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Aqueon Evolve 2 Soft Corals: First attempt at SW


mechishark7

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"This guy seems down to earth and says that his 15 years experience keeping SW and corals would go against what some of the members on this forum, and all others for that matter, are saying and that some of you guys are "enthusiasts" and that some things you recommend are over the top and unnecessary."

 

So what makes this guy something other than an "enthusiast"? He sounds more like a salesman than any type of expert. I would be very leary of any advice you get from him that cannot be supported by the research you find.

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mechishark7

Sweet a bristle worm. Good guys to have in the tank.

 

Softies tend to be perfect starter corals. What type where you thinking of? Some can grow rather ... large. Not that fraging a soft is hard mind you and can be fun and profitable to boot.

 

I will say this about the petco guy. He's there to sell you stuff, we're not. That said some of us do tend to go overboard with advice.

Good to know that worm isn't a pest, thanks for the ID.

I think I'm going to start off with a zoa and slowly add from there.

 

Any recommendations on a first coral for a new tank and someone new to reefs?

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mechishark7

I was looking for life on my rock and found what looks like more than a dozen feather duster worms peeking out!

5D393A83-9829-43B1-B648-506CB2A6CCF1_zps

6059EADD-5CBD-4B4F-93B2-DC42B80E107B_zps

D461A422-3C6F-4B4A-A18E-BF2BD89D8D26_zps

 

Good sign that my tank is cycling properly?

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mechishark7

I put a small frozen cube of baby brine shrimp in the tank and immediately 4 bristle worms came out looking for a bite. With all of the holes and crevices on this rock I'm sure there are more hiding as well. They are kinda creepy looking though

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Just wait till they get 3"long. That's when the creepy starts to peak.

 

 

For a starter coral zoas are a good place to start. leathers are too. Heck any soft coral is a good beginner in my experience.

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I am brand new to reef tanks as well and have this light over my 2.6 gal Fluval Spec. It works fantastic and gives off plenty (but not excessive) light.

 

Par 30 18K "Vibrance" by Coral Compulsion (one of our sponsors on this forum) Jimmy is great to order from and gives incomparable customer service.

 

The bulb is used by many on this forum. You need to have a standard floor, table, or hanging lamp fixture.

 

The good part 59.00$ The light will grow anything in a small tank like yours and mine.

 

20 or 30$ more bucks than what your thinking about but WAY better.

 

AVIATOR300

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mechishark7

I am brand new to reef tanks as well and have this light over my 2.6 gal Fluval Spec. It works fantastic and gives off plenty (but not excessive) light.

 

Par 30 18K "Vibrance" by Coral Compulsion (one of our sponsors on this forum) Jimmy is great to order from and gives incomparable customer service.

 

The bulb is used by many on this forum. You need to have a standard floor, table, or hanging lamp fixture.

 

The good part 59.00$ The light will grow anything in a small tank like yours and mine.

 

20 or 30$ more bucks than what your thinking about but WAY better.

 

AVIATOR300

I've read s bunch of posts from reefers who keep pico tanks that have PAR30 and PAR38 lights who say it was too much light even hanging high above the tank and still burned their soft corals.

 

And the tank is on my desk, I don't particularly want a huge lighting fixture hanging off the back of the tank. Heard of anyone selling/making an LED hood for a pico tank?

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mechishark7

Just did some quick tank size calculations,

 

For future reference to pico builders out there, an Aqueon Evolve 2 is actually only ~1.86 US gallons total. The back filter compartment takes up ~0.52 US gal leaving the front display tank at ~1.35 US gal. An inch of substrate reduces that volume to ~1.177 US gal. Add rock, powerhead, heater and filter media and it dropws even more.

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mechishark7

Looks like a stomatela. Is good.

Good to hear!

 

Also on the topic of upgrading LEDs, the back piece of acryllic in the filter compartment is very flimsy. I am afraid of trying to mount a heavy PAR30 or PAR38 to the tank.

 

I'm leaning towards two Zetlight mini series next to each other, one daylight and one moonlight. I know they make a model with white and blue less, but I want to be able to run both during the day and leave the blue one running at night, I figured running both at the same time would produce a good mix of white and blue light. Opinions?

 

As far as I've found, this is the light that meets most of what I want;

*Small size*

Doesn't need to be hung or supported with a ridiculous fixture

Low price range- $35 each (even with a $59.99 Coral compulsion PAR30, I still need a fixture and I'm already at the price of two Zetlights)

Better than my stock light- 3W+3W=6W LED for a <2 gal pico

Can grow what I plan on stocking the tank with- only plan on softies with zero intention of having hard corals

 

Opinions? Good plan or am I an idiot?

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Good to hear!

 

Also on the topic of upgrading LEDs, the back piece of acryllic in the filter compartment is very flimsy. I am afraid of trying to mount a heavy PAR30 or PAR38 to the tank.

 

I'm leaning towards two Zetlight mini series next to each other, one daylight and one moonlight. I know they make a model with white and blue less, but I want to be able to run both during the day and leave the blue one running at night, I figured running both at the same time would produce a good mix of white and blue light. Opinions?

 

As far as I've found, this is the light that meets most of what I want;

*Small size*

Doesn't need to be hung or supported with a ridiculous fixture

Low price range- $35 each (even with a $59.99 Coral compulsion PAR30, I still need a fixture and I'm already at the price of two Zetlights)

Better than my stock light- 3W+3W=6W LED for a <2 gal pico

Can grow what I plan on stocking the tank with- only plan on softies with zero intention of having hard corals

 

Opinions? Good plan or am I an idiot?

 

Nobody's calling an idiot. It looks like your doing research and keep it up. I've never tried to light a tank that small, however I do have 6 Cree LEDs on a 5.5g frag tank and I wish I had a few more. Just don't fall for marketing gimmicks... Make sure you have a reef capable light... And no a Marineland brand "reef capable light" isn't actually reef capable.

 

Watts mean nothing with leds.

 

 

Still for softies those should do you fine.

 

Zoas open up sitting in a bowl with room ambient light but I wouldn't exactly call them thriving.

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mechishark7

So I plan on picking up a coral and maybe some more live rock tomorrow. I was thinking about starting with a zoa, as recommended by Horerczy and seeing how it does with the lighting I have and then from there decide whether to continue stocking or upgrade the light. Petco here in Shrewsbury, MA is my current LFS, as I haven't branched my search yet, so their selection is limited although they could place an order there and I wouldn't have to pay shipping B). I don't remember off the top of my head what they had last time I was there for zoas, but, as with most reefers, I'm mesmerized with the unreal vibrant colors some of them produce, so I'll be looking for something crazy. Hopefully it shows well under my stock lighting though, but if not that might be just the motivation I need to start making moves in upgrading my lighting.

 

Good idea/bad idea?

Opinions?



Also, can I rinse the stock carbon filter I am currently running?

I've read some posts that say not to do water changes/cleaning or anything while the tank is cycling, but I would like to rinse the remaining dust that was picked up from putting the sand in the tank.

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Every zoas i see at petco trend to be eagle eyes or radioactive dragoon eyes. I've seen the occasional blue paly as well.

 

I would get whatever light you're planning on upgrading to first. Will also give the tank more time to settle.

 

Giving it a rinse should be fine. Just be aware whatever is in the rinse water might moderate into the tank with the filter pad.

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mechishark7

I would get whatever light you're planning on upgrading to first. Will also give the tank more time to settle.

 

I know I'm being very impatient asking this, but in that meantime is there anything else I can add to the tank; tiny goby, shrimp, snail?

 

I know being patient is best right now but theres only so much on this rock to look at; as evident by my fascination in the snail I posted about above.

 

If I wait too long, the Fluval Spec 2 I moved my green spotter puffer to might end up turing into a SW tank as well :D (I've seen a bunch of really nice builds with the Spec 2s on NR)

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mechishark7

Noticed a few Isopods crawling around and floating in the current, as well as much more bristle worm activity. Do I need to feed these guys and the feather dusters?

 

I'm raising brine shrimp for the green spotter puffer I have in my Spec 2 and since I had tossed a cube of frozen baby brine shrimp into my coral tank I figured it was ok to toss the dead brines in as well.

 

Good idea/bad idea?

 

Is it necessary to feed these critters? Any schedule I should keep to for feeding? Or just let the tank do its thing?

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Little powdered food will be good for them.

 

Small bit every few days.

 

You should have a green light on some snails and a shrimp or hermit crab now.

 

Do be careful in shrimp selection though. Some find zoas a tasty treat.

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mechishark7

LED wholesales doesn't carry these anymore, just called them about it.

 

Amazon has one like it though and sears sells the same one so I guess it can't be too terrible (i.e. not from China on ebay).

 

It is only 12W, compared to 24W for a coral compulsion, but I asked coral compulsion and they said their PAR30 (14W) would be fine for my 2gal, plus it has dimming capabilities so I think I'm gonna order one.

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famousdan314

Have you read through the aqueon evolve master thread on this forum. It's quite informative and has lots of ideas for making some modifications without adding much cost if any. I had an ae8 up and running for about a year before upgrading it was an awesome little tank but even the 8 gallon was too limited as far as stocking corals and fish. Best of luck with the new tank.

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Have you read through the aqueon evolve master thread on this forum. It's quite informative and has lots of ideas for making some modifications without adding much cost if any. I had an ae8 up and running for about a year before upgrading it was an awesome little tank but even the 8 gallon was too limited as far as stocking corals and fish. Best of luck with the new tank.

4 gallons of display does make stocking chalenging.

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mechishark7

Should I be expecting a Diatom bloom? Or since my rock is most likely fully cycled will that not happen?

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mechishark7

Have you read through the aqueon evolve master thread on this forum. It's quite informative and has lots of ideas for making some modifications without adding much cost if any. I had an ae8 up and running for about a year before upgrading it was an awesome little tank but even the 8 gallon was too limited as far as stocking corals and fish. Best of luck with the new tank.

 

Thanks, I'm trying to keep it stock as much as possible. Seeing the how the corals I get look in the store compared to in my tank might change my mind though. Hopefully there isn't much difference.

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