Scotty Amen's Evo 13.5: 1st Saltwater Journal

[banasophia]

Gorgeous tank! Are you keeping it and adding the Biocube 32 as a second tank, or upgrading? Looking forward to doing the Biocube 32 startup at almost the same time!

[Scotty Amen]

Keeping both!

 

and I’m looking forward to that too!

And thank you for the nice words! 🙂

[Scotty Amen]

Bargain frags sometimes have attachments. These had some aptasia. I picked up a peppermint shrimp to deal with it and he did his job, it's all gone now.

Think I'll keep him in the Evo until the new tank is ready for a cleanup crew and move him over there (if I can catch him).

[Scotty Amen]

Due to a pretty nasty outbreak of fast-growing hair algae, I'm going to see if I can maybe grow some Chaeto somewhere in this nano. 

 

I wonder if it would survive in the main display part of the tank, maybe in a net bag.

 

I've cut way back on feeding but it's still getting out of control.  We'll see if the Chaeto can take some of the nutrients away.  Even if it doesn't survive long term maybe it will get the hair under control.

[Scotty Amen]

Chaeto hasn't arrived yet. Probably today.
In the meantime trying lights out for a couple days.  ( I won't lights-out the chaeto though).
Still doing 15% water changes weekly.  Water is Red Sea bought by the gallon from LFS.

[Scotty Amen]

Chaeto went into a net bag and into the display last night.

Hope it eats phosphates 

[Scotty Amen]

11 day update, Chaeto is still a healthy green, living in a net bag in the main display.

I keep trimming back the hair algae during every water change, and have cut back on feedings.

Will keep monitoring. :)  

 

Clowns are doing well, Watchmen are doing well, haven't seen their pistol shrimp in a few weeks so not sure if their pet is deceased or not.

 

No sign of the emerald crab in months, but may be buried in hair algae, hiding and feasting.

[Scotty Amen]

17 days since Chaeto arrived.

Still plucking hair, still doing large water changes.

Added chemi-pure blue, can't hurt right?

Chaeto is still alive and green.

[Scotty Amen]

After 8 days away out of state, with lights off (and with #1 son feeding the tank) the hair algae is almost totally wiped out.  The chaeto is still green, but lights out on the tank really knocked out the algae situation.  

 

[Scotty Amen]

I'm thinking of moving this tank from the bedroom to the home office.  I'm in there way more often now.

[Scotty Amen]

Green hair is almost completely gone, reduced hours of light and a little less feeding has done it.

Fishies are all happy but cleaner shrimp has completely disappeared without a trace. Weird. That ever happen to  you?

[Scotty Amen]

Silly Panda Clownfish thinks the zoas are his anemone.

 

 

[Scotty Amen]

 

 

[Scotty Amen]

This weekend was a big project, I relocated my 13.5 Evo nano from the bedroom into the home office room.

I prepared for the move for about a month, including researching the right way to move a tank and getting the new location ready etc.
Now I can see the little fishies all day working in here instead of just occasionally or hardly at all.

[Scotty Amen]

GSP... what have I done...

I put a patch of GSP on the back wall, about 90% of the way down to the bottom. It's about 2 inches wide and 3 inches wide (5cm x 7.6cm).  

I can't reach any of the rock, and hopefully it will grow upwards.

It's in a great flow area, as it's under both the main pump outflow and under the powerhead, both drawing water upwards towards them past the GSP. 

Nutrients (detritus, food) that are picked up from the bottom and circulate up to those pumps will draw through the GSP.

[Scotty Amen]

The patch of GSP is recovering from the slice and dice and putting out green polyps.  

I hope the clownies learn they can rub up into it, that would be so cute.

[Ash1176]

Nice setup! I just started an Evo 13.5 in may, can’t wait to add more corals!  

[Scotty Amen]

Thanks Ash! Post a link here to your build thread.

[Ash1176]

Here you go! 

 

[Scotty Amen]

Very nice 🙂

[Scotty Amen]

 

[Christopher Marks]

I need an emerald crab with motivation like that! How's your bubble algae population after a few weeks of emerald crab work? @Scotty Amen

[Scotty Amen]

Bubbles are almost gone now.  Green crab is still chilling on the rocks. He must only work at night because when the lights are on he hardly ever moves.

Oops just as I say that, I ook over at the rocks and he's crawling around, so.... yeah. 

He's a little worker.

 

2 peppermint shrimp are also keeping aptasia at bay. 

[Scotty Amen]

Oh also happy 2nd year anniversary of the tank startup.

[Christopher Marks]

That’s great to hear! Congrats on two years!

 

Oh, how is the GSP wall coming along? Did the frag start spreading out?