Official Innovative Marine Owners Thread

[mgproudfit]

I know there's a few IM owners on here and I thought it'd be nice to have 1 central point where we can share ideas, show off our tanks, and see what others are doing with their IM tank!

My setup is:
- 38g Nuvo
- JBJ Unibody LED
- 2ea Hydor Koralia Nano 425
- Hydor Smartwave
- 150W Heater
- 30lbs LR
- 40lbs Fiji Pink Aragonite Live Sand
- RODI w/ Instant Ocean

Tank Shot:

:dance:

 

[426Hemi]

Nuvo Mini 38 here.

-92w Dual spectrum LED tablet
-300 watt titanium heater
-Reef Keeper Lite controller
-Argonite sand
-Fiji LR

On day 10 now, tank appears to be cycled.

CUC
1 Blue leg hermit
2 red leg hermit
1 Halloween hermit
4 Narssius (sp) snails
6 Cerith
1 Cleaner shrimp
1 Pin cushion urchin

Setup as of a couple days ago before all the CUC was in place.

 

[mgproudfit]

How do you like your RKL? Is it easy to program the lighting schedule with it? Im thinking that might be my next purchase.

 

[426Hemi]

How do you like your RKL? Is it easy to program the lighting schedule with it? Im thinking that might be my next purchase.

I like it so far, easy to program. Though if I did it again I might have went with the Apex solution instead. I like that it is web based with charting and such. I bought the RKL before researching based on a recommendation. If you do get he RK system I'd get at least the plus system with the econd power strip. Four outlets goes fast. I need another one already.

 

[mgproudfit]

Sell me yours and buy the Apex!

 

[mgproudfit]

Tonight we bought a Leopard Goby and a Tiger Snapping Shrimp! Very beautiful specimens of each with oddly similar markings, given the different animals. Put them in QT and will wait another 4 weeks to add them to DT! Can't wait!

 

[Runteeta]

Hi there!

White Mini 38 here- set up 9/1/12

Reef Crystals
RO H20

Hardware:
92W IM SkkyeLight Tablet Light
VorTech MP10
Via Aqua titanium heater
IM Spinstream x2
Aquafuge External Hang On Fuge (small)
8W IM SkkyeLight Clamp Light
Tunze Osmolator
IM AuqaGadget MidSize Protein Skimmer (just added 10/2!)
Two programmable timer strips for lights
One regular powerstrip for pumps


Live rock:
15# cured Figi
15# fresh uncured Menado
8# fresh uncured Figi
30# Aragonite Sand



Livestock:
Added 9/13-IPSF's Mix and Match with crabs, snails, Tang Heaven Red (in fuge), spaghetti worms, bristleworms, pods
Added 9/28-
Torch Coral
GBTA
Maroon Clown
Ricordea sp. x2
Green Star Polyps x5
Red Montipora sp.
Fungia sp.

 

[mgproudfit]

Very cool! How's your GBTA doing in such a young tank? We're going to get a BTA eventually, but Ive always read to wait 6-9 months to have an established tank.

Also, do you care to take some pics and mini-review your skimmer? That will likely be our next purchase as far as equipment goes.

Ill tell ya what, we were originally going to get a black Mini 38, but Marine Depot only had white in stock, so we pulled the trigger on that and Im glad we did. We REALLY like the white!

 

[Soggytoes]

Hi there!

White Mini 38 here- set up 9/1/12

Reef Crystals
RO H20

Hardware:
92W IM SkkyeLight Tablet Light
VorTech MP10
Via Aqua titanium heater
IM Spinstream x2
Aquafuge External Hang On Fuge (small)
8W IM SkkyeLight Clamp Light
Tunze Osmolator
IM AuqaGadget MidSize Protein Skimmer (just added 10/2!)

How do you like the skimmer? Also, how noisy do you find the spinstreams? I am thinking about one of these for the bedroom and would like the added flow but have heard they can be noisy.

 

[Runteeta]

Very cool! How's your GBTA doing in such a young tank? We're going to get a BTA eventually, but Ive always read to wait 6-9 months to have an established tank.

So far, it's alive, but I think it may be splitting soon. Most of the tentacles have shortened significantly and it looks "folded" in the front. I wonder if the clown is loving on it too much.

Also, do you care to take some pics and mini-review your skimmer? That will likely be our next purchase as far as equipment goes.

I'll be glad to do this in the next few days.

 

[Runteeta]

How do you like the skimmer? Also, how noisy do you find the spinstreams? I am thinking about one of these for the bedroom and would like the added flow but have heard they can be noisy.

They aren't noisy at all to me, but our tank is in a hallway- no way would I have a tank in the bedroom!

The osmolator and the MP10 are noisier.

 

[mgproudfit]

Runteeta - any update on the Nano skimmer?

There's our Goby. Id take a pic of our pistol shrimp, but he's not very opportune for photographs.

Checked levels of the DT and everything is still exactly the same. Our diatom bloom has really taken off and is now on portions of the sand. Certainly not the most attractive thing in the world, but hopefully out CUC will put their name to good use.

-Matt

 

[ryeguyy84]

IM4 here,

 

[426Hemi]

Got my Hanna Alk tester in tonight, incredibly easy to use. Press button to turn on, fill tube, put it in and press button again, draw 1ml reagent and put it in the tube. Put tube back in and press button read results. 157ppm which equals 8.792dkh according to a converter I found online. Easily under two minutes. I like it.

 

[mgproudfit]

Love those Pico 4's!!!

 

[disflyer]

I posted this on a different thread but it was suggested I repost it here.

SkimMate Review
I have had my SkimMate up and running for about 2 weeks now, for those thinking about getting the midsize I decided to add a mini review on the skimmer. I am still fairly new at reefing so take my opinions for what their worth...

First off the midsize is designed for up to 65 gallons, specifically it is designed to fit in the IM Nuvo 38g and this is where I house mine.

The pump is a little louder than I would like and in order to fit the skimmer in the rear of the aquarium one set of sponge filters needs to be removed, this adds to the noise since the overflow now is falling into the chamber and not onto the filter sponges. Also the instructions in the bookelet are not very detailed, not that it is complicated but I rather would like to see the instructions describe how to "tune-in" the skimmer.

With the negatives out of the way I can say all in all they are only minor details and essentially what I, and most of us, are looking for is does this really work? As I said early on I have had this running for almost two weeks, it took about 6 days for the skimmer to break-in. During that time I had the air valve opened all the way, the micro bubbles created initially slowly became non existant. After 6 days I started to get a really good foam and with some tinkering over a few days was able to dial in the skimmer. I was actually quite impressed with how well this little guy works. I will say this, this is not your average nano sized skimmer.

After runnining the skimmer, and with it giving me a good foam, I was curious to see how clean my water was. So for comparisons here are my before and after tests.

Before:
PH 8.2
Amonia : 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 4ppm
PHO3: .03

After:
PH: 8.2
Amonia 0:
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Undetectable
PH03: undetectable

Previous to the skimmer I was required to clean the glass daily from algae, I haven't touched my mag float in 3 days since I did a wc.

I am not running carbon and as of right now have only 2 OC clowns, xenia, and mushroom anemone. Next step will be to see how well things keep up with increasing the bioload.

 

[426Hemi]

Thanks for the review, I am interested in the skimmer for my 38.

Can you explain how you "tuned" it? This is my first SW tank and I'm not familiar with skimmers yet.

Thanks again, great review.

 

[Psyire]

I am currently setting up a white Nuvo 38g. I'll definately post some pictures as things progress. One initial question is on the curved corners of the tank... I've read that some people have problems cleaning the algae from this area, is it true? or what is the best way?

 

[mgproudfit]

I can see it becoming an issue. So far, I don't have any, but my tank (exact same as yours) is very young. Honestly, it wont bother me one bit to roll a sleeve up and go to town once a week or so.

 

[426Hemi]

I'm thinking of getting something like this for the corners and back.

http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Soft-Tu...504&sr=8-4&keywords=Long+handle+bottle+sponge