xthunt's IM Lagoon 25

[xthunt]

Started w/ a Fusion 20, overshot my rockwork and felt crowded after a few months. Not wanting to change my rock, decided to just get a Lagoon 25 and build another stand. The rock (CaribSea Life Rock Shapes) is about 5 months in water, and been through a lot of stages including dinos, diatoms, cyano, ect. It's starting to require a lot less of me cleaning it now-a-days. 

 

Being a beginner I'm trying to stick with soft corals for now. Lost my fish so I'm fallow for now. Thinking of doing  clown pair + Flame Hawkfish (maybe) when I'm able to. Open to other ideas though.

 

Equipment: 

Spoiler

 

IM Lagoon 25

Intank media baskets+fuge basket

AI Prime HD

100w Cobalt Neotherm

Eshopps Nano Skimmer

AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro

Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0

Jebao PP-4

APC NS-1080 Battery Backup

 

 

Filtration: 

Spoiler

 

intank floss

Skimmer

 

 

Water, Rock, Sand:

Spoiler

 

Just switched to Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean

Caribsea Life Rock Shapes

Caribsea Special Grade Reef Sand

 

 

Livestock: 

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Cerith snails

 

Coral:

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Green Polyp Toadstool

Various ricordea floridas

Blue actinodiscus

Red actinodiscus

Xenia (unsure what type)

Zoas: blue eyed blondes, watermelon/Eagle eyes, blue hornets

 

 

10/3/2017 Pics: 

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Good start.  Why is all of the content hidden?

[xthunt]

Thanks. Trying to keep it tidy instead of wall of text 

 

How are folks putting pictures on their posts? Forum allows 6mb total. Any image host recommendations? I'm using my google images now, but I regularly clean that out. 

 

I've got to take time to make a preset for the AI Prime so I can take pics inside the tank. 

[Christopher Marks]

It's actually 6mb per individual image, which is overkill anyways. The server will scale down uploaded images that are larger than 2560 pixels wide before saving them. Members currently have 500mb of total storage, so you should have some room to keep uploading here. Otherwise your best bet is to use Flickr.com for image hosting. Sharing a Flickr image here is as simple as using the Flickr share link provided on their site or in their app, once you paste it into the editor here it will automatically embed.

 

Your new system looks great, I like the depth of the aquascape.

[xthunt]

22 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

It's actually 6mb per individual image, which is overkill anyways. The server will scale down uploaded images that are larger than 2560 pixels wide before saving them. Members currently have 500mb of total storage, so you should have some room to keep uploading here. Otherwise your best bet is to use Flickr.com for image hosting. Sharing a Flickr image here is as simple as using the Flickr share link provided on their site or in their app, once you paste it into the editor here it will automatically embed.

 

Your new system looks great, I like the depth of the aquascape.

Oohhhh... I was thinking 6mb total per post. So with 5 images I resized them to 1mb each and was like... that's not going to work.

[Thrassian Atoll]

Images auto resize now it looks like.  The trick to get around it was to post your 2 or 3 photos, reload the page and edit the post and add more photos.  That works for me anyways.

[xthunt]

Got some new toys

 

[medinar83]

Looking to upgrade my pump, which exact model is that ? 

[xthunt]

Sicce silent 1.0. Not really an upgrade on flow, just quieter than loud stock pump. Sicce 1.5 or Cobalt mj1200 would probably be better if your looking for more flow

[medinar83]

4 hours ago, xthunt said:

Sicce silent 1.0. Not really an upgrade on flow, just quieter than loud stock pump. Sicce 1.5 or Cobalt mj1200 would probably be better if your looking for more flow

Thank you , actually looking for the quieter part haha, stock one is loud as hell. Thank you 

[xthunt]

Got an ro buddy supposed to be here tomorrow. I've been using Dollar General distilled probably for about 90% of the water I use. It's right around the corner so it's convenient. Been dealing with red cyano growing on my sandbed, that popped up right before I lost my fish. It's not blowout proportions, but it's there and gets stingy. Before that it seemed like never ending diatoms/algae no matter how much I changed feeding or water changes. 

 

What got me thinking was: new sandbed, no fish, barely putting anything in the tank besides twice a week lightly target feeding the few small frags. Why am I getting so much cyano on the sand? I mean more than I would think from what goes in. A lot more. 

 

The only thing that goes in the tank is fresh mixed saltwater, the target feeding, and... my top off water. 

 

I never thought to check the distilled because from what I know, distilled is supposed to be pure water. Using Seachem kit, checked po4 on Dollar General distilled: 0.25ppm. Went to Walmart and checked theirs: 0.10-0.15. SMH. 

 

So I dumped my ato, and put the Walmart water in. Sure nuff, the cyano subsided, and wasn't even stringy anymore. Not gone, but I would guess 50%. Walmart ran out the other day, and being lazy (closest WM is a 20 min drive), thought one jug of Dollar General water wouldn't do much harm until I get the rodi. This was maybe two days ago, and the cyano flared back up that quick. 

[colinlevy]

How did that skimmer fit in the back chamber?

[xthunt]

@colinlevy

 

It fits no problem. Just drop it in. 

[Jruberti]

Great looking stand!

[colinlevy]

7 minutes ago, xthunt said:

@colinlevy

 

It fits no problem. Just drop it in. 

 

I have the IM skimmer, and having the same issue as most, the microbubbles. Got them somewhat under control, but still a good amount.

 

Looking for other options

[xthunt]

RODI coming out tests about the same as distilled for po4. I guess the seachem test doesn't work well on purified water. RODI does test 000tds, so I'm not going to stress over it anymore. I still think something was in the Dollar General distilled though. 

 

Edit: Also slowly changing out my rock, for some base rock I had in garage. I don't like how interconnected the Life Rock is, and how much sand it covered. I could never get it back exactly the way it was if I moved it. Replacing with pieces of base rock to make it more minimalist, and easier for maintenance. Probably won't look as good as what I had, but I want something easier to work with. I've been doing this process for a couple weeks, so almost done. I'll update original post with pics when done. 

 

Meanwhile, here's some new frags I got from some kind folks on this site:

 

 

[TatorTaco]

Those sure are pretty! 

[jeffmr4]

It looks like you have a nice well thought-out setup.  Keep it up!

[spacespace]

hello do you still have this tank? how is the Eshopps Nano skimmer? I want to buy a skimmer for my 25. I'm deciding between this and aquamaxx hob 1.5. thanks

[xthunt]

On 11/5/2019 at 1:42 AM, spacespace said:

hello do you still have this tank? how is the Eshopps Nano skimmer? I want to buy a skimmer for my 25. I'm deciding between this and aquamaxx hob 1.5. thanks

Hey sorry for the late reply. Tanks still going, but not from the date when this thread was made. I shut it down and started a Fluval Evo 5 for a bit, then restarted this 25 gal. again in late July 2018. So its been up for over a year, and almost half.

 

The Eshopps works good for me, about the same as the Nuvoskim DC. I switch between them. I’m going to have to pick between the two and sell the other. 

 

All the lps started off as single heads, and the zoas 2-3 polyps, not really seing the growth or coral health I think I should have. I have growth, but my expectations have been grounded. Never could get the GSP growth I wanted, it doesnt spread or get bushy and the polyps stay short. I threw out struggling acan heads that have been withering away. The only things that dont look too bad are the zoas and Euphyllia. But I think the zoas could look more plump and colorful.

 

I still havent figured out the balance of food and nutrient input, and exports. Its hard for me to put enough food to plump up the corals and get it ‘dirty’ enough to keep corals happy, without getting too much algae and cyano. The fact that Ive been spending more time with my bikes, and tank isnt getting as much attention because I can’t break through that barrier, my interest and enthusiasm in it has been fading. 

 

Fish are clown, tailspot, firefish, and azure damsel.

 

I did mount another AI Prime HD above, by teeing off the single bracket, making better spread. 

 

If anyone is running two Primes above a Lagoon 25, Im open to suggestions for intensity. Right now Im at 43% royal and blue, 5% for uv, violet, green, red (my corals doesn’t like uv and violet for some reason, example zoas start shrinking) and 20+% for white (I like seeing the fish’s colors). Lights from 12pm-10pm with one hour ramps.

 

 

 

Oh, and a pic:

 

 

[xthunt]

[xthunt]

[xthunt]

Added 2 turbo snails. They're great, until they go to the overflows and make my top off go crazy. Also added an Innovative Marine drop in UV filter. So right now my filtration is only filter pads, skimmer, and UV.... and lots of snail poop.

[xthunt]