Innovative Marine 30L

Jenaleigh1 · Dec 27, 2014

I'm so excited! My mr. got me the tank I've been wanting forever! I'm waiting on my new light to get here, but got the tank set up yesterday. I LOVE this tank! It's completely contained and so nice looking. The pump is not loud. Some reviews have complained, but it is virtually silent. It's so nice to not have to piece together a tank. He built the stand for me, too.

I'm not looking to make this some crazy build with crazy expensive stuff. Lost all my livestock in our last PCS move. I was devastated to lose thousands of dollars in corals and fish, and all I've run for the last year is a five gallon nano. I've been keeping about 70 pounds of rock cycling in tubs in the garage, so I have lots of leftover, but I loooove this tank! I'll probably prowl around here in Jacksonville, Florida and go to a few reef meetings to get it stocked with just softies and LPS. Really excited to have the right tank with the right accessories and lighting from day one. Newbies, I can't say it enough: Buy the right tank and equipment the first time, or it will cost you twice as much in the end! More later! Stay tuned!

Touring · Dec 28, 2014

Looking good. You staying with stock filtration?

wrongpolo · Dec 29, 2014

Following, Really digging all the fusion tank builds

Jenaleigh1 · Dec 30, 2014

I think I'm going to try to stick with that for now, just to see how it does. I have it very lightly stocked right now, but it seems to be doing well. The trick seems to be making sure that the water level is no higher than the back of the filter basket. Any higher and it's totally pointless because the flow isn't forced through the media. for now, levels seem pretty good.
Got my new light tonight- Orbit Marine LED from Current. Beautiful light, and then the timer died about five minutes after I turned it on. Already submitted warranty replacement form. Ridiculous.

Jenaleigh1 · Dec 31, 2014

Okay, tested today and thought I'd include a picture. If I test every few days and post the pic, I think that if I start to have spikes anywhere, I may be able to see a pattern or avoid a crash. I really hate to test, so this will keep me accountable. I'm really trying to see if this filtration does it's job. Ph is a little low, but I'll do a water change today to see if it corrects. Tank has been put together 6 days. The only "new" in there is the live sand. Thought that would be easier than potentially setting myself up for liquid death by reusing stirred up old sand and would have delayed putting in livestock. Also, my algae blend ate a mushroom last night as well as a little zoa head I had on a frag. The color in the picture is a tinge off. We're sitting around 5 ppm for nitrates, which is actually great considering I transferred stuff from tanks and tubs that were a little neglected.

Jenaleigh1 · Dec 31, 2014

Meant to say algae blenny. He was introduced to the tank on Monday and immediately went to work. The Duncan was angry at his new home, but has since settled in just fine.

Jenaleigh1 · Jan 1, 2015

Jenaleigh1 · Jan 1, 2015

A little video about filtration on the 30L [video=youtube;UomnqWEMwro]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UomnqWEMwro[/video]

SantaMonicaHelp · Jan 2, 2015

your blenny is so cute! How you know he was angry at his new home?? I'm curious what he did :bigsmile:

Jenaleigh1 · Jan 4, 2015

SantaMonicaHelp said:
your blenny is so cute! How you know he was angry at his new home?? I'm curious what he did :bigsmile:

It was actually the Duncan that was angry. The blenny is getting more settled in, though. Picks fights with the emerald crab when they end up cleaning the same rock and likes to come to the front of the tank and fan sand when he thinks I need to feed them.

Jenaleigh1 · Jan 4, 2015

Update:
Alright, tested again today. Ph actually seems to be dropping, which is really odd. I've never had a problem with Ph before. Anyway, I'm also having a little nitrate rise, but we're two weeks in on the tank and that's to be expected. I've seen good reviews on the product pictured and thought I'd try it for a while and see how it works out. I'll not fight the nitrates too much for now, as I know it needs to cycle. If in the next few days I see a trend I'll go ahead and wage war.
Light update: Current finally responded to my inquiry and is sending out a new timer. 7-10 business days. :? Pretty slow, but we'll see if they come through quicker. No new stock for now, but this is the current contents and condition of the tank:
Ph: 8.0

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10 :/
Salinity: 1.025

20 pounds live sand
20 pounds live rock
1 algae blenny
2 clowns
1 emerald crab
1 tiger conch
3 red-faced something or other snails (sorry, I really can't remember the name)
2 blue leg hermit crabs that were hitchhikers from a vacation in St. Lucia
1 red legged hermit
3 peppermint shrimp

That's it for now!

Jenaleigh1 · Jan 4, 2015

Forgot
1 ricordia.

1 plate coral thing. Idk. I'm not a coral snob.
I like to think of this build as the "natty light of reefing"

SantaMonicaHelp · Jan 5, 2015

Jenaleigh1 said:
It was actually the Duncan that was angry. The blenny is getting more settled in, though. Picks fights with the emerald crab when they end up cleaning the same rock and likes to come to the front of the tank and fan sand when he thinks I need to feed them.

Wow, Your duncan is bossy! Hopefully he will behave better as time goes on

:thumb:

-Y

Jenaleigh1 · Feb 3, 2015

Hey ya'll! Quick update on tank. Light fixed. Two full weeks of waiting on new timer, but it's here and looks good. Massive algae bloom. I have no clue how to get rid of the stuff. Tried a tiger conch, but my peppermint shrimp ate it. Water parameters are good, but I am having a mysterious tank crash at the moment. Nothing is opening up, and my anemone looks like a shriveled grape. I'm mixing more water right now, and will keep changing till things improve. We had about 30 people over last Thursday, and I think someone may have dropped/poured something in the tank. :/ grrrr. At least tell me!

Dcmatranga · Feb 3, 2015

Jenaleigh1 said:
Hey ya'll! Quick update on tank. Light fixed. Two full weeks of waiting on new timer, but it's here and looks good. Massive algae bloom. I have no clue how to get rid of the stuff. Tried a tiger conch, but my peppermint shrimp ate it. Water parameters are good, but I am having a mysterious tank crash at the moment. Nothing is opening up, and my anemone looks like a shriveled grape. I'm mixing more water right now, and will keep changing till things improve. We had about 30 people over last Thursday, and I think someone may have dropped/poured something in the tank. :/ grrrr. At least tell me!

What are your nitrates and phosphates at? Algae bloom looks normal for a new system, try cutting the lights back a little. Probably won't help the nem, but my guess is once you solve the nutrient problem, let everything run its course and should pop back open.

Jenaleigh1 · Feb 3, 2015

Was phosphate level. Going to try vodka.

Dcmatranga · Feb 3, 2015

Jenaleigh1 said:
Was phosphate level. Going to try vodka.

Sounds good - from my experience, if there's swing, nutrient or parameter - vodka can make it worse. I've had good success with Purigen in my Innovative Marine Nuvo 8, I run it in the back with chemi-pure elite and have had great results. I also have a 100gallon display with 30gallon sump - I run a Phosban Reactor in there to help keep my phosphates in check. I've always tried gradual changes - even for nitrate and phosphates. For nitrate reduction I liked Dr. Tims over the instant ocean - the IO put little sphere like particles in my display.

Jenaleigh1 · Feb 7, 2015

Vodka is beautiful. My nitrates have gone to less than 5 ppm, which is a miracle for me. I have always had problems with nitrates. I do think the extremely quick improvement in water quality kind of threw things off a little bit, but the tank is starting to look better, and the algae is turning brown and dissappearing. Success!

Jenaleigh1 · Feb 7, 2015

Sounds good - from my experience, if there's swing, nutrient or parameter - vodka can make it worse. I've had good success with Purigen in my Innovative Marine Nuvo 8, I run it in the back with chemi-pure elite and have had great results. I also have a 100gallon display with 30gallon sump - I run a Phosban Reactor in there to help keep my phosphates in check. I've always tried gradual changes - even for nitrate and phosphates. For nitrate reduction I liked Dr. Tims over the instant ocean - the IO put little sphere like particles in my display.

The IO does that to mine as well, and when they settle on my little plate coral, it doesn't react well.