IM Fusion 25 Lagoon

[fizzlefish]

Well I recently had to downgrade my tank size to make it a bit easier for me to manage. This is a very nice looking tank. I am very pleased with the quality. Still selling my old equipment before I buy any more goodies.

Setup

Tank - IM 25 Lagoon
Lighting - Kessil a360w
Skimmer - Unknown yet maybe tunze 9001
Reactors - 2lf Carbon and IM nano Bio pellet planned.
Filters - stock filter socks
Return pump - ordered 2 ehiem 600s
Heater - Current is 150w ehiem but replacing with something that fits in back
Controller - Standard APEX
ATO - Tunze Osmolator
Power head - None. Unsure if needed yet.

 

[fizzlefish]

Pulled the trigger on a Reef Octopus NS80. I've been using Reef Octopus for a long time now and have had no issues. Reviews show this as a good skimmer minus the instructions but that doesn't bother me.

 

[rekab]

Thinking of hanging it on back or modding the return section to fit inside?

 

[fizzlefish]

Thinking of hanging it on back or modding the return section to fit inside?

I haven't decided yet. I think i may mod it to fit in the sump area since i plan to have my reactor hanging on the back.

 

[fizzlefish]

Changed up the aqua scape and removed some rock. I also built 2 media racks for the over flows. After spending 2 hours getting them perfect I decided not to use them in favor of the filter socks. A lot of food goes down these overflows. Much more than my last tank. As long as i stay vigilint with cleaning the socks i should be good. Since I do not have my reactor setup yet I built a rack for my Carbon to sit on in the second chamber. My NS80 skimmer I ordered next day priority many days ago is still not here. I just received a notification saying it was delayed. Teach me to splurge on faster shipping. Apex is fully up and running now. Tank is currently going through a mini cycle due to the move but frequent water changes have been helping with that. Trying to decide if I want a extra power head or not.

To do -
Smaller heater
Install skimmer
Second pump for return
Install reactor
Move probes to better location
Building cover for back chambers

Problems -
Finding snails on floor(all still alive)
ATO issues(I believe i have resolved these by turning flow on osmolator down)

 

[Nick92515]

Tank looks great, love shallow tanks!

 

[fizzlefish]

Skimmer finally came in.

http://imgur.com/a/Hq3tJ

After figuring out how to put it together. I installed it in the second chamber and without the mounting bracket it fits perfectly. The quality seems pretty good for the price. Only time will tell. Will report back with a review.
Now to let it break in. I may mod the crap out of this thing though. I have extra skimmer parts sitting around.

 

[fizzlefish]

Uploaded images. Some reason was having issues.

 

[zchauvin]

Skimmer finally came in.

http://imgur.com/a/Hq3tJ

After figuring out how to put it together. I installed it in the second chamber and without the mounting bracket it fits perfectly. The quality seems pretty good for the price. Only time will tell. Will report back with a review.
Now to let it break in. I may mod the crap out of this thing though. I have extra skimmer parts sitting around.

Awesome to know for sure, guess I'll be getting a skimmer for mine after all! Keep up the updates

 

[fizzlefish]

Awesome to know for sure, guess I'll be getting a skimmer for mine after all! Keep up the updates

Yea I knew i wanted to run a skimmer. The measurements they had on their webpage were pretty spot on. I want to keep everything looking neat. If i had to go HOB i would have overkilled with it. Currently in planning stages for a back cover so it will hide everything.

 

[fizzlefish]

Just a quick update. The skimmer hadn't been producing skimmate at all. Likely due to the lack of things to skim since right now I'm on a 5 gallon every 3 day water change schedule. But woke up this morning to finally see some foam and the cup starting to fill with it. Micro bubbles are present but i believe i can take care of this and that they will go away with time as well.

 

[fizzlefish]

Added a mangrove.

 

[fizzlefish]

Just a quick update.

So on the subject of this cheap skimmer. After running a few days it started producing a lot of foam and skimmate which was great. That only lasted a few days though. The pump that came with this version(cheaper Chinese i assume. Possible knockoff) is pretty basic and only has a little nozzle on the impeller cover to attach the air tube to. You are suppose to attach the pump facing down with the air line coming back up around the pump and out of the water. This worked fine for awhile until gravity and vibration worked its magic. This caused the pumps impeller cover to come loose enough for water to make its way into the air tubing causing it to pulse and perform very badly. Now i assume it is suppose to face down so its deep enough to pull water at the correct levels. I flipped it anyway so it is facing up and lowered the skimmer further down into the chamber. This actually help a lot producing a lot more bubbles and pulling a lot more skimmate. Currently i do not believe it is broken in yet. It is running very wet at the moment and producing a lot though it has removed some smaller chunks that somehow my filter socks missed. I will upload pictures about this soon.

I also plan to stick with my filter socks. As long as i am diligent about keeping them clean. I have dumped a lot out of them already and washed them several times. I started using Chemi-Pure Elite to help with my phosphate problem that is likely due to the micro cycle from the new sand i seeded with a small amount of my old. Now i usually don't believe in using Chemi-Pure since it is basically a bandaid but since i believe once everything settles a bit i will no longer need it. When i got into the hobby i used it a lot and replaced it often. I helped keep my BC14 clean but just masked issues as once i stopped using due to cost and switched over to just carbon.

My Gorgonian isn't doing so hot right now. I have had it for a long time and has lived through some bad times. Currently only a small branch is showing signs of life. If it does not recover soon i may clip the good branch and toss the rest. Everything else is looking great.

More pictures to come!

 

[fizzlefish]

Thank is doing great. Running very low nutrients. I went to bed one night with algae and woke up with 0 on the glass. Very nice surprise. Skimmer is doing a great job. Emptying it daily. I was at the LFS and they had tiny Maxima clams and I've wanted one for a long time and decided to splurge. I need a better camera than my phone. Not sure what's next. Maybe a doser. I'm having to add 5ml of 2 part daily to maintain proper levels.

New clam.

 

[JR136]

Very nice, I like the IM lagoon tanks.

 

[zchauvin]

How's the clam doing? Enough flow?

 

[fizzlefish]

How's the clam doing? Enough flow?

Everything is doing great. Gorgonian has fully recovered. Clam is happy as can be. I got him hoping he would change color since he he had a gross brown color. It looks like he is so we will see.

 

[zchauvin]

Awesome!

 

[Abstractxx02195]

how do you feel about the skimmer? I had the ghost skimmer but im officially done with it as it does not skim because of the fitment. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated ..

beautiful tank btw. very alive.

 

[murphreef]

Nice lagoon I love mine.

I have mine jam packed lol sps, lps, softies, clam, 5 fish, 3 shrimp , 12 hermits, lots of snails..... I never knew I could fit so much into a small tank like this.

Makes me want to go bigger again but at the same time love the simplicity.

I do have a dosing system set up though to keep up with my alk/ca demands.

Keep up the good work!