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Alex’s IM 150 EXT

Alexander1312

Alexander1312

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I am planning to set up an Innovative Marine 100 tank in the next month or two, the whole setup, including the sump. Thank you @Bruce Spiegelman for convincing me this is a great tank brand. I am only waiting for this to go on a 50% sale (most other models are already). If it stays at 20%, I will still buy it by the end of this year at the latest through @under_water_ninja.

I have two Reefi Uno Pro 2.0 lights already, which I bought from @Beanju and which I would like to use for this, and some equipment from my existing 26-gallon Red Sea Max Nano Peninsula, which has been running only since September last year.

I will need some additional equipment, which I do not have yet, and most importantly, I need to think about the aquascape - which draws on skills that I do not possess.

I wanted to float some initial questions while getting ready for the sale and the setup for input:

- Does anyone know someone who can build a good aquascape? Thank you @L/B Block for recommending one!

- Should I choose the INT or EXT version of this tank? Pros and cons?

- Does anyone have recommendations for alternatives to two MP40s for this tank? Telegraham (instagram, etc) recommended a few very cheap options below USD 100 each, but I am unsure if they will cause more issues than they solve. I will take two MP10s from my current tank for the back wall.

- Which skimmers do you recommend? I was considering a Royal Exclusive but am no longer convinced the premium price is justified, but maybe there are other thoughts here on this or other brands or models?

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INT if you want it as close to the wall as possible, otherwise 100% EXT more space inside

Flow depends on what your plans are for coral if SPS then definitely more flow. If LPS or Mixed reef then the 2 MP10s on the back may be enough. Maybe add one gyre or a pair for nutrient/detritus export.

I love royal exclusive skimmers, but also believe most any skimmer will do the job if it’s slightly oversized and set it up properly (water height and water/air mixture).
For the record, I’ve run reef Octo, Red Sea, eshopps, Skimz, royal exclusive, and nyos and I wouldn’t say any one “brand” worked better than another. If anything the DC pump skimmers were noticeably quieter.
 
Great choice, Innovative Marine makes great tanks. Is there a reason you are restricted to the IM100g? The IM150g is similar in dimensions but 12” wider at 23.6” vs 35.4” I find extra width easier to aquascape. It’s on 50% sale and gives you the option to buy the tank and stand only. I’m personally not a fan of the IM sump because you can’t add a Reefmat to it.
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Great choice, Innovative Marine makes great tanks. Is there a reason you are restricted to the IM100g? The IM150g is similar in dimensions but 12” wider at 23.6” vs 35.4” I find extra width easier to aquascape. It’s on 50% sale and gives you the option to buy the tank and stand only. I’m personally not a fan of the IM sump because you can’t add a Reefmat to it.
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Concur on one thing @SupraSaltyReefer -no reefmat- no go. Never going back to filter socks again. Ever.
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Great choice, Innovative Marine makes great tanks. Is there a reason you are restricted to the IM100g? The IM150g is similar in dimensions but 12” wider at 23.6” vs 35.4” I find extra width easier to aquascape. It’s on 50% sale and gives you the option to buy the tank and stand only. I’m personally not a fan of the IM sump because you can’t add a Reefmat to it.
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Thank you. Yes, the 150g is very tempting but this would mean 10 times the water I currently need to manage (including sump). The 100g seems already rather large and I did think about the size a lot already (50g or 75g), and felt, 100g will most likely prevent me from upgrading further any time soon. Now going bigger than this worries me regarding water change, dosing etc (dosing container etc), so I feel I should stick with my initial plan even though financially the current price is very attractive (and I would love to get a 150g :)).

Your comment on the sump is super helpful - is this certain that I cannot add a ReefMat? A very appealing factor for this set up to me is the plug and play nature of the plumbing and I am concerned that if I use a different sump, this will become a much more sophisticated exercise. Any thoughts? Or sump recommendation where plumbing this is still relatively easy to do?

I have only had a brief encounter with filter socks (using filter floss at the moment), and this is indeed terrible - agree @L/B Block - and I would not want to use this with the new tank. Ben from Reef Beef stated in one of the episodes that he only uses the filter socks with a high micron/large mesh to trap large pieces (such as snails etc), and let the skimmer do the rest. This is what I had in mind too, but depending on my nutrient level, I do not want to lock myself out of a ReefMat if needed.
 
I thought about this again and lean more toward the 150g version. The benefit of ordering a different sump (e.g., Synergy Reef, possibly too big, though, except the 30g) seems quite appealing.

My main concern now is the plumbing since this is not a plug-and-play version anymore. Is there any good/general advice on how I should go about the plumbing/think about the plumbing when I use a different sump? Any general mistakes to avoid, or what to focus on when purchasing a sump or pipes?
 
Plumbing can be intimidating if it's your first time doing it yourself. It can be simple or complicated depending if you want to add a manifold for any reactors or UV sterilizer connected inline (most people use a separate pump so they can control the flow better). The gate valves are expensive. Don't get a sump that's too big, leave space in the stand to mount your electronics, unless you plan on having a separate cabinet to house all of that. This is a good video to watch: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/top-sump-mistakes
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Plumbing can be intimidating if it's your first time doing it yourself. It can be simple or complicated depending if you want to add a manifold for any reactors or UV sterilizer connected inline (most people use a separate pump so they can control the flow better). The gate valves are expensive. Don't get a sump that's too big, leave space in the stand to mount your electronics, unless you plan on having a separate cabinet to house all of that. This is a good video to watch: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/top-sump-mistakes
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Thank you very much. I have decided now to buy the IM 150 complete setup since the difficulty with plumbing for the first time bothered me too much, and would have delayed the decision to buy this far longer, potentially beyond the sale. This turned out to be the right decision and Kenny / @under_water_ninja was able to secure the last one in stock for me yesterday.

Next steps are now to plan for a tank move from the garage into my front entrance hallway - will send a separate note out here if there is an interest to help - aquascape, and skimmer.

I would also prefer to keep the setup as simple as possible, as @Bruce Spiegelman pointed out in another journal, but let‘s see how feasible this is.

Would still like to hear if there are any great skimmer that people recommend. Seems like many are good, but the Red Sea has come up several times (but I planned to take a break from Red Sea products…).

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Most of the time IM is 40%. They jack the price and have a sale...marketing. I guess they're doing 50% for the season. I have the 200ext package with IM skimmer. Love their sump. It has lids for all sections, good hose management clips, spacious return section, wing nut adjustable dividders. However mine didn't come with their plumbings. I prefer two return pumps (for redundancy and failsafe) as opposed to their design of 1 pump.

Also it is not 150 gallon capacity. After you deduct the glass thickness, it's much less. The 200ext is actually around 170g capacity.
 
Going bigger is only a worse choice when paying up front for all the extra equipment needed and the initial task of setting it up. After that you'll be glad you made the bigger jump! I went from a 120 to 210 and it was overwhelming at first but so happy I did.

Reef Octopus skimmers have always been great for me, even their "introductury" Classic line. Anything Reef Octopus really, I have a ton of their stuff. On my current tank I'm running an Aqua Vitro Division 500 skimmer which runs great and pulls dark think gunk consistently despite it being lesser known and budget friendlier. I'm going to be selling it soon though because I'm upgrading to a high end Reef Octopus skimmer that's ozone compatible.
 
popper said:
Most of the time IM is 40%. They jack the price and have a sale...marketing. I guess they're doing 50% for the season. I have the 200ext package with IM skimmer. Love their sump. It has lids for all sections, good hose management clips, spacious return section, wing nut adjustable dividders. However mine didn't come with their plumbings. I prefer two return pumps (for redundancy and failsafe) as opposed to their design of 1 pump.

Also it is not 150 gallon capacity. After you deduct the glass thickness, it's much less. The 200ext is actually around 170g capacity.
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Good to know. I was not too keen in getting a significantly larger one than the 100 (only 20% off for months) so if it is less than the stated 150g, that works well for me, plus whatever water will be in the sump. Based on this though, I should probably an idea how much water in total will be actually in the entire system for dosing purposes etc, to not overdose.
 
CaseyP said:
Going bigger is only a worse choice when paying up front for all the extra equipment needed and the initial task of setting it up. After that you'll be glad you made the bigger jump! I went from a 120 to 210 and it was overwhelming at first but so happy I did.

Reef Octopus skimmers have always been great for me, even their "introductury" Classic line. Anything Reef Octopus really, I have a ton of their stuff. On my current tank I'm running an Aqua Vitro Division 500 skimmer which runs great and pulls dark think gunk consistently despite it being lesser known and budget friendlier. I'm going to be selling it soon though because I'm upgrading to a high end Reef Octopus skimmer that's ozone compatible.
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Thanks so much for sharing this. Also, will look into Reef Octopus.
 
Solid skimmer. They pretty much replicated the Royal exclusive alpha skimmers design and they function ALMOST as well ;) . It’s just the titanium screws that make the Royal exclusive skimmers “better” (more expensive) haha
 
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Good move going with the 150g! I’m not a fan of the older Red Sea RSK skimmers since they were very noisy, but I’ve heard they have a DC pump now so they are probably much quieter. I’m using a Nyos 220 on my tank and it’s been working flawlessly as long as the water level is at the right height. Silent and very simple to use.

Great time to buy all your equipment since the Black Friday sales are starting early.
 
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