IM 200 EXT

zmanjr11

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Good Day Everyone!

It's taken some time to get together but I'm finally around to getting to my tank build. It was more important to me to get to know some of your first and I wanted to take the time to shout out to the people that have helped me along the way (including that very first day a kind stranger telling me that I needed to make a post when trying to make a purchase from marketplace 🤣 )

Where to begin: I started this hobby about 3 years ago when we finally moved into a house. I've always felt a connection with the ocean and I've come to discover that watching my tank is (both fortunately and unfortunately) one of the few things in life that gives me a sense of peace and mindfulness. I began like many with just a simple 55 gallon form my local ifs and at the time I thought it was huge. I was able to connect with a couple of individuals here, including a person who ran a rather large reef store in the area. They provided me with the sound advice of "buy once, cry once" and I've since come to accept this as truth lol.

Since then, I have upgraded to the Innovative Marine 200g EXT due to my love of tangs and torch corals (shoutout to @VintageReefer as well as plenty of of others here!) and wanted to practice the best fish husbandry that my time and finances allowed. I dont have a phone filter for my camera, so I apologize that my pictures may not be the best and I appreciate your patience with them as well as my questions and investment. Currently, my reef holds around 20ish corals of various types, predominantly torches, with a Sun God, 24k, and a couple of Kalimantan HGs being my current centerpieces, however more are on the way and I am expanding! It also homes a purple tang (my fav!), a yellow tang, a magnificent fox face, 2 purple firefish, 6 green chromes, a single black ice clown after its partner died :/, and my workhorse orange spotted cleaner goby! I plan to add a m/f pair of mandarins this weekend and, someday, the final add will be a gem tang!

I will post pictures when I can and when I feel like they are share worthy, however, I proudly don't have any social media and don't intend to babysit this as one either. I again want to thank you all for being such a warm and welcoming community and for sharing and supporting in this love that we all have!

Cheers and Be Well

-Zmanjr

IMG_3284.jpeg
 

Gumbies R Us

God, Bouldering, and Reefing
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Following along!
 

Daasmo

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Looking good. I'm waiting on the same tank so I'll be following.
 
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zmanjr11

zmanjr11

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IMG_3827.jpeg

Updated Landscape as on December 2025. Added several more torches and fish and it started to feel like a chunk of the ocean! At this point I had:
Fish
Gem Tang (around 5")
Purple Tang (2.5")
Yellow Tang (4")
Magnificent Foxface (5")
Purple Firefish
Green Chromis x5
Black Oscelaris Clown

Corals
Sun God (@Lucky Corals )
Holy Grail x2 (Coral King Kyle)
CC24k
CC21 Tails
OG Tiger (Massive! Jewel Lagoon)
Unique Bananas x2 (had some light blue in them! Jewel Lagoon)
Sunset Hammer (CKK)
Hologram Hammer (CCK)
Willy Wonka Hammer (CCK)
Various assorted zoas (various, usually as throw in's)

Another update coming soon as I have rearranged my rockwork for hopefully the final time as well as added several other goodies! Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions and at least give a look to some of the places listed! They have been INCREDIBLE to do business with! Especially Jewel Lagoon who I believe has "Jewel Lagoon Magic Water" ^TM that I am trying to get him to trademark 🤣


Cheers Everyone!
 
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zmanjr11

zmanjr11

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I have it. Stand is setup but tank is still in my garage. Hoping to get it on the stand soon.
I've had nothing but the best of luck with it. It's truly a beautiful tank in an of itself, especially for a newbie to anything that wasn't purchased at petco and an FX canister filter 🤣

It's grown a lot with me and I have a lot of people to thank from here as well. The only thing I would tell you is if you ever think you even MIGHT want a filter roller, go a different route with the sump. Mine runs socks, skimmer, refugium, return and is great but there is no room in that first chamber where a roller would go
 

Skibi

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Nice build what lights did you go with and how do you have them mounted with the euro bracing? Trying to figure that out on my 200 EXT following along!
 
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zmanjr11

zmanjr11

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Nice build what lights did you go with and how do you have them mounted with the euro bracing? Trying to figure that out on my 200 EXT following along!
Hey Skibi! I went with 3 Gen 6 Radion XR30 Pros and they have worked wonderfully. I previously had 2 Gen 4 XR30s and 2 Gen 6 XR15s that gave me wonderful spread and coverage for about a week and then the XR30s gave out. I sent them in to see what Echotech could do and they were shot which allowed me to justify upgrading to the gen 6's. For me, they are tough to beat.

As far as mounting, I use the "X" mounts on the lights and just loop them through the rail so that they cant fall off. Unfortunately, Echotech doesnt have much in the way of consistent mounting opportunities with the euro brace as well as the thickness of this glass, so essentially that rail mounts just "hug" the glass but I've never had any issues with worrying about it falling off.
 

Skibi

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Gotcha thanks for the information! I was looking at the xr 30s too wasnt sure about pro or blue glad your liking them! Thats a bummer it just sits there but good to know they wont fall off probably the way i was going to go also.
 

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