Keenan's IM170 EXT

[Keenan]

Tank looks great. How do you like the IM170 ext? I am considering the same tank.

Overall I love it.

The only con I’d say is the stand. Maybe it’s because I’m just not used to this new material for stands, and because of it don’t fully trust it, but the aluminum stand just feels super flimsy for how much weight it’s supporting.

It’s to the point where if I’m cleaning the glass side to side too fast with my magnet cleaner, the tank will start too rock side to side a bit which is sketchy. Because of this I either go slowly or vertically.

It must be strong enough though because many people seem to swear by these types of stands.

And as far as tank footprints go, nothing beats it in my opinion.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I need to pull the trigger. I will use the tank built in the wall so I may integrate the stand somehow or just not use it. I have a 60" tank now and I want a deeper tank. Thanks for the info. I should calll them to see if they can sell me just a tank and new sump.

 

[Keenan]

I need to pull the trigger. I will use the tank built in the wall so I may integrate the stand somehow or just not use it. I have a 60" tank now and I want a deeper tank. Thanks for the info. I should calll them to see if they can sell me just a tank and new sump.

Looks like there is currently a 40% off sale for them

 

[Keenan]

Things have been moving along fairly well. The new frag tank keeps sps but is still going through an ugly phase, which is so weird to me but it is what it is. Phosphates have been all over the place. I can't seem to dial in neophos on the doser. Will keep trying to find the sweet spot but at the moment I've just kept it at a minimum dose and am manually dosing extra to get to the desired levels. I'll be looking into some sort of auto tester in the future to test/dose phosphates for me because I'm growing tired of it

As far as additions go, I picked up a super cool and HUGE tube anemone from @Reef Collective. The tube is close to a foot long and the tentacles are 9+ inches. I've never kept one before, and have only seen smaller ones for sale, so I figured what the heck! It also has some super cool orange/yellow markings in the green tentactles.


I also added a royal pencil wrasse to replace my blue star leopard. So far so good. Gets along with everyone and is always at the front of the tank looking for food. I'll try to get a picture of him soon.

That's basically it for now. Here's a few more pictures I took while I had the camera out.

BC Conveyor Belt of Fleshdunce. Mille's don't do the best for me, and I also can never get PE from them. We'll see if anything changes with this one.


Fishfoo Cigarettes After Sex. Backup frag growing nicely.


BC Mystery Team. It rtn'd almost immediately after getting it in the tank but I was able to save the tiniest nub. Now after two years it's finally starting to grow



No name rainbow tenuis. Not the best picture, but this guy is my favorite piece in the tank at the moment. Really excited to see what it looks like once it grows some more.


RC Poison Envy. Finally got a colony pic of it. A cool and unique piece.

 

[Keenan]

Keep forgetting to update this thread so a good month or two passed between last post and this, but after this one we're back up to date.

Quick tldr update: Tube nem unfortunately had to go; messed up my royal pencil wrasse pretty bad and ended up dying shortly after. On a brighter note, have some new fish and corals on the way/in qt. Still going through some algae struggles with the frag tank but trying to stay on top of it.

Now for a mini photo dump

 

[hans4811]

Curious, you still dosing just DIY AFR and Kalk ? Saw a bottle of AcroPower in your cabinet as well ?

How much of the AFR are you dosing to your system ? Instructions say 5ml per 25 gals…so if you’re around 225 gals, about 45ml ?

Thinking about switching over to this, from Reefers Moonshine, for my trace elements, as it’s becoming a pita somewhat, daily manual dosing is getting old and this seems like a much simpler way….not to mention the colors you‘re getting ! I’m not getting anything like yours and a boat load of work to boot !

 

[Petcrazyson]

Could we get some full tank shots pls?

 

[LeeLoo Lola]

I would love to see some updated full tank shots too! I just got my 170 in (upgrading from a 75). Your tank is dreamy and gets me so psyched for mine!

I noticed some other common themes like fighting a dino outbreak. That was NOT a fun time, but we finally got through it.

I see you also commented about the stand. We love our IM 75, but feel exactly the same about the stand. My husband got creative for the 170. If you’re ever interested in alternatives, please check out our build thread that we just started. I’d love your input as you’ve obviously been there done that!! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-beauty-the-clown-fish-innovative-ext170.987538/

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Keep forgetting to update this thread so a good month or two passed between last post and this, but after this one we're back up to date.

Quick tldr update: Tube nem unfortunately had to go; messed up my royal pencil wrasse pretty bad and ended up dying shortly after. On a brighter note, have some new fish and corals on the way/in qt. Still going through some algae struggles with the frag tank but trying to stay on top of it.

Now for a mini photo dump

Love the torches!

 

[Petcrazyson]

I just got my 170 in (upgrading from a 75).

Nice upgrade!

 

[Keenan]

Curious, you still dosing just DIY AFR and Kalk ? Saw a bottle of AcroPower in your cabinet as well ?

How much of the AFR are you dosing to your system ? Instructions say 5ml per 25 gals…so if you’re around 225 gals, about 45ml ?

Thinking about switching over to this, from Reefers Moonshine, for my trace elements, as it’s becoming a pita somewhat, daily manual dosing is getting old and this seems like a much simpler way….not to mention the colors you‘re getting ! I’m not getting anything like yours and a boat load of work to boot !

I am still dosing DIY AFR, but at the moment the kalk stirrer accounts for a majority of dosing. In the old tank I was dosing much more, but also had many more colonies. Currently I believe I’m dosing 30ml a day. Tropic Marin has a powder version now which is even cheaper, but I prefer the DIY version a bit more as I can adjust how much Mag and trace go into it each batch.

I actually just switched off of acropower and am trying KZ FWS just to see if I notice any difference/improvement. I had a bottle laying around so thought why not.

Reefers Moonshine seems great, but I agree, too much work for me.

 

[Keenan]

I would love to see some updated full tank shots too! I just got my 170 in (upgrading from a 75). Your tank is dreamy and gets me so psyched for mine!

I noticed some other common themes like fighting a dino outbreak. That was NOT a fun time, but we finally got through it.

I see you also commented about the stand. We love our IM 75, but feel exactly the same about the stand. My husband got creative for the 170. If you’re ever interested in alternatives, please check out our build thread that we just started. I’d love your input as you’ve obviously been there done that!! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-beauty-the-clown-fish-innovative-ext170.987538/

Thanks I’ll definitely check out your thread. Overall I’ve been enjoying the 170

 

[LeeLoo Lola]

Thanks I’ll definitely check out your thread. Overall I’ve been enjoying the 170

I’m glad to hear it. Your beautiful tank and photography skills sure are goals for me!!

 

[Keenan]

Quick phone FTS video

 

[t5Nitro]

So much cleaner than mine! Nice work. Tank looks great.

 

[Keenan]

Switched it to a YT link because I forgot that directly uploading videos to this site causes issues

 

[LeeLoo Lola]

Quick phone FTS video

Amazing!!!

 

[Keenan]

The frag tank has still been struggling, so I decided to do something about it. Here are the additions to combat the hair algae/overall ugliest:
1. two tailspot blennies
2. a bunch of pods directly to frag tank (forget which kinds)
3. four Mexican turbo snails

I’m already seeing results, mainly from the turbos, and am hopeful they’ll clean it up in no time. Still think it’s so weird that even with it plumbed into my sump/main display, I’m still going through an ugly phase. Sps still seem to do well in there so that’s a plus.

In the frag tank, I also have a small nem box with one tiny nem in it, and thought it’d be cool to add a porcelain crab for it. Once I get a couple more nems I think it will be a cool space for the crab.

quick phone pic before lights out

 

[Keenan]

BigR Walt Disney

 

[Keenan]

Small update:

For the first time since moving, I finally feel confident with where the tank is at. Still some minor adjustments to be made, but when isn't there in this hobby. One of the adjustments was to remove the accumulation of a "film" on the waters surface. I know there is a ton of flow, so it didn't make sense to me that the film was still there. Well, some quick googling told me my siphon was probably too closed off/not at the right level which was causing the water level to be higher than the overflow baffles. Dumb mistake but an easy one to fix

I also finally decided to stop ignoring my alk levels and actually let them drop as I was up to about 10.8 at one point. I took the Tropic Marin AFR completely offline and drastically lowered the kalk dosing, and it's been slowly dropping. I saw no ill effects from 10.8, but it sketched me out being that high. I like to be around 8-9 if possible.

I've added a few fish over the past few months, and feel content with what I have, so the qt tank has been decommissioned for now. below is the current list:

Main Display
Black Longnose Tang
Tomini Tang
x2 Small Tail Pencil Wrasse (Both Female)
Royal Pencil Wrasse (Male)
Chaoti Leopard Wrasse (Male)
Pintail Fairy Wrasse (Male)
x2 Watannabei Angels (1 Female and 1 Transitioning Male)
Golden Assessor
Caprenters Flasher Wrasse (Female)
Red Margin Fairy Wrasse (Male)
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse (Male I think?)

Frag Tank:
Mystery Wrasse
x2 Tailspot Blenny

I'll try to take some pics soon, but fish are much harder to photograph for me personally.