IM Lagoon 25 SPS build?

[badger0403]

Starting a build thread for an IM 25 lagoon to document the process and hopefully get some feedback and insight from a bunch of people smarter than me!

I've lurked around here for a long time, but haven't been active, so if I post something wrong just call me out for it.

Equipment list:
Tank - Innovative Marine 25 Lagoon
Return Pump - 2x Eheim600s
Stand - DIY

Rock - BRS Reef Saver
Sand - Tropic Eden Meso-flakes

Heater - Cobalt Neotherm 100w
Skimmer - Tunze 9001
Fuge Light - JBJ Nano-Glo

Aquamaxx algae reactor
ATO - TBD (leaning towards Hydor Smart ATO Micro)
Light - TBD (leaning towards AI Hydra 26HD)

Pictures to follow!

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Edited August 16, 2017 by badger0403

[badger0403]

Stand build...

My wife wanted something rustic-ish looking so we landed on the pallet wood look.

 

I worked it out so everything fit on 1 4x8 sheet of 1/2" plywood. It's braced with cheap 1x4, screwed and glued to the plywood frame, and carrying the weight down to the floor. I know 2x4 framing is the go-to solution here, but this is a pretty light build because it's for a nano. Even with water, equipment, sand, and rock I doubt it hits 400lbs.

 

I still haven't decided how to lay out shelving/storage for cabinet, but I'm thinking I'll cross that bridge once all the equipment comes in and I'm cycled.

 

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[ReefAddict]

Looking great so far,  keep up the good work!

[badger0403]

Up and running, cycle started!

 

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[linkfalcon]

Wow killer looking stand wish I had your skills

 

 

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[YHSublime]

Looking good.

[Apcoleman]

That stand is awesome. I love the foot print of these tanks. Keep up the good work!

[stankyd]

I like the "light" build and look of the stand design!

[badger0403]

I decided on the Hydra26 for the light. I'm hoping the 2 pucks, even though they are really close together, will make the spread a little more even.

 

The tank is settling into the cycle. I tested nitrates at ~60ppm yesterday, but ammonia and nitrites are still pretty high as well. I'm hoping to see those come down throughout the week.

 

I ordered an LED strip and an aquamaxx reactor to set up as an algae reactor. I'm hoping having a little extra water volume, offset lighting schedule, and (fingers crossed) some nutrient export will keep things more stable. I have an Apex I'll be moving over to this tank once livestock starts coming in, so I'm really curious what impact the algae reactor will have on my overnight pH.

 

I'll update if anything interesting happens!

 

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[badger0403]

(I don't know why the picture is landscape...and I don't know how to fix it)

 

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[Schg]

I saw your tank on Nano-Reef, I didn't even notice you were local! Tank (and stand) are looking great so far! I feel like the Hydra26 will be fine, I am running a single Kessil A160WE on my 25 lagoon, and it seems fine so far.

[badger0403]

Thanks! I have the a160we on my IM10 and I really love it. It has grown SPS for me without any problem. I'm hoping the hydra performs as well, maybe with a little more even spread.

 

Your quick/no cycle transfer has me questioning my process of starting over with dry rock instead of just transferring everything!

 

 

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[Schg]

Thanks! I have the a160we on my IM10 and I really love it. It has grown SPS for me without any problem. I'm hoping the hydra performs as well, maybe with a little more even spread.

 

Your quick/no cycle transfer has me questioning my process of starting over with dry rock instead of just transferring everything!

 

 

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So far so good with mine, 4 days in without any change in parameters. The tank I transferred from was two years old, and I only added dry rock to fill out what I needed. I have also been using Stability every day, just in case.

 

The Hydra26 is one of the lights I am considering upgrading to if I do move on from the Kessil, so you'll have to let me know how it is longer term!

[madweazl]

Stand came out awesome!

[badger0403]

So far so good with mine, 4 days in without any change in parameters. The tank I transferred from was two years old, and I only added dry rock to fill out what I needed. I have also been using Stability every day, just in case.

 

The Hydra26 is one of the lights I am considering upgrading to if I do move on from the Kessil, so you'll have to let me know how it is longer term!

I'll keep you posted on growth under the Kessil. The controllability is pretty great compared to the Kessil Controller. I like that I can have as many points as I want on the schedule, and I can turn one led cluster down to 1% to make it work pretty as a moonlight. I think...I don't actually have anything in it yet, but it seems like it will at least prevent livestock from freaking out due to total blackout.

 

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[badger0403]

Stand came out awesome!

Thanks! I'll post some pics of the inside once I get everything set up.

 

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[badger0403]

Good news! It looks like my initial cycle is wrapping up. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites, are just over 0, and Nitrates are ~10. I've got some algae ugliness going on so I'll probably pop in a couple snails and crabs at the end of the week.

 

I hooked up an Aquamaxx reactor this past weekend to try it out as a natural nutrient export. It's been running with a little ball of chaeto since Sunday...and it's probably in my head, but I think it's already filling out!

 

The plumbing was really a pain, and I'm still not really happy with it. I ordered 1/2" ID 5/8" OD vinyl tube from Marine Depot along with a handful of 1/2" barbed elbows so I could plumb the reactor down into my stand. The hose turned out to be extremely difficult to fit onto the elbows. The only way I was able to actually get everything hooked up was to heat the tube end in boiling water to soften it up enough expand over the barbs. I assumed that when it shrunk back up that leaks wouldn't be an issue...but no such luck. Leaked like a sieve. So I clamped all the joints and that pretty much took care of it, although I did find a couple really slow drips (they've stopped now). Ultimately though, now I really don't trust the plumbing and I'm tempted to just plumb it up with PEX or something that I can be confident in when I'm not home or gone on vacation. We'll see...

 

Pictures to come. 

[badger0403]

Aquamaxx algae reactor!

 

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[badger0403]

I rented a par meter from Blue Ribbon Koi this weekend to measure the spread and intensity of the Hydra 26 HD (they also got me hooked up with the chaeto in the reactor (plus my little hitchiker freebie!). The tables below show the par measurements in a "top down" view of the tank (the top row is right up against the back overflow wall, and the bottom row is up against the front wall of the aquarium).

 

My spectrum settings were as follows (these were selected to emulate the Radion AB+ program):

UV - 118%

Violet - 118%

Royal Blue - 140%

Blue - 116%

Green - 25%

Red - 25%

Cool White - 25%

 

So here are my resuts:

 

Based on the results I've mounted the light at 11", and most of my SPS will be placed in somewhere in the neighborhood of the center 4 fields at about 6". I'm not sure how these numbers would look if I measured with a different meter with compensation for LED light like the MQ-510, but I assume they'd be pretty different. For evenness it looks like 15"ish mount height would give me a pretty even spread, but it looks just a little short on punch.

 

We'll see how it all shakes out once I start transferring things over and they start getting acclimated.

[badger0403]

Well things are settling in nicely with the tank. The algae reactor is phenomenal. The algae is super thick and a nice deep green color. It takes about 2 weeks to fill the reactor which is a really decent maintenance interval for me.

 

I'm going to make a c02 scrubber this week to help bring the pH up in the tank. I bottom out just below 7.8 most days just before the lights come on and top out at around 8. I'll post pictures of the scrubber and the pH graph before/after.

 

I moved all the coral over from the IM10 along with a couple new additions.

 

Unfortunately I was a little lax on maintenance on the 10 in the few weeks while I was getting the new tank set up and I browned out a couple pieces. Hopefully they'll color back up pretty quickly.

 

Pictures of the new livestock!

 

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[badger0403]

By dumb luck I caught the new Goby slipping through the overflow a few days ago so I got a couple In-Tank universal surface skimmers that have much smaller holes. The problem is that they don't really sit flush against the overflow wall so I'm getting a lot of water flowing around, instead of through, the surface skimmers.

 

Anybody have suggestions for a simple and clean looking way to silicone them on and still have the tank up and running (no 24hr cure times or anything like that)?

 

Added benefit is it took a full gallon to bring the level back up, and I'll take any extra volume I can get Plus I think the water height looks way better than it did before.

 

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[WilRams]

I bought them for my lagoon 50 but did not like how they mounted with the clips. I would like to silicon them in place but would be hard to give it the required cure time. I haven’t put much thought into yet...

 

I want mine for the added surface skimming and volume but the if your just looking to keep fish out I believe IM sells a fish guard.

[YHSublime]

Update? How's this thing doing?

[badger0403]

Oh man, sorry it's been so long without any updates! This fall was actually a pretty rough stretch. I lost my fish to Ich, then monti eating nudis showed up and made some quick work of a few corals.

 

Despite my best efforts, the last of the livestock succumbed so I went fishless for a few months to make sure the tank was Ich free. I restocked slowly in January/February and everything is happy and healthy.

 

Nart hooked me up with his clown pair and I picked up a yellow coris wrasse to make sure nudis don't make a comeback. There were still some in there munching on a setosa and the wrasse thoroughly enjoyed the buffet! I haven't seen one since day three with that guy in the tank.

 

Here's a current picture. Excuse the algae, I was travelling a bit and my wife was pretty generous with the portions

 

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