Mango's First IM10G

[mango113]

Long time lurker, first time poster and first time reef keeper. I've kept FW aquariums (monster fish, planted tanks, dwarf shrimp, etc.) for 10+ years, but this is my first attempt at a SW aquarium. Safe to say.. I'm hooked. The tank was filled on June 6th, 2020, so it's about to hit the 5 month mark. My favorite types of corals are Euphyllia followed by micromussa (previously Acans.. I still tend to call them that) and ricordeas, so it's shaping out to be a heavily LPS tank with some softies.

Equipment:
- IM Fusion Pro 10G w/ stock pump
- AI Prime 16HD w/ 3DReefing Diffuser. 9 hour photoperiod (1PM-10PM) with 1 hour ramp up/down on each end.
- inTank Media Basket w/ filter floss, ChemiPure Blue nano pack changed monthly, & Seachem matrix
- Hydor 25Watt heater w/ Inkbird temp controller set at 78F
- AutoAqua Smart ATO light w/ 2G reservoir
- EZ Water Level Adjuster
- VCA 1/2" RFG
- BRS 5 stage RODI unit
- Tropic Marin Pro salt mix
- 9lb special grade reef sand
- 6lb Marc Reef Saver dry rock held together with Aquamaxx Reef Welder

Fish:
- Red Firefish (11/22)

Invertebrates/CUC:
- 1x Trochus Snail
- 1x Florida Cerith
- 4x Nassarius Snails
- 8x Dwarf Cerith
- 1x Feather Duster

Hitchhikers (known):
- Pineapple sponges
- Mini feather dusters
- Aiptasia came in with my Pink Goni, removed manually
- Vermetid snails came in with my frogspawn, removed manually

Corals (in order of addition):
- Blue & Green Florida Ricordea (8/26), three pieces w/ 1-3 mouths each
- Green Star Polyps (8/30), 1"x1" patch
- Pink Goniopora (9/11), 1"x1" patch
- Green Trumpet (9/11), single head
- Purple Body Green Tip Torch (9/12), single head
- Duncan (9/12), 2.5 heads
- Green Body Pinkish Tip Frogspawn (9/19), single head
- Red Micromussa (10/3), ~8 heads
- Rasta Zoas (10/4), 3 heads
- Blue/Green Micromussa (11/1), 3 heads
- Green/Orange Florida Ricordea (11/14), one piece w/ 1 mouth
- Toxic Green Hammer (11/28), 1 head w/ two mouths starting to split
- Red/Blue Micromussa (11/28), 3 heads
- Green/Orange Micromussa (11/28), 2 heads

Food/Dosing:
- TDO-C2 Pellets
- Hikari Seaweed Extreme Pellets
- Frozen mysis shrimp
- Selcon
- Reef Chili
- Reef Roids
- Seachem Phytoplankton (0.5mL 2x a week during coral feedings)
- Vibrant (0.7mL every two weeks)

Some fish history..
I originally wanted to stock a single pair of clownfish in this tank, so I took a chance and introduced a pair directly after the tank cycled. They ended up having internal parasites which I treated with PraziPro. Near the end of the 2nd round of PraziPro, ich appeared. I tried treating with hypo (1.009) for over a month. Near the end of that treatment, they started having white stringy poop again. I believe PraziPro didn't fully eradicate the internal parasites and hypo merely helped to suppress it. I started treating PraziPro again with the addition of Seachem Metro+Focus soaked food. A week or so later, ich appeared again! They ended up passing within a few days of each other with the last one on 9/3. I decided to do a fallow period rather than restarting the tank as I had gotten my CUC and some softies by then. I will admit it wasn't a true fallow period since I was still adding corals during this time period. I added a red firefish and a yellow clown goby on 11/22, a full 80 day fallow period. They came from the same LFS, and this time they went through QT during the fallow period. I had to rehome the clown goby a week later since it started nipping at my micromussa polyps. I really liked its personality so was sad to see it go. At this point, I'm not sure where I want to go with stocking..

Finally, some photos taken on an iPhone 7 w/ an orange filter. 9PM is when the CW channel are at 0% for full blues before ramp down, so it's my favorite time to photograph the tank.

6/9 FTS

8/10 FTS - three views of the rockwork w/ my ill-fated pair of clowns

9/13 FTS

9/20 FTS

10/11 FTS

11/29 FTS - every coral I have is viewable in this picture except for one green ricordea which is on the other side of the island.

Thanks for taking a look! I'd be happy to answer any questions or take any pointers as I'm still learning.

 

[Mike_J]

Welcome to the salty side! Fantastic setup you have. I have to say I really enjoyed reading your write-up. The thoughtfulness and organization was appreciated. I had this nano tank too and absolutely loved it. I also love that it includes a top when most don't. Have fun with the hobby and happy reefing!

 

[mango113]

Thank you! I tried to include all the details that I remember being helpful when I was planning this tank and looking through every 10G build thread I could find. I moved the Hammer to where the Trumpet coral was to round out my little Euphyllia garden, and I really like how the tank looks now. I probably won't get anymore coral until next year, but I already feel like I'm starting to run out of space.

 

[Mike_J]

Thank you! I tried to include all the details that I remember being helpful when I was planning this tank and looking through every 10G build thread I could find. I moved the Hammer to where the Trumpet coral was to round out my little Euphyllia garden, and I really like how the tank looks now. I probably won't get anymore coral until next year, but I already feel like I'm starting to run out of space.

There's a solution to the space problem. Yup, a bigger tank! Ha!

 

[mango113]

There's a solution to the space problem. Yup, a bigger tank! Ha!

I'm already dreaming about a bigger tank! I really like the size of the IM 50 Lagoons. Only thing holding me back is that I'll most likely be moving next year. That's part of the reason why I started with a 10G for now.

I thought it'd be nice to show some before/after pics of the corals since the tank has been set up for awhile.

GSP on 8/30

GSP on 12/8

Ricordea Island on 8/26 before I got the orange ric

Ricordea Island on 12/8

My phosphates have gotten a little high in the past few weeks to 0.12ppm. This is likely due to me "overfeeding" my fire fish. Quotes because most of the pellets end up uneaten/going to the CUC because the fire fish is still easily spooked. I also started noticing some tiny pests that look like brown ocoel flatworms but are tiny (<1mm long). I've been removing them with a pipette when I see them. Not sure if this is related to the extra nutrients in the water, but I'm definitely cutting back how much food I put in the tank regardless.

 

[thewire]

Do you use the filter sock that come with the tank or just Intank bracket? How you liking the Inkbird control? I m in processing up my IM 10 too. Bought a Inkbird with intention to controller the heat as well as cooling with a fan attach to the tank. This is how I mount my PC fan. I have 3d printed the mounting arms

 

[tnw50cal]

I'm already dreaming about a bigger tank! I really like the size of the IM 50 Lagoons.

Your screwed, I have a IM Nuvo 10(about a year now) and now I have a IM 50 Lagoon(about 2 months).

 

[mango113]

Do you use the filter sock that come with the tank or just Intank bracket? How you liking the Inkbird control? I m in processing up my IM 10 too. Bought a Inkbird with intention to controller the heat as well as cooling with a fan attach to the tank. This is how I mount my PC fan. I have 3d printed the mounting arms

I don't use the stock filter sock, no. Just the InTank media basket in the first chamber. I like the Inkbird controller. I've used it for 4+ years on the FW side for various aquariums with no issues. Your fan set up is cool! It doesn't get hot enough for me to use the cooling plug feature on the controller, but I've used it for FW dwarf shrimp in the past and it's worked well.

Your screwed, I have a IM Nuvo 10(about a year now) and now I have a IM 50 Lagoon(about 2 months).

Haha, seems like I'll be following the same path as you then when the time comes. Looks like that will be in a few months at this rate..

 

[tnw50cal]

Do you use the filter sock that come with the tank or just Intank bracket?

I use both.
All my tanks are bare bottom and I use the socks for sucking/cleaning detritus day. I just take the basket out,put in the sock and suck what detritus out I can get to with a turkey baster and squirt that into the sock then blast everything with the baster to get what's left into the water column, turn the pump all the way up and let the sock filter it out. Then I remove the sock,put the basket back in and clean the the sock for the next time.

 

[thewire]

I use both.
All my tanks are bare bottom and I use the socks for sucking/cleaning detritus day. I just take the basket out,put in the sock and suck what detritus out I can get to with a turkey baster and squirt that into the sock then blast everything with the baster to get what's left into the water column, turn the pump all the way up and let the sock filter it out. Then I remove the sock,put the basket back in and clean the the sock for the next time.

Good idea! Thanks

 

[thewire]

I don't use the stock filter sock, no. Just the InTank media basket in the first chamber. I like the Inkbird controller. I've used it for 4+ years on the FW side for various aquariums with no issues. Your fan set up is cool! It doesn't get hot enough for me to use the cooling plug feature on the controller, but I've used it for FW dwarf shrimp in the past and it's worked well.

Haha, seems like I'll be following the same path as you then when the time comes. Looks like that will be in a few months at this rate..

Cool. Are you using the Inkbird ITC-308S Aquarium? Just bought that

 

[brett_schn]

Following along. Beautiful tank!

 

[mango113]

I use both.
All my tanks are bare bottom and I use the socks for sucking/cleaning detritus day. I just take the basket out,put in the sock and suck what detritus out I can get to with a turkey baster and squirt that into the sock then blast everything with the baster to get what's left into the water column, turn the pump all the way up and let the sock filter it out. Then I remove the sock,put the basket back in and clean the the sock for the next time.

That's a good idea to get some use out of the filter sock! I stir up small sections of my sand bed whenever I do a WC, so maybe I'll throw the filter sock in during WCs to catch the small particles.

Cool. Are you using the Inkbird ITC-308S Aquarium? Just bought that

Yes, that exact one for this tank. There is a wireless version that lets you monitor temps on your phone, but I didn't feel a need for it.

Following along. Beautiful tank!

Thank you!

Another set of progression pictures:

Trumpet on 9/11 - You can see the two mouths

Trumpet on 12/16 - still splitting, slowly but surely

Took some FTS yesterday to end the year. I'll be out of town for two weeks, so I'll have some nice comparison photos for when I get back. I'll try to remember to take pictures of the as-is status of the tank when I get back before I do maintenance.

Orange filter during normal spectrum

Orange filter ~9PM when CW channels are at 0%

Side view

Bonus close up the Euphyllia garden

 

[thewire]

how you liking the AutoAqua Smart ATO lite? I am seeing it for sale at Aliexpress/Fleabay and wondering if there are the same one?
Still debating between AutoAqua, Reefbreeders or JBJ. But refused to spend 50% cost of the tank or light!

 

[mango113]

how you liking the AutoAqua Smart ATO lite? I am seeing it for sale at Aliexpress/Fleabay and wondering if there are the same one?
Still debating between AutoAqua, Reefbreeders or JBJ. But refused to spend 50% cost of the tank or light!

This is the first and only ATO I've ever used, so I don't have anything to compare it to. It's been working great in the ~6 months I've had it though! No issues whatsoever. It's very responsive and turns on a couple times a day for <1 second since the sump area is so small.

 

[SebastianM]

how you liking the AutoAqua Smart ATO lite? I am seeing it for sale at Aliexpress/Fleabay and wondering if there are the same one?
Still debating between AutoAqua, Reefbreeders or JBJ. But refused to spend 50% cost of the tank or light!

Auto Aqua Smart micro is awesome, I have one I got off of Amazon and it has worked wonders. Not sure I would trust Ali express though

 

[thewire]

Auto Aqua Smart micro is awesome, I have one I got off of Amazon and it has worked wonders. Not sure I would trust Ali express though

Yea..i might be going for Reefbreeders Prism. Are you putting your sensor on 3rd chamber? How high the water level goes?

 

[Dark_Knightt]

Absolutely love the tank, would love to have one. lucky you with the trumpet coral, i have a purple one with green interior, and tbh its pretty small and i havent seen too much growth, i never used to be able to tell if it was happy or not XD. its doing good though, wish it would split tho.

 

[tnw50cal]

Absolutely love the tank, would love to have one. lucky you with the trumpet coral, i have a purple one with green interior, and tbh its pretty small and i havent seen too much growth, i never used to be able to tell if it was happy or not XD. its doing good though, wish it would split tho.

Feed it.

 

[bboileau92]

I'm already dreaming about a bigger tank! I really like the size of the IM 50 Lagoons. Only thing holding me back is that I'll most likely be moving next year. That's part of the reason why I started with a 10G for now.

I thought it'd be nice to show some before/after pics of the corals since the tank has been set up for awhile.

GSP on 8/30

GSP on 12/8

Ricordea Island on 8/26 before I got the orange ric

Ricordea Island on 12/8

My phosphates have gotten a little high in the past few weeks to 0.12ppm. This is likely due to me "overfeeding" my fire fish. Quotes because most of the pellets end up uneaten/going to the CUC because the fire fish is still easily spooked. I also started noticing some tiny pests that look like brown ocoel flatworms but are tiny (<1mm long). I've been removing them with a pipette when I see them. Not sure if this is related to the extra nutrients in the water, but I'm definitely cutting back how much food I put in the tank regardless.

If you're looking to reduce phosphates, I'd recommend feeding frozen foods instead of pellets. I like pe calanus or lrs reef frenzy nano for a firefish and lps.