IM 50G Lagoon AIO

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Caleb123

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Live Rock Update:

I am very pleased with the live rock I received. So far the only pest that I have encountered is aiptasia, which I am attacking with F Aiptasia which seems to be working. I did have 3 baby long spine urchins emerge from the rocks after a few days of being in the tank. They are growing very fast, which is fun to watch but I know I will have to remove them eventually. To my surprise, the gorgonian is still alive and seems happy. I've never kept a gorgonian, but I am enjoying it. I find the different algae and sponges equally as interesting. If you are willing to accept the risk of introducing pests and having to deal with them, I would 100% recommend this rock!
 
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Last update before I post a couple of pictures:

Although I love the simplicity of the AIO tank and the small scale water changes, there seems to be a void that needs to be filled. I began to think back to what got me so interested in this hobby in the beginning. It was the fish! I fell in love with this hobby from the beginning from seeing all of the different fish at my LFS. Don't get me wrong, I do love my coral but the fish just do it for me. Needless to say, a 50 g does not allow for a lot of fish options.... so this tank is looking like it may be a short term tank.... Unless someone can talk me out of buying a 150 g :p
 
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Here’s a close up of the CSB taken with my iPhone and an almost 1 month old FTS. I need to take more pictures
 

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MONTANTK

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Last update before I post a couple of pictures:

Although I love the simplicity of the AIO tank and the small scale water changes, there seems to be a void that needs to be filled. I began to think back to what got me so interested in this hobby in the beginning. It was the fish! I fell in love with this hobby from the beginning from seeing all of the different fish at my LFS. Don't get me wrong, I do love my coral but the fish just do it for me. Needless to say, a 50 g does not allow for a lot of fish options.... so this tank is looking like it may be a short term tank.... Unless someone can talk me out of buying a 150 g :p
I’m in the same boat. I really want to set up something in the 75-120 range and do a fish only but I don’t know where I’d put it
 
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Caleb123

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I’m in the same boat. I really want to set up something in the 75-120 range and do a fish only but I don’t know where I’d put it
I will have to rearrange some furniture to fit a tank that size, but as far as I'm concerned it's my most important piece of furniture so I can work around it lol. But mine will still be a reef with a lot of easier corals. I love seeing a nice size tank with a few tangs and some anthias and chromis shoaling!
 

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I will have to rearrange some furniture to fit a tank that size, but as far as I'm concerned it's my most important piece of furniture so I can work around it lol. But mine will still be a reef with a lot of easier corals. I love seeing a nice size tank with a few tangs and some anthias and chromis shoaling!
I’ve always wanted to do a really large tank full of cheap corals that fish are free to pick on but that’s a long way down the road. Looking forward to seeing your build thread!
 

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Looking good, is that the CSB on the right side of the full tank shot? That it's very bright. I like it. I have heard of that coral shop lowcountry, I tend to get friends request often on Facebook whenever I post in the local refer groups their name seems familiar. I am still just cycling my tank. It's been about two and a half weeks, there is a frag swap by me in a week and a half and was hoping I could pick some stuff up but doesn't seem like that will be the case, not for livestock anyway
 
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Caleb123

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Looking good, is that the CSB on the right side of the full tank shot? That it's very bright. I like it. I have heard of that coral shop lowcountry, I tend to get friends request often on Facebook whenever I post in the local refer groups their name seems familiar. I am still just cycling my tank. It's been about two and a half weeks, there is a frag swap by me in a week and a half and was hoping I could pick some stuff up but doesn't seem like that will be the case, not for livestock anyway
Yep, that's it! And yes, Facebook is where I originally heard about them as well. I have only ordered from them once before and I was pleased with everything so I figured I would try them again. I did email them asking for a specific zoa (WWC AOI), which they did not have. However, they responded quickly and were very friendly. I just got the email from them saying my order was shipped out.
 
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Well, all of the shipments arrived in good shape today. The only casualty I had was the Nassarius snails but John from @reefcleaners sent a refund immediately. Fantastic customer service! I requested a very small yellow tang in the comment from @Biota_Marine and boy did they deliver! He isn’t much bigger than a quarter, but he is very active and already putting in some work on the algae. The neon blue cleaner goby actually came in larger than I expected, but it paired right up with my shark nose goby and they’ve been inseparable since. The mandarin is… TINY. It has been surprisingly active almost immediately after I put it in the tank, scavenging for food. I do worry that it’s size could be an issue with feeding as I’m sure my tank does not have enough copepods for it to live off of alone. I bought some masstick and some of the very small TDO pellets which are listed on Biota’s website for what they feed them. I also feed ROE from reef nutrition pretty regularly so hopefully he will take a liking to something.

The zoas from Lowcountry Coral Boys went through a dip of Coral Rx Pro. Other than what looked like a tiny bristle worm, I didn’t see much come off of them. They began to open after just a few minutes in the tank.
 
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Some pictures of the new fish
 

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Biota_Marine

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Well, all of the shipments arrived in good shape today. The only casualty I had was the Nassarius snails but John from @reefcleaners sent a refund immediately. Fantastic customer service! I requested a very small yellow tang in the comment from @Biota_Marine and boy did they deliver! He isn’t much bigger than a quarter, but he is very active and already putting in some work on the algae. The neon blue cleaner goby actually came in larger than I expected, but it paired right up with my shark nose goby and they’ve been inseparable since. The mandarin is… TINY. It has been surprisingly active almost immediately after I put it in the tank, scavenging for food. I do worry that it’s size could be an issue with feeding as I’m sure my tank does not have enough copepods for it to live off of alone. I bought some masstick and some of the very small TDO pellets which are listed on Biota’s website for what they feed them. I also feed ROE from reef nutrition pretty regularly so hopefully he will take a liking to something.

The zoas from Lowcountry Coral Boys went through a dip of Coral Rx Pro. Other than what looked like a tiny bristle worm, I didn’t see much come off of them. They began to open after just a few minutes in the tank.
You'll be surprised how fast she grows! Our little mandarins love the frozen baby brine shrimp, tiny pellets, and frozen calanus. We actually don't feed them any live pods in our facility, so they're 100% eating prepared foods here. We do recommend feeding 3 - 4 x a day when they're young, and it helps to put your pumps on "feed mode," this is how they know when it's time to eat.
 
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Caleb123

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A quick update on the tank itself:

The Nero 3 has been giving me issues on and off for about a month now. I bought it used, so I don’t have any warranty for it but I did contact AI. They suggested to clean it with vinegar or citric acid. I had some Sicce pump clean on hand so I let it run in that for a few hours and then took it apart and scrubbed it really well with a toothbrush. It seemed to work for a little longer and then back to the same old thing. I will probably be replacing it very soon.

Other than the Nero, everything seems to be going just fine with the tank. I did a 10 gallon water change on Monday (7/4) and then tested on Tuesday (7/5). The phosphate had dropped to 0.20, which I was pleased to see but my nitrate had dropped to 4.5. My nitrate has been running in the 7-10 range in this tank so far. I have seen this before and before I knew it, nitrate bottomed out and then the dreaded Dino’s. So as a precaution I went ahead and ordered some Brightwell NeoNitro to have on hand. While I would like my nitrate to be over 5, I do not plan to make any changes unless it gets near 0.

I may start to push toward smaller/less frequent water changes.
 
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Caleb123

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You'll be surprised how fast she grows! Our little mandarins love the frozen baby brine shrimp, tiny pellets, and frozen calanus. We actually don't feed them any live pods in our facility, so they're 100% eating prepared foods here. We do recommend feeding 3 - 4 x a day when they're young, and it helps to put your pumps on "feed mode," this is how they know when it's time to eat.
Good to know, thank you! I will have to pick up some baby brine shrimp this weekend at my LFS.
 

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Aside from the issue you are having currently, how have you liked the Nero 3? I was thinking about getting a pair of them now that I see them in stock
 
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Caleb123

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Aside from the issue you are having currently, how have you liked the Nero 3? I was thinking about getting a pair of them now that I see them in stock
I honestly have liked it. I like the size factor on a tank this size. If I was going to keep any hard corals, I would definitely want two of them. I like the AI app better than mobius which I’ve used previously. But I kinda wanted an MP10 for cleaning purposes anyway so this will probably be my excuse if you do decide to get them, I would go ahead and get the nem/fish guards for the back. You will be glad you did.
 

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I honestly have liked it. I like the size factor on a tank this size. If I was going to keep any hard corals, I would definitely want two of them. I like the AI app better than mobius which I’ve used previously. But I kinda wanted an MP10 for cleaning purposes anyway so this will probably be my excuse if you do decide to get them, I would go ahead and get the nem/fish guards for the back. You will be glad you did.
They actually come with a stock guard, but I think people make 3D printed ones as well. I know with the stock one that limits the ability for you to be able to angle it. And yes I really like the profile on it which is why I have been thinking about going with them.
 
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They actually come with a stock guard, but I think people make 3D printed ones as well. I know with the stock one that limits the ability for you to be able to angle it. And yes I really like the profile on it which is why I have been thinking about going with them.
Oh okay, I didn’t know they came with one. The one I purchased second hand didn’t come with it so I purchased one of the 3D printed ones and have been plenty happy with it.
 

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what light schedule are you using on the AI primes? I was able to fix a 3rd light that died on me a while back and added it to the tank.
 
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Caleb123

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what light schedule are you using on the AI primes? I was able to fix a 3rd light that died on me a while back and added it to the tank.
I honestly just put together a schedule that was appealing to my eyes while using general guidelines like lower percentage on red and green. I have a 7 hour photo period with a 1.5 hour ramp on either side.
 

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