Innovative Marine Fusion 15 AIO Cube Journey

Retro Heat · Jul 10, 2023

So, I was over at Covina (a 35 minute drive from where I live) and decided to visit CK Fishworld. I wasn't really looking to pick up anything. Maybe a mushroom or acan frag. But ended up leaving with a few new pets... a tiger pistol shrimp and yellow watchman goby. They came from 2 different tanks but luckily they paired up within minutes of acclimating them and adding them to the tank. Seriously, within 2 days... The TPS has probably turned over all of the sand in my tank. LOL.

Retro Heat · Jul 14, 2023

Was able to take some decent pics today.

Retro Heat · Aug 9, 2023

Well, big changes are in store for my little tank.

First... the good. The tank is looking pretty good. I added a few more corals and everything seems to be growing at a slow but steady pace. Still have no deaths (knock on wood). And, I pretty much got this dosing thing down as my parameters are a pretty consistent 9dkh (Hanna), 450cal (Red Sea Pro), 1450mag (Red Sea Pro).

Now... the bad. A few weeks ago I noticed that my coraline growth has stalled. I still have good coverage. But, I'm hard pressed to find new growth (primarily on the pumps and back glass). And, I also noticed that the film algae on the glass would grow fairly quickly each day. Well, it seems that my nitrates and po4 were pretty high even with my weekly water changes. I don't think I'm feeding too much (1/4 a cube of frozen misis a day). So, I'm starting to think that the biomax in my 2nd chamber has become a detritus trap leading to elevated nitrates/po4.

Well, I removed my uv and re-installed my caddy and put some fresh carbon and gfo. Also, I started replacing my filter floss every 3 days to try and lower the nitrates. I have already noticed that the film algae isn't growing as much/fast. But, I don't consider this a long term fix. So, I'll be removing the biomax in the 2nd chamber, clean out the aio sump area and I'll install a Bubble Magus Mini q protein skimmer. I just ordered the skimmer from alixpress so I probably won't be getting it for at least a few weeks. While that happens... I'll be slowly removing the biomax at each water change so it can give my rocks enough time to adjust. I just have to keep an eye out to make sure that I won't swing the in the other direction and bottom out my nutrients.

Also, I ordered a new Jeabao ELW-10M wavemaker to replace my current Jeabao wavemaker. The current one works but I have to clean it at least once a week to keep it working correctly. If I don't... It starts running backwards and my flow greatly diminishes. Hopefully the newest version has fixed this problem.

I'm still looking forward to buying a dosing pump to automate my dosing. But, I haven't decided if I want to go the single pump route with something like all for reef or kalk or a multiple pump route for part a,b and c. While, I don't mind dosing manually... I think I can simplify my dosing regimen by going the all for reef route and 2 part if/when it is needed.

Retro Heat · Sep 8, 2023

So, I was right about my last update. I ended up picking up the Hanna Nitrate HR & Phos ULR testers. My nitrate was good at around 12-15ish. But, my phos was super high at 0.6ish. Well, I've been able to walk it down to about 0.23ish so far. I plan to get it around 0.05 to 0.1ish.

Also, the skimmer has been working decently. And, I couldn't help myself. I ended up picking up a Jebao MD4.4 from ali. I got it dosing 3ml of alk split 6x and 1ml of calcium split 2x a day. Also, my Coraline has started growing again. =)