JR's IM 25 Fusion Lagoon Build

[JeepinReefer]

Loving your build.

I've just plugged in the Cheatomax yesterday so I'm excited to see how it works out. I've also got the magnafuge light so it'll be interesting to see which works better (or how much better really). I'd throw in a vote for the eshopps skimmer. I'm not sure it will make or break the tank but it does good work, quietly, and fits in the middle chamber which is nice.

Nice build! I am also starting up a Lagoon 25. What section did you put your skimmer in?

Thanks very much you both! I don't have a skimmer yet, but I had assumed it would go in the second chamber of either side. There are 5 chambers with an overflow chamber on each end and the return chamber in the middle. There is an upflow chamber between the return and each overflow. I assumed the skimmer used up one of the upflow chambers. That is amazing if it fits in the return chamber. While it is the biggest of the chambers, nearly all of the space gets taken up by the return plumbing. Good to know that it fits there! Thanks again.

 

[Colin Levy]

Making everything in the chambers has been my biggest struggle in the IM25 (except my microbubbles, but that is another story, think I have a leak in the back plumbing).

I have my heater underneath my floss holder in the left overflow and a media basket in the right overflow. Have my skimmer and media reactor in the left upflow chamber and probe holder (for apex probes and to hold dose tubing) in the right upflow. The middle chamber has the Sicce 1.5, plumbing, and ATO float valve. Unfortunately my Radion XR30 RMS mount is connected to the back of the tank at the middle chamber, so can't do much else with anything in that chamber.

Gonna make sure next tank I have a sump.

 

[kdc]

Following! I’m getting the same tank. Lots of good ideas from you guys here in the forums.

 

[revhtree]

Nice build!

 

[JeepinReefer]

Making everything in the chambers has been my biggest struggle in the IM25

Yeah, I hear ya. I anticipate struggles there as well. I'm going to try to fabricate a few things to help, probe holder, float switch holder, etc. At first I tried working with Lexan because I heard that it doesn't shatter and is easier to drill than acrylic. They were right about that! The stuff is so shatter resistant that the score and snap cutting method is basically useless. This weekend I'm going to try acrylic and hopefully it doesn't shatter when I drill it. We'll see...

Following! I’m getting the same tank. Lots of good ideas from you guys here in the forums.

Awesome! Let me know if you start a build thread. I love getting ideas from others. We all have a different approach and different tricks we can learn from each other.

Nice build!

Thanks very much! Awesome forum community you've established here. Kudos!

Brief update...the fish decision has been made. I picked up a couple of mocha ocellaris. I was actually looking for perculas because I like the extra bit of black they have and the contrast it provides and I prefer the standard patterns on non-designer clowns. These were actually the cheapest clowns I found in town . So far they're enjoying the free PE pellet food samples I got in my BRS order. A nassarius snail will definitely be the next inhabitant.

 

[JeepinReefer]

It has been a busy weekend for the aquarium. I'll start it off with the pictures, which is usually everyone's favorite part.

So starting off with the good...it all began on Friday with a trip to Ikea to pick up pieces for the electronics cabinet for the Apex which was also delivered on Friday. The cabinet went together easily and I really like how it fits with the aquarium cabinet. Equipment that came in on Friday included the Apex, breakout box (decided against DIY since the breakout box isn't very expensive, so the savings would not have been significant), and float switch. After some trial and error with the acrylic and lexan, I succeeded in making some very decent mounts, including probe holder, float switch holder, and top off line holder. Most of the manufacturers of these types of items use plastic screws to hold everything in place which would have been challenging for my DIY solutions, so the probes are held in place with o-rings and the top off line with flat rubber washers. Everything is nice and secure. I also made the float switch holder adjustable, so I can raise and lower the switch a few inches to dial in the perfect water level. Everything is a bit rough around the edges, but it takes up less space than the aftermarket solutions and was cheaper as well.

The clowns have been doing really well, and I wanted to go by the LFS for a nassarius snail... While I was there getting the snail, I found a couple of really cheap frags. In addition to the snail, I got a 4-head red and blue-ish acan, and a millepora frag, all for $3o. So far they are doing well. I have the Kessil peaking at 20% intensity for three hours a day. I'm a bit paranoid about overdoing it with light given the power of the fixture, shallowness of the aquarium, and the fact that I don't have a PAR meter. I'll keep an eye out for any bleaching.

Now for the not so good, and it isn't bad, but it has delayed things and made me fork out a bit more cash than I expected. I bought a Gyre 230 with an Icecap controller interface unit which also arrived on Friday. I thought I was being smart and I ordered the gyre pump only, without the basic controller since I planned to use the Icecap interface and Apex controller. What I failed to read and realize is that the gyre pump sold separately not only doesn't come with the basic controller, but also doesn't come with a power supply. After a brief chat with BRS customer service, they found the power supply sold directly from CoralVue, so I bought that and it is on the way here. I needed some extra flow in the aquarium with the new mille, so for now I put in a big powerhead which is a bit of an eye sore and reminder of my mistake, but hopefully the power supply will be here soon and I'll get that replaced with the gyre.

After that, I think I'm pretty much done, at least for a while. I have the equipment I envisioned, and some starter livestock to use as indicators of maturity and stability.

Thanks for stopping by!

~JR

 

[JeepinReefer]

 

[JeepinReefer]

I noticed a very light dusting of diatoms on the sand yesterday night and it looks about the same today. I'm pleased to see it arrive and hopefully it goes away as quietly as it showed up. I did a full panel of tests today, minus phosphate which I don't have yet, but I'm eyeing the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker. I want to get the Hanna dKH checker too. I really don't care for the color change of the Red Sea Pro alk kit. The multiple shades of green between blue and yellow are a bit unclear to my eyes. Anyway, here is where the aquarium is at:

Temp 77.5 degrees
Salinity 35 ppt
pH 7.98 (I want to calibrate the Apex probe again)
ORP 229 but probe is still probably breaking in as it has been on a consistently slow upward slope since it was installed on Saturday
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
Alk 7.6 dKH
Calc 500 ppm
Mag 1400 ppm

I'm already looking for a new salt mix. I'm using Reef Crystals and the alkalinity and calcium are mixing up higher than I would like. It is consistently mixing up to 11 dKH alk and over 500 ppm calc at 35 ppt. I'm eyeing Fritz RPM and HW Marinemix Reefer so far. Ideally, I'd like to find a good salt that mixes up between 8-9 dKH alk and 420-480 ppm calc at 35 ppt.

I'm pleased with the current tank parameters, but alk is a little low and mag is a little high. Calc is also a bit high, but that is because of the salt mix, so I can't do much about that until I change the mix. I know why the mag is high, and it was due to a high dose I added when I just started the aquarium. Basically the refractometer calibration was way off and reading high, so there wasn't enough salt in the aquarium. I dosed some alk/calc/mag (mostly mag) to adjust and basically over did it. Thankfully I figured it out quickly, and that was all before I added any livestock. A 10 gallon water change brought everything much closer to where I wanted. I need to keep an eye on alk over the next several days. I'm a bit confused as to why it is as low as it is when the fresh saltwater has been mixing up to 11 dKH. I find it incredibly unlikely that the two frags used up that alk, and I haven't noticed any precipitation. I dosed about 10 ml of soda ash solution to bring it up to around 8.5 dKH. I'll keep an eye on it closely for the next few days and test the fresh mix saltwater again in a week or so when I do a small water change.

I guess that is it for now, just watching my parameters closely as the tank works towards a balance.

Question for anyone who read this far: For rimless tanks, how do you clean the inside inch or so of glass that is above the water line?

Thanks,
~JR

 

[Colin Levy]

I noticed a very light dusting of diatoms on the sand yesterday night and it looks about the same today. I'm pleased to see it arrive and hopefully it goes away as quietly as it showed up. I did a full panel of tests today, minus phosphate which I don't have yet, but I'm eyeing the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker. I want to get the Hanna dKH checker too. I really don't care for the color change of the Red Sea Pro alk kit. The multiple shades of green between blue and yellow are a bit unclear to my eyes. Anyway, here is where the aquarium is at:

I recently got the Hanna ULR after using various other test kits. It makes it so much easier. A life saver. Definitely worth the money. You can get 25 packets for $8 and free shipping. Lasts a while for me.

 

[JeepinReefer]

I recently got the Hanna ULR after using various other test kits. It makes it so much easier. A life saver. Definitely worth the money. You can get 25 packets for $8 and free shipping. Lasts a while for me.

Glad to hear it! Thanks for the recommendation. It's towards the top of my list. Admittedly, I may procrastinate buying one for a little bit for budget reasons if algae remains a non-issue (fingers crossed).

 

[JeepinReefer]

The aquarium is currently dead set on 7.6 dKH despite ~12-15 ml doses of soda ash solution the past three days. Calcium is slowly coming down, and I know it isn't because of any notable coral or coraline calcification, so there must be some precipitation going on. I'm hopeful that continued alk dosing will allow the calcium to drop to ~420 ppm and maybe then the alkalinity balance will be a bit higher ~8.5 dKH. Today's parameters:

35 ppt
77.7 degrees
7.6 dKH
480 ppm Ca
1400 ppm Mg

 

[SlvrZ]

any news on the build? for cleaning that inch or so of the inside glass, i just use a basic razor blade.

 

[samba_dad]

I'm thinking about a similar build using the IM Lagoon 25. Beautiful setup. Please keep us posted on your progress.

 

[JeepinReefer]

Sorry for neglecting this thread. The tank is doing well, but I've been taking things very slowly. I'll post some pictures later, but to summarize things a bit...I was getting a bit frustrated with the parameters, particularly the lowish alk, so I switched to Fritz and haven't really been testing. Just watching things. The tank also went through a bit of an ugly phase, but not too bad. Things just got a bit slimy and not in a cyano way. Clearish snot started growing on the glass. Thankfully that has passed. Now I just have normal algae film that grows on the glass that needs to be cleaned once a week or so.

Equipment wise I've turned the right two compartments into a refugium with about 1.5 inches of seachem matrix in both and the rest of the way filled with chaeto that is doing great. Lit by three IM Chaetomax lights on the back. I also put in an eshopps nano skimmer on the left.

I feel good and think the tank is really starting to reach maturity and stability. Minor livestock addions and I currently have 2 clowns, a tiny 6-line, 2 acan frags, a favia frag, and two nassarius. The $10 acro frag didn't make it. It slowly bleached and died

 

[JeepinReefer]

As you can probably tell from the pictures, not much has been going on. I'm just taking things slowly and letting everything stabilize. I keep telling myself that it is less than 8 months old and has no live rock, so patience (more than I had at first) is important. I am starting to feed more, both the fish and corals, so we'll how that impacts the system. The double refugium chamber with triple ChaetoMax lights (overkill, but that fits the theme with this tank so far) is doing great. I pruned the chaeto about 10 days ago and it is pretty easy to see all of the new growth, especially in the right hand side chamber. It grows very quickly and fills up both chambers with rectangular blocks of chaeto in short order after each pruning. Sorry for the cell phone pictures, but it is the best I can do. They are salvaged a bit by the Aquarium Cam app though, which I can't recommend enough for cheap cell phone aquarium photographers like myself. Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Esage]

High above the water do you have that Kessil mounted?

 

[JeepinReefer]

High above the water do you have that Kessil mounted?

It's 8 inches above the water.

 

[JeepinReefer]

Like many reefers, one of my least favorite maintenance tasks is cleaning filter socks. I mentioned before that I'm planning a larger reef aquarium and that is still the case. I'm eyeing the Klir Filter very closely and am really excited about it! As far as the 25 Fusion Lagoon goes, IM's filter socks are a real pain with the rigid basket at the top which makes flipping them inside out near impossible and not a very effective way of cleaning them. It got to the point that I wasn't using them very often because of how much I disliked the design, so I decided it was time to mod them. I went to an HVAC supply store and picked up a huge roll of polyester filter floss for $30 that should last me forever and a day, then chopped the socks off of the IM sock mounts. It was so cheap, so easy, and has made me so happy! Lo and behold:

 

[JeepinReefer]

Yesterday I picked up a couple of acro frags and I added a doorbell momentary switch to my breakout box to trigger a five minute feed mode to make target feeding with reef roids easier. I fed reef roids 4 times this week in a pretty controlled fashion. I also feed the fish in a controlled fashion and I'm pretty certain that anything that gets passed the fish gets picked up by the nassarius. Why is this important? I tested my phosphates today for the first time and also tested nitrates. Both came back as 0. Phosphates I used the ULR Phosphorus checker, and nitrates I used the Red Sea Nitrite/Nitrate kit.

I'm going to pick up some liquid food amino acids today. Probably going to be Acropower or Red Sea Energy A&B. Anyone care to share your thoughts, experience, or a recommendation?

Other parameters:
Salinity 35 ppt
Temperature 78 F
Calcium 475 ppm
Magnesium 1520 ppm (higher than I'd like. Will test again)
Alk 7.4, dosed 10 ml soda ash solution over an hour, waited another hour, 8.1. Used Hannah checker.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[JeepinReefer]