First 5g Reef on a College Budget - 1 YR 🎆🎉

[CarolinaShoreReef]

What do you guys think of the flow on the torch? Was this too much for it? I’m trying to troubleshoot why it may be deflated looking. From what I found, it could have been in too high a flow and suffered tissue damage or it could be the temp swings to 84 the past two days. I’ll be ordering an inkbird here very soon. I’m not going to play with it but I think it would be a good idea to play with the flow right? 

 

Anyways this is how it’s looking right now when lights are on:

 

 

Lights off:

 

 

Heres a video showing the flow it was in before. 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Update on the nudi plan:

 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Do you guys think I could get away with some cheap fans like these? The conch one looks really cool but looks like it might be crap idk. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

My torch is going south really quick here.

 

Do you guys need a video of it’s flow? Temp is currently 81F. 

 

I’ve including a pic of it and a FTS. 

 

 

 

[Lugmos12]

Try putting it somewhere it doesn't get constant direct flow because that could cause the flesh to break.

[CarolinaShoreReef]

31 minutes ago, Lugmos12 said:

Try putting it somewhere it doesn't get constant direct flow because that could cause the flesh to break.

I was worried about that too. I think when the temp spiked and it deflated, the flow caused it to tear a little as it rubbed on the skeleton causing it to be this stressed. I am going to leave it put right now. I directed the return to the surface and its got pretty low flow now. It has started to fill in again. I have hope that it'll come through. I'll upload a pic as soon as I can. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

So imo it looks like it’s filling in the tentacles right now. Before the tentacle were really flat. 

 

Ill try try changing the carbon out. I dipped all my zoas yesterday while doing a wc and forgot to change the carbon out. 

[burtbollinger]

flow looks to be too much.  way too much flow blasting all your LPS on the bottom, TBH.  I'd reduce it by HALF

 

torches are THE dominant corals in my tanks...check some videos for what i think proper flow is.   video is near top of page 1...notice the the lazy, big pulses of movement...vs. what you have....fairly violent chaos.

 

 

also, torches go thru phases IME...its not abnormal for a torch to look weird like this for 2-3 days then bounce back...i dont know why but it happens.

 

gotta get a controller...get that inkbird or a reefkeeper lite ASAP

[CarolinaShoreReef]

2 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

flow looks to be too much.

 

torches are THE dominant corals in my tanks...check some videos for what i think proper flow is.

 

also, torches go thru phases IME...its not abnormal for a torch to look weird like this for 2-3 days then bounce back...i dont know why but it happens.

 

gotta get a controller...get that inkbird or a reefkeeper lite ASAP

Sounds good, what do I look up to find your thread?

 

Do you think I should leave it put or move it or dial down my return pump right now? I played with the return pump placement but i still have the torch moving around a bit too much i think. 

 

Do you think the fans I showed above would be adequate for cooling? 

 

Thanks for the help, Burt! 

[burtbollinger]

8 minutes ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Sounds good, what do I look up to find your thread?

 

Do you think I should leave it put or move it or dial down my return pump right now? I played with the return pump placement but i still have the torch moving around a bit too much i think. 

 

Do you think the fans I showed above would be adequate for cooling? 

 

Thanks for the help, Burt! 

I'd look for something a bit more expensive as far as fan....or a simple desk fan on a gooseneck...aimed at the tank....hooked to an inkbird or RLK.  (big RKL fan)

 

IF I were in your exact shoes with your equipment, i'd go all the way on the LPS thing...make it a mostly  LPS specific tank and do what I needed to dial in the flow.  trying to do a true mixed reef in a small fluval....very challenging.  IME, you have to commit to what the most important species in the tank is, and focus everything on that....for you, looking at your tank, its LPS....do what you must to make them thrive...everything else is a bonus.

 

regardless, I'd try to dial back the flow or modify it somehow so the flow wasnt ripping along the bottom like that.  

 

if you tried to hotrod the tank with an upgraded pump, now would be the time to swap it out with what it came with

 

also...here's my newer tank...check the movement on the torches here....

 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

8 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

I'd look for something a bit more expensive as far as fan....or a simple desk fan on a gooseneck...aimed at the tank....hooked to an inkbird or RLK.  (big RKL fan)

 

IF I were in your exact shoes with your equipment, i'd go all the way on the LPS thing...make it an LPS specific tank and do what I needed to dial in the flow.

 

regardless, I'd try to dial back the flow or modify it somehow so the flow wasnt ripping along the bottom like that.  

 

First off, that tank was beautiful idk how you didn’t think it was aesthetic haha. Were those huge yumas down there at the bottom? I see that my flow is way too high for the lps now. My spawns and hammer do not move much which could explain why they didn’t take a hit like the torch did. 

 

Do you have any specific fan recommendations? I was going to go cheap so I can get the ato sooner and control the evaporation, as I hear with the fans it will increase my evap. I can reconsider going cheap especially since the lagoon came with an ato

 

Do you really think this tank can go lps dominated? My intentions were to move them out soon because I didn’t think they had enough room to grow into. 

[burtbollinger]

12 minutes ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

First off, that tank was beautiful idk how you didn’t think it was aesthetic haha. Were those huge yumas down there at the bottom? I see that my flow is way too high for the lps now. My spawns and hammer do not move much which could explain why they didn’t take a hit like the torch did. 

 

Do you have any specific fan recommendations. I was going to go cheap so I can get the ato sooner and control the evaporation, as I hear with the fans it will increase my evap. I can reconsider that especially since the lagoon came with one. 

 

Do do you really think this tank can go lps dominated? My intentions were to move them out soon because I didn’t think they had enough room to grow into. 

those were ricordia...

 

i do not have a fan recommendation...I might look at Tunze's option...but, with the monetary focus on the 25....cheap is probably fine for a fan.

 

or https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/air-king-fan.html

 

no, i think i'd not do an LPS dominated small tank....id use it for softies and a leather or two...maybe 2-3 good RFAs and then be done with it.
 

then if I were you, I'd make  25 Lagoon as a full-on LPS garden....maybe top it with a few EASY 30 dollar sps frags up top near the very end of the build  (stylo, IMO)  Skip the big SPS fantasy, and don't mess with leathers or many other softies.  Avoid the mish-mash mixed reef....do something really special.  Flow and lighting dialed in for LPS. (torches, frogspawn, hammers, acans, and chalice)   just my 2 cents.

[CarolinaShoreReef]

20 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

those were ricordia...

 

i do not have a fan recommendation...I might look at Tunze's option...but, with the monetary focus on the 25....cheap is probably fine for a fan.

 

or https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/air-king-fan.html

 

no, i think i'd not do an LPS dominated small tank....id use it for softies and a leather or two...maybe 2-3 good RFAs and then be done with it.
 

then if I were you, I'd make  25 Lagoon as a full-on LPS garden....maybe top it with a few EASY 30 dollar sps frags up top near the very end of the build  (stylo, IMO)  Skip the big SPS fantasy, and don't mess with leathers or many other softies.  Avoid the mish-mash mixed reef....do something really special.  Flow and lighting dialed in for LPS. (torches, frogspawn, hammers, acans, and chalice)   just my 2 cents.

Lol yuma is a species of ricordea. 

 

I just saw saw your edit, I’m going to swap out the pump for the 80gph stock one now... damn waste of $26 that could have gone towards the inkbird and fan but we’re learning here haha. Swapping out the carbon too right now. 

 

Alright, I’ll skip on the RFAs until I upgrade the light on it. I’ll make it mushroom, zoas, clove polyps, gsp and xenia dominated. I now see that there are way more colors of euphyllia than the muddy colored ones I got.. 

 

the lagoon already has an encrusting monti and rainbow monti and is stocked to the brim in zoas and palys. That might change here though because ive found out that there is nudi in it... One of the workers at the LFS was going to give me a frag of green birds nest to try out. Have you seen the lagoon though? Idk if I even have room for anymore euphyllia besides the ones from the 5g that will go in there.. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

38 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

I'd look for something a bit more expensive as far as fan....or a simple desk fan on a gooseneck...aimed at the tank....hooked to an inkbird or RLK.  (big RKL fan)

 

IF I were in your exact shoes with your equipment, i'd go all the way on the LPS thing...make it a mostly  LPS specific tank and do what I needed to dial in the flow.  trying to do a true mixed reef in a small fluval....very challenging.  IME, you have to commit to what the most important species in the tank is, and focus everything on that....for you, looking at your tank, its LPS....do what you must to make them thrive...everything else is a bonus.

 

regardless, I'd try to dial back the flow or modify it somehow so the flow wasnt ripping along the bottom like that.  

 

if you tried to hotrod the tank with an upgraded pump, now would be the time to swap it out with what it came with

 

also...here's my newer tank...check the movement on the torches here....

 

 

Your new tank looks awesome too. I like that tie die looking thing at the bottom right lol. Are you using a gel filter to record? Colors are coming out really clean. 

 

Would you you suggest I start pulling out the healthy euphyllia and placing them into the lagoon now? 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

@burtbollinger How’s this now? 

 

 

My plan here right now is to get the good euphyllia out and into the lagoon, run the stock pump until the torch heals up then move it out. Put the upgraded pump back afterwards because the gorg really needs the high flow IMO and the other coral aren’t too affected by the increased flow then focus on the gorgonians needs in that tank as well as the plate on the bottom. 

 

How does this sound? 

[xthunt]

I’ve got the Aqueon 600 pump in mine. I think it’s close to same output as yours. Every time I put in that pump, I took it back out, and put the stock back in. With the nozzle on the outflow, the flow was way to strong and directional. Next time I tried it, I removed the nozzle and just had the elbow blowing the water. It was a little better, but still too much. Third time, I put a spin stream nozzle on it and think it’s perfect. It’s just a tad noisy (click click click). I’d like to try a rfg nozzle on it, but don’t see a way to connect it. 

 

Have it on for about 2 weeks now and plan on keeping it this way. The stock pump just doesn’t have enough flow pulling trash into the filtration, imo, and I didn’t want to use a power head in such a small tank. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

12 minutes ago, xthunt said:

I’ve got the Aqueon 600 pump in mine. I think it’s close to same output as yours. Every time I put in that pump, I took it back out, and put the stock back in. With the nozzle on the outflow, the flow was way to strong and directional. Next time I tried it, I removed the nozzle and just had the elbow blowing the water. It was a little better, but still too much. Third time, I put a spin stream nozzle on it and think it’s perfect. It’s just a tad noisy (click click click). I’d like to try a rfg nozzle on it, but don’t see a way to connect it. 

 

Have it on for about 2 weeks now and plan on keeping it this way. The stock pump just doesn’t have enough flow pulling trash into the filtration, imo, and I didn’t want to use a power head in such a small tank. 

Do you know what size the elbow fits? If I understand correctly, the spinning things you're referring to are the same things that are on my lagoon? They just rotate 360 degrees? If there's something like that for this tank I'd love to try it out. Maybe I can try an elbow on it like the 13.5 has.. 

[BJG]

2 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Lol yuma is a species of ricordea. 

 

I just saw saw your edit, I’m going to swap out the pump for the 80gph stock one now... damn waste of $26 that could have gone towards the inkbird and fan but we’re learning here haha. Swapping out the carbon too right now. 

 

Alright, I’ll skip on the RFAs until I upgrade the light on it. I’ll make it mushroom, zoas, clove polyps, gsp and xenia dominated. I now see that there are way more colors of euphyllia than the muddy colored ones I got.. 

 

the lagoon already has an encrusting monti and rainbow monti and is stocked to the brim in zoas and palys. That might change here though because ive found out that there is nudi in it... One of the workers at the LFS was going to give me a frag of green birds nest to try out. Have you seen the lagoon though? Idk if I even have room for anymore euphyllia besides the ones from the 5g that will go in there.. 

If this helps at all I bought mj 606 pump for my Fluval v and it works great

[CarolinaShoreReef]

1 minute ago, BJG said:

If this helps at all I bought mj 606 pump for my Fluval v and it works great

That's what I was running too but I just pulled it out. It was too strong on the torch. I want to try it with the spin stream though. Currently looking for one that'll fit it. 

[BJG]

6 minutes ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

That's what I was running too but I just pulled it out. It was too strong on the torch. I want to try it with the spin stream though. Currently looking for one that'll fit it. 

I have one on my cycling im 10g nuvo, works great. Not sure if it would fit then Fluval though

[BJG]

9 minutes ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

That's what I was running too but I just pulled it out. It was too strong on the torch. I want to try it with the spin stream though. Currently looking for one that'll fit it. 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

2 minutes ago, BJG said:

 

Thanks that's the one I was just looking at. I wonder if it's just as large as the one Im running on my lagoon. If so, they're pretty big to put in this nano. I might as well throw the koralia 240 back in with the stock pump. I'll see what @xthunt says he's using. 

[burtbollinger]

4 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Lol yuma is a species of ricordea. 

 

I just saw saw your edit, I’m going to swap out the pump for the 80gph stock one now... damn waste of $26 that could have gone towards the inkbird and fan but we’re learning here haha. Swapping out the carbon too right now. 

 

Alright, I’ll skip on the RFAs until I upgrade the light on it. I’ll make it mushroom, zoas, clove polyps, gsp and xenia dominated. I now see that there are way more colors of euphyllia than the muddy colored ones I got.. 

 

the lagoon already has an encrusting monti and rainbow monti and is stocked to the brim in zoas and palys. That might change here though because ive found out that there is nudi in it... One of the workers at the LFS was going to give me a frag of green birds nest to try out. Have you seen the lagoon though? Idk if I even have room for anymore euphyllia besides the ones from the 5g that will go in there.. 

I have not seen your lagoon yet...

[burtbollinger]

4 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

@burtbollinger How’s this now? 

 

 

My plan here right now is to get the good euphyllia out and into the lagoon, run the stock pump until the torch heals up then move it out. Put the upgraded pump back afterwards because the gorg really needs the high flow IMO and the other coral aren’t too affected by the increased flow then focus on the gorgonians needs in that tank as well as the plate on the bottom. 

 

How does this sound? 

That looks way better as far as flow

[burtbollinger]

4 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Your new tank looks awesome too. I like that tie die looking thing at the bottom right lol. Are you using a gel filter to record? Colors are coming out really clean. 

 

Would you you suggest I start pulling out the healthy euphyllia and placing them into the lagoon now? 

Do things at your pace....there’s not crisis and I think that torch is just mildly upset