IM 50g Lagoon Fusion Pro 2 AIO - My First Reef

shamrock62081 · May 13, 2024

Finally made the plunge at the end of 2023 into reefkeeping with a IM 50g Lagoon---Or my money pit as I'm calling it now. It's been a unique adventure thus far. Going through a really ugly stage right now. Not sure if I should make some adjustments or adds or let it be for now.

Equipment:

2 AI Prime 16 lights; currently running an AI Signature Program (Andrew Orozco)
2 nero 3's, and the stock pump. Random program at 15% min, 48% max, low variance-- 2nd is set up as a child 75% max and 90 degree phase
MightyJet 22W/24V 538 GPH DC Return Pump w/ Controller
Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer---this thing is a beast My water might be too clean.
tunze ATO
Salt: Reef Crystals

Livestock:

One clown (Spike); His partner (Drusilla) jumped through a VERY small gap in my cover.
2 springeri damsels
2 Turbo Snails
2 Trocus Snails
2 Nassarius Snails
Coral:
Icy Blue Duncan (happy and adding new heads)
Neon Green Duncan - (very happy and lots of new heads)
Superman Discosoma - (seems ok)
Sky Blue Discosoma - not happy. Detached from the rock and wanders.
Toxic Waste Ricordea (doesn't look happy and seems to be shrinking)
Starry Night Ricordea (seems to be ok---nice and puffy)
Radioactive Ricorda (it detached from its plug and is now in the sand bed)
Rainbow Kaleidoscope Acan (2nd head in the works)
Blue Ring Acan (what was 2 heads is now 4)

Current parameters courtesy of my Hanna HI97115---buy one. life changing for someone who hates to test

ph: 8.1
Alkalinity: 6.9dKh
Calcium: 415ppm
Magnesium: 1225 ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm (this was surprising as prior to this week had been around 5ppm)
Phosphate: 0.02ppm (had been zero prior to this week)

Here is the tank. It's looking rough in this ugly stage. Have some funky algae issues. Definitely hair algae. Not sure on the others.

Duncans looking good

Blue ring on the left, rainbow acan on the right. You can't see the bubble algae that's growing next to the rainbow.

Starry night ricordea

Superman discosoma just waving.

IMG_6625 by AJ, on Flickr

Radioactive ricordea. It used to be 5x the size when it was on it's plug before it detached itself. Ugh. And whatever kind of algae that is taking over.

And the really ugly in the tank. This algae. I need something that will want to feast on it. It's everwhere.

Where I need some advice:
Algae control---what can I add to help get some of the algae under control given I have a 50gal? Considering a lawnmower blenny
Mushrooms---these things are supposed to be easy. What gives? Too clean of water?
Emerald Crabs for the beginnings of bubble algae? Worth the risk of them going after coral or other critters?
What other coral should I consider? Not really wanting Zoas.

cdemoss01 · May 13, 2024

shamrock62081 said:
Finally made the plunge at the end of 2023 into reefkeeping with a IM 50g Lagoon---Or my money pit as I'm calling it now. It's been a unique adventure thus far. Going through a really ugly stage right now. Not sure if I should make some adjustments or adds or let it be for now.

Equipment:

2 AI Prime 16 lights; currently running an AI Signature Program (Andrew Orozco)

2 nero 3's, and the stock pump. Random program at 15% min, 48% max, low variance-- 2nd is set up as a child 75% max and 90 degree phase

MightyJet 22W/24V 538 GPH DC Return Pump w/ Controller

Aquamaxx HOB 1.5 skimmer---this thing is a beast My water might be too clean.

tunze ATO

Salt: Reef Crystals

Livestock:

One clown (Spike); His partner (Drusilla) jumped through a VERY small gap in my cover.

2 springeri damsels

2 Turbo Snails

2 Trocus Snails

2 Nassarius Snails

Coral:

Icy Blue Duncan (happy and adding new heads)

Neon Green Duncan - (very happy and lots of new heads)

Superman Discosoma - (seems ok)

Sky Blue Discosoma - not happy. Detached from the rock and wanders.

Toxic Waste Ricordea (doesn't look happy and seems to be shrinking)

Starry Night Ricordea (seems to be ok---nice and puffy)

Radioactive Ricorda (it detached from its plug and is now in the sand bed)

Rainbow Kaleidoscope Acan (2nd head in the works)

Blue Ring Acan (what was 2 heads is now 4)

Current parameters courtesy of my Hanna HI97115---buy one. life changing for someone who hates to test

ph: 8.1

Alkalinity: 6.9dKh

Calcium: 415ppm

Magnesium: 1225 ppm

Nitrate: 0ppm (this was surprising as prior to this week had been around 5ppm)

Phosphate: 0.02ppm (had been zero prior to this week)

Here is the tank. It's looking rough in this ugly stage. Have some funky algae issues. Definitely hair algae. Not sure on the others.

Duncans looking good

Blue ring on the left, rainbow acan on the right. You can't see the bubble algae that's growing next to the rainbow.

Starry night ricordea

Superman discosoma just waving.
IMG_6625 by AJ, on Flickr

Radioactive ricordea. It used to be 5x the size when it was on it's plug before it detached itself. Ugh. And whatever kind of algae that is taking over.

And the really ugly in the tank. This algae. I need something that will want to feast on it. It's everwhere.

Where I need some advice:
Algae control---what can I add to help get some of the algae under control given I have a 50gal? Considering a lawnmower blenny
Mushrooms---these things are supposed to be easy. What gives? Too clean of water?
Emerald Crabs for the beginnings of bubble algae? Worth the risk of them going after coral or other critters?
What other coral should I consider? Not really wanting Zoas.

Awesome. Algae wise I would do Reef Flux RX emerald crabs are a must do and astrea snails.

Ghostweim · May 19, 2024

Nice tank!

Time - give it time to work through the ugly phase. I went through a phase of ugly where I would pull the rock and scrub the heck out of it with a brush. I would also use peroxide to get rid of some particularly nasty and stubborn algae. Worked great!

Get some hermits and snails - and definitely an emerald green crab. My emeralds never went after my corals. I had one who would come out at feeding time to snag snacks and the current one is always hiding.

shamrock62081 · May 19, 2024

@Ghostweim Picked up a couple Turbo and Trocus snails along with a few baby blue legged hermit crabs yesteray so will see if they can help keep things from getting worse. Will have to look at some peroxide. I've spot treated my freshwater tanks with it before that. Never thought of doing that in the reef.

Also added a lawnmower blenny to the tank. Going to call him Frank.

dangles · May 19, 2024

Nice looking tank! My first tank was the IM 50 last year. I liked it! I moved on to a bigger tank but there’s a link to my IM build in the first post of my Tank Thread. I never did need a skimmer but I did add a small refugium caddy to the back.

Have fun and good luck!

shamrock62081 · May 19, 2024

dangles said:
Nice looking tank! My first tank was the IM 50 last year. I liked it! I moved on to a bigger tank but there’s a link to my IM build in the first post of my Tank Thread. I never did need a skimmer but I did add a small refugium caddy to the back.

Have fun and good luck!

Thanks! I have a refugium caddy ready to go, just haven't had the need for it just yet. Skimmer has done a good job on nutrient export thus far. It's been an interesting build for me. Definitely been challenged by it. Having my battles with my ATO lately. Just haven't found the trick when doing a water change to not overfill it and set off the alarm or immediately kick the ATO on. I was this close to not going the AIO route and the ATO just might seal the deal that my next tank is not an AIO.

Ready to add some more coral. Waiting for a day that I can have them delivered that I'm off of work. Maybe this week

tautog83 · May 19, 2024

I have the same tank and loving it.. why arent you shutting the ato off when doing a water change ? Wifi power strips are awesome to shut off your return and ato. An ato is your friend and youre just overthinking something simple . I dont want that to sound any kind of way but just step back and think , why is shutting it off is a bad thing ? When you do a water change take 5 gallons out and then put 5 gallons back in lol i promise you wont be far off .

shamrock62081 · May 19, 2024

tautog83 said:
I have the same tank and loving it.. why arent you shutting the ato off when doing a water change ? Wifi power strips are awesome to shut off your return and ato. An ato is your friend and youre just overthinking something simple . I dont want that to sound any kind of way but just step back and think , why is shutting it off is a bad thing ? When you do a water change take 5 gallons out and then put 5 gallons back in lol i promise you wont be far off .

I'm overthinking it. Everthing gets shut off when I do a wc, and yes, wifi powerstrips are great! Just trying to find that sweet spot of perfection in the process. Easier when I use a bucket for a wc, harder when I've done a larger wc with the python. With the bucked wc this weekend, I market the water line then refilled back to it (bucket for bucket was pretty close to exact). ATO still turned on. Thinking I misjudged for the air in the return line and needed a bit more water. In any event, it's more annoying for me than anything.