Blopple's (first ever) IM 40L AIO Build

[Budman93]

Great tank! Have the 40IM but in a cube size. which I am also setting up now like you. And yes the RODI system is an absolute lifesaver. Wouldnt bother setting up a tank without one especially since like you I live on a higher floor in an apartment. Just make sure you check how new the cartridges are and if any need replacing. I had one from 5 years ago that I just bought the replacements for. Sometimes a LFS will carry them too so you might be able to save on shipping costs. Do you have an easy setup for it in your apartment? I had to learn DIY plumbing on the fly and eventually figured out how to set mine up under the kitchen sink.

I've had three tank setups the last 20 years and adding an ATO this time around has easily been the best thing i've done. You definitely wont be disappointed. I try to not totally fill up the reservoir just incase something breaks and it overflows. As for the filter socks I kind of hate them. Will probably replace it with something down the line.

For livestock I'm also not a huge fan of clownfish. Kind of plain at this point and am thinking about going in another direction Right now I'm looking to get a mated pair of Pygmy whitespot filefish as my centerpiece fish when they get restocked in a few weeks. Then maybe 1-2 bangaii cardinals and maybe a goby/shrimp pair.

Following!

 

[RageTM]

Following, excited to see this grow! Trying to get an idea for my scape and I really like how you have done yours. While I haven't had anything yet, I was also against the idea of clownfish just because of how much they are done, but I really liked some I saw in person. Most of your livestock I was thinking, so eager to see how it goes for you.

 

[Blopple]

Just finished up with first week of new job, and still unpacking, so haven't had tons of time to reply. Tank is progressing well. Ammonia is down to about 1 from 2. Nitrites are still spiking, and I finally have some low nitrates. I'm hoping another week and a half or so.

Have a few days off here so I'm hoping to get the ATO setup (the evap is CRAZY, I've gone through almost 2g so far I think), the cabinet a bit more organized, and get the lights figured out so when it's fish/coral time I don't have any more hurdles to... well hurdle.

@trophyhimbo The rock unfortunately isn't seasoned at all. It is basically just painted purple and 'spored' with bacteria. It's caribsea liferock. Looks nice, but is a little pricier, and is maybe cheating a little bit on appearance hahaha. I am slightly concerned that I don't have quite enough rock in there. I think I ended up with about 35lbs in the tank.

@Budman93 Yea, I was planning on having the RODI before I even get everything setup, but having trouble getting in touch with the guy I was trying to buy for. He said the cartridges were pretty new and that he even had new spares he would include. If I don't hear in a week or so I am gonna have to go new I think. No super easy setup, but I have a spare shower/sink, so I figured I would just do it there.

As far as the ATO I haven't gotten it setup yet, but I was thinking of going with a much smaller reservoir. Sure, I'll have to refill it more, but if it malfunctions at least it's only adding 1/2g which the tank can handle instead of a larger volume. Great minds! Also, I love filefish, but I am always hearing that they eat coral which makes it tough for me. Haven't looked into the Pygmy Whitespot though.

@RageTM Thanks for the scape compliment. It's always nice to hear another positive opinion as I am still not totally convinced with it. I considered doing a wrasse tank as I had seen another thread brainstorming about it, but the size is a bit limiting, so I think that might have to wait for a future build.

 

[Blopple]

Progress update. Tank finished initial cycle, woohoo!

Drove around and visited a few different LFS. Ended up grabbing two clowns. They are TINY. I intentionally chose small ones so I could watch them grow. The darker one is a bit bigger than the lighter one. After I had decided I -WAS- going to do clowns I had settled on doing just normal ocellaris, unfortunately all of the normal ocellaris were giant which I didn't want, and these ones sort of grew on me. Not entirely sure what specific variation they are, an ID would be appreciated. (Davinci is my best guess?)

I floated 'em, and ended up drip acclimating them in a well cleaned/RODI rinsed large pyrex bowl. Note to self: purchase a more appropriate acclimation container. They're both active and eating both flakes and gut-loaded brine. They seem to hang out together most of the time. I've noticed a few small nips from the bigger to smaller, but hopefully they're just sorting themselves out.


In other news the shop had pre-paired goby/pistol pairs which will be nice later on. They also had the coolest midas blenny and BEAUTIFUL! Swimming around, laying in the rocks, just being goofy. I had to stop myself from buying it then and there, but after seeing it a midas is a must-have for me now.

I also finally got around to organizing the cabinet and doing some basic cable management. Far from perfect, but at least I know what's going where and what's plugged into what now. I'm still putting off setting up the ATO, but I'll probably try to knock that out this weekend. I've also elected to turn on the lights. I've got a ramp up and down and they are peaking at 20%. I was going to leave them off for another few weeks, but I've seen a lot of people saying that keeping them off is really just delaying the inevitable uglies and I might as well get it out of the way.


???? New questions
1. Should I turn the lights back off. Will 4 months of no light really make that big of a difference? Is it worth it?
2. Provided everything remains stable I'm planning on another fish in a week or two (likely along with a few snails/hermits if algae is popping up). Any issues with goby/pistol next?
3. When should I do some basic (and cheap!) starter corals? I've got the lights going, so I'm not entirely sure what else I am waiting for?

 

[JoJosReef]

Awesome clowns! The dominant (bigger) one will always nip at the smaller one. Watch for the smaller one to do a courtship dance. Basically looks like a seizure when the bigger one gets nippy. The bigger one will become the female... And a pig. It's fun to see.

I personally would start adding corals and macroalgae right away. More things to suck up the nutrients! What kind of corals appeal to you?

 

[Blopple]

Awesome clowns! The dominant (bigger) one will always nip at the smaller one. Watch for the smaller one to do a courtship dance. Basically looks like a seizure when the bigger one gets nippy. The bigger one will become the female... And a pig. It's fun to see.

I personally would start adding corals and macroalgae right away. More things to suck up the nutrients! What kind of corals appeal to you?

Thanks! I was a little surprised that they spend all their time together already. I thought they might take a few days to figure it out, but it was literally instant. I think they've got a pecking order already, but no courtship or anything yet. I'll keep my eyes peeled!

Right away, cool! I like that answer haha. I'll probably go grab a couple frags this weekend then. Will probably start with some cheap zoas, GSP, and either a mushroom or a toadstool.

Really love firework cloves, but they're a little spendier so I'll make sure stuff survives first.

Lots of LPS I like as well, but I want to experience a little growth on the softies before I try. Duncans, frogspawn, torches, chalices, trachys, and gonis are all gorgeous. I've heard torches and gonis can be pretty tough though, so I'll definitely leave those for later.

I wouldn't be against trying some plating montipora later on for some variety, but I do plan on sticking mostly with softies/LPS. We did mention clams later on too hahaha.

There's just too much cool stuff. I'm gonna run out of space, I can feel it.

 

[Blopple]

Always something going on with the tank and this weekend is no exception! New fish, FIRST inverts, FIRST corals!

Clowns are doing fantastic, water is holding, so I elected to add another fish. Had planned on doing goby/shrimp, but LFS only had YWG and I decided to hold out for a yasha or high fin. SoooooOOO, I got the Midas Blenny I was enamored with last time. They actually had gotten in two other during the week that were cheaper than the one I liked so they offered to price match to them. Saved 25 bucks right there! I'm slightly concerned about aggression later since he's so big, but LFS said it should be fine, and internet says most of them are pretty relaxed.

Floated, dripped, he turned completely brown/stripey/rotten banana on me. The change was dramatic. Also almost yeeted himself out of the acclimation container when I was trying to net him. Got him in the tank, he found a hidey hole and I've only seen his head and tail since. Color looks a little better, but still drab. He gets very tempted at feeding time and will come most of the way out of the hole, but then darts back in. I'm sure he'll be fine in no time. His little face and antenna are too cute.

Also decided to add two blue leg hermits to help with the increased feeding. Got a bottle of tigger pods as well and can see them jumping around all over the place when the flow is off.

With the lights running, and per JoJo's advice I went and got some coral as well. Like an hour ago. Got a cool orange rhodactis, a GSP frag, some cloves, and a zoa frag that had two cool contrasting ones on it. Dipped in revive, placed in tank and everything is happy/opening except the GSP seems to be lagging behind. Like the blenny though - time.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Woo corals!! I will not have the chance to add any until June, so I am incredibly excited for you and to follow along with how they do.

I had to play around with the flow before my firefish fully came out. At least for that guy, the AIO stock return pump's oscillating back-top-to-down-front was too oppressive at full blast (setting 2.9) so I turned it down to minimum (setting 2.1)... or perhaps it was just too loud at the max. Anyway, when I turn it back up, he darts back into his cave. Still getting a lot of water turnover from my propellers though and now mainly using the return pumps to agitate the surface.

 

[JoJosReef]

I bet that midas blenny colors up nicely once it feels at home. It's funny how they change colors so rapidly. My TSB puts on his stripes as soon as I start fiddling with the rocks, which is often these days. Shame you're not Socal! I've got a bunch of stuff I'm offloading from the Evo.

 

[Blopple]

I bet that midas blenny colors up nicely once it feels at home. It's funny how they change colors so rapidly. My TSB puts on his stripes as soon as I start fiddling with the rocks, which is often these days. Shame you're not Socal! I've got a bunch of stuff I'm offloading from the Evo.

His color looks improved already, but not quite back to baseline. He's also still not eating. Verrrrrry tempted, but not yet. Hopefully today.

Darn, yea, that would have been fun.

Surprisingly I think I'm most excited about the mushroom now that it's in the tank. Makes me want more. Also not as thrilled with the cloves as I thought I'd be. Maybe I need to move them or wait for them to adjust stalks. I feel like I see mostly stalk and the polyp is difficult to see except from straight down.

 

[JoJosReef]

His color looks improved already, but not quite back to baseline. He's also still not eating. Verrrrrry tempted, but not yet. Hopefully today.

Darn, yea, that would have been fun.

Surprisingly I think I'm most excited about the mushroom now that it's in the tank. Makes me want more. Also not as thrilled with the cloves as I thought I'd be. Maybe I need to move them or wait for them to adjust stalks. I feel like I see mostly stalk and the polyp is difficult to see except from straight down.

The cloves need some time to fill in and look nice. They look a bit sad when they're just alone on a frag plug. They can really start to spread if you're not careful though, but not as invasive as Xenia or GSP.

I think they look best when they are mixed in with something that is also a strong grower and half-height, like some of the larger palys. This is the rock that my cloves were originally glued to (they spread up to the rock in the pic above, but this rock broke off in the transfer):

Kind of sad-looking since only 3 stalks are left on that rock, but they were originally put next to these tall-growing cinnamon apple palys (aka. pandoras, aka. fairy dust) and the nuclear green palys. All three are aggressive growers (took out my smaller zoas) but they look good as a mixed colony. The RFA keeps any of them from traveling off of that side of the rock!

I don't have good luck with shrooms, so don't take any advice from me!

 

[Blopple]

The cloves need some time to fill in and look nice. They look a bit sad when they're just alone on a frag plug. They can really start to spread if you're not careful though, but not as invasive as Xenia or GSP.

I think they look best when they are mixed in with something that is also a strong grower and half-height, like some of the larger palys. This is the rock that my cloves were originally glued to (they spread up to the rock in the pic above, but this rock broke off in the transfer):

Kind of sad-looking since only 3 stalks are left on that rock, but they were originally put next to these tall-growing cinnamon apple palys (aka. pandoras, aka. fairy dust) and the nuclear green palys. All three are aggressive growers (took out my smaller zoas) but they look good as a mixed colony. The RFA keeps any of them from traveling off of that side of the rock!

I don't have good luck with shrooms, so don't take any advice from me!

Yea the stalk just doesn't look quite right. I feel like I want to move mine lower that way I see more polyp and less stalk.

Also ended up getting a small RFA and a finger leather frag today. Was looking for a leather and a ricordea mushroom, but the RFAs were so nice and there wasn't anything too striking ricordea wise, so here we are.

I turned the flow off for a half hour or so and set the RFA on the sand. Opened up well, but when I turned the flow back on it started to blow away. Do I need to place it ON the rock? Most of the ones I have seen were just lying on the sand.

 

[JoJosReef]

Yea the stalk just doesn't look quite right. I feel like I want to move mine lower that way I see more polyp and less stalk.

Also ended up getting a small RFA and a finger leather frag today. Was looking for a leather and a ricordea mushroom, but the RFAs were so nice and there wasn't anything too striking ricordea wise, so here we are.

I turned the flow off for a half hour or so and set the RFA on the sand. Opened up well, but when I turned the flow back on it started to blow away. Do I need to place it ON the rock? Most of the ones I have seen were just lying on the sand.

For directly in the sand, it's best to put them in a pvc cap or get them attached to a smaller rock you can push into the sand. Otherwise, best place in my experience is on the sand right at the edge of a rock. They will grab the rock and scoot their foot downwards into the sand. If they happen to be a rock lover or want higher light, they will climb up. Mind of their own!

But, turning the flow in before they start to settle themselves will turn them into tumbleweed.

 

[Blopple]

For directly in the sand, it's best to put them in a pvc cap or get them attached to a smaller rock you can push into the sand. Otherwise, best place in my experience is on the sand right at the edge of a rock. They will grab the rock and scoot their foot downwards into the sand. If they happen to be a rock lover or want higher light, they will climb up. Mind of their own!

But, turning the flow in before they start to settle themselves will turn them into tumbleweed.

After recovering from almost blowing away I put it on the sand right near the rock. Woke up this morning and it has definitely snuggled itself down into the sand pretty well. A little more closed up, but definitely won't blow away now.

Everything seems to be doing okay. My biggest concern is the Midas Blenny still hasn't really eaten anything. Color is way better, he's got 3 main hiding spots, and I've seen him swim a quick lap and explore a bit. Just seems jumpy still. He swam out for a piece of food earlier, but a clown got too close (eating it's own food) and he bailed and swam back to the cave. That said I have seen the clowns run from him as well. Blenny still looking pretty chunky, but I'm getting mildly concerned about the not eating.

 

[Blopple]

Updates!

Finally got the spreadsheet updated, which was painful. Aside from a skimmer and livestock there shouldn't be any more significant purchases for a while.

RODI is finally in my apartment, but I haven't gotten around to setting it up. Same with the ATO. I add ~1L a day by hand and my salinity is pretty stable, so I'm not in a huge rush honestly with the ATO. Will try to have the RODI up and running before I have to buy anymore RO water. Did the first water change on the system. Just 5g, but it all went smooth except for me spilling some saltwater on a chair that I was using as a table.

Added a bunch of locally cultured 'galaxy pods' to help with algae as well as 4 snails and a conch. Really only seeing a smattering of diatoms still, but want to try and stay ahead of or on top of it. The conch is a blast to watch.

All three fish are doing wonderfully now. Blenny has his color back and enjoys coming out to swim laps with the clownfish and beg for food, still love his little antennae. Clowns are great. Bigger one is picking on the smaller a bit more, but nothing to violent. Must be getting ready to go female.


Corals are doing well. GSP is fully open and seems to be getting 'bushier'. Rhodactis is slowly moving off of his frag rock and onto my scape, definitely opening wider than it did initially. Clove polyps are great. Zoas are okay. The frag has two colors, and the blue ones seem to open less than the green ones, but they're getting better. Also had to glue it down to the scape because some large fish that lives nearby in a cave directly behind them kept knocking them off into the sand. RFA is opening wider, good color, anchored down, and just ate a few pellets this morning. Green finger leather is doing the worst of the bunch. Originally tried to rubber band it to the rock, but the band must have been too tight and started digging in. So I undid the rubber band and now just have it balanced near the mushroom. Opens up, good polyp extension during the day, and closes at night, but one of the main branches is kinda under a rock overhang, and the main trunk is still a little chewed up from the rubberband. No emergency yet though.


May add another 1 or 2 softies today because I can't help myself, and planning on another fish next week. Aside from that I am really bracing myself for the algae invasion that I know is coming.

 

[Blopple]

Updates! Good and bad.

Corals are all seeming very happy. The finger leather is really taking off. Much more puffed up, happy, and appears to be growing some new 'shoots'. Ended up adding another frag of zoas (Tubbs Blue), a really cool looking rhodactis, and a small ricordea. Also got a small frag of pipe organ as a freebie with the other purchases, but it was on it's last legs. There were like two polyps left on the skeleton, and when I dipped it the size and variety of pests that bailed out of the old tubes was so significant that I elected to not even put it into my tank... May have to order a cool piece of pipe organ though as I do really like them.

ATO has been set up using a 5L dosing container from amazon as a reservoir. Working really well so far. Diatoms have really taken off, they're everywhere so I have beefed up my CUC. Added another 2 hermits, 2 astrea snails, 2 nassarius snails, and a cleaner shrimp. I've noticed a lot of detritus so I added more detritus cleaners than algae this time. Conch, trochus, and margaritas are still cleaning hard as ever.

BAD NEWS! I am a little worried about my female clown. She has been a little lethargic, hanging out by the overflow or the rock tower on the right side. She is still eating, but less ravenously. I did also notice 1 stringy poop, but it wasn't white. Concerned she may have some intestinal parasites, but I don't know that I feel I need to treat her yet. Keeping a close eye for the next few days. ALSO my lovely blenny has developed a small white spot on his R pectoral fin. It looks like a scrape and hasn't spread in a few days. He's active, eats everything, seems totally fine. Again, just monitoring right now, but those two are making me a little nervous.

I was planning to add another fish this week, but decided to wait until I know more about what's going on with the clown and blenny.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Updates! Good and bad.

Corals are all seeming very happy. The finger leather is really taking off. Much more puffed up, happy, and appears to be growing some new 'shoots'. Ended up adding another frag of zoas (Tubbs Blue), a really cool looking rhodactis, and a small ricordea. Also got a small frag of pipe organ as a freebie with the other purchases, but it was on it's last legs. There were like two polyps left on the skeleton, and when I dipped it the size and variety of pests that bailed out of the old tubes was so significant that I elected to not even put it into my tank... May have to order a cool piece of pipe organ though as I do really like them.

ATO has been set up using a 5L dosing container from amazon as a reservoir. Working really well so far. Diatoms have really taken off, they're everywhere so I have beefed up my CUC. Added another 2 hermits, 2 astrea snails, 2 nassarius snails, and a cleaner shrimp. I've noticed a lot of detritus so I added more detritus cleaners than algae this time. Conch, trochus, and margaritas are still cleaning hard as ever.

BAD NEWS! I am a little worried about my female clown. She has been a little lethargic, hanging out by the overflow or the rock tower on the right side. She is still eating, but less ravenously. I did also notice 1 stringy poop, but it wasn't white. Concerned she may have some intestinal parasites, but I don't know that I feel I need to treat her yet. Keeping a close eye for the next few days. ALSO my lovely blenny has developed a small white spot on his R pectoral fin. It looks like a scrape and hasn't spread in a few days. He's active, eats everything, seems totally fine. Again, just monitoring right now, but those two are making me a little nervous.

I was planning to add another fish this week, but decided to wait until I know more about what's going on with the clown and blenny.

I'm so happy your corals are doing well! Also isn't that ATO a godsend? I don't think I lasted one day before I had enough of manual top offs haha

Good luck with the fishies! Wish I could advise... How's the blenny as a fish? Am thinking of a blenny instead of a firefish if they're less skittish?

 

[Blopple]

Update time! 2 new fish, and a few new corals.

RIP clownfish. I ended up dosing prazi into the tank hoping to save her. She was dead inside of 24hrs. Still not entirely sure what happened. She just got lethargic, stopped eating, then died. No white dots, no mucous, no nothing.

The other two fish seemed happy and healthy and the blenny fin is back to normal so I decided to add some more fish. Potentially a poor choice so soon after losing the clown, but things seem okay and in all honesty I am a little impatient. The tank felt soooooooooo empty with just 1 clown and the blenny.

Ended up getting a black ocellaris to replace the deceased clown. It's much bigger than my current clown and I like the contrasting colors. Little clown took a nip at the new one and was promptly put in his place. Haven't seen any issues since.

Was planning to add a possum wrasse that I've had my eye on for a bit, but they had a blackcap basslet. Absolutely stunning and I couldn't resist. I also thought they were usually a more expensive fish, but they had it for $60 which seemed like a steal to me. It looked super healthy in the tank and I even saw it eat, but after net/bagging it was acting a little strange and laying on it's side. I imagine it was just stressed the hell out, but the LFS offered me a 5 day guarantee on it anyway, so that was nice of them. Put it in the tank and it instantly hid. I saw it a few hours later dart behind some corals. Fingers crossed that it's okay. Very cryptic so far, and I've heard even after they're settled they can be that way.

I had 1 nassarius snail randomly die. The cleaner shrimp has molted and cleans my hands when I put them in the tank. Shrimp is quickly becoming one of my favorite creatures in there, so active, and they swim so funny!

On the coral front I added some duncans and an octospawn. The softies seem to be doing well so I wanted to dial it up a notch. Duncans and octospawn are both open and happy. Pretty big colonies/frags from a local guy for a great price. They've really added a lot to the tank.

Did a 10g water change today. Nitrates were about 15 and phos 0.02. Going to continue to keep a close eye on them so they don't bottom out. Will need to start testing for ca/alk/mg as well with the LPS in there now. I really need to set up the RODI system too, but it seems like a such a big undertaking.

Future fish additions are looking like a possum wrasse, mccoskers flasher, and a high-fin/yasha/dracula goby/shrimp pair. I'd be pretty heavily stocked with that. What do you guys think? Should I skip the possum wrasse to keep it at 6 fish? I figure the possum and goby are pretty small so it might not be a problem with 7 fish.

 

[Blopple]

I'm so happy your corals are doing well! Also isn't that ATO a godsend? I don't think I lasted one day before I had enough of manual top offs haha

Good luck with the fishies! Wish I could advise... How's the blenny as a fish? Am thinking of a blenny instead of a firefish if they're less skittish?

Crap, I never saw this post, sorry! The ATO is an absolute game changer. I can't believe I waited so long. I'm sure I'm gonna say the same thing about the RODI system.

The blenny is my favorite fish. BRIGHT yellow with blue trim, swims super cool like an eel, lays all over the rocks, backs into little holes and leaves just his cute little face and antennae sticking out. He hid for about a week when I got him, but he's been out and about begging for food whenever I'm near the tank since then. I mean just look at him.

 

[JoJosReef]

Quite the ham you got there! Sorry about the clown

The blackcap will be cool. For wrasses, have you checked the wrasse lovers thread? Lots of good info there. Like flashers in a tank our size could be trouble due to their behavior. I've been recommended a leopard, pink streaks and possums, possibly certain heliocheres, but flashers and fairies generally no (some fairies a maybe).

I'm also planning to stock heavy, but trying to keep different fish in their spaces, sand gobies, cave firefish, hosted clowns, perching blenny, and a few swimming wrasses. Just got to keep the bioload in check!