IM15 build, first tank in 25 years

[Erikinsac]

Hi all, new here and pretty much starting over in this hobby since it has been since the mid 90s that I had a salt tank.

Decided to get a smaller tank so I can fit it in the house. Went with the Innovative Marine 15 cube. I am impressed for $100!! I got a cabinet that matches other things in the room to set it on. All the electronics and the ATO tank will be inside of that.

Anyway, I am still waiting for a few items to be delivered so I can begin the cycle. I am trying Dr. Tims, hopefully it goes well. I am also adding aquaforest life source mud and going to add pods and feed them phyto to help in the early stages too. Maybe a small chaeto refugium in the 2nd filter chamber later. and My plan for corals is mostly zoas and a few lps. Keeping it simple, grow as I learn and have success. i have been studying here, youtube, reading, etc. Common theme seems to be planning and patience. Post cycle I will get a small pair of clowns to get going, then a small clean-up crew. I am undecided on what after that. Watchman goby or something.

equipment:
IM15 aio cube
generic stand
Noopsyche K7 mini LED w/ parl aquatics shade
IM mesh screen lid
IM filter rack (floss, may carbon and bio cube)
Helio 100W heater
MightyJet 538gph return pump
Hygger mini wavemaker
autoaqua lite ato
6 stage RO/DI 100gpd
dry liferock
fiji-pink sand
red sea testing kits
red sea salt.

I have probably missed some things, but those are the main items anyway.
I want to thank all of the knowledgeable people on here!

a few pics, sorry I dont have the proper camera filters yet ;-)

 

[william Lutman]

Love my IM15

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hi all, new here and pretty much starting over in this hobby since it has been since the mid 90s that I had a salt tank.

Decided to get a smaller tank so I can fit it in the house. Went with the Innovative Marine 15 cube. I am impressed for $100!! I got a cabinet that matches other things in the room to set it on. All the electronics and the ATO tank will be inside of that.

Anyway, I am still waiting for a few items to be delivered so I can begin the cycle. I am trying Dr. Tims, hopefully it goes well. I am also adding aquaforest life source mud and going to add pods and feed them phyto to help in the early stages too. Maybe a small chaeto refugium in the 2nd filter chamber later. and My plan for corals is mostly zoas and a few lps. Keeping it simple, grow as I learn and have success. i have been studying here, youtube, reading, etc. Common theme seems to be planning and patience. Post cycle I will get a small pair of clowns to get going, then a small clean-up crew. I am undecided on what after that. Watchman goby or something.

equipment:
IM15 aio cube
generic stand
Noopsyche K7 mini LED w/ parl aquatics shade
IM mesh screen lid
IM filter rack (floss, may carbon and bio cube)
Helio 100W heater
MightyJet 538gph return pump
Hygger mini wavemaker
autoaqua lite ato
6 stage RO/DI 100gpd
dry liferock
fiji-pink sand
red sea testing kits
red sea salt.

I have probably missed some things, but those are the main items anyway.
I want to thank all of the knowledgeable people on here!

a few pics, sorry I dont have the proper camera filters yet ;-)

Tank looks good so far!!!

 

[misturrtinnie]

Looks like you're on your way to having a beautiful tank!

 

[Erikinsac]

built the 2nd chamber into a small refugium. used the in tank caddy and some plastic mesh so the chaeto does float through. also made a little pad to slow the waterfall and help with little bubbles hitting the return pump.

 

[Erikinsac]

here's a little vid of it running. the cycle is almost done. day 8 and the ammonia is dropping like it's supposed to and the nitrates went high and are starting to drop finally. I only turned the k7 mini on for the vid. all lights have been off. I also made it mostly white because I don't have a filter. the blue blows out the phone camera lol

 

[Erikinsac]

don't mind the laptops, they will be moved. that's where the wife stuffed them for now. sigh
little 1.75Gal ATO sump in the bottom. I'm going to mount an led strip light with cabinet door switches this weekend.

 

[Erikinsac]

progress

 

[OrlandoAIOReef]

don't mind the laptops, they will be moved. that's where the wife stuffed them for now. sigh
little 1.75Gal ATO sump in the bottom. I'm going to mount an led strip light with cabinet door switches this weekend.

Love the cable management, I need to learn that & thats a lot of flow for that little tank, do you keep everyone under 50% or how high do you run your flow? Also have the same light do the same tank, what setting do you use?

built the 2nd chamber into a small refugium. used the in tank caddy and some plastic mesh so the chaeto does float through. also made a little pad to slow the waterfall and help with little bubbles hitting the return pump.

Nice how’s it working? Want to use one there for pods, I don’t think it can help much with lowers nitrates & phosphate since so small, also what kinda light is that, been looking at the 15$ 7inch submersible light on Amazon so I don’t have to cut the back of my tank & they come with so many controls the 80% refuge lights on BRS don’t have

 

[Erikinsac]

@OrlandoAIOReef thanks man. the return pump is on the lowest setting. I also have a valve on the 1/2 loc line. the specs say 180-ish gph on the lowest setting and I knocked it back just a hair. it's completely silent. that was my goal.

I did par testing with the k7 mini last weekend. this thing is powerful at 7" above the water. I'm at W:20% B:22% and V:15% at peak. that's still over 100 par at the bottom. I made a post in the lighting forum.

the refugium is the square ACKE grow light. cheap and double sided tape holds it perfectly. it's just vinyl tape on the back, easy to razorblade the square out if you use that one.
I run the light 7 hours per day. I have a jar of 5280 pods and some photo. so far chaeto ball has gone from golfball to baseball size in about 10 days. I can't see any pods though. I'm sure they are in there.

 

[OrlandoAIOReef]

@OrlandoAIOReef thanks man. the return pump is on the lowest setting. I also have a valve on the 1/2 loc line. the specs say 180-ish gph on the lowest setting and I knocked it back just a hair. it's completely silent. that was my goal.

I did par testing with the k7 mini last weekend. this thing is powerful at 7" above the water. I'm at W:20% B:22% and V:15% at peak. that's still over 100 par at the bottom. I made a post in the lighting forum.

the refugium is the square ACKE grow light. cheap and double sided tape holds it perfectly. it's just vinyl tape on the back, easy to razorblade the square out if you use that one.
I run the light 7 hours per day. I have a jar of 5280 pods and some photo. so far chaeto ball has gone from golfball to baseball size in about 10 days. I can't see any pods though. I'm sure they are in there.

Wow so

@OrlandoAIOReef thanks man. the return pump is on the lowest setting. I also have a valve on the 1/2 loc line. the specs say 180-ish gph on the lowest setting and I knocked it back just a hair. it's completely silent. that was my goal.

I did par testing with the k7 mini last weekend. this thing is powerful at 7" above the water. I'm at W:20% B:22% and V:15% at peak. that's still over 100 par at the bottom. I made a post in the lighting forum.

the refugium is the square ACKE grow light. cheap and double sided tape holds it perfectly. it's just vinyl tape on the back, easy to razorblade the square out if you use that one.
I run the light 7 hours per day. I have a jar of 5280 pods and some photo. so far chaeto ball has gone from golfball to baseball size in about 10 days. I can't see any pods though. I'm sure they are in there.

wow again lol you did your thing & those lights look the same as they use on the Clearwater ATS, nice, looks kinda wider thank the second chamber, does algae grow from the light spill? & yaa I choose to go with the nycscoop after seeing a guy on YouTube change all the lights in his reef store to the bigger K7 pros, if he’s that confident to run his business with them than I shouldn’t have no worries lol

 

[Erikinsac]

just sharing a few pics as it fills in. I'm using filters so it looks less blue to the camera.

 

[Fapman]

Any update have same tank and light running your lighting schedule

 

[Erikinsac]

Any update have same tank and light running your lighting schedule

no changes, to lighting, have been fighting some hair algae since tank is only 5 months old though. but the softies and LPS are all doing great. So far, algae has killed the few small SPS I had up high in the tank. I am just going to keep it as is for a while longer, I am not blaming the light on the algae growth entirely, I saw that the way my wife had the window blinds open, late afternoon has been blasting the tank with full sun the past month. sigh.

 

[Lebowski_]

Looking great!

 

[Erikinsac]

used orange filter and white balance. it looks more blue to the naked eye

 

[Fapman]

looking great!

 

[HiggsUSA]

Awesome. I'm currently building a 15 and ran into your other thread with the k7 mini light schedule. 100% stealing it, this tank looks great. I also built a very similar scape.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Any updates?