Kyle’s IM Abyss Build!

MONTANTK · Apr 21, 2021

Decided I’m going to change up the lighting. Went with a Photon V2 16” which should be here in a few days. My target for filling the tank and adding rock is next weekend. Still a little undecided on how I want to scape the tank so I’d appreciate a little inspiration!

MONTANTK · Apr 24, 2021

New light just arrived! Still deciding if I want to hang it or just use the arms. Leaning towards just leaving it as is but I guess we will see. Unfortunately due to a positive Covid test in the household it may be a few weeks before I fill the tank:/

MONTANTK · Apr 29, 2021

Finally!!! The tank will be on the stand Saturday. Finishing up the caulking today. Didn’t come out as I had hoped because I used the wrong stuff in the beginning but I can live with it.

Tomorrow I will be finishing up the paint and putting the door on. Saturday the stand comes upstairs and I’ll be installing my apex, DOS, kamoer pumps, lighting and routing all of the wires.

Sometime towards the end of next week I plan on filling the tank and adding the rock. Very excited to finally get this thing moving!

MONTANTK · May 3, 2021

And the stand is done! Bringing it upstairs today! Should have rock and water in the tank by the end of the week

MONTANTK · May 3, 2021

Neptune equipment is installed and the tank is on the stand!

MONTANTK · May 4, 2021

We have water!! Pump is super noisy so I swapped it out. Going to see if IM will send a replacement but if not I’ll go swap it for something quieter.

count krunk · May 4, 2021

Looks good!

jazzfisher · May 4, 2021

Looking good!

NoahLikesFish · May 4, 2021

Not a whale fall ;Drowning

MONTANTK · May 10, 2021

Transferred over my of my Zoas and my two fish. So far everything seems to be happy! I plan on adding an orange hammer sometime next week. After that I don’t plan on adding anything for at least a month as I’ll be traveling a lot.

ks2509 · May 10, 2021

I had a problem with the pump in my wb 20 being loud. I swapped it out with a sicce pump and it's dead silent. Great build love the stand and scape.

MONTANTK · May 17, 2021

Added an orange hammer a few days ago! So far everything seems to be doing well. My pod population has exploded over the past week.
Today I ordered the aquashield UV sterilizer as a replacement for the filter sock. I am still debating on if I want to get a 2nd Nero pump or not.

MONTANTK · May 24, 2021

Tank water has cleared up significantly so I thought it would be a good time to share some new additions. Over the past couple of weeks I picked up my Aussie Orange Hammer, Seduction Paly and my first tester Acro (Orange Passion). Not sure of the lineage on the Orange Passion but I got a pretty good deal so not too concerned.

MONTANTK · Jun 10, 2021

Leaving this weekend for a week long vacation so hoping everything goes okay with the tank.

Added a few more pieces. Things are doing so so while a work to stabilize everything. Water still has a little haze to it and there’s a lot of debris in the water column so I swapped out the UV for some floss.

Once I return, I’m setting up the AWC with my DOS and also swapping out the pump for a mightyjet. Looking forward to finding some consistency and watching everything thrive.

MONTANTK · Jun 22, 2021

Everything survived while I was away on vacation so I’m very happy about that. The water is still cloudy despite having UV and Carbon in the back chambers. After beginning to dose reef energy I noticed things tend to sit around in the display for longer than I would like. I ordered a mightyjet so hopefully after increasing the water going through the filter I’ll see an improvement in clarity.

While I haven’t lost any corals yet, they don’t seem to be thriving. I won’t be adding any new coral to the tank until I see a noticeable improvement in health.

jazzfisher · Jun 22, 2021

DId your tank not come with the Mighty jet or are you just upgrading to the stronger one? In the last photo you posted it looks like the return nozzle is pointed down-it needs to be pointed towards the surface. Do you have just one overflow? Like I do On the IM 10 & IM 14? If so and you have the IM UV-put filter floss in the top instead of the sponge-just make sure you change it out frequently.
Also have you tried dosing a bacteria like MicroBacter7 - Brightwell Aquatics- I find that really helps to clear things up.

MONTANTK · Jun 22, 2021

jazzfisher said:
DId your tank not come with the Mighty jet or are you just upgrading to the stronger one? In the last photo you posted it looks like the return nozzle is pointed down-it needs to be pointed towards the surface. Do you have just one overflow? Like I do On the IM 10 & IM 14? If so and you have the IM UV-put filter floss in the top instead of the sponge-just make sure you change it out frequently.
Also have you tried dosing a bacteria like MicroBacter7 - Brightwell Aquatics- I find that really helps to clear things up.

I have the older IM20 but the stock pump was noisy so I swapped it out for something a little less powerful for the time being. I did move the nozzle back to the top shortly after the photo was taken. It is only one overflow. I’ll try swapping out the sponge for the floss since I’m not really a fan of that sponge. Hoping the mightyjet helps since I’ll be turning over more water. I’m also considering getting another Nero 3 as well

jazzfisher · Jun 22, 2021

I have 2 Nero 3's on my IM 30L, don't know if you really need 2. Wait until you get your new pump first.
Do try some bacteria product it helps!

MONTANTK · Jun 22, 2021

jazzfisher said:
I have 2 Nero 3's on my IM 30L, don't know if you really need 2. Wait until you get your new pump first.
Do try some bacteria product it helps!

I may look into that!

srobertb · Jun 22, 2021

I have the IM Nuvo 10, 20, 120, and had the 40. The 538gph mightyjet is a decent pump. It replaced the MJ1200 as my universal use pump and I always have a few laying around JIC. The 328gph is temperamental at best. I’ve gone through 3-4 of them now on my IM10. It’s the flow for the entire tank so when it goes it’s bad. Sometimes I can just shake it and it starts flowing at full speed again, sometimes I replace the controller, sometimes the whole thing.

I actually have the Sicce 1.5 sitting next to it but I recently read reviews about noise and it’s a lot of work to replace if it hums.