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Shinjo's Fluval Spec 3 Pico Reef


shinjo2040

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Hi all! I had only been keeping freshwater fish for a little over a year before i needed to find something else new which is when i stumbled upon this amazing website. I read lots and lots of posts of people starting some fantastic looking reefs. Since I didn't want to displace any of my freshwater fish but still wanted a reef tank, I was confined to a pico sized tank. That's when i found Tuffryu's Fluval Spec 3 build and loved it so much that I decided to take on the challenge of reef keeping myself. Despite all the suggestions of starting with a much larger tank for a beginner reefer, I went with the Fluval Spec 3 because I found it to be very aesthetically pleasing and also had built in requirements for a pico reef. So, here are the specifications of my tank!

 

Tank: Fluval Spec 3 (2.6 gallons)

- 6.8 lbs of CaribSea Dry Rock

- 2 lbs of Arag-Alive Hawaiian black sand

- Nutri-SeaWater to get things started

- Aqueon 50w Heater

- Uniclife 80 GPH powerhead

 

Filtration:

- Stock Biomax Insert

- Api Bio-Chem Stars (12)

- Seachem's Seagel - Activated Carbon and Phosguard blend

 

Lighting:

- Fluval Sea Pro - Nano Halo

- Actinic 830a-9a

- Full 9a-530p

- Actinic 530p-11p

- Blackout 11p-830a

 

Add-ons: Lepa AquaChanger 120 + aluminum water block

 

Liquid Supplements:

- Kent Marine's Nano Reef Supplement kit (Part A + B)

- MicroBacter 7 from Brightwell Aquatics

 

Live Stock:

- Turbo Snail

- Yellow Clown Goby

- Rasta Zoa

- Frogspawn

- Bubble Tip Anemone

- Green Star Polyp

- Unknown Hitch hiker snail

 

My tank was first established January 11th but i didn't introduce any livestock until after the tank completed its cycle close to a month later. On February 5th, I got my first coral the Green Star Polyp and Turbo snail. The next week I added the frogspawn and yellow goby and the week after added the Bubble Tip Anemone and Rasta Zoa.

So far, everybody seems to be very healthy and my Anemone has taken to wandering the tank fairly frequently. The other day, I actually had to pull him off of the Rasta Zoa that I had sitting in the sand bed.

You may be wondering what that Lepa fan is for... I added it today (2/29/16) because its been super nice and warm in northern California which has made my tank's water temp slowly climb (80F). To try and combat the change in ambient weather, I decided to add a cooler. So far it has been keeping my tank at a much better temp. I was able to squeeze the Uniclife power head along with Aqueon heater and Stock Fluval power head all in the back of the tank's filter compartment. Not only does my Uniclife power head run water through the water block/fan cooling system but also increases the flow through the filter. I also placed the water return from the cooler in an opposite flow pattern than the main power head. The cooler, counter pump and lights are all on the same timer which shuts off from 11p-830a. (The main power head still runs 24/7).

Anyway, I'd love to hear any feedback and comments from everybody! Thanks so much to the Nano-reef.com community for all the inspiration and knowledge which helped me make my first saltwater tank building experience extremely enjoyable without any casualties!

 

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Nice work getting the tank up and running and pics posted. What is that thing on the back with the tubes coming out? Looks crazy. Congrats!

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Nice work getting the tank up and running and pics posted. What is that thing on the back with the tubes coming out? Looks crazy. Congrats!

 

That's my home made cooler made from a Lepa AquaChanger 120 which is a liquid cooler for computer processors. I hooked it up to a water block which passes the tanks water through to try and cool off my system. So far it only just kinda works mostly because i think i left out one of the most important components; a peltier plate. I ordered one the other day and will be adding it to the system this weekend. Stay tuned for how it turns out because there's a multitude of outcomes I'm predicting...

 

a.) everything goes very well and my tank is able to stay at a comfortable 74 degrees even though the ambient temperature is 94.

b.) the Peltier plate is too powerful and hits my system with a freeze ray making it a 2.6 gallon block of ice.

c.) I incorrectly instill the wiring portion of the peltier plate and electrocute the reef.

d.) Never figure out how to install it and just let the system run hot during the summer.

 

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the health of my corals, layout of my tank, and suggestions on types of corals or other live stock i could add. Thanks for reading!

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Added an Orange Ricordea and an Emerald Crab. The Crab went crazy during his first night and literally ate all the algae off my rock.

 

I got a Thermostat switch for my cooler in the mail the other day but have had trouble getting it to function properly. Once I get it working and into a waterproof housing, I'll post some pictures of it.

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HUGE UPDATE only because i got a huge shipment of corals in this week. also beefed up the clean up crew too! Here's the list of all the new additions:

 

Red Dragon Acropora

Branching Acropora (Fiji) - Had some sort of crab hitchhiker in it (can't get a good picture of it)

Emerald Spire Birdsnest

Joker Moon Brain

 

and I also got 2 Cerith snails and a Nassarius snail. Hopefully they'll help me clean up the sand bed a bit because i've been having to stir it up almost everyday because it's just absolutely filthy all the time.

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Bubble Tip Anemone Update

I've been trying to feed my bubble tip an array of different foods but it doesn't seem to want to eat anything. I wasn't really too worried about not being able to feed it up until today when it all of the sudden looks reeeeeeaaaaaallllllyyyyy unhealthy. attached are two pictures, one was taken just the night before and the other one was taken just an hour ago. All of my parameters are fine, I'm hoping that its just looking droopy because its the morning and its still waking up.

 

Here's a list of all the different things i've tried to feed my BTA... let me know if you have any other suggestions! thanks!

Freeze dried Brine Shrimp

Freeze dried Mysis Shrimp

Freeze dried Blood worms

Whole fresh/raw Jumbo shrimp

Whole fresh/raw Bay Scallop

Freshly hatched Baby Brine shrimp

 

I've run out of ideas... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to keep an eye on it and really want to keep it but I'm willing to remove it before it dies so it doesn't crash my tank.

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I finally got my temperature controller hooked up and running. It's been running for about 4 days now and seems to be working great. Right now i have it set to keep the tank under 80 degrees and the tank heater is set to 74 degrees. I think that between 74-80 is a healthy medium. My favorite part about my chiller is that it slowly chills the water at a rate of 0.1 degree Celsius every 10-15 min.

 

I rigged up the temp controller with an independent power supply. When temperatures get over 80 degrees, the temp switch turns on the computer power brick which is connected to Peltier plate (chiller) and fan. The pump which is pumping through the water block (blue box with tubes) is set on a timer to create alternating flow. The problem is that if the water temperatures get too high when pump isn't on, the chiller wont work. Luckily the pump's timer is set to be on during the day (8a-11p) but i haven't yet decided how i should wire it to have an alternate power source turn the pump on if needed. I'm not going to worry about it right now as it's never that hot at night.

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I finally got my temperature controller hooked up and running. It's been running for about 4 days now and seems to be working great. Right now i have it set to keep the tank under 80 degrees and the tank heater is set to 74 degrees. I think that between 74-80 is a healthy medium. My favorite part about my chiller is that it slowly chills the water at a rate of 0.1 degree Celsius every 10-15 min.

 

I rigged up the temp controller with an independent power supply. When temperatures get over 80 degrees, the temp switch turns on the computer power brick which is connected to Peltier plate (chiller) and fan. The pump which is pumping through the water block (blue box with tubes) is set on a timer to create alternating flow. The problem is that if the water temperatures get too high when pump isn't on, the chiller wont work. Luckily the pump's timer is set to be on during the day (8a-11p) but i haven't yet decided how i should wire it to have an alternate power source turn the pump on if needed. I'm not going to worry about it right now as it's never that hot at night.

 

That's awesome DIY shinjo! You must be a in warm part of the country. I'm in Seattle so I haven't had to worry about chilling the water. Glad it's working out!

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NNN0000000000! My first casualty in my nano reef :(:(:(

 

My Acropora is starting to show signs of decay with the tissue deteriorating! I'm so sad! I heard that once this process starts, the coral typically doesn't recover until completely dead. I'm sure that it was caused by the SG or Phosphates being off which i had now adjusted but its just too late for this guy... RiP buddy...

 

Is it possible that the Yellow Clown Goby smothered it to death? He's always hanging out on it like pictured and he even picks at it... thoughts?

 

the question is, do i leave the coral in there and let the tissue just slowly decay or do i just claim complete loss and remove it from the tank now?

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NNN0000000000! My first casualty in my nano reef :(:(:(

 

My Acropora is starting to show signs of decay with the tissue deteriorating! I'm so sad! I heard that once this process starts, the coral typically doesn't recover until completely dead. I'm sure that it was caused by the SG or Phosphates being off which i had now adjusted but its just too late for this guy... RiP buddy...

 

Is it possible that the Yellow Clown Goby smothered it to death? He's always hanging out on it like pictured and he even picks at it... thoughts?

 

the question is, do i leave the coral in there and let the tissue just slowly decay or do i just claim complete loss and remove it from the tank now?

 

That's a bummer shinjo! Man, too bad. Phosphates will have an effect on stonies thats for sure. I doubt the goby smothered him. I think you'll need to check water params carefully if you are to house sps - that includes calcium, alk, mag as well.

 

If anything you should try to save it by clipping the ends off that are still alive and try to save parts of it and glue them high near the light. Acros are probably not the easiest species to start with. The water needs to be in really good condition from my experience.

 

If you decide to purchase more sps, go with some of the easier ones like birdsnests, montis, pavonas. They're all really tough.

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Yea all of my Alk, calcium and mag parameters were in check and i'm pretty sure my phosphates were low but I did make a mistake and overdose the calcium, To try and adjust for the overdose, I did a 90% waterchange which i knew was dangerous but i felt that it was workth the gamble to prevent an entire tank collapse as all of the corals in the entire tanks were unhappy. After the 90% water change, everything else looked much happier but then a day later i saw the acropora burning up. Also the birdsnest that i have looks like it may have gotten a bit scorched too. Lesson learned thought. I did cut off some of the healthy looking branches in a last ditch effort to salvage the coral. So far so good but its only been a day or two.

 

You think the decaying piece should be completely removed though as to not blow up the water quality?

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Yea all of my Alk, calcium and mag parameters were in check and i'm pretty sure my phosphates were low but I did make a mistake and overdose the calcium, To try and adjust for the overdose, I did a 90% waterchange which i knew was dangerous but i felt that it was workth the gamble to prevent an entire tank collapse as all of the corals in the entire tanks were unhappy. After the 90% water change, everything else looked much happier but then a day later i saw the acropora burning up. Also the birdsnest that i have looks like it may have gotten a bit scorched too. Lesson learned thought. I did cut off some of the healthy looking branches in a last ditch effort to salvage the coral. So far so good but its only been a day or two.

 

You think the decaying piece should be completely removed though as to not blow up the water quality?

 

Woah, yea, the 90% was probably a little extreme but glad it helped the others. Although, I'm not sure if overdosing calcium would have caused the bleaching right away. They might be exposed to too much light. I had that problem with my spec 3 where corals were moving away from the light because the tank is so small.

 

Man, I hope the clippings make it.

 

And yes, I would remove the decaying base. Not much point in leaving it in there.

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So i did end up taking out the base because it smelled absolutely horrible and was actually turning green. I clipped the remainder to about 6 or 7 pieces and glued them all over the place at the top. I agree that i might have a little bit too much light but I have the same Fluval Halo that you do. I have it at about half brightness and its maxed out on height above the tank (4 inches from water surface). I'm contemplating turning the brightness down even more but the Emerald Spire Birdsnest seems to be doing ok at the top with the current lighting.

 

I probably shouldn't have but i visited the coral shop and ended up buying a bunch more stuff... sometimes i just can't help myself. I know i should have waited to stabilize my water parameters especially after losing a piece but i'm almost certain it merely died to shock. anyway, I got another acropora similar to the one i lost, a pink zoa, some other type of pink SPS and another piece which i think is a blasto coral? lol. have no idea what it is but it looked cool so yea... there goes my money.

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So i did end up taking out the base because it smelled absolutely horrible and was actually turning green. I clipped the remainder to about 6 or 7 pieces and glued them all over the place at the top. I agree that i might have a little bit too much light but I have the same Fluval Halo that you do. I have it at about half brightness and its maxed out on height above the tank (4 inches from water surface). I'm contemplating turning the brightness down even more but the Emerald Spire Birdsnest seems to be doing ok at the top with the current lighting.

 

I probably shouldn't have but i visited the coral shop and ended up buying a bunch more stuff... sometimes i just can't help myself. I know i should have waited to stabilize my water parameters especially after losing a piece but i'm almost certain it merely died to shock. anyway, I got another acropora similar to the one i lost, a pink zoa, some other type of pink SPS and another piece which i think is a blasto coral? lol. have no idea what it is but it looked cool so yea... there goes my money.

 

Yea I would definitely turn the lights down. I have mine dimmed a little less than half on daylight mode on my 9gal and turned all the way up in blue light mode. I have my light raised as high as possible. Incidentally, I bought a new light which I'll post soon :)

 

Hope the clippings make it, and glad this hasn't gotten you discouraged from buying more!

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Yea I would definitely turn the lights down. I have mine dimmed a little less than half on daylight mode on my 9gal and turned all the way up in blue light mode. I have my light raised as high as possible. Incidentally, I bought a new light which I'll post soon :)

 

Hope the clippings make it, and glad this hasn't gotten you discouraged from buying more!

 

Thanks for the lighting tip! I'll definitely make that adjustment. The lamp is about 6.5 inches from the highest part of the rock and the Acro that died was way above that so i probably weakened it with super strong light then finished the job with that wreckless water change. Lesson learned.

 

The clippings are small and very pathetic looking but the good news is that the tissue isn't eroding. The polyps aren't really making an appearance either but i'm sure that they're still just recovering and healing. Some clippings look better than others. Time will tell if they survive but so far so good.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

What's the latest on the tank Shinjo?

I had some traveling to do and haven't really been keeping up with maintenance. Needless to say i've had some losses. I did add a 10 gallon sump which seems to be working really well but i'm still having issues with green algae choking out some of my zoas. i haven't found a good way of scraping the algae off without disturbing the coral. all of my live inverts are healthy along with my original yellow clown goby.

 

as far as growth, theres not much to talk about as i'm more focused on just keeping what i have alive. but the GSP that i started off the hobby with has finally started to grow off of the original frag plug it came on and spreading onto the dry rock in the main display tank.

 

almost all of my sps corals have withered away and i lost my bleached bubble tip anemone. but all the losses were not in vain, i learned a lot from my mistakes. right now i'm very happy with my low maintenance nano reef with a couple of mushrooms, zoas, softies and brains. Id like to replace the frogspawn that i lost but i'd like to get a better handle on the algae situation first.

 

I've regresses a little bit but still have a very healthy interest in reef keeping. my new approach is to get the few number of zoas, mushrooms and things that i have to flourish instead of just throwing money into the tank and letting it all die.

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I had some traveling to do and haven't really been keeping up with maintenance. Needless to say i've had some losses. I did add a 10 gallon sump which seems to be working really well but i'm still having issues with green algae choking out some of my zoas. i haven't found a good way of scraping the algae off without disturbing the coral. all of my live inverts are healthy along with my original yellow clown goby.

 

as far as growth, theres not much to talk about as i'm more focused on just keeping what i have alive. but the GSP that i started off the hobby with has finally started to grow off of the original frag plug it came on and spreading onto the dry rock in the main display tank.

 

almost all of my sps corals have withered away and i lost my bleached bubble tip anemone. but all the losses were not in vain, i learned a lot from my mistakes. right now i'm very happy with my low maintenance nano reef with a couple of mushrooms, zoas, softies and brains. Id like to replace the frogspawn that i lost but i'd like to get a better handle on the algae situation first.

 

I've regresses a little bit but still have a very healthy interest in reef keeping. my new approach is to get the few number of zoas, mushrooms and things that i have to flourish instead of just throwing money into the tank and letting it all die.

 

It's a learning process dude, and travelling always makes it tough.

Glad you're still into it and posting when you can. Keep the low maintenance corals going and just gradually add when you can.

 

I started a new thread for my new tank. Check it out if you have time! It's a little smaller than my previous aquastyle 9gal cube, but it's a really fun shallow tank that I've always loved.

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