A Calm Blue Ocean - IM Fusion Pro 50 Gallon AIO Lagoon

[Calm Blue Ocean]

The pump isn’t too large physically, it fits in chamber two just fine. I have no idea what the specs are or who makes it, it doesn’t say and there was never any info on the website that I can remember seeing. It is way bigger than the IM pump, that thing is tiny. The other skimmer that looks interesting and should fit is the one FijiCube sells. You might look into that one just to have an alternative. If the pump on mine ever goes out and I can’t get another one then I’d probably give the FijiCube skimmer a chance. HOB is always a bad look for an AIO unless you just don’t care. It would not fly at my house, my wife would see it and take it off of the tank herself

In looking for an emergency replacement pump for the NuvoSkim I've learned that no serious skimmer pump is that tiny. Considering it's the same pump they use in the desktop sized skimmer, I think we can see why it doesn't work well in a 50g. And it's additionally unfortunate that it pulls so little air that adding a CO2 scrubber, or extending the line outside the house is just not practical. I've recently been trying my hand at carbon dosing but have come to the realization that it's just not effective in my tank because the skimming is so inadequate. Really unfortunate, the IM Skimmer looks so pretty, but as they say, pretty is as pretty does.

Although I couldn't find the numbers for the CAD Lights skimmer, it looks like a much more serious pump and that right there checks some boxes for me.

I hear you on the HOB thing, it wouldn't fly here either lol.

How far above the top of the tank does the CAD Lights collection cup sit? InTank has finally come out with their filtration cover for the IM 50 Lagoon and I'm curious if it's tall enough to hide it. Not a deal breaker though.

 

[TheWB]

In looking for an emergency replacement pump for the NuvoSkim I've learned that no serious skimmer pump is that tiny. Considering it's the same pump they use in the desktop sized skimmer, I think we can see why it doesn't work well in a 50g. And it's additionally unfortunate that it pulls so little air that adding a CO2 scrubber, or extending the line outside the house is just not practical. I've recently been trying my hand at carbon dosing but have come to the realization that it's just not effective in my tank because the skimming is so inadequate. Really unfortunate, the IM Skimmer looks so pretty, but as they say, pretty is as pretty does.

Although I couldn't find the numbers for the CAD Lights skimmer, it looks like a much more serious pump and that right there checks some boxes for me.

I hear you on the HOB thing, it wouldn't fly here either lol.

How far above the top of the tank does the CAD Lights collection cup sit? InTank has finally come out with their filtration cover for the IM 50 Lagoon and I'm curious if it's tall enough to hide it. Not a deal breaker though.

The skimmer cup sticks up pretty far, it definitely will not be hidden by the InTank cover. I’ve been looking at that too and it will need to be modded to allow it to fit around the cup. I’ll probably still get one and just cut it out to fit.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I'm running a CO2 scrubber to get these "amazing" numbers. You can see where I opened a window the other night after seeing an alarmingly fast drop in pH. Had the window open much of today too and we almost hit 8.0! Almost.

So I'm still sitting on the fence about getting a new skimmer even though it seems to be the solution that keeps coming back. Bought a pump for another skimmer that had similar GPH but it was too big to fit in the IM skimmer body, and smaller pumps that would be more likely to fit actually have less power than the IM stock skimmer pump. But the IM pump is crap. I keep hoping sometime before I finally make a decision IM will come out with a real skimmer pump and everything will be great! HAHA!

That said, corals mostly look happy (oddly I'm having issues with toadstools though) and colors seem good.

Stuff just isn't growing.

Well, except this guy. I should probably knock on wood or something. Love this coral, it's one of my favorites! I'd happily have a tank full of blastos.

 

[West1]

Nice build!
How’s the smart stir working for ya? I’m considering one and snooping around for reviews. I love how it’s compact.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Nice build!
How’s the smart stir working for ya? I’m considering one and snooping around for reviews. I love how it’s compact.

Thank you and thanks for visiting my build thread. I love the Smart Stir! I haven't had to charge it since the initial charge and I use it for my water tests every week. It is sized perfectly for my Salifert and Red Sea test kits, and I've even used it with my Hanna vials. The only challenge is remembering to remove the stir bar before dumping the vials down the sink! lol

 

[Bravoman]

Last week I started cycling my second ever saltwater aquarium. As the days have gone by I've realized that in spite of many lessons learned over the previous year I still know very little.

What better way to boost my learning potential than to start a build thread on Reef2Reef!

A little history (or maybe a lot of history):

Last June I took my first steps into the saltwater world. I'd had some freshwater fishbowls in the past, my father had kept some small freshwater aquariums, but I think all I really knew was that tap water was bad.

So I filled my first saltwater tank with tap water. Treated of course but still tap water. But I'm getting ahead of myself already.

I admit I had done very little research but even at that it's hard to understand the implications of some things without experiencing it for yourself. Things like "reef ready" didn't mean much and AIO tanks were something completely unfamiliar. So I walked out of the shop with a 46 Bow, a canister filter, an LED light, flow pump, cycled rocks, a bag of sand, and a bag of salt.

It looked like this:

A thing of beauty! At least a few days later it was a thing of beauty.

After the initial purchase, I was actually really patient with my tank. I had read as much as I could about cycling and, with API test kits in hand I tested and tested and tested!

July 1 I finally added my first little dudes to the tank. Some cerith snails, astraea snails, trochus snails, and some blue leg hermits. I have never had so much fun watching snails and crabs and I sat in front of the tank for hours every day watching them truck around every surface.

I got diatoms, cloudy water, bryopsis...oh the bryopsis. The CUC were happy to demonstrate that it was not on the menu. I learned about fluconazole. I added UV. I got an RODI system. I upgraded my test kits.

A few weeks later, when things had settled a bit, it was time for fish! A pair of tiny clowns and a pair of tiny gobies. Who knew fish could be so awesome? A few days later I got a pistol shrimp for the gobies and had the thrill of seeing them pair up immediately! And I thought watching the fish was fun!

It was some time after that when I decided to add corals. All softies with a final collection that included small frags of kenya tree, xenia, gsp, and a toadstool. Needless to say, in 46 gallons, this is the whole tank now. I had read the warnings. We are in exponential growth mode now!

Over the year that I've had this tank I have enjoyed it immensely, and fought it frequently.

Every time I cleaned the canister filter I managed to have a wreck. My hardwood floors cried. Had to ditch the canister. With an intense paranoia about anything that took water out of the tank (and potentially to the floor) I went with the Tunze 9004 skimmer and Tunze 3162 filter. So much easier to maintain! And my clowns were overjoyed, choosing the skimmer as their new host.

The glass lid. My nemesis. Sure, evaporation is almost not a thing. But the constant condensation kills the lighting, and I had to cut the glass to fit the Tunze skimmer...did not go well. So now it's a cracked glass lid. The lid is heavy, awkward, and the plastic strip across the back still lets the nerites escape!

The sand...that fine sand. So pretty. So hard to deal with. Dropped a powerhead in it one day. Couldn't see into my tank for a week. No, I had not rinsed the sand first. Lost over an inch of that sugar fine stuff to the syphon while battling cyano and probably another 5 pounds just in routine maintenance. When I had the canister it was always full of sand. It's so pretty and I hate it!

So many experiences, like hair algae that my urchin likes to wear as a hat but not eat, bristle worms the size of great white sharks, spaghetti worm hotel, aiptasia, xenia and kenya tree forests! I still don't know what I'm doing. I really wish I'd made a build thread for this tank. So many mistakes but a lot of make it work moments too.

As the story goes, 5 members of my original CUC turned one yesterday, and right now I'm working on making them, and all my other little guys a better home, minus the uninvited guests!

Introducing my IM Fusion Pro 50 Gallon AIO Lagoon

Similar water volume but a whole new footprint. And best of all, no more clutter!

Things that have changed:

RODI from day one! Our tap water is pretty low TDS but I still always wonder what might have settled into the rocks from the first fill of the old tank.

Dry rocks - I recognize the benefit of live rock and cycled rock but I found out from my first tank that I'm just still too much of a noob to know how to deal with pests. I know better than to think I can ever avoid all pests but to start knowing it's clean I can feel a bit more in control of what's going on, and least for today.

Larger substrate! - CaribSea Special Grade. And I rinsed the heck out of it! 21 buckets of rinse water! The picture above is day one. Night and day from the old tank.

The AIO aquarium, of course! So many things, but one of the biggest has been the shallow form. I can easily reach any part of the display. No more searching for unusually long scrapers. Pleasant to view from the top and both sides. I'm just crazy about the shape of this tank.

Equipment so far (not all installed yet)

IM Fusion Pro 50 Gallon AIO Lagoon w/ stand
2 x AI Prime 16
Tunze 3155 Osmolator
IM MiniMax Reactor
IM NuvoSkim DC Skimmer
IM AquaShield UV Sterilizer
IM ATO Reservoir 5 gallon
BRS titanium heater 200w
Inkbird C929-A Smart WiFi Controller
Vortech MP40QD
Instant Ocean Salt
CaribSea Special Grade Dry Sand
Reef Saver and Reef Saver Foundation Rocks
Fritz TurboStart 900
Algae Barn Nitrocycle

Tank was filled June 22. Rocks and sand all heavily rinsed. I put a filter sock on each overflow and let the few fines that were left in the substrate filter out for a couple days.

Bacteria added June 25 and the first ammonia dose. At this point I started following the schedule on Dr Tim's site for testing and re-dosing ammonia. I also elevated the temperature in the tank to encourage the bacteria to do their thing!

We are currently at Day 8 of the cycle. Last ammonia dose was on Day 6. I could share pictures of the previous test results but really the relevant one is today:

The API "what is this color" minigame! Honestly this game makes me crazy but I never did get better tests for ammonia and nitrite.

So that's where we're at! I've got a million thoughts and concerns about all of my equipment and how it works and goes together, but maybe I post for another day. So far so good!

Nice write up

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Nice write up

Thank you. Funny looking back at what my vision for the tank was with a year of experience under my belt and how now things have changed with yet another year. As a wise reefer once told me, you never have it all figured out!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Quick picture from the 10g. Rare sighting of the goby shrimp pair! Twins, obviously!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Did some overdue maintenance during my last water change which included cleaning all of the probes and the heater. I have a lot of sponges in the back chambers that like to decorate everything. I even found a pineapple sponge right on the end of my salinity probe!

Is there a way to put it back? ;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious

 

[jazzfisher]

Did some overdue maintenance during my last water change which included cleaning all of the probes and the heater. I have a lot of sponges in the back chambers that like to decorate everything. I even found a pineapple sponge right on the end of my salinity probe!

Is there a way to put it back? ;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious

I think you can jus drop it in the water, they seem to be indestructible

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I think you can jus drop it in the water, they seem to be indestructible

I'm pretty sure this is true. Funny thing is that I knew the probe was really sensitive to variations in flow but still was surprised by the change in reading after cleaning the sponges off it. Apex apparently needs to provide salinity probes with pineapple sponges growing on them! ;Hilarious

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Decided to try something new in my war on pH. I added an air pump to the input of the CO2 scrubber.

A couple things:

1) My skimmer is skimming! Seems it needed a bit more air to get the bubbles going. Nice bonus.

2) I'm ripping through CO2 media. In just one day their were bands of purple through the media. At this rate it might be exhausted within a week! That's not very cost effective. But I can't say I wasn't warned that this might happen.

3) Still not getting the dramatic results that some people get. There really isn't anything as effective as opening a window. Too bad I live in a place where leaving windows open isn't practical year round.

I'd really like to keep the pH from kissing 7.6 each night. The experiments will continue. I nearly pulled the trigger on the PLS-50 skimmer a couple days ago but the PayPal link on Mode Aquariums site wasn't working. What the heck, people!

 

[cwerner]

This was a great thread to read through, I've got an IM 50 Gallon Nuvo on a truck headed to my location as we speak.

I didn't see it mentioned, so I'm guessing not, but have you attempted to use biopellets in the IM Media Reactor coupled with a skimmer as a nutrient export solution? I've thought of trying to carbon dose as well and then depend on my Tunze 9004 that I have in the mail since that seems to be a big upgrade from the IM skimmer.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

This was a great thread to read through, I've got an IM 50 Gallon Nuvo on a truck headed to my location as we speak.

I didn't see it mentioned, so I'm guessing not, but have you attempted to use biopellets in the IM Media Reactor coupled with a skimmer as a nutrient export solution? I've thought of trying to carbon dose as well and then depend on my Tunze 9004 that I have in the mail since that seems to be a big upgrade from the IM skimmer.

Thanks for following along. Can't wait to see what you think of the Nuvo Fusion 2. They've made some nice improvements on what was already a great tank!

I haven't tried biopellets in the IM reactor although I seem to recall running across someone on YouTube who was. I have been carbon dosing Tropic Marine Elimi-NP by hand every morning for a few months and was actually just in the process of weaning my system off it since I wasn't seeing much in the way of results (and blame my skimmer for that). I think once I upgrade the skimmer I'll give carbon dosing a try again. Biopellets are certainly appealing as a bit more of a set and forget solution.

The Tunze is a really nice skimmer, I just wish it didn't have to go into the first chamber (it seems like almost every skimmer worth a crap needs another 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch). It's really quiet and does a nice job.

 

[TheWB]

Decided to try something new in my war on pH. I added an air pump to the input of the CO2 scrubber.

A couple things:

1) My skimmer is skimming! Seems it needed a bit more air to get the bubbles going. Nice bonus.

2) I'm ripping through CO2 media. In just one day their were bands of purple through the media. At this rate it might be exhausted within a week! That's not very cost effective. But I can't say I wasn't warned that this might happen.

3) Still not getting the dramatic results that some people get. There really isn't anything as effective as opening a window. Too bad I live in a place where leaving windows open isn't practical year round.

I'd really like to keep the pH from kissing 7.6 each night. The experiments will continue. I nearly pulled the trigger on the PLS-50 skimmer a couple days ago but the PayPal link on Mode Aquariums site wasn't working. What the heck, people!

That’s weird you couldn’t get the skimmer. I’m super happy with mine even with all the problems I had with the shipping and breakage. Make it happen.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

That’s weird you couldn’t get the skimmer. I’m super happy with mine even with all the problems I had with the shipping and breakage. Make it happen.

Sent them an email (not holding my breath lol) and asked my sister to message them on Facebook. I try to avoid using my cc directly anywhere when I can use PayPal but I might cave this time. Seems like so many of the things I'd like to improve about the tank come back to the skimmer as the point of failure. Time to fix it!

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

A few updates.

1) Got out the cc and ordered the PLS-50. No matter how much I let myself run in circles, this looks like the best skimmer sized for the accessory chamber of the tank.

2) So much for weaning my tank off the carbon dosing. Looks like it actually was working. This is what happens every time I slack on testing. I get a good kick in the butt and reminded why testing is important while your tank is still maturing. I missed testing last week because...probably lazy...and now find as I'm coming up on my last week of ramping down carbon dosing that nitrate and phosphate have taken off for the moon again. Given that nothing else in my care of the tank has changed, it looks like we'll be ramping up again. Darnit, I was looking forward to removing that step from my morning routine. I'm betting this is why one of my montis has decided it hates life.

3) Speaking of testing, my alk has started falling. Might be time to investigate kalk? Would help that pH problem as well.

4) And speaking of pH, I think I'm wearing out my bathroom exhaust fan in my quest to keep pH up. Love that contractor grade crap. I really should recalibrate the pH probe, too. I've been doing sanity checks with my Hanna and it might be drifting a bit. Sounds like a job for tomorrow.

 

[cwerner]

Between the carbon dosing and possibly kalkwasser or maybe two part maybe it's worth it to get an automatic doser? The jebaeo or a couple kamoer pumps arent TOO expensive and might make dosing more consistent?

I think that skimmer ought to be a nice upgrade. All the reviews I've been reading said that the PLS-50 or the Tunze were the best performing skimmers of this size.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Between the carbon dosing and possibly kalkwasser or maybe two part maybe it's worth it to get an automatic doser? The jebaeo or a couple kamoer pumps arent TOO expensive and might make dosing more consistent?

I think that skimmer ought to be a nice upgrade. All the reviews I've been reading said that the PLS-50 or the Tunze were the best performing skimmers of this size.

Funny you should say that, I just started looking around for a dosing pump. Sometimes I wish there weren't so many choices. It only took a few months to finally make a decision on upgrading the skimmer. I wonder how long this will take? Probably until I truly get sick of dosing manually! ;Hilarious

 

[cwerner]

Funny you should say that, I just started looking around for a dosing pump. Sometimes I wish there weren't so many choices. It only took a few months to finally make a decision on upgrading the skimmer. I wonder how long this will take? Probably until I truly get sick of dosing manually! ;Hilarious

Once I've had a chance to use my red sea reef doser I'll let you know how I like it.