MJSzos - From "Uh Oh" to "Woo Hoo" Build Thread - Innovative Marine INT-100

[ElementReefer]

Good luck with everything! If you need someone to translate any medical jargon, feel free to DM me, I’m a provider.

 

[mjszos]

Good luck with everything! If you need someone to translate any medical jargon, feel free to DM me, I’m a provider.

I appreciate that! Ultimately it comes down to just better stress management. I’ve never had a panic attack before in my life, but myself (and my doctor) are reasonably confident that’s what has happened.

Now that I’ve gotten some clarity that I’m physically healthy I’m ready to keep on moving.

Anyway, onto better things!! I let my tank glass get nice and dirty so I could see the copepods and they’re there!

Now feeding time!

Tank is doing great, getting brown and nasty but I’ve been diligent about dusting off the rocks and stirring up the sand. Swapping socks every 2-3 days. The mechanical filtration chamber in this tank is awesome - the filter floss and the first cup get basically all of the detritus.

 

[Stang67]

You got me hooked. Following along. Have you figured out a fix for your water storage/mixing station issue?
You said you have a basement? Does the basement have water available? If so definately basement over garage. I have my mixing station and sump in the basement for my 180g. It's was easier when I did water changes to have it all together. Now I just fill my ato up. It still gets cold so in the winter I wrap the sump with "insulation" to help with heat loss. Now I also make rodi upstairs in my bathroom for water changes for my office tanks. I use a 32g Brute can on casters. I hide it in the office closet when I don't need it.
Let me know what you have to work with and maybe we can come up with a fix for you.

 

[mjszos]

You got me hooked. Following along. Have you figured out a fix for your water storage/mixing station issue?
You said you have a basement? Does the basement have water available? If so definately basement over garage. I have my mixing station and sump in the basement for my 180g. It's was easier when I did water changes to have it all together. Now I just fill my ato up. It still gets cold so in the winter I wrap the sump with "insulation" to help with heat loss. Now I also make rodi upstairs in my bathroom for water changes for my office tanks. I use a 32g Brute can on casters. I hide it in the office closet when I don't need it.
Let me know what you have to work with and maybe we can come up with a fix for you.

Ehhh, not really. The plans on hold at the moment, but I’m kicking around a few ideas. The plumbing to get water up to the main floor of the house would be a little iffy and I’d need a massive pump for it, but I’ll come up with something. Ideally I’d love to get 2x 100G vertical water containers (100G salt, 100G RODI).

The main challenge is the plumbing, the water currently comes from the laundry room right next to where I’d want the containers. Heat isn’t an issue since it’s a finished basement. It’s the weird plumbing run through the crawl space, then a half circle basically through my garage.

Once spring comes around I’ll probably prioritize this a bit more. For right now I setup a temporary RODI under my kitchen sink to fill up for water changes.

Thanks for following along and chiming in, looking forward to having ya on board

 

[mjszos]

Bit of a more exciting update today! Had a local reefer buddy swing by today to pick up an old nano tank, and he brought me some “tester” frags to see how things go!

Duncan is opening up nicely.

The frogspawn is getting there. + the Candy Cane in the background.

And a little green monti cap, we’ll see how it goes.

He also gave me a Kenya tree and some branching GSP, but both of those are still extra grumpy looking so I didn’t bother snapping a pic

Cheers and happy Sunday!

 

[Projects with Sam]

look me up if you swing by western springs. may have a few more samplers for you!

 

[mjszos]

look me up if you swing by western springs. may have a few more samplers for you!

Appreciate that! I’m in Naperville so just a stones throw away!

 

[Projects with Sam]

Appreciate that! I’m in Naperville so just a stones throw away!

I'm going out to BlueLineCorals right now... won an auction I shouldn't have participated in.

 

[mjszos]

I'm going out to BlueLineCorals right now... won an auction I shouldn't have participated in.

Such is the story of auctions. I am absolutely astounded at my self restraint on not buying more corals as this tank is settling in... Everything I've got is either carry overs, or freebies from local reefers. It makes a massive difference looking at some corals in there rather than just some white rock, but I'm trying to be a little more conscious with this one than previous tanks.

That being said, if someone offers you free coral... It's rude to say no, right?

 

[ElementReefer]

I’m glad you guys are supporting each other’s sobriety.

 

[mjszos]

I’m glad you guys are supporting each other’s sobriety.

This gave me a solid belly laugh.

 

[mjszos]

A bit of an actual update for you all this evening as I sit here procrastinating on some work for grad school...

The tank is doing great! My biggest challenges currently are:

-Keeping Phos under control from this old rock. I tested yesterday before a WC @ 0.09, this morning @ 0.05, and just now at 0.1. Will likely change out my GFO this weekend, and maybe toss in a little more (I'm currently running a 1/4-1/2 dose for my tank size).
-Sand... Between my overpowered gyres and this devil of a goby, there's mountains everywhere that I'm smoothing out daily.

Otherwise, everything is doing well! Glass is a little dirty as I've been using the film to monitor my pod population (I was told this would help, I still can't see sh**).

Moved the frogspawn as it was getting too much flow in it's old home.

The Kenya Tree (or as I like to call it, the asparagus due to how it looks when its closed up) is wide open and happy, as well as the candycane.

This Duncan is a beaut, but likely will need to get moved at some point. My goal is to make the bay in this structure into a euphyllia garden.

I also moved the branching GSP on the right structure (no pics as it's closed up) since I believe it was getting hammered with too much flow.

And a FTS during feeding time in all of it's dirty glass glory:

 

[Stang67]

Lookin good!

 

[mjszos]

Lookin good!

Still waiting on the brown and uglies to take over! Hopefully being diligent about keeping the rocks clean, changing out my pads + socks regularly, and having a whackton of established live rock will keep that stage to a minimum.

 

[Stang67]

Slow and steady.