Hannahrain's 1st Nano Reef

[Hannahrain]

 

Welcome to my Fluval Evo 13.5 Nano Reef Journal

 

I've been researching reef tanks and learning all I can the past 3 months or so, watching lots of BRS TV on youtube and joining several saltwater groups on FB and piles of internet reading. Anyway I decided to go with the Fluval Evo 13.5 because of it's peninsula shape and the fact that it would fit well and look great on our pass-thru bar between our kitchen and living room, allowing it to be seen from both rooms.  I hope to keep this tank as simple as possible w/very little added equipment.

 

The tank was started up this past Friday 1/12/2018  and is cycling, dosing with Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7 daily. I am in love with looking at it, can't wait to put something in but am planning to take it slow and add things slowly as most experienced reefers recommend.

 

Currently consists of:

 

• Caribsea Ocean Direct Sand
• Dry Rock unsure how many pounds as I didn't add all 15lbs (from World Wide Corals, we visited in person, loved that place!)
• Wet live rock rubble... 4-5 pieces 
• Cobalt Neotherm Heater 100w  this size was too large to fit in the return chamber returning

 

Future upgrade plans currently include:

 

• Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO 
• Jebao PP-4 wavemaker with controller I've seen where a few others used this one their Evo's but I'm open to other suggestions
• Intank Chamber 1 Media Basket HOLY COW at the price of that thing! 
• Using Chamber 2 as a refugium looking into cheap refugium LED lights, any ideas?

 

As of now, I have no plans to upgrade the light as I need the canopy to help prevent evaporation and to protect the tank from contaminants as it's nearly in the kitchen.

 

Undecided if I need to upgrade the return pump

 

From what I've learned so far, it's not necessary to have a skimmer on a nano, so I'm hoping to go without.

 

The pics were taken right after it was filled, it has since cleared. I ended up adding a little more sand after pics were taken. The rocks are stabilized with Holdfast Epoxy.

 

I'm waiting to receive my magnet scraper today, can't wait to clean up the glass. I settled for the API Master Saltwater Test Kit for now, I figured it was better than nothing. 

 

Right now my fish/CUC stocking plans include:

 

1-2 Ocellaris Clowns

 

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

 

2-3 Turban snails 

 

2-3 Nassarius Snails 

 

Copepods

 

 

Doing this on a budget (horses are my main hobby and they aren't cheap either), so not adding too fast probably won't be too difficult, lol.

 

Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen View:

 

Living Room View:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

18 minutes ago, Hannahrain said:

 

Welcome to my Fluval Evo 13.5 Nano Reef Journal

 

I've been researching reef tanks and learning all I can the past 3 months or so, watching lots of BRS TV on youtube and joining several saltwater groups on FB and piles of internet reading. Anyway I decided to go with the Fluval Evo 13.5 because of it's peninsula shape and the fact that it would fit well and look great on our pass-thru bar between our kitchen and living room, allowing it to be seen from both rooms.  I hope to keep this tank as simple as possible w/very little added equipment.

 

The tank was started up this past Friday 1/12/2018  and is cycling, dosing with Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7 daily. I am in love with looking at it, can't wait to put something in but am planning to take it slow and add things slowly as most experienced reefers recommend.

 

Currently consists of:

 

• Caribsea Ocean Direct Sand
• Dry Rock unsure how many pounds as I didn't add all 15lbs (from World Wide Corals, we visited in person, loved that place!)
• Wet live rock rubble... 4-5 pieces 
• Cobalt Neotherm Heater 100w

 

Future upgrade plans currently include:

 

• Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO 
• Jebao PP-4 wavemaker with controller I've seen where a few others used this one their Evo's but I'm open to other suggestions
• Intank Chamber 1 Media Basket HOLY COW at the price of that thing! 
• Using Chamber 2 as a refugium looking into cheap refugium LED lights, any ideas?

 

As of now, I have no plans to upgrade the light as I need the canopy to help prevent evaporation and to protect the tank from contaminants as it's nearly in the kitchen.

 

Undecided if I need to upgrade the return pump

 

From what I've learned so far, it's not necessary to have a skimmer on a nano, so I'm hoping to go without.

 

The pics were taken right after it was filled, it has since cleared. I ended up adding a little more sand after pics were taken. The rocks are stabilized with Holdfast Epoxy.

 

I'm waiting to receive my magnet scraper today, can't wait to clean up the glass. I settled for the API Master Saltwater Test Kit for now, I figured it was better than nothing. 

 

Right now my fish/CUC stocking plans include:

 

1-2 Ocellaris Clowns

 

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

 

2-3 Turban snails 

 

2-3 Nassarius Snails 

 

Copepods

 

 

Doing this on a budget (horses are my main hobby and they aren't cheap either), so not adding too fast probably won't be too difficult, lol.

 

Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen View:

 

Living Room View:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks great so far. 

[DCUEVAS74]

Great choice for the nano, I miss my Evo!  Good luck and enjoy the process!

[gone_PHiSHin]

welcome!  nothing like the excitement of a new tank

 

maybe i missed it, what kind of light do you plan on upgrading to once its time for corals?

 

you will be just fine without a skimmer if you keep it to a low bioload (fish) and do your water changes

 

if i might make a suggestion though:  i would upgrade the return pump.  without a skimmer i'd like to have the water turned over as much as possible, and change out your filter floss.

 

also i highly recommend the Smart Micro ATO over the Tunze 3152.  i have both, the 3152 sits in the closet.  wish i would have just gotten the Smart Micro to begin with.

 

 

[Hannahrain]

43 minutes ago, gone_PHiSHin said:

 

 

if i might make a suggestion though:  i would upgrade the return pump.  without a skimmer i'd like to have the water turned over as much as possible, and change out your filter floss.

I imagine I will eventually, thanks for your input

 

 

43 minutes ago, gone_PHiSHin said:

also i highly recommend the Smart Micro ATO over the Tunze 3152.  i have both, the 3152 sits in the closet.  wish i would have just gotten the Smart Micro to begin with.

 

 

Noted. Thanks again!

[Lula_Mae]

9 hours ago, Hannahrain said:

 

Welcome to my Fluval Evo 13.5 Nano Reef Journal

 

I've been researching reef tanks and learning all I can the past 3 months or so, watching lots of BRS TV on youtube and joining several saltwater groups on FB and piles of internet reading. Anyway I decided to go with the Fluval Evo 13.5 because of it's peninsula shape and the fact that it would fit well and look great on our pass-thru bar between our kitchen and living room, allowing it to be seen from both rooms.  I hope to keep this tank as simple as possible w/very little added equipment.

 

The tank was started up this past Friday 1/12/2018  and is cycling, dosing with Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7 daily. I am in love with looking at it, can't wait to put something in but am planning to take it slow and add things slowly as most experienced reefers recommend.

 

Currently consists of:

 

• Caribsea Ocean Direct Sand
• Dry Rock unsure how many pounds as I didn't add all 15lbs (from World Wide Corals, we visited in person, loved that place!)
• Wet live rock rubble... 4-5 pieces 
• Cobalt Neotherm Heater 100w

 

Future upgrade plans currently include:

 

• Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO 
• Jebao PP-4 wavemaker with controller I've seen where a few others used this one their Evo's but I'm open to other suggestions
• Intank Chamber 1 Media Basket HOLY COW at the price of that thing! 
• Using Chamber 2 as a refugium looking into cheap refugium LED lights, any ideas?

 

As of now, I have no plans to upgrade the light as I need the canopy to help prevent evaporation and to protect the tank from contaminants as it's nearly in the kitchen.

 

Undecided if I need to upgrade the return pump

 

From what I've learned so far, it's not necessary to have a skimmer on a nano, so I'm hoping to go without.

 

The pics were taken right after it was filled, it has since cleared. I ended up adding a little more sand after pics were taken. The rocks are stabilized with Holdfast Epoxy.

 

I'm waiting to receive my magnet scraper today, can't wait to clean up the glass. I settled for the API Master Saltwater Test Kit for now, I figured it was better than nothing. 

 

Right now my fish/CUC stocking plans include:

 

1-2 Ocellaris Clowns

 

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

 

2-3 Turban snails 

 

2-3 Nassarius Snails 

 

Copepods

 

 

Doing this on a budget (horses are my main hobby and they aren't cheap either), so not adding too fast probably won't be too difficult, lol.

 

Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

 

Thanks for looking! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchen View:

 

Living Room View:

 

 

 

to Nano-Reef! Scape is very nice! These are nice tanks and great to start out with.

[Hannahrain]

21 hours ago, gone_PHiSHin said:

 

 

 

if i might make a suggestion though:  i would upgrade the return pump.  without a skimmer i'd like to have the water turned over as much as possible, and change out your filter floss.

 

Did you have a suggestion for the return pump upgrade?

 

So far I've been looking at the Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0 and the Tunze 1073.008...

 

Thanks!

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

i love the Sicce Syncra pumps.  i bought a 0.5 for my IM10 and eventually went to the 1.0 so i have plenty of flow without a powerhead in the display. I now use the 0.5 as a backup/mixing pump.  

 

i wouldnt hesitate to get the 1.0.  if it's too much flow, you can always dial it back, but the more flow the better.  since it's a new tank, i would suggest getting your flow set up and then placing your corals in accordance to the flow/what they like.  if you add corals, then increase flow later, some corals like euphyllia might not like it and need to be moved.  once i place a coral, i don't move it unless absolutely necessary.

[Hannahrain]

Tested the water for first time yesterday (API Saltwater Master Test Kit):

 

Ammonia- 0

Nitrite- 0

Nitrate-0 (tested it twice just incase)

PH- 8.2 

 

Salinity- 1.026

 

I'm only 5 days in but I started with the Ocean Direct Live Sand and some live rubble and have been adding Microbacter 7 daily and ghost fed a few times.

 

So I put in more pellet food and a couple freeze dried brine shrimp last night along with the Microbacter after testing. I'll test again tonight or tomorrow, I'll probably have my lfs test it over the weekend just to see if they get different results with a better test kit. 

 

I'll upgrade the return pump and get an intank media basket in the next couple of weeks. Having a hard enough time beating my husband home and getting rid of the Amazon boxes as  it is .  He is enjoying going to the fish stores and looking around though, he's already been studying the tank looking for life. 

 

 

 

[NanoRox]

Just wanted to say welcome!  It's so exciting starting a new tank.  I am just 3 months in and want to start another just for the experience.  :-)  Love the rock formation.  Lots of possibilities there.  You are getting plenty of advice so I wont chime in.  Enjoy your new hobby!

[Clownnem05]

the tank looks very nice so far

 

I agree with horses being expensive mine just had to get stiches because it somehow managed to get its foot stuck in the fence 

[rO.oster]

Great start!!  Looking forward to seeing some CuC arrive!

[Brian1313]

I would love also to see if anyone has any suggestions on a fuge light as im turning one my chambers into one

[Hannahrain]

Upgraded the stock return pump to the Sicce Syncra 1.0 on Monday, It greatly improved the flow in my tank but I still will get a wavemaker before I get any coral, since I have to point one nozzle up for surface agitation and the other is only towards one side of my rock arch, not much flow on the other side of the rock. 

 

Tank still cycling, still showing some ammonia. I've added Stability instead of Microbater the past 3 days since I felt like it wasn't progressing with the Microbacter (had great results with Stability in my freshwater tank). 

 

Next upgrades will most likely be an ATO and media basket.

 

Attaching a pic with both the stock return pump and the Sicce Syncra 1.0 for comparison.

 

 

 

[Hannahrain]

Also, I'm debating on filling the 2nd chamber with marine pure spheres instead of doing a refugium because I really want to keep the look of the tank like it is (not having a light attached to the side of the sump).  Still using the stock media in addition to some poly fill in a media bag in the first chamber for now.

 

 

 

[Hannahrain]

2/17/2018-Installed the Chamber 2 Intank Media Basket with filter floss on first shelf, Chemipure Blue on the 2nd shelf and the old stock biomax on the third shelf with the stock carbon (I'll remove the stock carbon in a few days as I know sometimes bacteria live on carbon and didn't want to totally remove all of the stock filtration from chamber 2 all at once. Also added mesh bag of Seachem Matrix 500 ML to chamber 1. 

 

So far I've not really been that impressed with the Chemipure Blue as far as water clarity, I have some Intank Poly Filter Pads on the way now, that I will be replacing my loose polyfilter with on top shelf of the media basket.

 

I added an Oscellaris clown back on 2/3/2018 and a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. Both have been doing well, the clown eats from my fingers and the shrimp has molted twice already (I picked a small one so maybe it will have a long lifespan as possible). Also added 2 banded trochus snails on 2/14/2018, they are mighty little cleaners and fast for snails (as compared to my freshwater mystery snails).

Discovered a few hydroids in the past week and the pod population is steadily growing (I've never intentionally added pods yet).

 

Green hair algae and a little diatom algae as has been appearing, I've been scrubbing off and sucking up pretty regular.

 

 

Since I still don't have any coral, I'm running the light only about 6 hours a day, as there is light in the house enough for the fish and shrimp, trying to keep algae growth down. 

 

I found that by shimming the stock lid up from where it normally rests on the glass about 1/8" it has stopped my salt creep. I just super glued some little black plastic pieces to the plastic top and you don't really even notice it. I was having ALOT of salt creep daily all the way around the display and my salinity was always a little low, though I top off with salt water instead of RO to try and raise the salinity. Hopefully in a couple more days I'll find out if this has corrected my salt creep and low salinity issue. 

 

 

 

[rockryno]

nice start!  +1 on the micro ATO, love it on my tank, and such a low profile.

[reefrook]

coming along nicely!  i like how you're on top of any algae growth.  i'm the same way...  any little bit pops up and i'm on it!

[zamboni200000]

On 1/31/2018 at 8:04 AM, Hannahrain said:

Upgraded the stock return pump to the Sicce Syncra 1.0 on Monday, It greatly improved the flow in my tank but I still will get a wavemaker before I get any coral, since I have to point one nozzle up for surface agitation and the other is only towards one side of my rock arch, not much flow on the other side of the rock. 

 

Tank still cycling, still showing some ammonia. I've added Stability instead of Microbater the past 3 days since I felt like it wasn't progressing with the Microbacter (had great results with Stability in my freshwater tank). 

 

Next upgrades will most likely be an ATO and media basket.

 

Attaching a pic with both the stock return pump and the Sicce Syncra 1.0 for comparison.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, I was thinking about adding a Syncra 1.0 to mine.... how do you like it?  Did you have to purchase any additional tubing or pieces or did it fit with the stock Evo stuff?  Looks from the picture like it will fit pretty easily.

[hyoib]

46 minutes ago, zamboni200000 said:

 

 

Hello, I was thinking about adding a Syncra 1.0 to mine.... how do you like it?  Did you have to purchase any additional tubing or pieces or did it fit with the stock Evo stuff?  Looks from the picture like it will fit pretty easily.

I also added the sicce syncra 1.0 to my fluval evo 13.5, it was quite a tight fit and rattled quite loudly so I switched out to an eheim compact 1000 which is much quieter.

Both pumps didnt need any extra stuff to fit to the fluval evo, everything that came with the stock pump fitted the new ones!

[zamboni200000]

2 hours ago, hyoib said:

I also added the sicce syncra 1.0 to my fluval evo 13.5, it was quite a tight fit and rattled quite loudly so I switched out to an eheim compact 1000 which is much quieter.

Both pumps didnt need any extra stuff to fit to the fluval evo, everything that came with the stock pump fitted the new ones!

Thanks!  I feel like half the people say the 1.0 fits fine and half say it doesn’t lol.  Time will tell

[Hannahrain]

On 3/5/2018 at 3:06 PM, zamboni200000 said:

 

 

Hello, I was thinking about adding a Syncra 1.0 to mine.... how do you like it?  Did you have to purchase any additional tubing or pieces or did it fit with the stock Evo stuff?  Looks from the picture like it will fit pretty easily.

Didn't have to do anything special,  takes a little patience getting it down in there but that is it.  I did decide to not use the suction cups though and instead just cut a piece of filter floss for the pump to rest on.  It was a bear to try and break the suction cup hold...made a mess splashing water. 

[Firefish15]

Hey, nice looking tank! Is it still going?