TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

Ha! I may take you up on that offer in about 9 months. My tank is a bit too new and i dont want to kill one. Still need more stabilization. Your new tank is amazing. Cant wait to see more

Oh trust me, lol, there’s literally nothing you could do to kill one of these nems. I could put one in a puddle in my backyard and it would still grow. They are the Pulsing Xenia of the anemone world.

Thanks about the new tank. I’m hoping it’s up and running by mid to late January. I should have started cooking the new scape sooner but it took forever to get it how I wanted it. I’m about a month behind where I would have liked to be at this point. No biggie though, not going to rush anything.

 

[Fungusamongus]

Oh trust me, lol, there’s literally nothing you could do to kill one of these nems. I could put one in a puddle in my backyard and it would still grow. They are the Pulsing Xenia of the anemone world.

Thanks about the new tank. I’m hoping it’s up and running by mid to late January. I should have started cooking the new scape sooner but it took forever to get it how I wanted it. I’m about a month behind where I would have liked to be at this point. No biggie though, not going to rush anything.

Well, if you ever need/want help i am only 25 min away. Do not hesitate to reach out to me.

 

[TheWB]

Well, if you ever need/want help i am only 25 min away. Do not hesitate to reach out to me.

Thanks man, I appreciate that. Always good to get to meet people in person in this hobby. We'll make it happen at some point.

 

[aslmx]

What skimmer are you running

 

[TheWB]

What skimmer are you running

It’s one of these.

PLS-50 Elite II Nano Protein skimmer - Mode Aquariums

IN STOCK. Nano in size with huge performance! Pushing protein skimming design and technology to the limits is our world Famous PLS-50 line of Pipe-less protein skimmers, where inch for inch the MOST powerful and potent protein skimmer in the industry. At the inception of the original PLS-50...

www.modeaquariums.com

It’s a great skimmer. I bought mine from Cadlights before they went out of business and the customer service was terrible. It is sold by Mode Aquariums now and I have no idea if they are any better. If you can get your hands on one that’s not broken you’ll be very happy with it.

 

[TheWB]

These anemones are so outta my new tank.

Giving me the middle tentacle is just uncalled for!!!

 

[TheWB]

Lost one of the Black Mollies from the garage holding tank. I took a road trip up to some of the LFS in the Bellevue area on Saturday and was able to get 3 more saltwater acclimated Mollies from Saltwater City for 8 bucks each. That gives me 4 in that tank now and they may or may not go into the new tank when it’s ready. I like the idea of a little herd of them and they do kind of school together but being black they also blend into the background pretty easily.

The garage tank has an aiptasia problem, or at least it used to. I was in the back room at Saltwater City and saw a group of about 15 Peppermint Shrimp in a small tank with a big ball of Cheato. I made a comment about never knowing if you’ll get any that will actually eat the aiptasia. The attendant offered to go find an aiptasia or two to see if this bunch had some good candidates. She threw one in and they all went nuts for it. I had her grab me up one and in one night it took out several of the bigger ones in my tank. I’m hoping the rest get wiped out tonight. If they are then I’ll try to move the obvious ones from my main display down to the garage to let the shrimp keep doing its thing.

The reason I was in the back room at SWC was to look at some juvenile Foxfaces they had going through their version of quarantine (lower salinity 1.018 with copper, prazi and medicated foods for like a week or so). There were 3 of them and one was very small, about 2.5 inches, which would have fit in nicely in the garage for a month or so before going into the new tank. It was only $45.00 and I was so tempted to do it. What stopped me was two things. One, I’m not really ready and shouldn’t be buying new fish quite yet. Two, I really like Foxface Lo and these juveniles kinda had a faint brown blotch like the one spot Foxface which I don’t like as much. Nobody could say for sure if they were the Lo or the one spot and I just thought why risk getting one that wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I also wasn’t that excited about doing an acclimation from 1.018 to 1.026 so I left them there to finish their QT.

The new aquascape is currently maturing in a 27 gallon black plastic tote with a lid out in the garage. Used Fritzzyme 900 and some leftover Dr Tim’s ammonia. So far it’s going well. It’s been in there since 12/17 and I’ve been re-dosing the ammonia every couple of days as it hits zero on the test kit. Going to check nitrates for the first time tomorrow and if they are high as I am expecting them to be then I will do a water change and continue the process of seeding the dry Stax Rock with bacteria.

Finally got around to leak testing the new tank today. It’s got about 65 gallons in It now and nothing is leaking. I didn’t expect there to be any, that thing is built like a tank, but it had to be done. No way am I taking it to the second floor of my house without thoroughly checking that it’s water tight so far, so good.

Enough room has been created in my office so that I can finish building the new stand. It’s too wide to fit through the door to the room so I couldn’t finish it in the garage. I only got instructions from Alufab for the basic frame. There’s a ton of other hardware to attach the magnetic door panels and the lighting mount that I still need to figure out. I’ve never worked with aluminum profiles before so there’s a bit of a learning curve with how it all goes together but I’ll figure it all out. Lots to do.

 

[TheWB]

Got the framing of the new stand built.

New one is just a smidge bigger than the old one.

 

[Fungusamongus]

Got the framing of the new stand built.

New one is just a smidge bigger than the old one.

Looking vreat. Just a smidge! Lol. Congrats, definitely following.

 

[TheWB]

Looking vreat. Just a smidge! Lol. Congrats, definitely following.

Thanks, really looking forward to getting the new tank up and running. I even started the new build thread but there’s nothing in it except some placeholders. Soon though.

 

[TheWB]

Just to get rid of the accidental double post here’s a current FTS and the new stand now that the light bar is attached.

Right now I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do for a controller board or cabinet in the stand. I have a couple of ideas but nothing that’s fully formed yet. I’m probably going to have to sketch out what I think I want. That will help me to visualize better the ideas rattling around in my head.

 

[TheWB]

It’s been a while but I finally figured out the layout for the controller board in the new tank stand. This has taken a lot longer that I had intended it to so it feels good to make some progress.

I’ll be attaching the control panel to the frame today. Both the side panels and the front panel of the stand come off easily so running cables and tidying up the excess on the back side of the power board should be fairly easy. I wanted it to be open like this instead of enclosed in a smaller cabinet so that access would be easy. Trying to learn from prior experiences.

 

[TheWB]

Here it is fully installed.

 

[Woodyman]

Here it is fully installed.

Looking good!

 

[TheWB]

Got the in-cabinet lighting installed.

There’s no sump going in this area. The new tank is an AIO. I just wanted to be able to light it up for cleaning or if I drop something towards the back. The area will still be crowded with a top off water container and maybe a mini fridge if I can find a small enough one that also has a small freezer section for frozen food.

 

[tharbin]

Got the in-cabinet lighting installed.

There’s no sump going in this area. The new tank is an AIO. I just wanted to be able to light it up for cleaning or if I drop something towards the back. The area will still be crowded with a top off water container and maybe a mini fridge if I can find a small enough one that also has a small freezer section for frozen food.

Very nice. The AluFab stand looks very nice and your controller board looks really good. I find the top profile of the bottom rail interesting as it looks more like a kick plate than T-Slot to me. Is that the actual extrusion profile or is it a trim piece?

One of the best things I did for myself when I built my very similar tank was to add lighting. I had a closet lighting LED bar from IKEA that I had never used and it fit into the top of the side frame for my stand like it was designed for it. It shines on my mounting board. Even though my stand is open, I find I use the light often, so much so that I plan to add a light to the reservoir end as well.

Your solution with an LED strip is great. I may go that way on the other side as it appears that IKEA no longer sells the light I used.

 

[TheWB]

Very nice. The AluFab stand looks very nice and your controller board looks really good. I find the top profile of the bottom rail interesting as it looks more like a kick plate than T-Slot to me. Is that the actual extrusion profile or is it a trim piece?

One of the best things I did for myself when I built my very similar tank was to add lighting. I had a closet lighting LED bar from IKEA that I had never used and it fit into the top of the side frame for my stand like it was designed for it. It shines on my mounting board. Even though my stand is open, I find I use the light often, so much so that I plan to add a light to the reservoir end as well.

Your solution with an LED strip is great. I may go that way on the other side as it appears that IKEA no longer sells the light I used.

Thanks. The stand turned out great and the controller board is functional but not the nicest looking piece of craftsmanship, lol. That top piece on the bottom rail is for the front and side panels to slot into. You pound it into the t-slot with a rubber mallet. So I guess technically it's trim?? Scuse the debris laying around, I have not vacuumed up the mess inside the stand yet.

Very happy with how the stand lighting turned out. It's this

Indoor 8-ft. Warm White LED Dimmable Plug-In Tape Light

How to Adjust Tape Light Length with Corner Connectors and Block Connectors

goodearthlighting.com

The adhesive backing turned out to be quite strong which made going around the corners easy.

 

[tharbin]

Thanks. The stand turned out great and the controller board is functional but not the nicest looking piece of craftsmanship, lol. That top piece on the bottom rail is for the front and side panels to slot into. You pound it into the t-slot with a rubber mallet. So I guess technically it's trim?? Scuse the debris laying around, I have not vacuumed up the mess inside the stand yet.

Very happy with how the stand lighting turned out. It's this

Indoor 8-ft. Warm White LED Dimmable Plug-In Tape Light

How to Adjust Tape Light Length with Corner Connectors and Block Connectors

goodearthlighting.com

The adhesive backing turned out to be quite strong which made going around the corners easy.

Thanks, that makes sense. Very nice on ALuFab's part. Overall it looks like a quality piece of kit. Nice job on the LED strip, clean and unobtrusive.

 

[Fungusamongus]

Looking super good. Well organized. I would like to try something like this when i get the chance. All in due time...and money.

We bought a mini fridge from Wal-mart, i believe,that was 2 ft x 2ft with a small freezer section. I wouldnt trust the freezer section much though. Some things d9nt stay frozen or it has too much frost creep.

 

[TheWB]

Thanks, that makes sense. Very nice on ALuFab's part. Overall it looks like a quality piece of kit. Nice job on the LED strip, clean and unobtrusive.

Thanks, I really like the stand a lot. Alufab did a great job and I would highly recommend. I’m also happy with how the cabinet lighting came out. I’ve never used strip lights before and the installation was much simpler than I’d been expecting.

Looking super good. Well organized. I would like to try something like this when i get the chance. All in due time...and money.

We bought a mini fridge from Wal-mart, i believe,that was 2 ft x 2ft with a small freezer section. I wouldnt trust the freezer section much though. Some things d9nt stay frozen or it has too much frost creep.

You should go for it as soon as it makes sense. I gave the lagoon a good 5 year run and it was definitely time to upgrade. Very happy I did it and got something custom designed to my specific wants and needs.
Appreciate the info about the mini fridge. I know the freezers a the real small ones leave a lot to be desired. Hopefully I can find something that works.