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Fluval Spec Owners Thread


evanski

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ItalianReefer

Since I'm doing a softie tank, I think my flow is a bit much for them. Any thoughts from anyone on this? Flow is 159gph from a Aquaeon AQ600 pump.

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Current FTS :
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Specs :
Tank : Fluval Spec V
Light : NanoBox Tide (nature series)
Filtration : JBJ Modular Surface Skimmer / inTank Basket
Heat : Cobalt Neo-Therm 50w
Flow : Mini-Jet 606

 

Livestock :

2x Coral Crouchers

1x Feather Goby

1x Harlequin Serpent Star

 

Coral :

YEP

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Since I'm doing a softie tank, I think my flow is a bit much for them. Any thoughts from anyone on this? Flow is 159gph from a Aquaeon AQ600 pump.

 

That should be perfectly fine. I run my 606 at full speed and still have a MP10 in the tank at 25%.

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I've been out of the hobby for a few years. The largest reef I ever owned was a 92 gallon. I had almost $10K invested in it. After giving most of that tank away due to moving 1,000+ miles, and knowing the costs of setting up another tank of that size, I got into nano-reefs when I was in Las Vegas back in 2010. I setup a 13 gallon at that time. I'm now in Orlando, FL and decided to go with a Fluval Spec V. Curious to what you guys think of the base look and what I should go with next. Adding some photos of the old tank from Las Vegas and the new tank that I'm calling Grape Ape. Picked up 7# of premium rock from World Wide Corals. $44 got me started. I'm thinking of going with zoanthids to start... Thoughts?

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ItalianReefer

I've been out of the hobby for a few years. The largest reef I ever owned was a 92 gallon. I had almost $10K invested in it. After giving most of that tank away due to moving 1,000+ miles, and knowing the costs of setting up another tank of that size, I got into nano-reefs when I was in Las Vegas back in 2010. I setup a 13 gallon at that time. I'm now in Orlando, FL and decided to go with a Fluval Spec V. Curious to what you guys think of the base look and what I should go with next. Adding some photos of the old tank from Las Vegas and the new tank that I'm calling Grape Ape. Picked up 7# of premium rock from World Wide Corals. $44 got me started. I'm thinking of going with zoanthids to start... Thoughts?

Zoas are great, I'm having great success so far with mine. Leathers might be easy to keep too, but will grow quickly. I'm a big fan of acans too, but LPS and SPS will make keeping calcium levels up harder. I like your rock work, keep adding progress pics.

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ItalianReefer

Zoas are great, I'm having great success so far with mine. Leathers might be easy to keep too, but will grow quickly. I'm a big fan of acans too, but LPS and SPS will make keeping calcium levels up harder. I like your rock work, keep adding progress pics.

In addition here is pics of my tank. I just added the new Smart ATO micro. So far it seems great and a PERFECT size for this style of tank. How well it functions, that is yet to be seen over time.

Here are more pics. One is a better close up of the Smart ATO Micro installed.

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  • Like 2
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Question on flow in a spec v.

 

Running an aqueon 600, and picked up a koralia nano 240. Planned on running the 240 on a timer to vary the flow 4 or 5 times a day.

 

Too much for a 5 gallon? I having decided if it looks too big in there.

 

Thanks for any recommendations!

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Cichlidrookie

I run an mp10 wqd at 40% and have a maxi jet 606.

I am not sure if you can have TOO much flow in a tank unless you have water spilling over the sides.

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I run an mp10 wqd at 40% and have a maxi jet 606.

I am not sure if you can have TOO much flow in a tank unless you have water spilling over the sides.

Easy enough then. Thanks for the heads up.

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Cichlidrookie

Easy enough then. Thanks for the heads up.

Just a heads up watch your corals and they way they extend, especially euphyllia corals (torch,frogspawns,octospawns, etc) and see what they like. Or maybe place them in different places with the flow.

 

Most corals will let you know when there is too much flow or not enough.

 

Also try making the flow not just constant. I have a innovative marine SPIN STREAM on the outlet nozzle for different flow as well as my mp10 has different setting throughout the day.

 

Good luck.

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Question on flow in a spec v.

 

Running an aqueon 600, and picked up a koralia nano 240. Planned on running the 240 on a timer to vary the flow 4 or 5 times a day.

 

Too much for a 5 gallon? I having decided if it looks too big in there.

 

Thanks for any recommendations!

I run the stock pump aimed up for surface disruption and the 240 aimed down constantly. Seems to be fine, corals in all corners of the tank will have their skirts shift a bit in the current but nobody's getting blown over. I'm not sure how the Aqueon 600 compares to the stock but the 240 does pretty well for me!

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Cichlidrookie

Wow....How do you have 2 Banggai Cardinalfish in there, crazy?

Nice tank and way to push to limits with two of those fish in there.

How do you find their behavior?

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In addition here is pics of my tank. I just added the new Smart ATO micro. So far it seems great and a PERFECT size for this style of tank. How well it functions, that is yet to be seen over time.

Here are more pics. One is a better close up of the Smart ATO Micro installed.

 

One more flow question.

 

With the new intank media basket (with surface skimmer), and aqueon 600 pump, the display tank volume remains constant and the rear chambers can be adjusted up or down. Also, evaporation only shows in the rear chambers. Is this normal, correct operation??

 

Before the pump and skimmer all DT and rear chambers were the same level.

 

Next, with the new water flow and aqueon 600 (taller than stock pump) my aqueon 50W heater doesn't much fit in the pump chamber unless I have the water WAY up. So for now it's in the DT. Anyone know if the Cobalt would fit in the rear with the aqueon?? (As a reference, I have my rear chamber water up to my filter floss just below the skimmer)

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Cichlidrookie

I know the cobalt fits with the mini jet 606 let me look at some dimensions to give you a better idea.

 

Mini Jet Specifications:

Dimensions: 2.25" L x 1.5" W x 3" H

 

So the height is 3"

 

Hope this helps.

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Gave InTank a call, helpful bugger over there. What amazing customer service!!

 

Steve tried a cobalt with the aqueon pump and thinks it'll work.

 

I run the rear chamber water up to about the top of my filter floss in the intank media basket. He said the folks at cobalt say not to run water below the bottom of the dial. With that info, and given almost an inch of evap per day, Steve thinks I can get a day of evap without the water level being too low.

 

A full day is of evap is ok, if I take a 3 day vaca I can move the heater to the DT (or unplug it and throw my aqeuon in the DT) while I'm away and all should be well.

 

Seem like a reasonable plan?? My tank isn't cycled yet and I'm about to buy a 3rd heater (I need one for heater up water for water changes anyways, right!!). If it accomplishes the mission I'm ok with it but my demeanor would likely go sideways when I get to heater number 4, lol.

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Cobalt had a differing opinion. The thermostat portion is behind the dial, so they said keep the water above. They stated from the bottom, 6" minimum under water. If I want an inch for evap, I need 7" of water above the pump. Should be easy to confirm with a tape measure.

 

Called aqueon, I'm told the AQ600 is 2.5" tall without the suction cups on the bottom. So, 2.75" should be the height.

 

I should be able to put this one to bed by topping off, measuring from top of pump to water line and if above 7" I'll be ordering the cobalt.

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I know the cobalt fits with the mini jet 606 let me look at some dimensions to give you a better idea.

 

Mini Jet Specifications:

Dimensions: 2.25" L x 1.5" W x 3" H

 

So the height is 3"

 

Hope this helps.

 

Looks like I can put 7" of water on top of the aqueon aq600 pump. So I'm measuring evap for a day from that point and as long as it's above 6" I'm ordering up that cobalt.

 

I've got the danger line marked for the cobalt on the right and on the left I'm going to track evap for a few days and mark each. I'll have a good idea on evap and can then measure (by volume) how much I lose each day.

 

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Cichlidrookie

Good idea.....

I think one of the best and most important purchases I made was getting an ATO.

I think it is a must in a PICO/NANO tank because of salt swing with evaporation.

Lots of options on the market find one that is in your price range and go with it.

It will be the best purchase you make.

Good luck

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Good idea.....

I think one of the best and most important purchases I made was getting an ATO.

I think it is a must in a PICO/NANO tank because of salt swing with evaporation.

Lots of options on the market find one that is in your price range and go with it.

It will be the best purchase you make.

Good luck

 

Very good point. I've thought about this as well. Each day I mark for evap, I'm going to measure salinity so I know how much that drops each day as well. That should paint a clear picture of how long it can go on it's own. Early on I checked after 3 days of evap and I lost .01 on my salinity. That was with the lid on though, which I have taken off.

 

I have been looking at ATO systems. My main concern is that I'd need the sensor in the rear chamber with the pump and heater. The smart micro sensor would fit but I watched the video and the hose looks huge and it seems to fill very fast. That concerns me.

 

The tunze float I think would be too big. The hydor looks much smaller but unsure if the sensor is small enough.

 

The smart micro would be great with a slow pump and small hose. If anyone has some input here I'd be delighted as I will likely get an ATO at some point. If I could hammer out a solution known to work in the rear chamber with a heater and small hose that fills slow, I might accelerate the purchase decision.

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The Tunze Nano is definitely too big for the pump chamber but depending on your media basket/media could fit against the back wall of the media chamber. I just have mine in the display portion by the powerhead lol. The tubing for the water is over the pump chamber.

 

I would never want to do a tank this small without an ATO, especially not living in Cali where it's just consistently "some degree of hot." I'm not sure the evaporation rate would be the same each day lol. Mine has caused no problems yet and imo, is a lot easier than manually topping off. Nothing for me to forget about ;)

 

I also use a 5g Home Depot bucket with a lid as the reservoir so I refill it every couple weeks. ​

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The Tunze Nano is definitely too big for the pump chamber but depending on your media basket/media could fit against the back wall of the media chamber. I just have mine in the display portion by the powerhead lol. The tubing for the water is over the pump chamber.

 

I would never want to do a tank this small without an ATO, especially not living in Cali where it's just consistently "some degree of hot." I'm not sure the evaporation rate would be the same each day lol. Mine has caused no problems yet and imo, is a lot easier than manually topping off. Nothing for me to forget about ;)

 

I also use a 5g Home Depot bucket with a lid as the reservoir so I refill it every couple weeks. ​

 

Putting the float switch in the display tank wouldn't work for me. With the pump upgrade and InTank media basket and skimmer, the DT remains at the level of the skimmer. If the DT level dropped than the rear chambers are already empty. My evaporation only shows in the rear chambers.

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Well, 1 day = 1.625 inches of evap from the back chambers. That's about 22.014 inches cubed or 1.496 cups of water. 12.198oz, .095 gallons.

 

So, the cobalt is probably a no go, at least in the rear chamber. Losing over 1 inch would put it in the danger zone.

 

This is quite the science experiment and so far I'm not winning.

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Wow....How do you have 2 Banggai Cardinalfish in there, crazy?

Nice tank and way to push to limits with two of those fish in there.

How do you find their behavior?

 

LOL - 2 fish? 3 fish, 4... I added 2 dime size Domino Damsels, a Yellow-tail damsel and a clown. How am I doing it? Daily maintenance and many chemicals. I also hand feed each fish. I do not pollute the tank and I keep them happy all the way around. It's doing great. Now, mind you, I work from home so, this is in my home office. If I am on a conference call and being passive, I am usually taking advantage of that time and working on the tank. Actually debating purchasing a 24 gallon from the LFS specifically for SPS and LPS. Found a full system very similar setup as Fluval with all the gadgets one needs for right at $1200. That's with a light that will push 1200 watts to the bottom (not that I will be using that). My point is it's a reefer's dream and I think I'm going to spring for it.

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The restriction of 1MB file attachments is a super PITA. What's the point?


The restriction of 1MB file attachments is a super PITA. What's the point?

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