shornik
Well-Known Member
It was nice typing in that heading as I've been waiting a while to start this tank. I recently just past the 2 year mark on my Innovative Marine SR-60 and regret not keeping a build thread on that tank so I'm determined to do one for this new tank. Here's a shot of my older tank.
That's the current tank and apologize in this first post about crappy iPhone pics. Maybe one day I'll get a real camera
. Anyway in case anyone is interested the above tank is running 1 EcoTech Radion 30W LED, the IM Ghost Skimmer, 1 EcoTech Vortech 10 QD, an Apex Jr. running a DOS for 2 part and the AFS for when I need to leave the tank. Ok enough of that, this build is about my new tank so here goes:
I'll start with just some beginning pics and then go into the plan after. I guess I should first say the original location for the tank had to change because it was sticking to far out into the room, but I think my wife and I picked a better spot for it.
Yep I put in one of these all by myself, and my house hasn't caught fire and I didn't electrocute myself, so that's a good start.
The cabinet, its from Innovative Marine - I have there cabinet on my SR-60 and like it, its built well,not more much to say about that. This is the gray, the white and black were out of stock and they had no idea when they were going to be back in stock so the choice was easy, I actually like the dark gray look.
Tank and light, yay! I'm using an AI hydra 26 that I won from an Aquatic Log contest, thank you! Since this tank will be a Seahorse tank I won't be doing many if any SPS, mostly gorgonians and soft corals so for now I think this light will be fine, and the price was certainly right. It came with the EXT for hanging the light and the Director wireless controller. So I think using this saved me about $600 - don't worry I'll spend that on other things I'm sure.
So anyway the plan: As mentioned this is going to be a Seahorse tank but also will house other compatible fish like mandarins, gobies, pipefish, that are peaceful and/or have special feeding requirements. I'm going to try to keep as many ORA fish as I can. Of course that was my original plan for the SR-60 and well you know you go to the LFS and see fish you want and then the plan kind of falls apart. But for this tank I'm going to try to be more disciplined.
Since I want to cultivate a nice population of pods for the Seahorses, mandarins, and pipefish I'm seriously thinking about ditching the 200 micron filter socks that come with tank because I don't think any "buggies" will pass through them. Instead I'm going to try using the CustomCady media basket by IM with the sponge filtration (1 for filtering stuff, 1 that's carbon, and 1 that removes phosphates). At least that's the initial plan will see how it goes. At the very least with this option I feel more comfortable with the ability of the little buggies to move through the system. Speaking of little buggies, I'm also planning on adding a hang on the back refugium (or 2) from CPR Aquatic Inc., the AquaFuge 2. I was going to go with a continuous siphon overflow from them into a proper sump in the stand, but just kept thinking if I wanted that I should have bought a different tank. The AquaFuge 2 will go on the back of the tank and I think I can get 2 small ones for a total of 5 gallons, which seems big enough, after all the buggies are kind of tiny.
I still need to get a chiller, I'm debating getting it now or waiting until right before the tank is ready to add the Seahorses. I'm leaning to getting it now and hooking it up before I add sand/rock/water.
Speaking of rock I'm having a really hard time deciding what to do.....
Finally I'm debating swapping out the return pump that comes with the tank with an Ecotech Vectra M-1, but I don't think it will fit in the sump area of the Lagoon 50.
Ok this is long enough. I'm really determined to keep this updated as I go along. If you've read this far thanks.
That's the current tank and apologize in this first post about crappy iPhone pics. Maybe one day I'll get a real camera
. Anyway in case anyone is interested the above tank is running 1 EcoTech Radion 30W LED, the IM Ghost Skimmer, 1 EcoTech Vortech 10 QD, an Apex Jr. running a DOS for 2 part and the AFS for when I need to leave the tank. Ok enough of that, this build is about my new tank so here goes:I'll start with just some beginning pics and then go into the plan after. I guess I should first say the original location for the tank had to change because it was sticking to far out into the room, but I think my wife and I picked a better spot for it.
Yep I put in one of these all by myself, and my house hasn't caught fire and I didn't electrocute myself, so that's a good start.
The cabinet, its from Innovative Marine - I have there cabinet on my SR-60 and like it, its built well,not more much to say about that. This is the gray, the white and black were out of stock and they had no idea when they were going to be back in stock so the choice was easy, I actually like the dark gray look.
Tank and light, yay! I'm using an AI hydra 26 that I won from an Aquatic Log contest, thank you! Since this tank will be a Seahorse tank I won't be doing many if any SPS, mostly gorgonians and soft corals so for now I think this light will be fine, and the price was certainly right. It came with the EXT for hanging the light and the Director wireless controller. So I think using this saved me about $600 - don't worry I'll spend that on other things I'm sure
.So anyway the plan: As mentioned this is going to be a Seahorse tank but also will house other compatible fish like mandarins, gobies, pipefish, that are peaceful and/or have special feeding requirements. I'm going to try to keep as many ORA fish as I can. Of course that was my original plan for the SR-60 and well you know you go to the LFS and see fish you want and then the plan kind of falls apart. But for this tank I'm going to try to be more disciplined.
Since I want to cultivate a nice population of pods for the Seahorses, mandarins, and pipefish I'm seriously thinking about ditching the 200 micron filter socks that come with tank because I don't think any "buggies" will pass through them. Instead I'm going to try using the CustomCady media basket by IM with the sponge filtration (1 for filtering stuff, 1 that's carbon, and 1 that removes phosphates). At least that's the initial plan will see how it goes. At the very least with this option I feel more comfortable with the ability of the little buggies to move through the system. Speaking of little buggies, I'm also planning on adding a hang on the back refugium (or 2) from CPR Aquatic Inc., the AquaFuge 2. I was going to go with a continuous siphon overflow from them into a proper sump in the stand, but just kept thinking if I wanted that I should have bought a different tank. The AquaFuge 2 will go on the back of the tank and I think I can get 2 small ones for a total of 5 gallons, which seems big enough, after all the buggies are kind of tiny.
I still need to get a chiller, I'm debating getting it now or waiting until right before the tank is ready to add the Seahorses. I'm leaning to getting it now and hooking it up before I add sand/rock/water.
Speaking of rock I'm having a really hard time deciding what to do.....
Finally I'm debating swapping out the return pump that comes with the tank with an Ecotech Vectra M-1, but I don't think it will fit in the sump area of the Lagoon 50
.Ok this is long enough. I'm really determined to keep this updated as I go along. If you've read this far thanks.
