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


teenyreef

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On 1/3/2019 at 7:08 PM, teenyreef said:

Just realized I never posted the New Year tank shots!

 

2019-01-01 FTS:

2019-01-01 IM40 FTS

 

2019-01-01 Top Down:

2019-01-01 IM40 Top Down

 

 

Beautiful colors Teeny, just now looking so I'll quote for the new page.  :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Overall the tank is doing well but the nuisance algae is increasing. I've been dosing PhosphateRx to bring down phosphates because the algae turf scrubber still hasn't started to produce. I hate artificially lowering phosphates since that's probably inhibiting growth of the algae in the scrubber, but I just couldn't let it keep getting out of the control.

 

To help deal with the algae, I got a "nano" Foxface (rabbitfish). He's small, and I'll probably be able to keep him at least a year before he starts to outgrow the tank. So now I have a deadline for a tank upgrade :biggrin:

 

I haven't been able to get a really good picture of him yet, but he's already on duty picking at the algae. 

 

Meet Franklin:

Franklin

 

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Some pics of fish and corals. The gobies (yellow watchman and green banded) didn't come out for the photo session, but they're doing fine.

 

Dilbert guarding the eggs:

Dilbert

 

Humphrey keeping everyone away!

Hunphrey

 

Boris, the yellow coris wrasse:

Boris

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I took a quick top down during the water change a couple weeks ago. Sigh...I remember back when my goal was to have lots of open sand bed... 

 

2019-02-11 IM40 Top Down

 

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skyscraper2290
5 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

I took a quick top down during the water change a couple weeks ago. Sigh...I remember back when my goal was to have lots of open sand bed... 

 

2019-02-11 IM40 Top Down

 

Oh my.... looking sooo good, but definitely not much room ahaha

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1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

I took a quick top down during the water change a couple weeks ago. Sigh...I remember back when my goal was to have lots of open sand bed... 

 

2019-02-11 IM40 Top Down

 

Pretty!! That was my goal too in the 25g and it is a hot mess in the sand bed atm, at least yours is tidy! Do you take all your zoas and attach them to small rocks or do they come that way?

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9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Pretty!! That was my goal too in the 25g and it is a hot mess in the sand bed atm, at least yours is tidy! Do you take all your zoas and attach them to small rocks or do they come that way?

 

Most zoas i get are already on some rubble. Rarely on a plug

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On 2/10/2018 at 9:57 PM, teenyreef said:

I don't think I've ever really complained about it, but I've never really been completely in love with the Tunze 9004 skimmer. It's a good skimmer, but it's a very tight fit in the first chamber, which is the only chamber it fits. And because it's such a tight fit, there's barely any room for water to flow around, making the water level go up and down very easily. Which of course causes the skimmer to go out of adjustment. I'm constantly playing with it, trying to keep it from overflowing at one extreme, and making annoying loud popping noises from cavitation on the other.

 

Recently, it gave me a good month where all I had to do was empty the cup every four or five days, but all of a sudden it started overflowing. And after two weeks of messing with it, I still haven't been able to find the sweet spot again.

 

I considered going with the newer model with the DC controllable pump, but I don't think it would solve the fundamental problem of the tight fit in the chamber. So I started looking around for other skimmer options...unfortunately there's really nothing else that will fit in the chamber beside the IM Ghost, which I never liked in my IM10, and hasn't improved its reputation at all over the years. The other option is a hang on back skimmer, but there's only about two inches between the back of the tank and the wall, and since the tank fills the whole top of the cabinet, there's no way to move it forward to make room.

 

I did find one recommendation to use the CAD Lights PLS-50, a venerable and fairly well-proven choice, but it was still a tight fit and required some special handling. Plus, sadly, it was discontinued, so the only way to get one was on the used market.

 

However, as I was searching for information on the PLS-50, I found a post right here on N-R, from last December, announcing the third generation PLS-50, the Elite II. It hadn't shown up in any of my other searches because none of the vendors carry it yet, but at the end of the post, @CAD-Aqua provided an update, letting us know it was now available as of about two weeks ago. So I booked over to their website, and sure enough, it's available, so I ordered one.

 

 

I'm a little nervous being on the bleeding edge with a version of the skimmer that hasn't really been reviewed or widely used yet, but the earlier version generally worked well, and the icing on the cake is that the new version is significantly smaller, and should fit quite easily in either the first or second chambers in the IM40.

 

I haven't bought anything from CAD Lights since I got my 4g CAD Lights Pico tank from them. But that was a fantastic tank (with a few modifications), so I'm willing to take a chance and try it out. I'm really looking forward to getting the new skimmer and reviewing it here!

Sadly the packaging and included instructions haven't gotten better in a year. First impression is that I do like it more than the 9004 I had. I wish mine came with the cool red tubes though. 

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On 2/24/2019 at 8:25 PM, teenyreef said:

I took a quick top down during the water change a couple weeks ago. Sigh...I remember back when my goal was to have lots of open sand bed... 

 

2019-02-11 IM40 Top Down

 

Nice reef teeny. There's a lot going on in this reef.

 

You may need a bigger aquarium for growth of your corals. There doesn't seem to be much room for that at this point. Have you had any issues with stinging or warfare yet?

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On 1/27/2019 at 6:34 PM, teenyreef said:

Some pics of fish and corals. The gobies (yellow watchman and green banded) didn't come out for the photo session, but they're doing fine.

 

Dilbert guarding the eggs:

Dilbert

 

Humphrey keeping everyone away!

Hunphrey

 

Boris, the yellow coris wrasse:

Boris

 

What's wrong with "Dilbert"? Maybe it's just me, but he/she doesn't look so good. Looks like it was on a loosing end of a scrap. Yikes!

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Christopher Marks
On 2/24/2019 at 9:25 PM, teenyreef said:

I took a quick top down during the water change a couple weeks ago. Sigh...I remember back when my goal was to have lots of open sand bed... 

 

2019-02-11 IM40 Top Down

 

I didn't have a chance to respond the other day, holy moly! There are so many layers of coral to get lost in. 😍

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On 2/26/2019 at 5:19 PM, Christopher Marks said:

I didn't have a chance to respond the other day, holy moly! There are so many layers of coral to get lost in. 😍

Thanks, Christopher! I'm going to have to start doing regular coral hair cuts to reduce shading.

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On 2/26/2019 at 9:37 AM, JBM said:

Have any of you thought going old school? Whats wrong with a aqua C remora? Its a Hob style skimmer and it absolutely rocks.

I agree HOB skimmers are far better than super small in-place skimmers. But they offend my sense of "all in one" for AIO tanks 🙂

 

Plus, I only have about two inches between the back of the tank and the back wall, so there's no room for one anyway...

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On 2/26/2019 at 2:22 AM, KISReef said:

What's wrong with "Dilbert"? Maybe it's just me, but he/she doesn't look so good. Looks like it was on a loosing end of a scrap. Yikes!

Thanks for asking! He's actually doing just fine. The dark spots are normal spots that clowns get when they are stung by the anemone (or, in this case, palys). They look worse than they really are due to some artifacts from the camera.

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