Bowen's IM Fusion 10 - Pt. 2

[moralesk214]

I see you got the rics! Congrats. Would love to hear a break down of your maintenance routine & filtration in one section. I know it's been a struggle previously with some SPS (as I have had trouble myself) would love to compare note. Good luck with the RFA they are gorgeous! Happy feeding ?

[Bowen1022]

I see you got the rics! Congrats. Would love to hear a break down of your maintenance routine & filtration in one section. I know it's been a struggle previously with some SPS (as I have had trouble myself) would love to compare note. Good luck with the RFA they are gorgeous! Happy feeding

 

Thanks moralesk!

Currently maintenance includes dosing 3mL each of Ca and Alk and 3mL Mag once a week. I used to dose acropower 5 drops a day but Ive noticed a lot of algae recently so Im backing off to 5 every other day to every two days. Change filter floss twice a week and clean the skimmer cup. Once a week I do a 10-15% WC as well as clean the glass as needed. ATO is refilled when I do WC too. I feed LRS Reef Frenzy once every 3 days and feed reef roids when I want.

 

How about your maintenance?

[Bowen1022]

Small update, picked up another zoa frag Love Poison. This will be my last addition to the tank for a while as I will be moving it in two weeks back home :/ I wanted to keep it till the end of the school year but Id rather not try to move it during finals week.

 

Here is a photo of the new addition

 

[MLS_Reef]

Pretty sure the green cap is a gonner... Oh well I guess not much I can do except wait it out. Probably just buy a new one here shortly!

Take a photo.. And wait to see.

[Bowen1022]

Take a photo.. And wait to see.

 

Its looked the same for the past few days. Im just going to leave it until it either turns completely white or comes back

[Bowen1022]

Well yesterday marked the first day of an upgrade. The tank I had been eyeing before I got this one was the IM Lagoon 25 and I ended up being able to purchase it yesterday. Im pretty stoked and will be posting up a new thread once I start the build (Probably in August but not quite sure yet)

[Bowen1022]

Well I moved my tank back home from school this weekend. Everything went ok. I threw out my old sand except for a cup and seeded some new stuff with that cup. Im kinda wishing I went BB because my tank is super cloudy and anytime I touch the sand it becomes cloudy again. Its not super fine stuff... Mistake on my part for not rinsing I guess. I also changed my scape to a pillar like style. The April TOTM inspired me so I wanted to try it out. I haven't glued anything or broken any rock so if I dont like it I can change it back. I will post photos when the water doesn't look like some dummy forgot to rinse the sand and then swirled it around and dumped milk in it.

I am going through a spike in ammonia and nitrite so I have been using SeaChem Prime and am doing water changes. I'm hoping this doesn't last long.

I feel like I am going to loose a few corals as some appear to have some tissue narcosis but that comes with the hobby I guess.

 

On a good note, I got a dosing pump and also ordered the Fusion Lagoon 25 last week which will be here on Tuesday. Going to be set up in late august. It will have a minimalist scape with mostly SPS and a few LPS/Soft. The inspiration for this came from a guys tank that is on a local forum (obviously downsized). He runs nothing but a skimmer, filter sock, t5 lights, and a strict feeding regimen:

 

 

Photo and tank are not mine they belong to Arsonmfg of PNWMAS

[Bowen1022]

So I got some photos of the current scape. Im still unsure about it... If anyone has any ideas, tips, tricks please send 'em my way! None of this is permanent so I can change whatever I need to. A lot of the corals aren't in their final resting spot, I just felt the need to not keep my hands in the tank any longer. Also those RFA's did not want to move so hopefully they make their way down to the bottom.

 

Unfortunately I am losing my ORA Red Planet to STN. One of my favorite pieces. I guess I'll just have to get some new pieces once this tank finally settles back in.

 

Here are the awful phone photos:

 

 

 

[Bowen1022]

[Bowen1022]

Well yesterday I thought I should try to break off the sharp point that was at the top right of my aquascape. I took it out hit it with a hammer and the rock split in half... So a rescape session began. I still tried to create a more of a pillar while keeping spots for coral placement and room to work. I'm half pleased with it so hopefully it will grow on me more. A phone photo... (those blue lines always make me mad)

 

 

Here are also some photos of my fish

 

 

 

RFA

 

 

Rics

 

 

Some reorganization

 

 

And what I did this weekend

 

 

 

Panorama is weird

 

[Sk8n Reefer]

Tailspots are fun fish- tons of personality ? What kinda music do you play?

[Bowen1022]

Tailspots are fun fish- tons of personality What kinda music do you play?

 

I love my tailspot! And it's not me... I wish it were haha. They are called for King & Country just won 2 Grammy's last year. They are wonderful people and their performances are amazing.

[Sk8n Reefer]

I love my tailspot! And it's not me... I wish it were haha. They are called for King & Country just won 2 Grammy's last year. They are wonderful people and their performances are amazing.

Ah- I thought you meant that was you on stage ? Ya, Tailspots are super fun fish!

[Bowen1022]

Ah- I thought you meant that was you on stage Ya, Tailspots are super fun fish!

I definitely thought it was going to be taken that way too. And yes but my guy hides all the time lol. I just got a new tank so I'm hoping to get some swimmers in there too.

[Bowen1022]

Just got back to my tank after 2 weeks away. Things are looking pretty good Zoas growing new heads and Rics spreading out nicely. My orange monti is loosing some color so I lowered my light intensity a bit. I'll clean everything up tomorrow and hopefully get some photos up.

[teenyreef]

Awesome, I just got caught up! Welcome home and I'm glad things are going well.

 

Usually montis don't lose color from too much light, it's usually caused by something in the water, at least in my tanks. Are they white all over, or just on the edges?

[J-Ranko]

Well I moved my tank back home from school this weekend. Everything went ok. I threw out my old sand except for a cup and seeded some new stuff with that cup. Im kinda wishing I went BB because my tank is super cloudy and anytime I touch the sand it becomes cloudy again. Its not super fine stuff... Mistake on my part for not rinsing I guess. I also changed my scape to a pillar like style. The April TOTM inspired me so I wanted to try it out. I haven't glued anything or broken any rock so if I dont like it I can change it back. I will post photos when the water doesn't look like some dummy forgot to rinse the sand and then swirled it around and dumped milk in it.

I am going through a spike in ammonia and nitrite so I have been using SeaChem Prime and am doing water changes. I'm hoping this doesn't last long.

I feel like I am going to loose a few corals as some appear to have some tissue narcosis but that comes with the hobby I guess.

 

On a good note, I got a dosing pump and also ordered the Fusion Lagoon 25 last week which will be here on Tuesday. Going to be set up in late august. It will have a minimalist scape with mostly SPS and a few LPS/Soft. The inspiration for this came from a guys tank that is on a local forum (obviously downsized). He runs nothing but a skimmer, filter sock, t5 lights, and a strict feeding regimen:

 

 

Photo and tank are not mine they belong to Arsonmfg of PNWMAS

 

Whoa! SPS heaven!

 

Your water could take a while to clear-out. I rinsed my sand about 8 times, and still it was cloudy when it went in the tank.

 

The ammonia and nitrite spike is worrisome, though, as that indicates your tank is basically cycling again. Hope you don't lose too many corals.

[Bowen1022]

Awesome, I just got caught up! Welcome home and I'm glad things are going well.

 

Usually montis don't lose color from too much light, it's usually caused by something in the water, at least in my tanks. Are they white all over, or just on the edges?

 

Its not "white" all over just sort of fading. I think it is due to a drop in alk. It went from about 9.5 to around 7.8 in the past two weeks. I dropped it because I have been contemplating dosing Red Sea's NO-POX. I think I am going to raise it back up and see what happens. Also I have noticed a bit of algae growing as well as some weird clear slime on one of my frag plugs. I think once I get back into a routine everything should go back to normal... I hope.

 

 

 

Whoa! SPS heaven!

 

Your water could take a while to clear-out. I rinsed my sand about 8 times, and still it was cloudy when it went in the tank.

 

The ammonia and nitrite spike is worrisome, though, as that indicates your tank is basically cycling again. Hope you don't lose too many corals.

 

I didnt end up losing anything luckily. Well yet lol.

[Bowen1022]

Took a few photos. SPS have been a little weird lately and I have had some brownish algae growing on the sand bed as well as some clearish stuff growing on a frag plug. I did a water change so hopefully things blow over.

 

FTS

 

 

Monti Cap

 

 

Unknown (Not showing usual PE)

 

 

Zoas

 

 

 

Rics

 

[teenyreef]

The lps and zoas look good! Is anything out of whack with your parameters?

[Bowen1022]

The lps and zoas look good! Is anything out of whack with your parameters?

 

I didnt see this until today. Nothing crazy, I dont test phosphates yet but nitrate on API says zero. Ive been thinking about picking up the red sea algae test kit.

 

Well I tried to get some photos of my fish today I didnt like any of the shots of the firefish but got lots of the blenny. A few coral shots but nothing new, just posting to show some growth shots and just for fun. Keeping the sticks alive just wish I could help them thrive. Thanks!

 

AOG Zoa/Paly? (Three new polyps coming from this guy!)

 

 

Ultra Red People Eater Zoa (Started with one polyp now has 3 total and a new one coming in)

 

 

Ric with dirty glass

 

 

Birds of Paradise (I think it has grown lol just not a lot)

 

 

Sarmentosa (Looks exactly the same as when I got it... Well to me at least)

 

 

Unknown

 

 

Acan ft. Benjamin

 

 

Benjamin the TSB

 

 

 

 

Side Tank

 

 

FTS

 

[Bowen1022]

Just posting an update! Tank sitter tested water last night

Alk: 9 dKH

Ca: 450 ppm

Mg: 1300 ppm

 

Things are surviving so I guess thats good

[reefernanoman]

 

I didnt see this until today. Nothing crazy, I dont test phosphates yet but nitrate on API says zero. Ive been thinking about picking up the red sea algae test kit.

 

Well I tried to get some photos of my fish today I didnt like any of the shots of the firefish but got lots of the blenny. A few coral shots but nothing new, just posting to show some growth shots and just for fun. Keeping the sticks alive just wish I could help them thrive. Thanks!

 

AOG Zoa/Paly? (Three new polyps coming from this guy!)

 

 

Ultra Red People Eater Zoa (Started with one polyp now has 3 total and a new one coming in)

 

 

Ric with dirty glass

 

 

Birds of Paradise (I think it has grown lol just not a lot)

 

 

Sarmentosa (Looks exactly the same as when I got it... Well to me at least)

 

 

Unknown

 

 

Acan ft. Benjamin

 

 

Benjamin the TSB

 

 

 

 

Side Tank

 

 

FTS

 

 

Nice! That bird of paradise looks just the one I put inside my Nuvo 10 a few days ago.

[Betucker]

How have you found the difficulty of the tank? Pretty manageable? Any tips that have made your life easier? Asking out of curiosity since I will be starting one when I get back to school in August.

[Bowen1022]

How have you found the difficulty of the tank? Pretty manageable? Any tips that have made your life easier? Asking out of curiosity since I will be starting one when I get back to school in August.

 

To be honest I have made having this tank a lot harder and more expensive then it should have been. The tank is great and built wonderfully. I'm not quite sure what you plan on stocking but obviously plan accordingly. The best piece of equipment I could recommend is an ATO and being in school make sure you will have enough time to tend to the tank and somewhat of a plan. I liked to set a time on sunday to do water changes and since I go to a private college they have a set 'chapel' time from 10:20 - 11:00 and I would use this time to feed, clean the glass, and do any other odds and ends. Overall the tank is pretty sweet. I wish I could have done everything correct the right way first though.