Teenyreef's IM40 Not-So-Teeny Tank - August FTS

[ninjamyst]

Congrats!!!! New tank for your MP10?? haha

[teenyreef]

Congrats!!!! New tank for your MP10?? haha

I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I think I will replace the MP40 with the new MP10. That way I'll have the same size pump working on both sides of the tank.

 

Anybody need a lightly used MP40?

 

Hard work paying off!

Nah, just good luck. It was a random drawing

[FlowerMama]

Congrats! That's awesome to win!!

[cuboy]

btw, how did you like the mp40 on your tank? I've been thinking about replacing my 2 jebao rw4 with an mp10 or mp40.

[Cencalfishguy56]

I need that nem! Lol tank looks amazing so far! Lucky on that mp10 but well deserved

[Admonition]

Loving the tank, been following along since I'm starting a fusion 40 myself. How do you like the Tunze 9004 skimmer? My old 9001 won't fit in this tank and all the other fitted options have bad reviews. I'm between the 9004 and the Aquamax HOB-1, but I'd rather keep the water inside the tank lol

[burtbollinger]

I'm in same boat, dont want the IM Ghost, very curious about the fit and function of teh 9004...any pictures, input or advice on the 9004 would be very helpful. Way earlier in this thread, someone gave you advice on how to mount it but I'm having trouble picturing it. Anyway you could snap a pic or two I'd be forever in your debt.

 

Also very curious about stock return pump vs. a replacement. Swapping with another pump looks not exactly plug-and-play simple...curious your opinions.

 

Also, in those first pics on page, one, I really like your scape...how much Lbs. of rock would you guess that is?

[teenyreef]

Congrats! That's awesome to win!!

Thanks! Aquaticlog is a great site, and, unbelievably, this is the third random drawing contest I've won there

 

btw, how did you like the mp40 on your tank? I've been thinking about replacing my 2 jebao rw4 with an mp10 or mp40.

I really like the MP40 but it's massive overkill in this tank. I never run it more than 20 or 30%. An mp10 could cover all your flow needs without any problem, but you'll probably want to keep one of the jebao's just to keep some flow coming from a different direction.

I need that nem! Lol tank looks amazing so far! Lucky on that mp10 but well deserved

Thanks! I really like the nem, but it's only been bubbly for a total of about three days. One day right after I got it, and for about two days last month. I have no idea why it bubbled, and it went right back to being long and stringy. Just another lifetime reefing goal for me to work on, I guess

Loving the tank, been following along since I'm starting a fusion 40 myself. How do you like the Tunze 9004 skimmer? My old 9001 won't fit in this tank and all the other fitted options have bad reviews. I'm between the 9004 and the Aquamax HOB-1, but I'd rather keep the water inside the tank lol

The 9004 works great in this tank. I just dumped a week's worth of skimmate out of the cup, and it was about half full with coffee colored stinky skimmate. It's a tight fit in chamber 1, but it works fine.

 

It's a bit of a pain to adjust the level because the magnets are on the other side of the dividing wall between chamber 1 and chamber 2. It won't fit in the chamber if you orient it with the magnets in back. But once I got the right level, I've never had to touch it since.

[Reefkid88]

Damn,the light now the mp10 ?! Sheesh,I cant even win a ebay auction lol.

[teenyreef]

I'm in same boat, dont want the IM Ghost, very curious about the fit and function of teh 9004...any pictures, input or advice on the 9004 would be very helpful. Way earlier in this thread, someone gave you advice on how to mount it but I'm having trouble picturing it. Anyway you could snap a pic or two I'd be forever in your debt.

 

Also very curious about stock return pump vs. a replacement. Swapping with another pump looks not exactly plug-and-play simple...curious your opinions.

 

Also, in those first pics on page, one, I really like your scape...how much Lbs. of rock would you guess that is?

Here's a picture of the back chambers, with the skimmer in the chamber on the far left of the picture. It's turned sideways, with the "back" of the skimmer, where the magnets are, on the right side, attached to the dividing wall. So the water flows through the false wall, and then into the skimmer's intake on the far left. Let me know if you need any particular pictures and I'll see what I can do

 

20160610-untitled-010.jpg by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

The stock pump is great on the IM40 with plenty of power and it seems to be reliable. I have yet to clean it and there's still plenty of flow.

 

I would say I used about somewhere around 30 to 40 pounds of rock. I used 10 pounds of live rock from KP Aquatics, and I ordered 30 pounds of dry rock from Reefcleaners. I ended up leaving out one fairly good sized rock from the dry rocks, but I have no idea what I did with it. I think I broke it up and used it for frags for the zoas, so I may actually have all 40 pounds in there.

Damn,the light now the mp10 ?! Sheesh,I cant even win a ebay auction lol.

I know how you feel! Before I started reefing I never won anything

 

So do you like the vertex one then?

I found my picture of the Vertex doser and probe holders. See above

[Admonition]

Do you feel it's a negative having the 9004 in the first chamber directly taking in the water with no filter floss first? I'm concerned about loosing that filter floss in the first chamber to help stop larger things from making it into the back chambers.

[teenyreef]

Do you feel it's a negative having the 9004 in the first chamber directly taking in the water with no filter floss first? I'm concerned about loosing that filter floss in the first chamber to help stop larger things from making it into the back chambers.

I agree it's not perfect. But the skimmer does tend to float out a lot of the detritus, and the pump is a beast, so it doesn't seem to be affected by it. I just squirt the turkey baster around in the back chambers and then siphon out the back chambers once a month during a water change. And of course I have floss in the right hand chamber, so the carbon and gfo don't get clogged.

 

I will freely confess that I've never pulled the skimmer out since I installed it, so that chamber it's in has probably gotten pretty nasty, though.

[teenyreef]

Rough and ready FTS evening shot. Someday I'll figure out how to make it look blue instead of purple.

 

2016-11-21 IM40 FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[jstuver]

Ooh I like that vertex one:) Hmm I need to figure out what I want to do. I finally got my tank taken down yesterday and need to transfer stuff in the next day or so!

Is that two probe holders?

[teenyreef]

Ooh I like that vertex one:) Hmm I need to figure out what I want to do. I finally got my tank taken down yesterday and need to transfer stuff in the next day or so!

Is that two probe holders?

The one on the left is a dosing tube holder, and the one on the right is a probe holder. The probe holder comes in two sizes. The smaller size that I got is not quite big enough for the Apex temperature sensor, so I just left mine dangling in the water since it's submersible anyway.

[teenyreef]

I tried a dose of Vibrant after the water change last Sunday. I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised (actually kind of blown away) by the results.

 

Have I mentioned I hate diatoms? They've been all over the sand and the newer frag rocks, as you can see from the last set of pictures. Every day I stir up the sand, and they come back the next day like clockwork. Well, I put the Vibrant in on Sunday night, and the sand has been completely free of diatoms ever day since. Furthermore, the rocks that were mostly covered only have a little bit left. So I will continue dosing on their recommended maintenance level every two weeks.

[markalot]

Is that a MP40 QD?

 

Tanks looks great, glad the vibrant is working ... I wonder if Microbacter would work as well?

[Mariaface]

Is that a MP40 QD?

 

Tanks looks great, glad the vibrant is working ... I wonder if Microbacter would work as well?

 

 

I think Microbacter Clean is the variant that would work similarly, not just Microbacter7

 

EDIT: According to what Jack said at MACNA. NYFishies, Kat, back me up here

[Nola Bear]

Hey Teeny. Everything is looking great. I got a question about the rock from KPA. I'm sure it is in your thread "somewhere", but searching for it has proven a herculean task.

 

Did you buy cured, uncured, or partially cured??

[Admonition]

I agree it's not perfect. But the skimmer does tend to float out a lot of the detritus, and the pump is a beast, so it doesn't seem to be affected by it. I just squirt the turkey baster around in the back chambers and then siphon out the back chambers once a month during a water change. And of course I have floss in the right hand chamber, so the carbon and gfo don't get clogged.

 

I will freely confess that I've never pulled the skimmer out since I installed it, so that chamber it's in has probably gotten pretty nasty, though.

Lol well thanks for the help! I actually came very close to getting it but then was tempted by MD's 50% off sale on the Aquamax HOB1 lol.

 

One more question, I noticed you said you were running the Finnex 150w heater. Are you running it submerged horizontally on the center chamber floor? I'm having difficulty finding a heater thatll fit in these cramped chambers. I planned on using my old 75 watt jager but I'm worried it's not enough for this tank.

[teenyreef]

Is that a MP40 QD?

 

Tanks looks great, glad the vibrant is working ... I wonder if Microbacter would work as well?

It is, but I'm going to replace it with an MP10. The MP40 is too strong for this tank.

 

I use Microbacter regularly but I've never seen the same degree of improvement, especially immediately after dosing.

 

 

I think Microbacter Clean is the variant that would work similarly, not just Microbacter7

 

EDIT: According to what Jack said at MACNA. NYFishies, Kat, back me up here

I've never tried Microbacter Clean, I didn't know about it. Hmmmm...

Hey Teeny. Everything is looking great. I got a question about the rock from KPA. I'm sure it is in your thread "somewhere", but searching for it has proven a herculean task.

 

Did you buy cured, uncured, or partially cured??

I got the uncured kind, combined with dry rock. It was expensive but there pretty much was no cycle. In hindsight I wish I'd gone with all uncured rock instead of saving money on dry rock.

Lol well thanks for the help! I actually came very close to getting it but then was tempted by MD's 50% off sale on the Aquamax HOB1 lol.

 

One more question, I noticed you said you were running the Finnex 150w heater. Are you running it submerged horizontally on the center chamber floor? I'm having difficulty finding a heater thatll fit in these cramped chambers. I planned on using my old 75 watt jager but I'm worried it's not enough for this tank.

I've heard nothing but good things about the HOB-1, so I expect you'll be very happy with it.

As far as the heater goes I just dropped it in the pump chamber, lol. I think there was enough room to lay it flat but I just made sure it wasn't touching the pump tubing.

[Reefkid88]

So woukd you say Vibrant is worth ordering and using to fight Bryopsis or just other algae ?

[teenyreef]

So woukd you say Vibrant is worth ordering and using to fight Bryopsis or just other algae ?

I'm not ready to say yet. It seems that the more organized the structure of the algae, the more doses/time it takes. I'm convinced it was very effective on diatoms in this tank, and it seems to be working slowly in my 10g, but I'm not sure yet. Hopefully it will be more clear how it's working there in another week or two.

[Reefkid88]

Oh okay. Im thinking about ordering some,but still want to wait and see how it turns out for you. Im just so over my battle that Im pretty much on the verge of giving up.

[teenyreef]

Oh okay. Im thinking about ordering some,but still want to wait and see how it turns out for you. Im just so over my battle that Im pretty much on the verge of giving up.

If you've reached that point, go ahead and get some and try it. It's only $20 a bottle and they ship super fast. The sooner you get it going the sooner you'll see if it works