My first reef tank: IM Fusion 15 AIO

[danielm5]

You can always supplement their feeding with a piece of nori rubber banded to a rock or sinking algae wafers.I’ve done that about 2 times for my tuxedo urchin when there was very little algae. For the most part you’ll always have a little algae in your tank.

Yes, I used to give seaweed wafers to the turbo snails as they eat a lot. Now it isn't eating that much. Maybe because he is aging? I've stopped for now since there are plenty to eat in this tank ;-)

 

[danielm5]

I'm currently dosing Seachem 2 part 2.5ml daily.
Does that sounds right for a tank like mine?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hello everyone! Yes, this my build thread ;-)

I'm beginning on this adventure and I've so many questions.

I've setup an IM 15 at the end of June (about a month ago). I started with dry rock and cycled with fish food. About 2 weeks in, I moved a couple of rocks, one nassarius, and one turbo snail I had on a small tank. I waited another week watching the water parameters. Since everything looked fine to me I made a trip to my LFS. I asked which fish could be fine in such small tank and they recommended a pair of firefish gobbies. I'm glad they did. I love them!

Here are a few pictures:

Love the aquascape in your tank!

 

[danielm5]

Love the aquascape in your tank!

Tank you @Gumbies R Us

 

[danielm5]

Update
I've been monitoring the water parameters all week. Turning the lights off would make PH drop more that I'm comfortable with. I was trying to raise it with 2-part, but I didn't really understand the purpose of this additive. I read The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives and it helped me understand it better. I decided that I prefer to let the algae grow if I need to than than fighting PH swings, at least for now. I turned the lights back on.

I haven't paid much attention to the different type of salts available before. I kind of assumed they were all the same. Reading some posts make me realize there at least two broad categories, some are labeled "reef" and others don't. I gave a closer look at what I was using.

I've Reef Crystals from Instant Ocean. I' mixed a fresh batch and I checked the parameters:

• SG: 1.026
• Ca: 420 ppm (maybe some more, it's difficult to determine exactly with API kit)
• Alk: 12kDH
• PH: 8 (it could be some error here too as API colors are challenging to distinguish for me)

For reference, the table on the salt bucket says it should be:

• Ca 455ppm @ 1.026SG

I gave a closer look at my salinity measurements. I use a refractometer and a calibration solution at 35ppt. For some inexplicable reason, I was under the impression that this solution was 1.025SG and that's how I've always calibrated my refractometer. I also realized the instrument has two scales: SG and PPT. I had this one for a few years and I've never noticed before! I use the PPT scale for calibration at 35ppt now. I measured the RoDi water and it shows way under 0ppt. Something like -5ppt if I extrapolate the scale markings downwards. My conclusion about this is that the instruments might not be very accurate in the whole scale, but I figured that as long as I stay close to 35ppt should be accurate enough.

I decided to not dose anything for now and only do small water changes daily or so. Since the new water contains CA and ALK that should be equivalent to using 2-part. There shouldn't be much consumption as my tank has almost no livestock.

When trying to understand the PH swings, I read Low pH: Causes and Cures. From I there I learned that aerating the water helps remove some CO2 which could help raising PH. To try this I pointed the return nozzle upwards towards the water surface. I'm not sure how much influence this has on PH but for sure evaporation increased. It's about 0.75 liters per day currently.

 

[danielm5]

I cleaned the algae with a toothbrush, see before and after:

 

[danielm5]

A sad update is that this morning I've found one of my firefish outside of the tank. It must've jumped yesterday when I was doing the cleaning :-(

 

[danielm5]

Today water parameters:

• Ca 420 ppm, Alk 14 dKH, Sal 34 ppt, PH 7.4, NO3 0 ppm, PO4 0.25 ppm, T 79 F

I could never detect nitrates with my API kit, and the other parameters aren't very accurate since colors are a bit challenging to me.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hi! I am following along as I am considering setting up an IM Nuvo 15 myself. Looks like you're off to a nice start!

Update
I've been monitoring the water parameters all week. Turning the lights off would make PH drop more that I'm comfortable with. I was trying to raise it with 2-part, but I didn't really understand the purpose of this additive. I read The Right Way to Use 2-Part Additives and it helped me understand it better. I decided that I prefer to let the algae grow if I need to than than fighting PH swings, at least for now. I turned the lights back on.

I'm confused by your comments about the lights and the pH. It looks to me like the only photosynthetic organism in your tank right now is that Green Hair Algae (aka GHA). Turning your lights on and off should have little to no impact on your pH at this point, unless I am really missing something? Your tank is new, however, and is bound to be somewhat unstable at first.

My personal, non-expert suggestion would be not to worry so much about pH swings at this point. You really only have your fish to consider, which can handle slightly more instability than corals.

A sad update is that this morning I've found one of my firefish outside of the tank. It must've jumped yesterday when I was doing the cleaning :-(

Sorry for your loss. Firefish are definitely jumpers, but I see that you have the mesh screen on your tank. Could I please ask how you think he got out?

Today water parameters:

• Ca 420 ppm, Alk 14 dKH, Sal 34 ppt, PH 7.4, NO3 0 ppm, PO4 0.25 ppm, T 79 F

I could never detect nitrates with my API kit, and the other parameters aren't very accurate since colors are a bit challenging to me.

Trying to match the little vial of colored water to the little cards has always been maddening to me. My eye just can't tell. If you're using the API test kits you can try holding the test tube up over the card, then looking straight down into the tube, and slide it up and back on the card until the color is as close as possible. In the future, maybe explore some of the popular colorimeters like the Hanna Checkers, I see them all the time for sale used on the Marketplace here on this forum (Selling: Dry Goods).

Tagging along to see your progress! Good luck with your build!

 

[danielm5]

@Fish Fan Thank you for taking the time to post. I'll try to answer below and also give an update.

 

[danielm5]

I'm confused by your comments about the lights and the pH. It looks to me like the only photosynthetic organism in your tank right now is that Green Hair Algae (aka GHA). Turning your lights on and off should have little to no impact on your pH at this point, unless I am really missing something? Your tank is new, however, and is bound to be somewhat unstable at first.

My personal, non-expert suggestion would be not to worry so much about pH swings at this point. You really only have your fish to consider, which can handle slightly more instability than corals.

First of all, my comments are only about what I observe and I guess. I've been checking this forum fairly frequently to get answers and it's really helped. When I realize something was incorrect, I try to update this thread so that I don't confuse others.

Fact is that I've been fighting low PH since always. I've read many things and answer is always the same: check alkalinity and CO2. In practice, it's proven quite difficult for me to avoid PH drops and even newly mixed water seems to have somewhat lower PH than expected. I'll comment more about that later.

My tank is newly setup but I didn't start from zero. Half of my rock comes from a FOWLR tank I had before. That's the one you see without GHA in my pictures above. I don't know if there's a large amount of photosynthetic organisms in them but it may have some effect.

Short answer is that I don't know what are the determining factors but if I keep lights off, then PH is lower than if I don't. Keeping lights on is working well for me. I don't really have GHA anymore. I followed @Xniv advice about removing that one with a toothbrush. I did that and it never came back. Thank you @Xniv for the practical advice!

I haven't really had any ugly phase so far (fingers crossed!). I currently have some cyano bacteria, most likely due to heavy feeding and low flow in some places. It isn't great, but it's more or less under control right now.

Recently, my remaining firefish died overnight. The next day, an hector gobby I had added a few weeks ago also died at night. I checked PH and it was very low and I believe that's the most likely cause for them dying. I really don't get it when people say don't worry about PH since I have only fish. I've a freshwater tank too and in the recent past I also experienced fish dying overnight and finding out water had low PH afterwards.

 

[danielm5]

Sorry for your loss. Firefish are definitely jumpers, but I see that you have the mesh screen on your tank. Could I please ask how you think he got out?

I don't know! I think it did jump while I removed the cover for cleaning. Maybe I went to pick something to the other room and I didn't see it. After that, I was really afraid of open the cover even while I was watching!

Trying to match the little vial of colored water to the little cards has always been maddening to me. My eye just can't tell. If you're using the API test kits you can try holding the test tube up over the card, then looking straight down into the tube, and slide it up and back on the card until the color is as close as possible. In the future, maybe explore some of the popular colorimeters like the Hanna Checkers, I see them all the time for sale used on the Marketplace here on this forum (Selling: Dry Goods).

I see if I find one. I really like them but I find them quite expensive to tell you the truth.

 

[danielm5]

Update about low PH
I recently became aware that my DI resin was spent. I also became aware about dissolved CO2 being very common in well-water and that causing the resin to last very little. I'm on well-water and most likely that's the problem I've been having.

I changed the DI resin. A newly mixed bucket of salt water now has a PH of 8.2, which seems reasonable. I see about half inch of the resin turned from blue to brown after filtering only 15 gal! I've started doing water changes with this one now, but it's too soon to tell if that completely solves my water issues.

I read the thread about a DIY degassifier chamber and all the issues people had and I'm not really looking on doing that! Actually, I wonder why people place the chamber between RO and DI with the risk of flooding that this creates, the issues about low pressure through the DI resin (being fed only by gravity), and I don't understand how to make the flow stop once my container is full if I cannot use the float valve anymore. I wonder if putting an extra container with airstone before RODI and use a pump to move water from there to the RO/DI stages is viable alternative.

 

[danielm5]

Here's recent picture

I now have an ocellaris clown and an a cleaner shrimp.
I've a few frags too: GSP, Pulsing Xenia, Pink Kenya Tree, Gorgonian, and Pink Hippo Zoas.
I've expanded my CUC with another Nassarius snail and a Trochus snail. There's also a tiny Cerith snail but it's so small that I don't know if it really helps much.

 

[danielm5]

The frags when I've got them

 

[Fish Fan]

Nice pics, things are looking good!

I'm not going to pretend that I'm some expert in water chemistry, so don't put too much emphasis on my previous comments. Hopefully your system will balance out soon enough. Otherwise, looking good!

 

[Fish Fan]

I don't know! I think it did jump while I removed the cover for cleaning. Maybe I went to pick something to the other room and I didn't see it. After that, I was really afraid of open the cover even while I was watching!

Sheesh! Quick little dude, I guess. Sorry to hear about that!

 

[tsharpe291]

Here's recent picture

I now have an ocellaris clown and an a cleaner shrimp.
I've a few frags too: GSP, Pulsing Xenia, Pink Kenya Tree, Gorgonian, and Pink Hippo Zoas.
I've expanded my CUC with another Nassarius snail and a Trochus snail. There's also a tiny Cerith snail but it's so small that I don't know if it really helps much.

Looking good, gsp,Xenia and kenya tree are fast growers and can quickly take over your tank though. Nothing wrong with that if you like that look.

 

[danielm5]

Looking good, gsp,Xenia and kenya tree are fast growers and can quickly take over your tank though. Nothing wrong with that if you like that look.

I heard about that. I just thought they were nice looking beginner corals. I'll try to keep them under control. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Fish Fan]

They grow like weeds, but it's a good problem to have I am personally still very fond of the pulsing Xenia, I just think it looks good, and non-reefers are immediately impressed by it when they see your tank (even if 'serious' reefers are not).