The Great Downsize: KJoFan's IM Fusion 50 Lagoon

[MONTANTK]

Really liking this setup! The aquascape reminds me of a true lagoon. Once those acros start filling in space this tank is going to look incredible!

 

[KJoFan]

Really liking this setup! The aquascape reminds me of a true lagoon. Once those acros start filling in space this tank is going to look incredible!

Thanks! I'm excited for the tank to continue to mature and grow in. The acros are all doing great, I'm sure I'll be trimming in no time!

 

[KJoFan]

Bought this as a tiny booger from a reefing friend. It’s coming along nicely. (Though still a tiny booger.)

SC Dynamite chalice.

 

[KJoFan]

When I got it roughly a month ago.

 

[KJoFan]

So, I’ve been battling some hair algae, cyano and off/on dinos.
Nitrates are too high and PO4 is too low for the level of NO3.

Anyway, I discovered the leds in my Santa Monica Drop have gone out. This explains why the algae wasn’t growing in there.

So, I need to decide, do I want to replace the ats with a new one? Or get the Chaetomax light and put some macro in the 4th chamber and give that a try?

I do have Matrix in both media baskets but clearly something more is needed to control nitrates.

Any votes, pros, cons, experience to share?

 

[TheWB]

So, I’ve been battling some hair algae, cyano and off/on dinos.
Nitrates are too high and PO4 is too low for the level of NO3.

Anyway, I discovered the leds in my Santa Monica Drop have gone out. This explains why the algae wasn’t growing in there.

So, I need to decide, do I want to replace the ats with a new one? Or get the Chaetomax light and put some macro in the 4th chamber and give that a try?

I do have Matrix in both media baskets but clearly something more is needed to control nitrates.

Any votes, pros, cons, experience to share?

I have the chaetomax light and it didn’t grow chaeto for me at all but I wasn’t set up correctly. I had it in a intank media rack in chamber one so the flow was forcing it down and it couldn’t tumble. As long as you use either chamber two or four it should work better. Since I’ve attached a knitting mesh screen to the bottom of my intank floss holder I’ve been growing algae like crazy though. I just needed to find the right way to do it in my tank since I set it up poorly to begin with.

 

[KJoFan]

I’m kind of leaning toward another drop in ats. My success with chaeto over the years is hit and miss. Plus I can just see if start growing hair algae in the chamber and choke out the chaeto.
But, I’m still waffling. I need to decide soon though.
@TheWB do you also use anything like Matrix or such?

 

[TheWB]

I’m kind of leaning toward another drop in ats. My success with chaeto over the years is hit and miss. Plus I can just see if start growing hair algae in the chamber and choke out the chaeto.
But, I’m still waffling. I need to decide soon though.
@TheWB do you also use anything like Matrix or such?

I have a bag of marinepure gems stuffed in one side of the return chamber in the dead area under the other two chambers on one side and a bag of Seachem matrix on the other side. I recently added another larger bag of matrix that is sitting on top of the Y splitter that connects my return pump to the two return outlets. I’m still not processing enough Nitrate to keep from fluctuating between 25 and 12 on the Nyos test kit on a weekly basis, even including a weekly 10% water change. There’s some pretty well established nuisance algae in my display that’s takes up some of the Nitrates as well. My main problem is that I feed too much and the Tang creates a lot of waste all by itself. I didn’t start out with enough rock either, only about 25 pounds. I’ve been adding to my cuc lately to try and get enough grazers to deal with the algae in the display. I like fat, well fed fish but it’s been a constant struggle to strike the right balance with the nutrient export. The diy scrubber I made does help. I already had the light and the intank floss holder so all it took to get that running was a .69 cent knitting screen and a couple of zip ties.

 

[KJoFan]

The downsize continues. After battling endlessly with Dino’s and green hair algae the 50 lagoon came down and was sold off.
I started a 25 lagoon with extra live rock I had and went bare bottom, back in February.
I had a brief bout of Dino’s early on but uv took care of it. So far, so good.
Some shots of it over the past months. Starting with most recent.

 

[drawman]

The downsize continues. After battling endlessly with Dino’s and green hair algae the 50 lagoon came down and was sold off.
I started a 25 lagoon with extra live rock I had and went bare bottom, back in February.
I had a brief bout of Dino’s early on but uv took care of it. So far, so good.
Some shots of it over the past months. Starting with most recent.

That's great to hear!

 

[KJoFan]

That's great to hear!

I’ve got an empty sr80 waiting in the wings to get wet as well.
Right now the plan is to keep the 25 going though alongside the sr80.

 

[TheWB]

I’ve got an empty sr80 waiting in the wings to get wet as well.
Right now the plan is to keep the 25 going though alongside the sr80.

The 25 is looking good and I’m totally jealous of the deal you got on the SR80. I would have bought it as well had the same deal been presented to me. I’m excited to see the new build thread.