IM 50 AIO

[dedragon]

I’m thinking maybe one on each side of the tank. One towards the front and the other towards the back

matters the deadspot from aquascape but you are probably right with that placement

nice! i ordered mine the beginning of last week, i think on monday. so about a week and a half. pretty quick considering ive heard some people say it took them a few months. so a few reasons i went AIO. one being the price and location. the tank is going in between my living room dining room so the quiter the better. not to mention its cheaper. I have always wanted a 4' 120 so im saving the added cost of having to buy a sump, pump, etc for that build, at least that is the plan. I actually almost went with a 75 INT but there was a slight mix up in the ordering so i took that as my sign to stick with the 50 for now

i already had a diy 20 gallon sump which only cost me $80 so ext was the option for me. I run a hydor dc return pump at 40-50% so it is super quiet, my ultra reef akula skimmer is louder (but it is also one of the quietest skimmers as well)

 

[thelonereefer1]

matters the deadspot from aquascape but you are probably right with that placement

i already had a diy 20 gallon sump which only cost me $80 so ext was the option for me. I run a hydor dc return pump at 40-50% so it is super quiet, my ultra reef akula skimmer is louder (but it is also one of the quietest skimmers as well)

That’s another thing I’m considering is upgrading the return pump that it comes with. I’ve seen a few people do it but haven’t looked into it personally

 

[dedragon]

I would wait on it as it wont be a necessary upgrade, jebao makes pretty reliable and cheap dc pumps

 

[thelonereefer1]

Got water sand and rock in the tank yesterday. Now I’m trying to decide what lighting system I want, I’m between Kessil and radion,hmmm convince me one way or the other lol

Mostly lps and softies. May try a few stick (80%ish chance here)

 

[JumboShrimp]

Looking splendid! I won't try to sway you one way or the other on lighting, other than to say "if" you want that Kessil shimmer-- some people do, some people don't-- then you want a Kessil. Lol.

 

[thelonereefer1]

Looking splendid! I won't try to sway you one way or the other on lighting, other than to say "if" you want that Kessil shimmer-- some people do, some people don't-- then you want a Kessil. Lol.

I’m a fan of it on the 30 gallon biocube that I have ! Here’s my next thought…???
A pair Kessil a 360x or a single ap9x?

same goes for radion a pair of XR- 15’s (I’ve seen some people with this setup on this tank before) or a single XR- 30?

 

[dedragon]

2 xr 15 will probably be best for 30". For my incoming ext 50 I went with an orphek icon compact because i already had an illumagic vitaminisuper actinic and i will probably add an orphek or3 reef day to increase par on the sides. That being said an orphek icon will work as well and is $850 right now and you wont have to deal with extra bars and cords like me

 

[dedragon]

ideal for me would have been 2 kessil a 160w and the orphek icon compact but i already had the led bar so i will see when it arrives on friday how well it will work.
There is also the ati straton pro which might come out soon but idk how soon you plan to add corals

 

[thelonereefer1]

2 xr 15 will probably be best for 30". For my incoming ext 50 I went with an orphek icon compact because i already had an illumagic vitaminisuper actinic and i will probably add an orphek or3 reef day to increase par on the sides. That being said an orphek icon will work as well and is $850 right now and you wont have to deal with extra bars and cords like me

Thanks for the input, I’ve never had any dealings with orphek before I’m going to have to do some research into them!

 

[thelonereefer1]

ideal for me would have been 2 kessil a 160w and the orphek icon compact but i already had the led bar so i will see when it arrives on friday how well it will work.
There is also the ati straton pro which might come out soon but idk how soon you plan to add corals

Another recommendation for orphek! I’m not in a huge rush for corals as I can add them to my 29 bio cube, which I plan on keeping up and running as a frag tank. It’ll probably be a few months from now if we’re being honest. I’d like to take things slow if that’s even possible lol

 

[RBarth]

I've got an IM 40 and been very happy with Aquatic Life T5/kessil combo. Im late to the game but looking at ur rock work I'd suggest a change...cuz...well...I wish I had. Don't do that bigger rock mass that was on the right of ur first picture. Flow has been hard for me because of it and it eliminated a large portion of space for me to place corals.

 

[thelonereefer1]

Got my light set up XR-15 G5 pro. Next up is to get some more flow. This is my first experience with radion and I’ve only had it for a few days but so far I’m loving it. We’ll see how that pans out over time

 

[thelonereefer1]

Tank has been up and running for 4-5 weeks. Started it with fritz turbo 9000 (first time ever using it). Got a couple of fish been in for most of that time. At what point would you suggest starting to move some corals from the frag tank on over into this one?

 

[thelonereefer1]

Out of curiosity what percentage are y’all running y’all’s pumps on,specifically mp10 or mp40 for those with the IM AIO 50?

 

[RBarth]

I've got an IM 40 and run 3 nero 3's and keep them around 10-15%.

 

[thelonereefer1]

I've got an IM 40 and run 3 nero 3's and keep them around 10-15%.

Are you keeping lps or sps?

 

[RBarth]

Lps...all Euphyllia. Torches on top so flow is difficult. If I was all sps I'd do the red sea gyre or even the icecap 2k with one head. Tried both but just too much flow for my particular setup.

 

[RBarth]

Just saw this. I'm only suggesting this because it worked for me. I did the 4 month no light thing. Because I had a frag tank I just enjoyed QT-ing all the new fun things I was gonna put in my new build. First time ever waiting 4 months but I must say I have had VERY few issues with uglies of any sort.

Tank has been up and running for 4-5 weeks. Started it with fritz turbo 9000 (first time ever using it). Got a couple of fish been in for most of that time. At what point would you suggest starting to move some corals from the frag tank on over into this one?

 

[thelonereefer1]

Just saw this. I'm only suggesting this because it worked for me. I did the 4 month no light thing. Because I had a frag tank I just enjoyed QT-ing all the new fun things I was gonna put in my new build. First time ever waiting 4 months but I must say I have had VERY few issues with uglies of any sort.

I’m going for mostly lps as well. I debated back and forth on flow options and settled on one mp10 and on mp40 based off of some other post suggestions. I haven’t been able to get enough coral in there to determine it. I’ve tried a few acans and goni’s but they didn’t seem to like the tank very much so I’ve moved them back to my biocube 32 which is use as my coral frag tank. It’s beeen up and running for about 10 years now. They thrive in that set up. Unless I’m missing something I guess the tank just isn’t ready for some reason

 

[thelonereefer1]

Just saw this. I'm only suggesting this because it worked for me. I did the 4 month no light thing. Because I had a frag tank I just enjoyed QT-ing all the new fun things I was gonna put in my new build. First time ever waiting 4 months but I must say I have had VERY few issues with uglies of any sort.

I ran no lights for the first 1 1/2 - 2 months. Which was easy bc it was fishless and I had my other tank set up as whole like you mentioned. Seemed to work very well for me so far as well except for the corals not liking it. I don’t have some GSP which is growing. A Kenya tree and some zoas. So nothing crazy but they do like the tank it appears