Shorty Biggie Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 Shorty Biggie's IM 20 Nano Reef Build Thread: Hello all, This is my first build thread and I am new to the community here. Mainly I am documenting this build thread for a few reasons. First and most importantly, I want to help those beginners or others who are still learning how to create functional and healthy reef tanks. I seek to document the entirety of my build, in order to help show the process rather than just the result. I know everything I have learned has been through researching others experiences online, so if this build is helpful to those in learning, this will be a success. With that being said I would not consider myself an expert or even advanced by any means. I have had experience with a 55 gallon, a 32 gallon, a 20 gallon, a 13 gallon, a 10 gallon and now back to this fusion 20. I have been able to have healthy tanks that did well, however I have never gotten far into corals. Ive bought corals in the LFS every once in awhile, but never took the time to learn how to properly test, supplement, care and grow corals, I pretty much have just thrown in the coral and let it be. Therefore, this will be a learning experience for me as well, and I hope documenting my build will bring others to this thread who can provide input and advice to further this build and not just help me, but others who use this thread as a guide to helping them build their ideal reef! With that being said lets get started! Background on this tank: Originally I planned a reefer 250 build, even saved up for it, and eventually had a change of heart. Since I had not dove deep into corals I decided to use a fusion 20 and all the equipment I had accumulated to set up a small tank with a larger budget and really take the time to focus on corals and learn before getting the reefer 250, so I didn't end up with an expensive tank full of rock with no money or experience for corals. I had a fusion 20 in the basement so I planned to use that, but once I pulled it out I noticed a large crack in the front right bottom corner, so I ordered another from BRS. Of course while emptying out the new tank from the leak test I bumped the bottom left back corner, however it was a small chip, not even 1/3 the way through the glass and only the size of the tip of a high lighter so I just went with it, thus far its totally fine, I'm not too concerned. This tank has been wet for 2 days, unfortunately I did not take pics of the set up, but im still very new in the process so most important info isn't missed Tank Info: Tank: Im Fusion 20 Light: Nanobox Duo Plus M (15 inch gooseneck) Stand: Ikea Besta Frame (I can post the specifics on every single part used if requested) Sand: Tropic Eden reefflakes, 1/2-3/4 deep, I like to stir the sandbed each water change Rock: CarribSea Life Rock roughly 14 pounds (already established from LFS store) Flow: Ecotech MP-10qd, Hydor Korilia 240, stock pump (may upgrade, please provide recommendations) x2 Spin stream nozzles Filtration: x2 InTank media baskets, running filter floss / purigen / chemipure elite in one, filter floss / Phosguard/ chemipure elite in the other Heater: Just an average aqueon heater; works well for me Top off: Tunze Osmolator 3155 Top off Container: 3.5 gallon plastic top fin tank Possible Future Equipment: -Sicee 1.5 Return Pump -IM Media Reactor -either IM Ghost Skimmer or Reef Glass skimmer -Neptune Apex (the cheaper one) -Neptune DOS Stocking Plans: Fish: x2 Picasso Clowns, 1 Atlantic Pygmy Cherub Angel Inverts: Small clean up crew, 1 fire shrimp, maybe 1 starfish (thoughts) Corals: Wide range of flowing corals, isolated GSP, acans, Ricordia, other lps and maybe some sps, what other corals would work well on my elevated rock work? Modifications: -small piece of lexan in between the screws for nano box and rear tank wall (I overtightened the screws on fusion 10 and busted the glass) -used wood glue on all connecting pieces of Ikea stand when building it To get up to speed on everything thus far I will give a run down. I first set up the stand. It is an Ikea Besta frame that is white on the sides and a gloss white finish on the doors. It fits the length of the tank perfectly and is just about an inch or so deeper to allow room for equipment off the back. I really like this stand because you are able to customize the stand color and doors and you can change the height of the stand. Im a tall guy, about 73 inches so I used a higher stand than what was available. The stand itself is about 40 inches tall and with the tank the top is 53 inches, perfect for a guy my height, as I don't have to bend way down to look into it. The stand is basically 2 pieces stacked on top of each other, secured by 4 metal braces, some sticky pads and wood glue. It is very strong, and fits perfect. Aside from using wood glue no other modifications are needed. Like I said the stand can be customized in the height for what works for you. I can link the parts if requested. In total,it cost about 190 dollars, much cheaper than the one IM offers, its stronger and customizable as well. I I have gotten all the supplies ready, and the day before the tank arrived I purchased the live rock from the LFS. The LFS is about 15 mins away so there shouldn't be much die off. While constructing the aquascape I kept the rock in 5 gallon buckets with saltwater, heaters and flow. The rock was never out of the water for more than 20 minutes, and since the rock was already seeded and established in a tank, Im not expecting much if any of a cycle. The tank has been filled for 2 days, and I have been ghost feeding and still have no ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrate, perhaps maybe slight nitrate, no more than 1-2ppm, if any at all. I called the LFS and said I am still not seeing any ammonia, should I throw in a shrimp or something to kick off the cycle? He told me there may well not be a cycle, and had me come in to get dirty water... I know DIRTY water. Basically he took the sponge out of one of the store tanks and wrang it out in a bag, which made the water turn a really gross and really brown looking color. He told me to put this in the tank and monitor the levels. However, I am trying to be cautious with this build, so I did not end up putting that water in my tank, I wanted to hear yall's opinion on this? Essentially the idea isn't to use that water to put a bunch of beneficial bacteria in the water, but to put a bunch of gross water in to feed the cycle and really build up the population to break down the large amount of waste in the water. Not sure if this is a good idea or if it will lead to problems later on or cause my tank to have a bunch of crud in it. Since I have been ghost feeding and still have no ammonia. I will probably wait a week and if still no ammonia I will proceed with livestock. As for concerns with this build, mainly right now it is flow. I plan on stocking a mixed reef, with multiple hammers and torches, plenty of ridordia, acans, and many other lps as well as maybe a few sps. Due to the rock work, I had to move the mp-10 closer to the front of the tank, therefore I put in a korillia in the back corner to eliminate deadspots behind the tank. Im worried this may be too much flow and the korillia may blast the corals on the top right side rock too hard, what do you guys think? Also, I plan on upgrading the return pump to a Sicee 1.5, but Im worried I may be putting too much flow in and will just be blasting all my corals, I don't really know. My final concern with flow is that the left side spin stream is kind of blocked from the tall rock on the left. I basically rotated the spin stream upside down so that its more to the top, and now when the spin stream is at the bottom of its rotation about half the flow coming from the nozzle hits the rock straight on, and the other half grazes over the top, should this be a concern? Thats all for the first post, thanks for reading, please follow along and provide input, ideas, advice! I will be posting just about everything I do, I plan/add in, and the progression of this nano😁 3 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 3 hours ago, Shorty Biggie said: Shorty Biggie's IM 20 Nano Reef Build Thread: Hello all, This is my first build thread and I am new to the community here. Mainly I am documenting this build thread for a few reasons. First and most importantly, I want to help those beginners or others who are still learning how to create functional and healthy reef tanks. I seek to document the entirety of my build, in order to help show the process rather than just the result. I know everything I have learned has been through researching others experiences online, so if this build is helpful to those in learning, this will be a success. With that being said I would not consider myself an expert or even advanced by any means. I have had experience with a 55 gallon, a 32 gallon, a 20 gallon, a 13 gallon, a 10 gallon and now back to this fusion 20. I have been able to have healthy tanks that did well, however I have never gotten far into corals. Ive bought corals in the LFS every once in awhile, but never took the time to learn how to properly test, supplement, care and grow corals, I pretty much have just thrown in the coral and let it be. Therefore, this will be a learning experience for me as well, and I hope documenting my build will bring others to this thread who can provide input and advice to further this build and not just help me, but others who use this thread as a guide to helping them build their ideal reef! With that being said lets get started! Background on this tank: Originally I planned a reefer 250 build, even saved up for it, and eventually had a change of heart. Since I had not dove deep into corals I decided to use a fusion 20 and all the equipment I had accumulated to set up a small tank with a larger budget and really take the time to focus on corals and learn before getting the reefer 250, so I didn't end up with an expensive tank full of rock with no money or experience for corals. I had a fusion 20 in the basement so I planned to use that, but once I pulled it out I noticed a large crack in the front right bottom corner, so I ordered another from BRS. Of course while emptying out the new tank from the leak test I bumped the bottom left back corner, however it was a small chip, not even 1/3 the way through the glass and only the size of the tip of a high lighter so I just went with it, thus far its totally fine, I'm not too concerned. This tank has been wet for 2 days, unfortunately I did not take pics of the set up, but im still very new in the process so most important info isn't missed Tank Info: Tank: Im Fusion 20 Light: Nanobox Duo Plus M (15 inch gooseneck) Stand: Ikea Besta Frame (I can post the specifics on every single part used if requested) Sand: Tropic Eden reefflakes, 1/2-3/4 deep, I like to stir the sandbed each water change Rock: CarribSea Life Rock roughly 14 pounds (already established from LFS store) Flow: Ecotech MP-10qd, Hydor Korilia 240, stock pump (may upgrade, please provide recommendations) x2 Spin stream nozzles Filtration: x2 InTank media baskets, running filter floss / purigen / chemipure elite in one, filter floss / Phosguard/ chemipure elite in the other Heater: Just an average aqueon heater; works well for me Top off: Tunze Osmolator 3155 Top off Container: 3.5 gallon plastic top fin tank Possible Future Equipment: -Sicee 1.5 Return Pump -IM Media Reactor -either IM Ghost Skimmer or Reef Glass skimmer -Neptune Apex (the cheaper one) -Neptune DOS Stocking Plans: Fish: x2 Picasso Clowns, 1 Atlantic Pygmy Cherub Angel Inverts: Small clean up crew, 1 fire shrimp, maybe 1 starfish (thoughts) Corals: Wide range of flowing corals, isolated GSP, acans, Ricordia, other lps and maybe some sps, what other corals would work well on my elevated rock work? Modifications: -small piece of lexan in between the screws for nano box and rear tank wall (I overtightened the screws on fusion 10 and busted the glass) -used wood glue on all connecting pieces of Ikea stand when building it To get up to speed on everything thus far I will give a run down. I first set up the stand. It is an Ikea Besta frame that is white on the sides and a gloss white finish on the doors. It fits the length of the tank perfectly and is just about an inch or so deeper to allow room for equipment off the back. I really like this stand because you are able to customize the stand color and doors and you can change the height of the stand. Im a tall guy, about 73 inches so I used a higher stand than what was available. The stand itself is about 40 inches tall and with the tank the top is 53 inches, perfect for a guy my height, as I don't have to bend way down to look into it. The stand is basically 2 pieces stacked on top of each other, secured by 4 metal braces, some sticky pads and wood glue. It is very strong, and fits perfect. Aside from using wood glue no other modifications are needed. Like I said the stand can be customized in the height for what works for you. I can link the parts if requested. In total,it cost about 190 dollars, much cheaper than the one IM offers, its stronger and customizable as well. I I have gotten all the supplies ready, and the day before the tank arrived I purchased the live rock from the LFS. The LFS is about 15 mins away so there shouldn't be much die off. While constructing the aquascape I kept the rock in 5 gallon buckets with saltwater, heaters and flow. The rock was never out of the water for more than 20 minutes, and since the rock was already seeded and established in a tank, Im not expecting much if any of a cycle. The tank has been filled for 2 days, and I have been ghost feeding and still have no ammonia, no nitrite, no nitrate, perhaps maybe slight nitrate, no more than 1-2ppm, if any at all. I called the LFS and said I am still not seeing any ammonia, should I throw in a shrimp or something to kick off the cycle? He told me there may well not be a cycle, and had me come in to get dirty water... I know DIRTY water. Basically he took the sponge out of one of the store tanks and wrang it out in a bag, which made the water turn a really gross and really brown looking color. He told me to put this in the tank and monitor the levels. However, I am trying to be cautious with this build, so I did not end up putting that water in my tank, I wanted to hear yall's opinion on this? Essentially the idea isn't to use that water to put a bunch of beneficial bacteria in the water, but to put a bunch of gross water in to feed the cycle and really build up the population to break down the large amount of waste in the water. Not sure if this is a good idea or if it will lead to problems later on or cause my tank to have a bunch of crud in it. Since I have been ghost feeding and still have no ammonia. I will probably wait a week and if still no ammonia I will proceed with livestock. As for concerns with this build, mainly right now it is flow. I plan on stocking a mixed reef, with multiple hammers and torches, plenty of ridordia, acans, and many other lps as well as maybe a few sps. Due to the rock work, I had to move the mp-10 closer to the front of the tank, therefore I put in a korillia in the back corner to eliminate deadspots behind the tank. Im worried this may be too much flow and the korillia may blast the corals on the top right side rock too hard, what do you guys think? Also, I plan on upgrading the return pump to a Sicee 1.5, but Im worried I may be putting too much flow in and will just be blasting all my corals, I don't really know. My final concern with flow is that the left side spin stream is kind of blocked from the tall rock on the left. I basically rotated the spin stream upside down so that its more to the top, and now when the spin stream is at the bottom of its rotation about half the flow coming from the nozzle hits the rock straight on, and the other half grazes over the top, should this be a concern? Thats all for the first post, thanks for reading, please follow along and provide input, ideas, advice! I will be posting just about everything I do, I plan/add in, and the progression of this nano😁 Welcome to NR! I think it looks great so far. 😊 1 Quote Link to comment
SliceGolfer Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 You could place SPS on top left, and the flow from the Spin Stream will be fine. I have the same tank, Spin Streams, and I use the IM MightyJet 538gph pump as my return. I have it set at 70% output and the flow blowing on the SPS is weak compared to the other pumps in my tank. If if you push the Koralia down a little, that would eliminate the flow on the right from hitting the rock, but might kick up sand. You could swap positions of the Vortech and Koralia, but I think that will get you a better look vs functionality (I hate cords😉). You’re off to a great start, wish you the best! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Shorty Biggie Posted May 11, 2019 Author Share Posted May 11, 2019 2 hours ago, SliceGolfer said: You could place SPS on top left, and the flow from the Spin Stream will be fine. I have the same tank, Spin Streams, and I use the IM MightyJet 538gph pump as my return. I have it set at 70% output and the flow blowing on the SPS is weak compared to the other pumps in my tank. If if you push the Koralia down a little, that would eliminate the flow on the right from hitting the rock, but might kick up sand. You could swap positions of the Vortech and Koralia, but I think that will get you a better look vs functionality (I hate cords😉). You’re off to a great start, wish you the best! thank you! i think i’ll be okay with all the flow, and definitely would rather have a bit too much flow than poor flow leading to stagnant water! 1 Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted May 11, 2019 Share Posted May 11, 2019 Looking good.. really like the stand. well done👏... one thing on the mp10.. in the photo the wire coming from the dry side is pointing up.. I've seen the boot that holds the wire into place start to wear out, so of it where me I'd turn it where the wire is pointing down or sideways and support the cable a bit so it wont where out where it goes into the dry side😊 Oh and dig the scape... happy reefing! Quote Link to comment
Shorty Biggie Posted May 11, 2019 Author Share Posted May 11, 2019 45 minutes ago, FISHnChix said: Looking good.. really like the stand. well done👏... one thing on the mp10.. in the photo the wire coming from the dry side is pointing up.. I've seen the boot that holds the wire into place start to wear out, so of it where me I'd turn it where the wire is pointing down or sideways and support the cable a bit so it wont where out where it goes into the dry side😊 Oh and dig the scape... happy reefing! good idea! for some reason i thought it was supposed to go up but you’re right, i’m going to turn it down, it will also help to see a little less chord too 1 Quote Link to comment
Shorty Biggie Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 been awhile since my last update on the tank since it was just during the cycling stages, not much to talk about with that. My rocks were not as alive as I thought they were, so I dosed pure ace hardware ammonia. However I did accidentally "overdose" the ammonia which brought my readings to 8ppm or possibly even higher. The tank ended. up cycling to over 5ppm nitrite, but my nitrates were never at a concering level-theyve always been about 20, after cycle down to about 10. I added one Picasso clown, and one yellowtail damsel about one week ago, and have been monitoring my levels-specifically ammonia for one week and they have stayed at zero even with the addition of 2 fish at once in such a small tank. still no inverts yet. Yesterday I drove about 1.5 hours. away to a really good LFS to pick up some corals. I ended up getting: 1 GSP 1 Candy cane trumpet 1 duncan 1 Ricordea yuma 1 florida ricordea 1 green hammer 1 red mdntipora I know its quite a bit of coral to start with, but my tank params have been consistent post cycle and I needed to make the far drive worth it. I added these corals last night and so far so good, the hammer and Duncan haven't opened up all the way, but they also aren't completely closed up either. As for fish, aside from the two I have in, Im not so sure Im going to add anymore. the damsel gives me great movement, he swims all over, so I may just keep the stock at these two guys Invert wise, I don't have any in there yet. I don't have algae aside from a very light bit of diatoms on my powerheads so it doesn't seem inverts have much to feed off of. I do plan on adding a blood red shrimp here soon though. The only thing I'm concerned with is perhaps im adding things too quickly? I know adding 2 fish at once and then 7 corals all within a week is against the average recommendation, however I have been testing minimum of every day, and so far the params are keeping perfectly steady. I will probably wait at least 2 more weeks, maybe even a month before adding more corals, but how long should I wait to add the blood red. shrimp? how long of having a bio load in the tank while params keep steady should I wait before adding a blood red shrimp? I mean, its been a week and my levels are the same, if ammonia were going to spike due to the additions of the fish, shoudlnt it have done so by now? I think that perhaps having overdosed the ammonia is helping keep the ammonia down now, because my tank was able to process a large amount in a short time. What are your thoughts? I will post pics later when I bust the good camera out Quote Link to comment
Daniel91 Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Sweet scape dude.. did you epoxy it or? Quote Link to comment
Shorty Biggie Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 13 minutes ago, Daniel91 said: Sweet scape dude.. did you epoxy it or? yes! i just used jb waterweld which honestly kind of sucks, and loctite super gel. the loctite is really what worked well. it’s really only 2 big pieces of rock, the left one was a long cave shape that i stood upright and just used the glue to put a piece on the bottom to hold it and keep it from wobbling. then on the left side rock the part in the overhand that pokes down toward the sand is another small piece that i just glued on. the right side rock is again just one big cave piece and the two parts on the top that look like little elevated plates are glued on with loctite again 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 great looking start! dig the scape, the tall one on the left might need to be trimmed down a bit if you aim to grow sticks. Quote Link to comment
Shorty Biggie Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 2 hours ago, mitten_reef said: great looking start! dig the scape, the tall one on the left might need to be trimmed down a bit if you aim to grow sticks. yeah that’s what i was thinking. when i post pics tonight you’ll see the left one has a montipora on it so it should be okay, but the right one for other sps i think is too high Quote Link to comment
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