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Innovative Marine Aquariums

gahumphrey's Innovative Marine SR-80 Shallow Reef


gahumphrey

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Okay, so this tank and this hobby is now getting out of control. Just ordered a Neptune Systems Apex controller with the lab grade PH probe. Figured this much money into the tank already, might as well go all out.

 

Can't wait to add the lights next week. Building my own custom mounts. I really like the EcoTech Radion mounts IM uses in their promo video for these tanks but there are two problems with them: 1) they wouldn't fit the Vegas without some modification 2) they're prototypes. I talked to IM and looked around. They could be reproduced for about $1200 each. :o Ecotech will likely be bringing them to market next year. Not sure how much they'll cost when they get to mass production.

 

My home made setup should be around $35 per mount.

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Hey folks, sorry for the delay in updates. Over the past couple days I installed the AutoAqua ATO and the Neptune Systems Apex controller. The ATO was relatively straight forward. It was a little tricky to get the eye of the ATO lined up just right. It alarms like crazy if you don't get it perfect (which I suppose is a good thing). The Apex on the other hand seems unnecessarily complex. They could really use some help from today's user interface experts. To me it seems like the UI is designed by software engineers. They should hire someone that writes apps for iOS or android.

 

All I have in the Apex right now is the two pumps and the ATO. Christmas day I'll set up the lights, heater, skimmer and reactor.

 

BTW, the Cadlights PLS 100 doesn't fit without a slight mod (thanks jabba954 for being the guinea pig). It's roughly 1/4" too wide but with a careful trim to the side it fits like a glove. This PLS 100 is a beast.

 

Parameters seems really good so far. Over the past week ammonia has gone from 1.2 to .6 to .4 yesterday. Nitrates went from 2 to 1 to unreadable. Will test again tomorrow. My blue velvet damsel may be the first guy in the tank one the temp is up to 77 on Wednesday. Knock on wood; it seems like this will be an unusually short cycle. In optimistic but also prepared for something to go out of whack.

 

Will add some more pics once I get the whole setup done on Wednesday/Thursday.

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Sooo... I made my light mounts. Thought they looked pretty good. Used plastic adhesive to mount them to the inner wall. You know how they say measure twice, cut once? Yeaaaah. And the adhesive works really well. So I had to cut them out which created a cloud storm in the tank. Needed to spend the rest of the day doing kid stuff. Will go at it again tomorrow.

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Got any updates how close are you to a fish, any stocking plans

 

Going to add a damsel tomorrow. It's not a sacrificial damsel. It's one my daughter picked out for my wife so I wouldn't add it if I thought the little guy couldn't make it. Water parameters are really good. My biggest challenge so far has been a good way to mount them. The mounts I made aren't quite strong enough due to how heavy the Vegas are. I really don't care for how the AI EXT rails mount the lights perpendicular to the tank. Looks like I'll be ordering some customer made aluminum mounts. Probably will be about $300 or so.

 

Until then my makeshift mounts are working to get things moving. Lights are a little too close to the water but it'll have to do until I get the new ones made.

 

Will post a pic in the morning.

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Here's a pic with the lights and the temporary mount. Need to get the lights up another 4 to 6 inches higher. Also have the EcoTech Vortech MP40W running. Added some filter floss to the return above the socks. The MP40 kicked up a little debris so the extra filtration is helping get out some of the sediment. The other thing the filter floss helps out with is the noise. the pumps pull a lot of water into the returns so the water running into the socks sounds like a small stream.

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GAhumphrey, just finished reading the whole thread, awesome! When doing research on AIO tanks i came across the Youtube video of your tank and instantly fell in love with the SR series. This has made me purchase the Nuvo 8 to learn how to set up & keep a reef aquarium and then next year purchase the SR60 or 80, don't think i have the room or budget for the 120! Im looking forward to seeing the finished product but am enjoying the build for now, keep up the great info/feedback!

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Double arch! YES!! It's like double rainbow! I like the 'scape.

 

Good call with the filter floss to reduce the noise.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks PRJ!!

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GAhumphrey, just finished reading the whole thread, awesome! When doing research on AIO tanks i came across the Youtube video of your tank and instantly fell in love with the SR series. This has made me purchase the Nuvo 8 to learn how to set up & keep a reef aquarium and then next year purchase the SR60 or 80, don't think i have the room or budget for the 120! Im looking forward to seeing the finished product but am enjoying the build for now, keep up the great info/feedback!

I hear ya! I really wanted the 120 but pricing it $1k more than the 80 is crazy. Turns out I'm really happy with the size of the tank. I love the fact that the stand is 40" vs the usual 30" too.

 

Added a small polyp coral last night. Opened up nice today so I added my two clowns in this morning. 12 hours later and they're doing great!

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That's good to hear , do you have any planned stocking list

 

No major stocking plans. Mostly going to go for a wide range of colors without making it look like a clown threw up in the water. I really want a pink tip elegance and a golden torch. Would like to add blue acropora and a big acan section. Would like to do another section of ultra palys. Have seen some really cool bright pink birds nests. Probably a rainbow bubble tip anemone too.

 

For fish, I want to keep it fairly light. Probably a tang to go with the the clowns and the blue velvet damsel and maybe a reef safe angel. Maybe a fairy wrasse too.

 

I'm always open to suggestions!

 

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Okay, another daily update with pictures. So far some green polyps, yellow toadstool, green frogspawn, red mushrooms and duncan have made their way into the big tank. Still haven't fired up the media reactor or the protein skimmer. Trying to let the bacteria stew just a little longer before I mess with that. Have the MP40W up to 30%. All corals opened up within 20 minutes of jumping into the new tank. Will likely add the acans and some more palys tomorrow. Maybe even my Joker Frogspawn. Will order a big CUC within the next couple days.

 

 

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Hey everyone. Here's the last update for 2013. Have moved most corals from my biocube29 over to the SR-80. everything is doing awesome! Most corals opened up within minutes of being added. The acans had a rough move. Lots of jostling trying to get them in the right place and attached to the new rock. However, they started to open shortly after I stopped messing with them and they're blooming great now. Here are some of the photos for today.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Everyone, Happy New Year!!

 

Update for Jan 8, 2014...

 

I love this tank.

 

Everything is doing very, very good. No casualties yet.

 

Last weekend I turned on the media reactor. I filled it about 2/3 with Seachem PhosGuard. I started to have an algae outbreak (normal) but I really want to stay on top of it as much as possible. I've had the PhosGuard in there about 4 1/2 days so I'm going to switch over to NPX Bioplastics. Haven't used them yet but the reviews on several sites have all been positive.


I really, really like the Innovative Marine media reactors. I have the full size in my SR-80 and the desktop size in my biocube. IM is definitely a company to watch. great products and so far really, really good customer support.

 

For the past two days I tried getting my Cadlights PLS-100 Gen 3 working. I really wish I had just gone with the Innovative Marine skimmer. Shoot, I could have gotten two of them for the same price and they would have fit better. The Cadlights is definitely a really good, very quiet skimmer. Just not the right one for an AIO. I had to trim down about 1/4" on both sides which really puts the adjustability in jeopardy. In order for them to go "pipeless" with this skimmer they made the whole body the flow adjuster. You need to be able to turn the whole body in either direction. The other thing is this skimmer really doesn't like being in water deeper than 6". In fact, it overflows for me in water deeper than 5" which is a problem for the back of the tank. I had to make an acrylic base for it that raises it up about 6" which means this thing sits 8" higher than the rest of the tank. So much for that "clean" look i was going for. Still dealing with a lot of micro-bubbles which really pissed off the corals at first. Hopefully that'll dissipate as the skimmer breaks in a bit more this week. However - less than 24 hours and it's already producing dark green soup.

 

My first crew of 30 blue leg hermits came yesterday. I got them off eBay from Saltwater-sea-creatures-direct. $36.99 with free overnight shipping. SCORE. I ordered them Monday. They came first thing in the morning Tuesday. There were over 40, though I only purchased 30. They sent me a personal email letting me know they were on the way and to let them know if there was ANYTHING I wasn't happy about. They followed up again today. Man, what awesome customer service. Will definitely buy from them again. They've already cleaned off 30% of the rocks and some of the sand. Best blue hermits I ever bought.

 

Now after having the tank for three weeks there are a couple things I'm that really impress me about this tank:

 

The tank itself is really a pleasure to look at. The glass is crystal clear. The seams are perfectly aligned and sealed. The thought behind the rear chambers is ingenious and very well thought out. Splitting the two pumps into four returns perfectly spaced is really great. So far no need for a spin stream though I really may add a second MP40 to the other side of the tank (opposite the first one) just to make sure there is even flow. There were some dead spots but turning the MP40 up to 60% is helping out quite a bit.

 

The stand has also really been well thought out. The height of 40" makes a great viewing angle whether standing in front of the tank and peeking in or admiring from my desk chair about 6 feet away. The SR-80 has three doors/storage areas. Each one has a shelf inside. Because it's an All in One all that storage is wide open. The back of each cabinet has two really good size openings for cords - one at the bottom and one at the top. The best thing about the bottom holes is when you drop stuff behind the tank you can grab it easily. So far I dropped the magnets to my probe mount twice. :D I have a 7 gallon water jug for my ATO in one area with some supplies on top shelf. Middle cabinet is for all my wiring, APEX controller, etc. What a mess. Gotta clean that up. Third cabinet is for towels, yards of filter floss, all my additives, frag mounts, live rock rubble, etc.

 

Overall I have to sum it up by saying "really great craftsmanship". Zero regrets so far with my purchase (other than I blew through my budget with everything besides the tank itself.

 

Couple additional thoughts/observations:

 

Needed to add a second heater. We keep the house down to 65 at night so to keep the tank steady I added a second 150W heater.

 

Bought a couple extra 200 micron socks. Marinedepot.com has a great deal on 4" Innovative Marine socks (same as the tank came with). It's a really good idea to have at least one second set of socks so to throw on when you clean the others. I may even pick up a third pair because they're so cheap ($4.99 each).

 

Every single coral has visually grown since I put them in a little over a week ago with the exception of the mushrooms. At least 3 or 4 new buds per zoa/paly colony. The green frogspawn has gone from two heads to four with the start of the fifth. Four new heads on my Duncan. Two new heads starting on my Joker Frogspawn. Both Frogspawns have tighter tentacles due to the flow and increase of light (not reaching for the light as much). They look really good like this - much deeper/richer colors. The yellow toadstool is opening up quite a bit more and leaning towards the front of the tank now (awesome). The evil blue-velvet damsel loves all the arches. The clowns love the freedom. My red acans are much fuller and starting a new bud (they went through hell in a brawl with my frogspawn - thank you giant queen conch for introducing them to each other. The green acan has at least 5 new baby heads. The mushrooms shrank down to smaller than a dime two days ago but are back to the size of a quarter/half dollar. Happy, happy, happy.

 

More corals and snails coming in this week (hopefully). Extremecorals.com is backed up due to the deep freeze across the country. Will update again this weekend if the corals come in by Friday.

 

Here are some updated pics:

 

 

 

 

 

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I have to admit I am some what disappointed that you love it so much....now I have to get this lol. I was hoping there was some negative that would keep me way. But I love shallow reefs. Can't wait to see where this goes! Full tank shot please :)

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I have to admit I am some what disappointed that you love it so much....now I have to get this lol. I was hoping there was some negative that would keep me way. But I love shallow reefs. Can't wait to see where this goes! Full tank shot please :)
Yeah same... Do you have any cons about it lol

 

You guys literally made me LOL.

 

Honestly no negatives so far on the tank. I do have two minor concerns with the Auto Aqua ATO. 1) it's supposed to be good for glass up to 1/2" but its a bit of a PITA to keep the eye lined up with the receiver on the back of the tank. The glass is just shy of 1/2". 2) if runs out of RO/DI it plays Fur Elise which is kinda cool except at 3am. My wife now hates that song.

 

The other thing is that because of the surface area of the water, I'm going through 1 gallon of top-off water a day. Not a big deal just way more than i expected. All the corals have closed up for the night so I'll do a FTS once they've opened in the morning.

 

 

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