Scrappy's Lagoon

[scrappy34]

Welcome to my journal, I'll be updating this thread periodically as a way to keep track of my progress. My tank is a Innovative Marine Lagoon 25. Below is my list of equipment.

 

Lighting: Kessil a360w with Bluefish controller. 

Return: Sicce 1.5

Flow: Icecap 1k Gyre

Skimmer: Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB 

Filtration: Filter floss, Purigen, & Phosguard

ATO: AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro

 

I filled my Lagoon up with water and added Caribsea Life Rock on September 17th, 2018. I have been using Seachem Laboratories Aquavitro Seed to add bacteria to the water. 

 

Stocking as of 01/22/2019

Fish:

-Ocellaris Clownfish

-Black & White Ocellaris Clownfish

-Firefish Goby

-Tail Spot Blenny

 

Inverts:

-4 Blue legged hermits

-Assorted snails 

-2 Emerald crabs

-Skunk cleaner shrimp

-Conch

-Sandsifting starfish

-Maxima clam

 

 

Coral:

-6 assorted Zoas

-2 Acans

-Frogspawn

-Branching Hammer

-Rainbow Ricordia

-Rock flower anoneome

-Blue sympodium

-Montipora undata

 

 

 

 

Pics updated 01/22/2019

 

 

 

 

[scrappy34]

Yesterday, the LFS suggested that I add ammonia to my tank so I followed the directions on the bottle and added it. Today I tested the water and these are my levels:

 

PH: 8.0-8.1

Ammonia: 2.0ppm

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 5.0ppm

 

 

 

[pieceofreef]

Following along!

 

How do you like the gyre and skimmer? I'm planning a lagoon build with virtually the same equipment (except using a hydra 26 light). Thanks!!

[scrappy34]

1 hour ago, pieceofreef said:

Following along!

 

How do you like the gyre and skimmer? I'm planning a lagoon build with virtually the same equipment (except using a hydra 26 light). Thanks!!

I love the gyre, it's dead silent and has lots of different settings I'm still experimenting with. And I'm still trying to learn how to use a skimmer, I had trouble keeping it from overflowing the collection cup with bubbles/foam. So, I had to limit how much air passed through the yellow air hose. It's working great now, I think.. I have a bubble cone going up the collection cup, but it's not spilling over into the cup. From what I've read it's just part of the break in period. 

 

Tomorrow I'll post a pic of the skimmer

[Christopher Marks]

Congrats on your new system @scrappy34, these lagoon tanks are great!

 

What kinds of things do you plan to keep in your reef? Plenty of time to day dream while it cycles 🙂 

[scrappy34]

9 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Congrats on your new system @scrappy34, these lagoon tanks are great!

 

What kinds of things do you plan to keep in your reef? Plenty of time to day dream while it cycles 🙂 

 

Thank you Chris, I've been planning this tank for awhile. It was important that I got equipment that I could use on a larger tank in the future if I decide to upgrade to the 50g lagoon or something. As for my stocking, I'm planning 4-5 fish, lots of different reef safe crabs and shrimp, some soft and LPS coral and a clam. 

 

 

[scrappy34]

This is what my skimmer has been doing for about 24hrs, can someone tell me if this is how it should be working? The bubbles have been staying at the top of the cone like in the second picture. 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by scrappy34

[paneubert]

Skimmer still breaking in. Give it time. 

[scrappy34]

Checked my parameters yesterday and there was no change from the other day. Overall, there are less microbubbles in the display, so it looks really good right now. 

[Porkpie5000]

That rock looks great!

 

Your skimmer isn’t going to do much without a bio load in the tank. There just isn’t anything to skim. 

[scrappy34]

17 minutes ago, Porkpie5000 said:

That rock looks great!

 

Your skimmer isn’t going to do much without a bio load in the tank. There just isn’t anything to skim. 

 

Thank you, I really like the scape I have right now. I need to be patient, but I'm excited to add some life. 

 

[scrappy34]

I've checked my ammonia and nitrite everyday. My ammonia dropped a little and the nitrite has gone up. For the last 2 days, they haven't changed much. 

 

Ammonia: .25ppm

Nitrite: .5ppm

 

I was hoping I could order a few snails and hermit crabs this week (reefcleaners) while I'm home from work, but I don't think the ammonia/nitrite will drop as fast as I thought.

 

[scrappy34]

Cleaning the filter socks have been a pain, so I ordered 2 inTank Filter Floss Holders to take their place. These should make maintenance a lot easier and filter floss is cheap. 

[TripleTrouble]

Recognize you’re just getting started but have you set your lighting schedule on your A360? 

I have a RedSea 170 and 2 A360WEs. Trying to compare notes on how folks are using their Kessils based on what they’re going to keep in their tank. I have a light mix of LPS and Soft at the moment, but haven’t started any heavy investing of livestock until I get everything tuned and running the way I want. 

 

[scrappy34]

 

On 9/26/2018 at 10:00 AM, TripleTrouble said:

Recognize you’re just getting started but have you set your lighting schedule on your A360? 

I have a RedSea 170 and 2 A360WEs. Trying to compare notes on how folks are using their Kessils based on what they’re going to keep in their tank. I have a light mix of LPS and Soft at the moment, but haven’t started any heavy investing of livestock until I get everything tuned and running the way I want. 

 

 

Good question, I use the Bluefish controller so it was hard finding settings I could copy online. These are the settings I use currently, but I don't know if they work well for the coral I want (Zoa's, LPS, & clams) 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by scrappy34
Light settings have changed, will post new pics

[scrappy34]

Ammonia and nitrite appeared to be reading 0ppm, so I added more ammonia to 1ppm to do the 24hr test. 

 

Pic of Ammonia before/after I added more Dr. Tims. Don't let the picture fool you, the yellow was much brighter in person. 

[pieceofreef]

I saw you're using both sides of your gyre wavemaker. I'm planning out a lagoon as well and was told that the gyre was way too powerful for the small tank (im planning a mixed reef but focusing on lps and softies initially). I was thinking of perhaps still using the gyre with only one of the sides. Because it is way cheaper than MP10 or comparable to cheaper alternatives. What do you think? 

[scrappy34]

5 hours ago, pieceofreef said:

I saw you're using both sides of your gyre wavemaker. I'm planning out a lagoon as well and was told that the gyre was way too powerful for the small tank (im planning a mixed reef but focusing on lps and softies initially). I was thinking of perhaps still using the gyre with only one of the sides. Because it is way cheaper than MP10 or comparable to cheaper alternatives. What do you think? 

 

Ive been running both sides at 30% and Im considering going down to 20% until I get coral. I love that there are no dead spots, but it's definitely overkill since I will likely never go above 40%. Once I have something in the tank I can experiment a little more. 

[Christopher Marks]

It sounds like your system has reached the end of the cycle, how did that last dose of ammonia turn out? Now comes the fun part!

[scrappy34]

11 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

It sounds like your system has reached the end of the cycle, how did that last dose of ammonia turn out? Now comes the fun part!

 

unfortunately the 24hr test didn't work out. As of last night, I still had an ammonia reading of roughly .25-.5 PPM. 

[Christopher Marks]

Almost there, better safe than sorry! Waiting out the cycle is the hardest part.

[scrappy34]

My tank has been done cycling for a few days, so today I went out and got 2 Clownfish.

[scrappy34]

The Clownfish have been staying in the same top corner since I put them in. 

[scrappy34]

.

[pieceofreef]

The aquascape looks great and I like the tiny clowns.