reef-rc IM Fusion 20v2

[Jrmiller]

that forest fire looks amazing. you got a great piece. they grow really fast too

 

[reef-rc]

that forest fire looks amazing. you got a great piece. they grow really fast too

I am told it's a bubble gum montipora and the only visible difference I learned between it and a forest fire is that bubble gum has a blue body with green tip. Regardless of what you or I call it, it's a rose by any other name is a rose . Awesome to hear it's a fast grower. Hopefully I can do my part it to keep the tank stable and it'll do it's part and grow! ;Smuggrin

talking about hard to tell coral: Appleberry vs Spongodes monti
The other piece I got is called an appleberry monti. I honestly still can't tell the different between that and a spongodes monti visually besides the light green associated with appleberry. Everything else is seems similar to a spongodes and I have it next to each other in the tank currently.

 

[reef-rc]

Minor update
Timeline: 3+ months in

Specs & Equipment:

• Kessil A360X installed with Spectral Controller X.
  • It's currently on a acclimation cycle with 3 days remaining. By doing this over a 2 week period, I hope it has helped reduce the algae bloom somewhat.
  • A360W-E is currently off. I plan to kick this on when there is more corals.
  • Aquatic Life hybrid T5HO - I took this down. May be used later. I took it down mostly because I am little concern with the heat it produce given I currently the tank in the study with 3 other nano tanks and so during the summer months, heat is a potential concerns. With both A360X and A360W-E, there is should be ample light coverage with little head spot long term.

• MP10WQD installed. I currently have one on each side of the tank.
• IM Ghost Skimmer - off. I have yet to turn this on at this point since bio-load is so light. Between weekly water change and replacing filter pads every 3-4 days should suffice is my thought.

Coral:

• Added 2nd coral to the tank: Heliofungia
  • This is from my 10G tank which got 3+ months ago. It's just too big for the 10G when fully extended and had loved it there. In here I am not sure it'll extend as big just because of the extra water movement. It was introduced into the tank about 5 days ago and it seems to be extended pretty well but not to the extend in the lower flow of the 10G but I had anticipated that.

Fish:

• Seem to be missing 1 greenbar goby. Not sure if it got suck into the back of the sump. I have not actually looked for it. There has been no body. I figured if it's like the 10G, it's somewhere in the back of the tank. In a similar scenario I thought I lost an greenbar goby to only found out it was living in the back of the sump for months. Even now it's back there in the sump on the 10G tank.

Overall progress looks good. Fish seems well. Feed daily.

 

[reef-rc]

It's a PAIR - for Valentines Day!

Earlier today I picked an ORA black storm clownfish. The plan is to pair it with my Sea and Reef black storm clownfish that was in the 13G Evo. I am hopeful this will workout as one is at least 1/4" smaller than the other. Second, this tank is new to both so this should help address any potential aggression and territory issue upfront. Fingers crossed ;Nailbiting



Ora black storm clownfish


Sea and Reef black storm


Their first meeting! It almost feels like Valentines Day...first date! ;Smug

 

[reef-rc]

3rd Coral (set)

Earlier today I introduced the 3rd set of corals over from the EVO. 5 acans grow-outs and 1 battered button scoly. Each acan polyp is about 1" across and has been plumping up nicely and each has a number of smaller heads underneath them. I also had introduced 1 metro-shower cyphastrea and favia corals earlier in the week over as well.

Close to 4 months in and so far so good.

 

[Mr.Z]

Hey @reef-rc , I like what I'm seeing with the tank so far!

Were there any other tanks you were considering besides the IM Fusion 20? This tank is my top choice at the moment, but also thought the Red Sea Reefer Nano is worth considering. I'd appreciate any insight into your thought process for picking this tank.

Looking forward to following this build!

 

[reef-rc]

Hey @reef-rc , I like what I'm seeing with the tank so far!

Were there any other tanks you were considering besides the IM Fusion 20? This tank is my top choice at the moment, but also thought the Red Sea Reefer Nano is worth considering. I'd appreciate any insight into your thought process for picking this tank.

Looking forward to following this build!

Thank you.

I actually already had this tank sitting in the garage for over 1.5 yrs. Brand new; just sitting there. I had plans to start with this but instead I got a used one to start when I saw someone was moving and selling there's. That's why I have 2 Fusion 20 . Anyway....

I bought the new tank originally because I wanted to start at particular price point, I could use the furniture I already had and not had to buy a tank stand, keep things simple, I did not want a sump and the higher cost associated with a bigger skimmer, and I just wanted a slightly larger tank than the EVO. It might have also been on sale is one reason I got one.

I think if I were to get a nano tank now, I would take the following into considerations:

• Price point
  
• Do you want a sump? AIO?
• Do you want a sump to come with the tank or be able to chose a separate sump?

imo,i don't think you can go wrong with any of the top 3 vendors RS, IM, WB. It'll be more of a price point and features you care about will determine what you select.

 

[Mr.Z]

Thank you.

I actually already had this tank sitting in the garage for over 1.5 yrs. Brand new; just sitting there. I had plans to start with this but instead I got a used one to start when I saw someone was moving and selling there's. That's why I have 2 Fusion 20 . Anyway....

I bought the new tank originally because I wanted to start at particular price point, I could use the furniture I already had and not had to buy a tank stand, keep things simple, I did not want a sump and the higher cost associated with a bigger skimmer, and I just wanted a slightly larger tank than the EVO. It might have also been on sale is one reason I got one.

I think if I were to get a nano tank now, I would take the following into considerations:

• Price point
  
• Do you want a sump? AIO?
• Do you want a sump to come with the tank or be able to chose a separate sump?

imo,i don't think you can go wrong with any of the top 3 vendors RS, IM, WB. It'll be more of a price point and features you care about will determine what you select.

Gotcha -- that all makes sense. Although the Red Sea clearly costs more, for someone like me who would need to buy the stand for the IM, the pricing ends up being closer. Also, the Red Sea Max Nano has the AIO layout, which can make the decision between the two brands even closer.

 

[reef-rc]

Gotcha -- that all makes sense. Although the Red Sea clearly costs more, for someone like me who would need to buy the stand for the IM, the pricing ends up being closer. Also, the Red Sea Max Nano has the AIO layout, which can make the decision between the two brands even closer.

you can't go wrong there. Red Sea Max Nano looks sweet.

 

[reef-rc]

Break-up ;Blackeye

Not even a week and already the valentine pair had to be split. The resident black storm, smaller of the two, was chased around often and I had started to see bit marks on it's fins. I separated the two earlier today by putting the smaller into an acclimation box I had until I figure next steps.



Do you think it's too late for these too to pair at some point? Are they dude for life:;Wacky

Anyone been successful in pairing two black storm clownfish?

 

[reef-rc]

2nd Light Switched On ;Smilie

Today I finally turned on the 2nd light. I have it staggered 1 hour apart; same settings on both. It's currently on a 14 days acclimation period just to ease into it. Compare to the Kessil AP700 on the other fusion, the light spread looks similar visually.



Hammer & HelioFungia Gotta Go
Within the next few weeks I plan to sell both the hammer and heliofungia back to the LFS to allow more room for other frags. These two are awesome and have been doing great. I enjoy watching them flowing in the tank with the water movement. Unfortunately they have gotten too big for the 20G tank. When fully expanded, each takes up to 7" across; leaves very little room for anything close.

anyone interested?

 

[Murr7]

This tank is coming along great. As a fellow nuvo 20 owner, I'll be following along.

 

[reef-rc]

This tank is coming along great. As a fellow nuvo 20 owner, I'll be following along.

Awesome! Welcome aboard.

It's 4 months in and so far so good. I am just itching to load this tank up with frags. With the additional light switched on, I will have to wait a little longer to see how the tank react

 

[Bcheek]

Those are some beautiful clowns, I haven’t seen anything like that locally. People around here seem to only want fancy wrasses

 

[flchamp89]

Looks really good. Good color choices

 

[reef-rc]

Those are some beautiful clowns, I haven’t seen anything like that locally. People around here seem to only want fancy wrasses

It's not common yet but getting better in terms of availability at LFS. Search for storm clownfish and you will see other flavors from ORA and Sea and Reef. Thanks to ORA, the price on these designer clownfish has dropped 50% since these clownfish were first introduced.

I am not sure yet if these two will work out. One has been in the acclimation box for a few weeks. I am looking to try and introduce it back in soon. Hopefully their attitudes will change. I am still concern about the bullying and health of the smaller clownfish. If it does not work out, I will need to sell it back to LFS. I don't want to keep it in the box for months on end.

On the bright side, I did get this pair on the EVO. It's how I was able to try and pair the two black storm clownfish. Total night and day when they're paired. The white is the male in this pair. Both are doing great for weeks now without fuss or fighting.

Looks really good. Good color choices

Thank you.

 

[reef-rc]

More additions!

Today I moved a few additional corals from the other tanks over. At this point, the tank is more of a spillover tank than anything. The good thing is I am able to test if the tank is ready for monti and other easy sps.

• Complete Rim Chalice - this has done well in the EVO for months and will be looking to have it encrust the floor of this tank

• Pink Watermelon Chalice - purchased a few weeks ago. It's an interesting pattern and will look to have it encrust the floor of this tank.

• 2 Bowerbanki corals - have been growing in the Evo for months. I moved it over just to provide more space for the Evo.

• Blasto

• Tyree LE Montipora - 1+ week recent purchase to see how monti does in this tank

• Purple Montipora Cap - 1+ week recent purchase to see how monti does in this tank

Front view of the tank:

 

[reef-rc]

Interesting look:
A look at the crazy tentacles this WWC Bejeweled favites has.


I have had this coral for almost 2 years and have not really pay much attention to it's tentacles until more recently. I recently just placed it on new frag plate so that it can spread out if need be. It's a tough coral. Slow grower it seems.

Update:

• I traded both the hammer and heliofungia for a few monti frags at the LFS a few days ago.
• Coralline algae has started to be take off. Good sign it looks like.
  
• I am planning to add a number of frags within the next few days from the collection from the other tank. A good problem I am trying to figure out is where to place all the frags.

 

[reef-rc]

A shot of most of the frags I am looking to move over. Frags are circled. pic taken with phone with yellow filter

 

[reef-rc]

This is my 2nd tank update. It has been 2 months since the update and much as changed.

Five months in and the nano LPS and SPS tank look to be doing well.

• Cycling has done it's job and all frags in the above post are in plus some
• I did have 1 casualty - I lost the one of the black storm clownfish. I thought the two clownfish had settled down but that did not last unfortunately.
• Kamoer X1 micropump. I recently added the Kamoer X1 pump dosing Tropic Marin ALL-FOR-REEF for alk, mag, cal, etc. I am currently dosing 3ml per day to maintain 8ish dkh. Just yesterday bumped up to 3.5ml per day.

Progress is so far so good. The challenge now , as in the 13G Evo, there is NO MORE ROOM for corals!! ;Nailbiting;Facepalm

Top View


Front View


Various shots of the tank.