IM EXT 100 Complete Reef System

[NanoSteam]

Got it wired and wire management about 80%. Good enough to get it up and running. Once the Nero 5s get here and the UV sterilizer I’ll rip it down one more time to wire them in.

You must tell me how you made this and attached it to the side door

I have an SR80 coming and I believe it's the same stand as the 100 ext and trying to figure this out since I don't want to tap or drill into the frame.

 

[NotSoSlim]

Got it wired and wire management about 80%. Good enough to get it up and running. Once the Nero 5s get here and the UV sterilizer I’ll rip it down one more time to wire them in.

You must tell me how you made this and attached it to the side door

I have an SR80 coming and I believe it's the same stand as the 100 ext and trying to figure this out since I don't want to tap or drill into the frame.

Well Im sorry I won’t be any help as I did drill through the door. I did ALOT of thinking about this and I just didn’t see any other way with no room in the cabinet. I used 2” flat button head bolts right through the door and they thread into 1 3/4 stand offs to space out for the vevor 10 switch power outlets. I should have paid the extra $20 and covered the whole door as it would have given more room to hide wires/power boxes behind it. Best of luck to you and I’ll keep a eye or for the build

 

[NanoSteam]

Well Im sorry I won’t be any help as I did drill through the door. I did ALOT of thinking about this and I just didn’t see any other way with no room in the cabinet. I used 2” flat button head bolts right through the door and they thread into 1 3/4 stand offs to space out for the vevor 10 switch power outlets. I should have paid the extra $20 and covered the whole door as it would have given more room to hide wires/power boxes behind it. Best of luck to you and I’ll keep a eye or for the build

Thank you for the info, I wish there was a better option with aluminum stands but I guess it's just the nature of the beast. I'll be following along!

 

[NotSoSlim]

13hrs and 36mins
Tank and sump full and system running. Getting it up to temp and just let the water cycle for tonight and I’ll start adding salt tomorrow. 0 leaks so far but keeping a close eye on it

 

[chapter7]

nice! following along ......

 

[NotSoSlim]

Set salinity to 1.024 and added 20lbs of ocean direct and 20lbs of arga-alive. No Turbo start 900 on this one. I dosed Breightwell Macrobater7 - PNS Deep Cycle - PNS ProBio. Ammonia source is coming from Fritz Fishless fuel. I’m running the skimmer although not collecting any skim more just gas exchange. I’m BLOWN AWAY how quiet this drain is with the sump. The lids on the sump make a big difference in sound and because it’s cold here 60 or lower in the house it keep condensation inside the sump. Also little pat on the back, not a single leak.. YET. I’ll keep the lights off but here’s a 10k 15% shot.





I know some people HATE shimmer but I can’t lie, I do like a little shimmer in my reef. After the cycle I’ll seed 5 blend copepod (also have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture in full swing) and start dosing homemade phyto to build up the copepod population a couple weeks before adding a pair of clownfish to start the party. I will also get 10lbs of live rock from the LFS to add to the return chamber of the sump AND start the refugium. I know, I know. Thats a lot of AND’s

 

[NanoSteam]

Set salinity to 1.024 and added 20lbs of ocean direct and 20lbs of arga-alive. No Turbo start 900 on this one. I dosed Breightwell Macrobater7 - PNS Deep Cycle - PNS ProBio. Ammonia source is coming from Fritz Fishless fuel. I’m running the skimmer although not collecting any skim more just gas exchange. I’m BLOWN AWAY how quiet this drain is with the sump. The lids on the sump make a big difference in sound and because it’s cold here 60 or lower in the house it keep condensation inside the sump. Also little pat on the back, not a single leak.. YET. I’ll keep the lights off but here’s a 10k 15% shot.





I know some people HATE shimmer but I can’t lie, I do like a little shimmer in my reef. After the cycle I’ll seed 5 blend copepod (also have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture in full swing) and start dosing homemade phyto to build up the copepod population a couple weeks before adding a pair of clownfish to start the party. I will also get 10lbs of live rock from the LFS to add to the return chamber of the sump AND start the refugium. I know, I know. Thats a lot of AND’s

Curious, any reason you opted against Turbo Start 900? I'll be using it for the first time soon, I've always used Biospira and now Dr. Tims since BioSpira is no longer available.

As for the shimmer, I do like shimmer as well so long as there's good color blending so you don't get that disco ball effect on the sand bed.

 

[NotSoSlim]

Set salinity to 1.024 and added 20lbs of ocean direct and 20lbs of arga-alive. No Turbo start 900 on this one. I dosed Breightwell Macrobater7 - PNS Deep Cycle - PNS ProBio. Ammonia source is coming from Fritz Fishless fuel. I’m running the skimmer although not collecting any skim more just gas exchange. I’m BLOWN AWAY how quiet this drain is with the sump. The lids on the sump make a big difference in sound and because it’s cold here 60 or lower in the house it keep condensation inside the sump. Also little pat on the back, not a single leak.. YET. I’ll keep the lights off but here’s a 10k 15% shot.





I know some people HATE shimmer but I can’t lie, I do like a little shimmer in my reef. After the cycle I’ll seed 5 blend copepod (also have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture in full swing) and start dosing homemade phyto to build up the copepod population a couple weeks before adding a pair of clownfish to start the party. I will also get 10lbs of live rock from the LFS to add to the return chamber of the sump AND start the refugium. I know, I know. Thats a lot of AND’s

Curious, any reason you opted against Turbo Start 900? I'll be using it for the first time soon, I've always used Biospira and now Dr. Tims since BioSpira is no longer available.

As for the shimmer, I do like shimmer as well so long as there's good color blending so you don't get that disco ball effect on the sand bed.

I’ve used Turbo 900 on both of the nano tanks and it cycles FAST but I was looking for more diversity this cycle. As of now the tank is converting 1ppm of fishless fuel in about 24hrs

 

[NanoSteam]

I’ve used Turbo 900 on both of the nano tanks and it cycles FAST but I was looking for more diversity this cycle. As of now the tank is converting 1ppm of fishless fuel in about 24hrs

Got it, was worried you had issues . My method for diversity is a bit unorthodox but so far has worked for me. Good luck i'll be following along, I can't wait for my IM tank to ship. Everyday I'm tempted to call and change my order to the 100 EXT since it's in stock and ready to go but It's just too deep with the external box for my small space.

 

[NotSoSlim]

Couple new things for me on this one. I’ve NEVER cycled a SW tank without Turbostart and this is also the largest tank I’ve personally cycled. Here we are 3 weeks in and nitrites are coming down. Im ordering a 1/2 gallon of GIGANTIC DOUBLE POD BUFFET from (reefsbysteele) to seed the tank and I have home cultivated phyto BUT I don’t add any silica so im sure any diatoms is long gone in my culture. So when I seed the pods they will get fed a commercial blend phyto for the first couple of weeks for the added phaeodactylum tricornutum which I’m hoping will help with excess silica in the fresh sand/rock. I also have a 4 week old 5 gallon Tisbe culture I’m going to seed into the tank that’s eating about 4-5oz phyto daily so it should be pretty dense. I will than dose phyto to the tank daily for about 2 weeks before adding my first fish. Also getting 10lb of live rock from the LFS tomorrow they keep in a dark sump so hopefully won’t bring to much unwanted algae. I’ll add this to the return chamber of my sump

Fish list-

Group 1) Ocellaris Frostbite x2

Group 2) Pistol Shrimp/Diamond goby

Group 3) Pink-Spotted Watchman Gobie

Group 4) Yellow Eye Kole Tang/Yellow Tang

Group 5) Mandarin pair

Group 6) Flame Angel Fish

This is my thinking for additions although I do want something schooling like green chromis. Im sure things will change a little but that’s the idea.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

 

[NotSoSlim]

Nitrite has left the building. I stopped by the LFS and got 10lbs (charged for 7lbs) of live rock. Their system is stand alone (not plumbed into the fish tanks) they do water changes and it’s been running well over 20 years. I dug down and pulled a couple rocks that would fit nicely into my return chamber from under the pile.

 

[fishface NJ]

How is the tank? Photo updates?

 

[NotSoSlim]

How is the tank? Photo updates?

I didn’t have much action in here so I just stopped posting.

Fish in the tank now-
ORA Black Ice Snowflake pair
Captive Bred Royal Gramma

Fish in quarantine-
Captive Bred Yellow Tang
Captive Bred Flame Angel
Spotted Yellow Eye Kole

Pods added to the tank-
1/2 gallon GIGANTIC DOUBLE POD BUFFET (reefsbysteele)

6-7 gallons of Tisbe pods (I have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture I’ve been running 8+ weeks feeding live phyto daily) I remove 1 gallon a week and add to tank and fill it back up. Culture is very dense and I could probably harvest more each week.

Refugium is in full swing. I’m tumbling Red Ogo under a AI Blade Refugium like on 100% 18/6 light schedule. I’m so over throwing away cheato and I’m much rather feed it to the fish.

I’m only running my lights at 10% right now since it’s just fish still (first coral will be here in a few weeks)

I’ve pretty much turned the tank into a massive pod culture. I’m feeding a 50/50 mix of ISO/Tetra at 250ml daily to the tank and you can see pods pretty much day/night anywhere you look on the glass.


Top Lids Custom luxury lid with evaporation cover already ordered a few weeks ago

Par meter ready for mapping

I think that’s about it


View attachment 20260207_095609_84BF5D64-4AC5-4E55-BA88-888C4F55D7AF.mov

 

[Arkayology]

It seems like things are starting off well here!

 

[NotSoSlim]

Running test and setting target values.

Mag = 1450 (I like this a little elevated for LPS)
Cal = 450 (again just a little elevated)
Alk = 8.5
ph = 8.1 (I will add a recirculating c02 scrubber to my skimmer soon)
Nitrate = 26.3
Phosphate.18
Now that the refugium is running ill these this again on Sat to see what impact it’s doing to the nutrients but the Red Ogo is definitely getting denser and growing already. I still got another week before any coral or more fish arrive so it’s just watching the numbers and keep dosing phyto/pods

 

[ajjw0828]

Nice build, following along!

 

[Rocco's Reef]

Nice build! I'm curious about the ocean direct sand, I've seen reviews where people have said that it blows around and its hard to settle. How has your experience been with it so far? If you don't mind could you post or send me some pictures of how it looks mixed in?

I am going to be setting up my tank soon and about 70% of my sand is going to be Tropic Eden and 30% TBS. I would like to add some Ocean Direct because of the bacteria benefits it has.

 

[fishface NJ]

I didn’t have much action in here so I just stopped posting.

Fish in the tank now-
ORA Black Ice Snowflake pair
Captive Bred Royal Gramma

Fish in quarantine-
Captive Bred Yellow Tang
Captive Bred Flame Angel
Spotted Yellow Eye Kole

Pods added to the tank-
1/2 gallon GIGANTIC DOUBLE POD BUFFET (reefsbysteele)

6-7 gallons of Tisbe pods (I have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture I’ve been running 8+ weeks feeding live phyto daily) I remove 1 gallon a week and add to tank and fill it back up. Culture is very dense and I could probably harvest more each week.

Refugium is in full swing. I’m tumbling Red Ogo under a AI Blade Refugium like on 100% 18/6 light schedule. I’m so over throwing away cheato and I’m much rather feed it to the fish.

I’m only running my lights at 10% right now since it’s just fish still (first coral will be here in a few weeks)

I’ve pretty much turned the tank into a massive pod culture. I’m feeding a 50/50 mix of ISO/Tetra at 250ml daily to the tank and you can see pods pretty much day/night anywhere you look on the glass.


Top Lids Custom luxury lid with evaporation cover already ordered a few weeks ago

Par meter ready for mapping

I think that’s about it

Hey! Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Just returned from vacation. That is great that you are having a great success with the pods. Mine never last long. My wrasse consume them faster than I can grow them. I'll have to try Tisbe.

Are you treating the fish in QT with meds or just watching to see if anything appears?

 

[NotSoSlim]

Nice build! I'm curious about the ocean direct sand, I've seen reviews where people have said that it blows around and its hard to settle. How has your experience been with it so far? If you don't mind could you post or send me some pictures of how it looks mixed in?

I am going to be setting up my tank soon and about 70% of my sand is going to be Tropic Eden and 30% TBS. I would like to add some Ocean Direct because of the bacteria benefits it has.

Really I think TBS sand is best but I don’t have any issues with it blowing around and the wave makers are up enough to make natural dunes in the sand. I did like the few large shell pieces. I think it makes it look more natural than just sand.

 

[NotSoSlim]

I didn’t have much action in here so I just stopped posting.

Fish in the tank now-
ORA Black Ice Snowflake pair
Captive Bred Royal Gramma

Fish in quarantine-
Captive Bred Yellow Tang
Captive Bred Flame Angel
Spotted Yellow Eye Kole

Pods added to the tank-
1/2 gallon GIGANTIC DOUBLE POD BUFFET (reefsbysteele)

6-7 gallons of Tisbe pods (I have a 5 gallon Tisbe culture I’ve been running 8+ weeks feeding live phyto daily) I remove 1 gallon a week and add to tank and fill it back up. Culture is very dense and I could probably harvest more each week.

Refugium is in full swing. I’m tumbling Red Ogo under a AI Blade Refugium like on 100% 18/6 light schedule. I’m so over throwing away cheato and I’m much rather feed it to the fish.

I’m only running my lights at 10% right now since it’s just fish still (first coral will be here in a few weeks)

I’ve pretty much turned the tank into a massive pod culture. I’m feeding a 50/50 mix of ISO/Tetra at 250ml daily to the tank and you can see pods pretty much day/night anywhere you look on the glass.


Top Lids Custom luxury lid with evaporation cover already ordered a few weeks ago

Par meter ready for mapping

I think that’s about it

Hey! Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Just returned from vacation. That is great that you are having a great success with the pods. Mine never last long. My wrasse consume them faster than I can grow them. I'll have to try Tisbe.

Are you treating the fish in QT with meds or just watching to see if anything appears?

Between all my tanks, culturing phyto, culturing pods, growing indoor I just don’t hav the time in the day to handle another res and tank right now so all fish are being QT by Dr Reef.