Fishy Business

IM 40 Torch Tank

fishy408

fishy408

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GOAL: To keep the tank maintenance as simple as possible.
  • Husbandry over the past 6 months has been minimal.
    • 40% water change every 1-2 months
    • Sump cleaning every 2 months, coincides with water change.
    • dosing KALK, AFR, P03, N04 automated.
History:
  • Tank Start 2/11/2023
  • Tank Ended 8/01/2023
    • While working abroad for 2-3 months, the tank experienced mechanical failures, which caused a tank crash, losing all livestock.
  • Restart 5/1/2024
  • August 2024
    • BJD introduced to the tank, possibly from a mariculture frag. Half of the torches died, and the other half showed symptoms. It took about a week to learn and analyze what was going on. Half of the remaining torches were treated with KFC Dip and survived.
  • October 2024 - It took about 3 months for the torches to recover and an additional few months for the flesh band to grow back.
  • January 1, 2025
    • Corals and fish are healthy.
    • Changed Aquascape purchased from Reef Rock Oasis.
  • August 14, 2025
    • Changed out Aquascape with real reef rock branches. Currently experiencing a mini-cycle, Coraline algae growth is dying off while parameters seem stable.
 
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Delivery:
  • IM instruction is not to sign until package is inspected. If there is anything wrong, refuse the package.
  • Remember not to sign before inspection. I made the mistake of signing first before opening the crate. I asked the delivery person to wait until after inspection, he declined and literally took off. His actions made me nervous, but after inspection it looks ok.
Packaging:
  • Tank and stand was packaged fairly well. I did see some glue like substance on the front doors but was able to remove some/most of it with water. Overall no physical damage that I can see.
Quality:
  • I am very impressed with the APS stand. It feels very sturdy. I also like the fact that it was easy to assemble (less than 2 hours).

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Finished the plumbing and performing a water test.

Leaks: Notice leaks where the trigger 1" twist together black looking bulk heads are (not sure what they are called). Added plumbers tape to all 3 areas (return, drain , emergency drain). That seemed to do the trick, but I do feel something is missing like an O-Ring/gasket.

Unions: Didn't plan on adding so many unions, but a lot of plumbing errors lead to the additional unions. One Union is backwards (on the primary drain) . It bugs me, but I probably won't see it on a daily basis.


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Tank is up and running moving livestock from the IM 15.

  • Learned some tricks off other people’s thread to keep the inside organized.
  • Plumbed in the 57 watt UV. unfortunately the EB8 can’t power it up. Would like this to work on the EB8, if return pump is off then turn off uv port.
  • Sump Plans: Not sure what to do with the first/second chamber. Maybe chaeto 1st chamber then protein skimmer.fish/ corals: undecided
  • Varios 6: with the lowest speed it is too power for the system. will work on a replacement. I have read the Jebaos are pretty good now and may give it a try.
  • fish/coral/nutrient export: undecided.

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Looks good. I’m confused though, I thought the IM 40L was an AIO tank. This one looks larger, and obviously you have a sump.
 
Bad News:

We purchased our first fish addition to our tank last week. We went through our usual "short QT" process but it failed us this time. The fish we introduced seemed perfectly healthy when visually inspected but after a couple of days it had Marine Velvet and it spread to our other two clownfish. Unfortunately they all died.

This will be the start date for our fallow period. :(
 
CaseyP said:
Yikes. What was involved in the short qt process?
Click to expand...

I probably shouldn't call it a short qt process , since it's really not. Basically it is a 2hr bath in Blue Life Rapid Fish QT, followed by 2hrs of observation. I guess I have been pretty lucky with this process until now. I thought the Rapid Fish QT + oversized UV sterilizer would do the trick. Lesson Learned.
 
Aww Man! ATO Siphon.

Woke up yesterday morning to a sump filled with water and Salinity drop to 1.022. I have never thought about ATO siphon. I have used the same ATO setup on my previous tank but never experienced this. " I started the Google Search ATO Siphon"
  • Why am I seeing this problem? After researching, it seems like the water level of my ATO reservoir is at a higher level than where the water exit into the sump.
  • Why did I not see it before? Most likely the height of the SUMP on my previous 425XL was at a higher level than the ATO reservoir.
  • How to fix this?
    • Lower the ATO reservoir or raise the the ATO output into the sump if possible.
    • Siphon Breaker - My Duetto ATO has a siphon breaker, but my Tunze does not. May implement some sort of siphon breaker.
Glad I was home during this event. :cool:
 
fishy408 said:
Aww Man! ATO Siphon.

Woke up yesterday morning to a sump filled with water and Salinity drop to 1.022. I have never thought about ATO siphon. I have used the same ATO setup on my previous tank but never experienced this. " I started the Google Search ATO Siphon"
  • Why am I seeing this problem? After researching, it seems like the water level of my ATO reservoir is at a higher level than where the water exit into the sump.
  • Why did I not see it before? Most likely the height of the SUMP on my previous 425XL was at a higher level than the ATO reservoir.
  • How to fix this?
    • Lower the ATO reservoir or raise the the ATO output into the sump if possible.
    • Siphon Breaker - My Duetto ATO has a siphon breaker, but my Tunze does not. May implement some sort of siphon breaker.
Glad I was home during this event. :cool:
Click to expand...

I fasten a 1/2” acrylic tube somewhere in the stand or sump that’s above the level of the ato reservoir level and fasten the end of the ato output there.
 
I often zip tie the top off feed to some plumbing up higher. Like Randy said you can’t use a pvc or similar to guide the stream where you want it from there
 
RandyC said:
I fasten a 1/2” acrylic tube somewhere in the stand or sump that’s above the level of the ato reservoir level and fasten the end of the ato output there.
Click to expand...

The 1/2" acrylic tube is bigger than the 1/4" standard ATO tubing. This would increase the height of the output, and the gap in size would break the suction. I am imagining how to attach the ATO output tube to the 1/2" acrylic tube. It would most likely be inside the tube, how would you connect this. Do you have an image to share?

thanks!
 
fishy408 said:
The 1/2" acrylic tube is bigger than the 1/4" standard ATO tubing. This would increase the height of the output, and the gap in size would break the suction. I am imagining how to attach the ATO output tube to the 1/2" acrylic tube. It would most likely be inside the tube, how would you connect this. Do you have an image to share?

thanks!
Click to expand...

I just drilled a hole in the 1/2” acrylic for a small zip tie. Nothing fancy.

Also just used zip ties in one of my tanks and attached the 1/2” acrylic to my return pipe.
 
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