Naekuh's IM 150G Lagoon - Work Log

[Naekuh]

Hi everyone, im a long time reefer, but took a break for a bit, and came back.
I started reefing in 1996, then went on haitus after college.
Swore i would never pick up the hobby again, because of the immense amount of time and work required for a reef tank.

Well that thought went south in 2017 when i decided to go Small on a 24G cube.
Now like all reefers, you get greedy as the hobby progresses, and i miss having Tangs.
So I decided to go big, but not too big. Large enough for some Tangs.

I decided to hold on the Work Log until i was just about ready to cycle the tank, as i did not have consecutive days to work on it.
But i am now just about at that part.

So Enjoy, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Tank: Innovative Marine 150g Lagoon
Lights: Ecotech Radeon XR30 G6 Blue x 2
Power Head: Ecotech Vortech MP40 QD. x 2
Sump: Innovative Marine RFS-39
Skimmer: Simplicity 120 (I might need a larger skimmer)
Controller: Neptune Apex A3 or A3 Pro (not really sure which one at the moment, someone convince me the extra 300 is worth it)\
Tester: Neptune Trident
Doser: Neptune DoS with DDR
(I want to let Neptune do the 2 part dosing without me having to check and change the doser manually.)

Or should i go Hydros X10 with a Alkatronic and Dosetronic? I may start a war asking this question.


Like how most WIP start's, here is the Package unopened.

Came nicely packed, had a LOT of styrofoam that needed to be disposed of in a span of 3 weeks.
The freight guy said i was the first drop, so i felt lucky as it meant my package was packed last, in the Last In, First Out order freight delivery guys do.

I had to call 4 professional movers to lift the 300lb tank on top of the stand.
The stand was not fun to install, as i had to take it appart and reassemble it couple of times.
RITFM did not apply, as i did read the manual, and it took a few Youtube Videos to clearify some things.
But the tank looks like this on top of the stand.

Lined the bottom of the stand with table cover PVC film.

The tank is about 1 feet away from the rear wall as the piping took up about 7 inches.

I bought about 80lbs of base rock... 20lbs of shelf rock, and 20lbs of rubble.
I think i ended up using half... remind me not to listen to BRS videos like a bible when they say about 1lb per gallon for a HNSA setup.

Using Gluemasters Thick + Accelerator and Thin + Marco NSA Powder i started playing LEGO's with Base Rock.

At first i went with this design.

Seemed a little boring so i added another NSA structure in the middle, so the finished Scape looks like this inside my Tank.

Front...

More Front...

Top Down.

Left Angle:

Right Angle

Left complete

Inside Front

Inside Right

Seemed a little shallow, so i put some shelf rock under the base foot to give it about a 1 inch lift.
I intend to have 1 inch of special grade carbsea sand.

More to Come....

 

[Naekuh]

Oh heres pictures of all my rocks i laid out when playing with Legos.

Shelf Rock in the box... Rubble in seperate bag.
Carbsea gave me some jumbo pieces.

Gluemasters is the BEST glue for this... I used Marco Powder and Sand, but the sand was sort of MEH...
I recommend you skipping the sand and using straight powder.

 

[Naekuh]

Sigh so i sort of neglected my 24G cube when i got my 150g.
This is 2 months of not doing maintance, or doing proper dosing.
And Hair Algae has won.

I wanted to do a redue when i realized i lost all my coraline algae. I think it was an issue with ALK and Mag, as my ALK was always reading low, i think due to the massive frog spawn in the and the Duncan.

Sort of embarrased with the state this tank is in now...

But i felt a redue was in order so i sort of just left it.
This will be the doner for the 150G.

These are the tanks you see in the reflection... These are freshwater tho, high tech planted tanks... They were sort of given to me by my brother, who gave up the hobby, and the tanks were sort of pushed onto me.

This is a ADA 120p

And a UNS 120

But they are boring freshwater tanks, so i won't go anymore into detail about them.

 

[Naekuh]

So i started filling the tank today...

Rinsed about 140lbs of sand... litterally caked the entire driveway white from the wash.
And still ended up having the tank white.... although not as bad.

I threw a couple of internal filters inside half full to pull out the particulate.
I figure less vol of water, the more the internal filters can cycle though, the faster the cloudiness will disappear.
Here is another picture...

Yep, still this white after washing the sand like 10 times.
My hands were all chapped by the end of the day...

After a few hours seem like im putting a dent on the cloudiness..

Washed the cottom from the internal filters, and still running them.
Hopefully by tomorrow the tank will clear up, and i can fill the rest.

I have 44 gallons of saltwater mixing in my brute trash cans.
Using BRS calculate i needed 6.6kg of salt to get 35ppt.
That translated to 24 cups.... im going litterally from 3 cups of salt in 5 gallon water changes, to 24 cups in 44gal water changes.

How do you guys do it? I really can't see myself doing water changes bi monthly like i did on my 24G. I think i would go MAD if i had to mix and change 44Gal of salt water bi monthly.


Anyhow i love ceramic blocks for biological media. I especially love the bricks and these guys.
I put them in the filter sock bottom in my sump.
They did a very nice fit.
Totally recommend them to anyone who has a Innovative Marine RFS sump.

They are these:

I will most likely have the bigger bricks / blocks in the skimmer section.
But im trying to maximize the sump as much as possible.

Tomorrow i will fill the tank all the way including the sump if the water clears.
Then i will start working on the light fixture and prepare to install the lights, although i probably wont run them until i finished my quick cycle.

I have ammonium chloride, i was going to take a seed brick from my 24g and seed this tank with it, and drop in the ammonium chloride to 2ppm.

Or should i go slower?

 

[Naekuh]

Updates and even more updates....

So I completed Cycle... moved some of the fish from my old DT to the new one.
Bought a few new ones and threw them in QT.

I got more chromis on ignoring the advice on Vetteguy that they will end up murdering each other later on.
I needed some dither fish for now, and i just signed a death warrent on them.

I also bought 4 Randall Anthias, but they all did not make it past QT.
They caught URO and started dying one after the other.

I spent a good 2 hours bleaching the QT tank, i am getting a shipment of Dispars from LiveAquaria tomorrow, so i'll throw them in QT, but this time i have a 7 day live gaurenteee.

But i hate URO... 4 randalls dying and not being able to do anything hurts.

Anyhow some pictures...

Here is the Tank Shot... the panels are not up yet as i still have a lot of work left.

Yea my tank see's some sunlight each morning.
I know people advise against it, but i like giving natural light to a portion of my tank each day.
Although i think that Tyree toad is really enjoying the sunbath, i hope it wont bleach its colors.


I wanted to test the water to see if Macro could start growing...
I love this algae... its called the String of Pearls.


I have another frag in my sump too.

My Bangaii is also a attention queen? or king?


My sump is an absolute mess, side pannels still off as i said, as i still have a LOT more work, including additional plumbing for a chiller + UV + Pax Bellium.



And yea don't worry that rear multistrip is tied down. I had to unlatch it to get access to something and forgot to put it back when i took pictures.

And my Apex gear is still in a Mess.


Along with the entire rear section of my tank which is begging for wire management.


Lights are being suspended this way:
Its 2 x XR30 G6 Blue, and Colbalt Aquatics Cvue.
I am using the Colbat only for its shimmer and its center daylight bar, as i felt it gives a much better dusk/dawn effect. You can see my tablet control station on the left.



More to come as i start stocking the tank.

But i am starting to see the brown uglies. I think an order at reef cleaners is probably going to be the first thing i do when i get home.

My Water Parameters also look good, i need to test Nitate and Phosphate tho, waiting on the red sea kits to arrive.



More to come....

 

[Naekuh]

Fishies...

My order from LiveAquaria arrived, and i have a bit of bad news.

The cleaner wrasse i got came DOA.


I was hoping it was just playing dead, as i read this cleaner will play dead.
But nope... its dead...



live aquaria refunded me store credit right away.

Also i ordered 5 Dispar, but i think i got Pseudanthias squamipinnis.

I'll post pictures when i can. But they got the same purple eye liner the Orange Blue eyed ones have, and don't have the red dorsal fin.

 

[Naekuh]

Im about to have a cow with Live Aquaria...

Im pretty sure these guys sitting in my old DT under observation are lyres and not disbars..
I don't care about that tank, as its being shut down after these guys end QT.

But i don't think my 150G can support 5 x lyres when its a lagoon and not a 5 foot long tank.



And here i was wondering why they got to eatting so fast....

 

[alpenreef]

So what will you do with them, can’t send them back

 

[Naekuh]

So what will you do with them, can’t send them back

At this moment i have no clue...

I want to see how LA will resolve this.
If they give me a credit on my order, i'll reorder fish, and probably put these guys up for adoption after the 30 day observation.

Its a shame.. because these guys are super healthy.. well all but one.
I lost 1 last night during the observation... from stress and not Uro, like how i lost my last 4 randalls, and ended up toasting my QT tank with clorine.... i couldn't pull it out, because it kept smelling like chlorine even after drying it for 24 hours in the sun.

Henced why i threw them in my old DT which will be taken down soon, after i sorted all the left over coral in the old DT.

Also i wanted to give these anthia's a better water condition during observation, and nothing is better then a stable 4 yr old tank, although a bit small, but when they are only 2 inches each, they won't mind the hotel stay over for 30 days.