NC Jim
Community Member
I never thought this would be me posting a thread like this but I have enjoyed so many of your tanks that I felt like sharing even if this is not as successful overall. Maybe someone will learn from this both the good and the bad.
TANK: Innovative Marine 75EXT. I wish I had space for the extra foot a 4 ft 120 offers but this was the compromise with the boss. Tank quality is excellent and I really like the aluminum stand.
LIGHTING: I have an Aquatic Life T5 hybrid with two actinic and two Coral+ bulbs. I know those choices will not be popular with the blue plus crowd but my wife and I both really do not like blue tanks especially in our living room next to the tv. The actinic is a very good spectrum for coralline I have read and I do like the extra wide spectrum. They are a bit dimmer but with the LED mixed in I am fine losing some par. The coral plus are a nice balanced whiter bulb that will allow me to run the BRS recommended spectrum for the LED’s which we like the look of.
LED: This was the tough choice. I was going to go with either 2 Radion XR15’s or two Kessils but in the end I went with 3 AI Prime 16HD’s. The performance of the Primes on a 12 x 12 in the BRS video convinced me that in a shallower tank like the IM, 3 of these with the T5 would give me good coverage, looks and Par. I also opted for the 3DReefing diffusers and have been very pleased with the slightly toned down disco and gentle shimmer. It’s a very nice look in our opinion.
Sump: Went with an Icecap reef sump 30. Very pleased overall with it. Big enough return chamber for my two Varios 2 return pumps, nice size middle chamber for a fuge and I added a Klir roller filter as well.
Aquascape: I opted for Marco rock and overall I’m alright with that decision. The pieces are huge so I had to break some and in the end I wish I had broken more down before cycling but it will be ok. It’s almost impossible to drill into at least for my drill even with masonry bits so I went the super glue route once I had it stacked in tank. Still a few more places I want to glue but overall it’s complete. When it’s covered in coralline algae you won’t be able to tell it’s not real rock so in that respect it’s very nice.
Still to come...
Pumps: I have 1 Tunze 6095 and will be getting a second soon and I am very happy with the pump. I also have two Sicce Xstream wave pump 2120’s on opposite sides along the back glass on the wave surfer controller.
Top: I will be getting a cover as well to stop the jumpers
Fish: I have two Davinci clowns in quarantine now that go in next week. Rest of the planned stock list is a fairy wrasse (Rhomboid hopefully) flasher wrasse (McCoskers) Tomini Tang. If I can find a few Randall’s damsels I would like to add those and possibly a mandarin down the road. My wife wants a Midas blenny so that may happen as well.
Debatables...
Bare bottom: I made the tough decision to go bare bottom and believe me I love sand so this was tough. I just felt this time around I would try something different and I like the ability to add a lot of flow for better SPS health. I lost the ability to add a number of my favorite fish so this was indeed a tough one.
No Skimmer: This one will probably raise some eyebrows but I just believe in today’s world with filter rollers, water changes, tunable refugium lights and awesome skimmer knowledge that not everything is necessary for success. Since I like the refugium personally and I was really excited to add a filter roller to not have to deal with socks I opted, at least for now, not to add a skimmer. PH has been 8.3 and DKH has been 8.7 and that’s obviously a baseline with no livestock or kalk/two part so I think with the fuge running opposite the main display I will be alright but time will tell.
Thanks for reading and I’ll try to update as I do things to the tank. I enjoy seeing all of your reefs and reading all the successes and failures of the community, NCJim.
TANK: Innovative Marine 75EXT. I wish I had space for the extra foot a 4 ft 120 offers but this was the compromise with the boss. Tank quality is excellent and I really like the aluminum stand.
LIGHTING: I have an Aquatic Life T5 hybrid with two actinic and two Coral+ bulbs. I know those choices will not be popular with the blue plus crowd but my wife and I both really do not like blue tanks especially in our living room next to the tv. The actinic is a very good spectrum for coralline I have read and I do like the extra wide spectrum. They are a bit dimmer but with the LED mixed in I am fine losing some par. The coral plus are a nice balanced whiter bulb that will allow me to run the BRS recommended spectrum for the LED’s which we like the look of.
LED: This was the tough choice. I was going to go with either 2 Radion XR15’s or two Kessils but in the end I went with 3 AI Prime 16HD’s. The performance of the Primes on a 12 x 12 in the BRS video convinced me that in a shallower tank like the IM, 3 of these with the T5 would give me good coverage, looks and Par. I also opted for the 3DReefing diffusers and have been very pleased with the slightly toned down disco and gentle shimmer. It’s a very nice look in our opinion.
Sump: Went with an Icecap reef sump 30. Very pleased overall with it. Big enough return chamber for my two Varios 2 return pumps, nice size middle chamber for a fuge and I added a Klir roller filter as well.
Aquascape: I opted for Marco rock and overall I’m alright with that decision. The pieces are huge so I had to break some and in the end I wish I had broken more down before cycling but it will be ok. It’s almost impossible to drill into at least for my drill even with masonry bits so I went the super glue route once I had it stacked in tank. Still a few more places I want to glue but overall it’s complete. When it’s covered in coralline algae you won’t be able to tell it’s not real rock so in that respect it’s very nice.
Still to come...
Pumps: I have 1 Tunze 6095 and will be getting a second soon and I am very happy with the pump. I also have two Sicce Xstream wave pump 2120’s on opposite sides along the back glass on the wave surfer controller.
Top: I will be getting a cover as well to stop the jumpers
Fish: I have two Davinci clowns in quarantine now that go in next week. Rest of the planned stock list is a fairy wrasse (Rhomboid hopefully) flasher wrasse (McCoskers) Tomini Tang. If I can find a few Randall’s damsels I would like to add those and possibly a mandarin down the road. My wife wants a Midas blenny so that may happen as well.
Debatables...
Bare bottom: I made the tough decision to go bare bottom and believe me I love sand so this was tough. I just felt this time around I would try something different and I like the ability to add a lot of flow for better SPS health. I lost the ability to add a number of my favorite fish so this was indeed a tough one.
No Skimmer: This one will probably raise some eyebrows but I just believe in today’s world with filter rollers, water changes, tunable refugium lights and awesome skimmer knowledge that not everything is necessary for success. Since I like the refugium personally and I was really excited to add a filter roller to not have to deal with socks I opted, at least for now, not to add a skimmer. PH has been 8.3 and DKH has been 8.7 and that’s obviously a baseline with no livestock or kalk/two part so I think with the fuge running opposite the main display I will be alright but time will tell.
Thanks for reading and I’ll try to update as I do things to the tank. I enjoy seeing all of your reefs and reading all the successes and failures of the community, NCJim.
