Raiq's IM 25 lagoon.

[raiqkashif]

Hi guys,

 

Finally made it to the saltwater community after countless hours of research, youtube videos, and reading amazing stories from other journals here. First got the idea of starting a saltwater tank in october when i saw an aio 20g tank with rock, sand, a protein skimmer, and heatet. While i was absorbing new information everyday, i came across this IM marine 25g tank with i knew i had to get it. I uploaded my 20g and the carib sea dry rock i had on different fb pages and had it sold by the next morning before i went to grab this tank.

 

 

Went to my LFS in Mississauga, aquariumdepot and grabbed the remaining items i needed to get this tank started.

 

Equipment:

Tank: IM marine 25g tank

Stand: DIY stand from ikea (sektion)

Live rock: 25lbs of reef saver rock

Sand: Caribsea ocean direct live sand

Wavemaker: jebao rw20

Heater: red sea 150w

Jebao auto top off

Lights: AI prime 16hd

Return pump: dont know the name got it with the tank

 

Filtration:

2 custom caddy media baskets which run

Mechanical filtration:High performance Fiber Ball for detritus 

Chemical filtration: Premium Rox 0.8 Carbon

Biological filtration: 3 marine pure blocks with 500g of sea chem matrix

 

 

Pretty nervous today lol, going to scape the tank. Got 3 big pieces of reef saver rock. Using a hammer and chisel to break these bad boys and well see where it takes us.

 

Okay so update after using about 1 tube of 2 part epoxy i pretty much gave up on the scape. No matter what i did the rocks wouldn't stay and kept falling again and again. Thinking of using super glue. After talking with a budy of mine he suggested using a super glue with an instant bond adhesive going to grab that tomorrow.

 

Fianlly got my hands on the super glue due to the covid lockdown going in canada it takes soo long to get stuff from curbside pickup. Ill let you guys know how it goes 😄.

 

After going through a bottle of super glue finally got a decent scape but ngl not happy with it but lets see. Now the challange is getting this with my tank upto my room and setting it.

 

Annnddd what i feared most actually happened, got to my room without any damage but the upper arch support broke and brought the rest of it down with it 😂. Need to get more super glue and fix it tomorrow. Might actually do something different this time. 

 

[Christopher Marks]

Wow what a cool aquascape design, very bold. Hopefully you can recreate it and get some better stability. Keep us posted!

[Kellie in CA]

Very cool looking scape!  The only problem I see is that this tank runs with a pretty low waterline.  You may have some issue placing corals up top there.  

 

I have the same tank and I love it.  Good choice!

[raiqkashif]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Wow what a cool aquascape design, very bold. Hopefully you can recreate it and get some better stability. Keep us posted!

Thanks Christopher yeah hopefully really just tried my best but wasnt satisfied lol

[raiqkashif]

8 minutes ago, Kellie in CA said:

Very cool looking scape!  The only problem I see is that this tank runs with a pretty low waterline.  You may have some issue placing corals up top there.  

 

I have the same tank and I love it.  Good choice!

Hahaha yeah that was the only problem i saw in the scape the new one actually is better from what i think. Honestly love how the tank has soo much depth only if it had a few more inches in height lol

[raiqkashif]

Got back from a 12 hour shift and just wanted to keep working on the tank 😂. Was dead set on getting the tank scaped and on its stand and finally aftet anothet scaping fail and a whole bottle of super glue its finally doneeeeeee. So happy with the scape and have more room at the top as well for some sps

[Zer0]

I definitely like the scape. Gonna look good when it's filled with coral. That's for sure!

[raiqkashif]

4 hours ago, Zer0 said:

I definitely like the scape. Gonna look good when it's filled with coral. That's for sure!

Yeah definitely, now we wait lol. Have to wait for the super glue instant adhesive to dry, gonna take like 2 days hopefully, it dries till tomorrow so i can add water and get the cycle going. Planning on using fritz zyme for a super quick start, but will definitely take my time in getting fish maybe wait a week after i start reading around the 10ppm range for nitrates.

[raiqkashif]

For all you out there using an AI prime what lighting schedule are you using, right now have it set at the AB+ schedule but idk kinda saw a better schedule somewhere cant remember the nane

[Zer0]

I actually just started cycling my tank today, using bio-spira + fritz ammonium chloride. Seems much easier and quicker than the old raw shrimp way I used to do it.

 

I'm using an AI Prime as well. I actually tried all of the signature series lighting schedules, and pretty much all of them were too blue for my liking. So I sat down and decided to fiddle with the settings myself, spent a couple hours dialing in what I wanted, but it paid off as I now have something that suits my taste. Were you maybe thinking about the pirates of the caribbean schedule? I see that one mentioned by most people.

[raiqkashif]

Update of the day:

 

The super glue actually dried up in one day no smell of the adhesive spray so glad. Took me like a couple of hours to make saltwater and fillup the tank but the cycle has started. Tanks still abit cloudy but should be okay in the next few days

[raiqkashif]

On 2/26/2021 at 12:45 PM, Kellie in CA said:

Very cool looking scape!  The only problem I see is that this tank runs with a pretty low waterline.  You may have some issue placing corals up top there.  

 

I have the same tank and I love it.  Good choice!

Hey kellie, i was wondering if you could help me, not sure it i have a high water level in my return or is this okay

[raiqkashif]

Im kinda stuck on which protein skimmer to grab a guy is selling his tunze 9001 protein skimmer but was thinking of getting the IM dc nuvo skimmer any thoughts on which i should grab?

[Kellie in CA]

On 2/27/2021 at 10:53 AM, raiqkashif said:

Hey kellie, i was wondering if you could help me, not sure it i have a high water level in my return or is this okay

I run mine so that the water level is about half an inch under the walls of the pump chamber. 

[raiqkashif]

22 minutes ago, Kellie in CA said:

I run mine so that the water level is about half an inch under the walls of the pump chamber. 

Yeah rn its not falling but found a solution, saw that a couple of people have a jbj surface skimmer using that you can basically increase the water level so im 3d printing the surface skimmer. Solving all my problems lol

[Kellie in CA]

You are trying to raise the water level INSIDE the tank, right?  

[raiqkashif]

1 hour ago, Kellie in CA said:

You are trying to raise the water level INSIDE the tank, right?  

Yeah increase the water level inside the tank but obviously have the return water level set to the right amount as well

[raiqkashif]

 

3 days into the cycle at 0 ammonia 5ppm for nitrate and 160ppm for nitrates hopefully the tank gets cycled before my clownfish order comes in lol.

[raiqkashif]

Finallllyyyyy my clownfish pair have arrived im so excited. These bad boys cost me a fortune but worth every penny. My supplier is going to keep them till end of next week and before that today im going to my LFS to grab my royal gramma, fire red shrimp, and emerald crab cant wait to be done with work lol.

[raiqkashif]

So got my royal gramma yesterday and honestly was a super hard time even after temp and drip acclimation he was just floating on the surface not moving and thought he was done for. Woke up at 4am to find him snuggled into a rock lol he loves his place so much, i tried feeding him some frozen mysis shrimp which he ate and ran back to his rock the minute after he was done lol

 

[raiqkashif]

 

All set to go to their new home 😄😍

[raiqkashif]

 

Acclimation timeeee

[raiqkashif]

Quick question for you guys i have a jabeo rw20 powerhead running on my tank at 660gph is that too much for my lagoon? Should i just sell this and get the ow50 its minimum setting is at 440gph

[raiqkashif]

Sooo havent seen my royal gramma for about 2 days now tried looking in the rocks even checked if he jumped out, which is highly unlikely have a lid on so doubt he jumped. Checked ammonia and havent seen any spikes. He's probably okay, just want to find his hiding spot lol. On another note the clowns are loving their new home started eating the very first day, their still sorting out whos going to be the female so i see nipped fins but should be resolved soon fingers crossed

[coryscritch]

Take your time man. Let your tank fully cycle before you add anything else.