Innovative Marine 15 Gallon Build

[Sabres429]

Hey everyone!

It's been 4 years since I've been out of the hobby and I'm jumping back into it. I was going to go bigger BUT a local reefer and my two little boys talked me out of it so here we are!

Equipment:
- Innovative Marine 15 AIO cube
- HelloReef 15 Gallon white stand
- Tunze Osmolator 3 Nano ATO
- Aqua Illumination Prime 16 HD white
- Black Prime HD mount
- Syncra Silent 1.5 Pump (357 GPH) - Sicce (Upgraded from the stock return pump that came with the tank)
- MA887 Digital Seawater Refractometer - Milwaukee
- 100W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Helio Controller - Bulk Reef Supply
- Auqa Shield UV Sterilizer Desktop - Innovative Marine
- AF Filter Floss - Aquaforest
- 1/2" Random Flow Generator Flow Kit - Vivid Creative Aquatics - (upgrading from the stock return nozzle)
- Kraken Reef Cover
- BRS 5 - Stage RODI
- 5 Gallon ATO container

Rock:

- Top Shelf aquatics custom coralline dry rock aquascape.

Salt:

- Tropic Marin Pro

Fish plans: Two clowns & MAYBE 1 purple fire fish.

Coral plans: Mixed LPS & SPS.

Just waiting for the rock from TSA and I can finally fill the tank. Cant wait to see the journey progress. I plan on using Fritz Turbo Start to get the tank cycling.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Sabres429]

Tank is finally up and running. Added some Fritz Turbostart 900 to get the cycle rolling!

 

[RoanokeReef]

Looking good! Really like the rock work.

 

[Sabres429]

Couple updates since the tank is now rolling. I added two Wyoming clowns, a cleaner, shrimp and 5 trochus snails. Coral wise I added a Holy grail torch, dragon soul torch, frogspawn, sunny side up & marry jane zoas. Everything has been doing really well.

I've done (2) 3 - gallon water changes so far. Tank is sitting at:

Phosphate - 0.04
Nitrate - haven't tested yet
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0

My little guy loved the shark at my LFS

 

[Castle136]

Following along! Love the look!

 

[tzabor10]

Beautiful tank. Can’t wait to see the progress. Is that LFS A Reef Creation? Only visited once, but what a shop. Good luck

 

[JumboShrimp]

Just curious... will that heater stay properly submerged in that chamber? Best wishes with your tank.

 

[Sabres429]

Beautiful tank. Can’t wait to see the progress. Is that LFS A Reef Creation? Only visited once, but what a shop. Good luck

Yep, A Reef Creation! very lucky to have them in my backyard.

 

[Sabres429]

Just curious... will that heater stay properly submerged in that chamber? Best wishes with your tank.

Yep! I've had no issues. Fits perfect.

 

[Sabres429]

Tank has been cruising along. I did loose two zoanthid frags recently. Tank was lacking some flow so I added a AI Nero 3 pump. So far I've been had to dose 2 ML of All-For-Reef to keep my numbers up.

 

[Fish Fan]

I'm near Canandaigua and following along!

 

[baldislife]

great start -i how do you like the stand?

 

[Sabres429]

great start -i how do you like the stand?

Not great honestly. The feet say they’re adjustable but they don’t do anything so I had to add some shims to make it level. There was some cosmetic damage as well. There want many options unless I had one built.

 

[jsanbor1]

great start -i how do you like the stand?

Not great honestly. The feet say they’re adjustable but they don’t do anything so I had to add some shims to make it level. There was some cosmetic damage as well. There want many options unless I had one built.

I have the same tank and stand and had to 3d print some shims to make it level.

 

[E.intheC]

The tank looks good. I like the IM 15 cube.

Go Bills

 

[Sabres429]

I ran into the same problem with my daughter’s tank upgrade into a Nuvo 15. Everything I read about the hello reef stand said it was flimsy, arrived with cosmetic damage, and needed reinforcing.

I went out on a limb and asked a local club member who’s been posting the build process of a large stand he’s building for himself. I messaged him at 12:40 yesterday and he had this whipped up by 6:40

I asked him how much I owed him, and got this as a response

I can’t even begin to explain how much this helps out as a single father on a limited budget. I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger on the hello reef one after seeing your honest opinion on it. It’s really unfortunate there aren’t better/more options for such a great tank.

That is amazing!

 

[Sabres429]

The tank looks good. I like the IM 15 cube.

Go Bills

Thank you! Go Bills.

 

[Fish Fan]

Not great honestly. The feet say they’re adjustable but they don’t do anything so I had to add some shims to make it level. There was some cosmetic damage as well. There want many options unless I had one built.

If you're looking for a stand, I'm in Canandaigua and I can make stands. Here's one I made more recently for another R2R member. This is NOT 2x4's, this is solid red oak, but I can do other designs/materials too. Let me know if I can help

 

[Sabres429]

If you're looking for a stand, I'm in Canandaigua and I can make stands. Here's one I made more recently for another R2R member. This is NOT 2x4's, this is solid red oak, but I can do other designs/materials too. Let me know if I can help

Gorgeous!! I may have to reach out. The Hello Reef stand is terrible.