Jump to content
Pod Your Reef

First Pico Reef, Aqueon Evolve 4


wiskey

Recommended Posts

 

 

FTS updated 6/13/12

auv7a.jpg

 

 

 

Hello,

I think an intro is in order first and fore most.

I have kept fresh water fish for about 10 years and have had good luck thus far,

 

In my search to spruce my dark corner cubical at work I decided to try a small reef, after lots of research on this forum i made the first purchases to get things started!

 

I purchased a Aqueon Evolve 4 (on sale for $67) from petsmart yesterday and should provide a good start.

 

After about an hour at my LFS I picked up all the needed supplies to get this tank up and running, these include: livesand, 50w preset heater, 4.6g premix saltwater (I know expensive but I wanted to keep it simple and at work i didn't wanna make a lot of rustle and bustle more on that later), purigen, float style hydrometer.

 

I'm setting the tank up later today and will post some pics soon. Per instructions from the owner at the lfs I will let everything settle, take all required tests and hopefully grab some live rock and begin to introduce some life hopefully tomorrow!

 

My plans include a rich and colorful reef, the saltwater stuff is all new to me and very exciting. Always feel free to suggest anything as I am a newb!

 

Because of my work i have some special requirements.

The first is noise. Its usually very quiet in the office and a big reason i chose evolve is becuse all the filtratrion is under the water level so i wouldnt have to hear the spill of a HOB style filter.

The second is light. Did i mention I work in a dark office. (engineering so lights are dimmed for computer use) This is proving to be a bit difficult. With my plan to grow some beautiful corals I know i need to ditch that stock light. ~$100 is my budget of a light and a PAR30 or PAR38 seem to be a good choice, However I don't want all the extra "spill" from having to position the light so high up. Which optics would make the most sense and allow me to have the bulb as close as possible to the water to avoid a glowing blue cubical! Any lighting ideas would be great. I also have a OTT-Light which im not using which is a compact fluorescent desk light. Switch out the bulb for a reef one? Good for coral?

 

Hopefully others can learn from my build and experiences! Thanks!

Link to comment
  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

careful with this tank. i bought one for my kid the other day and returned it. they are using cheap acrylic, so it will scratch very easy.

 

if its not too late, see if you can return it and get Fluval 5G cube. It's made out of glass and i saw it at an LFS for $69 last night.

Link to comment
careful with this tank. i bought one for my kid the other day and returned it. they are using cheap acrylic, so it will scratch very easy.

 

if its not too late, see if you can return it and get Fluval 5G cube. It's made out of glass and i saw it at an LFS for $69 last night.

 

Thanks for the wise words, however it is now too late lol. I will just have to be extra careful!

Link to comment

As promised here are some pictures, still waiting for water temp to be stable

 

sitting proudly on my office desk

vii43m.jpg

 

close up, so far pleased with the quality, except the lid is an eyesore

23wjvvm.jpg

Link to comment

after adding live sand, my LFS claimed they didn't have anything smaller than the 20lb bag. anyone need 15lb live sand around the Detroit area?

 

Only at work for another hour will report if anything changes before then! will see how fast this pump clears it

 

ixc9za.jpg

Link to comment

Here is Day 2 update. sand has pretty much settled, water looks clear. I used the Tetra preset 50w heater and seems to be keeping my water rock steady at 79 :D

 

also this this is QUIET! very happy with that. I took extra care to make sure the pump was suctioned to the bottom well and just barley hums away, i bought a cheap thin mouse pad at Walmart to put under and eliminate some vibration but so far i'm not even sure i need it! still unsure of lighting, I think i will use the stock until i figure out exactly what i want. leaning towards either on of LEDTRiC par38 maybe the tri-color, or 20k as both are on a good sale currently. anyone have a recommendation?

 

will be getting some live rock and a small hermit or snail later today, will keep updated. As always i love any suggestions/concerns. I want to make this a successful reef!

 

szzbdf.jpg

Link to comment

I would go with the tri color and if that doesnt give a blue enough look for you, then you can allways add a blue stunner later or something of the sort.

 

However i completely agree with solfald, i bought this tank a few months ago, filled it with water, and during the 24 wet test when i turned the tank, my hand barely slid and took a chunk out of the acrylic. I ended up returning it for a glass cube, but i you are keeping it be extremely careful when cleaning the glass and moving it!

Link to comment
.

 

However i completely agree with solfald, i bought this tank a few months ago, filled it with water, and during the 24 wet test when i turned the tank, my hand barely slid and took a chunk out of the acrylic. I ended up returning it for a glass cube, but i you are keeping it be extremely careful when cleaning the glass and moving it!

 

where were you guys earlier this week! ha. So far so good, scratch free!

 

I took a long lunch and made a trip to the LFS and set it up! put almost exactly 4lbs of live rock held the scape together with fluval sea putty. seems good so far. Have to say im rather impressed with the job providing this is my first aquascape using live rock. (self high-five!) I would like to get some other opinions on layout tho. Not sure if this too much/too little for coral.

 

 

also added 3 new additions.

 

1 very pregnant peppermint shrimp

1 small hermit crab

1 small Nerite snail

 

that shrimp love to hang upside down in the cave kinda fun to watch.

 

2vlw8wl.jpg

Link to comment

Looks awesome, i love the cave! And yes that is definately enough rock. Honestly, as your tank progresses and coral grows, you may end up taking some rock out to make room for more goodies, but for now it looks pretty legit!

Link to comment
gimptastic matt

I would invest in some decent test kits if u dont already have them and a refractometer

looks great by the way good job :D

Link to comment

thanks for the kind words, and yes have all the test equipment learned to keep up with that from my freshwater days.

 

here is an updated pic after the water has settled a bit

295r9lx.jpg

 

and one of my peppermint!

1idcuf.jpg

Link to comment

Everything so far is going well. Water parameters are all correct and going well. Just did my first water change.

 

The bad news is the hermit crab ate my snail :(

 

Is it possible to keep both? or should I choose something else for clean up crew.

 

And a lighting question for you guys. Which is better?

 

Ledtric Par 38 20k

or

Viper MH 70w clip.

 

I found a local guy selling the viper for cheap im just concerned with the heat. what are you thoughts? Thanks!

Link to comment
Clarinet_Reefer

Par38. Less electricity, virtually no heat, no replacing the LEDs. Initial investment is kinda high but it all pays off in the longevity of the LEDs.

Link to comment
Seems a little early to add a CUC already no? Especially a pregnant peppermint shrimp?

 

I thought so as well, however my LFS tested my water and everything checked out. The amount of live rock and live sand I guess really makes for a speedy cycle. The CUC seem to be doing great too !

Link to comment
I thought so as well, however my LFS tested my water and everything checked out. The amount of live rock and live sand I guess really makes for a speedy cycle. The CUC seem to be doing great too !

 

It's much more likely that the cycle hasn't even started yet, rather then it being completely cycled in under a day.

 

Which pet store do you go to?

Link to comment
Islandoftiki
It's much more likely that the cycle hasn't even started yet, rather then it being completely cycled in under a day.

 

Which pet store do you go to?

 

I have to agree.

 

But who knows, my 2 gallon tank never showed a detectable cycle. However, if it hasn't yet cycled, you'll probably lose your peppermint shrimp... which will then get the cycle going as it decomposes.

 

I wouldn't stock anything else for a week or two and see where your params are at then.

Link to comment
I have to agree.

 

But who knows, my 2 gallon tank never showed a detectable cycle. However, if it hasn't yet cycled, you'll probably lose your peppermint shrimp... which will then get the cycle going as it decomposes.

 

I wouldn't stock anything else for a week or two and see where your params are at then.

 

 

water params have been fine all week...

 

I wont be adding anything new for a while however

Link to comment

The peppermint molted today. Kinda worried me thought it was dead! HA.

 

silly question but should i leave the molt in there for the hermit? or pull it for the worry of an ammonia spike?

 

Things are moving along nicely. doing top-offs daily along with about 2 15-20% water changes a week.

 

eb7dqd.jpg

Link to comment

You can probably leave it in there, I believe theres a good chance it'll get eaten but you might wanna wait till someone with peppermints comments.

 

Also you might wanna lower the # of water changes to just once per week. To many can be just as harmful as to few

Link to comment
You can probably leave it in there, I believe theres a good chance it'll get eaten but you might wanna wait till someone with peppermints comments.

 

Also you might wanna lower the # of water changes to just once per week. To many can be just as harmful as to few

 

alright, so just once a week you think is enough? 20%? thanks

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...