Reefing Resolution. Innovative Marine 100EXT

[Cwentz758]

Well I did it, convinced the wife it’s time to upgrade. I originally wanted to go the custom route with a 6ft long shallow tank. But with our current home it would be unrealistic for a tank that size so I sacrificed some length and saw IM had a holiday sale going and the EXT 100 had the dimensions I was looking for and a metal stand that looks pleasing to the eye.

My current plan is ambitious, complete start from scratch. My current tank has been set up a few times over the years and moved. The rock in it was mostly dry rock at one point but a break down of a nano brought some live rock from my newb days that had some secret hitch hikers. (Verminted snails, some weird worms that come out at night, asternia star fish) I’m also sure my bad habit of tossing in snails with little to no inspection of the shells didn’t help as I am learning now in my current nano with verminted snails...

All my current fish will be coming over to include
Yellow Tang
3 Clowns
2 Chromis
2 yellow tail damsels
1 neon goby (not the nicest fella)
1 pink spotted watchman with pistol shrimp partner
1 coral banded shrimp

Everyone is about 2-5 years old and have been very healthy so that’s exciting.
My success with corals is minimal or as I would say to myself very not where I thought I’d be. So no coral from my current tank will transfer except maybe a zoa frag and a Xenia stalk since the wife likes it and It actually grows for me.

For the scape I’d like to have a nice tall arch and blend it with the rest of the rock on one side of the tank. OR I do like the minimalist rock look so maybe that’s an option, I’ll decided tomorrow when I start hammering rock. I do plan on soaking the rock and cycling it in Brutes for most likely 3-5 months as a caviot to this build is we have to rip up carpet and re finish 100 year old hard wood floors before I can set this up.

Equipment wise I’ve learned I can’t keep a lot as the 100EXT has 3/4” glass so my MP10s will need traded for 40s.
I run a Somatic 60s skimmer which I feel like will perform well with a light to moderate stocked 100g tank.
Currently looking for a used Vectra L1 L2 or maybe M2 as a return as I need head height for my basement sump now.
Speaking of sump, I saw an open box deal on BRS for the Fiji Cube 36 advanced 2 Gen sump I snagged up and man is it pretty.
I’ll be able to move over my Doser and battery backup if I stick with Ecotech.
Lights....well I’m on the fence. Looking for 3x Kessil 360WEs or if I find a steal of a deal on some 360x’s. Or suck it up with the current Red Sea ReefLed’s for awhile which I know are under powered especially being the 50w. But not jumping in with corals for a good while as I plan may allow time to find the right deals I’m looking for.

As for plumbing I’m going to do the bean animal. Run black and gray PVC for show and once it gets in the basement...all the cheap white stuff lol.

The biggest thing for this build is to kick all the bad habits and all the past mistakes that came along from being new and re using old rock and habits. I guess you can call this tank my “reefing resolution” actually.. I’m renaming the thread title now!

Anyway as the new 100EXTs are on pre order mine won’t ship until late January-Feb so I’ve got time. So for now I was able to build the stand for the sump down stairs and brainstorm what I’m going to do with my two giant mixing station containers.

The wife wants the sump stand on wheels which I’m not too sure about. I’ll have to look into some industrial wheels or something or a way I can flip the wheels up and down. I think I’ll just talk her into no wheels. I think my 35g fresh water tub will fit under the stand and the 6ft 100g tank can sit next to it. I plan to paint the stand white and seal it. Just have to keep all the white clean down here.

Also I added a center brace under the play wood with a 2x4 as i know someone may point that one picture as a weak point.

 

[SPR1968]

Great start and the stand looks well built

 

[Cwentz758]

So I took some time today to roughly draw out my plumbing plans. With 3 drains and a return line splitting at the tank for two nozzles I’m estimating approx 150ft of PVC just to run in the basement. When the plumbing hits the basement it has a 20ft straight run to a wall where it will 45 to another 10ft run and then straight down a foot or two into the sump. The return will be the exact same in the opposite direction just an additional 3 feet on the second run. Going to slap 27 unions on this bad boy lol just so I can take it apart down the road if need be. I’m also leaving the option for a future manifold if I ever dabble that road.

Also I cracked the boxes on my dry rock and started hitting things with a hammer. I ordered 90lbs of rock. Had some nice chunks and then had some massive boulders with I need a bigger hammer for. Currently my plan is a nice 12” arch into a cove that raises about 12” also. I want a lot of swimming room for the fish and I feel having the arch on one side and the empty 6-7 to the top of the water level will do just that. So far I’ve come up with this. I’m happy with the arch and 50/50 with the cove, I think it needs another pair of rocks sticking forward. Hopefully the rock mortar comes back in stock on BRS so I can mold these then start their soak.

here’s a thought...I have a bag or white mortar for brick...is that reef safe? Has anyone used it?

 

[Cwentz758]

Unwrapped the sump today to check for scratches before I chopped up it’s box to paint the stand on! I will say I’m excited to have a large sump finally. So much room for activities!

 

[Cwentz758]

Well after some thought and a little swearing I got the L1 in the Fiji Cube 36 Gen 2.

Note to everyone the dimensions posted on most sites including BRS don’t count the lip where the lids sit. So when trying to get this pump in the base was catching on the lip on the top of the sump.

with the Vectra this was an easy fix just tap off the base of it and re install it once you get past the lip.

 

[Dystopium]

Trying to figure out how to fit 2 COR-15 in the same sump for my incoming 100 EXT. Tanks are probably sitting next to each other on the boat

 

[Cwentz758]

Trying to figure out how to fit 2 COR-15 in the same sump for my incoming 100 EXT. Tanks are probably sitting next to each other on the boat

Hopefully! They were pre orders so hopefully shipping soon

 

[Cwentz758]

Trying to figure out how to fit 2 COR-15 in the same sump for my incoming 100 EXT. Tanks are probably sitting next to each other on the boat

Did you get them through the top? Looks like the CORs base is flush with the pump itself

 

[Dystopium]

Did you get them through the top? Looks like the CORs base is flush with the pump itself

I was able to get it through the top (after removing the input union). Decided it was much easier to go through the refugium. I was planning on running the redundant pumps, but now that I had so many issues getting them in I will either need to 1) Put hope they can run in tight quarters 2) move to the refugium. I am contemplating running the pumps in the refugium section and piping the return section to serve as the refugium feed off a manifold port.

 

[Cwentz758]

So small update. The tank has shipped! Hopefully gets here by Sunday or I’ll have to figure out how to get it in the house with me out of town... and have a real P.I’d wife lol

 

[Dystopium]

So small update. The tank has shipped! Hopefully gets here by Sunday or I’ll have to figure out how to get it in the house with me out of town... and have a real P.I’d wife lol

Must have been on the same boat, as mine shipped too. Delivers Monday. Had the same thought on moving the pumps over and using pump area as refugium.

 

[Cwentz758]

Well. Never got my tank. Apparently it’s been weather delayed TWICE now. Currently sitting in Illinois for the past four days... c’mon!

Also had some big life news yesterday so I decided to just pull the trigger on the rest of the big ticket items.

Hydros Controller
All the plumbing. Going black and gray.
Got all the fittings and valves.
just got my second XR15 in
Got two MP40s

last thing to get is my Clearview lid made when I get the right measurements.

current plan is move the fish into a 100gal stock tank in the basement until we finish the floors upstairs. This will keep me from having to move the current tank around and allow me to setup the IM 100 and let it do it’s thing.

 

[Cwentz758]

Well, the tank is coming Friday afternoon hopefully not damaged it’s been on the road 20 days.

Today I took off the protective film on the sump and pieced it together for the most part. Going to leak test it tomorrow or tonight.

Tomorrow UPS is going to hate me, they’re delivering 2 boxes of salt 80lbs of sand and a bunch of pvc tubes. Should also have my hydros coming in.

I should start on a controller box to.

I’m also mentally preparing for a salty wife (no pun intended) due to the fact this tank is coming as we are re-doing the floors and I’m stealing all the basement space HA

 

[Cwentz758]

Ahhh more goodies! Got all my nice PVC for upstairs today along with much needed salt and new dry sand. Tomorrow that tank will be here around 2pm should be interesting with the snow.

My rock work has been soaking almost a month and a half. It’s been in salt water for 2 weeks and I tossed in some brightwell cycle stuff about a week ago.

once the tank arrives it will sit in my basement for a month or so while we re finish out hardwood floors...it’s a 100 year old house with original wood. Unfortunately all I can really do is rip up the carpet that was on it and sand it, the plugging holes and trying to match boards is a little more than my handyman skills are comfortable atleast with something that needs to be done very right. Who knows we will see, maybe it’ll be insanely expensive and I’ll give it a go on my own.

Funny thing today I was hoping UPS would hit my house early so I could get these goodies in the basement so I didn’t get the look and what the heck is all that from the wife...well everything came as we both were sitting on the couch before I went to work and all she heard was the UPS man grunting and I saw her look out the window then back at me. My simple reply was “it’s just salt”

 

[Cwentz758]

It has arrived! Initially the inspection is good I see no damage looking down in the crate. Fingers crossed the bottom is just as good. Crate was in perfect condition.

 

[Cwentz758]

Productive day!! Got the controller box all set up just waiting on the wall mount. Also just needs the InkBird and doser moved over when I shutdown the old tank!
Also got the new stand up, I like it seems sturdy. The pvc top doesn’t square up with the actual stand so I have the front lined up and the back corners have an overhang and the other one is slide in about a quarter inch.

 

[Cwentz758]

Floors are in! It’s time for the tank! Kinda hurts the soul a bit having to drill into the floor that was a pain in the butt to install but hey basement sump will be worth it!
Here’s a small mock up of plumbing, since the back of the APS stand is 100% open I’m thinking 45 in then 45 straight down to hide the drills into the floor and give a clean uniform look into the stand. Should also minimize the amount of floor pieces I have to drill into.

I also think I’m going to use some of my old live rock, people have convinced me it’s worth having the 5-6 year old live rock in a new tank even if it comes with some pests. I’ll really be hunting asternia stars before putting them in.

 

[Cwentz758]

Tank is up.
Tank is wet.

I’ve added PVC plumbing to my list of hates this month. Along side of the flooring install lol

however... finished the plumbing then drilled into my new floor for the drains into the basement. Filled it up from the tap, had some small drips which were in places where I forgot to glue on side of at fitting. I’ve dialed in the gate valve with my return pump and my overflow is silent. I’ve actually debated opening the valve more and upping the flow on the pump to push more water but I can then hear the L1 more. Either way I’m happy I have lots of wiggle room to up the return if needed. The MP40s will handle most of the water movement.

tonight I’ll shut it down let it sit and then tomorrow drain the tank and then fill it with sand and salty RO water.

ive also come to the conclusion I’m going to use some of my old rocks from my previous tank to help the bio load. Many have said the good out weighs the bad that comes with these rocks, the bad being Vermented snails and asternia stars. The good being, coralline algae and lots of sponges, also the rock has been live 6 years.

im planning on getting a fox face or a purple tang to compliment my Yellow tang, maybe a pair of a certain angel fish (reef safe ones)

 

[Cwentz758]

So the past two nights have been busy. I’ve been getting the tank spooled up. Got the arch in and decided to use my old live rock to keep the good stuff. I’ll deal with whatever bad comes with, which I’m the grand scheme isn’t to bad. I added some carbon in a reactor and let it run for about a day before adding the rock. I also added some “seed” bacteria booster to just help the live rock along.

When I got home tonight I decided to test Nitrates and they came out to 2ppm-5 so I opted to add the rest of my live rock and my fish.

I was dumb and didn’t realize the amount vaporating out of my holding tank downstairs and salinity rose to 50 ppt which killed a lot of snails it seems and my coral banded shrimp..pistol shrimp lived along with the fish.

After adding the fish I fed the tank they ate which is good. I’ll be keeping an eye on things test wise the next few days.

here’s a quick snap before I shut the lights out to let them settle.

 

[Cwentz758]

Next task is wire management and moving the heater downstairs into the sump. Then moving the hydros over.

I seem to also have an issue with the over flow and return. Like currently I have a steady level in the sump and tank everything is quiet no issues. Then hours later the return is sucking air then before I mess with it it goes back to wear it was. Strange.

The main drain has no pipe. Secondary had the white pvc U to make it quiet, looking at making it a Durso, and the emergency sticks up a little higher.