IM Fusion Mini 40 Mixed Reef

[StinkyBunny]

I dose vinegar and when I see cyano start, I add a few ml every day until it's gone, usually 3-4 days.

[teenyreef]

Good luck with the cyano. Everything looks good, though. I love the fish names

[NYfishies]

I dose vinegar and when I see cyano start, I add a few ml every day until it's gone, usually 3-4 days.

 

I regularly dose Reef BioFuel for carbon to bring balance to NO3 and PO4. Would that be the same concept with vinegar? Starting yesterday I stopped dosing BioFuel to see if perhaps I was adding to much bacteria.

 

I also have increase my WAV by 15% overall and I think this has already begun to help. I have done my best at siphoning from the sand the cyano and hopefully the added flow will prevent it from sticking again.

 

Overall my parameters seem to be right where I want them.

 

NO3 9 ppm

PO4 0.14 ppm

Alk 8.68 dKh

Ca 466 ppm

 

I have not fed the corals Reef Roids / Reef Chili for 2 weeks. This combo significantly adds to PO4. Not a bad thing per se as I am a believer in dirty water, but things got out of hand the way I was broadcast feeding it. I will start again, but at a reduced rate.

 

Good luck with the cyano. Everything looks good, though. I love the fish names

 

Thank you! You know how these little fishies have huge personalities. Sometimes the name fits just perfectly!

[Mariaface]

If I saw cyanobacteria, I'd actually start dosing more of the beneficial bacteria to outcompete it, and lowering the carbon dosing a bit. That way there are less resources for them, and you can make sure you're upping the numbers of the bacteria you actually want in the tank.

 

Plus the syphoning and all that good stuff

[NYfishies]

If I saw cyanobacteria, I'd actually start dosing more of the beneficial bacteria to outcompete it, and lowering the carbon dosing a bit. That way there are less resources for them, and you can make sure you're upping the numbers of the bacteria you actually want in the tank.

 

Plus the syphoning and all that good stuff

 

So stop BioFuel (carbon) and continue with MB7?

[Mariaface]

 

So stop BioFuel (carbon) and continue with MB7?

 

 

Stop it temporarily, or just lower it and mix with MB7 for an hour or two when dosing?

[NYfishies]

 

 

Stop it temporarily, or just lower it and mix with MB7 for an hour or two when dosing?

 

I stopped it and in a few days the Cyano became much worse. I am on day 3 of half dose and also did a water change yesterday together with vaccuming the sand.

 

Things are looking better, but I need a new CUC in there! Package should arrive from John @ Reef Cleaners Thursday.

I have also been playing around with the camera more and more. I am learning how to make the pics look better using Aperature. I keep the white balance and ISO on auto.

Here are some attempts at top down shots. The light being so close to the water line makes this very challenging.

[metrokat]

HOLY PICTURES BATMAN!

[NYfishies]

I am still learning Flickr, these were left out!

 

[ninjamyst]

very very nice!

[teenyreef]

Nice job! Everything looks great

 

And I love seeing big pictures

[Passaggper]

Beautiful reef and great pictures!

[NYfishies]

very very nice!

 

Thanks! I love your tank. The dimensions look really great and your scape is perfect!

 

 

Nice job! Everything looks great

 

And I love seeing big pictures

 

Thanks Teeny Kat taught me how to do the cool picture trick using Flickr and a third party app (http://bbcode.icemaster.tw:7070/flickr/index.do). Flikr is just easy to upload from the phone (camera to phone is very easy as well) and then the app lets you load as many pics as you want and copy at one time for the forum posts.

 

 

Beautiful reef and great pictures!

 

Thanks!

[Bowen1022]

Liking it!

[teenyreef]

 

Thanks! I love your tank. The dimensions look really great and your scape is perfect!

 

 

 

Thanks Teeny Kat taught me how to do the cool picture trick using Flickr and a third party app (http://bbcode.icemaster.tw:7070/flickr/index.do). Flikr is just easy to upload from the phone (camera to phone is very easy as well) and then the app lets you load as many pics as you want and copy at one time for the forum posts.

 

 

 

Thanks!

Wow, I had no idea that app existed! I always post my Flickr pictures from my computer because Flickr desktop gives you the BBcode to cut and paste. Without that app there's no way to get the BBcode from the phone app. I'll have to play around with it, because it sure would be nice to be able to post pics from my phone.

[NYfishies]

Wow, I had no idea that app existed! I always post my Flickr pictures from my computer because Flickr desktop gives you the BBcode to cut and paste. Without that app there's no way to get the BBcode from the phone app. I'll have to play around with it, because it sure would be nice to be able to post pics from my phone.

 

I use it from my computer. With Flikr you can only post 1 picture at a time directly to the forum post. Otherwise with more than 1 picture you have to post a link to the Flikr website. With that app (when I say app I mean sort of a Flikr hack, not a iPhone app) you can highlight and select as many BBcodes as you want and post directly (as I did above) to the post. Then, you can alter how big it opens when somebody clicks on it. It is awesome!!

[NYfishies]

Hey all,

 

Spent the last week out in SoCal ending it with MACNA this past weekend. Had a blast! I am proud to say I did not buy anything although I must say there were not as many livestock vendors as I wanted.

 

Came home to a very happy tank which had been going through some Cyano issues. It has never looked this good as far as SPS color and how fat the Acans are!

 

Wish I could get these pics clearer. I rushed through them!

[Merthynia]

What a beautiful tank! I'm not sure how I haven't seen it before! I'll be following along for sure now! It was so nice to meet you guys. Hopefully you will be attending MACNA again next year? I crossing my fingers for more vendors at the next one! Do you have a post anywhere that details everything you dose/feed?

[NYfishies]

What a beautiful tank! I'm not sure how I haven't seen it before! I'll be following along for sure now! It was so nice to meet you guys. Hopefully you will be attending MACNA again next year? I crossing my fingers for more vendors at the next one! Do you have a post anywhere that details everything you dose/feed?

 

Thanks! It was great to meet you and your brother as well. We had a blast!

 

I feed quite a bit actually. My routine is:

 

Daily:

15.5 ml of Alkalinity (split during lights out)

12.5 ml of Calcium (split 24 hours a day)

4 ml of Brightwell Aquatics PhytoChrom (1 - 30 um phytoplankton)

7 drops of Brightwell Aquatics Koral Color (trace elements)

2 spoons of Brightwell Aquatics Reef Blizzard-S (planktonic blend)

Aminos are fed daily and I alternate between:

 

Brightwell Aquatics Coral Amino (14 drops)

PolypLab Polyp-Booster (6 drops)

Two Little Fishies AcroPower (10 ml)

Weekly:

5 ml of Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7 weekly

8 ml of Brightwell Aquatics Vitamarin-C weekly

2 ml of Continum Sustain every 3rd day (slow release Iodine)

Reef Roids & Reef Chili every 3rd day

Monthly:

25 ml of Magnesium

I feed the fish LRS Reef Frenzy once a day in a pretty hefty amount.

 

At the moment my parameters are:

 

Alk @ 8 dKH

Ca @ 450 ppm

Mg @ 1300 ppm

NO3 @ 21 ppm

PO4 @ 0.33 ppm

 

I keep my water pretty dirty by only doing water changes twice a month. I change my filter floss twice a week. I could use a better skimmer though!

 

I had been dosing Brightwell Aquatics Reef BioFuel for Carbon, but I think I have found a good redfield balance so I stopped. As a result I do not need to clean my glass daily!

[NYfishies]

Hey all,

Today I got my iPhone 7 Plus for work and decided to take 3 minutes and shoot a few 2x zoomed shots. No filter. No edit. Damn this thing is amazing...

[Admonition]

Love the tank, it looks gorgeous! I actually am about to start a similar setup and have been really debating about how to organize the sump area (and mainly trying to decide on a skimmer between the 9004 and Ghost). It seems like we have similar equipment, can you explain how your sump area is setup? And do you like your Ghost skimmer?

[NYfishies]

Love the tank, it looks gorgeous! I actually am about to start a similar setup and have been really debating about how to organize the sump area (and mainly trying to decide on a skimmer between the 9004 and Ghost). It seems like we have similar equipment, can you explain how your sump area is setup? And do you like your Ghost skimmer?

 

Hey there, thanks for the kind words!

 

This tank is actually an all in one so there is no sump. The cabinet is full of all the Apex gear, DOS and DDR, food, testing equiprment and chemicals.

 

I have a smaller setup that has a customer cube shaped sump and to be honest I have a hard time determining which I prefer. The sump adds water volume and the ability to have a larger skimmer and potentially a working fuge. The AIO is just easy. Hard to explain.

 

The Innovative Marine AIO (this tank thread) is very easy to keep, but it took quite some time for me to establish a mixed reef (~1.5 years). I keep my water very dirty and I believe the lack of quality skimmer is a large reason why. Turns out I have found proper nutrient balance for the SPS to thrive (PO4 @ 0.56 ppm & NO3 @ 24 ppm as of tonight). The ghost skimmer is very weak compared to the one I have in the sump of my other tank. That bothers me. I know a lot of people mention it is loud (not really, but it "crackles") and it is hard to dial in (true). If you have a sump, do not get the ghost skimmer. If you can fit look into the Coral Box skimmers. I have the D300 in my smaller tank (oversized) and I love it. The control is diverse. Not only is it a DC pump so you can turn the power up and down, but I find the dial to work well.

[Admonition]

 

Hey there, thanks for the kind words!

 

This tank is actually an all in one so there is no sump. The cabinet is full of all the Apex gear, DOS and DDR, food, testing equiprment and chemicals.

 

I have a smaller setup that has a customer cube shaped sump and to be honest I have a hard time determining which I prefer. The sump adds water volume and the ability to have a larger skimmer and potentially a working fuge. The AIO is just easy. Hard to explain.

 

The Innovative Marine AIO (this tank thread) is very easy to keep, but it took quite some time for me to establish a mixed reef (~1.5 years). I keep my water very dirty and I believe the lack of quality skimmer is a large reason why. Turns out I have found proper nutrient balance for the SPS to thrive (PO4 @ 0.56 ppm & NO3 @ 24 ppm as of tonight). The ghost skimmer is very weak compared to the one I have in the sump of my other tank. That bothers me. I know a lot of people mention it is loud (not really, but it "crackles") and it is hard to dial in (true). If you have a sump, do not get the ghost skimmer. If you can fit look into the Coral Box skimmers. I have the D300 in my smaller tank (oversized) and I love it. The control is diverse. Not only is it a DC pump so you can turn the power up and down, but I find the dial to work well.

Sorry about that, what I meant by sump area was the rear chamber of your AIO And thank you for the suggestions and comments on your skimmer. I actually ended up grabbing an Aquamax HOB1 during Marine Depot's Black Friday sale for 50% off =P

 

I'd love to see a photo of your rear chamber and see how you have everything arranged, including your cabinet if it's not too much trouble?

 

I also noticed you have a jager 100 watt heater which is the one I planned on picking up as well. Where do you have this placed in the tank?

[teenyreef]

I think you described the ghost skimmer very well

 

I've been pretty happy with my Tunze 9004 but it has to go in chamber 1 to fit, so it tends to get clogged up a bit.

 

What you are seeing is similar to what I had in my IM10 earlier - high nitrates and phosphates, but they were in balance and the SPS did great, including good color. Then I had an alk swing and a few other problems and I've been chasing numbers ever since trying to get it as good as it used to be

I think you described the ghost skimmer very well

 

I've been pretty happy with my Tunze 9004 but it has to go in chamber 1 to fit, so it tends to get clogged up a bit.

 

What you are seeing is similar to what I had in my IM10 earlier - high nitrates and phosphates, but they were in balance and the SPS did great, including good color. Then I had an alk swing and a few other problems and I've been chasing numbers ever since trying to get it as good as it used to be

If I had the room, I'd prefer the HOB since it's a much better skimmer - good choice

[NYfishies]

Sorry about that, what I meant by sump area was the rear chamber of your AIO And thank you for the suggestions and comments on your skimmer. I actually ended up grabbing an Aquamax HOB1 during Marine Depot's Black Friday sale for 50% off =P

 

I'd love to see a photo of your rear chamber and see how you have everything arranged, including your cabinet if it's not too much trouble?

 

I also noticed you have a jager 100 watt heater which is the one I planned on picking up as well. Where do you have this placed in the tank?

 

Oh oops sorry silly me!

 

I will take some pics when I get home today. In my cabinet I have the Apex guts and wires pretty well organized in the top right where I keep dry fish and coral food as well. Underneath that I keep tools and fragging supplies. In the top left I keep all my testing kits and reagents. Underneath that is the DOS + DDR as well as liquid coral foods. I then have 2 other areas where I store stuff. I will take pics of those as well.

 

In the meantime I use:

• IM probe holder w/ Apex Salinity, ORP, Temp & pH probes as well as my ATO line, Alk line and Calcium line.
• 2 IM Media Baskets, but I should have the inTank ones and will eventually get them. The IM ones do not fit perfect so I have to use a piece of felt floss to tilt it more towards the overflows for more efficient draining.
• Desktop Ghost Skimmer
• Jager 100w Heater

The heater is in the center chamber. The probe chamber only has the probes in it. I use filter floss in both baskets. The basket on the left adjacent to the skimmer only has floss in it. The basket on the right adjacent to the probe chamber has Chemi-Pure Blue as well as the floss. I will be switching this week from that to ROWAphos + ROX Carbon.

 

I am in search for a stronger pump. I bought a EHEIM Compact+ Pump 2000 which I really thought would fit, but it does not. The next one down is the Compact 1000 and it is only 267 GPH vs the stock pump @ 476 GPH. Maybe I just need to replace the stock one since it is 2+ years old?

I think you described the ghost skimmer very well

 

I've been pretty happy with my Tunze 9004 but it has to go in chamber 1 to fit, so it tends to get clogged up a bit.

 

What you are seeing is similar to what I had in my IM10 earlier - high nitrates and phosphates, but they were in balance and the SPS did great, including good color. Then I had an alk swing and a few other problems and I've been chasing numbers ever since trying to get it as good as it used to be

If I had the room, I'd prefer the HOB since it's a much better skimmer - good choice

 

Gosh that stinks about it needing to go in the first chambers! I do not think I could get down with all the gunk entering the back without filter floss to catch it...

 

I think the color is very nice, but I wonder if my SPS (namely Acropora) growth is hindered by the dirty water? I am half tempted to take my Alk from 8-9 dKH to 9-10 dKH to see if it helps at all as I have read this will help with metabolism.

 

How did you have an Alk failure? That is scary stuff!!