Keenan's IM170 EXT

[tbare89]

How are you liking the ATI powermodule hybrid? I just order a 4 bulb for my RSR 450. What bulbs and led intensity are you running?

 

[Keenan]

How are you liking the ATI powermodule hybrid? I just order a 4 bulb for my RSR 450. What bulbs and led intensity are you running?

Wouldn’t change it for anything else, I absolutely love it. Had to order the white directly from Germany though which was a hassle (but worth it in the end).

I believe I have 1 purple+1 coral+ and 6 blue+. Intensity is at 60% and I get around 400 at the top. At 100% it was at 750 or something; these units are no joke.

 

[Wrangy]

Nearly two months and no pics!

 

[Keenan]

Nearly two months and no pics!

I'll try my best to get some but the tank has sort of been on auto-pilot lately while I focus on other things. But I agree, 2 months is too long ;Brb

 

[Keenan]

Here you go @Wrangy

Small Update: Everything is doing well aside from my torches and gorgonian. My thoughts are that vibrant has something to do with it and/or my watanabei angelfish have developed a taste for fleshy corals... I'm swearing off vibrant for good though. This is my third time using it and sure it does what it says, but the side effects (predominately altering/destroying your biological bacteria population) aren't worth it imo.

Sps have been steadily growing thanks to the KHD/Profilux. I started using kalk again for a ph boost and to also lower the amount I dose my DIY all-for-reef, and so far it's done just that. I need to think of a better solution for mixing the kalk in larger quantities because manually filling and shaking 5 gallon jugs every other day is getting old fast. I think I remember @jlanger posting something about mixing kalk in bulk in his build thread so I'll check that out first.

Sadly, no new fish or coral additions to speak of. I know, I'm boring. This summers been too crazy but I plan on focusing on the tank more in the fall/winter months. Tank maintenance is always my go-to when the Vikings are losing, so my tank looks spotless this season

Pics

BC Rocket Sauce. One of my top 5 favorites in the tank and it's finally starting to take off


BC Hawaii


WWC Jelly Bean still not showing any blue I've heard conflicting reports on whether a frag needs to have all colors to grow them or not. So far it's not looking to promising.


BC No Name Table


BC Rainbow Brite doing its thing


WWC Heartbreaker


BigR Walt Disney


Two acros not practicing social distancing

 

[Wrangy]

I can't believe I missed this!! Everything is looking so nice!!

 

[Keenan]

Alright, kalk water mixing/holding station complete. I went with a 32 gallon brute can hoping that with the lid on it the whole time the kalk water will keep its ph elevation over a couple of weeks (we’ll see). For initial circulation I went with a Jaebo 5200 gph pump which is HUGE (doesn’t fit horizontally in a 5 gallon bucket) and way overkill but it was cheap and does the job so I’ll keep it.

Went to a LFS this weekend and picked up some Slide-Loc products I’ve been meaning to buy. Great work @RSnodgrass ! The small container is my favorite. The frag rack is slick and I know they’re meant for up to 1/2” thick glass but they also work on my 5/8” glass (albeit not as strong of a hold which makes sense).

As far as the tank goes, I had an issue where my alk refused to rise no matter how much I upped my doses, and turned out my Mag was very low at 1200. The coral didn’t seem to matter much, and I brought it back up over a few days. Test your Mag people

 

[RSnodgrass]

If you need one with a stronger magnet let me know... they're really strong.

 

[Keenan]

If you need one with a stronger magnet let me know... they're really strong.

That’d be awesome! Please pm me with invoice whenever you’re able to. Thanks Ryan!

 

[Keenan]

Switched out T5 bulbs after probably 18 months of use... went with the same combo except instead of 6 blue+ bulbs I went with 4 blue+ and 2 actinic (and kept 1 purple+ and coral+). I burned them in 4 at a time at 100% and am on the second set of four right now. So far so good, I've actually seen alk consumption go up quite a bit so I'll probably keep it higher than normal after burn in (maybe 75-80% from the usual 65%) if things stay happy.

For the first time in a while I have some new fish in qt right, and purchased a couple corals as well. I also took advantage of some Black Friday deals to stock up on things like salt, bulbs, and other boring but necessary items. Oh and I bought this

No immediate plans for it. I got it in preparation for when we move in the next year or so to make the transition easier, and because the dimensions are exactly what I was looking for in a new tank.

Some random photos



BC Bonfire


Fishfoo Cigarettes After Sex


RR USA My Sunshine


BC Nero Table


BC Bliss. It's always the favorites that grow the slowest..


BC Houdini


BC Backdraft


BigR WD under some blues

 

[CoralDanimal]

Corals are looking great! As someone who has a similar tank as yours (RSR 425XL), I've also had my eyes on the IM tanks for a potential upgrade in the future. Is your thinking for the EXT 170 that you like your length, but want to add more depth and total volume or was there another factor in choosing the EXT 170?

 

[Keenan]

Corals are looking great! As someone who has a similar tank as yours (RSR 425XL), I've also had my eyes on the IM tanks for a potential upgrade in the future. Is your thinking for the EXT 170 that you like your length, but want to add more depth and total volume or was there another factor in choosing the EXT 170?

Spot on. I like the length and wanted to use the same light for the new tank as I like it a lot, but wanted more depth and water volume as you said. These dimensions accomplish all of the above. And anywhere else these would be considered "custom dimensions" with a price tag to match.

I really like the IM40 I have from Innovative Marine so I thought I'd stick with them

 

[tbare89]

What are you dosing in this tank?

 

[Keenan]

What are you dosing in this tank?

Tropic Marin's DIY All-for-Reef and then kalk in my ATO, but that's mainly for ph elevation.

 

[Keenan]

New Year FTS shots



After repositioning the BC Bonfire frag I was able to get a better shot of it and show the difference between it and the aquatic man a bit better

BC Bonfire


BC Aquatic Man


A few years ago when AcanLord was in business, I passed on a beautiful orange acantho that I've thought about ever since. Ended up finding a similar one and pulled the trigger on it. It's continued to color up well and is fairly large already, so the high flow doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as I was fearing it would.



Progression/Random Pics

 

[Mr_Knightley]

HOLY COW! That golden Acantho is absolutely breathtaking! Where did you find it, if you don't mind me asking? The tank is looking wonderful by the way.

 

[Keenan]

HOLY COW! That golden Acantho is absolutely breathtaking! Where did you find it, if you don't mind me asking? The tank is looking wonderful by the way.

Thanks. I picked it up from an lfs by me actually. They bring in some pretty cool stuff from time to time.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Thanks. I picked it up from an lfs by me actually. They bring in some pretty cool stuff from time to time.

Awesome! Yeah, my LFS has been getting some really great Indo pieces in lately. My problem though is that not many people in the area are interested in meat corals, so my LFS gets backed up and often keeps the same few meats for a month or more. The low demand keeps them from risking ordering crazy ones like yours there.
Good luck with it!

 

[panic]

Beautiful corals!

 

[Espino963]

I just started my tank a week ago and I’m beyond impatient. The progress has been incredible! I hope to accomplish half this in the near future