KISS Softie Tank - IM40L EXT

[ktran]

Thought I would for the first time ever keep a tank thread on my tank. It was set up 2/23/2025 and is almost a year so I wanted to start documenting the tank for the fun of it.

A little about me... I've been in the hobby for almost 20 years now starting as a teenager. Worked in the industry and still have a lot of friends here so it was easy to start a tank again when I moved back to Southern California after not having a tank since 2017. My ethos for this tank was to KEEP IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE. Where I could enjoy myself and the corals that I love without having to upkeep it so much and just enjoy the hobby. I've kept everything under the sun in the past and my goal was to just have a tank to enjoy and not worry about.

Equipment List:
Tank: Innovative Marine 40L EXT
Stand: APS Stand for 40L EXT
Sump: Advanced Acrylics 20x16x16. All 1/4" 3 baffle 2 sections
Lights: Ecotech XR15 Gen4 PRO
Return Pump: Jebao 6500 (I only run it at 10% to keep pump longevity)
Circulation: (2) AI Nero 3
Rocks: Carribsea LifeRock
Sand: Carribsea SpecialGrade (40lbs)

Here's the first pic the day I started the tank up (2/20/2024), I used live rock from a local guys tank to seed my rock. Better than ocean rock IMO due to no pests. I had most this coral in a frag tank as soon as I knew I was going to get this tank up. To date I haven't added many corals since day 1 here.

Start of progression 3/8/2025. Had some flatworms so I added a melanarus wrasse. These have always worked in the past for me with pests. At this point I only had 1 nero 3 as everything was quite small still.

4/3/2025, Things were finally settled at this point, Starting to see growth at this point, starting to move some corals depending on how they would grow.

Here's a blue pic in April, from here I have not added any more corals since that I can remember, some inverts here and there but that's it.

Didn't take any pics in May/June as had a ton of work and a busy summer.... Goal was cruise control... remember? Easy tank that'll run without too much intervention.

7/26/2025 - You can see considerable growth now since April. They are softies so they grow fast!!

08/24/2025. Zoa growth was bothering me here... At this point I wanted to get rid of the zoas as they were just "placeholders" and just want to see more things grow.

Here was the zoas a month later when I decided to list them.

 

[ktran]

Nov of 2025 came the test of the tank. Was going on a 14 day vacation and had no-one watching the tank. I have a 10g container that I use as an ATO and that was going to be it. I bought a cheap auto feeder from amazon and set it up and let it ride.

Came home to a perfect tank with 0 issues at all.

This is right after we got back 11/17/2025

Holidays came and went with only topping of fthe ATO and here is how the tank stood late December. Needed to do a lot of cleanup here and there. I was getting tired of seeing frag disks/plugs so I got a bunch of these great rocks and mounted EVERYTHING to them. No more super visable frag disks in this tank.

 

[ktran]

As she sits today 1/19/25. Need to start trimming and getting rid of a couple more corals. You can see the pink nepthea peeking in the back center which I just fragged but it's almost ready to be fragged again as it was touching the waterline.

All the fish except for the scooter blenny came out for the pic. Tank is fairly lightly stocked to keep down on nutrients, IMO this is the key to a simple tank.

 

[ktran]

Took a bit but got a "flare" shot of my scooter blenny. Not as pretty as the ruby reds but the details really are beautiful

 

[ktran]

Just about 1 year old now.

0 water changes, 0 stress. I have left for multiple long trips longest being 2 weeks and not a single hiccup. The goal with this tank was to just have something to enjoy and it's brought a lot of joy after keeping almost every coral under the sun in the past couple of years. Still looking for stereonephthya just cause it's another soft coral I love but haven't found anything yet.

Cool thing about this tank is I've bought 95% of the corals from local reefers, either through trades or local sell forums.

Continuing to keep it simple, added an IM25 EXT to the system to start trimming back corals as there's no more space and I like to keep my display tank a display. Going to move some stuff around soon after cutting some things back.

 

[Aquadude1]

Tank looks great! Whatever you're doing is working!

 

[ktran]

And the frag tank is up and fully running. Didn't change the plumbing from previous owner so had to jerry rig some stuff due to my lazyness.

IM25G EXT with a xr15 g4 pro, same as the display tank. I really don't like frag plugs and frags in the display tank so got approval to get this frag tank. Will also be farming out some jawbreakers as they grow like weeds for me and I love how each and every one is unique. Quite the fun coral to grow.

Put it on a Husky stand to have more storage space! Loving it so far, not too worried about rust as this only needs to last 1-2 years.

Currently have a nice case of dinos in the frag tank even though it's plumbed into the old system. I belive this is due to the TLF reborn substrate and a lack of bacteria covering it. I should have run it for a week or two with lights off but got too impatient. It should clear in no time though, not worried about it. (3rd pic)

 

[JumboShrimp]

Wow, what an incredible timeline of photos, documenting the journey! Great job.

 

[ktran]

Wow, what an incredible timeline of photos, documenting the journey! Great job.

It makes it very convenient with our phones taking such great pictures now. I wish I had taken the time to take pics of my old tanks from 2008 to 2012

 

[jacobreynolds6883]

Just about 1 year old now.

0 water changes, 0 stress. I have left for multiple long trips longest being 2 weeks and not a single hiccup. The goal with this tank was to just have something to enjoy and it's brought a lot of joy after keeping almost every coral under the sun in the past couple of years. Still looking for stereonephthya just cause it's another soft coral I love but haven't found anything yet.

Cool thing about this tank is I've bought 95% of the corals from local reefers, either through trades or local sell forums.

Continuing to keep it simple, added an IM25 EXT to the system to start trimming back corals as there's no more space and I like to keep my display tank a display. Going to move some stuff around soon after cutting some things back.

Gorgeous softie tank and exactly my plan with the Prostar 60 I just setup. Can you name some of the softies like the toadstool that are placed in there, the growth over a year is great.

 

[ktran]

Gorgeous softie tank and exactly my plan with the Prostar 60 I just setup. Can you name some of the softies like the toadstool that are placed in there, the growth over a year is great.

Japanese toadstool (green, front left), Weeping willow toadstool (green/teal, back right)
OG Weeping willow (tan, middle)
Pink polyp deepwater toadstool (front right)
Yellow fiji leather (right under teal toadstool)
Teal Deepwater toadstool (left/center)

Giant bali xenia (left)
Umi blue xenia(center)
Ruby red xenia (back right)

Yeti leather aka pulsing sinularia (right)
Mike C finger leather (left)
Green nepthea (very back left)
Pink nepthea (back center) can barely see in pic


I'm doing a large trimming soon if you'd like anything let me know. Should get quite a few chunky frags from what I need to cut.

 

[ktran]

Got the macro lens up and running with an Avast Porthole XL @AVAST Marine This thing is awesome, I've always just used photoboxes in the past but this changes things! Well that plus a lagoon style tank.

GSC Fuzzy Yeti - Pulsing Sinularia

 

[jman2u]

Dude I love your tank. Softies are my favorite and you hit it out of the park!

 

[ktran]

Dude I love your tank. Softies are my favorite and you hit it out of the park!

Thanks! I really just wanted something simple that I could enjoy everyday without too much work. It has met it's purpose and now that my wife is "hooked" we're planning a larger tank in the future!

 

[ktran]

Been taking a lot more pics since busting out the old camera Canon 80D and macro lense Sigma 70mm

Been going down the rabbit hole of lenses and such. Next thing to try is image stacking but I don't shoot with a tripod yet to do so.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Got the macro lens up and running with an Avast Porthole XL @AVAST Marine This thing is awesome, I've always just used photoboxes in the past but this changes things! Well that plus a lagoon style tank.

GSC Fuzzy Yeti - Pulsing Sinularia

Awesome looking photo!

 

[backbayreef]

Saw the tanks in person today - super cool & clean setup. Now I want one! lol

 

[ktran]

may be my favorite reef pic to date, lettuce nudi

 

[BriansBrain]

KISS Method FTW!

 

[ktran]

Cut a bunch and now need to cut again... everything is rolling still after not looking at the tank for a couple weeks.

Yellow fiji leather finally looking yellow too!