JR's IM 25 Fusion Lagoon Build

[JeepinReefer]

Awesome tank and scape!

Thanks! I liked the scape too. There current scape is similar, but immediately loses significant points by including a frag rack. Long story short is I had been seeing vermetid snails showing up, and after a few mad scientist-esque ideas I found myself pulling all of the rock out and replacing it with some extra reef rock 2.1 that I had. I need to test for ammonia, but I'm fairly certain there is no worry about any significant nitrogen cycle disturbance...I'm certainly hopeful.

Sweet setup! I know it’s frustrating to see acropora slowly die off, but I think you’re doing a great job overall. Acropora can even be hard to keep in a mature system, and even harder in a newer system. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

For nutritional supplementation, have you considered trying phytoplankton? I use the easybooster phytoplankton hooked up to an automatic doser that doses every hour. It’s phytoplankton suspended in a gel and doesn’t require refrigeration.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/easybooster-marine-phytoplankton-easy-reefs.html

Thanks very much. I appreciate that.

I've never dosed phyto like that. How do you mix it up for the doser?

The three acros are almost certainly beyond recovery, though I have two that may have a little skin still. I got another frag, but have no idea what it is. Thick branches.

It's getting about 200 par for 8 hours and the water has had barely detectable nitrates and phosphates the past several days, so hopefully it is becoming a healthy environment. I know the rock swap was a potential instability curveball, so I guess it's still wait and see mode.

 

[xiaoxiy]

Ya don't have to mix anything up, it comes ready to use! You just need an air-tight dosing tube adapter for the bag that the phyto comes in.

 

[JeepinReefer]

Ya don't have to mix anything up, it comes ready to use! You just need an air-tight dosing tube adapter for the bag that the phyto comes in.

Ah ok. I'll check it out. Thanks again!

 

[JeepinReefer]

TLDR: The picture pretty much says it all...except one thing. Snake polyps?

For those with more time: I've taken this aquarium in a completely different direction. Remember in the first post when I said I thought this could become a quarantine? Well I'd seen aiptasia, vermetid snails, asterina starfish, and red planaria flatworms in this aquarium, and decided it was time to change course.

After thinking a lot about what inspires me in this hobby, I recognized that for me it is 100% about the corals, or maybe it would be more accurate and encompassing to say sessile invertebrates. I want to grow frags of corals into beautiful colonies and nothing else really matters. Even a natural looking aquascape is irrelevant to me and my goals at the moment.

So what does that mean for this aquarium? It has been completely rebooted. I emptied it, dipped livestock in Bayer, and put them in a holding tank (40 breeder I just got and plan to use as a sump for my next build...lowboy frag tank on the horizon). Fish were given back to LFS. I cleaned the aquarium out with vinegar and all. Then I restarted it with fresh mixed saltwater and put the livestock I had back in (clam, acans, some zoas & palys, leather, mushroom). Two days later I did about an 80% water change in an attempt to give it a saltwater rinse so to speak, to remove any residual vinegar or anything else. Two days later I tested everything under the sun. I added some potassium phosphate and potassium nitrate to bring those up and then waited.

That was about a month ago and everything has been thriving. So much so that I splurged on a huge softie and LPS frag pack which got here yesterday.

So mad scientist aquarium mode is still on. For now I'm focused on testing, and ensuring that alk/cal are in a good range and stable and, just as importantly I'm theorizing, that nitrate and phosphate are not undetectable. I don't plan on adding anything other than coral, and maybe spot feeding concentrated reef roids paste in a very controlled fashion (acans, favia, palys, Duncan, even mushrooms are loving it). Mechanical floss pads and protein skimmer are the only filtration. Fuge is offline and chaeto tossed. I even removed the seachem matrix.

I think this could work, and might even be a way to provide a healthy environment for corals that is easier and simpler than trying to maintain a typical reef ecosystem aquarium with fish, rock, sand, snails, crabs and everything else we typically place in our reef tanks.

Wish me luck! Thanks for stopping by.

 

[JeepinReefer]

 

[jtietz]

Wonderful nuvo 25. I will be following. Here is my nuvo 25. These are such great tanks.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=329754&share_fid=1020&share_type=t

 

[JeepinReefer]

Wonderful nuvo 25. I will be following. Here is my nuvo 25. These are such great tanks.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=329754&share_fid=1020&share_type=t

Thanks! I definitely love the 25. Great design, dimensions, and quality build.

 

[JeepinReefer]

As if the AP700 wasn't overkill enough...

Just kidding. This is going to go over the lowboy.

 

[Segalplayer]

Are you still running one since 1.5 pump one your tank? Got my tank but not sure if I want two since 1.0 or one 1.5? What wold you recommend? My skimmer right now is a 9001, id like to use that or a ghost (found one very clean and under warranty still for $40 to replace my 9001 on my nuvo 10, but that eshopps skimmate looks awesome. Mine are usually tea colored.

 

[Segalplayer]

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:

THIS IS BRILLIANT! My friend just got a nuvo 10 but can't get all the extra gear yet, Thank you thank you for this, now he can get other things before the caddy!

 

[JeepinReefer]

Are you still running one since 1.5 pump one your tank? Got my tank but not sure if I want two since 1.0 or one 1.5? What wold you recommend? My skimmer right now is a 9001, id like to use that or a ghost (found one very clean and under warranty still for $40 to replace my 9001 on my nuvo 10, but that eshopps skimmate looks awesome. Mine are usually tea colored.

Yep, just one Sicce 1.5. It is plenty of flow through the rear chambers. I probably wouldn't want any more turnover through the rear chambers personally. That said, two 1.0s does have advantages. Pump redundancy and maybe some space savings. The y split plumbing takes up a ton of real estate in the middle. Two pumps would also though, so it might not net any additional space. If I was doing it again I'd probably stick with one 1.5.

I can't speak to the 9001 or ghost, but this eshopps skimmer is the best nano skimmer I've ever used. My skimmate is almost as dark as the earlier picture but not quite. I do have some microbubbles, but not excessively so, and it took some fiddling to get just right.

THIS IS BRILLIANT! My friend just got a nuvo 10 but can't get all the extra gear yet, Thank you thank you for this, now he can get other things before the caddy!

Thanks! This is one reason I wouldn't want more flow through the rear chambers. It bypasses the floss a little sooner than I would like with my current flow. More flow would just make that happen even sooner. At least it is super quick, easy, and cheap to change the floss!

 

[JeepinReefer]

 

[JeepinReefer]

Also a side note about this skimmer, the o-ring makes a very snug fit between the collection cup and the skimmer body. Slowly and gently twist the cup while applying light upward force to remove the cup unless you want to be cleaning skimmate off of your walls, floor, and face. Do not pull straight upwards because the potentially sudden release can send the contents flying.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice. Been there before (with a different skimmer).

 

[JeepinReefer]

One year and while I'm nowhere close to what I envisioned due to massive changes in direction and objectives, I'm more excited than ever! Happy New Year!

 

[gobble]

I'm considering purchasing a Lagoon 25 as a dedicated frag tank tied into my main tank. Is this still working out well for you as a frag system?

I would do auto water changes between the Lagoon and the main tank (Reefer 450) with no filtration in the Lagoon other then the return pump and maybe a filter sock. Would you recommend the Lagoon AIO or the new Lagoon EXT? Same footprint but with a hang on back overflow vs. 3.5" of tank taken by the AIO baffles. I can still get the AIO for $250 and the EXT for around $300.

 

[JeepinReefer]

I'm considering purchasing a Lagoon 25 as a dedicated frag tank tied into my main tank. Is this still working out well for you as a frag system?

I would do auto water changes between the Lagoon and the main tank (Reefer 450) with no filtration in the Lagoon other then the return pump and maybe a filter sock. Would you recommend the Lagoon AIO or the new Lagoon EXT? Same footprint but with a hang on back overflow vs. 3.5" of tank taken by the AIO baffles. I can still get the AIO for $250 and the EXT for around $300.

For an AIO, I'm very pleased with it as a frag tank. The dimensions are great and it has excellent surface area for a 25 gallon! I'm not familiar with the EXT so I can't really make a comparison. The filter compartments on the lagoon offer a lot of range for filtration options and I definitely managed to do a lot with that small space. If the EXT is just as flexible and provides more tank real estate, then maybe that is worth the price increase. I'm very happy with the lagoon though.

 

[MRRBW]

I'm considering purchasing a Lagoon 25 as a dedicated frag tank tied into my main tank. Is this still working out well for you as a frag system?

I would do auto water changes between the Lagoon and the main tank (Reefer 450) with no filtration in the Lagoon other then the return pump and maybe a filter sock. Would you recommend the Lagoon AIO or the new Lagoon EXT? Same footprint but with a hang on back overflow vs. 3.5" of tank taken by the AIO baffles. I can still get the AIO for $250 and the EXT for around $300.

for what it's worth - i took the lagoon and cut out the back filter section and added a aqua-in/out overflow to add a sump. The extra space is definitely worth it. If you like the extras the ext comes with, then maybe worth it, but a little labour and you have an ext without the cost and you can pick your own overflow style or none.

 

[jtietz]

for what it's worth - i took the lagoon and cut out the back filter section and added a aqua-in/out overflow to add a sump. The extra space is definitely worth it. If you like the extras the ext comes with, then maybe worth it, but a little labour and you have an ext without the cost and you can pick your own overflow style or none.

I would love to see pics of the cut out and overflow box

 

[canadianeh]

Did you end up using Klir filter for IM lagoon 25? Will it fit without mod?