Dr Fu's Innovative Marine Micro 30 Build & Questions

[drfu]

If you find a skimmer that is very quite or near silent please let me know. My Fusion 30 is in our bedroom and my IM Ghost is a little noisy for my taste. At least for a bedroom.

 

P.S. The growth in your aquarium is looking good.

 

I just ordered the new Tunze 9001, it's too hard to get the new PLas 50 Elite up here, i will tell you how this one works out.

[Creeper Ky]

Just had a chance to read everything. Looks like you already purchased the skimmer. I was just going to warn you to look at the skimmer dimensions. IM says it has a "skimmer chamber" in the NUVO 30. This is false. You will have to use one of the overflows to add the skimmer.

 

I have never had good results using phosphate removal media in a bag. I have had good results using GFO in a reactor though. Depending how long you had rocks sitting in a high phosphate tank, your rock may continue to leach phosphates back into the water for a while. Work on getting your phosphates in check as a number one priority. Nothing is more frustrating then seeing your new tank settling in nicely and then... boom... cyano all over your newly aquired designer zoas.

 

Yes you can get a CPR reactor and use GFO on the bottom and carbon on the top. Here's a pic of mine. The yellow sponge is in there to keep the filter floss from falling.

 

I think you have the flow dialed down nicely. Random flow is key. Achieving random flow in a little tank without a wavemaker is challenging, but can be done if you tweak those two power heads just right.

 

Have you set up your fuge light yet? I wasn't able to do a reverse schedule because my fuge light shines right through the back plastic (I have the white background though). Does your light shine through the plastic?

 

1" sandbed will work just fine.

 

I would say get that ATO installed. My evaporation was about 2 cups/day if I remember correctly.

 

I think that covered most of what I remember lol. Tank is looking nice! I like the scape and it will look great when all filled in and grown out. Keep up the good work!

 

Edit: Forgot to attach pic

[drfu]

Just had a chance to read everything. Looks like you already purchased the skimmer. I was just going to warn you to look at the skimmer dimensions. IM says it has a "skimmer chamber" in the NUVO 30. This is false. You will have to use one of the overflows to add the skimmer.

 

Im hoping it fits!, the dimensions on line say it will, guess we shall see!

 

I have never had good results using phosphate removal media in a bag. I have had good results using GFO in a reactor though. Depending how long you had rocks sitting in a high phosphate tank, your rock may continue to leach phosphates back into the water for a while. Work on getting your phosphates in check as a number one priority. Nothing is more frustrating then seeing your new tank settling in nicely and then... boom... cyano all over your newly aquired designer zoas.

 

I have not either had any good results with gfo in a bag, i agree with the frustration, im sure my rock is leaching it back as its been in my other tank for 8 months or so!

 

Yes you can get a CPR reactor and use GFO on the bottom and carbon on the top. Here's a pic of mine. The yellow sponge is in there to keep the filter floss from falling.

 

Is your CPR reactor in one of the filter columns or is it in the skimmer column?

 

I think you have the flow dialed down nicely. Random flow is key. Achieving random flow in a little tank without a wavemaker is challenging, but can be done if you tweak those two power heads just right.

 

I have been tweaking the position of the two out front, the one in the back seems good for the back flow. My spin stream seems to give me some good random, but I'm sure a wavemaker would be better, maybe some day i will change out the three for something more elaborate.

 

Have you set up your fuge light yet? I wasn't able to do a reverse schedule because my fuge light shines right through the back plastic (I have the white background though). Does your light shine through the plastic?

 

My fuge light does not shine through the black plastic on either of my tanks, the black seems to keep it in check nicely except for the light coming out of the top.

1" sandbed will work just fine.

 

I would say get that ATO installed. My evaporation was about 2 cups/day if I remember correctly.

 

Yes, I'm moving my tunze from my 8 gallon to it, the evaporation on this tank is insane!

 

I think that covered most of what I remember lol. Tank is looking nice! I like the scape and it will look great when all filled in and grown out. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks for all of your tips, very helpful! The aquascaping will be a continues to be a work in progress & the addition of frags will be ongoing.

 

Edit: Forgot to attach pic

[paradizecityz]

Keep it up!

[Sully375]

I'm running the 9001 in my 30L and it is pretty close to silent, well at least I can't hear it over the mp10's

[drfu]

I'm running the 9001 in my 30L and it is pretty close to silent, well at least I can't hear it over the mp10's

 

Good to hear that!

[drfu]

Day 14:

 

Not much to report, moved my Tunze 3152 over, works way better on this tank vs. my Nuvo 8, i really like this ato now!!!

 

Did some minor tweaks on coral placement but nothing special.

 

Skimmer arrives tomorrow, looking forward to using one for the first time so any tips from Tunze 9001 owners please let me know!

Needed to upgrade my cuc as it was sufficient for my 15 gallon only, added 2 more dwarf yellow tip hermits, 2 more trocus & 2 more cerith snails. So my cuc now consists of:

2 dwarf Ceriths

4 Ceriths

5 Trochus

4 Nassarius

2 bumble bee -actually have not seen them since the move?????

2 nerites

2 halloween hermits

5 dwarf yellow tip hermits

 

Am i missing anything out, do i need any more?

 

Will do next update after the long weekend unless something interesting happens, Happy Labour day weekend to all!

[drfu]

I'm running the 9001 in my 30L and it is pretty close to silent, well at least I can't hear it over the mp10's

So i got my Tunze 9001 last night, installed it with the pump facing towards the display tank. Did not install the clear plastic outlet as its in my back skimmer chamber as directed. After 18 hours i do have some questions & observations:

 

Bubbles in the cup don't seem to go up to the top of the cup, do i need to adjust either the height of the unit or the hose clip?

Have micro bubbles, how long does this usually last?

Skim mate seems quite light?

 

Pics below:

 

If you find a skimmer that is very quite or near silent please let me know. My Fusion 30 is in our bedroom and my IM Ghost is a little noisy for my taste. At least for a bedroom. P.S. The growth in your aquarium is looking good.

I got my Tunze 9001 last night, i can not hear it run at all, my water flowing through the surface skimmer to the back chamber is louder that this thing, amazing!

[Creeper Ky]

I placed my reactor in the "reactor" chamber. This chamber is the one between the overflow and the return chamber on the right side.

 

Skimmers can take a week to break in, give it time. I keep the normal (clean) bubbles just above the bottom of the cup on my skimmer. When food, amino acids go into the water the bubbles will turn into the large (dirty) bubbles and rise to the top of the cup. My skimmer sucks so maybe that isn't the best way to tune yours. I would say give it a week to break in and then make adjustments based on whether you want to wet or dry skim. If you are not overfeeding and don't have a lot of waste in the tank your skimmer will not constantly pull organics from the water.

 

I'm suprised you got a skimmer to fit in that chamber! Awesome!

[drfu]

I placed my reactor in the "reactor" chamber. This chamber is the one between the overflow and the return chamber on the right side.

 

Skimmers can take a week to break in, give it time. I keep the normal (clean) bubbles just above the bottom of the cup on my skimmer. When food, amino acids go into the water the bubbles will turn into the large (dirty) bubbles and rise to the top of the cup. My skimmer sucks so maybe that isn't the best way to tune yours. I would say give it a week to break in and then make adjustments based on whether you want to wet or dry skim. If you are not overfeeding and don't have a lot of waste in the tank your skimmer will not constantly pull organics from the water.

 

I'm suprised you got a skimmer to fit in that chamber! Awesome!

 

Good tips, it seems to be doing better, will update if i have time tomorror as i have been playing with it non stop!

 

As for it fitting, its sooo tight i had to remove the little stickies that went onto the magnet and even then its tight enough that it doesnt even need the magnet on the outside but not too tight that i cannot slide it out to clean.

[drfu]

Week three:

 

Livestock is doing fine, hifin goby/pistol shrimp continue to aquascape my substrate, clowns are clowns & my peppermint shrimp has a new cave it does its batman in!

 

All corals have fully extended again but i think i lost one of my new torch corals, first time owning them & all of its polyps have disappeared, tried it down at the bottom in the sand as well as half way up the tank. Not sure what happened there????

 

We have a fragfest coming up this weekend so i will see what i can get as well as i have another cool piece of rock that i drilled quite a few holes in for frag plugs, will update that next week.

 

Here are some pics on how it looks and of my sick/dead torch, its the white thing above the cave.......any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

Side shot of my softies:

 

Front shot of my sick torch:

 

Other side shot where sps are and others will go:

[drfu]

Picked up the Phosban Reactor 150, set it up with my old stock IM Nuvo 8 pump in return chamber, hung the unit off the back. Loaded up 8 tablespoons of GFO, rinsed with rodi water. Got flow set to just barely moving the surface of the gfo for now & will do Phosphorous test by the weekend.

 

Skimmer cup on my new Tunze 9001 takes about 3 days to fil, smells like tea, looks like just slightly dirty water, defiantly not dark skimmate. Still have micro bubles but with all the fiddling around that i have been doing im not too worried as of yet.

 

Fragfest this weekend, lets see what if anything i might pick up! Also my gf is getting me either a Blue Reef Chromis or a Blue Maxima clam, very cool but i have to wait till my bday @ the end of Sept, whah!

[gahumphrey]

drfu,

Looking great, I really like your scaping. Like you I'm really a huge fan of the IM AIOs. Will likely end up doing a 30L for my desk at some point. Will keep watching!

[TeamIM24]

Picked up the Phosban Reactor 150, set it up with my old stock IM Nuvo 8 pump in return chamber, hung the unit off the back. Loaded up 8 tablespoons of GFO, rinsed with rodi water. Got flow set to just barely moving the surface of the gfo for now & will do Phosphorous test by the weekend.

 

Skimmer cup on my new Tunze 9001 takes about 3 days to fil, smells like tea, looks like just slightly dirty water, defiantly not dark skimmate. Still have micro bubles but with all the fiddling around that i have been doing im not too worried as of yet.

 

Fragfest this weekend, lets see what if anything i might pick up! Also my gf is getting me either a Blue Reef Chromis or a Blue Maxima clam, very cool but i have to wait till my bday @ the end of Sept, whah!

Our Tunze took a while to break in (like a month). I don't know if any nano skimmer is going to consistently pull really thick, dark stuff. Ours is light brown and smells terrible. It takes about a week for it to fill.

[drfu]

Our Tunze took a while to break in (like a month). I don't know if any nano skimmer is going to consistently pull really thick, dark stuff. Ours is light brown and smells terrible. It takes about a week for it to fill.

Thanks for the tip on the skimmer!

 

drfu, Looking great, I really like your scaping. Like you I'm really a huge fan of the IM AIOs. Will likely end up doing a 30L for my desk at some point. Will keep watching!

Thanks, coming from you that means a lot as your SR80 is awesome! Looking forward to seeing your 30L build next!

[drfu]

Fragfest was a blast, packed to the point that for three hours almost could not move so really didn't get to look @ too many corals as i was a volunteer. At days end got a bunch of freebee zoa frags that i might work into a cool piece of rock i'm cycling right now. For now they are in my frag tank opening up, will wait a few days to see what i got?

 

Also got my new power bars with individual on/off switches for all of my tanks. Should also do some cable managment and clean up some wires.

[drfu]

One Month Update:

 

Well it’s been a month and I have finally stocked my tank up with what I think will be the last of the additions, except for a clam, probably a Blue Squamosa.

 

Have started to culture Copepods, Rotifers & Nanno Phytoplankton in my fuge with the Cheato.

 

New Livestock Additions:

3 Bangaii Cardinals, one pair I think and an extra as I could not sex them at my LFS, one may have to get moved once I figure out who is hanging out with who.

1 Blue Reef Chromis

 

New Invertebrate Additions:

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, hides at night???

Hawaiian Feather Duster

Flame Scallop, spot feeding twice a week with Live Nannochloropsis Phytoplankton. Will see how long he survives as I heard they are hard to keep

Blue Linka Starfish, this is a wait and see on how it does????

 

Final Livestock List:

 

Livestock/Invertebrates:

1 Mated Pair of Ocellaris Clownfish,

1 Hi Fin Goby mated w/ Pistol Shrimp

3 Bangaii Cardinal Fish

1 Blue Reef Chromis

1 Peppermint Shrimp

1 Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

1 Rock Flower Anemone

 

CUC:

Snails: Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nassarius, Bumble Bee & Trochus

Hermit Crabs: Blue Legged, Orange Stripped Halloween

 

 

 

I think I’m done with hardware to add, my Tunze Nano Osmolator gives me nothing but grief! The float sticks all the time and fills up more than I like, trying to make some mods to the float switch housing to see if I can fix it but here is my final hardware list. The Tunze 9001 skimmer is working much better since I raised my water level above the back chamber column baffles, no micro bubbles and pretty good skim. Here is my final hardware list……I think!

 

Final Hardware List:

Innovative Marine Micro 30 AIO aquarium.

1 Hydor Koralia One power head

2*Hydor Koralia Nano 240 power heads,

IM AquaGadget Spin Stream nozzle

Sicce Syncra 1.5 pump upgrade.

92 Watt Dual Spectrum Skkye Light LED w/Dawn&Dusk light fixture

2*In Tank media baskets (Filter Floss, Chemi Pure Elite, Purigen)

10W submersible grow light (Cheato)

Phosban 150 media reactor w/GFO

Tunze Nano Osmolator ATO

Tunze 9001 skimmer

Eheim 50W heater

 

 

As for coral frags I must stop the crack now! Need to leave it alone and just watch it grow and enjoy! Final list of coral frags….ya right!

 

Coral List:

 

LPS Hard Corals:

Yellow Sun Polyp, Candy Cane, Favia, Green Favia Moonstone, Pink Acan, Australian Branching Duncan, Frogspawn, Candy Cane, Branching Hammer, Orange Tube Coral, Neon Green & Brown Torch’s

 

SPS Hard Corals:

Orange Montipora Digitata, Green Montipora Digitata, Chalice, various Birdsnest, Hyacinthus Acropora, Orange/Red Montipora Plate

 

Sea Fans:

Corky Finger Gorgonian

 

Soft Corals:

Devil’s Hand, Colt Tree, Toadstool Mushroom Leather, White Pom Pom Xenia

 

Mushrooms:

Hairy Green Rhodactis, Blue & various Rhodactis, various Ricordea, Watermelon, various Mushrooms, Elephant Ear

 

Polyps/Zoas:

Jasmine, GSP & Button Teal Moon polyps, Bam Bam, Devils Armour, Radio Active Dragons Eyes, Gorilla Nipples, Fruitopia, Mohawks, Sunny D, Rastas, Pink Zippers, African Blue Hornet & various other Zoas.

[drfu]

The good, the Bad & The Ugly.....

 

Good news, got my Squamossa clam & it seems to be doing okay, though i know nothing about clams as this is my first one.

 

Bad news, its massive, about 6" so this caught me off guard. I order this on-line in a group buy from the west coast, price was $160 which in Calgary you usualky get a 1-2" clam for that so my bad for thinking it would be small.

 

The ugly is my Blue Reef Chromis jumped out last night, found him on the floor, my first fish loss ever, whah! Not sure what would have made him do that, seems to get along with the Bangaii's & clowns, maybe doesnt like clams????

[drfu]

Well bad news my IM 92 watt dual sprectum light is dead, cost of repair up here is brutal & IM can not do much to help so i'm looking for recommendations for my IM Mocro 30. Im thinking of building a bracket mounting plate that will work with the one that came with the Skkyl light as it looks cool & ceiling mounting is out.

 

So what would all of you recommend for a light, must be good enough to replace my Skkye light which had par ratings over 450 near the top of my tank & be strong enough for both of my clams & a few sps. Most of my tank is more lps and zoas

[TeamIM24]

We have a Maxspect Razor and love it. A lot of people love the NanoBox LEDs on here as well and give them very positive reviews. There seems to be a used NanoBox on the forum from time to time if you can't wait for one to be built. This one is a Mini so it may be too small for your tank (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/353858-fs-nanobox-mini-tide-w-storm-controller-gooseneck-mount/#entry4883404). You can probably get a Razor discounted on Black Friday from Marine Depot.

[drfu]

We have a Maxspect Razor and love it. A lot of people love the NanoBox LEDs on here as well and give them very positive reviews. There seems to be a used NanoBox on the forum from time to time if you can't wait for one to be built. This one is a Mini so it may be too small for your tank (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/353858-fs-nanobox-mini-tide-w-storm-controller-gooseneck-mount/#entry4883404'>http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/353858-fs-nanobox-mini-tide-w-storm-controller-gooseneck-mount/#entry4883404). You can probably get a Razor discounted on Black Friday from Marine Depot.

 

I have been looking up here @ the Razor, AI nano or EM XR30 as my local dealer has them according to their website & i have to find something right away as all i going are my dawn/dusk & moonilghts going as well as an old T8 fixture with a marine glo bulb, yikes!

 

If it was to be the Maxspect, would the 60w be enough or do i need to go to the 120watt?

[TeamIM24]

If it was to be the Maxspect, would the 60w be enough or do i need to go to the 120watt?

We have the 120 but we aren't even close to using it at full strength. My guess is you would be fine with the 60W.

[drfu]

Thanks team!

[gahumphrey]

Hey drfu. I have an AI Vega that i'll be putting up for sale soon. I added UV and Violet to it through a custom puck. $200 shipped if you're interested. Might be a little overkill but it's a great light. I have one on my BioCube 29G. I'm replacing the Vegas over my SR-80 with Radions so will be selling both Vegas from that tank shortly.

[drfu]

Hey drfu. I have an AI Vega that i'll be putting up for sale soon. I added UV and Violet to it through a custom puck. $200 shipped if you're interested. Might be a little overkill but it's a great light. I have one on my BioCube 29G. I'm replacing the Vegas over my SR-80 with Radions so will be selling both Vegas from that tank shortly.

 

I will look up this unit, thanks for the offer. question, how does it mount? When you say you added the uv&violet puck is that one array you changed or all of them? Can i run this light with seperate timers for day/night/dawn/dusk, does it have its own programming built in or do i need something else to run it

 

I'm also thinking of 60w nano 420 in either 10 or 16k so im curious about ur thoughts on changing.?