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Charris
Active Member
Not a lot of changes going on, I ended up adding bio spira as well to help with the cycle and that seems to have helped. Ammonia is slowly going down and my nitrites are showing 1 on my Red Sea test kit. Salinity is steady around 1.24, ph is steady around 7.8 and my temp is around 78.5. I’m only about a week in so we are on track. I’m running no media currently just the return and an mp10. Let me know if you guys think anything is off. Fishless cycle and no plans to stock anytime soon.
Ryan Turner
Community Member
I have the same tank. Im using the IM caddy 3 tier on the left side and an eshops nano skimmer next to it. On the right side im using a floss holder instead of the sock and my cobalt heater and carbon to the left of the floss holder. I have an mp10wqd with a nem cover on the right side tword the front set on reef mode (not sure if thats the best placement or not) I also used the IM twirly jets instead of the ones that came with it and a sicce 1.5 pump. I have a a360we hanging over it for now. Im switching to a blackbox though and controlling with a reef pi. My rock work looks close to yours too. Im a newb by all definition though so who knows if im doing it right. I still need to do an intro thread on it and my IM 10.Temp is stable and Dr Tims has been added. I will follow his plan for a few weeks and let it run empty for a couple more.
Fellow IM 25 lagooners, what do you run for media?
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Charris
Active Member
Gets some pics up, it’s a fun, addicting and expensive hobby! I have my mp10 on the right but more towards the back, I run it on various modes throughout the day. Once I am through the cycle I am thinking about getting an icecap skimmer. I’ll run the sock with chemipure blue in it and the stock caddy with Purigen and some other media.
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Charris
Active Member
Ammonia seems to be under control, I’ve seen a good drop overnight and the nitrites are still running at 1 on a Red Sea test. Ph has dropped a bit to 7.8, salinity steady around 1.025, temp around upper 78*. I’ll leave it be for a few days before a water change. Salifert tests, random flow nozzles on Monday and I should be good for a while!
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I am cycling the same tank currently. For media I am using 1L of Seachem Matrix in the rear inner chamber and have only filter pads on the outer chambers in the media baskets (1 media basket that came with it, and the other one is the holder for the filter sock that I cut off and added a filter pad onl. Once the cycling is done, I will add chemipure blue an eventually Purigen, GFO, etc as needed.
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Charris
Active Member
Nitrites finally dropped, showing .05 on a Red Sea test. Ammonia still showing under .15 on both seneye and salifert. Nitrate showing around 50 on Red Sea test. Haven’t seen diatoms or algae yet but a water change is coming this weekend. Got the random flow nozzles in from vivid creative aquatics and I like them. See more water movement and they fit will with the tank. I have an apex upgrade coming and a skimmer coming soon too. It’s all coming together nicely!
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Charris
Active Member
First water change this weekend and upgraded to an apex classic, ph/orp/salinity probes all working well. Did some cord organizing and check my parameters, cycle appears done! Ammonia and nitrites are 0, nitrates around 20. Going to try out the auqa shield uv for the tank and hoping to find my skimmer soon. First fish in two weeks!
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Charris
Active Member
Had a long weekend trip down to NOLA and came back to no issues! Ammonia, nitrites are at 0, nitrates are around 30. Skimmer is breaking in and hooked up the UV today. I ordered my clean up crew and will do another water change this weekend. Stabling out!
Robert Binz
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What's wrong with the stock stand?
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Charris
Active Member
Absolutely nothing, I didn’t like the price tag and I needed a white stand to match my furniture and style of our house...wife’s requirement!
Nick Steele
Valuable Member
Glad you had a nice trip without any issues! Tanks looking good, Can’t wait to watch it full in!!!
Stock stands imo are all worth doing your own diy stand or getting one made imo. I’d love a Red Sea tank but don’t want their stand or sumps.
Robert Binz
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Fascinating. I've been considering them just because they can come with a built-in sump lol
Robert Binz
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Makes sense! Mine told me I can use the extra bedroom as a fish room so she never has to look at it lol
Nick Steele
Valuable Member
Some like that others rather have the space to do what they want how they want. Also if and when I get a bigger tank I want a bigger sump then what comes with most plug and play systems and I can set it up how I want.
Nothing wrong with them though just personal preference.
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Charris
Active Member
Completely freaking out at work because I can see my pH dropped to 7.6 and I had no clue why. Come home and it’s 85 degrees in the house and I can safely assume our fireplace (gas) was left on all day. Cue open doors and windows and fan blowing on the tank. It is now rising rapidly, 7.8 and clean up crew added! Water change on Sunday and fish next weekend!
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Charris
Active Member
A couple new updates: skimmer is in, aquamaxx nf1 and it is working great. Not pulling anything grimy...no real bio load. Took a little to get it to fit but i got it! After the ph scare I bought a mini clip on fan that I will have on my apex outlet to turn on when ph drops below 8. I highly recommend this fan, cheap on amazon. Bought the app pocket marine and it seems handy. I tested everything and all seems well! Gonna add some coral soon and probably a high fun banded goby this weekend!
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