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

[mjszos]

Looking great!

I’ve been spending the afternoon with my AI coming up with a plan for a small Dino outbreak I’m having.

What LFS do you use in the area (if any?)

Could try a blackout + some gravel vacuuming into your sump through a fleece sock?

There’s a few LFS near me; Blue Line Coral is my closest one, but their systems aren’t always the cleanest looking. My recent go-to spot has been Aquatic HQ - it’s a newer store, but it’s immaculate and their livestock/coral pricing is really good. So much so that I saw a colony listed with a price and I clarified if it was per head… it was not. Giant octospawn (probably the size of a baseball) for $60

 

[keelo]

You and I both had a busy day man !

 

[mjszos]

You and I both had a busy day man !

Just caught up on your thread! It’s coming together nicely.

I dig the aquascape, clever use of shelf rock to build your structures.

You’ll have to let me know your impression of those supplemental bars. I anticipate I’ll need 1-2 of them once I’m ready to dip into SPS. Hoping to get some PAR readings in the next week or so, and that’ll determine my plans moving forward.

How was the sand rinsing process? I’m still really debating if I feel like doing it, I’m leaning towards yes because I will be adding it to a filled tank, but I also have never had issues with sediment or cloudiness outside of a day or 2, and I’ve read that Fiji Pink plays a little nicer than the larger grain sizes.

TBD… on the sand rinse… that’ll be a follow up post tomorrow if I choose to do it, I’m running out of tank tasks so maybe I’ll pull the trigger and give them a final rinse in some extra salt water I mixed up for a heavy water change in the holding tank before I learned this tank arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Cheers, enjoy the rest of your weekend - make sure you get some rest, all work and no play!!

 

[keelo]

Just caught up on your thread! It’s coming together nicely.

I dig the aquascape, clever use of shelf rock to build your structures.

You’ll have to let me know your impression of those supplemental bars. I anticipate I’ll need 1-2 of them once I’m ready to dip into SPS. Hoping to get some PAR readings in the next week or so, and that’ll determine my plans moving forward.

How was the sand rinsing process? I’m still really debating if I feel like doing it, I’m leaning towards yes because I will be adding it to a filled tank, but I also have never had issues with sediment or cloudiness outside of a day or 2, and I’ve read that Fiji Pink plays a little nicer than the larger grain sizes.

TBD… on the sand rinse… that’ll be a follow up post tomorrow if I choose to do it, I’m running out of tank tasks so maybe I’ll pull the trigger and give them a final rinse in some extra salt water I mixed up for a heavy water change in the holding tank before I learned this tank arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Cheers, enjoy the rest of your weekend - make sure you get some rest, all work and no play!!

I’ll be honest with you on the lights I’m too sure how they perform because I have not used them much at all. The prior owner only ran SPS with them so I’m assuming they are good, these tanks aren’t too tall so I think most lights should have no problem growing all coral. The sand rinsing was something I didn’t want to do but dang I’m glad I did because the water was murky for a very long time whilst rinsing. I used a 32g tote so it wasn’t too bad but it did take me longer than I expected. The Aquascape was something I was daunting but my wife helped honestly it was very easy to do once you have an idea in mind. The stack rocks definitely helped, I use no adhesive at all

 

[keelo]

I did all this and ran a half marathon believe it or not lol

 

[keelo]

I did all this and ran a half marathon believe it or not lol

 

[mjszos]

I’ll be honest with you on the lights I’m too sure how they perform because I have not used them much at all. The prior owner only ran SPS with them so I’m assuming they are good, these tanks aren’t too tall so I think most lights should have no problem growing all coral. The sand rinsing was something I didn’t want to do but dang I’m glad I did because the water was murky for a very long time whilst rinsing. I used a 32g tote so it wasn’t too bad but it did take me longer than I expected. The Aquascape was something I was daunting but my wife helped honestly it was very easy to do once you have an idea in mind. The stack rocks definitely helped, I use no adhesive at all

Noted. If you ever check the PAR, let me know!

I missed in your thread which sand you’re using? From my very minor research Fiji Pink rinses out quicker, but we’ll see. I’ll decide tomorrow if I feel like dealing with that, haha.

I did all this and ran a half marathon believe it or not lol

You’re sick, LOL

 

[keelo]

Noted. If you ever check the PAR, let me know!

I missed in your thread which sand you’re using? From my very minor research Fiji Pink rinses out quicker, but we’ll see. I’ll decide tomorrow if I feel like dealing with that, haha.



You’re sick, LOL

I’m using Carib sea special grad aragonite

 

[mjszos]

I’m using Carib sea special grad aragonite

Got it. I’ve used special grade in all of my tanks, great substrate. I have a few specific additions to the tank in mind that fare better with a finer grade, which is why I went Fiji Pink.

 

[keelo]

Okay man, yeah the water was very dirty at first and to be honest there was still some murkiness but I figured that was good enough. Man looking at your Aquascape that thing is crazy! How long did it take you ?

 

[JoJosReef]

Following along

 

[SpyC]

Evening update!

It took 4 of us to get all of the equipment inside…. Leaving my house looking like a bit of a war zone.

But slowly we assembled all of the equipment. One comment - the instructions for this stand are AWFUL. There is going to be a half ton of weight on this thing, yet it failed to give any measurements of brace spacing or anything.

But we got the stand built, the tank placed on the stand, and everything leveled!

I got most of the plumbing done today as well, however since I’d like to use my fleece roller I need to get some new plumbing parts… unfortunately metric is used and I’m hoping to avoid cutting anything or building out my own. I was able to get the Red Sea ReefMat 250 to fit in the first chamber WITHOUT modification, and I believe it should work… just need to get a few bulkheads and make this work.

I also got the skimmer, return pump, and heaters installed in their final positions.

I did a dry fit of one of the Gen 6 Radion XR-15 Pros to see how the coverage will be. I’m not super happy with these RMS mounts - I’d like for the XR15 version to include all 3 lengths like the XR-30, especially for the price. The ecotech tax for some barely above average mounting arms is kind of obscene.

One thing I’m noticing is that this giant sump makes all of my perfectly average sized equipment look tiny.. maybe I need to crank the temperature up in my house

That’s all for tonight folks! Looking forward to any feedback, criticism, etc of the setup.

Cheers!

Do the new stands come with leveling feet or did you install them?

 

[mjszos]

Okay man, yeah the water was very dirty at first and to be honest there was still some murkiness but I figured that was good enough. Man looking at your Aquascape that thing is crazy! How long did it take you ?

Yeah that makes sense.

The aquascape took ~2-3 weeks off and on. I built the main structures with my wife, then as I was epoxying them in place I’d make minor adjustments. It’s made almost entirely of (at the largest) baseball sized rubble.

2 big things of glue, 6 sticks of epoxy, and probably 3lbs of crushed Marco dust to cover up the seams!

Following along

Welcome to the thunder dome my friend!

Do the new stands come with leveling feet or did you install them?

It came with a whole leveling platform! The base you see in the first pic was a pre assembled platform with feet that can be screwed in/out to level out the tank.

 

[SpyC]

It came with a whole leveling platform! The base you see in the first pic was a pre assembled platform with feet that can be screwed in/out to level out the tank.

Glad to hear they finally added a leveling solution. How does it attach to the stand?

 

[mjszos]

Glad to hear they finally added a leveling solution. How does it attach to the stand?

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