Nart's Im25 Lagoon Build

it would actually look good as a centrepiece with an arch at the back and rocks on the side,

Boom!

Perfect!

 

I can't get used to this frag rack lol. It ain't going to grow on me. I'm going to axe this out this weekend. I'm supposed to get the RBTA tomorrow if she can get it loose without damaging the foot.

 

Why not move the rocks forward and hide the rack behind it. At least until coral starts growing over the rack

 

That's s great idea Anarchy. My wife mentioned that too. I might try to stick it on the back right side. I'll play around with it

I might try using small eggcrates in the back instead. Idk. I'll keep playing around. It's irking me lol.

In other news... check out what my LFS has in stock!


Fritz RPM salt is good stuff. At 35ppt it'll have calcium at 400-450, mag 1350-1450, and best of all dkh of 8-9. A lot of my local reefers highly recommend it so I think I'm going make a switch. It's a 55lbs box, makes 200 gallon, it's going to last me two years or so lol.
The only thing I don't like is the high dkh value RSCP mixes at. I easily get 12+ dkh at 35ppt and my tank runs at around 11 dkh, so I'm going to try and slowly bring that down.

 

Is that the stuff george had and it dissolves off of shaking it lol.

 

Oh no... did you guys hear that WWC is celebrating their 10th bday this weekend?

 

Mine actually looks like a rose with green tips, I find it only really has the "bubbles" when I mess with it they seem to go when its been in place for a while a steal at £20 I didn't hesitate I went and collected ASAP, the sting off of the condy was just off one tentacle, I had it by the foot and a stray tentacle brushed my finger and stuck to it. View attachment 337385 really sharp pain then numb, I avoid those tentacles now lol. The condy nems go for around £15 over here whilst the BTA starting price is £60 in the lfs. View attachment 337386 a clearer look at the BTA for you guys.

Lol we keep talking in our respective currencies and I'm having a hard time converting! Lol

 

Lol we keep talking in our respective currencies and I'm having a hard time converting! Lol

I draw the line at referring to my tanks in gallons rather than litres how it should be lol, I'm not converting money too hahaha.

 

Gaaahhh.....! Too.... much... eye candy!!! Feeling super jealous today! Rasta and mandarin zoas??? I want! Personally, I would go with the hammer but that's just 'cause I want one bad and I'm still a little scared of nems. Keep us posted NART

Edit: Feeling bad for only saying how jealous I am.... Also want to say, good job team! I'm super happy for you guys.

I agree here. Rasta zoas are quite pricey from what I've seen ... don't know about mandarin. Hammers are pretty cool and easy to care for. I LOVE mine. If I was shipping corals I'd send you a frogspawn frag. Really similar to hammers but for me the colors are just opposite.

Nems scare me too. I have a RFA and it has moved a couple times but is currently under a rock ledge. I wish it would come out where I can see it but it always scares me when it isn't in its spot because I'm scared of what it may have killed in its path. But that's sort of the same with my Yumas! I have a rather large one in a cup in the corner and the other day the cup turned over and the yuma escaped! I found it up under a rock but just knew I'd find it upside down on a coral ... they don't move once attached though. Unless you are moving the rock then they creep a bit.

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....................... View attachment 337536

I'm not digging it. What do you guys think? Need your honest opinion.

I think for a frag rack it looks cool ... doesn't necessarily add to the tank in my opinion. But it serves a purpose! I have racks stuck to the upper sides of my tank. I see them but they aren't "on display" in the main viewing area ...

It's all about what you want/need ...

 

If I was shipping corals I'd send you a frogspawn frag. Really similar to hammers but for me the colors are just opposite.

Mighty nice of you to say LJC6780 I love the look of frogspawn too, hoping I can get one and a hammer sometime in the not too distant future.

 

I might try using small eggcrates in the back instead. Idk. I'll keep playing around. It's irking me lol.

In other news... check out what my LFS has in stock!
View attachment 337754
Fritz RPM salt is good stuff. At 35ppt it'll have calcium at 400-450, mag 1350-1450, and best of all dkh of 8-9. A lot of my local reefers highly recommend it so I think I'm going make a switch. It's a 55lbs box, makes 200 gallon, it's going to last me two years or so lol.
The only thing I don't like is the high dkh value RSCP mixes at. I easily get 12+ dkh at 35ppt and my tank runs at around 11 dkh, so I'm going to try and slowly bring that down.

I use Fritz but my box looks different ... I'll have to see what it is that I have.

I draw the line at referring to my tanks in gallons rather than litres how it should be lol, I'm not converting money too hahaha.

Well if America had just gotten with the program (like the rest of the world) I wouldn't have to convert anything! Lol

 

I've been thinking about switching salts. Might go to fritz or probably aquaforest probiotic

 

Time for some early morning work on the tank. It's bugging me so much I'm losing sleep for it. #seriousbusiness here

 

Good luck may neptune smile down.

 

Time for some early morning work on the tank. It's bugging me so much I'm losing sleep for it. #seriousbusiness here

Haha! Get to it!

 

Hope tank work is going well! Can't wait to see what's next.

 

Seriously. My hands have been in the tank all day. I decided to add to my current rockscaping and moved corals around till I liked it. I'm giving myself a break for today. My arms are tired from being in the same position for hours...

On another note. This happened. My haul from my LFS and traded my brain Favite to a local reefer



Picked up a six line wrasse and RFA from my LFS. Hopefully the sixline will make it this time. Got zoas, hammers, and frogspawns from the local reefer. He threw in a SPS birds nest as well. So asides from the rastas and Mandarin zoas, he had some huge utter chaos zoas I couldn't pass up... so I bought those. I'll get some good pics once everything opens up. Right now the tank is clearing up from a chemical warfare lol.

Oh if y'all were wondering about the RBTA. The girl couldn't safely remove it from her rock.. so.. I thought it wasn't meant to be so I moved on to another trade instead.

 

Wow what a haul, can't wait to see the hammers and zoas ! That's actually a good deal as apposed to that nem, id be happy anyway you just got an explosion of colours.

 

Yay!!! Can't wait to see it all...

 

LFS running a special on the Fritz salt for $60! There's 4 x 13.75lb bags in it lol. This is enough to make 200 gallons worth. Whereas RSCP runs for $35 a bucket enough to make 55 gallons. Talking about savings over time... if y'all were here... we could've bought two boxes for $55 each!

Tank is looking better. I'll be waking up early to do the water change before any of the corals wake up so I don't anger them anymore lol. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good pics tmrw, maybe I'll do a video update too if time allows.

 

I usually pay $58-60 a box. I'll look at mine when I get home. I bet it's a different mix. It's a white box I think. I like the small bags too because tank less to get stuck together if moisture gets in.

 

Made an appearance in InappropriateReefer's video @ 3:00 min he filmed the local fragfest meet

 

Wow that's the place to be man, nothing like that here, you get any free frags?? And the price of them fish is like a quarter of what they cost here... I might turn my house in to a club lol.

 

So I just made my first batch of salt mix with Fritz... at 1.026 SG I can't even test for calcium or magnesium. Calcium is 500+ and Magnesium is 1600+ holy smokes. This water change is going to take forever. I'm making a second batch at 1.024 to see if I can get a lower calcium or magnesium reading

Here are some pics after the water change.

Front tank shot



Made a Xenia mound in front



The new hammer.



New frogspawn



Mandarin zoas



Utter chaos. Love the look of this



The new RFA on the top right



The new six line. Hard to get a pic of him. The birds nest frag in the pic too



I still haven't decided in what I am going to do with some of the frags on the frag plugs, still re-arranging them.

 

Beautiful six you got! The hammer and frogspawn look good sized too! Nice scores.

 

How did I miss this all afternoon??????? OMG, it looks great NART ! I love everything!!! Especially the euphyllia pieces.... Wow, just wow. The six-line is beautiful. How long have you had the birdsnest again and how has it done for you? I've seen frags of it going to $5 today and it's hard to say no.

 

stella1979 thank you. It looks a lot better than the frag rack plopped right in there haha. I'm going to finally admit... I've run out of room for anymore corals. So I'm probably done with getting anymore unless they are zoas for trade or rare species that I can also grow and trade.

The six line is really cool. Love it's swim pattern. Always out and about cruising the entire tank looking for food. Kind of reminds me of how the MandI cruised around the tank.

I just got the birdsnest frag in the trade over the weekend, the guy just gave it to me. So I have no idea of how it'll do. I've heard the same about birdsnest either growing like mad or not doing well, but for $5 why not try it? I didn't acclimate it asides from just floating the bag, I threw it right in the tank and the frag was fully opened already. I even accidentally dropped it on my RFA while mounting, it got hurt a little but still opened lol.

I have the tubbs stella SPS piece and that one is doing really well and easy to care for.

What all did you get during the anniversary sale??

 

Still only getting intermittent notifications for this thread... which is aggravating because it's definitely a favorite. Anyway, thanks for clarifying. I was forgetting the tubbs stella and thinking that you'd had the birdsnest a little while. I wish I had gone for a birdsnest of my own... I was scared of it.

Shouldn't have been because I've got a spot where I would love to put one! In the beginning I was trying to avoid SPS, but the $5 frags kept being SPS. Then I started feeling anxious because I might have missed a chance at $5 frags. Oh well, you live and learn.. I think I'll be a more savvy shopper next time.

I got 8 frags...

Festivus Favites
Blue Sympodium Polyps
Lunar Eclipse Zoas ($5!!!)
Kryptonite Candy Cane
Necromancer Favia
Rasta Zoas
Jason Fox Special Porites (SPS! Oh no! But... $5!!!)
LA Lakers Scroll (SPS again!)

I'm dying to share the pics I got from WWC, but haven't because they are not my own. I'm not trying to brag... just too excited! I think I'll send them anyway. Thank you, thank you, thank you once again for sharing your experience... I am too nervous about SPS frags. I am so happy to share your experience.

 

I still have an itch to get a RBTA for my tank... ahh I shouldve gone with the IM 30 gallon

 

Its not a good idea I thought on it for you after we spoke, the growth rate is alarming, mine is bigger than my Condy now and I've not even had it 2 months I don't know if its just mine or if its just the way they are but looking at your tank as it stands I think its great without a BTA the BTA works for me as I don't have the nice corals I mainly filled it out with palys which I can just throw and grow more if I want or need to, my zoaz too il just move them and my 1 torch and 1 Duncan lol I'm not saying don't but the im25 is cool I like the extravagant corals man especially now you got a hammer, you need a new video !

 

RBTA's beautiful and scary

A video??? Yes, please! I'm looking forward to seeing that too.

my zoaz too il just move them and my 1 torch and 1 Duncan

Did none of these come on plugs? I really want to get my zoas and Duncan off the plugs on of these days. I'm worried about separating the colony when I go for it with the zoas, (which will not be any time soon.)

 

So I was looking at my tank today when I saw the porcelain crab started acting funny. And boom, it threw off it Molt in a 1/2 second. Wow. I didn't know they Molt that fast?

Porcelain crab on the rock and the molt on the sand...



Next thing you know... my biggest nessarius snail comes out of the sand and started eating the molt.



During feeding I usually mix the Rod's food that I have chopped up along with the mysis shrimps. Occasionally I'll have some big pieces of shrimp from the Rod's food, so I tried feeding it to my dendro. Holy smokes. It as able to eat about a little less than 1/2 inch shrimp. Surprised...

Yeah, BTA is probably a very bad idea in my tank lol. I might like playing with fire... we shall see! I haven't done a good video update in so long... usually when I want to do one something doesn't go right, like with the water change over the weekend. Then my newbie editing skills take me foreverrrr. I should invite inappropriate reefer to come film my tank for me one of these days... if he's up for it lol. Maybe when I'm my tank gets situated. I've been messing with it way too much lately. I will get a video up this month though!

Oh btw, I contacted Fritz about the high magnesium and calcium issue... their response:




Awesome customer service. I am really curious for the cause of these high values.

 

Did none of these come on plugs? I really want to get my zoas and Duncan off the plugs on of these days. I'm worried about separating the colony when I go for it with the zoas, (which will not be any time soon.)

Some body put them on the plug with glue, I never had a plug I always got small rocks which is tricky because they are never flat, if I had a plug id try a razor blade as the plug is flat. On the rocks I use sharp tweezers to work through the contours it takes a while but just don't rush you can take your time have just them in a tub. I ripped a nice zoa in two yesterday because I thought I was so used to it, just really be patient the glue is good lol.

 

Wow NART that'll be really interesting to see what Fritz says about the change in parameters. They're gonna do testing and let you know what they find, right? Sounds like they're doing what they can to find out if something is wrong with a batch of salt and that's great.

Your recent post also just made me aware of Rods foods! Is that usually only for your fish? That's incredible that the dendro can handle the size. Do you feed the dendro once a day?

I appreciate you wanting everything just right for a video, but I gotta say, you keep us in suspense! We're your friends here... Maybe you should create an alter ego channel so you can share quicky videos with us without ruining your good name, lol.

 

Yeah it sounds like they are going to do that stella1979 maybe it's my newbie test skills lol. We shall see.

I use rods food for everything in the tank. There's some big pieces in it so it works perfectly for some of my corals that's gotten bigger now. I especially like the scallops in it, well, it's a neat variety of food. I don't feed rods everyday though, mysis is the staple and I'll rotate in rods about 2-3 times a week.

Yeah, the dendro gets fed once a day at least. If I feed it LPS pellets, it'll get fed twice a day.

Haha. Y'all are crazy, my videos are subpar at most but I'm glad you enjoy them! I actually made the Mandarin video on the quick just for y'all. I wonder if the GoPro films better? My wife also has a nice cannon camera too. I just don't utilize those because it's easier for me to just do all the editing on my phone. I promise y'all I will get a video out before I go to MACNA

I'm still debating if I should film at MACNA. Everyone will have "video coverages/re-cap" of the event that it'll just make mine seem repetitive. Maybe I'll try for a unique video of me at MACNA.

 

Personally, I would love to see your view of MACNA. Yeah, I'm gonna watch the vids from the big names too, but for me it's something special to see things from the viewpoint of a hobbyist like yourself. I don't exactly know how to put it, I consider you to be an experienced Saltwater guy... but you don't. So, it makes your experiences feel a little closer to home for me, ya know? Anyway... don't do it for us, but don't feel like you shouldn't record your thoughts and experience either. You might love to have that video when you're old, lol.

 

So I just made my first batch of salt mix with Fritz... at 1.026 SG I can't even test for calcium or magnesium. Calcium is 500+ and Magnesium is 1600+ holy smokes. This water change is going to take forever. I'm making a second batch at 1.024 to see if I can get a lower calcium or magnesium reading

Why not just add some RODI and dilute it to 1.024?

Here are some pics after the water change.

Front tank shot
View attachment 338490

Made a Xenia mound in front
View attachment 338492

The new hammer.
View attachment 338493

New frogspawn
View attachment 338494

Mandarin zoas
View attachment 338496

Utter chaos. Love the look of this
View attachment 338497

The new RFA on the top right
View attachment 338498

The new six line. Hard to get a pic of him. The birds nest frag in the pic too
View attachment 338499

I still haven't decided in what I am going to do with some of the frags on the frag plugs, still re-arranging them.

Looks great! Like the frag rack on the side better ...

Still only getting intermittent notifications for this thread... which is aggravating because it's definitely a favorite. Anyway, thanks for clarifying. I was forgetting the tubbs stella and thinking that you'd had the birdsnest a little while. I wish I had gone for a birdsnest of my own... I was scared of it.

Shouldn't have been because I've got a spot where I would love to put one! In the beginning I was trying to avoid SPS, but the $5 frags kept being SPS. Then I started feeling anxious because I might have missed a chance at $5 frags. Oh well, you live and learn.. I think I'll be a more savvy shopper next time.

I got 8 frags...

Festivus Favites
Blue Sympodium Polyps
Lunar Eclipse Zoas ($5!!!)
Kryptonite Candy Cane
Necromancer Favia
Rasta Zoas
Jason Fox Special Porites (SPS! Oh no! But... $5!!!)
LA Lakers Scroll (SPS again!)

I'm dying to share the pics I got from WWC, but haven't because they are not my own. I'm not trying to brag... just too excited! I think I'll send them anyway. Thank you, thank you, thank you once again for sharing your experience... I am too nervous about SPS frags. I am so happy to share your experience.

I use Tapatalk and just look at my subscribed threads and it shows all threads I'm currently a part of and I just go down through them.

Did none of these come on plugs? I really want to get my zoas and Duncan off the plugs on of these days. I'm worried about separating the colony when I go for it with the zoas, (which will not be any time soon.)

Just mount the zoas and they will cover the plug before too long. The Duncan can probably be popped off at the base fairly easily.

Some body put them on the plug with glue, I never had a plug I always got small rocks which is tricky because they are never flat, if I had a plug id try a razor blade as the plug is flat. On the rocks I use sharp tweezers to work through the contours it takes a while but just don't rush you can take your time have just them in a tub. I ripped a nice zoa in two yesterday because I thought I was so used to it, just really be patient the glue is good lol.

Why do you remove zoas from the plug/rock they are mounted on? Just mount it on your rocks and they will cover it before too long.

 

I use Tapatalk and just look at my subscribed threads and it shows all threads I'm currently a part of and I just go down through them.



Just mount the zoas and they will cover the plug before too long. The Duncan can probably be popped off at the base fairly easily.



Why do you remove zoas from the plug/rock they are mounted on? Just mount it on your rocks and they will cover it before too long.

Il get a pic next time I get a frag, because the ones I usually buy are messy and usually all clumped together from the £5 or £10 frag tank. Then there's for scaping; for example I can't balance rocks on the bridge where the flow is high, next if I ever got a plug I just wouldn't want a plug in my tank lol, if I got a neat frag that had the perfect spot to sit id keep it as is I'm just fussy too I guess.

 

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
View attachment 282454

Just shipped out yesterday. Whoohoo!

what light

 

Dang NART , you gave me a reason to make you jealous...

Stella, check out these RFA's from VIPReefs... crazy good deals 5 RFA's for $100


I think once I'm able to get rid of my small Freshwater tank, I'm going to turn it into an easy low maintenance RFA tank only and buy the 10 RFA Collector's pack

Did you see that VIP is in Miami?

Edit: OK, so now I feel like a dummy. As it turns out, I didn't recognize the name at first. After looking closer at VIP Reef's site I remembered... several weeks ago we just jumped in the car and used google maps to take us to as many LFS's we could get to in a day. We were looking for VIP Reef! We got to this large, 2 story strip mall like place.. lots of small retailers but google wasn't giving us a unit number and we didn't see a sign. So, we left and didn't think about them again. LFS's come and go unfortunately. Thanks for putting these guys back on my radar.

 

@LJC7680 yeah - I'm liking the side frag rack a lot better. Though the PAR lighting does not seem very high on sides, so I can't keep any medium to high light frags there....

Reef13G YT Not sure if you are being serious, but I listed my lights within your quote. Current Marine Orbit LEDs. Upgraded to AI Prime HD's

stella1979 I KNOW STELLA! Didn't I tell you when you first started.... that you are so lucky to have all these nice LFS's in Florida...

 

@LJC7680 yeah - I'm liking the side frag rack a lot better. Though the PAR lighting does not seem very high on sides, so I can't keep any medium to high light frags there....


stella1979 I KNOW STELLA! Didn't I tell you when you first started.... that you are so lucky to have all these nice LFS's in Florida...

Yeah, we have 2 that are close and 1 I refuse to do business with again after he gave me $6 credit for roughly 140 platies and guppies stating that most were feeders ... that's complete BS and he's been a jerk to me every time I've gone in his store. Sucks because it's the one in town. The other one is always happy to have me browse or answer questions and give me fair credit for livestock ... they are stand up!