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Neowind's 4 Gallon Pico Evolve


neowind712

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FTS 8-24-13

 

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FTS 5-30-13

 

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So I thought I could get away with leaving the reef aquarium hobby by selling my entire 12 gallon JBJ Nanocube setup last week.  I lasted 7 days before going into withdrawals.  I went to the store and picked up a Evolve 4 gallon and put 5 pounds of LR and some live sand.  I seeded the sand with some from an established tank and set it up.  I found a few hitchhiker crabs in the rock and moved them out.  My plans for this tank is to upgrade the LED to the AquaTop 8W clip on setup.  I was wondering if anyone has ever upgraded the pump on this aquarium?  The fitting that returns the water seems very small on the back and could easily pop off.  Any ideas on that would be great.  I am going to do an all LPS, mushrooms and maybe some zooanthids tank.  The livestock will consist of the following:

1 Clown Goby
1 Porcelian Crab
1 Pom Pom Crab
2 Hermit Crabs

Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.  I will post a reply with pictures as I am trying to still figure out how that works and don't want to lose this post again

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i have this exact tank, i just left the stock plumbing on, i switched the stock light for a wave point light, though im getting alot of algae growth, so im playing with the light and water changes but its a neat little tank

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I looked at the Wave Point also, but was unable to get a PAR rating anywhere on them so I ordered the Beamswork instead. It has 9 one watt LED's at 10k and Actinic. I have had the tank up and running on stock lighting for a couple of days and one thing I have noticed is the evaporation does seem much more heavy with the smaller tank. It could be though that it is just smaller :)

 

My question is do you get more evaporation with the lid it comes with or if you leave the lid off?

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Well I've done both the lid on and lid off, I have the lid on at night to help prevent evap. But either way I get lots of evap. I have to top off every other day. I got the wave point mostly cause it was inexpensive but my stars, zoas, and mushrooms love it

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I got my new Beamswork 11" Ultra Bright LED 9W in today and installed it on my tank. WOW what a difference. I am so glad I went with this light. I can't wait to get some LPS coral in here to get a nice glow effect.

 

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I am probably going to go with a small brain, hammer, torch, frogspawn, candy cane, Duncan, bubble. I am also going to put some mushrooms and zooanthids.

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I am super surprised. On day 6 my Nitrites spiked and then my Nitrates spiked and on day seven my Nitrites are at 0 and my Nitrates at 5. Diatoms already forming. I have never had a tank cycle that fast. I did transport the LR in water from the tank it was in and used 3 different scoops of sand from three different tanks to boost it. Gonna wait a few more days to make sure everything stays 0 then add a blue leg hermit and see how he does.

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Added a scarlet hermit, nassarius, and Astraea snail today. All seem to be doing well. Hopefully they will help cleanup that diatom bloom. Trying to decide if I want to go ahead and do a water change now that I have diatoms or wait one more week.

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nice i just got my pistol shrimp today and i love it, i had to get a couple snails to work on my algae, though i had my light on too long. keep us posted :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

My diatoms are starting to die down after the cycle completed and I added my first two pieces of coral yesterday. I added a two headed frogspawn that is splitting into four heads. I also added a super cool orange and purple mushroom that glows really nicely under my lighting. I am going to pick up my Citrine Clown Goby this week also can't wait. I have also added 1 Scarlett Hermit crab, 1 Cerith Snail, 1 Nassarius Snail, 1 Astrea Snail, and 1 Margarita Snail.

 

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lnglostsurfer

Awesome looking tank. I just setup the same Evolve 4 after being out of the hobby almost a year. Just ordered the beamswork LED light off aquatraders as an upgrade. I really hope my tank cycles fast...My thread is in the AIO section...guess it belongs better in the pico section. Oh well, good luck with everything! I'll be checking back

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lnglostsurfer

I just got mine off of www.aquatraders.com. $29 shipped with 9x1W LEDs, 6 white 3 blue. I've had some lights from there in the past that have actually been really good. The bulbs didn't last very long in my t-5 fixtures but that was the only difference I noticed compared to the higher end fixtures. But now with the LEDs, bulb life shouldn't even be an issue. Pretty excited about the light for the price.

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Im following .. That light looks insane on your tank . What are your Plans for stock? Sps Or lps? Is the light dimmable?
I am going to try and pull off a mostly LPS tank. I will probably put some Ricordea and shrooms also. I love the beamswork Led it made the tank.

 

Made a two hour trip to get some new stock. Gonna try and post it with my iPad hope this works. I added a Christmas favia and another maroon and green favia. I also added a yellow clown goby. I can't figure out how to post the link with this IPAD so I will post pics later.

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lnglostsurfer

How was the mounting bracket on the beamswork light? Does that back cover still fit around it or is it too wide? I'm trying to still run with the back cover just because it quiets the motor just a tad. Looking forward to seeing the new pics

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I just started this same tank yesterday. I'm really excited to see where it goes. I like that light you got, it might be the best economical solution for me haha

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I just started this same tank yesterday. I'm really excited to see where it goes. I like that light you got, it might be the best economical solution for me haha
It's an awesome light. I see you are in Knoxville, that's we're I got all the new coral and fish. I live about two hours from there.

 

How was the mounting bracket on the beamswork light? Does that back cover still fit around it or is it too wide? I'm trying to still run with the back cover just because it quiets the motor just a tad. Looking forward to seeing the new pics
You can still use the back cover with the beamswork, it does not affect it at all.
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Oh that's cool haha. What store? My friend has been taking me to coral reef and aquatic marine. I used to go to aquarium for my freshwater stuff, but i've heard they aren't so hot for saltwater.

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