reef-rc IM Fusion 20v1

[reef-rc]

Hi. This is Reef-RC. This is my 2nd Reef2Reef tank thread!

It's the second because not to long ago I started with the Evo to get my feet back into reefing after a long break away from the hobby with my oldest girl. Here's the link to the other nano. Needless to say and you all know how addictive this hobby can be, I am starting my 2nd nano tank.

Tank - IM Fusion 20

So here are the specs:

• Tank - IM Fusion 20
• Sand - CARIBSEA ARAG-ALIVE Fiji Pink Sand
• Rocks - Dry reef rocks from 10 yrs. back. Currently being cycle in RODI water.
• Protein skimmer - IM DeskTop Ghost Skimmer
• Filtration - dry reef rocks, marinepure, prefilter pads, carbon and skimmer
• Heater - Cobalt 75Watt
• Lighting – Kessil A360W-E Tuna Blue
• Circulation - IM SpinStream for 1 return nozzle. Other standard loc-line return nozzle
• Circulation - Ecotech VORTECH MP10QD + Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6040

Other equipment:

• Controller - Neptune APEX..still deciding how I will do this given I already have APEX Jr sitting next to this one
• Neptune low-profile Leak Detector (I am adding 1 additional leak detector for this tank)
• Neptune PH probe
• Neptune Temp probe
• Marine Pure Biofilter Media for extra bacteria growth
• Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit for tank cycling
• Tunze OSMOLATOR 3155 Auto Top off
• 2.5G Jug for top off RODI + Kalwasser
• Salt - Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Transitioning to HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt Mix once Reef Crystals is gone

Location / Furniture:

• In the study alone side Fluval Evo 13.5G mix reef. Here's a shot of the work in progress this weekend in preparation for the setup.

High Level Plan
The plan is to have a low nutrition reef tank with mostly LPS and SPS. There are currently a few LPS and SPS from the Evo which will I frag and/or transfer over once this new tank stabilize. Other than that, most livestock will be new.

So that's it! The game plan to have the tank and furniture in the prepared spot by end of the weekend.

 

[bir4y]

Tagging along! The peninsula looks like a fantastic tank, better than the evo lol... can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

[reef-rc]

I had considered the Fusion Peninsula 20 when it was offered last month at discounted prices. I got the IM Fusion Nano 20 gently used from a local reefer here on R2R.

 

[reef-rc]

So I have started cycling some decade old rocks I had for the tank. For the passed 4-5 days I had put the rocks through 2 cycles of 2-3 days of RO/DI water to remove dead matters, sand and dust.

For being decade old rocks, the smell from this stuff was very fresh...very bad smell.

Earlier today I finally placed the rocks into the "quarantine" tank I had started a few months back but not yet finished. This basically contained a pump, heater, light and of course saltwater. I did end up using old water from the other Evo nano tank I had started collecting during water change in the hope to speed up the process somewhat. I used about 5G of old water and the remaining was what was already running in the quarantine tank.

The plan is to run this mostly dark for about a week to begin the curing process. I do plan to turn the lights on a few hours during the evening as I do have 1 macro algae in the tank for months and like to ensure it remain.

 

[reef-rc]

Updated pic of the setup after cleaning up the mess

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Another tank! Jealous of all your new coral real estate space. Excited to watch this one evolve too!

 

[reef-rc]

Another tank! Jealous of all your new coral real estate space. Excited to watch this one evolve too!

The evo was running low on real estate for sure. I don't plan to move much over besides a few pieces and potentially frags from existing pieces. I plan this to only be LPS and SPS.

 

[reef-rc]

While the dry reef rocks are still being cycle, I did setup most of the hardware for this tank.

Here are a few pics of what this currently looks like:

 

[reef-rc]

Today I took a shot of aquascaping using the dry reef rocks which have been cycling. I figured it would be good to go ahead and glue any pieces in place before I do one final rinse of the rocks before actually start cycling the tank this coming weekend.

This looks like a decent enough foundation for for lps / sps. Highest rock point is 8". Water level should be about 11"

Thoughts?

 

[reef-rc]

After another 30 minutes, this is the final output and will be what I'll start gluing together.

There are less rocks in this 2nd iterations so that's good. This should give me sufficient surface to attach things.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Nice! I dig the aquascape. Looks like it'll be open enough for good water flow, but still have plenty of surface area for all those coral frags. Can't wait to see it in the tank!

 

[reef-rc]

Thx @WarEagle88

I have been looking forward to cycling this tank and begin that long journey of patience. I did made a few minor changes during the gluing process.

After the glue dried, I placed the rocks back into another RODI water cycle to remove waste and to let the glue finish drying.

I plan to add everything all in tomorrow...;Happy

 

[reef-rc]

it's ALIVE!

Yesterday evening I finally put everything inside the tank and it has been running short of 16 hrs as of this post.


Components:

• 20 lbs CARIBSEA ARAG-ALIVE Fiji Pink Sand
• 15 gallons of saltwater @ 1.025
• dry reef rocks

Dry reef rocks:
With this 2nd nano tank, I did spent more time putting together the aquascape this time around honestly. The 1st was done more on the fly. This time, I wanted to do two things: 1)leave sufficient room for growth height wise with room to add additional reef rocks later as needed based on coral growth. Second, sufficient areas for placing corals without looking like a solid wall of rocks. Overall I was pleased how it came out

What I used:

• BRS Thick Gel Super Glue (i used all the 3-4 tubes I had sitting around which I had been using for frags)
• 
• Gorilla Super Glue Gel
  • I had to find an alternative as I was working putting the aquascape together and ran short on glue. Since this is Gel, worked out very well. So well that I think I will continue to use this instead of BRS Thick Gel for frags going forward as it's relatively available @ many hardware stores (I got mine @ Lowes)
  • 
• No putty was used

Complete Structure inside tank before adding sand



Structures before tank placement:


Top View


There are basically 3 separate structures I built using the available rocks.
Left Rock Structure:



Middle Rock Structure:




Right Rock Structure:

 

[reef-rc]

Now that water has been added, I plan to start Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit process on this tank tomorrow. For now I am just going let the tank settle first.



During this process, I plan add one 8"x8" marinepure of 1" into one of the second back chamber for extra bio-filter. I had divided the piece by 1/2 to fit into the 4" x 3" chamber. The other 2nd chambers currently house the skimmer. Pic of the marinepure in RODI water to remove debris.

 

[reef-rc]

Well I just went ahead and placed the marinepure into the chamber as I mentioned earlier. Although the 4" cut was good and fit, I had to trimmed another 1/4" off to ensure I can pull the marinepure out later if need be. Here's a pic of it in the chamber.

 

[treedog5]

Looking like a good start...

 

[kanders87]

I'm really loving your aquascape! Can't wait to see this tank filled up with corals.

 

[reef-rc]

Looking like a good start...

Thank you. Now I just have to sit and wait for another month ;Bored

I'm really loving your aquascape! Can't wait to see this tank filled up with corals.

Appreciate the compliment. I tried it differently this time and did the aquascaping outside the tank with plenty of time in between to tweak things around before gluing everything.

Ditto on filling up with corals. I already have a packed house in the 13G nano. So looking forward to moving a few of the LPS and SPS over to avoid over crowding.

 

[Mike O.]

Thank you. Now I just have to sit and wait for another month ;Bored


Appreciate the compliment. I tried it differently this time and did the aquascaping outside the tank with plenty of time in between to tweak things around before gluing everything.

Ditto on filling up with corals. I already have a packed house in the 13G nano. So looking forward to moving a few of the LPS and SPS over to avoid over crowding.

Great Start!!! Following.

 

[treedog5]

How is your skimmer doing? Mine is still putting out a ton of micro bubbles, I have been running it for 2 weeks now.