Home Office IM Abyss Drop Off Panorama

[Crabgrass]

Background
After wanting to do this for years and a lot of research, I pulled the trigger on building my first salwater tank.  Due to space and other factors I decided to start small, and found used IM Abyss Drop Off Panorma on Craigslist, which also included AI Prime 16 HD, 2 Powerheads, skimmer and a  Pump for $275 + some accessories.  I pulled the trigger and then started filling in other components.

 

Months ago, my plan was to build a basic budget tank.  After more research and also thinking about my own work and life requirements, that goal shifted to building some automation/redundancy built into it + simple and clean.  I haven't decided on any livestock yet, but initial thoughts for the next 6-9 months are:

• 2 Fish (2 clowns or a clown and a Wrasse)
• 10 CUC (8 Snails, 2 hermits)
• 15-ish Soft & LPS Coral (maybe a couple SPS later on) 

 

Depending on how I do with that, maybe add more corals over time.  This is my first go at a salt tank, so please provide any suggestions / comments.  If I am doing something dumb, please let me know.

 

Equipment

⦁    Tank - IM Nuvo Concept Abyss Drop Off Panorama (20 gal) - Used
⦁    Light - AI Prime 16 HD - Used
⦁    Light Mount - AI HMS Single Arm
⦁    Heaters - 2x ENHEIM Jager 75W (for redundancy)
⦁    Heater Controller - Inkbird Wifi ITC 308 (1 heater connected to it)
⦁    Skimmer - IM NUVOSkim DC Desktop - Used
⦁    Pumps - Sicce Micra Plus 158 gph (1 for each return nozzle and redundancy 316 gph total) -- tank came with Sicce 1.5 (will be used as a backup)
⦁    Wavemakers - 2 x Aqamai KPS WiFi Pumps - Used
⦁    UV - IM Desktop UV
⦁    Doser - 1 Kamoer X1 Bluetooth, 1 Kamoer X1 Pro Wifi
⦁    Floss Holder - IM Buddy Media Container
⦁    Rock - Carib Sea South Sea Base Rock + Other LFS Dry Rock - 25-27 /lbs.
⦁    ATO - AutoAqua Smart ATO w/AutoAqua smart sensor (2 gallon fishtank in stand)
⦁    Innovative Marine ChaetoMax Refugium LED Light
⦁    inTank Fuge Basket for Innovative Marine Fusion (had to make modifications to make it fit)
⦁    Salt - Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef Salt
⦁    Power - 2x TP Link Kasa WiFi Power Strips
⦁    Cable raceways (for wire management)

 

Cycle Starters

• Dr Tims Ammonia / One and Only (kick-started earlier in the month)
• Red Sea Mature
• Added small piece of live rock from LFS (for additional bac + Corralie algaea)

 

Test Kits

• API Marine Test Kit (found difficult to use and Ammonia test showing up many false positives - maybe due to Prime or other cycling chemicals)
• Seachem Ammonia Badge
• Hanna ALK
• Salifert Nitrate
• Imagitarium test trips (to crosscheck other tests)

 

Stocking

• 5 Florida Cerith (ordered)
• 5 Trochus Snails  (ordered)
• 2 Scarlet Hermits  (ordered)
• 1 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp  (ordered)

 

Dosing Schedule

• TBD (Plan on running NOPOX + TM All 4 Reef)

 

Initial Setup Shots

 

 

[Crabgrass]

The original plan was to have about 15-17lbs of rock + 20lbs of live sand.  I outsourced the rock aquascaping to my wife, and we both agreed we like the idea of just a glass bottom.  It might be lower maintenance for us down the road too.  So I ran out to get another 7-8 lbs of dry dry from LFS store and finished it off (25-27 lbs total)

 

Water (Distilled) and salt added last night.  Total volume of water added was about 13.5-13.75 Gallons.  I added a little bit of Prime in the event there was some carry over tap water from rinsing off equipment.

 

I am going to give it 24 - 48 hours for everything to run, get the temperature up and then test and dial in salinity levels before the cycle officially starts.

 

I added about 125ml of Seachem Matrix (half of the container), into a couple of bags and put it in my media basket for now (this may be too much in hindsight due to the actual water volume).  I will probably pull half of it out before the cycle starts.  Running foss on top of the media basket and a filter sock on the other side for now (just to catch dust and other junk over the first day or two).

 

Suggestions on cycling?  I have some Dr. Tims Ammonia Chloride on hand.  I am also debating trying Red Sea Mature kit instead.

[debbeach13]

Welcome to NR. That is a really sweet set up and great job on the aquascape. 

[less than bread]

Awesome set up. I have the IM 20 drop off peninsula so it's cool to see another similar tank

[Crabgrass]

Updates:

 

Kick started the cycle earlier this month with some Dr. Tims, and then transitioned to Red Sea Mature program once I received my skimmer replacement parts (4/16).  Following Red Sea Mature program by the book:

• Added small piece of liverock from LFS store
• Kept 125m of Seachem Matrix in my media container (since I am running a barebottom tank)
• Running lights 10 hours a day, Skimmer on 24/7
• Dosing NOPOX daily
• Dosing BactoStart, nitroBac and Coralline Gro per program schedule

 

Currently at Day 9 of the program, and completed first 5% water change.  Levels looking like:

• Temp - 79.5
• Salinity - 1.025
• Ammonia/Nitrite - 0
• Nitrate - 40
• PH - 8.5
• Alk - 9.7 (should be targeting 8.5 - I overdosed Coralline Gro earlier in the program - bad or misread test.  Have since switched to Hanna tester)

 

No Ugly phase yet - although there is a surface film developing that I assume is a byproduct of NOPOX.

 

Per the program, I am supposed to add CUC tomorrow (Day 10) - although my Nitrates are a little higher than they should be (per program).  I ordered CUC and Chaeto, and will arrive on Tuesday (a few days behind where the Red Sea program has it at). It consists of:

• 5 Florida Cerith
• 5 Trochus Snails
• 2 Scarlet Hermits
• 1 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp

Depending of the level of algae in tank on Tuesday, I may drop in some algae pellets for CUC for a few days until I add some other livestock.

Assuming cycle continues to proceed OK, I will be adding a Tailspot Blenny next Sunday (a week from now).

[Zer0]

Following along, it all looks great so far!