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

[Fish Styx]

I agree that getting them to pair is a royal PITA. Fortunately, I have them on my back wall to provide laminar flow behind the scape and just set them to random. Between their flow patterns and the MP60s on reef crest, they accomplish what I need without the master / slave configuration.

 

[mjszos]

Oh no! Yeah, don't use vinegar to clean pumps. It really messes up magnets. I use citric acid to clean mine, and have forgotten them for days to no ill effect.

Funnily enough, I decided since I’ve never cleaned a pump before I’d trust the first source of cleaning info I found rather than going down my overthinking rabbit hole.

I chose wrong.

Which Jebaos are you using? The SCP or MCP?

 

[Fish Styx]

Funnily enough, I decided since I’ve never cleaned a pump before I’d trust the first source of cleaning info I found rather than going down my overthinking rabbit hole.

I chose wrong.

Which Jebaos are you using? The SCP or MCP?

MCP-120s

 

[mjszos]

MCP-120s

Right on. I ordered a pair of those just now, I had the SCP before - hoping my pairing woes are solved with this new one.

I’m not 100% sure what I want to/need to do for supplemental flow. I might pick up a pair of their Nero clones in the future to run on the back wall if flow is an issue.

Hope you had a good weekend Mr Styx!

 

[Fish Styx]

Hope you had a good weekend Mr Styx!

I have no complaints. Many thanks!

Same.

 

[Fish Styx]

Right on. I ordered a pair of those just now, I had the SCP before - hoping my pairing woes are solved with this new one.

I’m not 100% sure what I want to/need to do for supplemental flow. I might pick up a pair of their Nero clones in the future to run on the back wall if flow is an issue.

Hope you had a good weekend Mr Styx!

If need be, check out their DMP line. They are the Ecotech clones. Two of the smaller ones may be a good solution for the back to eliminate dead spots on the sides of the overflow.

 

[mjszos]

If need be, check out their DMP line. They are the Ecotech clones. Two of the smaller ones may be a good solution for the back to eliminate dead spots on the sides of the overflow.

My concern with these is the magnets will be submerged. With the Nero clones I can pop the dry side magnets into a vacuum sealed bag and feel comfortable. That’s not an option with the cable being on the dry side.

 

[SpyC]

That’s the weird bit… it doesn’t. You just put it on top of it and line up the corners.

Hmmm, that seems a bit poorly engineered. I am sure the weight helps keep it in place, but would like to have it fully attached somehow. Even if only to ensure it is properly centered on it

 

[mjszos]

Hmmm, that seems a bit poorly engineered. I am sure the weight helps keep it in place, but would like to have it fully attached somehow. Even if only to ensure it is properly centered on it

I agree, but I will say that:

-Dimensionally, it’s 1:1 of the stand. Perfect fit, maybe a few MM oversized.
-Even with the weight of just the stand on it, it required a bit of effort to move it. Put the tank on and I couldn’t shift it myself… roughly 400lbs of weight in just the stand + empty tank.

 

[mjszos]

Cleared up nicely overnight. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get all of the Marco powder suspended to filter out, but the nice part about this is it indicated dead zones in the tank as I suspected would be problematic in the middle.

Left structure needs to be adjusted a bit, but I will be adding the sand over the course of the day today. Further updates to come!

 

[mjszos]

And we're officially (mostly) sandy!

I still have probably another 10ish LBS of sand available to me, just need to let this murkiness clear out and even out the spread of the sand once I can more clearly see... May even end up removing some depending on the level.

I obviously didn't do a perfect job rinsing the sand, but seeing as how there's about 100-110lbs of Fiji Pink in there, it's a clear improvement over just dumping it straight from the bag.

Next steps are to get the lights mounted once I'm happy with the sand bed, get the gyres synced up (albeit temporarily, new ones arriving tomorrow hopefully or after the holidays), transfer some of my existing live rock into the sump, then get the critters moved over!

 

[ElementReefer]

I went 100% Chinese brand for my first tank. On my new one, I’m finally transitioning to “name brand” gear as I slowly replace things, and I am honestly not regretting it.

I had a jebao gyre, it died on me. Replaced it with an AI Orbit and it’s great. Next up is my Nicrew lights. They only have two channels and six time points on the external controller.

So yes, I think the extra money is worth it. I would pay an extra 50% for app control and a bit higher quality. If I ever couldn’t afford it, I would be fine with generic.

 

[mjszos]

I went 100% Chinese brand for my first tank. On my new one, I’m finally transitioning to “name brand” gear as I slowly replace things, and I am honestly not regretting it.

I had a jebao gyre, it died on me. Replaced it with an AI Orbit and it’s great. Next up is my Nicrew lights. They only have two channels and six time points on the external controller.

So yes, I think the extra money is worth it. I would pay an extra 50% for app control and a bit higher quality. If I ever couldn’t afford it, I would be fine with generic.

With the recent high expenses due to an unexpected tank purchase + all of the fixin's that come with it, I opted to be more economical and give the Jebao gyres another shot. If I'm not happy with them, I'll end up replacing them with the Red Sea ones to continue with the same app support...

Likely the same reason I'll go with AI Blades when the time comes for supplemental lighting - I'd rather control everything through Mobius than multiple, despite the Orpheks coming highly recommended.

The only name brand thing I'll ever 100% ignore are the Ecotech powerheads, I know people swear by them but their pricing is just outrageous.

 

[Thatgirlnyx]

Following along - RIP Bubbles

 

[mjszos]

Following along - RIP Bubbles

There will be a Bubbles 2.0 coming soon! Just waiting on the holiday madness to be over + a decent pod population to pop up so I can place an order from Biota... Likely going to get; Yellow Tang and a Mandarin. Depending on how my coral splurges go, may also pick up a Marine Betta at the same time

 

[ElementReefer]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007988063634.html

 

[mjszos]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007988063634.html

Link isn't working for me, but I assume it's for the Jebao MP clones. Unfortunately any supplemental flow I need will be mounted to the acrylic of the overflow box as I mentioned above. So I'll want something without wiring on the dry side as I'll vacuum seal the magnet to minimize the possibly of it leeching any metals.

I have a couple of Nero's floating around from a nano tank back in the day I can toss in as well if needed, but I have a friend starting up a tank who may have a better use for them in the short-term

 

[keelo]

I have a pair of reef wave 45 I’ll let you know how those are man

 

[keelo]

Do you have your sump ready ?

 

[mjszos]

I have a pair of reef wave 45 I’ll let you know how those are man

They were at the top of my list due to their repairability. Maybe down the line I'll "upgrade" to them when the Jebaos I ordered die on me again.

Do you have your sump ready ?

Well funny story about that... not only is the sump ready...

We have both sand, and lift off today! My schedule changed up a bit and I didn't feel comfortable keeping them in the breeder much longer.

I moved everything over to the new tank, and everyone is doing great! My Basslet was clearly stressed, and nearly jumped out during the move. He's hidden somewhere in the scape currently and I can't find him, which is both good and bad. The good is that my approach to making plenty of hidey holes worked, the bad is that he's my favorite fish and I worry about him tremendously.

I knocked over a powerhead and kicked up a bunch of sand prior to taking this photo so it's a bit cloudy, but everyone is happy! Will feed them tomorrow morning and cross my fingers everyone makes an appearance:

Shortly after this photo was taken the clowns found each other and are back to themselves, the goby already moved in and is making piles of sand (but he's also hidden away for the night as the lights go down).

I'll drop a more detailed update tomorrow; it's been a challenging day getting everything moving. Probably 30ish lbs of 2+ year old and fully cycled live rock added into the sump that I'll likely keep in for a few months letting the bacteria establish, then remove it as it's taking up space in my refugium chamber.

Note: Big tank makes what I thought were good sized fish look tiny.