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IM10 start up....

V

VFW Legislator

Been away awhile back with an IM 10. Heres where I am so far.

10g IM Fusion
Upgraded Media Basket
AI Nano light (Will be here tomorrow)
Stock return pump (upgrade later)
240 nano pump
50 W Heater
Running Chemi Pure Elite and floss

My plan is 2g a week water changes with daily top offs of RO water. Trying to avoid any dosing. Id prefer softies and LPS and may venture into SPS when I am more educated and comfortable. Stocking is just a clown 1" and an emerald crab.

Tank has been running for 2 weeks. Started with live cured CaribSea rock from Aquarium Center, live sand, and Natures NutriSeawater. Notice a tiny spike day 2 then completely good from there. My pH is around 7.8-8.0, is that OK?

Pics are with daughters desk lamp, AI Nano will be here tomorrow. Any advice in regards to operating their AI Nano please let me know.
 

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Mark_C

Mark_C

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Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
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Coincidentally just restarted my IM 10 last week.

+1 on the media basket. I'm running a 3 tier IM basket, floss up top, a small amount of carbon in middle, and small amount of phosban in bottom (ready for chempure if needed).
I'm using a Ghost skimmer from a previous tank which is overkill. A Biocube nano skimmer should do as well at $40. For such a small tank as the weekly water change works more as a filter that the skimmer will.

Highly, highly recommend an ATO, especially with fish. I've found my tank can evap up to 12-16 oz per day, causing a good specific gravity swing. A forgotten top up day may well lead to some tank deaths. I'm using a Tunze nano, but its a tight fit (has to go on the right wall under the return line).

Im using the Skkye nano light and plan to grow only softies in this tank. No review yet as I've just started, though I did have it running for a few months in the past, again, over a softies only tank, and it seemed to do well (mild growth, good lighting). It has an on/off function and is not adjustable. I put mine on a timer to cut out and have a second moonlight kick in, this one - https://www.amazon.com/Mingdak-unde...8&qid=1484110619&sr=1-4&keywords=mingdak+moon

Unsure the Skkye could handle SPS unless they were really high in the tank, but, regardless, running SPS in one of these would be tough, as SPS is so sensitive to stability. I've got some good exp with SPS but wanted my IM10 to be as simple as possible. Monitoring and dosing Alk and Ca for LPS/SPS seemes a bit too much effort and expense, and too delicate to balance to be worth the effort, imho.

Just a few thoughts. Hope it may provide some info.
 
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