Innovative Marine 200EXT Peninsula

[BlingityBling]

So... I finally pulled the trigger after a couple years hesitation. I've watch the Innovative Marine 200 peninsula for quite a while. When I first started looking or really considering a tank, they were $4000 reg price. I watched it over Covid climb in price like everything else regretting not just buying it to begin with. So I procrastinated as usual as the price went up $600... Then $800 more to $5400... Grrr... I really kicked myself... Considered a Waterbox, looked HARD at Prostar, but just kept coming back to IM as I really liked the wider footprint of 70"x30" instead of the others. Was starting to do homework on just getting a custom tank as I felt that really wasn't a far cry from all these new prices. Then one recent random day I decided to look once again at the IM website and saw the tank with stand reduced to $3200... My girlfriend watched me trip over myself to get my wallet and asked what was happening. I said, It's time... No point in waiting longer now...lol So This is the start of my build. I have four tanks currently in the house so this will be the fifth. I've had decent success with SPS lately and I'm thinking of taking that gamble going SPS dominant and probably take a few risks with the fish selection like take my chances with some angels that I dont have in my mixed reef 180.
The tank has arrived but I'm in no hurry as I've become addicted to the nicer equipment. The Sump has been ordered from Geo's Reef and will be customized to my specs of a larger refugium, Nyos Skimmer, and Vectra Return pump. A matching ATO resivior will fit neatly underneath as well. I've already ordered a Lifegard UV as I'm a true believer in its benefits and some colored plumbing pieces I ordered today. I have an Apex on my 180 and intend to copy the setup with this tank as well. I'm waiting to see if Black Friday events reveal any pricing that makes me jump, otherwise, I'll be taking my time and spreading out these purchases so the monthly credit card bill doesn't look so bad lol. It will be quite a while before the sump is ready anyway.
I've assembled the stand and really love this thing. I have added a Govee M1 lightstip in the diffuser channel from Amazon at the top for lighting and already linked it to Alexa... Hahaha! I would be Awesome if the Apex could link and she could read me my parameters as I do maintanence. Not to mention having fish food in my hands and saying "turn on feed mode" lol Maybe one day. I have installed a rubber mat in the bottom and left the lip up around the edges as my "spill proof container"... I have never overflowed a sump, but I've been crazy close a couple times so as this divides the Kitchen from the Living room, I'm taking preventative steps in assuming some day, it will leak. So I have a couple other steps I intend to do for mess containment as well.
I haven't decided on lights yet but leaning to Radion G6's. I'm thinking a red Sea reefwave 45 to go in the middle and possibly 4 mp40's or maybe 6 Nero 5's or maybe stick with Apex WAV's which are great on my 180... I'm very undecided and in no hurry to figure out flow just yet. I just know I'm going to try my hardest to keep the opposite side free of any and all equipment for the cleanest look. So, I'm not far along at all other than a tank taking up a garage space with Winter approaching. So be it... Thanks for reading and I'll update as events become relevant.

 

[Roli's Reef Ranch]

Got an IM 100 ext about 2 years ago. Overall, good tank. Take a CLOSE look for air bubbles in the glass tho. I went a year and a half before noticing one in the middle of the front pane. Couldn't believe it went that long without noticing, but we're usually looking through the glass. No big deal, but was surprised to see that. I like the dimensions of your tank. I wish manufacturers would start making wider tanks in general. Good choice avoiding cheap plywood stands that never hold up despite claims. I'll never have a wood stand again after having an aluminum one.

 

[Devaji]

Nice score man. I just sold off my RS 650p to travel for a year and a half. but was looking at this tank and considered getting it now as it's 40% off.

I also like how wide this tank is.
may I ask why you did not get the IM sump to go with it? only was a few more hundred.

 

[BlingityBling]

Nice score man. I just sold off my RS 650p to travel for a year and a half. but was looking at this tank and considered getting it now as it's 40% off.

I also like how wide this tank is.
may I ask why you did not get the IM sump to go with it? only was a few more hundred.

Honestly... I've had my sights set on the Geo sump for a long time. Also really wanted something with a roller mat built in as I'm really bad at changing and cleaning socks...

 

[Sean Clark]

I have the same tank. Following along.

 

[BlingityBling]

Got an IM 100 ext about 2 years ago. Overall, good tank. Take a CLOSE look for air bubbles in the glass tho. I went a year and a half before noticing one in the middle of the front pane. Couldn't believe it went that long without noticing, but we're usually looking through the glass. No big deal, but was surprised to see that. I like the dimensions of your tank. I wish manufacturers would start making wider tanks in general. Good choice avoiding cheap plywood stands that never hold up despite claims. I'll never have a wood stand again after having an aluminum one.

I do love the stand already, besides the aluminum, it just seems like the plastic doors will wipe clean so much better than wood. I have a IM 25 Lagoon and the IM 20 Gallon Peninsula so I was impressed with the quality. While I've never owned a Waterbox or Red Sea, a friend had an older Waterbox 25 cube and I swear the IM glass is twice as thick though admittedly, we never measured it. I had a 125 leak about 5 years ago so I'm a fan of over-engineered

 

[BlingityBling]

I have the same tank. Following along.

I just checked out your build... very sweet... I may have to steal a couple ideas. The built in look with extra stands was definitely my favorite. Now I'm gonna go measure to see if I can pull off 12" offset from the wall, was already gonna do 6" to comfortably get an arm back there when need be. My only issue would be the walkway around the tank as I have a kitchen counter on the other side. Almost went with the INT for the reason of how to make that space look nice lol.

 

[Sean Clark]

Thanks, the extra stand idea was a happy accident that turned out pretty well in my opinion. I am excited to see your build come together.

 

[Devaji]

Thanks, the extra stand idea was a happy accident that turned out pretty well in my opinion. I am excited to see your build come together.

yeah I also was very impressed with with you did.

 

[Devaji]

Honestly... I've had my sights set on the Geo sump for a long time. Also really wanted something with a roller mat built in as I'm really bad at changing and cleaning socks...

yeah roller matts are nice I hear I have a new RS version. I did not know the GEO sumps had built in roller mats. i'l look in to them.

 

[BlingityBling]

Well... I didn't intend on buying powerheads or even making that descion for a couple more months but then I looked on the internet today to discover Black Friday deals and well... A sale caused me to buy the tank, so yeah... A sale caused me to buy powerheads... I've never seen Ecotech at 25% off so maybe that means they are gonna have a new gen of powerhead soon? I've got so much on order right now it's crazy. My Lifegard UV came today and it's assembled now. Went with the 55W as its been perfect on my other tank gonna be a while before it gets placed though. It's clear that waiting on the sump is gonna kill me though lol. I've measured and can just squeak that 12" wide extra stand in place between the tank and wall, so thank you Sean Clark... I'm scratching my head now to figure out what to do above it that I can make look nice but flush with the top of the tank. Don't know if I wanna buy one to really carve up or not. I'm not worried about cutting the frame to fit, just thinking the door will look bad with part lopped off. Oh well, plenty of time for that concern. Photo below of my 180... Yeah it needs some love and I have Zenia regret. My LFS is supposed to be finding me a filefish for aptasia and I'm hoping it will eat Zenia as well as I've been told that's possible?

 

[HKAVR45]

@BlingityBling Thank you for sharing your experience so far. I just ordered a 200EXT on Sunday night which will be replacing my Reefer 525XL. They are saying 12-16 weeks lead time. Is that accurate? How long was your tank on order before it was delivered. Also, regarding the MP40's, how many do you plan on running? I saw the sale as well and might pick up 2 more for a total of 4 after I break down my current tank. Are you replacing the 180? Since I'm replacing, I plan to reuse alot of equipment which kind of has me stressed about how to do the transfer of livestock and equipment. Will be following your build.

 

[BlingityBling]

@BlingityBling Thank you for sharing your experience so far. I just ordered a 200EXT on Sunday night which will be replacing my Reefer 525XL. They are saying 12-16 weeks lead time. Is that accurate? How long was your tank on order before it was delivered. Also, regarding the MP40's, how many do you plan on running? I saw the sale as well and might pick up 2 more for a total of 4 after I break down my current tank. Are you replacing the 180? Since I'm replacing, I plan to reuse alot of equipment which kind of has me stressed about how to do the transfer of livestock and equipment. Will be following your build.

I actually ordered my tank in the first couple of days it was on sale. About a day later I got an email asking if I wanted to wait for one to be made or they had one in stock ready to go so I said send it lol. It still took about 2 weeks in shipping to actually arrive so I can't say how long yours might be if they are actually building to order.
On the mp40's I actually ordered 4 as my thinking was the price is roughly the same as 2 mp60s... maybe my thinking is wrong, but I'm using the theory that 4 spread out will maybe give a more even flow rather than just 2 sources. I'm also looking into the red sea reefwave 45 in addition... might be overkill, but I've enjoyed the Acro's in my other tanks and am hoping to eventually grow some nice colonies. My biggest worry is adequate flow being all on one side but not wanting any equipment on the viewing end, so I'll do some testing on all that when I'm ready for water.
I'm keeping all my current tanks so this will be a full new build with nothing to transfer except some frags I'm currently growing in other tanks. I will probaly not take a tank down or replace one unless its a catastrophic failure like cracked glass etc...
This tank is beautiful, I love it already and hope you feel the same when you get yours. You should do a build so I can follow to.

 

[HKAVR45]

This tank is beautiful, I love it already and hope you feel the same when you get yours. You should do a build so I can follow to.

Thanks for the inspiration, just started a build thread!

 

[BlingityBling]

Short update today.
I'm not sure if Black Friday Sales are helping or hurting. Stuff is rolling in. The bills are piling up . On top of the powerheads I wasn't expecting to buy yet... haha... I now have another Apex setup for this tank along with some plumbing and reef rock. Lots more on order just not here yet. Four G6 radions are on the way among other stuff.

Put a fresh coat of paint on the wall and will be changing that outlet to a GFCI. Also, while I know its not the cleanest look, I like to have leak protection under the entire tank because a leak doesnt know to stay on the inside of the cabinet. 4 years ago, I had a 125 leak right in front me. I was just sitting there and heard a sound that I thought was one of the dogs peeing next to me. Looked around, no dog in sight. The tank was taking a leak though, made a heck of a mess and screwed up the ceiling in my basement which is fully finished with carpet and stippled drywall ceiling. So my 180, and now this 200 have a rubber backed mat underneath the whole thing run slightly up the walls so if the worst happens, I can lift the mat edges around either tank propping them up with 2x4's in a hurry to create enough of a basin that the water will stay contained and I can use my Sicce pump to keep it from getting on the floor while I worry about tranferring corals and fish to another tank

So to make a nice looking stand and stealing Sean's idea, I ordered a small APS stand to go between the tank and the wall... Innovative Marine was a small let down as I inquired about them selling me just one door, so I could still have doors on both sides of my peninsula. They said no and the stand wasn't designed to work that way... Well, I disagree IM... lol Your stands are completely modular whether you intended it or not. So, unfortunately for me I had to buy a second stand just to get a door. Thing that makes me stew is why won't they sell me random parts when if I called and said it was damaged, they would send it then for free... Don't think I didn't consider it either as one piece on the second stand arrived dented and they aslready sent out another of the same... Guess I should have said the door was busted too... I'm just not built that way though. Sooooo... with almost an entire second stand, I had another stolen, or modified idea haha! I measured the height of the tank and cut the other stand verticles to match. If all goes well, it will look fairly nicely built in when all in place. I cut down one of the pvc panels to make removable magnetic panels for each side as I intend to have plumbing near the top to acess. Pictures show roughly how it should go.

Had another idea to see if hooking up this apex, which will be in a closet behind the tank wall, which was instead of worrying about keeping track of labels and cords, I could just color code everything. So with 8 outlets on a powerbar, I found 8 different color extention cords to run through the wall and not have to worry about a label falling off, or loosing its ink over time or such. We shall see how that goes.

Still deciding on a lightbar... looking at making something like the 8020 from Framingtech.

Crazy that he doesnt have a cable on the open end to add more support. I'm still liking the idea of a cable at close to a 45 degree slant and it doesnt have to attach all thway to the outer end. I'll probably space it in a foot or two from the end and it should be just as stable. My ceiling slopes and is roughly 12' high above where the tank is and continues upward to 16' at the top.
Maybe this update wasn't so short...

Have fun with your builds folks!

 

[Devaji]

well I just joined the IM 200 peninsula club! now to hurry and wait.

I like the stolen IM cabbie idea! I was kinda thinking of the same. sucks you had to get two but i think it might work out better. they where the 20 pen. stands correct?

 

[BlingityBling]

Yes... welcome to the club! It is the 20 Peninsula stand that matches perfect. I was a little bummed, you'd think they would just pull a door off the shelf and name a price but so be it. I think it will be a little cleaner of a look than leaving that space open. I 3d printed some alignment caps to replace theirs and make the posts stackable so its really not bad. I havent decided about the top yet. I'll probably just grab the jigsaw and notch the black board that came with it to lay in place around the overflow. If anyone needs them for any reason I don't mind sending them the file, or even making the parts.

 

[Devaji]

Yes... welcome to the club! It is the 20 Peninsula stand that matches perfect. I was a little bummed, you'd think they would just pull a door off the shelf and name a price but so be it. I think it will be a little cleaner of a look than leaving that space open. I 3d printed some alignment caps to replace theirs and make the posts stackable so its really not bad. I havent decided about the top yet. I'll probably just grab the jigsaw and notch the black board that came with it to lay in place around the overflow. If anyone needs them for any reason I don't mind sending them the file, or even making the parts.

Dude that is awesome great idea. i almost added the 20P cabinet to the today but dang is it spendy + I was hoping it would fit my 40W UV then I could justify it. but sadly it does not. boo
I need to find 2 used ones haha or just not be so cheap. but $726 for a cabinet is a bit much in my book. IDK have seen some nice ikea ones i'll look there then decide.

i'll have time to think about it.

keep us posted! I am fallowing along.

 

[Short Reefer]

nice! i have exactly same tank in process of building. I'm just too lazy on building the thread here

 

[Sean Clark]

Yes... welcome to the club! It is the 20 Peninsula stand that matches perfect. I was a little bummed, you'd think they would just pull a door off the shelf and name a price but so be it. I think it will be a little cleaner of a look than leaving that space open. I 3d printed some alignment caps to replace theirs and make the posts stackable so its really not bad. I havent decided about the top yet. I'll probably just grab the jigsaw and notch the black board that came with it to lay in place around the overflow. If anyone needs them for any reason I don't mind sending them the file, or even making the parts.

These alignment caps are fantastic. I want to replace my originals with these. Would you please share a link to the file?