Nart's Im25 Lagoon Build

Hey All,

So here's the thread to my new build which I am very very excited about.
Learned a lot from my first build in my simple 15G set-up, so I will be applying everything I have learned over to my new build. The tank should be up and running in about 2-3 weeks and I will post plenty of pics along the way. I have a whole wall to myself to utilize so it will definitely be reef themed.

Here is what I have purchased so far:
Tank: Innovative Marine 25 Lagoon AIO (All in one), specs: 24" x 20" x 12"
Heater: Colbalt Neo-therm 50W
Pump: Upgrading 1 of the 2 stock pumps to a Sicce 1.5 pump
Basket: InTank Fuge basket and InTank Floss holder
Stand: Building custom stand

Equipment that will move over from my 15G:
Tunze Nano ATO 3152
Current Marine Orbit LED

My plan is to keep this tank simple with no skimmer and eventually aI'm for a every 2 week water change.
Here's a pic to share for now



Just shipped out yesterday. Whoohoo!

 

They make gorgeous tanks. Is that heater going to be enough for the 25 gallon? I think it's a bit undersized there might want to check that out, especially with the amount of flow you'll have in there.

Whats the stocking plan?

TT

 

Yay! I have been waiting for this thread! Can't wait to see you word wonders!

Does this mean you get to keep your cycle since you keep your sump and live rock?

 

WombatCowboy that's exactly what I thought about the heater. But the LFS that I go to, one of the girls that always helps me told me to trust her on it or I can bring it back and they will give me a full refund... So thought I'll trust her again. They've been 2 for 2 so far lol.

And yes. Beautiful tanks! I fell in love with the lagoon when I saw it. It was either the 25 or the reefcrestdrop off 17G. I decided for the lagoon for easier maintenance.

Stocking plan... I think I'm going to keep what I have in terms of fishes and inverts for now (which are: 2 clowns, 1 skunk cleaner, yasha goby + pistol shrimp, 1 emerald, 4 Nessarius, and 2 Trochus) I'm more drawn into corals. I'm thinking of making one entire rock/island a Rock Flower Anemone Island. Not entirely sure yet. Any suggestions?

Culprit haha thanks. I will do my best with the scaping too. Yeah, my cycle will be good to go. I keep a bunch of Matrix bio-media that I will toss over as well. The only stressful part is moving everything over and getting it ready to go.

What do you guys think?
My plan was to move over 10G of water to the new tank and fill the rest up with new water.
Setup a 5G as a temporary to house all my fish, inverts, and lose coral frags so I can work on moving the stuff from the 15G over to the IM25 freely. This way I don't have to worry about stressing anything out too much?

 

My first YouTube video of the tank if y'all would like to follow long.

 

The tank has arrived!
My unboxing video. Enjoy.

 

Very cool looking tank!

 

Great looking tank.

Good thing you had your cat to "help". Haha!

 

Thanks guys! Leak testing the tank now... Fingers crossed. I really hope my stand gets done this weekend.

Fishem02 my cat man. Is so nosey. Did you get your fox yet??

 

Thanks guys! Leak testing the tank now... Fingers crossed. I really hope my stand gets done this weekend.

Fishem02 my cat man. Is so nosey. Did you get your fox yet??

Haha! I wish.. I have to wait a year or 2 for pups

 

A little Monday update...

The tank passed the leak test!
Stand should be done by the end of this weekend.
The wall that the fish tank will be in front of is nearly done too.

Youtube video to come this week.

Anyone have suggestions on rockscaping ideas?

 

For those of you who follow me on YouTube, you've probably seen my update.

But if you don't follow me on YouTube here's a new video update of my progress!

Some behind the scene pictures here for y'all...

Trying to figure out the scaping.



Vinyl cut out done! Going to grow chaeto in the back.



Every fish owner's nightmare... But was able to fix it.



Hopefully I get all my corals situated by this week and I get to reveal my new setup to you all by this coming weekend. Fingers crossed.

 

Cool! Can't wait

 

Sneak preview for what's to come hopefully by Sunday? Still trying to get all the corals situated.

 

The tank unveiling is here!

Enjoy all.

 

Looks amazing!!
You should get a small watchman goby

 

Looks amazing!!
You should get a small watchman goby

So the story that was left untold... I had a paired up pistol and yasha goby that was love at first sight when they met each other in the 15G. Because I added the HOB refuge I didn't bother to make a new screen top, with the thought that it's just a 1" gap in the back and I'll soon move everyone to the new tank.

Well I didn't see the yasha goby for 4 days. Typically all the fishes know when I turn off the pumps they know it's feeding time. The yasha goby didn't come out I looked all over for him and discovered his jerky body in the back of the tank.

Ugh it was so sad. I wasn't going to get another pistol goby just because I didn't want to run this rimless tank with a mesh lid. The wife says "but now the pistol shrimp is probably thinking 'did my yasha buddy leave me for good? Whose going to protect me now?"

Broke my heart lol. So I'm going to suck it up and put some lid clips and make a mesh lid for this tank just to get another pistol goby so the pistol shrimp has a buddy again.

But yeah, I was really considering the yellow watchman goby for my candy cane pistol shrimp. And maybeeeeeee a wrasse? But seeing how the two clowns are now. They are complete butt heads in terms of territorial aggression. They even tried pecking at this new power head I put inside the tank for the entire day lol.

 

The nice thing with a watchman goby is they are very substrate happy so unlikely to upset the clowns, I have found mine never meet, the goby always seems to go back into burrow instead of bothering to introduce himself.

 

Yeah - my clowns never bothered my Yasha goby much.

 

Got some gel filters for the cellphone lens to try out, it really blocks out the intense blue LEDs to let more of the coral colors come through. Also picked some new fishes, I'll be uploading a video on that.

 

The fluorescing that some corals do under the blue/black lights is one of the reasons I got hooked on corals. Looks so awesome at night before the lights go completely out.
Nice pic!

 

The Lagoon update!

 

Got some gel filters for the cellphone lens to try out, it really blocks out the intense blue LEDs to let more of the coral colors come through. Also picked some new fishes, I'll be uploading a video on that.
View attachment 288759

What kind of gels and where did you get them?

 

I got them from eBay. Just look up lens gel filter and you'll find all sorts

 

Found a couple. Got a larger set so I can hopefully use it with my DSLR. Thanks!

 

Well, it's been a few since I've updated my tank... will get a video update soon.

Just wanted to share with you all the newest member to the tank.



Spotted Mandarin
Been waiting for this little guy to make it through QT from my LFS and it's already trained to eat frozen food and pellets.

 

WOW! That's amazing!!! Aren't mandarins super hard to keep?

 

Never seen this thread, you got some goood coral, got a £10 frag with some mad zoa head on it yesterday couldn't believe my luck it was just a big clump suck to rock and a clam, got it home and fragged the lot right down I'm started to make another garden but kept a few separate to sell on

 

Never seen this thread, you got some goood coral, got a £10 frag with some mad zoa head on it yesterday couldn't believe my luck it was just a big clump suck to rock and a clam, got it home and fragged the lot right down I'm started to make another garden but kept a few separate to sell on View attachment 321751 View attachment 321752

Too funny. I've got some very similar. Also stuck to rock and clam of some sort! Lol

 

Here's the girl finally exploring other parts of the tank


Culprit Yeah, they can be very finicky eaters. Only reason why I got this one is because it accepts frozen food and is a more aggressive eater. However, I will still need to stock the tank with copepods.

 

She sure is beautiful!

 

Isn't she? I don't even know if it's a she or he. I just call it a she.
So many extra steps to do now to keep this little booger... She looks borderline healthy, so I will need to start plumping her up.
I am going to devise a way to farm raise copepods to help with in between my frozen feedings.

I am crossing my fingers that my Nitrates/Phosphates don't go through the roof lol. I might get some caulerpa macro algae to help with lowering those numbers if it gets out of hand.

Update on my equipment list since it's evolved quite a bit.

Heater: Colbalt Neo-therm 50W --> Switched to the Colbalt Neo-therm 100W version
-The 50W could not heat the display portion quick enough. Though, in a regular set-up, a 50W would work just fine in a 25G.

Pump: Sicce Micra Plus
-Added in Jebao SW-2 powerhead for additional flow @ the lowest setting W1

ATO: Tunze Nano --> Switched to Smart Micro ATO
-Tunze Nano failed nearly flooding my tank.

Lighting: Current Marine Orbit LED 24-36" --> Switched to AI Prime HD
-Functionality wise, both works fine. I just like the app controllability on the AI's more as well as the sleek look.

Current Water Parameters at the end of the week (I do a water change every 7 days):
Nitrates = 2PPM
Phos = 0.02 PPM
PH = 8.3
Alk = 12.1
Calcium = 480
Magnesium = 1410
Salinity = 1.026
Water temp = 80 F

My Alk and Calcium is a little higher than where I wanted. This is due to me adding a little too much Kalk to the ATO. Letting the parameters drop back down before I put back in the diluted Kalk solution back in.

Feeding schedule:
Frozen Mysis and Flakes on alternating days.
Kent's Coral Accel twice a week
Reed Roids twice a week

All the corals has grown quite a bit, particularly my Acan, blastos, favites, GSPs, and xenias.
Prior to dosing the fatty aminos and reef roids, my corals looked o-kay, and not much growth with the xenias. Since I started the twice a week regiment, there's been crazy growth with my xenias and my red Acan/blastos gets really plumpy. I will post a update soon! Just haven't had time to mess with the lens filter and proper lighting to get a good pic without the blue hue.

 

$$$$ nice parts man love them aI prime, your tank looks amazing under it.

 

How do you get such accurate testing? What test kit do you use?

 

Here's the girl finally exploring other parts of the tank View attachment 321922

Culprit Yeah, they can be very finicky eaters. Only reason why I got this one is because it accepts frozen food and is a more aggressive eater. However, I will still need to stock the tank with copepods.

Beautiful fish!!! I'd love to have one some day but I don't think my tank is as stable as I'd like for one yet.

How do you get such accurate testing? What test kit do you use?

Most likely the Hanna tester. I use the Hanna ULR Phosphorus kit and convert the numbers.

I use GFO to keep my phosphates super low like that but my nitrates tend to climb much higher than I'd like. I've got chaeto in the sump on an alternating light schedule but it doesn't seem to be thriving at all. I also use Filter Socks changed every 3-7 days and a Skimmer. I've also greatly cut back on feeding. Not sure what else to do to get my nitrates down under 5 other than water changes every few days. Right now I change once per week.

 

grantm91 $$$$ indeed. I did catch the light and mount on sale, so I pretty much got the mount for free.

Culprit I use Salifert and Red Sea for some of my tests.

LJC6780 thanks man! I am learning first hand that they are finicky eaters. Completely ignored the garlic soaked mysis shrimp I tossed in front of it. I'm already setting up a copepod cultivation as we speak lol. Also, I wish I could dish out the $$ for Hannah's digital checkers.
I think 5PPM Nitrates is fine. Especially if you arnt keeping the harder SPS corals.

 

grantm91 $$$$ indeed. I did catch the light and mount on sale, so I pretty much got the mount for free.

Culprit I use Salifert and Red Sea for some of my tests.

LJC6780 thanks man! I am learning first hand that they are finicky eaters. Completely ignored the garlic soaked mysis shrimp I tossed in front of it. I'm already setting up a copepod cultivation as we speak lol. Also, I wish I could dish out the $$ for Hannah's digital checkers.
I think 5PPM Nitrates is fine. Especially if you arnt keeping the harder SPS corals.

Well I've got all types of corals, mostly LPS though. But I'd say my nitrate started around 5 but has just gone up every week. I think it was upwards of 20 last week. Need to change water today but it may have to wait til tomorrow. My clown is showing some distress as of yesterday too so there is definitely something going on.

 

I only have softys and some LPS I enjoy them enough and I don't have to monitor my tank or dose anything, plus I haven't had an urge or a pull toward any sps. Maybe in the future il see something I really want.

 

I love those beautiful little fish. I tried to keep a mandI many years ago and unfortunately didn't have a clue, poor thing. Hope I can can try again someday but for now, it's great to see such a beauty in your tank! How's she doing today? Having any more luck with the feedings?

 

LJC6780 Oh wow... a jump from 5PPM to 20PPM is significant. Is that usually the norm?

grantm91 yeah... that's the best part about keeping softies and the less demanding LPS corals. It's pretty much auto-pilot. Like we've said before, it's how hard you want to make your tank. I currently have one of the easier keeping SPS corals, Tubbs Stella, it does just o-kay. Kind of challenging currently to find a happy median

stella1979 I remember you telling me about your mandarin in your thread.

My mandarin, she's not doing so hot. Continues to refuse frozen food of all sorts. It's a lot of work, compared to my old routine of feeding my fishes. I saw it eat frozen Mysis at the store, I even bought the same Mysis just to make sure... but nope. Falls right in front of her face and she ignores it. It is stressing me out a bit because I pride myself in keeping everything in my tank healthy. Ticks me off. Sorry, I digress.
Currently, I am pulling balls of chaeto from my back sump to the display that has plenty of pods in it, but she's depleting it like me inhaling a big mac in 5 seconds. I can see her horizontal line, so I know she's not getting enough food. I am still going to try and feed her Mysis twice a day to see if she will eventually take it after getting used to the new environment.
I already have the copepod culture tanks set-up so I can start sourcing tons of pods myself. I am just waiting for the 10,000 copepod shipment to arrive this week.
Fingers crossed.

If this Mandarin does not work out in my tank, I do have a Plan B, my LFS will take it back, so yeah..