Another Innovative Marine 50 Fusion Build Thread

[pompeyjohn]

I used to run two mp10s on my IM40. They were great. For this build though I dont have the space on the sides to mount them. Hence the gyre. The mp10s (with an apex) were way more controllable. It was super easy to dial in wave effects and stuff. The gyre does a better job of moving detritus out from under the rocks though.

 

[pompeyjohn]

So I just could not get the 9004 to skim properly. I dont think a 9004 DC is going to work because the cables would need to be run through the walls and on the DC the controller is attached to the motor block. So that sucks. I tried with an Aquamaxx WS1 in the center chamber for a while. It is a much better skimmer, but was still kicking out microbubbles, and it made that return compartment pretty cramped. So, I am going to try skimmer-less.

other random updates;

- I have ordered an additional inTank media basket for the left side, and that should arrive tomorrow. With the return weirs artificially raised there is more of a splashing sound, so hopefully this alleviates that.

- Switched return pump to jebao/jecod/whatever DCS 3000. It is an 845gph pump so a little bit stronger than stock, and much better than the sicce 2.0. I am testing out two random flow generators on it at the moment. They seem to be working but extend quite far into the tank.

- Switched from BRS 2 part to Bionic. I'd run out of BRS dried and figured I'd try something different.

- one of the two clownfish jumped. They were starting to nip at each other and settle on male/female. I guess the playing got too rough. Current inhabitants one clown, one lawnmower blenny and one pajama cardinal.

- mounted the elegance coral in the rocks. Or rather the rock the elegance is attached to, is now mounted. It seems happier and I get to view it more now

- I am trying the gyre at 30% forwards and 30% backwards. So far so good.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Just an update for anyone who has done the weir level height mod; the second inTank media basket has completely silenced the splashing sounds.

 

[HairyGary]

Just an update for anyone who has done the weir level height mod; the second inTank media basket has completely silenced the splashing sounds.

I had am IM 20 Fusion for about two years before recently upgrading to 93 cube and I ran two of those inTank Skimmers to raise the water level and then two inTank media baskets. Plus a Sicce 1.5. It was silent except for a little hum from the ghost skimmer. Following along. Love these tanks and your set up looks great. You do need to add a wrasse though!

 

[pompeyjohn]

You do need to add a wrasse though!

I agree!

 

[leahfiish]

Do you have a picture of how the RFG nozzles look in your tank?

 

[pompeyjohn]

Yeah they are honking great things. They dont look too bad though if you look at them straight on. If I had them angled down or to the side they'd be much more noticeable. Also I have raised the water level in the tank, so didn't need to use their adapter.

All that said - they work well

 

[pompeyjohn]

So coming up to two months without running the skimmer. All is well, but not much growth. I am having a problem I have never encountered before - high ph. It just makes dosing alk tricky. It is like I barely need to dose any ALK, which is strange. Maybe the apex PH meter is borked. Hmm. I'll order some calibration fluid and check.

- I found some bonded filter pads on amazon (will look up make/model and post it here) that are working really well.

- Current filtration is filter pad and bag of carbon in each media basket, and I am running a small amount of GFO in an IM reactor. That is it - other than the huge amount of denitrate stuffed into the bottom corners.

- I added a 30lb bag 0f tropic eden mini flakes and a tiger conch. It is nice getting that reflected light from the sandbed.

- still very happy with the return pump and gyre.

- yesterday a local reefer re-homed the clown, a pajama cardinal and a bicolor blenny that I was given. I am going to run fishless for a while. I am travelling a lot right now and also want to get this chemistry dialed in. I'll probably go for a fairy wrasse trio in future.

 

[pompeyjohn]

This is the stuff: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AHIOM8A It is pretty cheap, easy to cut-to-size, and seems to be working really well.

 

[pompeyjohn]

So here is a lesson learned; check the container you use to mix your salt water in! Now switched for a ten gallon from petco.

 

[pompeyjohn]

okay - long overdue update

I am changing things up, and switching to a nem and clown tank. Usually when I go away for Christmas my tank sitter has managed to kill half the tank, so now seems a good time to start the switch over. My plan is to get the dry side of the move sorted by Christmas, and then in the new year start with the wet.

An anemone only tank requires a different approach. In some ways it is going to a LOT easier. In other ways, it is going to be a big challenge. I'll really appreciate any advice and comments on here. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes.

Lighting
The two hydra 26 HDs have been sold as even one would have been serious overkill. Instead I have gone with the Aquatic life 24" t5 led hybrid fixture.

2 x Blue Plus
1 x Coral Plus
1 x Aquablue

BRS shipped the wrong bulb instead of the Aquablue, and it didnt light anyway. So I currently have an actinic in its place until the aquablue arrives. For "pop" and dawn dusk effects I have ordered a reefbrite 18" Actinic lumi lite pro led strip.

Any suggestions on run time for either the t5's or leds much appreciated.

Flow
I have removed the icecap 3k gyre, as it would be too strong. Instead I am going with two Coral Box RN 1 pumps. They look like squat versions of an MP10. Having just an inch of space to mount a dry side magnet means no MP10s for me. One of the RN1 pumps is running now and doing a good job. It is quiet and moves a wide flow. I am happy so far. The other should be here later this week. Then I'll try to program both for master/slave and set some advanced programs for reverse flow, reefcrest, etc...

Filtration
Not much changed here, and this is a concern. I am not sure a 9004 skimmer in far left side and SM 0.6 drop algae scrubber is going to be enough. In theory I could add another skimmer to the far right side, or even another scrubber. Dosing vodka is also an option. Ideally I'd like to not dose anything. The rockscape will have to change for the anemones, so I'll be adding more liverock. And there is still a lot of matrix in the rear bottom corners.... but filtration is very much a concern. If could automate water changes that would be awesome, but it would mean running a water line through the crawlspace and into the garage.

Dosing
Not really much to dose. Unless I dose vodka, but even then it might be tricky. I'm likely to need less than 1.1ml which is the minimum the BRS dosers can do (actually mine do 1.9ml).

Livestock
So selling off the current corals, and keeping an eye out for local reefers that have an gbta or rbta for sale. I currently have two rbta in the tank. Next Saturday I should be picking up 3 or 4 more. I am aiming to be around 20 before adding any clowns. Current clowns and wrasse will be donated a local reefer. I might keep a little acan garden at the front of the tank. Most of my corals look rough right now because one of the nems went for a wander.

There is a store about 45 minutes from me that can get me a clutch of clowns at a good price. Just need to decide on color morph and total number. BRS suggest 1 per 3 gallons of display, and a minimum 24" space to de-escalate aggression. I have 30" in witch, but not that much depth. So this is going to be pushing it. My hope is that will a lot of hiding spaces that I can keep 12 happy.

Feeding
It seems the key to keeping down aggression is not just space, but lots of food delivered reliably and on schedule. So I'll need a dry food feeder. The Apex one looked great, but has poor reviews. I'll probably go with the lifeguard one. Is it possible to set feeding times in Apex so that everything shuts off? It probably is. I figure if I coordinate the feeder with the main returns being shut off that should work well. Of course, if the Apex feeder was better reviewed I'd just go with that. If anyone has the Apex feeder and loves it please give me a shout!

Alright so this week led light and aquablue bulb arrives, as does second coral box pump. I'll hook all that up and then post an update. Incidentally - it is so much easier to work in the sump now without all the dosers and liquids.

Thanks for reading, and happy reefing!

 

[pompeyjohn]

Even longer overdue update

There are about twenty anemones. There could be more. It is hard to tell, some could actually be two. Also the greens tend to shy away from the light a lot more than the reds making them difficult to count. I picked up ten greens last weekend. At the moment most of them are hiding. There is just a single tri-color wrasse in the tank. I doubt I'll ever catch him/her.

So far so good. The plan is to keep it stable for another three months or so, and then add fishies. It is either going to be a clown harem of 12 or so Sustainable Aquatic clowns. Or a single pair of clowns. The harem would be more fun, but a lot more work - and that wrasse would probably have to be caught. Just having a pair of clowns would be a lot easier. Not as much fun though eh?

Lighting
I supplemented the leds with some reefbrite actinics. They add a little pop, but nothing much really. The lights are hung 11" above the water line. Any closer and even the red anemones hide. T5's come on at 4 and shut off at 10. The actinics currently go 3 till 11, but I might stretch that longer.

Flow
The coral box RN1 pumps have gone to the water mixing setup in the garage. They were okay, but nothing special. One of them had a startup chatter that I could not resolve. Interestingly they worked better in reverse mode. But, ultimately it was just a matter of time before they chewed up a wandering nem. So now I am running two Tunze 6040s. They are positioned in each back corner, and point diagonally across the tank. They are much less intrusive than the RN1s, and the short pulse mode is working well. I picked up an Apex control cable for them but I have no idea how to code that.

Filtration
I pulled the algae scrubber. It was a massive disappointment. So, it is back to just using a skimmer, media caddy holding a filter pad and carbon, and 10% weekly water changes. I just started adding 4ml of vivid aquariums cleaner. Fingers crossed on that one.

I did add some more rock. The caribsea rock is pretty good, but sadly still leaches phosphates. I also added 20lbs of aragonite. The barebottom was good. But unless you have a lot of flow the detritus tends to setting in awkward places. I figure it'll settle on the sand now, so have a reefcleaners order on the way.

Dosing
Not dosing anything automatically.

Livestock
So just a couple of Acans left, and that solitary wrasse. Other than the nems of course

Feeding
I have been adding a pinch of spectrum pellets for the wrasse every now again. I just started using IQF Krill for the anemones. I chop it into thirds and let them defrost in some tank water for a while. The red nems love it. Some of the greens do. Most don't. It is pretty curious how the color morphs behave differently.

Thanks as always for reading, and happy reefing!

 

[pompeyjohn]

 

[pompeyjohn]

The green anemones are starting to rise a little There are still two or three behind the rocks just out of sight.

I am not sure if that is cyano or spirulina. Either way I plan to kill it with fire.

 

[pompeyjohn]

A slightly wider shot - there are also three or so nems hiding under the rocks to the left.

The rbta in the bottom right is currently where both clowns sleep. However, they dive in and out of all of them.

 

[pompeyjohn]

I should add the best thing I have done for this tank recently ....

I used a razor blade to remove the left side rear divider. With a wider area I was able to replace the 9004 skimmer with a JNS 1 (which is the in sump version of the popular aquamaxx hob).

In a week (and whilst breaking in) it has pulled out more gunk than the 9004 did.

Pictures of that all to come.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Long overdue update...

Went on holiday. Storm hit, and tank went downhill. I am just recovering it now.

There was a LOT of die off coming out of the rock. It has been pretty tough to deal with. Most of the nems died. I am down to about four healthy nems, and another four that might recover.

I pulled the sand and went mental with a turkey baster on the rocks for weeks. I have pulled the apex feeder because even on the minimum amount it was putting way too much food into the tank. I am only starting to get to the bottom of it now. I'll put together a picture soon.

I guess I am just never going to go on holiday again.

I have put two forty gallon containers in the garage. One is full of saltwater, one is RODI. I have hooked up to a DOS that runs about forty feet of hard rodi tubing through the crawlspace under the house and up to the tank. I still need a 50ml doser for the ATO, and an apex float switch. Maybe an EB8 as well.

This hobby is supposed to be fun right?

I am still thinking about doing a clown harem tank. That is the goal, but I have run extra dosing lines under the house to dose other things.... just in case I go SPS.

Pictures incoming. Sorry for sounding so bummed. Sometimes this hobby can really bite you back.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Here is the tank. Yep, not looking great. But this looks a LOT better than it did even a week ago. As you can see I also pulled some rock to increase the flow around the existing rock. In each back corner there is a little tunze power head pointed straight down - this is to try and keep detritus from settling. I may lower these because I feel like they are pulling detritus from going into the overflows. There is a coral box pump on the right side running at a very low level pulsing away to give a wave effect.

The skimmer is still rocking away. Great piece of kit. Coming up through the wall at the back is....

top off water and three apex probes - those are on the far right tubing holder. To the left of those are two more four tube holders. There are seven rodi type tubes coming through the wall into these. Only two are being used at the moment. It was just as easy to pull others at the same time, so why not? The red is new saltwater from the apex DOS in the garage. The light blue next to the red is the "drain" for the auto water change. It pulls from the bottom of the right most sump compartment. The others are not being used yet.

Here is the plan for those:

• black.......................poss carbon source - vodka, etc
• white.......................top off water (I need a brs 50ml doser and apex float kit)
• red..........................auto water change in
• light blue................auto water change out
• clear........................poss calcium
• yellow.....................poss alk
• dark blue................poss mag

here is my very messy garage. Left container is saltwater. There is an icecap gyre I had kicking around being used to mix the water. The right container is RODI.

The tubing run from here to the tank is about 40 feet - through the crawlspace, and then up underneath the tank and through the wall.

The main apex is under the tank, so I have a single USB cable running from the main unit to the garage. It is currently connected to the DOS. My thinking is I'll get an EB8 for the garage and then run the USB into that. The DOS can then connect to the EB8, as well as the brs 50ml doser for the top off.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Here is the tank. Yep, not looking great. But this looks a LOT better than it did even a week ago. As you can see I also pulled some rock to increase the flow around the existing rock. In each back corner there is a little tunze power head pointed straight down - this is to try and keep detritus from settling. I may lower these because I feel like they are pulling detritus from going into the overflows. There is a coral box pump on the right side running at a very low level pulsing away to give a wave effect.

The skimmer is still rocking away. Great piece of kit. Coming up through the wall at the back is....

top off water and three apex probes - those are on the far right tubing holder. To the left of those are two more four tube holders. There are seven rodi type tubes coming through the wall into these. Only two are being used at the moment. It was just as easy to pull others at the same time, so why not? The red is new saltwater from the apex DOS in the garage. The light blue next to the red is the "drain" for the auto water change. It pulls from the bottom of the right most sump compartment. The others are not being used yet.

Here is the plan for those:

• black.......................poss carbon source - vodka, etc
• white.......................top off water (I need a brs 50ml doser and apex float kit)
• red..........................auto water change in
• light blue................auto water change out
• clear........................poss calcium
• yellow.....................poss alk
• dark blue................poss mag

here is my very messy garage. Left container is saltwater. There is an icecap gyre I had kicking around being used to mix the water. The right container is RODI.

The tubing run from here to the tank is about 40 feet - through the crawlspace, and then up underneath the tank and through the wall.

The main apex is under the tank, so I have a single USB cable running from the main unit to the garage. It is currently connected to the DOS. My thinking is I'll get an EB8 for the garage and then run the USB into that. The DOS can then connect to the EB8, as well as the brs 50ml doser for the top off.

Not looking too bad, but I feel your pain.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Thanks buddy - sometimes this hobby just bites you back