IM 25 SPS bombie lagoon

[MRRBW]

So if I don't start this thread, it will be 10 years before I do this build ;Facepalm Maybe this will give me the right kick in the butt to get it done and stop talking about it. So the plan is this.... IM lagoon 25 with the filter box cut out and an external overflow put in place for a sump filtration. I have this whacked out idea of using an old wine barrel as a stand and have the sump etc hidden inside. In my mind it looks awesome, not sure if my handyman skills are up to the task though lol. Once that is set up, the goal is to have a couple bombies with sps, likely montipora dominated (i really like digi's). This will be my first foray into truly keeping sps. Equipment planned:
IM lagoon 25
XAqua in/out overflow
custom sump (very simple berlin system)
tunze DOC 9410 skimmer
mp10wqd x 1 or 2
kessil 360x or g4pro for lighting (still not decided on which)
tunze ato
Red Sea Pro salt
not sure barebottom or not yet, but likely a sand bottom as I love sand-sifting gobbies.

more to come!

 

[Tailfisher]

Sounds good, if it was me I would cut a piece of wood to match bottom dimension of aquarium and place on top of barrel so there would be even pressure on bottom of tank when set up. Quit procrastinating and let's see you turn it into reality.

 

[lbacha]

If you don’t have the tank already get the black version as it doesn’t have the aio section and will save you the effort of removing.

Here is my lagoon set up almost the same way you are planning (minus the wine barrel, I do have a wine bottle though)

Lbacha’s 25g Lagoon & 8g Peninsula
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...5g-Lagoon-&-8g-Peninsula.515788/&share_type=t

 

[MRRBW]

Sounds good, if it was me I would cut a piece of wood to match bottom dimension of aquarium and place on top of barrel so there would be even pressure on bottom of tank when set up. Quit procrastinating and let's see you turn it into reality.

I will definitely have a flat bottom for the tank, the question I haven’t answered yet is if I put the barrel straight up or on it’s side. I’m leaning to putting it on it’s side and using a saw-horse still support for the barrel which I can tie into the top and have a stand flat surface for the tank. Procrastination is a killer - but life is busy with 2 jobs and 2 kids. Moved not long ago too, so the wife has prioritized furniture, go figure :-/

 

[MRRBW]

If you don’t have the tank already get the black version as it doesn’t have the aio section and will save you the effort of removing.

Here is my lagoon set up almost the same way you are planning (minus the wine barrel, I do have a wine bottle though)

Lbacha’s 25g Lagoon & 8g Peninsula
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...5g-Lagoon-&-8g-Peninsula.515788/&share_type=t

Love it. Is that a Kessil above?
I‘ve had the tank for 2.5-3 years now, just never put it together. Even if didn’t, i May still have purchased the regular IM 25, it’s cheaper where I am and I can control where I drill the hole. What skimmer are you running and return pump?

 

[lbacha]

Love it. Is that a Kessil above?
I‘ve had the tank for 2.5-3 years now, just never put it together. Even if didn’t, i May still have purchased the regular IM 25, it’s cheaper where I am and I can control where I drill the hole. What skimmer are you running and return pump?

Yep that’s a 360x on an a mount

I have a Reef Octopus 110sss in a trigger 20c sump and a Neptune COR-15 on a manifold as the return pump

 

[MRRBW]

Yep that’s a 360x on an a mount

I have a Reef Octopus 110sss in a trigger 20c sump and a Neptune COR-15 on a manifold as the return pump

Nice. What are your thoughts on the 360x? I've been frequenting a lfs who has both the 360x and the radion xr15 g4 pros set up and both are stellar. The 360x takes way less space though and the shimmer is slightly better. The g4's a just solid though.

 

[lbacha]

With the spectral co troller the 360x and the xr15 are pretty much the same. I like the form factor and shimmer better which is why I went kessil but you really can’t go wrong with either on this tank. I may eventually go with 2 when my acro colonies get bigger for more even spread. I also have a orphek atlantik v4 that I can alway put over it

 

[MRRBW]

Getting slightly closer to getting this tank up. I’ve hit a bump with taking out the filter box in the IM25, but I will put together a cutting wire like a cheese cutter to get the silicone cut without scratching the glass. Hopefully it will accelerate the process of taking out the filter box. Got my AquaIN/out and will drill the hole as soon as I get the internal filter box out. I’m debating between leaving the overflow and return right next to each other or having the overflow on one corner and the return on the opposite corner on the back panel. The form factor of this thing is so small it’s great. I expect to lose the pulsing return it gives, but the small form factor is worth purchasing this overflow on it’s own!

 

[MRRBW]

Getting ready to order the wine barrel, working on some final details with the seller, I may have them cut open some access doors for me instead of me doing it.



Also started to look at moving my RODI to my basement and connecting it to my water tank. Right now it’s in my garage and with the cold winter it’s performance is less than stellar. I think it will be easier to manage and maintain in the furnace room, more space and there is an adjacent room next to it that will have a sump system in the future for another tank.

 

[KMReef]

That stand is a build I would have loved to do!

 

[MRRBW]

not much progress with the 25 - had to spend more time on my 60 dealing with some cyano and maintenance on skimmer pump and wave makers -tiny snails get into everything eventually.

I did manage to move my RODI station down to the basement in the furnace room and connect to the water tank inlet. Added a dual tds meter as well for the first time. It’s nice to know what tds is being made as before it was annoying to use the handheld tds meter. It’s also the first time I am using resin. Before I had two types of carbon after the sediment block and then straight to the ro membrane. I find the resin is getting used up quickly. I made 20ish gallons of water and it’s colour has changed to about 30-40% gold colour. Is this normal? I certainly hope not. May need to modify and have the resin after the ro membrane to have it last longer. That said, the RO membrane is 6 years old and still able to release 0 TDS water. What I feel I have noticed is that there seems to be more waste water, but that just may be my paranoia wanting to change the RO.

 

[MRRBW]

 

[MRRBW]

So time to kick some life into this thread. The time has come, a year and a bit later to get this guy up and running. Patience is a virtue, but writing this down will help me keep moving forward and not stagnate. Originally the 25g was to replace my existing DAS-60gal tank and just do a downgrade and call it a day. Well, that didn’t last long. Time is a wonderful thing for perspective to take hold and the plan Has changed. I have had the 60g for 22 years now of which 19 of them were run as a salt water FOWLR and then eventually a reef tank for the last 5 years. After all this time the silicone over the last year and bit has started to show signs of drying and stiffening up. The last thing I want is a leak so as a result the 60gallon will be broken down and be shifted to the 25gallon. What I can’t keep I will bring to the LFS and get me some credit for when I start restocking. The 25 will house my maroon clown who is now 21 years old. She’s a real grouch in her old age and needs her own space. So this will eventually become her anemone tank and she will have full reign. Once the transition is done to the 25 I will be setting up a modified IM SR-80, but that will be for another thread.
On to the 25! I love the dimensions of this tank, when I bought it, the 25 ext was not available yet though so originally I thought to take out the internal overflow box and filtration, drill the back and have a sump. Well, that part sucked. I scratched one of the sides of the glass pretty bad and my attempt at repairing it wasn’t so good. So that kinda pushed me to get the SR-80 to not have a main display with scratched glass ;Sorry The positive though, I was able to lay out some goals of my “dream systems” and make some key decisions.
So here it goes, the 25g plans/equipment:
Innovative Marine 25 gallon lagoon with the filtration box/section removed, no filter set-up. I will be relying on water changes to keep everything in check with some subtle extra filtration to help keep it on the up and up.
Caribsea Fiji Pink sand, 20lbs
Tunze 9004 skimmer
XPAqua Sumpless ATO - will serve as well to hold either floss or carbon
Ecotech MP-10wqd
Radion G4 pro with diffuser supported on a modified Kessil AP9x mounting arm
Red Sea Coral Pro salt
Ikea kitchen cabinet stand (the wine barrel stand was getting expensive and less feasible at the time, so it’s a potential future change, but not my priority anymore)
Pyle USA DJ power bar

Stocking list:
Maroon Clown, aka Charlie 21yrs old and counting
Poopoo the brown sea cucumber (also 21yrs old - purchased with the clown)
Royal Gramma for now, but will be shifted to the sr80
future stock:
anemones of ? type
anemone crabs
anemone shrimp
sand sifting goby of ? Type
maayyybe will try to add a small maroon clown, lightning to create a mated pair, but I am not certain i want to attempt this knowing it is quite possible 2 clowns enter and 1 clown leaves

So there the plans are. Hope to get her up and going in the next couple of weeks.

 

[MRRBW]

DAS 60 gallon today. For the 25 I will be using approx 10 gallons of existing water from the 60 and the rest will be fresh made salt water. I will keep as some rocks from the current tank, maybe more than I should so I can use some to start up my SR-80 faster, but otherwise the excess will be removed and then not sure what to do with them next. The 25 will have brand new sand though. I can’t/shouldn’t keep the existing sand as it’s 21years old and every time I think it’s safe to clean and move it around I get a Cyano outbreak. It’s time to start with some fresh and keep it clean with regular maintenance. I think this will help get a fresh start but allow me to keep a healthy bio system that has developed over the years.

 

[MRRBW]

The IM-25 lagoon and removal of the glass internal filter box. I have to say that after using the DAS-60 forever it seems with an internal filter box, this system is an old idea and one I’ve enjoyed for a long time. What I have grown into though, I just don’t like them. They take up valuable real estate in tanks that have great dimensions for unique looks. They make working in them challenging and frankly increase maintenance time. Flow is always annoying in my 60, granted the 25 would be less of an issue as the filter box covers the entire back from side to side. While I opted to not have a sump on this one, I may in the future, but I definitely will not go back to in-tank filter boxes.

 

[Zeal]

I have a Nuvo 40, was it hard to take apart the filter side? Its a nice tank but I cannot stand the AIO style. The back chambers suck

 

[MRRBW]

I have a Nuvo 40, was it hard to take apart the filter side? Its a nice tank but I cannot stand the AIO style. The back chambers suck

So this is my caveat with IM tanks. They are really nice tanks, the glass is great, the finish is impeccable, and the look is just sleek. But those chambers suck. If you like AIO’s they are really good though and well constructed, so I really can’t say anything bad. I wish the ext model was available when I bought this one because it’s the dimensions that sold me. I don’t think I will ever buy a 20”+ tall tank again.
Taking out the filter box is time consuming and you need to be patient. I didn’t have a cheese cutter wire, which where I live is impossible to find, so I used x-acto knives and then a painters Knife. The x-acto knife is what cut the gouge in the glass. So what I learned was the painters knife was really good at getting the silicone separated from the box and braces. Once the box was removed i then used a wide flat blade scrapper to then remove the silicone from the glass sides. This part was for me the scariest but in reality it was the easiest part and zero scratches or even close to scratching it. Once the silicone was removed I used varathane to remove the residual grease from the silicone and then finished it off with a 70% alcohol rinse. I also cut and peeled off the outside plastic wrap to have full view from the sides, this part was very easy to do.
If you plan on cutting yours out, time is your friend and go slow, but it can definitely be done.

 

[Luna Lagoona]

My tank is already set up now so I don't know that I could do this after the fact... but maybe.... and believe me I am thinking about it haha I wish I could have a real skimmer the Nuvo Skim nano skimmer "works" but only just barely.

I wouldn't mind getting the extra real estate back too! Plus the idea of sumps is just neat! and would allow me a lot more options.

How did this work out for you in the end?

 

[MRRBW]

My tank is already set up now so I don't know that I could do this after the fact... but maybe.... and believe me I am thinking about it haha I wish I could have a real skimmer the Nuvo Skim nano skimmer "works" but only just barely.

I wouldn't mind getting the extra real estate back too! Plus the idea of sumps is just neat! and would allow me a lot more options.

How did this work out for you in the end?

I managed to cut out the rear chamber, easy enough, minus one side that I gouged the glass pretty bad. I would do it in a heart beat again, without scratching it lol. I stopped there bc I had sold my larger tank and needed to get everything into it quickly and didn't have time to complete the conversion. In the end I decided to get the xp aqua sumpless ato and use that as a mini filter/ato. that part works well enough. I don't see the need for a skimmer in tanks this small, unless there is a sump, but even then, questionable. Regular water changes would be a better benefit I think. I have since taken a rest with reefing, tank is running, but it's on minimal maintenance with my live rock and some softies in it with one hermit crab. I have an upgrade tank that is sitting there ready to get started, but i'm taking my time. real life could lead to a move and the last thing i want to do is set up a tank and then take it down in 6 months bc of a move.