Dria's IM Fusion 40 Tank Thread - Page 2

Dria · 01/27/2016, 03:45 PM

Here he is!

Trying different angles as I take my tank picture of the day to see what I like best.

Dria · 01/27/2016, 07:13 PM

Finally seeing ammonia! Reading .4 ppm on this evening's test. I'm a wuss so I dosed with prime because I felt bad for the critters. Was also showing trace nitrite .05. Cycle is underway. Hooray!

Dria · 01/28/2016, 08:59 PM

Not much has changed since yesterday but I'm trying to take a picture every day to see the progress of the tank over the months.

Ammonia is finally showing so now I'm just waiting.

Dria · 01/29/2016, 01:56 PM

Day 7 now. Still have some ammonia. I'm dosing with prime every 24 hours until it's gone to protect the crustaceans. I found the hideout of one of the pistol shrimp in an empty barnacle. He is tiny, under a half inch! I thought he was a copepod at first but he seemed to be moving around a bit too well for one of those. I can't believe something so little can make that noise!

I think I'm getting diatoms now. Either that or the sand is mysteriously getting dirty.

Is this pink coralline?

Dria · 01/30/2016, 07:09 PM

Really impressed with the life of the rock the last few days. With several days of stability I'm seeing more and more come out of the rocks. Some beautiful filter feeders and cool worms. Need to get my better camera out to take some macro shots.

Dria · 01/31/2016, 02:37 PM

Day 9. I've been tweaking the lights some so I'll give you a little tour around the tank while I'm waiting for my ammonia to drop.

The obligatory full tank shot:

From the left side:

From the right side:

Rx79394 · 01/31/2016, 04:56 PM

Looks like some pink sponges, not coralline.

Dria · 01/31/2016, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rx79394

Looks like some pink sponges, not coralline.

Thanks! I was about 50/50 on that. Pictures from Google aren't that helpful figuring out what coralline looks like in real life.

Dria · 01/31/2016, 07:36 PM

I dragged out the nice camera and took a few closer pictures of my favorite rock. I even caught what I think is a tiny baby mantis shrimp in one picture. See if you can find him!

Dria · 02/01/2016, 03:25 PM

Diatoms are sooooo ugly today. I just hope that means my cycle is almost over.

In other news I finally got my ATO working right. It was really noisy and coming on much too often but after reading a few more threads on here I figured out that I probably hadn't gotten all of the air out so I unplugged it and plugged it back in a few times while holding it upside down and that seems to have helped both issues. RC saves the day again!

Mester320 · 02/02/2016, 11:50 AM

I can't say for sure because I don't know how you have your ATO setup but if it was taking water out of your tank and depositing it into you ATO container I know the problem. You must have had the fresh ATO water line going into your main tank below the tank's water line. The problem with this is that it can create a reverse suction and drain water from your tank.

Two ways that you can fix this. Add a check valve so that it will only allow water to pass one direction in the ATO tube (into your tank) or keep the ATO line above the water line in your tank. I prefer both methods for redundancy.

Does this make sense? Do you think this is what happened?

Dria · 02/02/2016, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mester320

I can't say for sure because I don't know how you have your ATO setup but if it was taking water out of your tank and depositing it into you ATO container I know the problem. You must have had the fresh ATO water line going into your main tank below the tank's water line. The problem with this is that it can create a reverse suction and drain water from your tank.

Two ways that you can fix this. Add a check valve so that it will only allow water to pass one direction in the ATO tube (into your tank) or keep the ATO line above the water line in your tank. I prefer both methods for redundancy.

Does this make sense? Do you think this is what happened?

Yup! That's exactly what happened. I put it under the water so it wouldn't splash and would make less noise, and didn't even think about the siphon it would cause when the pump shut off. But one wet floor and drained tank later, it's all fixed. The line is sitting well above the water now. I will add a check valve too now that I'm thinking about it, but I have to find them.

edward1096 · 02/02/2016, 06:46 PM

Nice nano!

Dria · 02/02/2016, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edward1096

Nice nano!

Thanks!

Oh diatoms. How I hate you...

Just the slightest hint of green in the ammonia test today. Nitrates have steadily been climbing and nitrites have never been above a trace. I'm hoping tomorrow or the next day I'll be cycled.

Saw a post yesterday about polyclad flatworms and now I think the fluttery thing I saw on day 1 was probably one of those. Ugh. I'm hoping it died in the salinity swing. I have a pretty big cerith snail that has been doing his best against my diatom infestation who hasn't been eaten yet so fingers crossed.

Dria · 02/03/2016, 07:13 PM

Tank shot of the day!

Also... cycled! Hooray

Dria · 02/04/2016, 10:09 PM

Looking very similar the last few days. Second shipment of TBS stuff is on the way though so more exciting changes coming!

hawaiifavo · 02/05/2016, 08:39 AM

Nice looking setup. What are the dimensions of the tank?

Dria · 02/05/2016, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawaiifavo

Nice looking setup. What are the dimensions of the tank?

Thank you!

The display area is 23 Wide x 16 Deep x 19 Tall (calculated out to almost 31 gallons). Another 4 inches in the back for the sump area which gives the other ~10 gallons. It's a nice size.

My only complaint is that I would prefer if the stand was not quite as tall. I have to stand on a stool to do almost anything in the tank. If I was even the slightest bit handy I would have made my own about 10 inches shorter.

Dria · 02/06/2016, 05:23 PM

After a long, long night unpacking and rearranging this is the new scape! Not final yet as I'm waiting to see how I feel about it in a day or so.

My new pincushion has built himself a fort!

My red mithrax crab who I hadn't seen in a few days seems to like the company because he's out and about cleaning up the rocks.

So far no ammonia spike from the new additions. Will test again later.

Dria · 02/08/2016, 09:24 PM

Was busy yesterday so I didn't post a picture though I did take one.

And here is today's:

Everything is coming along nicely. After a couple quiet, stable days more of the critters are crawling out of their holes. Lots of porcelain crabs, what I think is another red mithrax, and a couple of tiny unknown crabs. Hermits and snails are amusing, and the pincushion makes me laugh every time I see him pick something else up to carry around. Going to start baiting traps tomorrow to see what I catch.

This is what the scape looks like from the sides:

don_chuwish · 02/08/2016, 10:48 PM

That must be fun, discovering what life crawls out of the nooks & crannies. But yeah I'm sure you won't want to keep everything! Happy hunting.

Dria · 02/09/2016, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by don_chuwish

That must be fun, discovering what life crawls out of the nooks & crannies. But yeah I'm sure you won't want to keep everything! Happy hunting.

It's really fun! Something different every time I look in the tank. I love that my tank is a tiny working ecosystem.

I think I have at least one opportunistic crab in there that I have to sump but there aren't too many baddies that I've seen so far.

Dria · 02/09/2016, 01:06 PM

Flame scallop finally came out from behind the rock work for his glamor shot.

Dria · 02/09/2016, 04:35 PM

Some better close ups from today:

Mostly FTS:

Dria · 02/10/2016, 01:42 PM

Really pleased with how well everything is going so far. Parameters are nice and stable, and everyone seems happy.

Going to add the HOB fuge tonight and put at least one piece of my LR back there to free up some room in the DT.

I've got my first coral coming in tomorrow so we'll see how that goes!

01/27/2016, 03:45 PM	#26
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Here he is! Trying different angles as I take my tank picture of the day to see what I like best. __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

01/27/2016, 07:13 PM	#27
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Finally seeing ammonia! Reading .4 ppm on this evening's test. I'm a wuss so I dosed with prime because I felt bad for the critters. Was also showing trace nitrite .05. Cycle is underway. Hooray! __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

01/28/2016, 08:59 PM	#28
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Not much has changed since yesterday but I'm trying to take a picture every day to see the progress of the tank over the months. Ammonia is finally showing so now I'm just waiting. __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

01/29/2016, 01:56 PM	#29
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Day 7 now. Still have some ammonia. I'm dosing with prime every 24 hours until it's gone to protect the crustaceans. I found the hideout of one of the pistol shrimp in an empty barnacle. He is tiny, under a half inch! I thought he was a copepod at first but he seemed to be moving around a bit too well for one of those. I can't believe something so little can make that noise! I think I'm getting diatoms now. Either that or the sand is mysteriously getting dirty. Is this pink coralline? __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

01/30/2016, 07:09 PM	#30
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Really impressed with the life of the rock the last few days. With several days of stability I'm seeing more and more come out of the rocks. Some beautiful filter feeders and cool worms. Need to get my better camera out to take some macro shots. __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 Last edited by Dria; 01/30/2016 at 07:16 PM.

01/31/2016, 02:37 PM	#31
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Day 9. I've been tweaking the lights some so I'll give you a little tour around the tank while I'm waiting for my ammonia to drop. The obligatory full tank shot: From the left side: From the right side: __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

01/31/2016, 04:56 PM	#32
Rx79394 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 166	Looks like some pink sponges, not coralline.

01/31/2016, 07:36 PM	#34
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	I dragged out the nice camera and took a few closer pictures of my favorite rock. I even caught what I think is a tiny baby mantis shrimp in one picture. See if you can find him! __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 Last edited by Dria; 01/31/2016 at 08:09 PM.

02/01/2016, 03:25 PM	#35
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Diatoms are sooooo ugly today. I just hope that means my cycle is almost over. In other news I finally got my ATO working right. It was really noisy and coming on much too often but after reading a few more threads on here I figured out that I probably hadn't gotten all of the air out so I unplugged it and plugged it back in a few times while holding it upside down and that seems to have helped both issues. RC saves the day again! __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/02/2016, 11:50 AM	#36
Mester320 Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fort Myers, FL Posts: 67	I can't say for sure because I don't know how you have your ATO setup but if it was taking water out of your tank and depositing it into you ATO container I know the problem. You must have had the fresh ATO water line going into your main tank below the tank's water line. The problem with this is that it can create a reverse suction and drain water from your tank. Two ways that you can fix this. Add a check valve so that it will only allow water to pass one direction in the ATO tube (into your tank) or keep the ATO line above the water line in your tank. I prefer both methods for redundancy. Does this make sense? Do you think this is what happened?

02/02/2016, 06:46 PM	#38
edward1096 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Posts: 73	Nice nano!

02/03/2016, 07:13 PM	#40
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Tank shot of the day! Also... cycled! Hooray __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/04/2016, 10:09 PM	#41
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Looking very similar the last few days. Second shipment of TBS stuff is on the way though so more exciting changes coming! __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/05/2016, 08:39 AM	#42
hawaiifavo Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Fishers, IN Posts: 69	Nice looking setup. What are the dimensions of the tank?

02/06/2016, 05:23 PM	#44
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	After a long, long night unpacking and rearranging this is the new scape! Not final yet as I'm waiting to see how I feel about it in a day or so. My new pincushion has built himself a fort! My red mithrax crab who I hadn't seen in a few days seems to like the company because he's out and about cleaning up the rocks. So far no ammonia spike from the new additions. Will test again later. __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/08/2016, 09:24 PM	#45
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Was busy yesterday so I didn't post a picture though I did take one. And here is today's: Everything is coming along nicely. After a couple quiet, stable days more of the critters are crawling out of their holes. Lots of porcelain crabs, what I think is another red mithrax, and a couple of tiny unknown crabs. Hermits and snails are amusing, and the pincushion makes me laugh every time I see him pick something else up to carry around. Going to start baiting traps tomorrow to see what I catch. This is what the scape looks like from the sides: __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/08/2016, 10:48 PM	#46
don_chuwish Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 345	That must be fun, discovering what life crawls out of the nooks & crannies. But yeah I'm sure you won't want to keep everything! Happy hunting.

02/09/2016, 01:06 PM	#48
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Flame scallop finally came out from behind the rock work for his glamor shot. __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/09/2016, 04:35 PM	#49
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Some better close ups from today: Mostly FTS: __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155

02/10/2016, 01:42 PM	#50
Dria Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Kitsap County WA Posts: 85	Really pleased with how well everything is going so far. Parameters are nice and stable, and everyone seems happy. Going to add the HOB fuge tonight and put at least one piece of my LR back there to free up some room in the DT. I've got my first coral coming in tomorrow so we'll see how that goes! __________________ IM Fusion 40 \| EcoTech Marine Radion XR15w Pro \| EcoTech Marine VorTech MP10wQD \| Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9004 \| Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155