[Fluconazole Vs Bryopsis] "We're getting out" FAIL- IM 25 Lagoon

[lkoechle]

Bummer no tank yet! Surprised your house in Denver hasn't sold yet since as you mentioned housing is booming there. I'd buy the house but I'm not anywhere near ready to move LOL - but Denver is on the list! I was out there a few weeks ago and loved it.

 

Anyways - I vote that you keep planning on the IM25. You have the tank - may just have to be a bit patient because I agree it would probably be easier to just wait until you have a house rather than try to set it up now and then have to take it down and move it again.

 

Good luck

We had a lot of work done before putting it on the market and didn't do any showings until after left. I'm a stay at home mom with two kids and two dogs. I didn't want to wrangle all of that to get out of the house for showings So the house has actually only been for sale for a couple weeks. lol I did only have one dog... But there was a 5 month old rescue puppy from Tijuana who spoke to me right before we moved... So, now I have two

 

Arya, my grehound, and Nymeria (dna says she's a GSD, Jack Russel, greyhound mix)

 

She's great with the kids

 

And fast enough to catch bunnies. (Don't worry, I got her to release it and aside from ruffled fur, he was fine and we never saw him in the back yard again)

 

Back to the house though:

 

We've had 4 2nd showings, so hopefully we'll get an offer soon. Unfortunately, it took so long to get here that the house is being put up for sale during the slow season. No one wants to move when school starts. If it doesn't sell, we'll hold it until spring and put it back on the market. Thankfully, we always put up at least 6 months of mortgage payments in our "house" account, so we can carry it for awhile before we sell. Hopefully, that won't be necessary though.

[lkoechle]

Been working on planning... And I lied when I said "no controller".

 

Here's my logic:

This tank will be our tank for YEARS. We have no plans to upgrade until we can afford a rimless (if possible, eurobraced if not), sumped 150 to 200 gallon starfire shallow. The tank, assumed custom built, is going to $6k at least anyways. Nevermind a badass dream system deserves a badass sump plus quality equipment. And at that point maybe Dave will build us some not-so-nano NanoBox lights. And if you saw our last build, we do not half-ass in this family. So we won't be able to afford it for quite awhile.

 

Oh, but can't you envision how spectacular the magnificent beast will be?

 

Therefore, let all the effort be put into this one! Besides, I've young kids and a very busy life. I also want the best tank I can have. Ergo, husband has stated once our housing circumstances are settled, I am permitted a budget of $300 a month (indefinitely) to spend how I see fit. Unfortunately, this will delay the build a little. However, it will also allow me to build a quality tank.

 

Order of business:

 

Month 1

• stand (roughly $300 in itself to either purchase or build. I really like the idea of possibly rehabing a piece of furniture, we'll see)

Month 2

• Rocks, sand, heater

The tank will then be able to begin cycling

• CUC after cycle

 

Month 3 & 4

• Nanobox Duo Plus M ($470 so will take 2 months)
• IM Skimmer ($150)

Month 5

• inTank media baskets (x2 $42.99)

Month 6

• MP10 QD ($235)
• WXM Module ($124.95)

Month 7, 8, 9

• New Apex System ($799)

Month 10

• Apex DOS ($299)

So that's the equipment line up. May take longer, hopefully less because my love is a sucker for his wife. And Christmas, birthday, and mother's day also fall into those timetables. I'm not sure how strict he will be about stocking coming out of that as well...

 

I'm hoping to get some of the apex pieces second hand to save money but my husband is a bit snobbish about used items. If he gets snobbish about this, I'll argue then he has to put up the money from his "personal" money if he wants to govern my decisions on the tank.

 

Our tanks are primarily mine, but he enjoys them too so gets a lot of say. He also does all the fragging. I'm not allowed to do it. He says I suck at it. So that's "his" thing for the tank.

 

Now that I have it all written out, it looks rather depressing for how long it will take just for equipment. Never mind additives and stocking. Ironically for someone who is a reefer, loves to fish, and also is an artist, I am incredibly, incredibly impatient. But OCD and a type A personality tempers that

 

After I bothered my husband at work about this, he did say "we can make it work, but thats why I want you to make a list." Perhaps "borrowing" in advance can be made. lol What a joy that would be! So, I think thats all the tank updates.

 

I'm also tentatively adding a Leopard Toby Puffer to the list after seeing Teeny's. The continuing station of the puffer depends on Doug II's treatment of reef inhabitants. I will be watching...

[teenyreef]

I've told Doug 2 that his behavior is under close review

 

I have a WXM module that I bought as part of a used Apex package, but I use Reeflink so I don't need it. Let me know when you get to that point and if I've still got it we can work a deal

[lkoechle]

I've told Doug 2 that his behavior is under close review

 

I have a WXM module that I bought as part of a used Apex package, but I use Reeflink so I don't need it. Let me know when you get to that point and if I've still got it we can work a deal

That would be great! Thanks for the offer. I hope Doug is a model citizen. lol

[lkoechle]

I'm trying to speed this up:

 

 

We're also going on an LFS hunt this weekend. I have gathered all the stores I can find, and we are planning a route to check them out this weekend. Having him in fish stores, usually helps this process of getting my tanks faster.

 

Especially if the LFS has a good display tank. Now if only our stupid house would sell. We're hoping for an offer this weekend. fingers crossed.

[lkoechle]

House in Denver is closing the 30th. We put in an offer today on a house and if it's accepted, we'll close on Jan 6th. OMG MAYBE THIS BUILD WILL FRICKIN START BY PAGE 3. Guys, it's been almost a year since my tank was torn down. A YEAR. Anyone want to buy/build me a stand and gift it so I can start this build? pretty please? I don't know when I'll have the money to build one after this housing crap

 

This house has the perfect freaking room too (for the fish tank). I need it...

[teenyreef]

Good luck!

[Eisernes]

Suggestion for your stand...

 

8020 aluminum frame and skin it with distressed reclaimed wood. It would probably come out cheaper than an IM stand, will last forever, and will look nice.

[lkoechle]

WE ARE FINALLY GETTING THIS THING STARTED!!!!!!

 

 

And if you followed my previous build, I tend to go at a hellish pace at this point. I think thats why my husbad's been putting this off because he didn't want to release this pony from her starting box.

 

But Reefapalooze in Orlando conicides with my birthday, which also coincides with Mother's Day. So I kind of trapped him by saying there's no point in going if we don't have a stable tank at that point.

 

BRS is running an upgraded 3 day shipping deal, and I'm hoping this week or early next week ordering from ReefCleaners for the rock and then we're getting her wet! (maybe, we still have to decide on an RO system or go with the LFS for now because our system has been discontinued and we can't buy membranes for it... boo...)

 

IT FINALLY BEGINS! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh, and here's my happy birthday girl! Eevie Sue turned one this week! I can't believe it. :'( Clearly, I need a tank to help with this process...

 

[metrokat]

Happy Birthday to Eevie Sue

Can't wait for the tank.

[lkoechle]

And I just ordered the rock. So, check. Now to raid my fish box to see what supplies survived the culling in Denver!

[lkoechle]

Today was supposed to be cycle day. But alas, there is a hiccup. BRS did not send me a stand. They did not even send me a fusion lagoon, they sent me a 20 gallon peninsula. lol

 

But UPS is coming back to pick it up and the return is super easy and they are sending out the correct item today. Just sucks to lose a week.

 

On the bright side, I can say BRS packs the hell out of their tanks. If I ever order a tank online, I wouldnt hesitate doing by them. They're like Ezma and Kronk. "We put that box inside of another box" minus the whole smash it with a hammer part... Actually, you probably could and the tank would be fine. lol

[lkoechle]

well now its being held up indefinitely. BRS doesnt have a stand to send me, hasn't for months. So yeah. That sucks. neither does anyone else and I dont have the time to build one.

[lkoechle]

Good news! AquaCave had a stand in stock. Should be here Friday. Delayed a couple days, but thats okay.

 

In other news, the BRS rep who was handling my issue says Innovative Marine is discontinuing the IM Lagoon tanks and stands. So if you want one, you better get it, and if you've been waffling on the stand, you should buy it. Marine Depot only has grey, BRS is totally out and AquaCave only has black. From my searching, its sold out for the 25/40 everywhere else.

[ninjamyst]

Good news! AquaCave had a stand in stock. Should be here Friday. Delayed a couple days, but thats okay.

 

In other news, the BRS rep who was handling my issue says Innovative Marine is discontinuing the IM Lagoon tanks and stands. So if you want one, you better get it, and if you've been waffling on the stand, you should buy it. Marine Depot only has grey, BRS is totally out and AquaCave only has black. From my searching, its sold out for the 25/40 everywhere else.

what?! why??? they were such good sellers.

[lkoechle]

what?! why??? they were such good sellers.

Thats what I thought. I was surprised when he told me that. My guess is IM is probably focusing on those new concept tanks.

[Kellie in CA]

That's crazy! I have a new Lagoon sitting in the closet for whenever I get around to upgrading. I'm glad I grabbed it on sale when I did. I'd be really sad if I missed out on this one.

[teenyreef]

Wow, that really is surprising. I think of the concept tanks as more of a niche for them with the lagoons being the real core of what they sell. I'm glad you found a stand!

[lkoechle]

So the stand came in Friday and we got it up that night and I did aquascaping and moved the tank over Saturday.

 

Surprisingly, we cannot gfci outlet the fish room. Every single outlet is switch controlled. So we went the slightly more involved route and replaced the breaker with a GFCI breaker. This way at least we don't need to worry about switching any outlets when we upgrade to a bigger tank (the ultimate goal of a 150 shallow) and move this one somewhere else in the room.

 

 

Aquascaping in front of husband's 65" 4k Valentine's Day/Anniversary/Father's day gift. Of course, I hijacked it for chick shows while playing with rocks:

 

 

If you read the first page of pretty much nothing, you know that I recently moved and purchased a house (like as of Jan 6th). I am in love with this house. The fish room is my formal living room and I love it. Eventually, a 150 will sit where the tank currently is and the tank will move to the opposite side of the love seat. The couches were actually being thrown out by our neighbors when we moved in because they were peeling. Nothing some slip covers can't handle. Score!

 

 

But I digress, due to the location of the tank, aquascaping is tricky. It has to be "pleasant" from two viewing angles. So this is the best I've come up with at this point (15 lbs of reef cleaners rock)

 

 

Close up of front:

 

View from sofa:

 

 

View from the "unviewable" side:

 

The stand is surprisingly solid. Which is nice considering its $300 price tag. It can't fit my 5 gallon ATO jugs from the 85 in there, but it can fit in one, possibly two, 2.5 gallon paint buckets from Lowes. The other bottom side will contain my BRS slim dosing containers once we have the apex and dos again. The top left will contain all electrical components and pumps. I don't know yet if we will build a mountaining board or hoe we are planning to lay out that cubby. That's a future purchase anyhow. The right top cubby will be storage.

 

We had to order an RO/DI unit. Apparently, membranes aren't made for ours anymore. I could pay $100 for a membrane on eBay, or buy SpectraPure's brand new 180 gpd unit since we are planning on a large tank in the nearish future. It hurts, because I didn't want to spend the money. Husband was actually the one pushing for the brand new large capacity unit. But we shouldn't have to buy a new one for ten years or so. So, whatever.

 

The unit should be here next friday. Now I have to clean my pickle buckets we bought from firehouse for mixing salt and buy the salt. We're trying Fritz RPM which I had never heard of and seen at an LFS here. It has pretty good reviews, so we'll give it a whirl.

http://fritzaquatics.com/product/rpm-reef-pro-mix/

 

Hopefully, we'll be wet next weekend! Maybe even earlier!

[ninjamyst]

love that formal living room! like a page out of a magazine. the scape looks great in the tank. the only worry i have is how close it is to the front glass. may make hard to clean the glass?

[lkoechle]

love that formal living room! like a page out of a magazine. the scape looks great in the tank. the only worry i have is how close it is to the front glass. may make hard to clean the glass?

Thank you! Its my favorite room in the house.

 

Its just perspective. There is about 2 inches on all sides. Went through earlier with the scraper and scrubber just to double check. lol

[lkoechle]

Well the tank is wet! I'll post photos later. It's still pretty messy.

I am super UNimpressed with the stock pump. It's pathetically weak an insanely loud. I have it sitting in a vinegar wash right now to hopefully quiet it down, but I doubt it will help.

 

And my TOM aqualifter is not up to the task of moving water for the ATO.

 

So, now I have two relatively unexpected purchases. Tonight we will be discussing where to go from here. I'm leaning on replacing the stock pump with Sicce Syncra 1.5 . I had a Sicce in the skimmer for the 85 and that pump was so nice and quiet. So there goes $70, and then I think I'm going with the IM Hydrofill ATO pump so there goes another $70. I know I can find a cheaper pump, but its the only one that meets what I want it to do with minimal fuss.

 

I also need to buy a new heater. I want a neotherm to just free up space in the back. At the moment, I have my first heater from my first reef tank 5 or 6 years ago. lol It's good enough for cycling, but I don't want to trust any livestock to it considering its age.

 

I feel like I'm at one of those points where it's easier to just take the painful hit of buying ALL of the rest of what I want for this tank (mp10, apex, skimmer, etc) instead of slowly getting it which was the original plan. Its just so much less work to have everything as I want it in the beginning than having to mess with stuff later on. I could also just be getting impatient

 

At any rate, we will be ordering the light this month (Nanobox Tide Duo Plus M) and the other items that shouldn't wait. I definitely can't have the return pump as the sole form of circulation. It's barely pushing water around the tank. Which is another reason why I think we'll be buying the MP10 sooner than initially thought. We'll probably start with upgrading to the Sicce first to see if we can get away with just that for now, but... I just want it all now... lol Unfortunately, I doubt my finances will allow for that but thats what this evening's discussion is for.

[lkoechle]

DEAR MARINE DEPOT:

 

 

I LOVE PAIN!

 

 

And then March is StevieT and Dave Fason's turn...

 

I never knew pain could feel so good... Maybe I should give BDSM a whirl?

[ninjamyst]

haha you went all out!

[lkoechle]

haha you went all out!