Owners Thread: Innovative Marine Fusion 40
- Thread starter Mr2KiEu
- Start date
We all switched it out. Some are running floss, chemi pure, carbon, cheato. Just really depends on the load. I would assume it would be fine with the stock filters. I changed mine right away.
mystikal
New member
So you had carbon running with the start of the cycle?
I have the stock baskets and the media baskets for the future. I'm a bit confused because one store said not to run the baskets with my cycle, and another said to run the baskets. Just figured I'll ask you guys what you did.
Reduck
Because I can....
I ran my cycle without them. then I used them unti I went with the bigger baskets. I only used the top sponge at that point.
You are trying to cycle the tank so why run carbon and phosphate remover now? Its a waste. You want the water to get gross.
3 weeks in, maybe. On startup, nah..
mystikal
New member
40/40 club
40/40 club
Its pretty amazing how routes you can use to start or complete a cycle to get almost the same results. People/stores have their old school ways, and new ways of doing this.
Heres are some photos of my tank.
I found some critters in my tank already, guessing its from the live sand? It looked like a really small long shelled snail
40/40 club
Its pretty amazing how routes you can use to start or complete a cycle to get almost the same results. People/stores have their old school ways, and new ways of doing this.
Heres are some photos of my tank.
I found some critters in my tank already, guessing its from the live sand? It looked like a really small long shelled snail
Attachments
Reduck
Because I can....
looking good...
This morning I received a call from the US Economic Development Administration. Seems that there was some concern about your international trip causing domestic retail sales projections to fall short of projections for the quarter. So to keep the country from falling into another economic depression while you are away I agreed to go ahead and purchase an Aquamaxx skimmer... you know, for the greater economic good and all...
Reduck
Because I can....
HAHAHAHA! good one...
I cycled my tank with all the media that I was using today, before I put in chaeto. I liked cycling with it to see how things react
Well done! You will love that skimmer. Good quality and does the job. I promise will support the international economies while I am gone
Reduck
Because I can....
konnichiwa!
Probably the pump is going. If it's still under warranty they will send you a new one. If not, it's like 30 bucks..
I would think it's better to fail with no ato, than run constantly. Turn it off just in case.
Ask your tank sitter to add water from your ato jug once a day...to the top of the water deflectors. It'll be ok...
Reduck
Because I can....
Each has a specific use. I wouldn't suggest or recommend anything till I knew your tanks water parameters.
Shouldn't run any of them unless you absolutely need to. Well, you could do biopellets...but a properly cycled, maintained, and stocked tank shouldn't need it.
I had the same question, in general what use does each serve? The only maintenance I did on my previous 120g was water changes and dosing A & B.
Reduck
Because I can....
Gfo, lowers phosphates. Carbon, organic compounds, biopellets, nitrates.
A good maintenance schedule and properly stocked tank shouldn't need them.
Shouldn't is the key word. There are many influences on our tanks chemistry that even normal routine maintenence will not correct. Say you do 10g wc religiously every two weeks. But you are feeding 2x a day because your fish requires it. Chances are you will have excess phosphates. Could be your LR is leeching phospahtes. If you are overfeeding you will also most likely have higher nitrates too. Also it could be due to not enough natural bacterial filtration, LR or sand.
Things I've learned... feed what your fish requires not what you like to watch. My clowns eat maybe 5-10 micro pellets a day. Once a week I feed the tank LRS frozen..a tiny quarter sized piece.. And a small pinch of reef roids, target to specifc corals.... I could probably feed less micro pellets but I choose not to.
Soon algae will be growing everywhere and you'll want it to be controlled. Your choices then become feeding less, or more frequent wc, or one of the above mentioned products.
Hope this helps. And hope I explained it right, so the reef police don't cart me away....
That brings up a good question... Can you guys talk to me a bit about your water change process? I think I'm mentally overcomplicating things. In the current house we are in, I just can't make a permanent saltwater mixing station with two big Brute cans, etc... Definitely in the plans for the next house, but we are about 13 or 14 months away from that. I've given thought to building a PVC overflow so I just pump my new water in and overflow the same volume into a waste container. But then I also thought it might be just as effective to get two identical five gallon buckets, get my new water ready in one, siphon the same amount out of the tank into the other one (just visually look to see that the amount in each bucket matches) and use a little Eheim pump or something similar to get the new water in the tank after I siphon out the old.
I already have a RO system under the kitchen sink for drinking water. My current plan is to add a tee coming off the membrane, add a BRS DI stage with a valve on it, and fill my saltwater mixing bucket ~48 hours before I plan to do a water change. I also picked up three of those blue storage containers that someone mentioned earlier in this thread and plan to keep at least two of those filled with fresh RODI water for the ATO so I can just rotate them out and fill one while the other is "in service".
Any feedback on that? I'm just limited on storage / mixing space right now (especially in the winter, as our garage is not heated and temps can get quite low here from time to time - well below freezing). I realize it would be much better to have a larger volume of premixed saltwater on hand at all times, but I just don't see a good way to make that happen in our current situation. But I'm definitely open to alternate ideas from people with more hands-on experience!
Reduck
Because I can....
Don't over complicate it.
Tank volume is roughly 40g. So figure 10g wc. I started doing wc with 2 5g buckets and a 20g brute. I store all the apparatus in the brute. The day before I mix the sw in the brute and heat and airate it. Then test it. When temp, ph etc match tank +\- a .0x diff, I shut my pumps and heaters down, siphon (remove) the 10 out into the 5s, dump it, then pull the 10 fresh into the tank with the syphon. I'm done in 10 minutes.
I try to keep 25g of rodi ready just in case in those blue water tanks. Some of that goes into ato. The rest goes for fresh sw. It's not necessary but it works for me and I have room to store them indoors. I don't have my rodi permanently installed so I set it up, make water and take it offline.
I progressed to 2 20g brutes which I have on roller bases. I mix in one, and dump in the other. When I'm done, I rinse them out and store in the garage all year round. Again, easier for me. I'm old(er) and don't want to lug 50lb buckets of water around...and splash on hw floors etc.
There are other ways to do this. You could use a sink activated syphon to pull the old sw into the sink drain, then refill from the 5s too.
Some others may chime in with their ideas too, but I find this the simplest cleanest method for me. YRMV.
Tank volume is roughly 40g. So figure 10g wc. I started doing wc with 2 5g buckets and a 20g brute. I store all the apparatus in the brute. The day before I mix the sw in the brute and heat and airate it. Then test it. When temp, ph etc match tank +\- a .0x diff, I shut my pumps and heaters down, siphon (remove) the 10 out into the 5s, dump it, then pull the 10 fresh into the tank with the syphon. I'm done in 10 minutes.
I try to keep 25g of rodi ready just in case in those blue water tanks. Some of that goes into ato. The rest goes for fresh sw. It's not necessary but it works for me and I have room to store them indoors. I don't have my rodi permanently installed so I set it up, make water and take it offline.
I progressed to 2 20g brutes which I have on roller bases. I mix in one, and dump in the other. When I'm done, I rinse them out and store in the garage all year round. Again, easier for me. I'm old(er) and don't want to lug 50lb buckets of water around...and splash on hw floors etc.
There are other ways to do this. You could use a sink activated syphon to pull the old sw into the sink drain, then refill from the 5s too.
Some others may chime in with their ideas too, but I find this the simplest cleanest method for me. YRMV.
Reduck
Because I can....
And to add to the above. It doesn't matter how you do it. As long as it gets done is what matters. These are small, self contained systems. Depending on what you keep in it will essentially dictate your wc schedule. I have a lot of coral. They need the elements in the sw. Dosing helps maintain them, but removing old water and replacing with fresh is important in keeping the system stable and thriving. It also helps prevent the nastys from attack. Phosphates, nitrates etc must be kept in check or the tank will suffer.
Doing routine wc helps with this prevention. Sometimes things get out of control that are beyond normal circumstances. Then at those times more frequent wc helps too. I'm battling a sandbed issue and some gha now. Doing wc every 3 days to get the excess nutrients out of the system helps greatly.
It's a pita, but I do it. I'm not letting it get the best of me...
It all pays off when you look at your tank and it looks great and corals are growing and your fish are happy.
Doing routine wc helps with this prevention. Sometimes things get out of control that are beyond normal circumstances. Then at those times more frequent wc helps too. I'm battling a sandbed issue and some gha now. Doing wc every 3 days to get the excess nutrients out of the system helps greatly.
It's a pita, but I do it. I'm not letting it get the best of me...
It all pays off when you look at your tank and it looks great and corals are growing and your fish are happy.
Konnichiwa... At mt Fuji now. That is what I thought but this is the second Pump and it's doing the same thing. Already have him doing it, I was prepared for this.
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