My 1st tank, Innovative Marine 100g Ext

[neo1738]

Installed BT current USA and so happy with the way the light looks. Also installed the seren scape speakers which is fun. CUC arrives Thursday to help keep algae in check. Protein skimmer is finally skimming and not just overflowing which means there is enough waste on the water for it. Did some maintenance today. Next is jump starting corraline algae growth and finishing stocking. Green chromis are likely next followed by a flame angel.

 

[neo1738]

Electrician finally got here to install gfci breaker and move tank outlet to generator panel! Very excited the fish will be safe even for extended power outages (although we never get any since we got our generator figure that out lol). I'm having trouble with my skimmer, even raised 1" and set lowest setting bubbles over. This causes salt creep everywhere! I know I have enough nutrients in the tank my DT has gha growing more and more lately. Yellow Tang arrives tomorrow. CUC of snails and 2 fighting conchs are cleaning my rocks nicely. Any advice on skimmer would be great.

 

[neo1738]

Newest fish added today... meet Fin!

 

[neo1738]

Decided since I have gha I have extra nutrients and got another chaeto ball. This one is much healthier and larger than the 1st I got from Algae barn. Also picked up a small usb fountain pump to circulate the fuge. Hoping this combined with more light hours (8 from 4) the chaeto will thrive and slowly w less nutrients will overtake the gha. We shall see.

 

[neo1738]

It appears my changes are slowly working. As I have read everything should generally be done slow and steady I'm very happy with the progress. My Yellow Tang is mowing the algae down. Next shot is feeding time, loving the life in the tank. Even realizing the CUC can be interesting to watch at night as the conch searches then sifts the sand.

 

[[Cameron]]

Curious to know about how much water flows into the sump when you switch the return off?

Couple things I noticed are you rarely want gate valves on the emergency drains. I cannot really tell but it looks like you have at least one on an emergency drain. Another issue might be drip loops on your electrical that is attached to the back of the stand. It could be the camera angle and everything is good, but you definitely want to make sure every plug there has a drip loop on it.

 

[neo1738]

I do have gate valves on all drains it is wide open and tested before installation but good point. There are drip loops

 

[Nick Steele]

Any updates? My next upgrade will be a IM 100 ext

 

[neo1738]

Thanks for checking out my thread. Haven't posted in a while bc mostly just trying to keep the tank fine tuned and get biodiversity up for eventual corals. Also had some GHA issues but more water changes fixed that. I now have 2 Royal Gramma which hang out together, 1 Black Cap, 1 yellow tang, 1 ocellaris clown, 1 mocha gladiator clown, 3 blue green chromis, snails and I just added 6 peppermint shrimp to deal with recent aiptasia outbreak (like 5 or 6 colonies noted). I have a good amount of copepods now too which is fun to see at night! Had 1 BG Chromis jump the tank and found him dead on the floor otherwise no jumpers. Loving the tank, really quiet when hooked up properly and the sump is doing great as well. I tried a few times to do chaeto but for some reason couldn't get it to grow. Love the tank.

Also see you're in PSL my sister lives there and I'll be in Cinnamon Beach this week, small world!

 

[Cwentz758]

I got a Clearview lid for my 100EXT well worth it. Still has a good rimless look

 

[terraincognita]

It appears my changes are slowly working. As I have read everything should generally be done slow and steady I'm very happy with the progress. My Yellow Tang is mowing the algae down. Next shot is feeding time, loving the life in the tank. Even realizing the CUC can be interesting to watch at night as the conch searches then sifts the sand.

Love this form of GHA though.

honestly if I could somehow keep that and no other algae’s I’d almost want it

 

[SPS2020]

Following along, same tank.

The IM net top is nice and is customizable.

I utilize my 10g ATO sitting next to the tank as my saltwater mixing station for H2O changes. So it is a multi-tasker. I have a circulation pump at the bottom to mix salt, a PMUP to transfer saltwater for the change and a Kamoer Pro for the ATO pump on a schedule.

 

[neo1738]

Been a long time since any updates. 1st) I have corals finally! 2) My fish had some political issues lost 3 green chromis and finally lost Vader (Black Cap Basslet) due to suicide (jumped out of the tank). That being said he was a bully and since he left the remaining 8 fish are very happy. This is absolutely a hobby of slow and steady wins the race. I finally stopped having diatoms after about 14 months, cyano comes and goes but cutting lights, cutting feeds and some and extra water changes help. Have been having what I think is H2S in sand (turning black) however not sure as I have 1800 gph return pump at 70% should be plenty for 100 gal tank and 30g of sump water. I gave up on refugium all chaeto balls died on me no matter how hard I tried. I did get a UV light from BRS self contained w pump and put that in my fuge instead. Thanks to this forum for all the support and information! Got a couple green mushroom frags from a friend, picked up a Zoa, Lord Brain Coral, and Watermelon Bubble Tip Anenome from Live Aquaria. Hoping clowns eventually host in future. WBTA is pooping in picture lol.

 

[neo1738]

So turns out it's black algae. Got 25 Banded trochus snails and they are cleaning the tank and rocks like you wouldn't believe. I'll try to get a post. That being said need a sand sifter for the BHA as it's getting darker. Just glad it's not H2S, didn't think I should have that but it being on top of the sand and now having hairs growing from it was a pretty clear giveaway lol. It's still amazing to me after 18 months that as you tackle one problem another exists and you have to tackle that problem. Totally what I was warned about though so I'm ok with it. It's a really fun (but expensive) hobby that's for sure. Daughter loves to feed algae to the tang when we don't have outbreaks and help flip snails etc. Did start adding Kalkwasser to my ATO to increase PH a little for the corals. Anemone been in the tank just over a week hasn't moved from his original spot and is eating brine shrimp 1x/week I feed him. Hoping in the next few months the clowns will host. That's it for now.

 

[neo1738]

Decided to try some coral! Have has this WBTA for about a month and he/she's thriving. Hoping clowns will host in few months.

 

[neo1738]

Got a bunch of coral from WWC... have to say very impressed with them so far. Followed their instructions and acclimated to tank for 18 hrs then dipped in Coral rx. No worms or critters so all went back into tank. Also been dosing mag and calc as my dkh consistently 8.5-10 w ph 8.4 didn't want to add any more kalkwasser. Mag was 1040 now at 1360 and calc was 378 now at 433. Very happy and hoping they all thrive so i can mount them in my rocks and add to sand bed! Switched primarily feeding pellet to concentrated copepods w every other day alagae for yellow tang and 2x/week frozen for rest of fish. Tank has never been cleaner lol. Nitrates were 20 and PO4 1ppm will reeval after couple weeks and couple water changes.

 

[neo1738]

Water parameter have been pretty solid for past 2 mo (Alk, Ph, ca, Mg, Po4, No3, etc) but corals mostly dieing. Did see peppermint shrimp eat my hammer head but rest should have made it. Got to thinking and I think my Current USA IC Pro lights are the problem. So I went big and got 2x Kessil AP9X. Hoping this is the key to getting coral to thrive. Love the cleaner look and way it lights the tank.

 

[neo1738]

Well couldn't grow corraline w old lights after 1.5 yrs and in less than 1 week w Kessils starting to see spots on all my plastics! I'm taking this as a good sign the lights are helping.