wet_rocks_reef IM 50g lagoon build!

[wet_rocks_reef]

Hi All,

I have been loving this forum and lurking for a long time. I finally figured it would be time to share my experiences with my upgrade to a new tank. Here is a pic of my Biocube 29 that I have been running since 2008. Wow! 12 years is a great run! The main reason I got the Biocube at the time was to share my love for aquarium keeping to my 2 year old son and to dive deeper into keeping a nano reef.

So a little about myself, I have been keeping aquariums since I was 12, with mostly fresh water tropical and some saltwater fish only. I progressed patiently and finally made the jump to reefing In 2002. This Biocube is actually my 2nd reef tank, my first was a 40 gallon TRUVU with a sump (actually a wet dry filter... remember those? And unfortunately I had to sell it when we moved to our new home in 2004 as the form factor of the 40 gallon really didn’t fit into our new pad.

I decided to name my handle wet_rocks_reef (Spoiler alert you can follow me on IG) because I love reefs, basketball and golf! The name is the only way I could think to connect my three favorite hobbies in my own special way!

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

Some additional pics of the Biocube 29. "the good ole days"

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

Here we go... so the wife said last year it was fine for me to upgrade the Biocube, and since a small aquarium steady state is not all that expensive she was convinced. Here is my list of items to purchase. A small work bonus didn't hurt either

Stand: Innovative Marine APS Stand

Shelf kit: Innovative Marine

Aquarium: IM Nuvo Lagoon 50

Mighty Jet DC Return Pump Midsize

Leveling Rubber Mat

Custom Caddy with Media

Mesh Screen Cover

Lights: XR30 light arm

Lights: XR30 Pro Gen 4 Light kit with Reef link

Auto Top Off: Smart ATO Aqua

Heater 100x2 watt neo therm

Heater Controller: Inkbird

Controller Board Deluxe: Marine Depot, made by Adaptive Reef

Swivel Power Plugs: Cable Mangement

Protein Skimmer NUVO Skim DC Protein Skimmer Midsize

Controller: Kasa Smart Outlets power strip with 6 independent control timers

Live Sand: Carib Sea Live Sand 30lbs

Refugium Light: Tanze Aqua Chic Submersable Refugium Light

looking at what I currently have set up with my Biocube I really could only savage my Maxpect Gyre wavemaker 4k and my ATO

Oh well, new gear is always fun!

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

So I have been collecting the gear since November as my better half gave me the green light to get things going. Here are some pics of my purchases. As for transferring livestock from my Biocube... here is what will be transferred...

Flame Angel
Clown Fish pair (da Vinci male, mocha da Vinci female)
Purple tip frogspawn
Candy Cane Neon Green
Green Acro with purple tips
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea
Space invader Chalice
Pistol Shrimp
40lbs of live Fiji rock
Red Mushrooms
Branching Monti digita

Planning to get new sand and discard my 12 year old sand!

And now for the fun part... my livestock wishlist...

Fish and corals
Purple tang
Flasher wrasse
Anthias borbobious or square or a colorful trio
Yasha gobies to buddy up with my pistol shrimp
Mandarin goby

Tricolor anemone

Corals
Chalices with color
-mummy eye
-pink *******
-Miami hurricane
Recordia
-orange
SpS
-fuzzy sticks milipora
-green slimer
-red branching cyphastrea
Scolly
Zoas
-red
-yellow and blue
-Sunnis Ds
Torch coral
-green
-gold tip
Clam?
-Turquoise
Cloves
-Orange
-yellow
Monti
-grafted green and red
-beach bum
-branching Superman digitata
Plate Coral
-orange

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

I went back and fourth for a long time on a Reef Controller like an APEX and an alternative , but I couldn't pull the trigger on the price . And found a low cost solution with these Kasa Smart Outlets. So the compromise I made is that the KASA has no PH and Temp probes and no way to control an outlet with those two options.

So saving 400 bucks and manually checking PH sounds like it will be fine! More money to spend on CORALS!




VS...

 

[Mom&DaughterReef]

So I have been collecting the gear since November as my better half gave me the green light to get things going. Here are some pics of my purchases. As for transferring livestock from my Biocube... here is what will be transferred...

Flame Angel
Clown Fish pair (da Vinci male, mocha da Vinci female)
Purple tip frogspawn
Candy Cane Neon Green
Green Acro with purple tips
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea
Space invader Chalice
Pistol Shrimp
40lbs of live Fiji rock
Red Mushrooms
Branching Monti digita

Planning to get new sand and discard my 12 year old sand!

And now for the fun part... my livestock wishlist...

Fish and corals
Purple tang
Flasher wrasse
Anthias borbobious or square or a colorful trio
Yasha gobies to buddy up with my pistol shrimp
Mandarin goby

Tricolor anemone

Corals
Chalices with color
-mummy eye
-pink *******
-Miami hurricane
Recordia
-orange
SpS
-fuzzy sticks milipora
-green slimer
-red branching cyphastrea
Scolly
Zoas
-red
-yellow and blue
-Sunnis Ds
Torch coral
-green
-gold tip
Clam?
-Turquoise
Cloves
-Orange
-yellow
Monti
-grafted green and red
-beach bum
-branching Superman digitata
Plate Coral
-orange

How is the new build going? I want to get my own IM 50g Lagoon but i’m hesistant. Is it worth it ?

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

How is the new build going? I want to get my own IM 50g Lagoon but i’m hesistant. Is it worth it ?

It is worth it! This tank is well made and it is a lot of fun!

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Need an update and more pics!

 

[Mom&DaughterReef]

It is worth it! This tank is well made and it is a lot of fun!

Looking forward to pictures !