My (new to me) IM100

[himynameis]

I have been fortunate enough to come across a nice, slightly used, innovative marine 100INT (converted to EXT). My current build (Red Sea 250, original model) was not documented as it was my first so I will try to track this one. After reading all the concern over Red Sea seams I decided I wouldn’t want to wait until it’s possible demise, though I wasn’t seeing any signs of deterioration.

Here are the two tanks in the same room. I’ll have to figure out how to transfer things once the IM100 is ready to go.

With the IM 100 I got about 40lb of live rock, a hippo tang, yellow tang, six line wrasse, bicolor angelfish, coral beauty angelfish, and a blue chromis damselfish. Probably won’t be keeping a lot of them though, with my current livestock.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but pretty excited to have a good continuation into a sweet tank.

 

[himynameis]

The tank is drilled for dual return. Currently it only has one return in use. I’m debating on whether I should do dual return (two pumps), or a split return (single pump). If anyone has any experience with that and has input on which route to go, let me know.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[himynameis]

Spent some time wrapping the stand with white vinyl, looks alright, matches the aesthetic better. Doing a leak test now, noticing some small leaks in the back where the overflow box gasket connects from inside the overflow.

 

[kevgib67]

Following!

 

[himynameis]

Fixed my leak problem, I had the gaskets stacked incorrectly in the overflow. Should be bulkhead flange - gasket - tank rear glass - gasket - overflow box - flange nut.

 

[himynameis]

Disassembled the old tank, moved the coral and livestock into separate holding bins. Got the live rock mostly separated so I’ll be able to build my new scape. Thinking I’ll keep all my coral in the bins and keep them lit while I get the rocks/sand set in the display. Cloudy from the new sand but it’s coming along!

 

[himynameis]

Been sick the past few days so it’s slow going. But here’s where I’m at now.

Got the tank running, scape mostly done, fish added with the live rock. Waiting on more sand, and more stable parameters before adding coral back.

I made the mistake of adding a chromis damselfish to the tank from the previous tank owner, did not consider how much it kicks up sand and burrows, I’ll probably have to catch and take to lfs.

Three major things to work on this week is lighting, wire management, and ATO. For lighting I have an AI 64HD as well as a pair of ReefLED 50 lights, considering building an overhanging “shelf” and suspending those lights from it. For wire management I’ll probably build a board from PVC and use that to mount and route my wires in the sump. For ATO, I will be routing the line through the wall behind the tank right into the garage, which will allow for more space in the cabinet.

 

[himynameis]

Well I made the mistake of working on the tank and moving the ATO line out of the way, and forgetting to put it back. So I ended up dumping about 6 gallons of RODI onto my floors overnight and am now replacing all my floors.

Bright side of all this, I’ll never let it happen again and I’ll have some better flooring that will not squeak. Tank updates will need to take a back seat while new floors and baseboards are all replaced.

 

[Jim Gomoll]

The tank is drilled for dual return. Currently it only has one return in use. I’m debating on whether I should do dual return (two pumps), or a split return (single pump). If anyone has any experience with that and has input on which route to go, let me know.

You can put a T in and run both sides off one pump. If possible keep the runs equal distance best you can. If not than your dual ball valves can adjust the flow rate. Or i you have enough room in the sump run dual pumps, left & right. I'm doing a dual on my 90g build. Right side from front is closest to the pumps so adding a manifold to capitalize on the extra pressure. Bonus of two pumps is that you have a back up in case one pukes out on you.

 

[himynameis]

June 2024 Update. Got the corals back in the tank after running hyposalinity treatment for all the fish with live rock. Had a bit of ich and possibly something else. But all taken care of now and all fish are healthy.

Tank lights (two RedSea 50s and one AI 64HD) are mounted to a floating shelf and I ran the wires through it and into the garage behind the wall. Makes for a cleaner look with no wires hanging down. ATO is also fed from the garage, less clutter in the cabinet is nice.

Dealing with some cyano and a little bit of diatoms but that doesn’t bother me too much. I understand that I basically had to almost restart this system when moving it all and doing the hypo treatment. Rocks are coloring up again, but nothing good in this hobby happens quick so just aiming for stability and enjoying the process.

 

[himynameis]

September 2024 update.

Tank has been doing alright overall. Induced a diatom bloom to outcompete some LCA Dino’s, and looks like it has been working. Torches seem to be suffering from it the most, some heads lost from a hammer, seems to be turning around now, just aiming for stability.

Fish are fat and happy. Just looked back at a photo of the hippo tang when I first got it with the tank, and boy is there massive improvement. He’s growing fast so may need to look for a new home sooner than later.

Also, got to watch my emerald crab molt! That was pretty cool to see.