My light’s pwm and my camera on my phone don’t get along. Reefbreeders says I can crank to 100% to stop the flicker but I haven’t done it yet.
Good news is the Pink Streaked and Captive Bred RG showed up healthy and have taken food today and are exploring the tank bit by bit. Bad news is the 2 Wheelers gobies I have had in my 20g to keep my marine pure spheres cycled both fit thru the 1/4 mesh top on the tank and dried up.
 

TheWB

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I realize this thread is lame without pics but still going to journal until I get that figured out. My light’s pwm and my camera on my phone don’t get along. Reefbreeders says I can crank to 100% to stop the flicker but I haven’t done it yet.
Good news is the Pink Streaked and Captive Bred RG showed up healthy and have taken food today and are exploring the tank bit by bit. Bad news is the 2 Wheelers gobies I have had in my 20g to keep my marine pure spheres cycled both fit thru the 1/4 mesh top on the tank and dried up.
Everything is looking good so far. Where did you find a captive bred Royal Gramma?
 
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happyhourhero

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Since my gobies both jumped through the stock 1/4” mesh lid that comes with the Nuvo 25, I ordered some 1/8” mesh from BRS. I searched around and couldn’t find anyone on any forum that mentioned modifying the existing lid. I used an old knife to pop out the spline as carefully as I could > cut down the new mesh > pressed the spline back in and swapped it out easy peasy. I had bought spline at Lowe’s and it was not even close to what was used on this lid so that will be going back.
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Also got a batch of Phyto from R2R sponsor Tommy’s Phyto. USPS delayed my package and I had reached out to Thomas and asked if the extra time would be an issue. He said no but went ahead and shipped out another order expedited via fedex. I thought that was super awesome. The first box arrived and the Phyto seemed good to go so I dosed a bit.
I also added a Yellow Watchman goby and now have my eyes out for a candy cane shrimp. Have a reef club meeting tomorrow and am hoping to pick up some more zoas and maybe a couple other randoms.
 

TheWB

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Since my gobies both jumped through the stock 1/4” mesh lid that comes with the Nuvo 25, I ordered some 1/8” mesh from BRS. I searched around and couldn’t find anyone on any forum that mentioned modifying the existing lid. I used an old knife to pop out the spline as carefully as I could > cut down the new mesh > pressed the spline back in and swapped it out easy peasy. I had bought spline at Lowe’s and it was not even close to what was used on this lid so that will be going back.
29520529-209C-44F6-98BB-11A83CD30D66.jpeg
096BA3FC-65AF-4D92-8CF2-3241DB7A5E85.jpeg
3A9F6495-0AF5-48BA-A501-5963B8DF78D9.jpeg

Also got a batch of Phyto from R2R sponsor Tommy’s Phyto. USPS delayed my package and I had reached out to Thomas and asked if the extra time would be an issue. He said no but went ahead and shipped out another order expedited via fedex. I thought that was super awesome. The first box arrived and the Phyto seemed good to go so I dosed a bit.
I also added a Yellow Watchman goby and now have my eyes out for a candy cane shrimp. Have a reef club meeting tomorrow and am hoping to pick up some more zoas and maybe a couple other randoms.
I did that same thing with the older IM screen top that had the harder plastic mesh which blocked a lot of light. I broke the spline in a couple of places but was still able to reuse it. My zebra barred goby had jumped through the screening so I went with the 1/8th inch screen from BRS. I’m back to the 1/4 inch netting now on a newer screen top but the gobies are much larger so it’s doubtful either one could get through again, I hope.
 
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happyhourhero

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Picked up some frags at our clubs meet. Purple monsters, night crawlers, bam bams, rainbow rhodactis, rainbow monti and latana.
First and last pic I got from lfs last week.
I am testing the whole multiple months before sps thing. I’ve always had rainbow monti in the past and know they are fickle to color up. Will cross fingers.
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happyhourhero

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Ordered a candy cane pistol shrimp last night. Should be here Friday. Got it from BlueZoo who I have not used before. Hopefully it goes well.
Also have my order from ipsf coming Friday to add some microfauna. Copepods are showing up on the glass so I am glad they got brought over in the spheres from when I cycled.
Here’s an ambient light pic from this am and one from last night that the Wrasse (Lord Huron) and the RG came out for.
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happyhourhero

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Shrimp showed up on time. Great looking specimen and I was impressed with Blue Zoo’s packaging. It is dripping now.
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Hoping the IPSF order that’s supposed to be here today shows up. It’s In the not great “In Transit” status.
 
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My IPSF order made it to FexEx today. Was in communication with the vendor who had great communication the entire transaction and Gerald said everything should be fine with the 1 day delay. They were right. There may have been a couple of dead pods but they threw in a free order of pods and a free leather coral. My order was the Livesand Activator Plus and the Coralline booster pack. What came in the box was:

1. Live sand activator
2. Wondermud
3. Pods
4. Coralline Plates
5. N bacteria sludge
6. Freebie Leather (not sure what it will look like open)
7. Freebie Pods
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TheWB

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I added some of the same IPSF stuff to my tank. Great way to add some diversity to an existing system. They do a real nice job packaging it up for shipping as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to order again.
 
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