Home Office IM Abyss Drop Off Panorama

[crabgrass]

Current Tank (10/7/2023)

Background
After wanting to do this for years and a lot of research, I pulled the trigger on building my first salwater tank. Due to space and other factors I decided to start small, and found used IM Abyss Drop Off Panorma on Craigslist, which also included AI Prime 16 HD, 2 Powerheads, skimmer and a Pump for $275 + some accessories. I pulled the trigger and then started filling in other components.

This seemed like a great deal. Of course I didn't realize that was the cheap part

My plan started with building a basic budget tank. After more research and also thinking about my own work and life requirements, that goal shifted to building some automation/redundancy built into it + simple and clean. The objective was to stock it with:

• 3 Fish
• 10-13 CUC
• 15 - 30 Soft & LPS Coral

When building, i was inspired by this AOI build - so I've tried to mimic at least some of the initial setup selections to start.

10/7/2023 Updates

• Between April 2022 - March 2023 things went very well - added 3 fish, half dozen coral. Some Coralline started to form, but never took over
• March 2023 I was infested in Bubble Algea. I aggressively dosed Vibrant (bad) to get rid of it. Bubble algea were eradicated, however I opened the gates to a swarm of other issues
• April/May '23 - Cyano started to form. I was slow to respond (some manual removal, but not aggressive). CUC started to slowly die off (maybe poisoned form algea. I also had a Nem sneak in that I suspect was klling them off)
• May-July '23 - Lots of work travel, WC on tank slowed down. Pet sitter overfed tank greatly. GHA + Cyano took exploded
• Aug '23 - GHA/Cyano smothered out the Coral. All Coral RIP. Fish were fine.
• Sep '23 - Aggressive Manual removal Algae. Dosed a bunch of Elixers the first half of the month. Mid-month, opted to do a rip clean and took everything apart.
• Post rip clean, things started to recover. All of the GHA and Cyano appeared to have died off. There is some new green growth on the rocks. Unclear if that is green algae or Coralline, although not stressing about it at this point
• Overall parameters are stabilizing. Phosphate on my LR Hanna tester is reporting as 0. I suspect its not completely bottomed out (currently), but also know its not a good spot and taking some actions to elevate it

Equipment (updated)
⦁ Tank - IM Nuvo Concept Abyss Drop Off Panorama (20 gal) - Used
⦁ Light - AI Prime 16 HD - Used; AI Hydra 32 HD (Using Pennywise Deadlights @ 50%)
⦁ Diffuser for AI Hydra
⦁ Light Mount - AI HMS Single Arm
⦁ Heaters - 2x ENHEIM Jager 75W (for redundancy)
⦁ Heater Controller - Inkbird Wifi ITC 308 (1 heater connected to it)
⦁ Skimmer - IM NUVOSkim DC Desktop - Used; IceCap K1
⦁ Pumps - Sicce Micra Plus 158 gph (1 for each return nozzle / redundancy / 316 gph total)
⦁ Wavemakers - 2 x Aqamai KPS WiFi Pumps
⦁ 2x Random Flow Generator (VCAs w/ IM Adapters)
⦁ UV - IM Desktop UV
⦁ Doser - 2x Kamoer X1 Bluetooth
⦁ Floss Holder -IM Caddy; IM Custom Caddy Media Basket (Floss, Matrix, Carbon, Purigen)
⦁ Rock - Carib Sea South Sea Base Rock + Other LFS Dry Rock - 25-27 /lbs
⦁ ATO - AutoAqua Smart ATO w/AutoAqua smart sensor (2.5 gallon rez inside stand)
⦁ Innovative Marine ChaetoMax Refugium LED Light
⦁ inTank Fuge Basket for Innovative Marine Fusion (had to modify to fit)
⦁ Salt - Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Reef Salt (Switching to TM Pro)
⦁ Power - 2x TP Link Kasa WiFi Power Strips
⦁ Cable raceways (for wire management)

Stocking (updated)
- CUC 5 Florida Cerith, 3 Turbo Snails, 2 Scarlet Hermits (Replenished stock in Sep '23)
- Tuxedo Urchin (Sep '23)
- Royal Gramma (4/27/22)
- Fire Cleaner Shrimp (4/28)
- 2x Clowns (5/1/22)
- Xenia (5/1/22) (Removed Summer '22)
- Duncan (5/1/22) (GHA / Cyano)
- Frogspawn (June '23) (GHA / Cyano '23)
- Frammer (June '23) (GHA / Cyano '23)
- Candycane (June '23) (GHA / Cyano '23)
- Favia (July '23) (GHA/Cyano '23)
- Zoas (June/July '23) (Melted in Tank in Summer - Fall '22 - Never took off. Lighting / Parameters?)

- Florida Ricordea / Orange - 9/18/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Rhodactis / Orange - 9/18/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- 3x Zoas (Superman, Darth Vader, Rainbow) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Watermelon Chalice- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Aussie Jacko Lepto- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Indo Branching Octospawn- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Montipora (Purple Haze) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Blasto (Purple Ring) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Blasto (Orange/Green) - 9/23/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Acan Enchinata (Nuclear Storm) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Branching Hammer (Aussie Green) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Cyphastrea (Brown/Red) - 9/23/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Cyphastrea (Pink Lemonade) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Nuclear Acid Wash BTA - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Favia - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)


Initial Setup Shots
Here are the original build photos:

 

[crabgrass]

The original plan was to have about 15-17lbs of rock + 20lbs of live sand. I outsourced the rock aquascaping to my wife, and we both agreed we like the idea of just a glass bottom. It might be lower maintenance for us down the road too. So I ran out to get another 7-8 lbs of dry dry from LFS store and finished it off (25-27 lbs total). Added distilled water and salt over the weekend, and started dialing in Temp + Salinity.

I was going to cycle it with the Red Sea Mature kit, but I am waiting on a replacement part of my skimmer.. so instead I will kick it off with some Dr. Tim's ammonia, and wait a week or two for the part to come in. Once it arrives (and ammonia levels are <= 1-ish), I'll start the Red Sea Mature cycle protocol.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Awesome tank! Looking forward to progress

 

[cdw79]

Congrats on starting your first tank! The scape looks really natural, you did a great job.

For what it's worth, this is the first build thread I've seen in its early stages, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes for you! Wishing I was a little more bold and made one back when I started my reef a few months ago haha

 

[kados]

This looks really cool. Congrats on this build. Very nice work

 

[crabgrass]

Earlier in the week, kick-started the cycle with some Dr. Tims Ammonia and One and only.

Got the remaining equipment setup yesterday (skimmer, UV light, doser, etc.), along with getting the Red Sea Mature kit.

I started the Red Sea Mature kit program today. I am going to try and follow the program by the book. This would have me adding CUC next week and a herbervous fish (I am going with a Tailspot Blenny) in about 2 weeks. Obviously I will call an audible if the ammonia and Nitrite levels are not at safe levels).

While the tank is cycling, I will not be running the UV sanitizer light, and I took out the floss filters. I will be running the skimmer (since I will be dosing NOPOX during the 21 day program). I will also be running my light 10 hours a day.

In my media basket, I have two bags of Seachem Matrix (totaling half a container / ~125 mL). Might be overkill - however I am not using any substrate.

I am debating if I can add Chaeto to my fuge at the same time as I add the CUC. At that point, I shouldn't worried about Ammonia levels, and then its really just working down Nitrates to a manageable level. If I do, the NOPOX supplementation from Red Sea Kit may need to be adjusted and managed as well (or possible not used).

 

[crabgrass]

Currently on Day 8 of Red Sea Mature program. On Day 3, I added a small live rock from my LFS store (to add some coralline algae + bacteria).

Temp - 79.5
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia/Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40
PH - 8.5
Alk - 9.7

No major algae blooms yet - although skimmer is picking up some organic material.

I ordered CUC and Chaeto from @reefcleaners , and will arrive on Tuesday (a few days behind where the Red Sea program has it at). It consists of:
5 Florida Cerith
5 Trochus Snails
2 Scarlet Hermits
1 Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp

Depending of the level of algae in tank on Tuesday, I may drop in some algae pellets for CUC for a few days until I add some other livestock.

Assuming cycle continues to proceed OK, I will be adding a Tailspot Blenny next Sunday (a week from now).

 

[crabgrass]

Tank parameters remained stable, outside of Nitrate (25-50).

Added some livestock this week.

Last weekend
============
- added CUC (above), from reef cleaners made it, outside of the cleaner shrimp (was DOA, and received a prompt refund)

- added fire shrimp from LFS. Immediate disappeared into the rock scape within 2 second. Did not see any evidence that he was alive. 2 days later I found what I thought was a half eaten remains .. and thought I was out 50 bucks. Then today (almost a week later), he emerged when I was feeding. Quite a Shock ! I guess he molted .

- added 3 fish. Which might be pushing it, given the newness of the tank.
1) Royal Gramma - added Wednesday. Scared the first day, and hid. Quickly came out of hidinf and enjoying tank.
2). 2x clowns (Today). Scared / exploring at this point. Gramma is trying to be social with them.

- Dropped a Xenia and Duncan frags into tank. Mostly to test water. Duncan opened up almost immediately after a drip, which I was surprised about

Assuming clowns make it, I will be holding off adding anymore fish. If I would add anymore, it will be a wrass and i will wait until June Or July, and tank is established and fish can hold their own.

Will add 3-4 more coral next week, if nitrates continue to drop to acceptable range.

 

[bnord]

The original plan was to have about 15-17lbs of rock + 20lbs of live sand. I outsourced the rock aquascaping to my wife, and we both agreed we like the idea of just a glass bottom. It might be lower maintenance for us down the road too. So I ran out to get another 7-8 lbs of dry dry from LFS store and finished it off (25-27 lbs total). Added distilled water and salt over the weekend, and started dialing in Temp + Salinity.

I was going to cycle it with the Red Sea Mature kit, but I am waiting on a replacement part of my skimmer.. so instead I will kick it off with some Dr. Tim's ammonia, and wait a week or two for the part to come in. Once it arrives (and ammonia levels are <= 1-ish), I'll start the Red Sea Mature cycle protocol.

love almost any drop off tank and you have made a good depiction to allow your wife to do the scaping, as it looks great

 

[bnord]

Tank parameters remained stable, outside of Nitrate (25-50).

Added some livestock this week.

Last weekend
============
- added CUC (above), from reef cleaners made it, outside of the cleaner shrimp (was DOA, and received a prompt refund)

- added fire shrimp from LFS. Immediate disappeared into the rock scape within 2 second. Did not see any evidence that he was alive. 2 days later I found what I thought was a half eaten remains .. and thought I was out 50 bucks. Then today (almost a week later), he emerged when I was feeding. Quite a Shock ! I guess he molted .

- added 3 fish. Which might be pushing it, given the newness of the tank.
1) Royal Gramma - added Wednesday. Scared the first day, and hid. Quickly came out of hidinf and enjoying tank.
2). 2x clowns (Today). Scared / exploring at this point. Gramma is trying to be social with them.

- Dropped a Xenia and Duncan frags into tank. Mostly to test water. Duncan opened up almost immediately after a drip, which I was surprised about

Assuming clowns make it, I will be holding off adding anymore fish. If I would add anymore, it will be a wrass and i will wait until June Or July, and tank is established and fish can hold their own.

Will add 3-4 more coral next week, if nitrates continue to drop to acceptable range.

slow and steady wins the race

 

[crabgrass]

Updates for the week -

Parameters / Observations
=========
Temp - 79 - 79.5
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia/Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 25-50
Alk - 8.9

Observed Minor algae growth

Fish/CUC
=======
- Fish (1 Gramma, 2 Clowns) are doing great. Gramma rules the roost right now, but the clowns are slowly exploring the rest of the tank. Gramma bosses the other two around. Clowns are bonded and stick together.
- Fire Shrimp is much more active, although still spends majority of daytime hidden behind rocks
- Rest of CUC seems healthy active - although I only see hermits every other day. I am assuming they are hidden in rocks

Corals
=====
- Xenia - growing like a weed (probably loves the Nitrates right now). I have a feeling i will regret adding it in a few months, lol.
- Duncan - Very inconsistent. Yesterday, it was fully open, but day before it was closed. Today it is half open. My assumption is that there are parameter fluctuations throughout the day that I am not aware of + Nitrates that are throwing it off. Maybe water Temp too?

The corals above are my "testers". I am not going to add anymore until Duncan is consistent and I get Nitrates under control.

Action Plan (open to suggestions)
=========
1) Added ChemiPure Elite + Purigen Media (Monday)
2) Continue with weekly 10% water changes (I did a big 25% water change last week)
3) Continue dosing NOPOX
4) Started dosing TM All-for-reef (will be watching ALK)
5) I've added Vibrant the last 2 weeks - will do one more dose this weekend (after water change) to potentially keep ugly phase in check (we'll see if that works, or just delays process)
6) Adding Chaeto to my fuge next week

 

[trsmith18]

Need some pics for this update, love the "drop-off" concept, but always worried about sand and flow in the lower section

 

[JumboShrimp]

What an excellent project! Take your time on fish selection... no impulse buys... get what you really want long-term. Best wishes!

 

[crabgrass]

Adding some photos (using white lighting, just to capture details for photo). Duncan is about a third of the way open today as it was yesterday (not sure why).

Two notes (edits):
- I still need to swap out the one pump nozel for new RFG . Looks funny in these pics
- Need to clean outside of glass. Water is pretty clear, but outside of tank needs some cleanup

 

[crabgrass]

What an excellent project! Take your time on fish selection... no impulse buys... get what you really want long-term. Best wishes!

Thanks. For this size of tank, I feel like 3 is solid. My objective is to try and fill it out with Corals, but that is going to take a lot more time)

 

[crabgrass]

Need some pics for this update, love the "drop-off" concept, but always worried about sand and flow in the lower section

Added. No sand (intentionally) for that purpose. There is a deadspot on the back right spot of my tank (I can see dust/debri accumulate there). I may move wavemaker down a little bit on that side to see if it will add some more flow to that side.

Given how it was scaped, I am not sure what all I can do at this point w/o removing some rock or putting a third wavemaker in (neither of which I won't do).

 

[crabgrass]

18 Month Update:

June ’22 – Feb ’23 – Slowly added some Coral, Tank Parameters stable everything good. WC every 2 weeks

Feb ’23 – May ’23 – Started getting lazy and moved WC to 3-4 weeks.

• Parameters retained OK, Nitrates drifted up
• Corals / Fish remained visually healthy
• Bubble Algae Outbreak - Treated with Vibrant (probably lead to Cyano and eventually GHA)
• Noted that some CUC started randomly dying ** See note below, i believe a Hitchiker/Nem was picking them off**
• Noticed some Cyano growing, misdiagnosed it as Correline algae initially
• Some GHA started to form

May ’23 – July ’23- FEEDING THE FIRE – Lapse in maintenance & Overfeeding

• Water changes dropped to once a month (heavy travel for work)
• Pet sitter WAY overfed flakes into take
• GHA skyrocketed
• Cyano skyrocketed (covered everything)
• More crustaceans started to die

August ’23 – BATTLE LOST - Poor attempt to Fight back.

• Siphoned GHA Weekly
• Back to Weekly water changes
• GHA/Cyno re-populate almost immediately

First Week in September ’23 – ADMITTED DEFEAT - GHA/Cyano win. All Coral covered, and smoked out. Rocks covered in GHA / Cyano

• All Coral Dead
• All Fish alive/active (the actually seemed to enjoy the GHA and would lay in it)

** This weekend, I discovered some sort of Nem was discovered on the bottom of a rock I introduced. Based on another thread, we think it was likely killing off CUC


My observations:

• Got way to lazy with WC / maintenance activities Between Feb - August. By the time I started getting serious the process the battle was lost. Possibly could have kept it at bay back in April/May
• CUC slowly got killed off, and could not keep up with GHA
• Way too much rock which preventing efficient cleaning over time sub-optimal water flow
• IM Skimmer performance was significantly degraded over time.

Action Plan (in progress)

• Daily dosing of Microbac Clean + Razor (per instructions). Goal is to loosten up agae for easier removal
• Vacuuming GHA every 2 days (next 2 weeks, or until GHA is gone) - in progress
  • Will take toothbrush to rocks for really stuck on algea
• Replaced IM Skimmer with IceCap K1 - Complete
• 20% Water changes every 2-3 Days (for next 2 weeks, or until N levels are stabilized)
• Restocked 3x Turbo Snails - Complete
• Re-configuring rockscape (reducing # of rocks, moving rocks away from glass) - in progress
• Reduced lighting to 40%, removing Reds and Greens completely (next 8+ weeks)
• If Cyno doesn’t get under control, will consider dose of Chemiclean
• Feeding Schedule will only be frozen shrimp (no flakes)

Objective is to eradicate all GHA and Cyno over the next 2 weeks. Then stabilized N/Po for 8+ weeks before attempting to introduce any new Coral.

 

[crabgrass]

Tank as of 9/11. Rock configuration at the bottom right is mostly done. Will work on moving some of the rocks on the left away from glass. Addressing this as we vacuum out the GHA.

 

[crabgrass]

9/23 Update

- EOD Water changes and incremental cleaning from beginning of September
- Finished dosing clean/Razor last week. Limited results
- Cyano continued to regenerate daily, so did two doses of chemi-clean
- Rip Clean last Sunday and soaked all rocks in hydrogen peroxide mix for 5 mins (used opportunity to rearrange rock formation).

Cyano is gone. GHA seems to be stunted - however lots of green still.

Added an Urchin and some cured live rock to help push some coralline throughout the tank. Added a couple of LPS back in as well.

Fish are healthy and active.

Parameters Today:

- N (HR): 1.4 (previously 0.1)
- P (LR): .19 (previously 0)

My guess is both are increasing as some of the GHA dies off.

 

[crabgrass]

10/7 Update:

• Working through remediation plan. Algae / Cyano - Dead after rip clean.
• Parameters look like they are normalizing (although P is 0 on Hanna LR). Working on that

Added new livestock (some mid-Sep, most today):

- Florida Ricordea / Orange - 9/18/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Rhodactis / Orange - 9/18/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- 3x Zoas (Superman, Darth Vader, Rainbow) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Watermelon Chalice- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Aussie Jacko Lepto- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Indo Branching Octospawn- 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Montipora (Purple Haze) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Blasto (Purple Ring) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Blasto (Orange/Green) - 9/23/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Acan Enchinata (Nuclear Storm) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Branching Hammer (Aussie Green) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Cyphastrea (Brown/Red) - 9/23/23 (House of Tropics, LFS)
- Cyphastrea (Pink Lemonade) - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Nuclear Acid Wash BTA - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)
- Favia - 10/7/23 (Aqua SD)