Reefcadet IM 25g lagoon ramblings

[reefcadet]

Hello all.

Just been working on setting up my tank. I've had some experience creating build threads for other projects I've done and this time wanted to try to document the process via video.

So heres the text:
25g IM lagoon.
DIY stand

I shopped around many furniture stores for a stand but nothing really fit the bill so I ended up making one, i'm a novice carpenter at best:



Once stand was built I went on to satisfy my thirst for clean water and set up a more permenant watering station:





For days I sat perplexed. Days quickly turned to weeks and my thoughts grew no clearer. Weeks rolled into months and I still could not answer the question. To bare bottom or not to bare bottom

 

[reefcadet]

Currently I'm thinking of my stocking list. Focusing on fish for now as I'm still learning about corals and what i want.

Right now the plan is:
2 clowns(its been a dream to have a breeding pair I do not know why)
goby/shrimp pair
clown goby or a pygmy wrase

 

[jcolliii]

Hey man, welcome - and it's a really great size tank and looking good so far! A lot of us here have that tank! Nice job on the stand. I really like the aluminum one from IM, but I'm going to make some doors and veneer them in something exotic when I get round to it. There are some really beautiful fairy wrasses available, I was considering one myself, but have a firefish and a fang blenny and don't want too many long/skinny fish in the mix to stoke aggression. My fang blenny is pretty mild mannered and don't want to upset the balance that is in there now. What is your aquascape plan?

 

[MeMyFishandI]

I have the same tank. We also made ourselves a custom stand. I didn't like the modern look that all the stands have so we made ours out of teak ply. I wish we did the interior like you did with shelves and an electronics nook. I went with yellow watchman goby (shrimp pending - covid shipping headaches), orchid dottyback and springer's damsel. It looks good. Well done!

 

[reefcadet]

Hey man, welcome - and it's a really great size tank and looking good so far! A lot of us here have that tank! Nice job on the stand. I really like the aluminum one from IM, but I'm going to make some doors and veneer them in something exotic when I get round to it. There are some really beautiful fairy wrasses available, I was considering one myself, but have a firefish and a fang blenny and don't want too many long/skinny fish in the mix to stoke aggression. My fang blenny is pretty mild mannered and don't want to upset the balance that is in there now. What is your aquascape plan?

oh man aquascaping. something i've done and un done and re done so many times. I hate it now, but also its okay.

Tried to go for a big mountain with different levels and as smaller adjacent crest to create a valley.

The amount of time i spent moving rocks around and standing back and then moving them all around again was pretty hilarious.


Now im kind of thinking i want a thin rock bridge to connect the two islands but also tried it and hated it argh aquascaping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[reefcadet]

I put an ATO in.

 

[gmyers0203]

I've aquascaped some larger tanks (80 and 120) and found it to be much easier. Definitely a challenge with the limited space to work.

I like what you've got though, the sharp edges on your rock make it feel like you're further removed from the rock if that makes sense. When I look at it, I see ocean canyons. Very nice!

 

[reefcadet]

I tried to improve my ATO setup and probably just made it worse:

 

[reefcadet]

Having a hard time finding the time to edit video. Small photo update:
Hardware upgrade half complete. Added c02 scrubber, apex, powerbar, dos, ddr resi.

also refactored all wiring . Much much much more organized and manageable now.