Owners Thread: Innovative Marine Fusion 40

Even my wife told the sales people that when we retire and move to our last home, we will get the largest tank we can fit in that house. I went with the cad tank because I don't want a sump running in our current living room. Even the quietest of sumps makes noise. That and it triples the chance of catastrophic events.

Yup. Makes perfect sense. I like the design of your Cad's overflow area a lot. And the fact that the returns are independent, giving you more flexibility there. Quite honestly if I knew then what I know now, I very possibly would have gone with that exact tank to begin with. I had a specific budget in mind and mistakenly thought that doubling the size of the tank would double the cost of everything else and that's obviously not the case. Like you, the 75 would definitely be the largest tank I could fit in our current space.

Can't wait to start reading your build thread! I'll take Biz's question about heaters a step further and ask what kind you're planning to get. I'm running the Cobalt 150W (the plastic guy) in the Fusion right now and have a Finnex titanium that I use for water changes and am really giving serious thoughts to replacing that Cobalt with another titanium. I've read several reports of folks that came home to have a tripped circuit breaker, a house that smelled like burnt plastic, and a black goo all over their display tank from failed Cobalt heaters. But then other people say they've used the same one for years without any problems.
 
whereas the blennie lays down on the veggie clip while the tang picks at it...goofy, goofy fish....

It's been interesting just to watch these two clowns. Every few days it seems like they develop new habits. Currently both are on the right side of the tank basically vertical in the corners. The black-and-white has been in the back corner probably 85% of the time, but now they've completely reversed. Earlier the orange one was laying down on the sandbed. Thought at first something was wrong with him, but no... just being goofy.

Stinks to hear that the "gourmet gadgets" or whatever they're calling them are junk. So far I've been pleased with the media reactors thankfully. In looking around at equipment, when I move to a larger tank I'm planning to go with Spectrapure reactors. Really like the way they're plumbed.
 
What do you guys use to test calcium and magnesium?

What about dosing products? Kalk?

I'm using Seachem's test kits for both calcium and magnesium. Hanna checkers for alkalinity and phosphates. Salifert for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. And the Apex for pH.

Been using Seachem's kalkwasser (1tsp in the 2.5g top-off containers that Reduck found on Amazon) and alkalinity looks good but calcium is still a little low. So yesterday I mixed up the BRS 3-part (calcium, soda ash, and magnesium salts) dosing solutions. Today I started slowly bringing calcium levels up to where they should be and will start trying to dial in the right flow rate to keep levels stable over the next few days.

It's interesting because Red Sea Coral Pro "should" have 480ppm of calcium at a salinity level of 35ppt. But I've never seen levels > 375ppm (and have used the reference solution in the Seachem kit to confirm it's testing accurately). I only have a few zoas in the tank right now, so it's not like I have a tank full of SPS that are sucking down the calcium. Really unsure why those levels are consistently lower than normal at this point. Just trying to get everything where it should be and stable in preparation for adding more demanding inverts over time.
 
We most likely stopped at that booth. We perused every vendor carefully and met a lot of nice people.
Reason we went with this instead of the competitors is, we know there is still a larger tank in our future. Even my wife told the sales people that when we retire and move to our last home, we will get the largest tank we can fit in that house. I went with the cad tank because I don't want a sump running in our current living room. Even the quietest of sumps makes noise. That and it triples the chance of catastrophic events. Tank blow out, sump blow out, and plumbing blow out. I know it's rare but I have enough things to worry about without adding that.

The 100 was really nice but it's 48". We don't have that much room in the space allotted, unless I do major room renovations. Even the 75 will require some furniture relocation. I have an end table cigar humidor that I'll need to move to the office upstairs just to get the extra foot or so for the 75.

Only time will tell if we made the right decision..if not, I'll just have to retire sooner! 😀

What are the actual dimensions of your new tank's display area? I'm definitely curious to see what the true display water volume is.
 
It has two 500 gph pumps. They should make life on the mps a little less stressful.
I was planning to only use a single heater. I'll have to see how hard it works.

Oh the heater, it's a finnex too. 200w. Barely comes on this time of year. I like that it's titanium. And I'm really controlling it with the apex, not its own controller..
 
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Interesting, with the two pumps I like it.

I am working backwards. When I upgrade, my mixing station will not work, so I am building out a 42 gallon freshwater and 42 gallon saltwater... Should be completed this week.

I think I am going to go 2 heaters, jäger 200 and do a spilt plug and plug it in to the apex.

When is the arrive date?
 
cobalt heaters

cobalt heaters

Yup. Makes perfect sense. I like the design of your Cad's overflow area a lot. And the fact that the returns are independent, giving you more flexibility there. Quite honestly if I knew then what I know now, I very possibly would have gone with that exact tank to begin with. I had a specific budget in mind and mistakenly thought that doubling the size of the tank would double the cost of everything else and that's obviously not the case. Like you, the 75 would definitely be the largest tank I could fit in our current space.

Can't wait to start reading your build thread! I'll take Biz's question about heaters a step further and ask what kind you're planning to get. I'm running the Cobalt 150W (the plastic guy) in the Fusion right now and have a Finnex titanium that I use for water changes and am really giving serious thoughts to replacing that Cobalt with another titanium. I've read several reports of folks that came home to have a tripped circuit breaker, a house that smelled like burnt plastic, and a black goo all over their display tank from failed Cobalt heaters. But then other people say they've used the same one for years without any problems.

I have heard that the 200 w Cobalt unit's have failed but I have not heard of any other models.
 
Ive heard stories of models as low as 50 failing. It isn't as common as the higher ones.

But I've heard numerous reports of the 150 and 200s failing. That is why I went with Eheim Jager's on both my tanks.
 
Ive heard stories of models as low as 50 failing. It isn't as common as the higher ones.

But I've heard numerous reports of the 150 and 200s failing. That is why I went with Eheim Jager's on both my tanks.

Same here. I don't need one at all this time of year, but before temps start to drop I think I'll replace the Cobalt. Would be wise, probably, to have a backup on-hand anyway so I can just move the Cobalt to backup status.
 
Same here. I don't need one at all this time of year, but before temps start to drop I think I'll replace the Cobalt. Would be wise, probably, to have a backup on-hand anyway so I can just move the Cobalt to backup status.
I don't know if I'd even trust one of the cobalts for mixing saltwater.

I've read stories of them starting house fires. And that's the last thing want.

Heck, I don't even need a heater for mixing saltwater. I mix up a 10 gallon container of saltwater using the old pump from the nuvo 40 and the heat from the pump alone is enough to bring water from 65 degrees to 80 in about 6 hours.
 
I use the cobalt neo-therm heater in my 40 and going to most likely switch over to the jager. Cobalt says two 200w for up to 125 gallons, things start getting pricey there for heaters.
 
supposed to ship today. So I would guess late this week or early next week.
Hoping the sand and dry rock show up prior so I can soak the rock and rinse the sand..
Need to go get a 50G brute so I can start hoarding RODI. I only have 34G stored at the moment...

This is a WC week for the 40 so I will need my smaller brutes for that. And yes, I'm still going to do the WC...even though the occupants may be moved into a brute for a day or two, they still need fresh water..

When is the arrive date?
 
I found this in my research, might work perfectly for a tank transfer. I am going to pick it up to start cooking rock.

http://m.tractorsupply.com/en/store/tuff-stuff-products-heavy-duty-oval-tank-40-gal



supposed to ship today. So I would guess late this week or early next week.
Hoping the sand and dry rock show up prior so I can soak the rock and rinse the sand..
Need to go get a 50G brute so I can start hoarding RODI. I only have 34G stored at the moment...

This is a WC week for the 40 so I will need my smaller brutes for that. And yes, I'm still going to do the WC...even though the occupants may be moved into a brute for a day or two, they still need fresh water..
 
thanks!
i love tractor supply! I was just there last week looking at these. We have some similar versions of those already that I use for the pond. My biggest concern at the moment is temp fresh water storage for the initial fill. I think I'm going to go with the 50G brute, put 40G in it, then fill all my containers. I'll be able to transfer the fresh 40g sw into the tank, then make more to top it off. I normally store 38G so it will work out ok. While the occupants chill in the other rubbermaid tank. I'll keep the fish and coral separate so we can aquascape without the worry of attack..

I found this in my research, might work perfectly for a tank transfer. I am going to pick it up to start cooking rock.

http://m.tractorsupply.com/en/store/tuff-stuff-products-heavy-duty-oval-tank-40-gal
 
So earlier tonight after my lights went off I went and checked out the tank at night. As I started looking with my flash light i noticed some amphipods on the sand bed...cool.

I continued looking and I saw a freaken worm! Did some quick research and it seems to be a bristle worm living in my polyps colony :(

I'm not sure what I wanna do yet, these guys are only 1/4~1/8 wide and a ~2" maybe longer.
Any suggestions?
 
They are good for your tank cuc. Very gross, but good. Just don't try to pick it out with bare fingers...

So earlier tonight after my lights went off I went and checked out the tank at night. As I started looking with my flash light i noticed some amphipods on the sand bed...cool.

I continued looking and I saw a freaken worm! Did some quick research and it seems to be a bristle worm living in my polyps colony :(

I'm not sure what I wanna do yet, these guys are only 1/4~1/8 wide and a ~2" maybe longer.
Any suggestions?
 
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