John's 40 gallon build - Innovative Marine Fusion AIO

[Jfaiii]

So I have decided to downsize my tank from my 65 display with a 20 gallon sump and 15 gallon frag tank to a 40 gallon all in one. This is not a decision I wanted to make but it is one that will make my life easier. This is because I will need to move the tank a couple of times between now and the end of the year. With this in mind an all in one is what I have decided will make my life a little (actually a lot) easier.

Now for the fun part... I have done a lot of research into the all in ones out there and I decided to go with an innovative marine fusion 40 gallon cube. These seem to be very well liked by everyone who owns one and they look really nice as well. One thing that I noticed while doing my research is that there didn't seem to be an abundance of build threads out there for this tanks so that is why I am making this one.

The new equipment that I just ordered today 5-20:

Innovative marine fusion 40 gallon tank
Innovative marine fusion 40 gallon stand
2x custom caddy media baskets (to replace the crappy baskets the tank comes with
Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer
aqua illuminations EXT rail mount kit for my light
Eheim jager heater (probably 150 or 200 watts)

Equipment that will be added after or while my 65 gallon is taken down
coralife UV
upgraded main return pump to a eheim pump
innovative marine reactor
2x ecotech marine MP10W-es
Full Apex system
Hydor Auto top off system with a 12 gallon acrylic ATO tank


Lighting
1x Orphek compact


For the general layout in the back of the tank from the left chamber when looking at the tank to the right.
Chamber 1: media basket custom caddy with floss on top, center rack removed to run as a refugium (probably just chaeto)
Chamber 2: reactor running the sachems carbon and phosphate mix, temp and ph probe
Chamber 3: (center chamber) UV pump and return, upgraded main return pump, first hook for the skimmer will also be in this chamber I think
Chamber 4: skimmer intake and return (will depend on how the skimmer fits best)
Chamber 5: Media basket custom caddy with floss on top and sachems matrix in the other two sections.


Livestock:
royal gramma
pair of Picasso clowns
Red head solon fairy wrasse
Green mandarine
2x fire fish
(for now)- yellow tang (do not yell at me, until I see how long I will have this tank as my main display I do not want to get rid of it)

CUC:
40-ish hermits of misc types
30 small snails
3 turbo snails
2 brittle stars
2 fighting conch snails
1 cleaner shrimp
1 peppermint shrimp

Coral:
Lots... too much to list (see pictures in the future)

All in all I think this should be a good little set up for now. I will be setting it up in a bedroom until my 65 gallon is gone then I will move it into the main living area. Everything I ordered tonight will ship tomorrow and should be here sometime in the beginning of the week. Anyway more info and pics will com after I receive my shipment but I wanted to through this up for now.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome

 

[Miah2bzy]

Nice! Following along as I just got the IM 30L Fusion. I upgraded the media baskets as well.

 

[neil82]

I'm following along. I'm excited to see the new setup. You had some nice looking coral in the 65.

 

[Jfaiii]

I'm following along. I'm excited to see the new setup. You had some nice looking coral in the 65.

Thanks Neil! I just got my ship confirmation so all of it is on the way!

 

[Jfaiii]

Nice! Following along as I just got the IM 30L Fusion. I upgraded the media baskets as well.

Do you have the 30 set up already? If so how do you like it? I was very tempted to go with the 30l because I love the dimensions but I didn't think that one light fixture would cover the length of the tank. I was also worried about the length when having to move it (though the length may cause it to crack easier when moving).

 

[Miah2bzy]

Do you have the 30 set up already? If so how do you like it? I was very tempted to go with the 30l because I love the dimensions but I didn't think that one light fixture would cover the length of the tank. I was also worried about the length when having to move it (though the length may cause it to crack easier when moving).

I'm working on the stand for my 60 before getting that tank up and running. It's gonna be hard to find lighting for it as it's very narrow and open top so that limits a lot. Probably going to toss two kessil 160s over it and see how that goes. The cube would be easier to move so good choice on ur part!

 

[Jfaiii]

I'm working on the stand for my 60 before getting that tank up and running. It's gonna be hard to find lighting for it as it's very narrow and open top so that limits a lot. Probably going to toss two kessil 160s over it and see how that goes. The cube would be easier to move so good choice on ur part!

Ya this was my thinking on it as well. I was going to do 2 scotch xr15 pros if I did the 30L. It has very cool dimensions though!!!

 

[Miah2bzy]

Ya this was my thinking on it as well. I was going to do 2 scotch xr15 pros if I did the 30L. It has very cool dimensions though!!!

I tried moving it today and it's a beast to carry. Looking forward to seeing what you to with yours.

 

[Jfaiii]

Ok so as promised Here is an update:

Yesterday the men in little brown shorts brought me a BUNCH of stuff.

What cam in the mail:
Innovative marine 40 fusion
Stand
Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer
aquaillumination ATX tank mount and 18 inch extension bar
2x custom caddys
bubble stopper for skimmer

Here are some pics:
[attachment=69013:name]
[attachment=69014:name]
[attachment=69015:name]
[attachment=69016:name]
[attachment=69017:name]

All in all everything came in great condition due to marine depots amazing packing skills (the tank was in a 4'x4'x4' box and contained 8 trash bags full of foam peanuts)

I got the stand and ATX mount set up last night and here is a couple of pics
[attachment=69018:name]
[attachment=69019:name]

I only had about 20 gallons of water mixed yesterday so the tank sat half filled over night but is now full and has the pump running for the first time. Tomorrow I plan on adding in a bunch of sachem reef matrix into the custom caddy from my established 65 gallon. This alone should prevent a cycle. In addition I will be hanging my orphan compact but am currently working on how to do that lol.

Initial thoughts:
Fusion 40: Amazing looking tank and the build quality looks great! It needed some cleaning before getting water in it but every tank does. I am going to replace the standard return pump with something else as the standard uses 45 watts and only moves 400 gallons per hour. I will probably maintain about 400GPH on the return pump since I will have 2 mp10's in the tank as well.

Fusion 40 stand: The quality is actually much nicer than I thought it would be. It is well designed with two shelves and several openings in the back of the cabinet for running electric cords.

Aquamaxx HOB-1: I have not plugged it in yet but it looks nice. It would have been nice if it came with a manual to assist in assembly but this is not a big deal.

For not that is it. More updates to come.

 

[neil82]

Love it when the big brown truck stops by! The aquamaxx skimmer looks similar to the reef octopus bh1000 that I am running. Looking forward to seeing this setup come together!

 

[Jfaiii]

Ok so today I got the Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer on the tank. I found that the plastic lip that helps hold the skimmer on was actually broken in shipping. So I superglued it back on and called marine depot. They are sending me a replacement skimmer body on monday (Really nice customer service!). But for now it is on the tank and running. It was a little difficult to get it primed initially but it seems to be running well. There are a very large amount of micro bubbles right now so I am hoping that in the next day or two that will begin to die down. As soon as the micro bubbles die down I will begin transferring sand into this tank from my 65 gallon display. Then assuming all goes well a day or two later I will begin transferring some corals slowly.

I will try to get some more pictures up tomorrow. Oh and I did transfer in about 50 cubic inches of established seachem matrix into the new tank from my 65 today.

 

[Jfaiii]

Love it when the big brown truck stops by! The aquamaxx skimmer looks similar to the reef octopus bh1000 that I am running. Looking forward to seeing this setup come together!

Ya they are similar. I went with the aquamaxx because the reviews were all great and I have a larger reef octopus in my 65 gallon and I am not very impressed by it.

 

[Jfaiii]

Time for a quick update. I have been working on transferring sand and rock into the tank over the last few days and yesterday and today I transferred all my corals and fish into the new tanks. Everything is happy and looking great. So far I would have to say that my corals look GREAT under the new orphek, it has only been a day so I cannot speak to the growth or health yet but the colors are amazing! Also the aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer has been doing great and is already pulling really nasty cups of skimmate. The only problem I have with the skimmer is that it is loud and it took a long time for the micro bubbles to go away. All in all I am pleased so far!

Here are some pics.
[attachment=69084:name]
[attachment=69085:name]
[attachment=69086:name]
[attachment=69087:name]

 

[flyfish]

Looks good buddy,I'll have to come check it out

 

[Jfaiii]

Another quick and short update. The tank is doing great. I finally got my apex off my 65 gallon and got it hooked up and programmed for the new 40 gallon. Being a smaller tank heat has beed a bit of an issue as I am heating at 78.0 and it was consistently swinging to 80.0 so I hooked up a cpu fan to a power supply and not use the apex to heat the water at 78 and cool at 79.1 and I haven't had any more issues at all. Even with the fan it only evaporates about 4 cups of water per day. The skimmer is pulling a tone of crud that smells really nasty lol. But the skimmer is still louder than I would like (but oh well). I also have put a reactor into the tank now running a mix of sachem carbon and phosphate remover. my fish in this 40 gallon tank now include yellow tang, royal gramma, solon wrasse, green mandarine, and a baby pair of really cool dalmatian clowns! in addition to them I have a cleaner and peppermint shrimp, and a ton of hermits and snails. I will try to get some more pics over the weekend. Also the coral color is visibly improving already under the orpheks and my jawbreaker is in the process of splitting off its third baby!

In addition I am thinking of adding either a blue or orange link star fish into the tank. Any thoughts?

 

[Jfaiii]

Linkia not link starfish

 

[Tangs]

Nice looks good

 

[Jfaiii]

Nice looks good

Thanks!

 

[Jfaiii]

I took some hot coral photos tonight, thought I would share.

Solar Flare zoas, These are new and very very hot!
[attachment=69175:name]

Magician Zoas, Sunny D's in back
[attachment=69176:name]

Cornbred Showstopper Chalice
[attachment=69177:name]

Frag rack, Cornbred Rainbow Crush chalice on the left
[attachment=69178:name]

Jawbreaker mushroom with baby left, all red jawbreaker (yet to develop green) right.
[attachment=69179:name]

I will work more on some photos over the weekend, these are just what I grabbed quick tonight

 

[Jfaiii]

Two more pics

Clam
[attachment=69180:name]

This one is of the showstopper chalice to show that it is just as colorful under much whiter light
[attachment=69181:name]