jcolliii's IM25 Lagoon journey - MASTERTRONIC up and running!

[jcolliii]

Nitrates stable today - 7.5 to 8ish. Added around another half liter or so Seachem Matrix to the left rear intake chamber in a filter bag that I seeded with some bacteria. I doubt that I'll see anaerobic conditions and thus significant nitrate reduction, but... the detritus is so easy to siphon out because it all collects in one spot now that I don't think there is too much cause to worry. I cut a couple of pieces of black 2" abs tube to get a couple corals off the ground a bit. Drilled holes in them for fish sleeping quarters as well. This one didn't waste any time claiming one...

 

[jcolliii]

NO3 unchanged from yesterday.

Finally found my orange color correction lens and got a few shots.

I cannot get a photo of this coral showing the true color - the body color always renders too red, but it isn't - the body is a clear, vibrant, dark fluorescent orange. The mouths are a yellow orange with sort of brassy-green centers. It is spectacular. And it grows very slowly. Lithophyllon species. If this coral ever grows to cover its rock, it will be a spectacular centerpiece.

Here is that baby blue and yellow accidental Favia. It came from WWC as a mistake - it was supposed to be a three color maze brain frag. Pretty happy with how this is coloring up. It is in-your-face dayglow yellow-green and fluorescent baby blue.

This lord was more highly colored when I got it, but it still maintains a lot of colors in person - the photo doesn't do it justice. It's got blue, purple, red, and a bit of green and yellow. I feed it 2x per week and it's been growing like a weed. Three baby polyps on back and one on the front side.

These guys grow like weeds as well - 'bloodshot Krakatoa's. Wife bought this for me as one polyp - it's about to spread onto the rock with 7 or 8 polyps now. They get big quickly once they form too. He's trying to get 300 per polyp on his website. Crazy. I love ebay auctions sometimes. I think she paid 29 bucks for the one polyp just a few months ago.

These guys have really colored back up nicely as well. They are that bright. Need to find a better spot for them though, they're kind of in the back right now.

And awful lighting right now near the window, but here is a FTS. Clean, clean, clean!

 

[jcolliii]

No change in NO3. Got a decent FTS finally.

 

[jcolliii]

Finally got around to taking some decent pics.

Right 3/4.

Left 3/4

Top(ish) down.

NO3 was stable at 7.5ppm again today. Fed corals last night as well - I was almost expecting a bump in nitrates today, but steady again. I do change filter floss every other day though - I'm sure that gets rid of a lot of organics before it has a chance to break down, and my skimmer is doing a phenomenal job at pulling out loads of grunge.

 

[jcolliii]

Going to fill in some spots on the rockwork with probably the last coral purchase of the year, but saw a couple things that were leftover from ASD's past weekend sale and started my buying spree with a couple of corals. Not shipping until next Wednesday, so I'll probably pick up a couple more this weekend when they start posting new corals on Saturday. Looking for yellows and oranges primarily I think, but a really blue piece would be nice too.

So far, I've picked up another platygyra - in a really unusual color combination...

They called this one 'bruno Mars' on their website, but it had to come from the same parent colony as this one that they sold on ebay as 'fairytale sunset'.

Hoping to get similar colors from the piece I bought.

And then I picked up a zoanthid variety I've had my eye on for awhile - some 'scrambled eggs'. This will add some nice yellow.

Can't wait to see what else @AquaSD has this coming weekend!

 

[AquaSD]

Going to fill in some spots on the rockwork with probably the last coral purchase of the year, but saw a couple things that were leftover from ASD's past weekend sale and started my buying spree with a couple of corals. Not shipping until next Wednesday, so I'll probably pick up a couple more this weekend when they start posting new corals on Saturday. Looking for yellows and oranges primarily I think, but a really blue piece would be nice too.

So far, I've picked up another platygyra - in a really unusual color combination...

They called this one 'bruno Mars' on their website, but it had to come from the same parent colony as this one that they sold on ebay as 'fairytale sunset'.

Hoping to get similar colors from the piece I bought.

And then I picked up a zoanthid variety I've had my eye on for awhile - some 'scrambled eggs'. This will add some nice yellow.

Can't wait to see what else @AquaSD has this coming weekend!

Nice pick ups! We'll have plenty more for you to select in tomorrows update!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Just got the IM DC skimmer and it's a very nicely put together piece of gear. There are lots of other photos online of the skimmer, packaging, unboxing, setup, etc. I will say that the thing I did not care for right off the bat that could contribute to some noise is the fact that the dc pump just 'floats' free on the air tube end in the bottom of the skimmer body. I know from lots of experience with small devices located in the rear chambers of AIO tanks (I have had a Nanocube 12g., a Biocube 14, a BC 16, and a BC29) that anytime a pump can vibrate against the wall of something, *it will*.

So, I took a piece of sponge that I had leftover from something else, and I cut a couple of approximately 1/2" thick strips off of the sponge. I then put one of these strips on either side of the dc pump body so that it will be immobilized and isolated from vibration against the wall of the skimmer body.

installed the foam, then moved my heater to the opposite side of my back chamber, popped this in and plugged it in. It's fairly quiet - a bit quieter with the collection lid on, but I'm keeping it off right now so I can see how long it will take to build up a foam head. Pretty easy to adjust with the heavy duty gasket around the collection cup. Good size collection cup as well, and the best part - the skimmer is just about level with the back wall - it *just barely* sticks up maybe a few mm above the back wall where I have it set right now. Will update later with how long it took to start skimming.

Looks really promising.

Beautiful tank and an elegant solution to the vibration problem. I'm curious and may have missed it, but you put the skimmer on the right side of the return chamber. My gut said that it belongs on the right but IM said it's perfectly fine on either side. Any reason you specifically chose the side you did?

 

[jcolliii]

Beautiful tank and an elegant solution to the vibration problem. I'm curious and may have missed it, but you put the skimmer on the right side of the return chamber. My gut said that it belongs on the right but IM said it's perfectly fine on either side. Any reason you specifically chose the side you did?

Thank you!

I am right handed, so that's where it ended up! Lol - actually, this tank is right next to the sofa - it's on the right side of the sofa if you're looking at the sofa wall, so putting the skimmer on the right moves it as far away from the person sitting next to the tank as possible (usually me). It did stop the bit of vibration I was having from the pump being in contact with the plastic skimmer body on one side pretty nicely. It's a pretty good little skimmer - super easy to set up, and it will let you know when it's time to take it out and clean it because it will stop producing skim pretty abruptly. Mine took around 3 months before I had to take it out and give it a 10 minute cleaning. When I put it back, it immediately began producing foam again. Hope this works for you!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Thank you!

I am right handed, so that's where it ended up! Lol - actually, this tank is right next to the sofa - it's on the right side of the sofa if you're looking at the sofa wall, so putting the skimmer on the right moves it as far away from the person sitting next to the tank as possible (usually me). It did stop the bit of vibration I was having from the pump being in contact with the plastic skimmer body on one side pretty nicely. It's a pretty good little skimmer - super easy to set up, and it will let you know when it's time to take it out and clean it because it will stop producing skim pretty abruptly. Mine took around 3 months before I had to take it out and give it a 10 minute cleaning. When I put it back, it immediately began producing foam again. Hope this works for you!

Great answer! Now I can stop second guessing myself lol. 10 minute cleaning? I think the last time I took my Tunze out for a cleaning it took me 10 minutes just to disassemble it!

 

[TheWB]

Going to fill in some spots on the rockwork with probably the last coral purchase of the year, but saw a couple things that were leftover from ASD's past weekend sale and started my buying spree with a couple of corals. Not shipping until next Wednesday, so I'll probably pick up a couple more this weekend when they start posting new corals on Saturday. Looking for yellows and oranges primarily I think, but a really blue piece would be nice too.

So far, I've picked up another platygyra - in a really unusual color combination...

They called this one 'bruno Mars' on their website, but it had to come from the same parent colony as this one that they sold on ebay as 'fairytale sunset'.

Hoping to get similar colors from the piece I bought.

And then I picked up a zoanthid variety I've had my eye on for awhile - some 'scrambled eggs'. This will add some nice yellow.

Can't wait to see what else @AquaSD has this coming weekend!

Those are really nice looking. I wanted some scrambled eggs in my recent order but the vendor was sold out of them. I’ll get them next time.

 

[jcolliii]

First pickup on ASD's weekend sale today -

Nice orange bowerbanki

 

[jcolliii]

NO3 has been down to between 5 - 7.5 for the past two days. I have been dosing trace and minor elements for the past 4 or 5 days though (stopped AFR because ALK was creeping up from water changes) - I think that slowed growth because of the traces and minors being stopped as well, so I made a solution of TM's K+ and A- and started dosing that without the ALK and CA (which are both perfect right now). The apparent drop in NO# could be from an increase in growth fueled by the addition of the traces and minors. That remains to be seen...

Anyhow, picked up a couple blue colored corals as that color was also quite minor in my display...

Always wanted an Alveopora, but back in the day, they were labelled as impossible to keep alive. This one is tank grown, so hopefully it will do well.

And a nice subtle blue chalice for 18 bucks.

 

[jcolliii]

Longer Term Review of Innovative Marine Titanium ATO

I've had this device on my tank since the end of March - so it's been just about 4 months, so time for an update. I have this ATO set up on one of my smart wifi power strips to come on twice a day for 2 minutes, but I may change that to 4x per 1 minute each. The device consists of a controller with an outlet for your own pump (pump not supplied), 2 magnetically mounted sensors wired to the controller that use conductivity to determine whether they are submerged or not. You set one to the low level where you want the pump to come on, and one to the high level where you want the pump to stop. I have been using a MJ-1200 to do the pumping, and have a 10 or 12 gallon storage container under the stand as an ATO reservoir. This ATO is not super expensive, which is nice. Price is around $70 USD. https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Marine-Hydro-Fill-Controller/dp/B016FLD2A2

My installation. The sensors are approximately 1.5" apart vertically.

Initially, I was quite happy with this device - it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It came on when told to, detected the low water condition, and filled the return chamber until the top sensor detected water. Then about a month ago, it started stuttering. It would come on, pump for a few seconds, go off, back on, back off, and so on - for the entire 2 minutes my smart power strip told it to stay on. Checked the wiring, the sensor location - no problems. Occasionally, I though this was happening when the water level in the reservoir was low - maybe that had something to do with it? Well, last week enough was enough. I took the sensors out, checked the wires and noticed a very thin biofilm on the sensors. So I gave them a clean, put them back in, and turned its outlet back on. It worked perfectly. I can only imagine that the biofilm is insulating the conductors enough that the voltage that should be detected across the electrodes is not the correct value leading to the stutter.

So it appears that a clean of the electrodes will be necessary every 2 to 3 months. But, I suppose the nice thing about this inconvenience is that it will tell you when that needs to happen. Now, you can see how this might be a problem, right? What if a biofilm prevents the upper sensor from detecting the correct voltage? That could lead to overfilling? Not sure on this one - the upper sensor is more often than not out of the water and dry, whereas the lower sensor is more often than not wet and exposed to algae, bacteria, etc. So I don't think the upper sensor would cause a similar problem, but I will say this: My ATO will never be run without it being plugged it to a timer.

Other than this, it's been pretty good other than a few little niggles. 1) As mentioned in my previous review, the magnets are pretty weak with the 8mm thick glass on the IM 25 lagoon mine is installed on. Not sliding-down-under-their-own-weight weak, but weak enough I would not want to put them on a tank with much thicker glass. 2) The included suction cups to help weep the wires in place inside of the tank (necessary because IM knows the magnets on the sensor mounts are weak?) *suck*. They are so frail that even completely submerged in water, they cannot maintain suction.

Granted, this is a fairly low-priced device, but these two shortcomings can be pretty easily and cheaply rectified - strong rare earth magnets are pretty inexpensive, as are suction cups - just use better ones.

The problem with the sensors may be more problematic - especially if the upper sensor were to be impeded in this way and the ATO was not operating on a timed outlet. I'm also not 100% sure if the coating was purely biologic, or if my dosing chemicals (Tropic Marin All-For-Reef) might also be playing a roll (dosing takes place in the same chamber). I tend to think the problem was purely biocoating though as I only scrubbed the electrodes briefly (approximately 10 seconds each) with a toothbrush and rinsed in the back chamber water with a quick single dunk.

I suppose a rating is in order here after such a lengthy review. I don't want to assign stars, but I will say this - if you are after an ATO that you will plug in and forget and not hook up to a timed outlet - look for something else. If you are going to put your ATO on a timer because you are double redundant paranoid-about-water-on-the-floor when you're not home like I am, and you don't mind a bit of quick maintenance when the device tells you it needs it, then this modestly-priced ATO fits the bill nicely.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Longer Term Review of Innovative Marine Titanium ATO

I've had this device on my tank since the end of March - so it's been just about 4 months, so time for an update. I have this ATO set up on one of my smart wifi power strips to come on twice a day for 2 minutes, but I may change that to 4x per 1 minute each. The device consists of a controller with an outlet for your own pump (pump not supplied), 2 magnetically mounted sensors wired to the controller that use conductivity to determine whether they are submerged or not. You set one to the low level where you want the pump to come on, and one to the high level where you want the pump to stop. I have been using a MJ-1200 to do the pumping, and have a 10 or 12 gallon storage container under the stand as an ATO reservoir. This ATO is not super expensive, which is nice. Price is around $70 USD. https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Marine-Hydro-Fill-Controller/dp/B016FLD2A2

My installation. The sensors are approximately 1.5" apart vertically.

Initially, I was quite happy with this device - it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It came on when told to, detected the low water condition, and filled the return chamber until the top sensor detected water. Then about a month ago, it started stuttering. It would come on, pump for a few seconds, go off, back on, back off, and so on - for the entire 2 minutes my smart power strip told it to stay on. Checked the wiring, the sensor location - no problems. Occasionally, I though this was happening when the water level in the reservoir was low - maybe that had something to do with it? Well, last week enough was enough. I took the sensors out, checked the wires and noticed a very thin biofilm on the sensors. So I gave them a clean, put them back in, and turned its outlet back on. It worked perfectly. I can only imagine that the biofilm is insulating the conductors enough that the voltage that should be detected across the electrodes is not the correct value leading to the stutter.

So it appears that a clean of the electrodes will be necessary every 2 to 3 months. But, I suppose the nice thing about this inconvenience is that it will tell you when that needs to happen. Now, you can see how this might be a problem, right? What if a biofilm prevents the upper sensor from detecting the correct voltage? That could lead to overfilling? Not sure on this one - the upper sensor is more often than not out of the water and dry, whereas the lower sensor is more often than not wet and exposed to algae, bacteria, etc. So I don't think the upper sensor would cause a similar problem, but I will say this: My ATO will never be run without it being plugged it to a timer.

Other than this, it's been pretty good other than a few little niggles. 1) As mentioned in my previous review, the magnets are pretty weak with the 8mm thick glass on the IM 25 lagoon mine is installed on. Not sliding-down-under-their-own-weight weak, but weak enough I would not want to put them on a tank with much thicker glass. 2) The included suction cups to help weep the wires in place inside of the tank (necessary because IM knows the magnets on the sensor mounts are weak?) *suck*. They are so frail that even completely submerged in water, they cannot maintain suction.

Granted, this is a fairly low-priced device, but these two shortcomings can be pretty easily and cheaply rectified - strong rare earth magnets are pretty inexpensive, as are suction cups - just use better ones.

The problem with the sensors may be more problematic - especially if the upper sensor were to be impeded in this way and the ATO was not operating on a timed outlet. I'm also not 100% sure if the coating was purely biologic, or if my dosing chemicals (Tropic Marin All-For-Reef) might also be playing a roll (dosing takes place in the same chamber). I tend to think the problem was purely biocoating though as I only scrubbed the electrodes briefly (approximately 10 seconds each) with a toothbrush and rinsed in the back chamber water with a quick single dunk.

I suppose a rating is in order here after such a lengthy review. I don't want to assign stars, but I will say this - if you are after an ATO that you will plug in and forget and not hook up to a timed outlet - look for something else. If you are going to put your ATO on a timer because you are double redundant paranoid-about-water-on-the-floor when you're not home like I am, and you don't mind a bit of quick maintenance when the device tells you it needs it, then this modestly-priced ATO fits the bill nicely.

Great review. I had really been going back and forth between this and the Tunze. Sounds like they both have their strengths and weaknesses. The idea of using a timer as a safeguard isn't a bad idea! I also really appreciate the picture showing how you positioned the sensors. Very helpful!

 

[TheWB]

Longer Term Review of Innovative Marine Titanium ATO

I've had this device on my tank since the end of March - so it's been just about 4 months, so time for an update. I have this ATO set up on one of my smart wifi power strips to come on twice a day for 2 minutes, but I may change that to 4x per 1 minute each. The device consists of a controller with an outlet for your own pump (pump not supplied), 2 magnetically mounted sensors wired to the controller that use conductivity to determine whether they are submerged or not. You set one to the low level where you want the pump to come on, and one to the high level where you want the pump to stop. I have been using a MJ-1200 to do the pumping, and have a 10 or 12 gallon storage container under the stand as an ATO reservoir. This ATO is not super expensive, which is nice. Price is around $70 USD. https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Marine-Hydro-Fill-Controller/dp/B016FLD2A2

My installation. The sensors are approximately 1.5" apart vertically.

Initially, I was quite happy with this device - it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It came on when told to, detected the low water condition, and filled the return chamber until the top sensor detected water. Then about a month ago, it started stuttering. It would come on, pump for a few seconds, go off, back on, back off, and so on - for the entire 2 minutes my smart power strip told it to stay on. Checked the wiring, the sensor location - no problems. Occasionally, I though this was happening when the water level in the reservoir was low - maybe that had something to do with it? Well, last week enough was enough. I took the sensors out, checked the wires and noticed a very thin biofilm on the sensors. So I gave them a clean, put them back in, and turned its outlet back on. It worked perfectly. I can only imagine that the biofilm is insulating the conductors enough that the voltage that should be detected across the electrodes is not the correct value leading to the stutter.

So it appears that a clean of the electrodes will be necessary every 2 to 3 months. But, I suppose the nice thing about this inconvenience is that it will tell you when that needs to happen. Now, you can see how this might be a problem, right? What if a biofilm prevents the upper sensor from detecting the correct voltage? That could lead to overfilling? Not sure on this one - the upper sensor is more often than not out of the water and dry, whereas the lower sensor is more often than not wet and exposed to algae, bacteria, etc. So I don't think the upper sensor would cause a similar problem, but I will say this: My ATO will never be run without it being plugged it to a timer.

Other than this, it's been pretty good other than a few little niggles. 1) As mentioned in my previous review, the magnets are pretty weak with the 8mm thick glass on the IM 25 lagoon mine is installed on. Not sliding-down-under-their-own-weight weak, but weak enough I would not want to put them on a tank with much thicker glass. 2) The included suction cups to help weep the wires in place inside of the tank (necessary because IM knows the magnets on the sensor mounts are weak?) *suck*. They are so frail that even completely submerged in water, they cannot maintain suction.

Granted, this is a fairly low-priced device, but these two shortcomings can be pretty easily and cheaply rectified - strong rare earth magnets are pretty inexpensive, as are suction cups - just use better ones.

The problem with the sensors may be more problematic - especially if the upper sensor were to be impeded in this way and the ATO was not operating on a timed outlet. I'm also not 100% sure if the coating was purely biologic, or if my dosing chemicals (Tropic Marin All-For-Reef) might also be playing a roll (dosing takes place in the same chamber). I tend to think the problem was purely biocoating though as I only scrubbed the electrodes briefly (approximately 10 seconds each) with a toothbrush and rinsed in the back chamber water with a quick single dunk.

I suppose a rating is in order here after such a lengthy review. I don't want to assign stars, but I will say this - if you are after an ATO that you will plug in and forget and not hook up to a timed outlet - look for something else. If you are going to put your ATO on a timer because you are double redundant paranoid-about-water-on-the-floor when you're not home like I am, and you don't mind a bit of quick maintenance when the device tells you it needs it, then this modestly-priced ATO fits the bill nicely.

I’m using the Tunze 3155 and so for it’s worked great.

 

[jcolliii]

Does that also use conductivity probes or optical?

 

[TheWB]

Does that also use conductivity probes or optical?

Optical and a float switch.

 

[jcolliii]

Well, bad morning. My purple firefish was stuck to one of my Jebao powerheads this morning. He is still alive - have him in a floating breeder enclosure - hopefully recovering. He ate fine yesterday, but a couple weeks ago, he stopped standing up to the orchid dottyback - he used to give it right back when the dottyback tried to instigate... that was nice to see. Progressively, he got pushed around a bit more. Not so much that he wasn't eating, but his fins were a bit frayed now and then. He must have gotten pushed around too much last night, gotten too tired, and not been able to pull himself off of the powerhead.

Over the past couple of weeks the dottybakck 'Orcha' has gotten more assertive - was pretty peaceful and then all of a sudden the aggression started getting stronger. I think it's time to find Orcha a new home. Just hope Grumpy recovers. Going to be a PITA to fish that dottyback out of there. I'd be tempted to try the home-made soda bottle fish trap, but I know I'd just catch my blenny over and over and over and over and over and over again. At night, the dottyback has been sleeping in the abs 'cave' I made under one of the brain corals, so I think I'll be able to catch him there without too much of a problem.

Little grumpy is breathing at a good rate and is resting on the bottom and is upright. This morning he was almost unresponsive, so that at least is a good sign.

Also had that little Nephthea of Sinularia - whatever it is detach from its rock yesterday - another ugh. There was a bristleworm close by. Wonder if that had something to do with this bailout. Anyhow, that is in the other chamber next to Grumpy. No smell, so it's still alive. We'll see where that goes.

 

[jcolliii]

Just found Orcha a good home in a 75 gallon mixed reef. Little Grumpy is still in rough shape, but he's still upright and breathing well.

Going to trap Orcha tonight while he's sleeping in the abs cave under the Lobo. Will cover the entire thing with a large mesh filter media bag and then he'll go into the second chamber of the breeder enclosure until pickup is made at 5pm tomorrow. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly and Grumpy comes out okay.

 

[jcolliii]

On a more positive note, the wife was browsing corals and found one she liked for my Christmas present. From LA Reefs - for those of you who have been in the hobby for 10 or 15 years or more... remember when Trachys like this used to be abundant for less than a hundred bucks? Anyhow, she picked this up for me for Christmas - very similar to one I had 14 or 15 years ago but lost just after a cross country move in 2008 (only coral that died).

Here's the one I had way back in the day...

And she picked up a little 'lemon head' cristata for herself.