I'm making this thread to get insight from more knowledgeable reefers and also document my tank's progress.
First, a bit of background info. I initially bought a cheap 40$ Fluval Evo 13.5g off Markeplace to get into freshwater aquascaping, but after some research found out it was better suited for reefing (mainly because of the light). I then decided to try out reefing as I saw people get pretty good results with the same tank.
So 3 weeks later here is the tank. I cycled it with fritz turbostart 900 and liquid Ammonia, after 5 days my parameters were all good, I did a water change to lower nitrates and added a pair of ocellaris clowns a couple days after that. The tank hasn't changed since, I got a diatom bloom 2 weeks in and turned off the lights since.
I found out the stock light was not ideal since there is no adjustability. I like to have options and so I started shopping for lights, which lead to a new screen top, then media baskets, new pump, rfg nozzles, and so on and so on. I realized my small budget tank would start to cost a bit more than I anticipated and so I started looking at some used tanks for sale. I figured, instead of dropping a bunch of money into the evo, I would find something a bit bigger which would be easier to care for and would allow more space for corals and fish.
This is when I saw this fully equipped established IM Lagoon 25 for sale about 3 hours away from my house. The tank had been running for about 2 years and the owner just didn't have time to care for it anymore. Long story short, friday afternoon I drove to Montreal and picked up the tank for 600$. I got a bunch of goodies with it too :
- Reinforced Ikea Stand
- Aquanest Aquamax M60 light (not a lot of info on these)
- Red sea DIY Mesh Lid
- Eshopps Nano Skimmer
- UV sterilizer
- Eheim heater
- ATO
- 2 wavemakers
- Filter socks
- Hanna test kits with reagents
- Red sea test kits
- Aquascaping tools
- Coral food and feeder
- Frozen food
Also livestock:
-Corals: Couple of zoas (will have to look them up), Couple of Motipora digi , Hammerhead, Frogspawn, Pulsing Xenia (I think?), and a green mushroom type coral (will also have to look that one up)
-Fish : Pair of clowns, bangaii cardinal, six line wrasse, purple firefish
-Inverts : Tuxedo urchin, 3-4 electric blue hermits, bunch of snails
The tank is doing well now, there is a hair algae outbreak in there, possibly due to overfeeding by the previous owner but I will have to test my water parameters, I just haven't had the time to properly test everything.
Here is the tank right after the inital setup on friday.
Here is the tank 2 days later. I know it's dirty, I cleaned it up a short while after.
My plans are pretty straightforward for now:
- I want to sell the Fluval evo, will probably switch my snowflake clownfish with the ones from the Lagoon.
- I want to take care of the algae, I already pulled out a lot yesterday and vacuumed it. Will look at my parameters and decide what to do from there.
- I want to upgrade the filtration. The tank is running 2 filter socks ATM, some bio balls and ceramic balls. I would like to either get 1 media basket and run a sock on the other side, that way I could rotate between socks. Or I run 2 media baskets. Would love input on this.
- I want to add sand to the tank once the algae is taken care of. I will also rescape the tank as for now it's a bit of a mess since I just threw it together to let it run once I got back from the trip. I would love to try a negative space aquascape but doubt I could do that with the current rock without killing the bacteria, and I don't want to restart the tank from scratch.
First, a bit of background info. I initially bought a cheap 40$ Fluval Evo 13.5g off Markeplace to get into freshwater aquascaping, but after some research found out it was better suited for reefing (mainly because of the light). I then decided to try out reefing as I saw people get pretty good results with the same tank.
So 3 weeks later here is the tank. I cycled it with fritz turbostart 900 and liquid Ammonia, after 5 days my parameters were all good, I did a water change to lower nitrates and added a pair of ocellaris clowns a couple days after that. The tank hasn't changed since, I got a diatom bloom 2 weeks in and turned off the lights since.
I found out the stock light was not ideal since there is no adjustability. I like to have options and so I started shopping for lights, which lead to a new screen top, then media baskets, new pump, rfg nozzles, and so on and so on. I realized my small budget tank would start to cost a bit more than I anticipated and so I started looking at some used tanks for sale. I figured, instead of dropping a bunch of money into the evo, I would find something a bit bigger which would be easier to care for and would allow more space for corals and fish.
This is when I saw this fully equipped established IM Lagoon 25 for sale about 3 hours away from my house. The tank had been running for about 2 years and the owner just didn't have time to care for it anymore. Long story short, friday afternoon I drove to Montreal and picked up the tank for 600$. I got a bunch of goodies with it too :
- Reinforced Ikea Stand
- Aquanest Aquamax M60 light (not a lot of info on these)
- Red sea DIY Mesh Lid
- Eshopps Nano Skimmer
- UV sterilizer
- Eheim heater
- ATO
- 2 wavemakers
- Filter socks
- Hanna test kits with reagents
- Red sea test kits
- Aquascaping tools
- Coral food and feeder
- Frozen food
Also livestock:
-Corals: Couple of zoas (will have to look them up), Couple of Motipora digi , Hammerhead, Frogspawn, Pulsing Xenia (I think?), and a green mushroom type coral (will also have to look that one up)
-Fish : Pair of clowns, bangaii cardinal, six line wrasse, purple firefish
-Inverts : Tuxedo urchin, 3-4 electric blue hermits, bunch of snails
The tank is doing well now, there is a hair algae outbreak in there, possibly due to overfeeding by the previous owner but I will have to test my water parameters, I just haven't had the time to properly test everything.
Here is the tank right after the inital setup on friday.
Here is the tank 2 days later. I know it's dirty, I cleaned it up a short while after.
My plans are pretty straightforward for now:
- I want to sell the Fluval evo, will probably switch my snowflake clownfish with the ones from the Lagoon.
- I want to take care of the algae, I already pulled out a lot yesterday and vacuumed it. Will look at my parameters and decide what to do from there.
- I want to upgrade the filtration. The tank is running 2 filter socks ATM, some bio balls and ceramic balls. I would like to either get 1 media basket and run a sock on the other side, that way I could rotate between socks. Or I run 2 media baskets. Would love input on this.
- I want to add sand to the tank once the algae is taken care of. I will also rescape the tank as for now it's a bit of a mess since I just threw it together to let it run once I got back from the trip. I would love to try a negative space aquascape but doubt I could do that with the current rock without killing the bacteria, and I don't want to restart the tank from scratch.
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