Hannah’s tank journal

[Hannahhhh]

Does anyone have any opinions on the 20 gallon fusion pro peninsula vs the 20 gallon fusion pro AIO? I included pictures of each. Aside from the obvious visual difference, do they run differently? Is there any reason to get one vs the other? Do they run differently? Anyone have any thoughts on innovative marine tanks in general? I'd especially love to hear people's experiences on switching to an IM tank. I've only ever used my fluval evo and I'm a bit nervous about switching tanks. 

I would love some advice, thank you!!

[Hannahhhh]

Oh one other quick question about my coco worm. I remember someone commenting that theirs had dropped its feathers a few times and managed to come bounce back. Mine dropped its feathers awhile back but it's still alive. I want to make sure that I take proper care of it. I put reef roids right near its tube pretty often, I'm hoping that's enough to make sure its fed.

[A.m.P]

IM is an awesome brand, the biggest differences are going to be viewing-angles, flow, and the space you have to work with built-in to the back of the tank.
Low-Iron glass is a big plus, but I wouldn't go for the PRO versions and instead would probably try to grab gear separately, and preferably secondhand or at a discount=p

The Fusion is a great size with more width than a standard 20-long, to accommodate the built-in filter, you'll have allot more of this space in the back to work with as well, and is shorter than a standard 20-tall. You could set up dueling flows on the outer-ends or blow into the front of the tank from your filter area.
The tank also sets up for a front-center view and scape, easily-allowing for very tall rockwork going to the back panel (think rockslides or rubble falling down a cliff).

The peninsula is roughly the same dimensions as a standard 20-long but with filtration built into the back, flow in these tanks is usually best just blasted lengthwise down-the-tank, relying on it bouncing back off the far-end and traveling back-across the tank to the over-flow. You'll have less space to work with in the back, which may or may not matter to you.
Scape-wise it depends on where you plan to have the tank, if it's visible from both sides then probably keep it low in the center and maybe build up towards the overflow or the far-end if it's obscured (though this can bugger-up flow). Otherwise you can still build up to the back wall but will need to keep things a bit more narrow and a bit shorter to keep water moving ime.
The 20-long will also be a bit more difficult to light, depending on your livestock, rockwork, and positioning of the animals themselves as well because the length of the tank is just slightly-longer than most single-pendant-pucks are rated for (this likely won't be a problem if you keep lower-light corals around 3-4" off the bottom near-the-ends or simply leave the far end mostly empty for flow)

[mcarroll]

On 9/26/2019 at 12:06 PM, Hannahhhh said:

Do you have a really big tank?

 

If not what are your plans for this fella?

 

He get's HUGE...as in zoo-sized.  Up to two feet long, or larger.  Easily 1 foot+.

 

He's one that almost everyone should leave at the store just due to tank size.  I'd say 180 gallons is the minimum for him....and it'll end up being on the small side for him, even at 180 gallons.  (That's what "minimum" means. 😉)

 

 

[Hannahhhh]

1 minute ago, mcarroll said:

Do you have a really big tank?

 

If not what are your plans for this fella?

 

He get's HUGE...as in zoo-sized.  Up to two feet long, or larger.  Easily 1 foot+.

 

He's one that almost everyone should leave at the store just due to tank size.  I'd say 180 gallons is the minimum for him....and it'll end up being on the small side for him, even at 180 gallons.  (That's what "minimum" means. 😉)

 

 

Hello. Thanks for asking. I'm only babysitting him for a friend with a 200+ gallon tank. That tank is currently sitting fallow due to ich. Once this little guy gets a bit bigger, he'll be in a massive tank. 

 

[mcarroll]

Good to hear!  🙂

 

"Massive" by comparison to your tank....but "just enough" by this guy's standards.  It'll be a "little tank" when he's done growing. 😉 

[Hannahhhh]

I’m finally going to try fragging some zoas again after the incident.

😷😵😷

Just wanted to post a reminder for everyone out there to please use eye protection when working with zoas. Don’t be dumb like me and nearly ruin your eye! ER trips get expensive and I’m still paying off all my medical bills! Trust me, it would be much more fun to use that money on corals!!

[Hannahhhh]

And I’ve finished fragging! No eye injuries! 🙌🏻

[Ratvan]

11 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

And I’ve finished fragging! No eye injuries! 🙌🏻

Congratulations glad you didnt have to repeat that

[Hannahhhh]

I’ve noticed that my pump isn’t really putting out much water. I don’t know much about how pumps work, but is there a common way that they get blocked and if so how do I fix it? (I have the pump that came with my fluval evo)

[Garf]

14 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

I’ve noticed that my pump isn’t really putting out much water. I don’t know much about how pumps work, but is there a common way that they get blocked and if so how do I fix it? (I have the pump that came with my fluval evo)

Turn it off, pull it out, and clean al the junk in the piping and the motor, most will come with some way to pull off a part of the cover to reach the impeller. remove that piece and clean it as well as the area the impeller drops into.  pic attached. I had to insert a thin screwdriver to get the front to come off. the impeller part (in the middle) comes out with a clockwise twist. 

 

EDIT: Oh, and make sure you  remove the output and fitting that the goes through the bulkhead, it simply screws apart. Clean that up, it can become blocked with the same gunk.

 

 

[Garf]

Regarding the tanks, I have been looking at IM myself, particularly the lagoon 25. One thing to consider is lighting, longer tanks may need two lights. And space, peninsula tanks by nature have a smaller back filter area. And it is harder to get the flow I want with two pumps in the peninsula, without putting a pump on one of the glass sides. This is why I am attracted to the lagoon 25, I can put two pumps on the back. 

[Ratvan]

Did you ever find out what the Oyster was that was living amongst the Zoa's I think I may have something similar

[Hannahhhh]

13 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Did you ever find out what the Oyster was that was living amongst the Zoa's I think I may have something similar

Not sure what it is, if you figure out what yours is, let me know! 

This is another video of my one. 

 

[Ratvan]

Mine looks more like a Cockle than anything else IMO

[billygoat]

I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to get an exact species ID without taking the thing apart, but thankfully most bivalves have pretty much the same care requirements. It'll do well just filtering organics out of the water, and would probably enjoy some phyto or other planktonic food from time to time. Honestly I'm glad its still alive after all these months! 😁 Both because it's super cool and also because well, that would be a pretty big animal to have die in your tank, especially when you consider that you might not even notice it was dead at first. 🤔

[Hannahhhh]

2 hours ago, billygoat said:

I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to get an exact species ID without taking the thing apart, but thankfully most bivalves have pretty much the same care requirements. It'll do well just filtering organics out of the water, and would probably enjoy some phyto or other planktonic food from time to time. Honestly I'm glad its still alive after all these months! 😁 Both because it's super cool and also because well, that would be a pretty big animal to have die in your tank, especially when you consider that you might not even notice it was dead at first. 🤔

Very true! Now that I know about it, I check almost everyday to see that it is alive, but if I didn’t know about it and it died, it could easily bomb my tank!

On 9/30/2019 at 10:28 PM, Garf said:

Turn it off, pull it out, and clean al the junk in the piping and the motor, most will come with some way to pull off a part of the cover to reach the impeller. remove that piece and clean it as well as the area the impeller drops into.  pic attached. I had to insert a thin screwdriver to get the front to come off. the impeller part (in the middle) comes out with a clockwise twist. 

 

EDIT: Oh, and make sure you  remove the output and fitting that the goes through the bulkhead, it simply screws apart. Clean that up, it can become blocked with the same gunk.

 

 

After cleaning it out, do I need to be mindful of swings in my water quality? Am I cleaning out a bunch of (good) bacteria?

[Ratvan]

35 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Very true! Now that I know about it, I check almost everyday to see that it is alive, but if I didn’t know about it and it died, it could easily bomb my tank!

After cleaning it out, do I need to be mindful of swings in my water quality? Am I cleaning out a bunch of (good) bacteria?

A tiny percentage, majority is on the rocks and sand. It'll mostly be detritus and algal build up (and stars) in my experience

[Hannahhhh]

Well I did a bad thing yesterday. I accidentally snapped my coco worm’s tube. I broke it right at the bottom and my worm is still in the larger upper part of the tube. I was really worried it would freak out and exit the tube, but so far it seems fine. It’s been filtering food all day and seems happy enough. I’m tempted to glue something to the bottom of the tube to prevent anything from sneaking up behind the worm and pestering it, but I’d be worried that the worm might touch the glue before it dries and get stuck. Any thoughts? 

 

Also I'm wondering if anyone who has had bumblebee shrimp could talk about their care requirements. Liveaquaria lists them as difficult, and I’m wondering what about them is difficult to care for? I want to add a shrimp or two to my tank. I would go with a cleaner shrimp but I’ve read that they go after bristle worms and I have one in my tank that I’m rather fond of. 

 

[Wonderboy]

I would think that the worm can repair it's home with time, but if you want to be on the safe side, I think gluing things to the outside of its tube would be safe - probably a good idea to avoid gluing anywhere that's open to the worm - you could probably then glue a cover rock to the pieces previously attached, or maybe just plug the openning with coarse filter sponge. I also recommend putting it relatively low/wedged in the rockwork so that it can calcify more tube upwards, to maybe attach itself to something and still be out of the way as much as possible.

[Hannahhhh]

I’ve narrowed down my tank upgrade to either a water box AIO 28.2 frag tank or an innovative marine NUVO fusion pro 25 lagoon tank. 

For people experiences with either of these brands or these specific tanks, I’m wondering which one requires more regular maintenance. I currently have my fluval evo, and my weekly care routine is just topping off my tank and doing water changes, I don’t want a tank that ends up being much higher maintenance. 

Thanks guys!

 

https://www.innovative-marine.com/product-page/nuvo-fusion-lagoon-25-gallon-aquarium-desktop

 

https://www.waterboxaquariums.com/product/silver-marine-aio-28-2-frag/

[Hannahhhh]

Can anyone recommend a good article on setting up a refugium for a nano tank? I’ve found a lot of info online but some is contradictory so I’d love pointers towards some good sources!

[MrObscura]

Unless you have a specific reason to set one up, you could easily just go without a fuge.

 

In fact a fuge could do more harm than good, stripping the tank of nutrients. Especially on a nano.

 

But if you really want to try one theres not much to it. If the AIO has room just dedicate a chamber to growing macro. Or you could do a hang on fuge, or even a DIY algae reactor. 

[Garf]

On 10/2/2019 at 12:12 PM, Hannahhhh said:

After cleaning it out, do I need to be mindful of swings in my water quality? Am I cleaning out a bunch of (good) bacteria?

Nope, no need to worry about any swings. Running a dirty pump can lead to more heat, wear on the pump. It should be maintained every month minimum, I do mine every three weeks. Same goes for wave pumps, they need to be cleaned or they will also slow down.

[Hannahhhh]

17 hours ago, MrObscura said:

Unless you have a specific reason to set one up, you could easily just go without a fuge.

 

In fact a fuge could do more harm than good, stripping the tank of nutrients. Especially on a nano.

 

But if you really want to try one theres not much to it. If the AIO has room just dedicate a chamber to growing macro. Or you could do a hang on fuge, or even a DIY algae reactor. 

Oh hmm. Well I mostly wanted a refugium for pods. Also my nitrates tend to run high unless I do lots of water changes. 

I really don’t like the set up of the finnex refugium though, it seems like it could easily tip over.