IM Lagoon 25 Office Tank

[ReefTron5000]

I'll consider using a bacteria supplement but in the meantime Ill keep doing like 50% water changes.

I'm trying to figure out my layout and I think I'm getting closer. The tank is pretty shallow so I feel like it lends itself to a more horizontal layout. I plan on placing like a medium size Australian torch in the dead space.

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

I'll consider using a bacteria supplement but in the meantime Ill keep doing like 50% water changes.

NO NO NO. No water changes during a cycle. Let the ammonia and nitrite drop to zero naturally without changing water. Then you dose ammonia back up to 2 ppm in the tank and see if the system can get nitrites and ammonia down to zero within 24 hours. If they can your cycle is complete and THEN you do a massive water change to clear out the nitrates.

By changing water now you are impeding the cycle. Let it go man and save yourself headaches and the salt $.

I'm trying to figure out my layout and I think I'm getting closer. The tank is pretty shallow so I feel like it lends itself to a more horizontal layout. I plan on placing like a medium size Australian torch in the dead space.

I think you need to play with the spaceing. I am not a fan of the second and third. I think this tank plays PERFECTLY for a dual island setup. Have one smaller island by the front glass and a larger one in the back on the opposite side. Perhaps get a piece of ledge rock and make a ledge off of the back rock extending a bit across the back.

Your corals will fill in gaps so dont overthink it too much. But the swimming space and being minimalist with these tanks is beautiful IMHO

[ReefTron5000]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

NO NO NO. No water changes during a cycle.

I'm seeing conflicting information about this. Apparantely the "no water changes during a cycle" thing is a misconception. I mean I'm fine with not doing water changes and waiting it out but according to some smart sounding people across multiple threads, it doesn't impede the cycle and actually has benefits.

"Originally Posted by greenbean36191 View Post
For a given bioload there's going to be a roughly set carrying capacity for the bacteria. Whether you do a waterchange or not, you're going to end up at the same place, you just change the path you take to get there and how long it takes.

If you don't do a WC you finish the initial cycle quicker but you overshoot the carrying capacity, so the population drops, overshooting it again. You end up setting up fluctuations in the population and prolonging the time it takes for the tank to "mature" or finally settle at the carrying capacity.

If you do WCs it takes a little bit longer for the bacteria to reach the carrying capacity, but there's very little overshoot so the tank is essentially mature as soon as the cycle is done. The fact that there's less ammonia also helps to preserve diversity on the liverock.

Here's a little graph to show what's going on.

Personally, I recommend doing WCs, but either way will work."


See this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2093085 (amongst others)


I'll probably just buy a basic test kit and play it by ear.

Originally Posted by soulpatch

I think you need to play with the spaceing. I am not a fan of the second and third. I think this tank plays PERFECTLY for a dual island setup. Have one smaller island by the front glass and a larger one in the back on the opposite side. Perhaps get a piece of ledge rock and make a ledge off of the back rock extending a bit across the back.

Your corals will fill in gaps so dont overthink it too much. But the swimming space and being minimalist with these tanks is beautiful IMHO

Yeah I definitely want to have a lot of open space. I've been going through "Show me your aquascape" threads trying to get inspired but its tough man. I like the idea of two islands and might play with that a bit. I'm trying to figure out if I can glue a couple of pieces to form an interesting ledge in the back.

[soulpatch]

I disagree with the WC statements. The bacteria is in the rocks and sand as they mature. The water column is merely holding the food source (ammonia) for them. By removing food source you have some slight die off unless you dose back up to the level before. The dieoff feeds remaining.

That is why many of us cycle using actual ammonia. You can dose to an exact amount and let the tank cycle it through. Removing the water merely removes the food source you are trying to use to grow the bacteria.

Though I would agree that is there are items on the live rock (barnicles and such) that you do need to be aware of how high you let ammonia go and in that instance water changes are required to have them survive. Otherwise basic live rock without such items you should just let it go.

[ReefTron5000]

Still experimenting but I think I like the second layout better. I'll play with it tomorrow to see if I can improve on it.

Ordered a set of bulbs per a buddies recommendations, 3 Blue Plus, 1 Coral Wave. Also, Jebaos are total pieces of crap. The RW4 went out 3 days into use. Well the powerhead works but the speed adjustment went out on the super flimsy controller. I've ordered a Tunze 6015 to replace it.

[soulpatch]

My RW4 has been running for over a year now with only being cleaned once. But I guess that is the QC issues you get with a copycat brand.


I too like the island design much better. (I guess I have to since I suggested it ha ha) You could probably get one more large piece of rock and break it into smaller chunks to litter on the sand bed giving places for other corals to be placed OR get some corals meant more for the sand like some plate corals, brains, ect.

[ReefTron5000]

Had the water tested today at the LFS. Ammonia came back at 0 with a Salifert test. He tested Nitrites with a strip and that came back at 3.0. I feel like those strips aren't that accurate and I'm not sure if I trust that number. I tested Nitrates myself and it looks like under 5 ppm to me. Tank has been up about a month at this point. I'm fine with waiting longer but it is annoying to me how long this is taking.

The combination of the Tunze 6015 and the super fine sand I have is also frustrating. I figured the 6015 would be a good fit but it seems too strong. I've kind of got the flow balanced with a Koralia nano on the other side.

The temperature of the tank is a bit too high, averaging something like 81 degrees, sometimes hitting 82. The fans work but I picked up a Coolworks Iceprobe that I plan on resting upside down on the rim, over the back left chamber.

I'm also seeing diatoms so I guess things are progressing.

[ReefTron5000]

I'm gonna go get my water tested again tomorrow but I think they cycle is complete. Ammonia and Nitrites are at 0 and Nitrates are under 5 ppm. I tossed in three hermit crabs yesterday and they seem to be doing okay.

The routine "new tank", reddish-brown diatoms have appeared so thats progress I guess. I need to pick up a couple snails to work on that.

I also picked up an Apex Jr, mostly so I can monitor temperature remotely.

Finally, most exciting development is that I finally picked out two clowns from Sustainable Aquatics and put the order in today through the LFS.

This actual Helmeted Onyx Picasso


and a Eared Wyomig White that will look like one of these guys

[ReefTron5000]

Seems like this forum is pretty dead but I'll update with some pics for the sake of documentation.

- Tank finally cycled after about 5 weeks. Nitrates keep coming up at 0 and the one phosphate test I ran came back at .02 ppm. I think the deep(ish) sand bed and IM reactor running GFO are helping.

- Fish acclimated and adjusted just fine. I added a very small Hi-Fin Red Banded Goby which went AFK about 5 minutes after adding him to the tank. Haven't seen him since and I assume its dead. Also added a Purple Firefish which is alive but constantly hiding. I think he eats.

- Moved a few corals from my main display over including a small chalice, some acans and a stylo frag. Everything looks great and for some reason, the acans look way better in this tank than they do at home which is kind of annoying. I was planning on adding a Blue tipped aussie torch but the one I have at home is too big so I need to find a small version of it. The basic torch I have in there now needs to go.

- Picked up about 8 frags yesterday and they seem to be doing okay as well. I'm being pretty picky about the pieces I want in this small setup.

Really hard capturing the colors with a cell phone cam. The two fungias in particular are really stunning and bright.

[michellejy]

I love this style of tank. I'm definitely tempted to get one myself. (*sigh* I am still cycling the 28 gallon nano I just bought.) Does it have a lid?

[ReefTron5000]

It doesn't come with a lid but BRS sells a mesh screen top kit that works perfectly. I made a top that sits flush. Its really nice.

[michellejy]

You did an amazing job with the lid. It's invisible in the pictures!

[ReefTron5000]

Hahaha. I'll try to get a pic of it.

There are some guys that make amazing acrylic lids for those JBJs.

[michellejy]

Originally Posted by ReefTron5000

Hahaha. I'll try to get a pic of it.

There are some guys that make amazing acrylic lids for those JBJs.

I did the build from scratch route with my 120 gallon and ended up with a cracked sump that took out my tank, so I went the lazier, AIO route this time. (It's amazing how many changes I have already made to something that was *supposed* to be plug and play though!)

[ReefTron5000]

Theres a shot of my lid sitting flush. With the dosing lines pushing against the other side of it, the top fits really nice and snug.

Saved myself like $10 by not buying the stupid clips. Binder clips worked great to hold up both the lid and dosing lines.

[Joeganja]

Hey can we see an update on the tank and how the light fixture and skimmer is doing? I got the same tank but haven't decided which skimmer or light.

[ReefTron5000]

Updates:

- The light fixture is working great, I would highly recommend.

- I took the Reef Octopus skimmer offline. It proved unnecessary. Even without the skimmer, my nitrates are at 0 ppm. I have to dose nitrates to bring them up to where I want (2-5 ppm). Also, it was loud for my office. At some point I will probably install the small Tunze skimmer I'm currently using in my QT.

- I also took the IM Desktop Reactor with GFO offline. It also proved unnecessary as my Phosphates are also super low, like under .008, WITHOUT the GFO. I MAY start this back up.

- I imagine my nitrates and phosphates are low because I'm running Ultramaxx as well as I've kind of got a lot of sand for a tank this size, so lots of filtration.

- I f'd up and had a couple of mini-disasters with dosing. Once, calcium got sky high, like past 700. Then, the more disastrous situation was alkalinity went through the roof. I lost several pieces.

- I'm on top of tank parameters at this point and have started dosing kalkwasser instead of B-ionic 2 part. I still occasionally manually dose 2 part but the kalkwasser seems to be keeping up with tank needs at this point.

- On the bright side, I've definitely got decent growth and the fish seem to be happy.

[NewbReefer316]

Tank is looking great. I'm in the process of setting one up myself. If you ever want a smaller skimmer you can go back to your tunze 9001 and just add another eheim 600 pump so that each return has a pump that runs it and the line just goes straight up.

[PanicATTACK187]

glad you took all that crap hanging off the back. these are sexy little tanks and that stuff was just an eye sore. the light is pretty bulky but tank looks good. im gonna try to fit the tunze in mine as well but doing a 5 gallon water change a week i wonder if its even worth it.

[ReefTron5000]

UPDATES:

- Continued to have issues stabilizing calcium/alkalinity through dosing. I stopped dosing kalkwasser because it was making a mess in the back chambers. Everything was gunking up and it was a general pain in the *** to deal with.

- Dosing 2 part manually every few days seems to be working okay. Just dump in a bit of alk and calcium and I'm basically good to go.

- Last week switched from Instant Ocean to HW MarineMix salt from BRS. IO is SO low in cal/alk so this should really help me keep my numbers up without dosing too much.

- I've had terrible luck with 2nd clowns in this tank. The first frostbite I had swam into the back and ended up in the skimmer. Then, I had a really nice frostbite clown in there that somehow jumped out of the tank during a water change and I didn't notice. Shitty mistakes both times. Haven't picked up a replacement yet but I'm planning on getting another very small Da Vinci.

- SPS lost a lot of color but over the last few weeks they have REALLY been coloring up. Very happy about this. Its frustrating actually because in this tiny tank, my SPS are looking on point but in my big 130 at home, I've been trying for 3 years to get my SPS to color up but I can't Fra

- Fragged a few heads of bambams and rastas from the home setup and added them here. Doing well.

- I kind of went nuts at Reefapalooza and bought a bunch of stuff for both this tank and my main. Acans seem to do REALLY well in this office tank so I picked up two largish colonies and a smaller 4 head frag. They're all doing fantastic. Don't wanna jinx anything but its really crazy how happy the acans are in this tank. Also picked up that frogspawn but I gotta find a good spot for it.


Pics!

[nate16]

looking good! Office tanks can be tough!

[ReefTron5000]

Haven't updated in a bit.





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[Ritten]

You sure have a knack for rock and coral placement. Your tank looks beautiful.

[moondoggy4]

How do you like the stand? It seems that they have a new style I like the old style like yours.

The tank is looking real good.

[Abstractxx02195]

Hi, do you have any updates on this? I have the same tank and I am officially tired of my IM ghost protein skimmer. Hasn't done anything for me but make noise since I got it. Trying to find a solution that fits back there with no mods needed.

Anybody have any suggestions?