Innovative Marine 150

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Sprin001

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Got the sump plumbed. Fingers crossed no leaks - this thing is taking a long time to fill!
 

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I actually meant drilling the hole in the overflow to expand it to 1" and then adding 1" flex nozzles. Definitely not drilling glass on this!

Feel free to make this mistake and let me know how it goes!
lol

Obviously I was referring to drilling For bigger the bulkhead

it appears the mistake here was trying to help u out
 
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I have a VERY small leak on the slip side of the main overflow bulkhead. Not the usual glass contact area, rather where the pvc slips into the underside of the bulkhead. Any ideas to fix without tearing all apart?
 

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Plumbers’ silicon grease on the rubber bits might help.
I always put this on any black rubber that gets torqued on. (Bulkheads, union o-rings)
If the rubber gets a bit of traction while it’s being tightened, a tiny kink equals leak. (One of my slow-learned mistakes)
 

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lol

Obviously I was referring to drilling For bigger the bulkhead

it appears the mistake here was trying to help u out
Brother, I’m beyond help!
I‘m just glad to have a wife that tolerates all my mistakes. They are legend.
 
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My leak isn't the bulkead/glass. It's at the underside where PVC slips into the bulkhead fitting
 
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What lighting are you guys running? I've got the ATI LED/t5 hybrid. Im undecided on which LED to get. Ive got kessil on another tank and happy with that. I dont need anything intense but I like the shimmer of LED. Also, I'm hoping to geta robust moo light effect. Should I try to get ecotech or AI or go with kessil and separate moonlight entirely?
 
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QT begins - kole, yellow, blue and naso. I know, ill be getting rid of the naso or upgrading once he matures. Got some clowns, wrasses, blenny, and other small fish. This is my first time doing a copper QT as two of the tangs already show white spots (2-3 on the kole and naso). Wish me luck.
 
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I'll be a few weeks behind you. But my adventure now begins as well....

C4D34D10-2CDA-47A3-8830-09C4581D96ED.jpeg
 

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Hmmm....looks like I'll have a delima with that 3/4" line.
Since I have a remote sump in the garage, I'm trying to minimize head loss on the return as much as possible. Might have to consider drilling open that hole in the overflow to 1". (in a brand new tank! Ugh!)

Anyway...enjoying the build! Be sure to make lots of mistakes so I can learn from them! ;-)

You can use all the existing bulkheads for drains for a larger turn over rate and bring the return, any size you need, over the top.
 

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You can use all the existing bulkheads for drains for a larger turn over rate and bring the return, any size you need, over the top.
I thought about it, but the lines of the tank are just too clean to toss a line over the top. Especially now, after seeing the tank in person. It would be a shame to have anything hanging over the side.

Now I'm trying to figure out the most asthetic way to hang 4 Kessils over the tank...
 
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I'm going to hyposalinity the entire tank for now - I think the copper was too stressful in addition to the bioload and need for frequent water changes/filtration demands.
 

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Looks like an awesome project coming along. i am not sure what other brands you looked at, but in the end, what made you decide on the Innovative Marine?
 
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Looks like an awesome project coming along. i am not sure what other brands you looked at, but in the end, what made you decide on the Innovative Marine?
I think my single biggest factor is the internal overflow combined with the aluminum stand. They got great reviews from multiple people at BRS who helped me put parts together. I'm pleased with the end product. I wish they paired it with a sump and made this recommendation to them but they reported it may cost too much. I told them to make it, sell it, and let the customer decide as I would've bought a cohesive unit in total. In hindsight, I may consider a CADE aquarium but have no first hand experience to back that up.
 

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I’ve been looking at the Waterbox and Cade. i liked the Cade stand because of the electrical outlets. now seeing your post, IM is in the running. I kind of like the idea of a less expensive Stand and Tank combo and i get to choose the type of sump. the other 2 sumps seemed very ..... simple.. excited to see your build and hear more of your opinion on the quality. Cade is new in the US and I hear some good things.. Friend saw it at a show once and said it seemed good. in the end of the day, it seems all these aquariums are made in china
 
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I'm not fearful of labs, monitoring, and titrating. I am looking to find the best recommendations for dosing and pumps/containers for my setup. I'll likely not have alot of tedious to keep corals (not SPS junkie) but I do like LPS and some others that will uptake calcium. Any guidance? I don't mind spending more if it decreases hassles and plays well with my other items. Would the versa pumps be preferred and if so, what all should I expect to dose as this tank matures? -JS
 

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I'm not fearful of labs, monitoring, and titrating. I am looking to find the best recommendations for dosing and pumps/containers for my setup. I'll likely not have alot of tedious to keep corals (not SPS junkie) but I do like LPS and some others that will uptake calcium. Any guidance? I don't mind spending more if it decreases hassles and plays well with my other items. Would the versa pumps be preferred and if so, what all should I expect to dose as this tank matures? -JS
I travel a lot for work (well, used to) and take the Mrs for a nice trip every year (well, used to), and so my last tank (70 gallon mixed reef) was set up specifically to be left alone for up to three weeks at a time. (Which it did successfully on several occasions. Without an Apex or any other purpose-built automation). Of course, my new IM-150 build has a couple Grand worth of grey and orange doodads that I have yet to figure out.

But I digress...

The only component that ever consistently tried to kill my tank was the dosing pumps. The Jabaos worked amazingly well for a long time...and then decided it was time to siphon all of my two-part into the tank. Replaced the pump head units and just kept getting more of the same. So I spent lots more on the Bubble Magnus set-up...only to have those consistently pull their tubes up into the pump heads and dump two-part all over my dosing cabinets. Again replacing pump heads ($25 a piece?!?). All the lubricant and adjusting in the world never fixed that issue for more than a couple months. I'm hoping the Apex Dos units address this, but I haven't reached that point yet.

Return pumps? I'm a Jabao fan. Buy them three at a time for less than the cost of one of the "premier" pumps, then swap them out every six months. I will ALWAYS opt for a spare over a warranty. And being able to simply swap pumps and clean the old pump at your convenience is far better than shutting down your entire system for a rushed pump maintenance schedule.

Ultimately, the only failures I've come home to after an extended time away were dosing pump related. My setup is deliberately easy for routine maintenance so that I don't put off the routine maintenance. (Pump swaps)

When I leave for an extended time, I put a heater in the display tank in case of return pump failure. The display has enough circulation to carry on without the sump as long as the temperature is maintained.
 
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