TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

Utility sink is in and the waterproofing of the drywall is in progress. Should have the RODI system back online in the next week or so. Went with a 40x24 sink with 13” depth. Not messing around this time. Also stubbed in a separate spigot for the RODI so no need to tie in to the faucet to run the system. Water storage will be to the right of the sink. The container is just going to remain on the rolling cart until we figure out the workbench and countertops.

 

[TheWB]

Workbenches are in but not sealed yet.
RODI is installed and producing 0 TDS water but I can’t fill the storage tank until the benches are sealed.
Did a water change today and then used the old water to rinse out the two bags of matrix that have been in the display. They have been rebadged and moved to the skimmer chamber. Skimmer is now in one of the overflow chambers with a small pad to weed out the larger pieces of gunk. Removed the In-Tank Caddy for now. Chemipure Elite moved to the heater chamber. Lots of rearranging today.
No pics yet but I’ll post tomorrow, tonight I’m at the Seattle Thunderbirds home opener.

 

[TheWB]

Here’s the new water making setup.

I know, super exciting right?
Gotta get that mess cleaned up and organized. Way too much stuff in my garage right now.

 

[TheWB]

Putting in LVP flooring throughout the whole second floor of my house. It started on Friday and will be finished up tomorrow. This means I have to move the tank a few feet after about half of the room it‘s in gets done, and then move it back after the floors are finished. I have it sitting on a few of those “moving men” furniture sliders so it should move pretty easily. I’ll drain a couple of buckets of water out just to make it easier to move and then put the water right back in until the room is completed. Then I’ll repeat the process to put it back in place.

I’m having the floor guy cover a 60x35.5” piece of 3/4” plywood with more of the LVP. Then we will find some trim and make it look nice. The idea is to make a platform for the new tank, when it arrives at some point in the future, that will keep the feet of the stand off our actual floor and also spread the load out over more joists and a wider area. That’s the plan anyway. Using the LVP on top will make it blend in with the rest of the flooring since it’s the same stuff. Hopefully it doesn’t end up looking bad. I guess it will depend on the trim we end up using.

So far the changes I have made to the filtration seem to be working out. I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary yet with just visual inspection. I really should do some testing soon, I’m so freaking lazy with that since we moved.

 

[TheWB]

The two ugliest clownfish in America have decided to spawn. I shudder to think of what sort of mutants these two would produce. Luckily I don’t have the patience to raise them and find out. This is probably too many pics, some are for the eggs and some are to show how ugly the clowns are, lol.

 

[TheWB]

I also just noticed that my Goni is going through a growth phase and actually winning the battle against those ugly Alien Antivenom zoas that have it surrounded.

 

[tharbin]

Putting in LVP flooring throughout the whole second floor of my house. It started on Friday and will be finished up tomorrow. This means I have to move the tank a few feet after about half of the room it‘s in gets done, and then move it back after the floors are finished. I have it sitting on a few of those “moving men” furniture sliders so it should move pretty easily. I’ll drain a couple of buckets of water out just to make it easier to move and then put the water right back in until the room is completed. Then I’ll repeat the process to put it back in place.

I’m having the floor guy cover a 60x35.5” piece of 3/4” plywood with more of the LVP. Then we will find some trim and make it look nice. The idea is to make a platform for the new tank, when it arrives at some point in the future, that will keep the feet of the stand off our actual floor and also spread the load out over more joists and a wider area. That’s the plan anyway. Using the LVP on top will hopefully make it blend in with the rest of the flooring since it’s the same stuff. Hopefully it doesn’t end up looking bad. I guess it will depend on the trim we end up using.

So far the changes I have made to the filtration seem to be working out. I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary yet with just visual inspection. I really should do some testing soon, I’m so freaking lazy with that since we moved.

The platform sounds like a really good idea, especially with the matching flooring. It should end up looking more like a pedestal-of-honor than a keep-that-tank-off-my-floor installation.

 

[TheWB]

The platform sounds like a really good idea, especially with the matching flooring. It should end up looking more like a pedestal-of-honor than a keep-that-tank-off-my-floor installation.

Platform or pedestal are probably too strong of a description. The whole thing will be ~1” high. I hope it turns out like I’m expecting.

 

[TheWB]

Flooring is finally finished and the tank is back in place.

 

[TheWB]

Got a nice top down shot of the original nem the other day while doing a water change. The split was hiding but it’s grown a lot as well.

 

[Texfisher33]

How did the "Flooring Platform" work out in the end? Are you happy with the results?

 

[TheWB]

How did the "Flooring Platform" work out in the end? Are you happy with the results?

I’m expecting it to work out great but it’s not in place yet. Right now it’s in the garage up on one end. I still need to put some trim around the edges so that part will look nice. It was not meant to go under this current tank. I’m going to be upgrading soon and it’s meant to go under the new larger tank. That will all come together by sometime in January hopefully.

 

[TheWB]

Well, that big Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone from post #1170 is now two slightly smaller nems. This is the first time I've had a even split. There is also a baby nem that I first noticed at about the size of a nickel two weeks ago. That’s the second baby nem so with the new split I’m up to 4. Wasn’t really counting on having that many although of course I knew it was possible. I’m rapidly running out of room. Good news though, the electricians will be here tomorrow and waiting on them was the only thing holding me back from getting a holding tank set up in the garage. Hopefully that will solve my overcrowding issues.

I think I’m going to put the skimmer back in the second chamber and put the floss holder back in the first chamber. I feel like the tank is much dirtier now and with it being so full I can’t properly clean the display. The Zoas and lps don’t seem to mind but I’ve lost most of the easy sps I had.

I’ve also definitely learned some lessons recently about letting corals get out of hand that I’ll be filing away for future reference.
Other than that nothing's going on.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Well, that big Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone from post #1170 is now two slightly smaller nems. This is the first time I've had a even split. There is also a baby nem that I first noticed at about the size of a nickel two weeks ago. That’s the second baby nem so with the new split I’m up to 4. Wasn’t really counting on having that many although of course I knew it was possible. I’m rapidly running out of room. Good news though, the electricians will be here tomorrow and waiting on them was the only thing holding me back from getting a holding tank set up in the garage. Hopefully that will solve my overcrowding issues.

I think I’m going to put the skimmer back in the second chamber and put the floss holder back in the first chamber. I feel like the tank is much dirtier now and with it being so full I can’t properly clean the display. The Zoas and lps don’t seem to mind but I’ve lost most of the easy sps I had.

I’ve also definitely learned some lessons recently about letting corals get out of hand that I’ll be filing away for future reference.
Other than that nothing's going on.

I keep hoping the chamber one skimmer experiment will work but it seems really hit and miss. @Griev did it in his 50 but I think having the mangroves in chamber two was the game changer there. That said, it all comes back to "gonna need a bigger tank"! I totally get the part about being unable to properly clean the display. I gave up on sand syphoning months ago and it's starting to show but there's no way I can fit a gravel vac in there without breaking something. Unfortunately, it's starting to show. I'd love to go bare bottom, but I like my sand dwellers too much.

 

[TheWB]

Yeah, my tank is just too “dirty” not to have mechanical filtration in chamber one. It has been dirty from the beginning and really never got better. My nutrients are not out of control but this tank has just always had a lot of gunk in it.
A bigger tank is definitely in the works.
At first I really liked the bursting at the seems look, and I still like the look, but there’s no chance of getting anything off the bottom without a tear down. I’m just leaving it for now. If I get a tank going in the garage then I’ll move out some of the zoas and create some room.
I really thought I would miss the sand but so far I don’t. Of course you wouldn’t be able to see it anyway right now so maybe this isn’t a fair test.
Like I was saying, I’ve learned some stuff on this tank that will be applied to the next one.

 

[TheWB]

Have not updated in a while. Nothing is rally going on except the anemones are taking over. There are now three mature Rainbow BTAs and one baby.

I swear the pulsing Xenia was completely eradicated in this tank……..except it’s not

Finally, the always popular side shot just for the heck of it.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Have not updated in a while. Nothing is rally going on except the anemones are taking over. There are now three mature Rainbow BTAs and one baby.

I swear the pulsing Xenia was completely eradicated in this tank……..except it’s not

Finally, the always popular side shot just for the heck of it.

Tank is looking fantastic! Definitely thriving. Hard to believe it was just recently moved.

For the record, I saw a hunk of xenia go by like tumbleweed in my tank the other day. Not sure where it ended up but I'm sure I'll find out!

 

[TheWB]

Tank is looking fantastic! Definitely thriving. Hard to believe it was just recently moved.

For the record, I saw a hunk of xenia go by like tumbleweed in my tank the other day. Not sure where it ended up but I'm sure I'll find out!

I bet you will, it's amazing how it won't stay gone. I thought I had it isolated to its own rock back when I first got it but that started turning into a monster and pieces obviously broke off and hid. I got rid of the main colony but there's still some stragglers.
I'm pretty lucky with how the move turned out. Minimal losses and probably a better looking scape.

 

[TheWB]

1/1/2023 Full Tank Shot and some top downs. Tank is just shy of 4 years old.
Current stocking is a Tomini Tang, an Orange Back Fairy wrasse, a Royal Gramma, a Chalk Basslet, an Aiptasia Eating Filefish and a pair of standard Clowns. There is also a cleaner shrimp.
Lost a zebra barred dartfish and two Chalk Basslets after the June tank move.
To the best of my recollection the following corals and inverts are in there.
Slimeball Anacropora, Large Frogspawn Colony, Two samll heads of a pink/yellow tipped Torch Coral, Purple Finger Leather, Caulastrea Colony, Duncan Colony, a single head of a Blastomusa, Branching Cyphastrea, a small rainbow Goniopora Colony, what's left of some Lemon Lime Favites, a whole ton of 9 different varieties of zoas/palys (Rastas, Bam Bams, Scrambled Eggs, Devil's Armor, Vivid Rainbows, Pink Zippers, Nirvanas, Mandarins and Pandoras). There are two photosynthetic Gorgonians (two different shades of purple) and 4 Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemones (1 original and 3 splits/clones).
Dead skeletons of a green digi, red monti cap x 2, a green slimer and a bubblegum digi that have all died since the tank move back in June. All easy sps but they didn't make it through the move and the removal of the sand bed.
Various snails and hermits. I think that's it for the state of the tank as of 1/1/23.

Sorry about the light reflection, there was no good angle.

Gramma and Chalk Basslet actually hang out together a little bit. I was worried about them getting along when I added them, but they were added at the same time.

 

[Raph]

1/1/2023 Full Tank Shot and some top downs. Tank is just shy of 4 years old.
Current stocking is a Tomini Tang, an Orange Back Fairy wrasse, a Royal Gramma, a Chalk Basslet, an Aiptasia Eating Filefish and a pair of standard Clowns. There is also a cleaner shrimp.
Lost a zebra barred dartfish and two Chalk Basslets after the June tank move.
To the best of my recollection the following corals and inverts are in there.
Slimeball Anacropora, Large Frogspawn Colony, Two samll heads of a pink/yellow tipped Torch Coral, Purple Finger Leather, Caulastrea Colony, Duncan Colony, a single head of a Blastomusa, Branching Cyphastrea, a small rainbow Goniopora Colony, what's left of some Lemon Lime Favites, a whole ton of 9 different varieties of zoas/palys (Rastas, Bam Bams, Scrambled Eggs, Devil's Armor, Vivid Rainbows, Pink Zippers, Nirvanas, Mandarins and Pandoras). There are two photosynthetic Gorgonians (two different shades of purple) and 4 Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemones (1 original and 3 splits/clones).
Dead skeletons of a green digi, red monti cap x 2, a green slimer and a bubblegum digi that have all died since the tank move back in June. All easy sps but they didn't make it through the move and the removal of the sand bed.
Various snails and hermits. I think that's it for the state of the tank as of 1/1/23.

Sorry about the light reflection, there was no good angle.

Gramma and Chalk Basslet actually hang out together a little bit. I was worried about them getting along when I added them, but they were added at the same time.

Man these nems look good! I know it’ controversial but how’s the tomini in a 50 gallon. I know some people do it but I’m too afraid…