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Coral Vue Hydros

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4 month update after lighting upgrade to stock hood: May 13, 2018:

SPS growing really nicely! Thicker & better coloration too! Compare these pictures to the older ones.

 

 

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Update: January 22, 2018:

 

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Upgrades:

 

- Aquamai KPS Wavemaker

- Current USA 12" Truelumen Pro LED bars (x2) and 10" LED strips (x2). This is in addition to the stock Fluval light. Total wattage 40.2 watts

- Current USA Single, Dual and Dual Pro Ramp Timers

- Smart ATO Micro Auto Top-off System

- Aquatic Life 115 Protein Skimmer

- inTank Chamber 2 Media Basket

- Inkbird Aquarium Dual Stage Temperature Controller + NTC Sensor

- Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300gph (it's not much stronger than stock pump, although smaller)

- Green Killing Machine Mini 3W UV

- Fluval Edge 25W heater (The room is fairly warm all year so don't really need much heating)

 

Filter Media: Purigen, Matrix, inTank Poly Filter Floss

 

 

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March 4th, Day 1,  tank goes live & cycling:

 

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April 5th, one month after:

 

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It's been a bit over a month since I setup this tank and it's my very first reef tank. I've been in the freshwater world for over a decade (currently have a 55g Discus tank) and decided to take the plunge and setup a reef. 

 

I'm running the stock lighting for now and it seems pretty decent. Even my SPS are starting to show new growth although the coloration isn't too good. Here are the additions/upgrades I've done so far:
 

- Fluval P2 Protein Skimmer

- Hydor Koralia Nano 425gph 

- Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300gph (it's not much stronger than stock pump, although smaller)

- Green Killing Machine Mini 3W UV

- Fluval Edge 25W heater (The room is fairly warm all year so don't really need much heating)

 

Filter media: Purigen and Phosguard

 

I got 17 different corals (mostly frags) right now including quite a few SPS. Cleanup crew consists of 5 snails, 3 hermit crabs, emerald crab and a blood red fire shrimp.

 

And an acid rain bubble tip Anemone!

 

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It looks nice. Can you attach a picture of your green killing machine? I want to see how it fits in the back chamber.

 

Is that a birdnest or something on top right of the bubble tip anemone? It looks a bit bleached.

 

Be careful with the anemone. Most people suggest not keeping one until the tank is 6-12 months old. They also don't recommend keeping one in a ~10G tank.

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Thanks. The UV fits snug in there, the top is about an inch from the water level.

 

Yes it's a birdsnest, Hyacinth Birdsnest I believe. It's not bleached, in fact it's got 6 new growth tips coming out of it. It's just a bad picture from my phone.

 

I did read up a lot on bubble tips before I added him and I am hoping to disprove those theories! :) Most of this 6-12 month info comes from people that have kept wild caught ones, I think. I think if it's a tank raised/bread one and it's showing it's happy, eating and is staying in his spot that's what matters. This guy has been in this spot and has been growing for about a month now, fingers crossed!

 

 

 

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Thanks for the picture! Since I put my float switches in the third chamber I am not sure if I will have enough room for that. Hopefully I won't ever need one.

 

There's a possibility that your anemone will move, and frags that it touches may die. You may have to be prepared to move them if the nem does move.

 

You running the stock light?

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Yes, it's possible he may move but so far he seems quite happy and i've given him a pretty large part of the tank for himself.

 

Yup stock lighting, I think they are strong enough (burned two monti frags because they were too high up) just that my corals look fairly bland under them. I'm looking into adding an extra actinic LED strip.

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True. I just use a timer on mine, but it's always on the daylight setting. This is why I want to get an actinics strip and put it on a separate timer.

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What I do is just plug it in to a timer for daylight. Whenever I want to to see the beauty of the tank I just manually toggle it to night light mode. Just gotta remember to turn it back when you step away.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Aquacrazed

Water param are perfect. 20% water change every week, even my SPS are growing quite well under stock lighting. They split either if they are happy or stressed. I am thinking in this case it's because it was happy.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Aquacrazed

3 Month Update:

 

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Still running stock lighting, SPS corals seems to be growing fine, although don't have the best color.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Anemone Invasion!

 

Ok, it's been 4 1/2 months since I put my anemone in and now I have 6 of them! So I got a bit of a problem, I need to get rid of a few before they start killing off my corals!

 

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New upgrades:

 

Jebao SW2 Pump/Wavemaker

This is a new pump from Jebao, the smallest one they make rated at 132 - 660 gph. This is a perfect pump for this tank and I have it on Else setting that does a random rotation of all the wave settings. It replaced my Hydor Koralia 425 and my corals seem very happy.

UPDATE: Jebao pump died in 2 months - Avoid this brand, comes with no warranty.

 

Smart ATO Micro Auto Top Off System

A great little auto top off system perfect for nano tanks. I did have some issues getting it setup initially, the siphon breaker is basically useless so need to make sure the water tube is above the water level in the tank. Other than that it works great.

 

 

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fishfreak0114

Your tank is coming along very nice!  I'm jealous of all your SPS, I haven't had luck with them (tried 3 frags, all died :().  Do you have a pic of your discus?  I would love to keep them one day.

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6 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Your tank is coming along very nice!  I'm jealous of all your SPS, I haven't had luck with them (tried 3 frags, all died :().  Do you have a pic of your discus?  I would love to keep them one day.

Thanks! I upped the challenge and added two acroporas, green slimer and another one (not sure of the name, it's the one right at the top). Keeping fingers crossed. Click on my profile pic, those are my discus.

 

BTW, my lighting is all stock! There are lots of people throwing away the light that comes with the tank even without giving it a chance, such a waste. I am thinking of adding some extra lighting to the tank, that's my next mini project.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...
ThisPlaceIsAPrison
On 4/8/2017 at 1:19 PM, Aquacrazed said:

True. I just use a timer on mine, but it's always on the daylight setting. This is why I want to get an actinics strip and put it on a separate timer.

Can you explain how you operate the stock Fluval Evo Hood / Light with a timer?  I would like to get mine on a timer. 

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On 7/22/2017 at 8:06 PM, Aquacrazed said:

New upgrades:

 

Jebao SW2 Pump/Wavemaker

This is a new pump from Jebao, the smallest one they make rated at 132 - 660 gph. This is a perfect pump for this tank and I have it on Else setting that does a random rotation of all the it's wave settings. It replaced my Hydor Koralia 424 and my corals seem very happy.

 

Smart ATO Micro Auto Top Off System

A great little auto top off system perfect for nano tanks. I did have some issues getting it setup initially, the siphon breaker is basically useless so need to make sure the water tube is above the water level in the tank. Other than that it works great.

 

 

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How do you like this pump? Is it quiet? I’m looking at the current USA e flux for my IM 14 peninsula 

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry about the lack of updates guys but here is a new pic of what the tank looks like today:

 

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I finally got the Extreme DaVinci Gladiator Clowns I've been looking for for so long. These are some very nice ones.

 

The summer heat took a bit of a toll on my corals as there were days when the temps in the tank went upto 86F! All my Monties bleached and so did one of my Acros and a Birds Nest. The Green Slimer seems to be surviving but looks very pale. The stock light is not good for the coral colors and all my corals look pretty dull. They are growing quite nicely though. The Anemone is growing like crazy, it's by far the hardiest thing in my tank, can't get rid of them! They stick to the rock like super glue. I stopped feeding them and looks like they have become less bubbly now.

 

fishfreak0114: Thanks! Yes those are my Discus in my 55g freshwater tank.

 

ThisPlaceIsAPrison: I use a Current USA Dual Ramp Timer, got it on an Amazon for $55

 

Biglex: The Jebao SW2 is absolute garbage. DO NOT buy it. It failed in 2 months so I can't return it back to Amazon and they come with no warranty. I basically got ripped off, don't buy any of their products, learn from my mistake.

 

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Retrofitted the tank hood with some Current USA LED bars/strips, 2x 12K whites & 2x actinic blues. Also added the new Current USA eFlux  660 wave pump:

 

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That's a total of 40.2 watts.

 

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Tank seems to be getting a bit warm so I am using a small USB fan pointing at the hood.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 19/01/2018 at 11:54 AM, Aquacrazed said:

Retrofitted the tank hood with some Current USA LED bars/strips, 2x 12K whites & 2x actinic blues. Also added the new Current USA eFlux  660 wave pump:

 

Tank seems to be getting a bit warm so I am using a small USB fan pointing at the hood.

You seem to be getting pretty great growth with the stock, excited to see how it goes adding those 2 LED strips!

I'd love to keep the hood on mine but was concerned light may not be good enough, and also the water gets about 2-4 degrees to warm with the hood on. Have you noticed the USB fans making much difference in temperature?

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