TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

Ok, because there is a foot of snow outside, and because there is nothing else going on with the tank other than continuing to cycle, and most importantly, because I found the pictures I thought I’d deleted, here is what the scape was going to look like with the Liferock shapes and standard Liferock pieces. I was originally going to use the flat cut Stax rock as a substrate hoping it would be easier to keep clean and I’d really be able to crank up the flow if I wanted too, compared to sand.

I eventually gave up on this because it all looked like one big rock that was going to block flow. I tried some different arrangements but nothing clicked. I also found out I liked working with the Stax rock better and felt more creative with it so out the Liferock went. I still have it and may try to use 2-3 pieces later on in a 20g long I have. I really like the idea of trying to do a tank with only the rock and sand for filtration. Someday, but not soon. I’ve still got such a long way to go getting this one dialed in.

 

[P-Dub]

I spy a reflection... You are Lukes' father... Aren't you?

 

[TheWB]

I spy a reflection... You are Lukes' father... Aren't you?

Of course, that’s why I can afford this hobby, I got Star Wars money coming in

 

[TheWB]

Little bit of an update today. I’ve been adding ammonium chloride per Dr Tims instructions for a while now. I have about 37 gallons of water in the system which should translate to 1.8ml of ammonium chloride to dose every couple of days. I have not really been testing over the last two weeks but I have a Seachem ammonia badge in the tank so I can get a general sense of where the ammonia is at and how fast it’s going down after dosing. It’s never been above the green second level on the badge which indicates 0.05ppm. It’s usually down in the yellow safe zone between 24-48 hours later.
I dosed some ammonium chloride last night around 10pm and decided to test using Salifert kits this morning around 9am. Results are in the pics below. Ammonia looks to be at 0.25, Nitrites are at 2, ph at its usual 7.7 and Nitrates look to be at 50, I know it looks darker in the picture but looking down thru the top as the instructions indicate it’s pretty spot on at 50.
I have not done any water changes since the tank was first filled. I have been topping off evaporation. Salinity has dropped from 35ppm to 34ppm over the last month or so, I’m guessing due to some salt creep loss. Thinking about doing a 4.5 gallon water change today to see what that does to the current parameters, especially ph which has always been lower than the ideal range. If anyone reading has any thoughts on my cycle so far I’d love to hear them.

 

[TheWB]

The tank is processing ammonia quickly but I’m still showing Nitrite and nitrate. No signs of diatoms or any other kind of algae bloom. Tested phosphate and they are at zero so I’m thinking my cycle has stalled out. Going to start ghost feeding lightly to get some phosphate in there and see if that gets things back on track. Not too much though, still want to keep things nice and slow.

 

[TheWB]

Cycle seems to be complete. No ammonia or Nitrite on latest tests. Nitrate is at 50. I’ve been occasionally dosing some ammonium chloride or a pinch of flake food to keep the bacteria fed. I did a 13 gallon water change last weekend. I received a Refugium starter pack from AlgaeBarn today with the golf ball size Chaeto, 16oz of the 5280 pods and a container of phyto. Added it after following the acclimation instructions. Activated the IM Chaetomax refugium light running from 10pm to 6am. Hopefully the Chaeto will start sponging up some of the excess Nitrate and balance out the ph. There hasn’t really been an ugly phase but I’m not counting my chickens yet. I started with completely dry rock so I’m sure it’s coming at some point. I’m in a holding pattern right now while I wait for the fish I’ve ordered from Humblefish to make their way through his qt protocols. I don’t know that he’s actually received the fish yet so it might be a while but that’s ok. I’ve got time and nowhere to set up a proper quarantine so I’m grateful he’s back in business and offering those services.

 

[TheWB]

I finally have some brown stuff growing on some of the rocks and a thin dusty kind of algae on the glass. Nothing too serious. I’m thinking about adding a snail or two, maybe, just to get something alive in there other than the pods.

 

[Hella_Reef]

I finally have some brown stuff growing on some of the rocks and a thin dusty kind of algae on the glass. Nothing too serious. I’m thinking about adding a snail or two, maybe, just to get something alive in there other than the pods.

Reefcleaners.com has some good prices. I ordered thru them for the first time and everything came alive.

 

[TheWB]

Reefcleaners.com has some good prices. I ordered thru them for the first time and everything came alive.

I agree, they do have good prices but I think even the 10 gallon package is probably too much for the tank right now. I was thinking of only 1 or 2 snails just to get started. I don’t have any fish yet and I don’t want to have to feed a cuc to keep them alive if there’s not enough to sustain them naturally. I appreciate the suggestion though, I’m sure I’ll be picking up one of reefcleaners small packages later on when I need a bigger crew.

 

[Hella_Reef]

I agree, they do have good prices but I think even the 10 gallon package is probably too much for the tank right now. I was thinking of only 1 or 2 snails just to get started. I don’t have any fish yet and I don’t want to have to feed a cuc to keep them alive if there’s not enough to sustain them naturally. I appreciate the suggestion though, I’m sure I’ll be picking up one of reefcleaners small packages later on when I need a bigger crew.

How is everything looking? You have an LFS near by for ur snail needs?

 

[TheWB]

How is everything looking? You have an LFS near by for ur snail needs?

Things are looking good, thanks for asking. There is an LFS fairly close by but I never had a chance to get over there this weekend so a snail is going to have to wait. I tested Nitrates yesterday and they are still at 50 even with the Chaeto on an 8 hour cycle at night. I was hoping that would have dropped a little over the last week but ultimately I’m not surprised that it didn’t. Really just kinda sitting in a holding pattern while I wait for word from Humblefish on my fish. He has two of them but the other two still haven’t arrived. If the Nitrates don’t go down naturally by the time the fish are ready I’ll just do a big water change and go from there. In the meantime it’s just about being patient and letting the tank be. It took me 15 months or so just to get it wet, another couple months while waiting for fish isn’t going to be a big deal (I hope, we all get impatient, lol). How’s things going with your tank, you’re running a long cycle too, right?

 

[TheWB]

Finally started to see a little green hair algae on the highest rocks after running the lights all day for about a week. Also some funky brown stuff on the front glass. Tested today for the first time in a while. Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 50 on the Salifert test kit. PH is hanging at its usual 7.7 on Salifert. In the middle of a 25% water change. No real growth on my Chaeto and no detectable phosphates either which probably goes hand in hand cuz I definitely have nitrates. Probably should have waited to add the Chaeto. Might finally be time for a snail. Pretty boring update but that’s what’s going on.

 

[TheWB]

Super exciting update time. There is now officially actual aquatic life inside the Lagoon. Thanks to @reefcleaners for hooking me up with their smallest cleanup crew package. This one is just to make sure things will actually live in the tank and to get started on cleaning up some of the hair algae that’s cropped up. Assuming there are no issues with survival I’ll be placing another larger order for the appropriately sized crew. I’m pretty sure this package was sent out by accident as I was expecting my order to leave their FL facility today for arrival on Saturday. I received my confirmation email confirming the order was being sent today and then I got a call from my wife. She said a box of snails and crabs was sitting on the front porch. She’s not really down with doing anything with fish tanks other than looking at them but she agreed to float the bags and get the new arrivals right into the water after 15 minutes. Kinda bummed I didn’t get to do it myself but it was cool to come home and see something in there other than white rocks and hair algae. So far so good, everything is moving around and getting acclimated.

Nassarius on the glass.

Several congregating on the front rocks.

This little guy is going to mow down all of that algae by himself.

Other than these various snails and hermits things are pretty much holding steady. I’m just letting the tank be for the most part while awaiting good news from Humblefish about when my fish will be ready.

 

[Maacc]

Aquascape looks great!

 

[JoshH]

Really digging the scape too but I kind of liked the other one as well Always fun to see the uglies starting and awesome to see you got life in the Lagoon now!!!

 

[TheWB]

Aquascape looks great!

Thanks, it took a long time to get it workable but I like how it turned out.

 

[TheWB]

Really digging the scape too but I kind of liked the other one as well Always fun to see the uglies starting and awesome to see you got life in the Lagoon now!!!

Thank you. Which one did you like better, it went through a lot of changes? I will admit to being pretty excited about the uglies. They are all gone now though. Hermits and snails made short work of it. Reef cleaners mistakenly sent two orders instead of one, both with more cleaners included than what I ordered. I had to buy some algae wafers to feed them because the hair algae doesn’t grow fast enough. This was not something I had planned for but It’s easy to deal with. I never thought I’d be rooting for hair algae growth though. Next step is to get some fish in there soon hopefully.

 

[Jamal]

Random question did you mount a power brick to the back of the tank ?

One thing I really wanted to do is create simple wire management for this build while maintaining some flexibility and ease of use if I need to remove anything. I got these little round cord management routers with adhesive backs from Home Depot. I realize it’s not super clean but each cable is pretty well isolated on its own path. The cables pop in and out easily but they won’t slip out on their own. I’m totally envious of you folks out there with the beautiful controller mounts and wire management, I wish I had those kinds of skills. For me though, this is leaps and bounds ahead of anything I’ve done previously which could best be described as a total mess.

 

[TheWB]

Random question did you mount a power brick to the back of the tank ?

No, nothing is mounted on the back except for the fuge light and cord routers. I have an Apex and a DJ switch mounted on the inside wall of the stand. I wouldn’t put anything related to powering the tank on the back where it might get splashed.

 

[TheWB]

Clean up crew from Reefcleaners has been doing its thing. Hair algae was eliminated almost immediately after hermits and snails were introduced except for on the RFG nozzles, had to manually clean those. Dusty brown algae continues to lightly grow on glass and rocks and I’ve been letting that be so the snails have something to eat. I’ve been adding an algae pellet every few days to make sure the hermits stay fed. Nitrates were at .25 yesterday and it’s been 2 weeks since I changed out 25% of the water. That leads me to believe the algae is taking up some of the nitrate and the algae pellets aren’t really adding to the nutrients too much. Everything seems to be holding pretty stable.
I was finally able to dial in the salinity and ph probes on the Apex. I followed some online instruction videos on calibration and things finally clicked. Logging in locally to the Apex seems to be better than calibrating through Fusion online. Ph has been a problem from the beginning as my readings have always been 7.7 on the Salifert test and the Apex probe was constantly between 7.4 and 7.5. After calibrating for the third time and then testing readings using the 10 and 7 reference fluids I am now getting steady readings around 8.0 which is a relief. I don’t want to chase any numbers but I was worried about coral growth if 7.7 was my real number. I don’t have a way to get outside air to my skimmer and I don’t really want to use kalk in the top off water or dose if I don’t have to. Salinity probe now reads 34.9 after calibration, Refractometer is right on 35 so it’s nice to have that one finally dialed in as well. Hopefully they hold up over the next week or two so I can trust them.
I’m contemplating getting a coral dip ordered and then adding a test zoa frag or two and see how they do. Wanted to wait until after fish were added but that might be a while so a test frag might be next into the tank.