euphyllinme's IM 10 reef tank

[euphyllinme]

Hi everyone! Going to start this thread to document my tank's life.

Tank: IM 10.

Pump: Mighty Jet.

Heater: Aqueon 50w.

Light: Kessil 160we.

 

Rock: About 8 pounds of Pukani rock.

Bio media: Eshopps Bio Lux ceramic bio-media.

Sand: 10 pounds of Caribsea reef sand.

Salt: Fritz RPM.

Water: Using distilled.

 

Fish: Two Ocellaris Clownfish

 

[euphyllinme]

Started 5/21/22

 

Used Bio-Spira and Brightwell Aquitics Microbacter7. The Pukani rock I got from a LFS that was in a sump and immediately bought lol. He sold it to me and it is so awesome to see in person. Well worth the buy!

[debbeach13]

Welcome to NR. Is this your first saltwater tank? There are some wonderful examples of this tank on this sight. It might be worth your time to check some of them out for ideas. You can use the search option by just typing in IM10. I have this tank and love its quality and simplicity. I hope you enjoy yours for a long time.

[euphyllinme]

This isn’t my first tank. I’ve had this tank before. Been wanting to get back into the hobby for the longest time. I had some parts left over like my light and wanted to put them to use so they don’t just sit there. Everything just seemed to fit together. Walked into one of my old LFS and they had the pro version and picked that up with some sand and salt. Went to another LFS I used to visit and found Pukani! I had a small rock maybe 2 pounds I had left over from my old tank and ended up buying what I could find which was about 11 pounds. I’m just trying not to go to crazy so fast and fill this tank with corals but this itch is hard not to scratch…..

[reef jockey]

Great start..  can't wait to see how your tank develops..  

[euphyllinme]

Some night time photos of my tank. Added a Yuma and it seems to like where it’s at when the lights are on. That’s my normal face in case y’all are wondering lol.

[euphyllinme]

Some algae starting to grow. Will need a clean up crew soon. Any ideas?

[euphyllinme]

Added 3 blue legged hermit crabs to help with the algae bloom. The tank is looking great. I haven’t tested the water. Will get to dosing Microbacter-7.  Seems the amount of Pukani and the Eshopps ceramic media is keeping things under control. I’m trying to run this tank off of just water changes and natural filtration with filter floss/filter sock.

[euphyllinme]

Seems my hermits crabs have been eating like the little crabs they are. Still some small green hair algae on rocks but they should at least take care of it soon.  It’s funny I put them in the tank after floating them in the tank for about 15 minutes and then fed the clownfish. When one of the pellets went by them, they jumped on it like they were fighting for it lol.

 

I changed my flow rate to 1.3 and feel like the flow is better. I noticed that when I blew the rocks off to make sure there wasn't any detritus and food left on the rocks the flow didn’t look good to me. Fish are able to still swim without having to exhaust themselves though.

 

Haven’t had a diatom bloom yet but the tank looks good. Very little algae on glass and everything looks healthy so far. Will do a water change tomorrow and dose Microbacter-7 for a little while longer.

 

Still thinking about what corals to put in this tank. I want maybe a gold torch and some acans. Any suggestions?

[euphyllinme]

Went to the LFS and found this gold torch.    Can’t believe it opened up so quick was about twice as big as this in store. Green hair algae is under control.

 

I did a 1.5 gallon water change yesterday. Dosing Microbacter-7 every day.  Everything looks nice and healthy so far.

[euphyllinme]

[debbeach13]

Very nice addition.

[euphyllinme]

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Very nice addition.

Thanks. Since it’s such a small tank I wanted to fill it with the best corals I could get. I ordered the APS stand but the 20 gallon version. Already I’m looking at the tank I wish I would have gone 20 gallons. Just in case I upgrade later on I can just buy the tank and don’t have to buy the stand also.

[reef jockey]

very nice addition to your tank

[euphyllinme]

Found this little star fish. Going to leave him in the tank. Now to find a name for him….

[LazyFish]

Im curently eradicating all Asterina stars in my systems myself... most reefers concider them reef safe and benificial but there are stories of them eating zoas. I wasnt too sure about that untill it happened to me. They are usualy fine but If the population explodes and they dont have enough food they will start eating zoas and other soft polyp type things. Once they start it's like they get a taste for it and wont stop even with more or other food avalable. Im curently eradicating them after experiencing this first hand.

[euphyllinme]

1 hour ago, LazyFish said:

Im curently eradicating all Asterina stars in my systems myself... most reefers concider them reef safe and benificial but there are stories of them eating zoas. I wasnt too sure about that untill it happened to me. They are usualy fine but If the population explodes and they dont have enough food they will start eating zoas and other soft polyp type things. Once they start it's like they get a taste for it and wont stop even with more or other food avalable. Im curently eradicating them after experiencing this first hand.

Thanks for the info. Just pulled it out. I’ll buy you a virtual beer if your are of age haha.

[euphyllinme]

So might need to rethink about my tank going with only biological filtration. Started to get some green hair algae on rocks and window of tanks. Bought a Emerald green crab (nature's lawn mower) and see some improvements. Did a 2 gallon water change and added 2 Chemipure Blue Nano bags in the tank.