Aqueon 2 Evolve kit

[justj]

Hey there justj. I am getting back on updating my thread since I have been really busy with work load for this past weeks. You say that you bought a Evolve 2? And that you have the intentions of keeping angelfish (I am assuming the dwarf angels, right?) in this tank, correct?. Well, best advice I would give you if you want to do that, take it back to the fish store where you bought it from and exchange it for something "at least" 20 gallons or more. First, without being disrespectful, you are too knew in the hobby and you don't have the experience, yet, to keep something so little as a 2 gallon tank (pico tank) and if you want to put some fish and have the fish "happy" they need more room than 2 gallons of water. It is a beatiful tank but in the same time it is quite demanding when it comes to check ups as for water changes, adding fresh water to compensate evaporation (top offs), etc. Do your research first before you do anything else. Even with any animal you want to keep as for diet, lighting, water movement requirement and compatibility (either if you decide to keep the 2 gallons tank or follow the advice and get yourself a 20 gallon tank combo) before you do any addition. There is a lot of forums online (though, this one is my favorite) and post your questions as they may come to your mind. Read, read, read and then ask, ask, ask. There is never a dumb question. And in mos forums there is always people eager to respond promptly. Regards. Frank.

 

Yea I think your right... Ill just stick to raising betta im pretty good with breeding if I do say so myself lol thank you very much for your help

[asting]

One little piece of advice, give it a little time before adding more animals to the tank (I would recommend you a 2-4 weeks period between addition) to prevent any problems with the bacteria populations since it is such a little environment.

While not terrible advice, it is highly conservative. You can add more than a piece of coral a week, as they don't produce tons of bioload. Obviously fish have to be added slowly, but you can't really stock much, if at all, in these tanks so that's not an issue.

[Jrbutitta]

hey Frank, Im glad to see im not the only one who saw this tank and pulled the trigger on it. i bought myself an 8 gallon a week ago and threw some live sand with 10 pounds of LR. Its still cycling and I think the chaeto will bring the Nitrate level down enough to throw some Zoas in there, although if your happy with the xenia growth in your system i might just use that as a testament to how well the stock lights work, and go with that instead!! that post you made on the DYI LED for the filtration/ mini fuge is an excellent peice of info and i will be copying it to a T. so thank you! Definatly keep us updated .

[Sco.Re]

Is anyone using the carbon filter that came with it?

[Seamonkey84]

I only used it till the tank cleared up, then I use the blue filter holder as a frame for floss (needs to be changed or cleaned preferably every3-4 days) then I have a bag of chemi pure elite, and seachem purigen, waiting for some seachem matrix and de-nitrate bio media.

[Sco.Re]

Thats about my plans for it as well Just wanted to see if anyone had put it to practice.

[Clintstanks]

Just wanted to add a little to this post. I upgraded my lighting with the link below. Amazing for the price and they are brand new and the 10" adjustable arms fit so perfect. So far i have some mushrooms xenia, and zoes and a really small frogspawn. All are looking and growing great. I have the 4g version since i got the 2 gallon first and wanted a bit more room. For the price these tanks are amazing for little pico's. Stock filtration gone first day. Stock pump rocks. I will post some pics tomorrow since i turned the lights of for the night. Check out my link below there new and cheap and do a DAMN good job on these.

 

http://www.finnex.net/index.php?option=com...1&Itemid=61

[djfrankn]

I haven't updated the thread in weeks! Sorry about that. The pico experience turned into a "daugther's first pico reef experience". And after keeping up with the top off's (what a pain, LOL) and added some corals like a small frag of hammer, a small frag of bird's nest, a couple of ricordeas and a mushroom... I realized that my daugther was no longer paying not even the tiniest of attention to the tank, at all. So I turned it into a seahorse tank. I remove the frags, some were given away to a friend and the rest were put back in my 75. With so many pods (believe me guys, that fuge really worked beyond my expectations) I tried two dwarf seahorses. Well, that was like 3 weeks ago. So... The male spawn and I have a dozen of tiny seahorses now.

Now, to my personal review of the tank. It is a good tank. Temps of it with its out of the box components are a solid 79 during the day and drop at night (depending on how you set your a/c in the house. My wife is a penguin, lol, so it drops to 74 at night). The only thing besides chaeto that I use in the tank is a bag of 10ml of purigen. Some pieces of LR and one inch of sand. I learned from a fellow reefer that cycling the tank is the key to build up a robust bacterial population. So I did. It cycled for almost 2 months before any addition. And as someone dared to comment in this thread, I do believe of having a gap of time between any new animal addition, vertebrate or invertebrate. It worked for me. While I had the corals I never had a problem. None at all. Hence, a once a week +/- 80% water change was done as part of my maintenance routine. While I had the corals I had a sexy shrimp and a neon goby. Now both are in my 75. They always did great and the shrimp never touched a coral. I never fed everyday, only a little every once every other day. It could run better with an Auto Top Off, but that will be my next project. Now with the seahorses it is practically auto sufficient. Only thing I have been doing is the auto top offs since the seahorses feed on the pods and, of course, a frequent water change.

Frank.

[markalot]

I haven't updated the thread in weeks!

Frank.

 

Frank, update this thread. I hear rumors of sea horses. Sorry I snapped at you in the peroxide thread. Caulerpa is evil and made me do it.

[nathenvan]

would love hear updates on those horses as I am considering them as well.