IM NUVO Fusion 40

[snowflake_clown]

01-22-2015

 

 

Hey guys! New to these forums, so I'll jump right in to the details, pics are at the bottom!

 

MarcoRocks Key Largo Dry Rock (50lbs)
Tropic Eden Reefflakes Aragonite Sand
Tropic Eden Miniflakes
Nutri-Seawater (40 Gallons)
1 Liter of SeaChem Matrix in right media reactor column. (right of the center column)

Innovative Marine Fusion 40 Tank and Stand
Innovative Marine HydroFill ATO Pump System
Innovative Marine HydroFill ATO Controller System
Innovative Marine Ghost Protein Skimmer - Midsize
EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10ES
Kessil A360WE w/ Kessil Spectral Controller and Kessil Gooseneck Adaptor
JBJ True Temp Digital Controller w/ Heater - 150W (mounted horizontally along bottom of sump next to return pump)
(2) Innovative Marine Custom Caddy Media Basket's

In the media baskets I have the following:
Top Chamber - Mechanical Sponge's
Middle Chamber - Left 100mL Phosgaurd - Right 100mL Matrix Carbon
Bottom Chamber - 100mL of Purigen in each

 

I used Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride solution to dose the tank up to 2ppm ammonia on day 1 and used Seachem's recommended dosage of Stability during the first week. Nitrites appeared on day 9, and ammonia fell back to 0.5ppm on day 13, so I dosed back up to 2ppm. Nitrates appeared on day 14.

 

The tank cycled on day 24, which was 11-08-2014.

Current parameters are:
pH - 8
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 5ppm

 

Livestock:

(2) ORA Snowflake Clownfish

Purple Firefish

Cleaner Shrimp

 

Here's a video of everyone together in the tank!

 

My corals come in tomorrow morning! I ordered them from a company called Tidal Gardens. If you guys haven't heard of them, check them out. He's got a YouTube channel that produces some of the highest quality informative/tutorial videos I've ever seen. Here's what is coming in:
Red Sea Pulsing Xenia
Fireball Acanthastrea
(2) Teal Pinwheel Candy Cane
Eagle Eye Zoanthid
Green Star Polyps
SPS - Pink Bird's Nest
SPS - Blue Montipora Digitata
Orange Ricordea Florida Mushroom
Two Faced Torch Colony (super excited about this one)

 

I will post pics once the corals have had a few days to open up, I expect the shipping process is gonna be pretty rough on them.

 

Here are the pics from while the tank was cycling! I'd love to hear feedback! Still learning this site, so if you have any suggestions on things to check out or places to post pics, definitely let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

[kimberbee]

Neat! I'm looking at this tank as a possible upgrade. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

[snowflake_clown]

Coral shipment got here this morning and are currently acclimating!

 

I made a mistake when ordering from Tidal Garden's live sale. I thought I had ordered another teal pinwheel candy cane, but I actually ordered a Harlequin Goniopora. The video below shows what it looks like, and it's interesting to hear what he has to say about what is typically regarded as a difficult coral to keep healthy.

 

 

Here's the full list of what is acclimating right now!

Red Sea Pulsing Xenia
Fireball Acanthastrea
Teal Pinwheel Candy Cane
Eagle Eye Zoanthid
Green Star Polyps
SPS - Pink Bird's Nest
SPS - Blue Montipora Digitata
Orange Ricordea Florida Mushroom
Two Faced Torch Colony (super excited about this one)

Harlequin Goniopora

[snowflake_clown]

Posted a video of all my new coral! This is after less than 24 hours in the tank, so a lot of them are not fully polyped out yet (especially the goniopora). There is a long full tank shot at the end showing everyone, including Jacques checking out the torch coral.

 

 

My last water change was with AquaVitro Salinity, and it's made my water a bit cloudy. I've done some research on here and other places, as well as gave their customer support a phone call, and I've got some ideas on what I need to do to fix it. So....another 10 gallon water change tomorrow morning.

[snowflake_clown]

Any one have a suggestion on where to put the birdsnest? I really can't decide, and I need to pop him off his frag this morning because there is a hitchhiker on his plug.

[snowflake_clown]

Four new additions will be here Tuesday!

• Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (nervous about where this guy will end up in the tank)
• ORA Red Goniopora
• Peppermint Shrimp
• Cerith Snail (Caribbean)

Not getting much feedback yet on my build thread but love seeing everyone elses stuff!

[michaelrzachmann]

Four new additions will be here Tuesday!

• Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (nervous about where this guy will end up in the tank)
• ORA Red Goniopora
• Peppermint Shrimp
• Cerith Snail (Caribbean)

Not getting much feedback yet on my build thread but love seeing everyone elses stuff!

Dont worry about the lack of feedback! i didnt get one comment back till months into my build lol. I follow a lot of tanks religiously that i never even commented in. The RBTA prob wont go where you want it, mine didnt and its seems as far as most peoples expiriences go they dont. But hey its better they go where they are happiest and can thrive and then maybe just move your corals around it. Mine hasnt moved once since it found its spot. I need a peppermint shrimp bad cuz i got 2 aiptasias that popped up but i need to find i big one because my wrasse immediately killed the first small one i got and i even saw him go hard at my full grown claner shrimp for the first time today.... what a dick

[snowflake_clown]

I need a peppermint shrimp bad cuz i got 2 aiptasias that popped up but i need to find i big one because my wrasse immediately killed the first small one i got

Yeah, that was my thought process on the peppermint shrimp too. I don't have aptasia at this point, but figured I'd go ahead and get him in the tank now. Have you tried Red Sea's Aptasia-X?

 

In other news, I just wanted to report that my water is back to being crystal clear. Lesson learned, don't mix Salinity with the heater on. Wait to heat the water until right before adding it to the tank. I did a pretty large water change (30%) and things are back to looking great.

[Dturner7]

Tank looks great! I'll be following along. I am actually awaiting the arrival of my own 40 fusion and stand later this week. Glad to see everything is working well for you. I've read some other threads in random forums saying people has micro bubble issues with this tank... Had any problems so far? Keep posting updates! Thanks.

[snowflake_clown]

Thanks! I have no micro bubble issues at all. There was the normal break in period on the IM Ghost Skimmer...I'd probably say it took a solid 2 weeks for the micro bubbles to 100% disappear. Once it broke in it's been working like a champ.

 

I'm guessing by now your tank is in? I have a feeling you're going to like it a lot!

 

I have been unable to get my nitrates below around 5-10 ppm since the tank cycled...so I decided to make a major change and go a different route on controlling nitrates and phosphates. I pulled the Seachem Matrix and the Purigen out of the tank, and I'm now dosing with Red Sea's NO3:PO4 - X. It's basically carbon dosing, with some added benefits that they explain in detail on their website. I'm also dosing with their Reef Energy A & B supplements as well now.

 

So far so good...nitrates are slowly falling, and all the corals seem very happy. Hope to be implementing their full Reef Foundation program within the next few weeks.

[snowflake_clown]

Well lots of changes to my reef, so I'll start with the pics!

After one full week of staying put exactly where I wanted him to stay my Rose Bubble Tip Anemone has decided to take a full tour of the tank. He's currently on the back wall. I put the mesh guard on the MP10 to hopefully keep him from getting hurt.

 

Added a few new corals over the past few weeks, and I'm really loving this ORA Red Goniopora.

 

 

I am becoming a fan of Red Sea's Reef Care program more and more every day. I am dosing with their Reef Foundation, Algae Management, and Coral Nutrition. I am getting really fast growth from all of my coral, and my diatoms and green algae are getting better and better each day. It's a lot of testing, I won't lie about that. But I enjoy the time it makes me spend with my tank, and it's comforting to feel like I have a solid understanding of all of my parameters. Now I just need my coralline algae to start growing!

[latteslave]

First off, welcome! You have some really nice equipment overall and have likely spent a decent amount of money putting this tank together. My comments below are truly meant to be helpful as it is extremely discouraging in this hobby when things go wrong and could have been prevented.

 

This is your tank so you can do things how you want but I would seriously recommend slowing down. You will get a lot of opinions from a lot of different people (me included) so you will need to take advice as you see fit. Putting that nem in is way to soon. There is a lot to caring for them... feeding, lighting and filtration. Lighting to an extent is covered but the feeding and filtration is where I am concerned as 1 month in a new tank that was started with dry rock just does not have a built up biological system regardless of how you cycled.

 

On the rocks... Not sure what your overall plan is for stocking but it seems the way you have it setup with the flat top may make it challenging for coral placement but that again is preference. For the overall stability of your reef, let it mature.

[Spiderguardnano]

awesome build man corals look awesome

i just ordered some rocks from marco rocks

 

how did you prepare it before adding it to the tank?

 

be careful with the xenia as it will take over

[Paandemonium]

you can use the xenia for filtering

[reefernanoman]

Nice tank and equipment! Following.

[reefernanoman]

I love the aquascape!

[snowflake_clown]

Putting that nem in is way to soon. There is a lot to caring for them... feeding, lighting and filtration. Lighting to an extent is covered but the feeding and filtration is where I am concerned as 1 month in a new tank that was started with dry rock just does not have a built up biological system regardless of how you cycled.

 

On the rocks... Not sure what your overall plan is for stocking but it seems the way you have it setup with the flat top may make it challenging for coral placement but that again is preference. For the overall stability of your reef, let it mature.

I appreciate the feedback! Nice to get some more comments on the thread. I have done a ton of research getting ready for this tank, and I only add things that I'm confident are going to thrive and do well. My current parameters as of last night were:

 

Salinity: 1.026 (35 ppt)

pH: 8.2

Ammonia: 0

Nitrate: 1

Nitrite: 0

Phosphate: .02

Calcium: 430 mg/L

dKH: 11 meq/L

Magnesium: 1300 mg/L

 

I currently do 25% (10 gallon) water changes every saturday morning with AquaVitro's Salinity salt mix and RODI water. I clean out the mechanical sponges and change the filter floss with every water change as well.

 

My fish get fed a small variety of different foods. Their usual feeding is NLS pellets (Marine Fish Formula), which some days mixing in mysis shrimp instead of the pellets. I break apart the shrimp block in RODI water, dump them in a fish net, and then let the MP10 blow the shrimp out of the net. Everyone in the tank goes nuts and the entire block is consumed in usually about 2 minutes.

 

As for feeding corals, I am currently feeding my LPS corals Fauna Marin Ultra LPS pellets once every 2 to 3 days, and they seem to be extremely happy and readily accept the food. Obviously, running a low nutrient environment with the reduced levels of nitrates and phosphates lowers my levels of zooxanthellae in the corals, which is why I dose nightly with their Reef Energy A & B supplements. I turn off my skimmer and return pump for 30 minutes when dosing Reef Energy and leave a light circulation from my MP10 running so that the filter feeders have plenty of time to pull the nutrients from the water column.

 

I also just noticed a few days ago that I've got a very healthy pod population going finally.

 

Concerning the anemone's feeding, right now I'm feeding him very small chunks of silverside once a week or so. He's readily ate twice so far, and has pooped all over the place quite a few times. I plan to mix in some fresh seafood for his feedings from the local HEB or Randall's here in the next few weeks. As far as filtration for the anemone, I'm not quite sure what you mean, but with all my parameters at ideal levels and over 35 lbs of live rock (now it's live, obviously at first it was dry) I really feel like my tank is handling it's inhabitants very well.

 

I've read horror stories about old tanks, new tanks, and everything in between. For the most part, it seems no matter how much you know, or how careful you are, something bad is going to happen. All my corals get dipped in Coral RX and blasted with a turkey baster before going in the tank, and this has already proven useful in preventing a few pests. I don't have any difficult SPS, and my birdsnest seriously looks borderline fuzzy he polyps out so much during the feedings of Reef Energy. I have Seachem's Reef Dip (Iodine) dip in case I run into any bacteria infections, but luckily so far I've been clear of those.

 

Regarding my rocks, I plan to let my green star polyps grown across the top of the rocks on one side, and hopefully get a cool chalice to plate the top middle part if it can handle the light. I don't plan for any SPS, not because of it's difficulty, but because I just like corals that show movement like many of the LPS's and softies.

[snowflake_clown]

awesome build man corals look awesome

i just ordered some rocks from marco rocks

 

how did you prepare it before adding it to the tank?

 

be careful with the xenia as it will take over

Thanks so much! I washed the rocks in RODI water first to remove loose dust, then let them soak in RODI water for 2 weeks. Probably not necessary to do that part, but that's just what I did. Then I took them out of the water and practiced my aquascape in the garage on a cardboard cut out of my tanks bottom for a few hours, then glued some of the bigger pieces together EcoTech's Coral Glue. It's not cheap, but it holds super strong once it dries.

 

I'm actually thinking about pulling the xenia out of the tank altogether. I got sold on it because of it's movement, but I'm not really liking the way it looks in my tank.

[snowflake_clown]

Considering my next big ticket item for the tank and would like some opinions! The two main things I'm considering are either adding a Apex controller system (mainly to make dosing easier when needing to turn off skimmer and return, but of course all the other bells and whistles are nice), or adding another wireless MP10 and getting the wireless upgrade for my existing MP10.

 

I've gone through the pros/cons a hundred times on paper, but decided to see if anyone on here had a definite opinion one way or the other.

[Admonition]

I have an Apex with PM2 and AWM (for my Hydra 52) and it is one if the BEST purchases I have made in this hobby next to my ATO.

 

That being said, my personally experience with their customer service is horrible. I personally find it frustrating to not be able to call a number and speak with someone about my technical problems. And Neptune does not take phone calls (expect by appointment when absolutely needed), their support come in the form of support tickets, where you write messages back and forth. I have had a few problems in which i spent all day at home working through their suggestions (which could take hours for a reply or minutes). They do have a community support forum made of fellow customers which actually solves most of your problems, but eh.

 

All that being said, the product is awesome and I'm extremely glad I made the purchase and would do it again. You can check out my tank thread and see my Apex setup if you're interested.

 

Edited: How do you like that skimmer? I'm been debating between that and a Tunze 9001.

[snowflake_clown]

Awesome to hear from you! Your 30L thread was one of the deciding factors of why I went with an Innovative Marine tank!

 

I was leaning towards the Apex as well, but have been hesitant because I feel like they may be due for a refresh on the controllers in the next year or so. Pretty sure I'm just going to go ahead and pull the trigger in the next week or so.

 

I don't have any experience to compare it against the Tunze, but I can say I've been very happy with the performance of my ghost skimmer. The break in period was a solid 2 weeks, and I mean this thing pumped out some serious microbubbles. But almost over night they just disappeared. I'm a big fan of Red Sea's Reef Care Program, and when dosing with NO3:PO4-X it's recommended to have a solid performing skimmer as it does pull some oxygen out of the water. Run a very wet skim and have no issues at all.

 

I can't say for sure it's better than the Tunze, but I can say I'd buy this one again if I started another tank.

[Admonition]

Oh wow, well glad I could help with the inspiration!

 

What do you mean by a refresh on the controller? Like newer hardware? They are constantly updating the software and programming but their hardware hasn't changed, unless you count new boxes subsequently designed to control newly released items like AI lights, etc. I doubt they'll come out with new base unit boxes any time soon.

 

Do you run a wet skim because you prefer it that way, or because that's how the skimmer runs? I hear good things about this one as well as the Tunze. My debate is first, is it even beneficial to running one on my small tank, and second, which to pick?! heh.

 

I absolutely love the coral you got from Tidal Gardens. How are your corals doing now, and how was your experience with Tidal Gardens? Would you order from them again? I have only ever ordered from WWC but I'm looking for another trusted online store.

[snowflake_clown]

Yeah, I meant I was thinking they may be updating the base unit itself soon since it's been out so long...but after your first post I'm set on the apex now, so I'll be ordering it within the next week.

 

I run it wet on purpose. I've talked with Red Sea support a few times before starting the Reef Care program and they recommended a wet skim every time I talked to them. The midsize ghost skimmer has an adjustable air inlet valve, and you can set the height of the collection cup. So if you want a more dry skim, just move the collection plate up a bit.

 

After seeing how much my skimmer pulls out of the water, I would say yes it's definitely worth it even on our smaller tanks. I don't get the brown/black skim that I see in some peoples photos, but then again, my tank doesn't have a huge load on it quite yet.

 

Plus, Innovative Marine has incredible support. The guys that answer the phone are super helpful, answer any and all my questions about the hardware, and usually will open up about other recommendations as well. But, the reviews on the Tunze speak for themselves. I'm sure either will work great for you.

 

Than at Tidal Gardens is the man. His youtube channel is amazing, and his info on feeding corals (in particular LPS) was very helpful to me. When you watch the videos and see the care he gives these things, it makes it hard for me to even consider ordering from anyone else. Definitely will be ordering from him again. My ORA goniopora and the RBTA are from live aquaria.

 

My RBTA is still making his way around my tank. I caught some flak on here for adding it to my tank so soon, but I really think (know) my tank is doing just fine. I knew from the start I wanted a RBTA, and I wanted to get him in now while my corals are still on frags so that he can find his sweet spot first, and then I can work the other corals around where he chooses to (hopefully) stay.

 

I'll get some photos and another video posted on here tomorrow!

[Admonition]

Well congrats on the Apex decision, you'll love it! Any ideas which one you'll get?

 

I'm curious, why is it they recommend running it wet as opposed to dry? I'm still learning the ins and outs of skimmers during my research on them while I debate about getting one and would love to know why. It was my understanding that you want a dry skim, especially on our smaller tanks. My other concern about getting a skimmer would be having my water too clean, and removing beneficial elements. S'why I can't make up my mind.

 

I was actually just looking at the Tidal Gardens website, definitely seems like a nice facility with great pieces. I think I may just have to order something from him and see for myself

 

Well I think the constructive criticism you received was in reference to the amount (and types) of additions you added off a freshly cycled tank. At the end of the day corals need stability and sometimes a freshly cycled tank may look stable but has a lot of biological and chemical instability via its growing pains. Everyone will have their own opinions but that's what's so great about the forum! Obviously I hope all your corals are doing well, and I think a FTS is due lol. As far as the RBTA I agree, that bugger needs to be one of your first additions so it finds where it likes without stomping all over your favorite pieces! But then again, he'll just find a new spot once you get all your corals where you want them so yeah...welcome to RBTAs.

 

[snowflake_clown]

Alrighty...here is an updated FTS!

 

 

I only had a chance to take a photo when my Kessil was at about 80% color...obviously most of my corals (especially the ricordea) look way better under more actinic lighting. Mesh cover is on the MP10 right now bc my RBTA is still on the move.