IM Lagoon 25 Office Tank

[ReefTron5000]

I was going to post this as I was setting up the tank but I got busy and I'll just post my progress all together so far.

I've got a 130 gallon mixed reef at home but I've wanted an office tank for a while now. A few years ago I bought a 12 gallon all in one for my then office and that experience went disastrously as I was extremely lazy about maintenance. This time will be different.

Tank: Innovative Marine 25 Gallon
Stand: Innovative Marine High Gloss Pearl White
Return: Eheim Compact 600
Heater: Eheim Jager 75 Watt
Skimmer: Tunze 9001
Reactor: Innovative Marine Desktop Reactor with Rowaphos
Filtration: IM Sock, IM Caddy with Filter Floss x 2, Ultramaxx
Powerhead: Karalio Nano for now but probably Jebao RW4
Rock: 6 lbs Real Reef
Top Off: Osmolator Nano 3152


Thoughts so far:

- The tank itself is really nice, love the form factor

- The stand looks nice and is sturdy but the doors and latch setup is kind of cheap. I still have to work on the doors a bit to get them perfectly even.

- The reactor seems to work well enough but I did get a bunch of Rowaphos fines in the tank which sucked. The flow rate is easy enough to adjust but its basically impossible to get right in the tank and not get some of the GFO in there as well.

- The Tunze 9001 skimmer is working okay but its not an ideal fit for this tank so I'm not sure why I purchased it. There are supposed to be two returns but only one of them works because the skimmer blocks the other. I'm thinking about picking up a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer, like the BH-1000.

Overall I'm really happy with the setup. I'm probably overfiltering/cleaning the water but I really want to get 0 phosphates. I'm also not sure what I want the final aquascape to look like. What I know for sure is that I don't want clutter.

- Anyone have thoughts on a skimmer replacement for this thing and whether a Reef Octopus HOB is overkill?

- Also thoughts on Jebao RW4 for this tank? I had a WP10 which went tits up within 3 months so not sure why I'm considering another Jebao but I don't feel like dropping $230 on an MP10.

[ReefTron5000]

I didn't really think the cycle part of this tank through. I used Dry Sand and there are only 6 pounds of the Real Reef. I didn't want to use any of the sand from my tank at home because I have an ongoing minor algae issue there and I didn't want to transfer that to the new setup.

I figured I would just change out about 5 gallons of water weekly and wait about a month before putting anything in the tank.

[Relientkiid]

Looks awesome! No additional lighting?

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by Relientkiid

Looks awesome! No additional lighting?

Yeah totally forgot to mention lighting. I've always had LED fixtures including on the tank at home where I'm running two Maxspect Razor 16Ks. I'm happy with them especially in the electricity department but I've never been 100% happy with my colors so I think I'm going to run T5s over this tank.

I'm getting either this fixture, or one similar to it:



If I can find a decent used ATI on the forums I'll jump on it but I'm not about to drop $400 on a T5 fixture where to be honest I can't tell other than looks, what exactly its offering over say a very basic, industrial fixture like the one above. Fans I guess (that will eventually go out).

I haven't decided on the exact bulbs yet, having someone help me with that as I've never really bought T5's before. I know there are a bunch of different colors you can get.

[Albert184445]

Nice start to you build. Looking forward to more updates

[ReefTron5000]

Thanks!

So I bought a used Reef Octopus HOB off a local guy, should be here in a couple days and we'll see if it fits in the middle back chamber.



If it does not I'll put the intake pipe in the left 4" chamber and the outflow pipe in the middle chamber, so that the skimmer is sitting off center. That SHOULD work but we'll see. I REALLY don't want to hang it off the side.

Also, I think I'm going to strip the black backing off of one of the 4" chambers and turn that into a refugium. I need a decent, cheap vertical LED so if anyone has recommendations, shoot.

[Jeff4777]

nice! following. I want a nano very soon for my office, away from home office that is. lookin good!!

[ReefTron5000]

Well I pulled the Tunze and installed a Reef Octopus BH-1000 HOB. The thing is gigantic but after a lot of messing around with it, I got it to fit in the back chamber. Its working well, producing a lot of foam. The only thing I'm worried about is its pretty heavy with water flowing through it and I'm hoping its not putting too much stress on the back wall of the tank.

I also cut a perfect strip behind one of the 4" chambers for the refugium. Now I just need a light and some chaeto.

I'd post some pictures but my dang phone just bricked for no reason.

[ReefTron5000]

Checked on the tank today and the skimmer is still working fine but I'm seeing a lot of microbubbles in the tank. I messed with it forever to get rid of them but I'm still seeing microbubbles in the back chamber. I've put several sponges along the flow path of the skimmer. I've also got sponges around the return pump so I'm not really sure where these are coming from. The skimmer was used so I don't think I should be seeing like "break in" microbubbles, should I?

[Albert184445]

Interested to see how the skimmer works out. I'm looking to get a Aquamaxx hob1 for my lagoon

[ReefTron5000]

Yeah I was considering the Aquamaxx as well and was going to get whichever popped up on the forums first used but I think I like the Reef Octopus because of the external pump design. I mean honestly, both are serious overkill for this tank. I explained it to my coworkers as "putting a giant engine on a tiny car." It's called the Lagoon 25 but with displacement there is actually only like 15-20 gallons of water in there depending on rock. The thing is rated for like a 75 gallon tank LOL.

[ReefTron5000]

Equipment List Update:

Tank: Innovative Marine 25 Gallon
Stand: Innovative Marine High Gloss Pearl White
Return: Eheim Compact 600
Heater: Eheim Jager 75 Watt
Skimmer: Reef Octopus BH-1000
Reactor: Innovative Marine Desktop Reactor with Rowaphos
Filtration: Refugium, IM Sock, IM Caddy with Filter Floss x 2, Ultramaxx
Powerhead: Jebao RW4
Rock: 6 lbs Real Reef
Top Off: Osmolator Nano 3152
Lights: HydroPlanet 24" T5HO (Haven't decided bulbs yet)




I'm having trouble finding a spot for the RW4 where it doesn't stir up a bunch of sand and debris. Even on its lowest setting, it might be too much for the tank. I've got it in the bottom back corner pointing diagonally at the other side but it still stirs up stuff into the water column. The sand doesn't move so much. I'm wondering if its still just debris from the new sand, I mean I washed it but still.






Just got the light in the mail like 15 minutes ago. The thing looks well made and has nice reflectors, even has 2 switches instead of 1 like most of these industrial fixtures. For $85 I'm pretty stoked. Now I gotta figure out how to hang the thing.

[soulpatch]

Nice build but your stand doors not being level catches my eyes every time. Break out the screw driver man and make the small adjustments on the hinges.

[ReefTron5000]

Haha yeah I fixed it a couple days ago.

[soulpatch]

whew,. It is one of those things that once I saw it I ignored the tank and saw only those doors. Now I can enjoy your build again.

Good luck I will be following

[ReefTron5000]

Bulbs #2,3


All bulbs


Those are just the 6500K bulbs the thing came with. I'll be picking up ATI's this weekend.

Its a TAD crooked which is annoying but I'll try to fix that. The cables must be slightly different lengths cause I'm pretty sure the brackets are level.

[ReefTron5000]

Still seeing nitrates. I was hoping they would be at 0 by now. The fact that I'm seeing nitrates, does that mean the cycle is basically done?

Planning on adding maybe 5-6 pounds more rock and doing a 5 gallon water change.

[soulpatch]

You will continue to have nitrates for some time. So long as you can process ammonia within 24 hours to zero and nitrites to zero then you are good.

The bacteria to process nitrates take much longer to come online but you can handle the nitrate levels with water changes.

[troutbum24]

Cool tank, will be following. I would like to have one of these in my office as well. Also, I like the UMX Radian on the wall!! Nice touch, yet another way to relax soaring those little buggers around!

[ReefTron5000]

Yeah I love that little Radian, got me back into flying. I've got a nice cliff close to my work that I can practice soaring on.

Right on thanks for the tips guys. I might pick up a little goby or something to start off. Ultimately I think for fish I'm going to go with a pair of Snowflake or Black Ice clowns with maybe a wrasse or goby of some type.

[ReefTron5000]

I really don't want to buy a basic reef test kit so I went to the store today to have them test Ammonia and Nitrites. He used a Salifert kit for Ammonia and I think he said it was .25 or the first green block, so Ammonia is still detectable.

For Nitrite he used one of those strips which I assume are not that accurate but it registered immediately at 3 for Nitrites.

So it seems like the tank is still cycling but I'm confused why. Its been running for like 3 weeks now and I figured Ammonia and Nitrite would be undetectable. Could it be because I only have like 6 pounds of rock in there? I bought 4 more pounds today that I will toss in. I'm wondering if adding more rock will disrupt the cycle that is already happening.

[soulpatch]

Basic test kits are really one of those things you should have. I know you use it mostly during cycling but you need it on hand to investigate why things go downhill or such. They are on sale all the time so it is a worthwhile investment...

Adding more live rock wont disrupt the cycle but only do so if you want that in the tank. Otherwise you can up your bacteria count using things like stability, prodigibio start up, tims one and only bacteria, or others.

[ReefTron5000]

Yeah I might just buy the dang test kit but I gave away the last one I had because I had not touched it since setting my home tank up. I agree though it's better to have one.

I definitely want the rock in the tank. I thought I wanted a more sparse look but the tank has TOO much dead space at this point.

I guess I'm just surprised that the tank is taking this long to cycle. I didn't really want to use a product to cycle but maybe I will at this point, or is it too late to use one of those things...

[soulpatch]

You can ALWAYS add bacteria suppliments to a tank. They just have less purpose once your cycle is complete.

[lilphil26]

I used aquavitro seed. Really nice stuff