New IM Fusion Pro 2 50 Gallon AIO Lagoon

[Maximus93101]

Love your tank! I was wondering about the difference between an AIO and a tank with a sump. My understanding is that an AIO usually has a built in sump but I'm guessing I'm wrong??

Thank you for the compliment!

Well... "Built in sump" is a bit generous... It's more like you take the back 4" of the tank and devote it to an overflow chamber with multiple place to put heaters, return pumps and other misc equipment. Everythign is contained in the single box which keeps things a bit more simple. Having said that, I wish I went witha sump as it give you more flexibility in the long run.

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Yeah... 90% sure I am going to take a chance... I tried pinging some of the people who ordered and did not receive one yet, in order to get an update, but have not heard back yet.

Love your setup! Did you end up getting the skimmer? I’m interested in it. Did you contact mode via their website? I’m in the market for one door my IM Nuvo 40. It looks like a good fit for one of the accessory chambers.

 

[Maximus93101]

Love your setup! Did you end up getting the skimmer? I’m interested in it. Did you contact mode via their website? I’m in the market for one door my IM Nuvo 40. It looks like a good fit for one of the accessory chambers.

Awww, thank you! Enjoying the setup so far, and YES, I did get the skimmer!

Here's the thread on my impressions of it so far.

Long story short, it's a great skimmer, Mode is shipping quickly now, but you can find the EXACT same skimmer cheaper on AliExpress (Links are in the thread)

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Thanks a million, my friend. Wish you continued success on your tank!

 

[Maximus93101]

Well, I haven't posted any updates on the tank in quite a while, but I expect to do so later this week as I have some new equipment on order that should arrive later this week and have also had some coral deaths that I need to report.

The BIG news is that I had purchased a Hi Fin Red Banded Goby (Stonogobiops nematodes), except that it WASN'T a Hi Fin Red Banded Goby, it was a Yasha Goby (Stonogobiops yasha).

The thing is, I bought the fish and he immediately went into hiding with my Red Banded Pistol Shrimp and I never saw them for another two months. In fact, I thought they were both MIA, so I then bought a Yellow Watchamn Goby/Tiger Pistol Shrimp pair as replacements and they hang out in the front of the tank, and dont go into hiding when I approach the glass.

Well, the MIA pair have finally showed up again, however they are a bit skittish. It turns out the Hi Fin Banded Goby is actually a Yasha Goby (Which IMHO is a much cooler fish) I simply never saw them once I put them in the tank and forgot the exact fish that I bought, because i am a mental midget, ;0)

Stay tuned later this week for an equipment update.

 

[RobbieMaynard]

I had a yasha goby that I got small. He kept swimming into the overlflow in my evo. Otherwise hid in rocks all day. Then one day he jumped out during a water change. Moral of the story if it’s small get overflow guards and a cover for tank. Good luck. But they are beautiful.

 

[Maximus93101]

Well, it's been way too long since I last updted this post, but Ihave made some hardware additions, adding 2 x Aqua Illumination Nero 5 powerheads. I was having issue keepign some of my "Easy SPS Test Frags" alive and I was pretty sure it was because of in adequate flow form the ReefWave 25 (Spoiler Alert: That was NOT the case). I know have the to Nero 5's providing the majority of the flow with the ReefWave 25 pushing flow along the back wall and out front to be suspended by the Nero 5's. That seems to be working quite nicely.

I also ran into some random algae issue. Not sure exactly what it was, but you can see the effects below



The good news is that I doesed with MicroBacter Clean and MicroBacter Razer and it was all but eliminated in about a week. I give high marks to these two products!

Also, in an atmept to stbalize PH and ALK, I am using my DOS to dose Kalkwasser, with a rule that once it hits 8.35 to stop dosing. this has worked VERY well at keeping my PH extremely stable with a .1 dip at midnight. Otherwise the PH is very consistent!

Same with Alk. I have my DOS programed to keep ALK at 9 based on what my Trident reads and so far the results have been quite favorable.

Lastly... It may be a bit excessive, but.... Lets just say that I plan to upgrade the tank to something larger and with a sump in about a year.

Bulk Reef Supply and SalwaterAquarium.com are offering Neptune Sky's for 25% off, so I pulled the trigger on a second light. This will be overkill as far as power is concerend, but I plan to turn them down and use both lights to get a more difused and even light over the tank until I upgrade to the larger tank.

 

[Maximus93101]

It's been a while since I have made an update and there is LOTS to discuss.

First, equipment updates - I had some issues with my Nero 5's siezing up on me, so they have been RMA'ed to Aqua Illumination and should reveive the replacements next week. In the meantime, I swapped out my stock MIghtyJet midsize (538 GPH) for a Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 WiFi Controllable Pump (530-1450 GPH) The difference being that the Sicce is now directly controllable with the APEX-EL, AND the extra flow allows my to use 4 1/2" Loc-Line Random Flow Generators on the return lines. I really thoiught I would have to dial down the 1450 GPH pump, but I am running it at full tilt and getting what I would consider a medium flow on the tank.

I also made an udate to my lights. I had two Neptune SKY's over the tank and they were just overkill. Also, going into some LFS around me I realized that the SKY's didn't really produce the krispness that I see in some of the stores around me, so I swapped out the SKY's (At this writing they are available for sale in the marketplace) for a Radion XR15 G6 Pro and so far I have been very happy with the swap.

Another issue I had with the tank was an outbeak of some sort of slimy, stringy algae (See video in post 87 above) I had used Microbacter Clean and MB Razor whcih got rid of it initially, but then it started to come back again. This time, after watching some of the laters BRS videos, I tried 8 jars of copepods to act as diatome predators, and so far that has resolved my issues with flying colors! It took approximately 10 days to go from algae growing on my corals by the hour to the issue beiong all but eliminated. I am now a huge fan of this method.

Livestock changes include the addition of a standard firefish as well as a baby One Spot Foxface. Both fish have acclimated well, but I think I may have rewached my current fish limit for this tank.

Also about 2 moths ago I decided to make a change in the direction the tank was going to go. I had originally wanted to go SPS, but in a small 50 gallon tank without a sump, this has proven to be quite challenging, so I will go more of a mixed reef, with a heavy emphasis on LPS for the time being and maybe trying SPS once the tank matures a bit more. I am starting to see coraline algae growth, so a couple more months and then maybe I'l try some "easy mode" SPS.

Added an awesome 10" (Inflated) elegance as well as a Green on Red open brain and a white with green pearlescence bubble coral. So far all are doing well, but the Elegance is just spectacular at this time!

 

[Chris4reef]

Looks good! I am thinking about buying a 50 lagoon as well.

 

[stephydawn]

Nice tank! I recently built an AIO 75 gallon. I’m still working out the kinks but so far so good. I am interested in how fast your sailfin tang grows. They have two babies at my LFS and I was thinking of getting one if it could stay in the tank a few years. I have no plans of upgrading sizes in the future. (I wish I could, but I have no room).

 

[Maximus93101]

Nice tank! I recently built an AIO 75 gallon. I’m still working out the kinks but so far so good. I am interested in how fast your sailfin tang grows. They have two babies at my LFS and I was thinking of getting one if it could stay in the tank a few years. I have no plans of upgrading sizes in the future. (I wish I could, but I have no room).

Actually, the sailfin has grown a little, but thankfully not as fast as I thought. I figure I have about 1 1/2 - 2 years before I have to either get rid of him or upgrade, but I plan on upgrading around April/May of this year so I dont think it will be a big problem. He has been a great fish so far.

 

[evo187]

any updates?

 

[Maximus93101]

It's been quite a while since I last updated this thread and lots of changes have happened since then, so I will update accordingly.

The biggest change is that I got my first delivery of SPS and Acropora from the World Wide Coral WWC Coral Club. (Essentially 5 frags a month for three months.) I received nine frags today, 5 from the club membership as well as a 4 frag "Mystery Pack". Here's a list of what I received...

Mystery Coral Frag Pack
1) Bi-Color Favites
2) Kiwi Lithophylion
3) Master Blaster Cyph
4) Redbull Zoa

Coral Club Subscription
1) Yellow Tips Acro
2) King Willy Acro
3) Mystic Sunset Montipora
4) Aequituberculata Montipora
5) Purple Polyps Birdsnest

I tried to link to WWC wherever possible, but some had no links as they were not currently on sale except for being reserved for Coral Club membership (Best guess)

I will post more pictures in a day or two after everything settles in and starts to get acclimated.

 

[Maximus93101]

Here are some pictures of the frags I received. (Appologies in advance for the lousy iPhone pictures woithout an orange filter)

From left to right...
- King Willy Acro - This coral had a leaky bag and I didn't notice until after I took this picture that it appears to be losiong flesh on the bottom. The other side looks fantastic, however this one may not make it. We'll have to wait and see
- Yellow Tips Acro
- Purple Polyps Birdsnest

From left to right...
- Aequituberculata Montipora (eg standard green montipora)
- Master Blaster Cyphastrea
- Kiwi Lithophylion

From left to right...
- Mystic Sunset Montipora
- Bi-Color Favites

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Here are some pictures of the frags I received. (Appologies in advance for the lousy iPhone pictures woithout an orange filter)

From left to right...
- King Willy Acro - This coral had a leaky bag and I didn't notice until after I took this picture that it appears to be losiong flesh on the bottom. The other side looks fantastic, however this one may not make it. We'll have to wait and see
- Yellow Tips Acro
- Purple Polyps Birdsnest

From left to right...
- Aequituberculata Montipora (eg standard green montipora)
- Master Blaster Cyphastrea
- Kiwi Lithophylion

From left to right...
- Mystic Sunset Montipora
- Bi-Color Favites

Nice looking frags!

 

[Maximus93101]

Nice looking frags!

Thanks! I was very happy with them. Can't wait to see what shows up in months #2 and #3

 

[HenryTran]

how is the aps stand? was thinking of getting one.

 

[Maximus93101]

how is the aps stand? was thinking of getting one.

I give it about a 7 out of 10. It is sturdy, attractive, comes with a shelf, however my main gripe is that front doors and sides are very thin matrial that you cant really screw into in order to mount things. Other than that, it has served me quite well.

 

[lex8]

Well, the last 24 houra have seen tremendous progress on the tank.

The tank arrived, along with stand and lighting and I was able to get it assembled. I am happy wioth the APS stand in white and the alluminum frame seems to be very well built and was easy to assemble, HOWEVER, the instructions were not immediately clear. I had a couple of questions regarding the assembly, but was able to figure it out eventually. Assembly time ~90 minutes, but if I were to do it again, I could probably do it in half that time.

The actual aquarium itself went on top of the stand without issue, but I had to enlist the help of my neighbor Pat in the apartment accross from mine (He too is a reefer!)

The Neptune Sky went onto the Radion XR30 mounting arm without issue, EXCEPT. The bolts included with the XR30 arm were too short to use on the Sky. Luckily, the Neptune Sky provided bolts that allowed the proper mounting to the XR30 arm.

Hey look! I have a tank! Now, I just need to wait until Friday, where I will receive my R/O unit, sand (Fiji Pink) and Marco Rocks. I will then take my time to do an NSA layout with the BRS nod towards providing habitat for the fish. I am kind of looking forward to this part, but also a bit terrified. We shall see how it turns out.

One thing that slightly bugs me is that the left door is slightly lower that the right. Nothing that cnat be fixed with a washer, but not sure why this is the case.

That butcher block platform is brilliant! I just bought the same tank/stand and being able to roll it out for maintenance would be more than ideal. How's it working out?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Curious if you have any updates!