It’s Mixed Lagoon Time- 50 gallon innovative AIO

[Curtis Rose]

Hey guys! A little history first. I’m Curtis, I’m 28 I have a small but growing family. I have a 2 year old lil girl and a baby boy on the way! Two dogs and a 13.5 gallon reef tank.

I started on this venture a year ago! What a fun time it’s been. My tank has always done well with very few bumps in the road. I read a lot and I watched a lot....all in all... I learned even more! Anyway I kept a lot of freshwater growing up and finally made the move to salt. I told myself after a year with a small tank I’ll upgrade, I wanted to make sure I was in it to win it. And here I am and we go. I convinced the SO it was time to upgrade. We moved six months ago, 100 miles from our old house, I gained 6.5 acres and abt 1000 sq ft of house. One day I will have a 210 but for now it’s kids and horses and work. Sooo... I bought a 50 gallon aio from innovative. Loved the dimensions and loved the quality look. I clicked the buy button abt a month ago and waited for the tank to come in. Just one week later It was in the driveway.

Opened the tank immediately and was shocked at how much nicer the tank is than what I have! The glass is thick, the edges are beveled, glass baffles in the aio section and the seams and silicone look amazing! What a nice tank! Felt like a big step up for sure! I couldn’t get myself to spend 600 on the stand, that ridiculous beyond belief....so I enlisted my dad to build a stand, after he offered...of course! I could build it as I’m a carpenter by trade...tho I work with concrete not finish. I’ll be hopefully getting it around Christmas along with some other gear I put on my list . Let’s get into the heart of this tank build. Lighting will be a 16 inch reefbreeders light I picked up used for a hell of deal.

I’ll be putting a floating canopy above the tank so that I can add some t5 lighting to accompany the light. I’ll also be adding a diffuser for the led light. A par meter rental is in my future. The return pump is a mighty jet 538 gph dc pump. I also picked up a gyre 1k with the light. I’ll be using the aquami kps wave pump that is in the 13.5 gallon. That should take care of flow. Rear chambers will be simple just like the current nano. Filter floss and two caddy’s with bio media and live rock rubble. As far as dosing it’ll be a kamoer x1 hooked up to kalk or Carbo-Calcium. Hoping to dive more into figuring out which one when I get get a read on the ph of the tank after setup. As far as nutrient export i chose a aquamaxx hob 1.5 skimmer.

I chose this because it’s the best I could get for this size tank. Any skimmer I found that would fit the rear chambers just didn’t cut it as far as reliability and actual skimmate production. I got the skimmer a week ago (on sale and had reward points) and it’s pretty awesome. Built well and doesn’t look too ugly. As far as controllers.... I will be using apex eventually but will not be factored into setup (maybe 6 months). I’m really into making this the most clean well thought out build I have ever done. The stand will have a place for ato res. And dosing containers. The top self will be setup at an angle where all my gear can be mounted. I’ll be using a magnetic front door so I can access everything. Using a dj power strip so I won’t see wires and be able to individually switch off each piece of gear. I’m excited and started working on little things while I wait to see what I get for Christmas. So hang in there this tank will get wet hopefully late January to early February. I’m cycling the rock in a brute right now. 25 pounds plus the 15 pounds in my nano currently.

Painted the one side of the tank today, as it will be in a corner, same spot as my current nano.

Gonna work on the skimmer output piping here soon and probably work on the dosing containers stay tuned once the stand gets here it’ll be game on! Tho I’ll be updating as I work on little things! Here we come sps corals! Follow me on Instagram @RoseReefer28 I post there frequently! To those who don’t insta gram I’ll be on here too. Happy reefing all!

 

[Magellan]

Great choice with the AIO! Can’t wait to see some water in there

 

[Curtis Rose]

Me either!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Great choice with the AIO! Can’t wait to see some water in there

Me either!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Went to pet smart today and picked up a Qt something I thought I’d never do! Just got a ten gallon starter kit. Came with cheap hood and throw away filter. I have an aquaclear 50 that’ll work great! Not sure abt my procedure yet. Really wanna do so in depth reading first. Don’t kno if I want to pre medicate or just observe them for 45 days! Much to think abt! I did pick a good spot for it tho! Abt 10 or so feet from my other tank across the room.

On the other hand my spare room is starting to fill with parts! Got the second coat on the tank and am very happy with how it came out!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Lil update as a week has gone by. Ordered some tubing from coral vue for my x1 doser. It’s a weird size so I figured I’d order some to have on hand and so I can work on the dosing containers. Wasn’t too happy when I opened the package only to find a very tightly waded up piece of tubing with kinks throughout...I sent an email to support hopefully they can replace the tubing and package it a little better...grr oh well don’t need it yet anyway just wanted to have it on hand. Also found a person making water level adjusters for the tank. Look really nice should have them in a few days. Three weeks ago I started the cycle on my rocks with some pure ammonia from dr Tim’s. Well three weeks later nothing has happened. Just high ammonia and no nitrites...I went and bought some turbo start I added yesterday I’ll check tomorrow and see if there is any movement. If not I think I’ll do a small water change to bring down the ammonia and wait a week and see what happens. Not really in a rush but expected to see at least a small nitrite reading by now. Here is a shot of a debtor I picked up last month. One head was almost completely receded so I only paid for one head. Some feeding, good Params and a months time this is what I see everyday From this:

To this:

 

[chefjpaul]

Awesome.

Welcome to the 50 lagoon club.
Looking forward to your build.

 

[TheWB]

Always good to see another lagoon 50 pop up, I really like mine. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

 

[Curtis Rose]

Well here’s an update I didn’t expect! I bought a used apex with all new probes from a local reefer (same guy who I bought the light from) for quite a deal! Yea it’s the older Model but hey it’s an apex!
cant wait to see where this leads after setup!

 

[Curtis Rose]

And another update! I got the stand drawings today. My dad has a cnc machine in his garage along with a laser cutter and 3d printer....you could say he is quite the 3d modeling guy! (The pics look a lil skewed it’s just the angle in the software)

It’s designed to fit into a corner with room on the left and rear side for equipment and cleaning.

 

[Curtis Rose]

Tank stand is here! Moved the current nano out of the way and across the room. Still gonna cut the trim out so the stand fits against the wall completely and then trim the bottom on the stand to match the house. And stain and paint. Now on to building my floating light canopy. My tv mount for the canopy came in finally so now I can get to work on that. Updates will now be more frequent! As I start wiring and building!

 

[Curtis Rose]

And I got busy today with the floating canopy! Now I’m already planning the control board...I’d be building it if the others in the house weren’t sleeping!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Once all the test fitting is done I’ll put apart the canopy and fill all the holes, stain and paint it. Really happy with how it’s coming along so far! Stay tuned I’m sitting here drawing up the control panel for all the goodies!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Oh and my old man is gonna cut a diffuser for the light if you look close I cut a slot in the canopy that go all the way around so once I get it I’ll just unscrew the face and slide it in...presto diffused light!

 

[DibsOnMcRibs]

This is starting to look really clean. Excited to see what you do with it

 

[Curtis Rose]

This is starting to look really clean. Excited to see what you do with it

Thank you! I’m stoked. It’s really coming together I’m starting strong and I’m gonna finish strong! I can’t even sleep right now too excited to work on the next thing

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Really nice work so far! Can't wait to see it take shape!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Really nice work so far! Can't wait to see it take shape!

Thank you!

 

[Curtis Rose]

Cut the trim moved the stand into its final place and set the tank on there! Gotta level out the stand and secure it still.

 

[Curtis Rose]

Busy day yesterday got a lot done still more to go wiring is going well, things are taking shape. Hoping to be done in a couple weeks just depends on what kind of time I have. Keep thinking about adding more stuff so who really knows. Not in a huge rush.

There are some extra holes for gear that Is currently running on my other tank. Excuse that tangled mess of wires at the bottom they will get placed and wrapped. I built the whole shelf so it can come apart and out really easily. made it that way so I can replace gear if it breaks and get under the stand if I need to. Still gotta wire up stuff coming down from the tank and going up from the stand. Ran the Ethernet cord last night under the house...my favorite place in the world....not. Hooked up the apex today and linked it to my account. Seems like that’s abt all I’ll be able to do as far as the apex until there is water in the tank and I can plug into all my outlets and whatnot.