ShoreReefers IM 200EXT

[ShoreReefer]

Good morning reefing family. This build started in my head last year when I was contemplating which route I should take for an upgrade. After careful consideration I decided to upgrade from a 72x18x22 second hand tank to a brand new Innovative Marine 200EXT. The price and the dimensions are really what drove me to settling on this tank. Here are a few pictures of my current 4 year old setup. Now was the hard part of convincing my better half that an upgrade was needed. She hated the buckets and equipment next to the stand and the bottles on top of the canopy creating clutter so I promised to build a cabinet next to the stand.
Believe it or not the dogs were extremely helpful in convincing the better half that now is a good time for an upgrade. You see we have 2 dogs (65lb Sato dog and 95lb Chocolate Lab) as well as engineered hardwood floor on our first floor slab which have become extremely scratched up because of their nails. We have decided to replace the engineered hardwood with a luxury vinyl plank which means breaking the current tank down, taking up and replacing the floor and putting the tank back up so what better time for an upgrade! That coupled with a promotion at work and a nice pay increase and she finally said yes . Which leads to this morning’s confirmed order of a brand new tank.
I also went back and forth in my head deciding if I should just get the tank and stand and use my existing sump and return pumps or the complete package. This was especially tough to decide because I was able to install a filter roller in my current setup which I don’t believe you can in the new sump. After careful deliberation I went with the complete package because I liked the idea of the larger sump than I currently have, a new return pump and all of the included plumbing.

 

[ShoreReefer]

The tank arrived yesterday and man is it a beauty! The sump appears darn near as big as my 120 lol. I do have to wait some time though because we’re still getting estimates on the new flooring, the tank arrived about a month ahead of schedule. It was crated very well with no signs of damage to the tank or sump.

 

[ShoreReefer]

For equipment I’m moving much of the current equipment from the 120 to the 200.
Current equipment:
Neptune Apex controller with
EB832x2
DOSx2
Trident
and Auto fish feeder
Icecap ATS
Maxpect Gyre XF350 with controller x2 (new)
MP40x2 (putting on back wall of tank)
Mighty Jet DC XL return pump (included with tank package)
Nuvo RFS sump (included with tank package)
Reef Octopus 150 skimmer
Reefi Uno 2.0x3
Aquatic Life 60” T5 hybrid
I am currently dosing the BRS 2 part balling method and supplementing with the reef moonshiners method.
Since I can’t install a filter roller I plan on using filter floss in the beginning and eventually only using the skimmer and ATS for mechanical filtration.

 

[ShoreReefer]

Today I ordered the 8020 rails for my light. I was able to find a photo that best depicts how I’m going to be mounting the T5 hybrid fixture. It will be similar to this and will be bolted to the stand instead of the wall.
In other news the 2 yellow tangs I got from the local fish store have settled in nicely into the biocube and are awaiting their new home. I’m just nervous because the last 2 YT’s I got from biota both perished within a week. I didn’t see any bullying but I suspect my sailfin tang was the culprit. Now I’ll be adding everything into the 200 at once including either a purple tang or gem tang, I haven’t yet decided.
Can anyone tell me what coral this is that I have? I got it a few years ago from WWC and can’t remember the name. It really wasn’t really that spectacular in my tank but I started dosing 25ML of acropower once a week and boy have the colors started to pop. I will try to take another picture tomorrow under white lights.

 

[ShoreReefer]

Moving day! Time to move this bad boy to its temporary location in the dining room. I’ve been dreading this day for a long time.

 

[ShoreReefer]

So we ended up completely pivoting from our original plan of placing the new tank where the old one currently is. We are now putting the tank in a separate smaller room off of the kitchen where the floors are not going to be replaced so I put the stand together today along with putting together the light rack. This is so much easier than trying to move the current tank and then waiting for the floors to be replaced to install the new one. Now the fun begins of getting a few hands to help bring the beast in. Excuse the mess on the table, we had to empty the hutch to move into the family room for the time being. A lot of changes!