First Saltwater Tank (evo 13.5)

[farkwar]

What skimmers work on the Evo 13.5?

 

I want to set up a small AIO quarantine for fish only

 

 

[mipster]

16 minutes ago, farkwar said:

What skimmers work on the Evo 13.5?

 

I want to set up a small AIO quarantine for fish only

 

 

You don't need a skimmer and most wont fit anyways. 

[findingnemo23]

31 minutes ago, mipster said:

You got your frag pack from Fragbox so you must be a fellow Canadian. You can buy an intank media rack from them, they stock them. Worth every penny. I started an EVO 13.5 this year too, I just upgraded to an IM20 but you can read through my thread for my adventure if you like.

 

https://fragbox.ca/product-category/dry/fluval-upgrades/

 

You are feeding really heavily for that tank and your filtration. You don't have any fish and your corals do not need that much food. I would cut back to once a week feeding. What level are your nitrates at? I have a feeling they are on the high side based on what I'm seeing.

 

Does that brownish/purplish algae disappear at night?

Nitrates are between 10-20ppm. The slime never really fully goes away unless I leave the lights off for 2-3 days. Thanks for the info btw. Do you have any info regarding those little white bugs in the pictures? 

[mipster]

9 minutes ago, findingnemo23 said:

Do you have any info regarding those little white bugs in the pictures?

They just pods, Copepods and amphipods. Nothing to worry about.

 

You need to worry more about getting that algae in check before it runs away from you.

 

Tips for Cyano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbn0MupHi1c

 

 

Tips for Dinos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIfu7Xcr_7YI 

 

I think it's one or the other from the photos, leaning towards dino though. 

 

If you are testing your Nitrates with the API test, I would scrap that and get either red sea, salifert or nyos tests. API is notoriously not accurate.  

 

Have you tested the TDS of your store's RODI water that you get? You can't trust that it's 0 TDS they are giving you. I find most reef stores RODI systems have a higher TDS than you might necessarily want. They are running big systems, low TDS coming out the RODI won't be a big issue for them but on a little EVO like yours, any contaminates is a bigger issue.

 

Where you were you buying your fish from? Local or were you having them shipped? Did you QT?

 

[findingnemo23]

In the video it seems they are pushing buying a UV sterilizer...I was trying my hardest to keep this build as cheap as I can. I didn't fully realize how expensive this hobby actually is 😶

 

Call me crazy...but I've actually seen less of a presence of dinos this week. Last week it was always on all the corals, and there was a purple layer of slime on the sand like a blanket.

 

I have never tested the store water, fish were all from Big Al's which I bought at the store itself, I have never quarantined anything. So why are these "sensitive" inverts all outliving my expensive "hardy" clownfish?! Lol

[mipster]

33 minutes ago, findingnemo23 said:

In the video it seems they are pushing buying a UV sterilizer...I was trying my hardest to keep this build as cheap as I can. I didn't fully realize how expensive this hobby actually is 😶

When I got Dinos, I did everything they recommended plus a 4 day blackout minus the UV and I won. You can take the pieces you can easily do to try as a starting point.

 

You should test your source water. Most inverts are extremely hardy and don't get sick the way fish do. If the fish had a parasite or something and you didn't QT and treat, that could have killed the fish. I didn't QT originally and ich killed off all my fish. If you're using API test kits to measure your parameters, they are not accurate and your levels could be higher then you think causing the fish to stress and make them more susceptible to illness. 

 

My recommendations, should you choose to accept them (and you are more then welcome to ignore them lol) are:

 

1. Get reliable test kits to test your water - I like red sea kits personally
2. Test the TDS of your source water
3. Do not try adding other fish for at least 72 days (this is in case you did have Ich or Brook or any other fish parasite, allowing your tank to lay fallow with no fish will kill any parasites still in your tank as they need to live off a host fish to survive)
4. Black out your tank for 4 days and add competing bacteria to combat dinos (I used garbage bags to black out my tank, just make sure you have a hole to allow the air exchange. Your corals will be ok without the light for a few days. Change your filter floss frequently during this period.)
5. When you are ready to add fish again, quarantine with copper. You can buy copper power on amazon currently even though in Canada, you're not supposed to be able to. Read Humblefish's explanations on how to QT. You need to treat with copper in its own system as copper is bad for corals and inverts.
6. Do lots of research before doing anything.
7. Be prepared. This is not a cheap hobby. There are people who start tanks with the cheapest equipment possible but often find they spend more because they have to replace equipment that breaks because it isn't good quality and reliable. Most of the time people find it is better to buy good quality once.
8. Join a local reef club, even the online ones on facebook are amazing places to buy good used equipment and corals. If you are in the GTA, look for GTA reefers on facebook. Amazing local group, great place to ask questions and locals are always selling corals and livestock for terrific prices.

 

Stick with it! Getting through the challenges is half the fun! 

[Tired]

The tiny, moving white dots are copepods, beneficial. The bugs with the legs are munnid isopods, harmless algae-eaters. If you see critters that look sort of like tiny shrimp half-curled into a C, but still moving around, those are amphipods. Usually harmless (detritus-eaters, good fish snacks), but large numbers or particularly hungry populations can harass corals, and any population will go after stressed and sick corals.

[findingnemo23]

So it appears that the dino/algae problem has reduced quite a bit and i'm seeing less of it each day.

 

 On the flip side-

 

For the past 2-3 months I thought the bristle worm had died because I didn't see it once. (even when I checked the tank in the middle of the night while all the lights were off)

 

But the past 2 days I saw 2- one looked small and the other looked like the original worm, that has grown bigger over the past few months...The pictures don't even show 1/4 of it... I never seem to have my phone nearby when it comes out most of the way, but it must be at least 6 inches.

 

I made a bottle trap, i'm curious to see if it works and how many will crawl inside. These things give me the creeps and I can't stomach them anymore.

[Tired]

If you really need to get them out, quick grabbing with long tongs will probably work better than a trap. The trap isn't likely to work unless they can actually reach the straws to get in. 

 

They're beneficial, though, good detritivores. If you have to remove them, you may want to replace them with some micro brittle stars, if your LFS will sell you some. 

[farkwar]

On 11/17/2020 at 2:12 PM, mipster said:

You don't need a skimmer and most wont fit anyways. 

I need a skimmer on every tank I set up

 

I am thinking about setting up a Biorb Air Carnivore tank

 

And am looking for a skimmer for it

[findingnemo23]

Trap has done nothing, I've tried getting it with tweezers but it darts back inside the rock faster than a bullet and doesn't come out the rest of the night. I'm mostly worried about it growing and reproducing and leading to an infestation, i've seen too many videos of this happen on youtube

[farkwar]

Saw this in another thread

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087N84Z6V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_8VBXFb26716E9

 

 

[findingnemo23]

7 month update:

 

I think i've finally made it through all the unpleasant ugly stages. I was honestly about to give up on the hobby with all the issues I was dealing with, and for the past few months I was not putting a full effort into doing water water changes because I was so fed up (20% every 3-4 weeks), and I have switched back to using strictly tap water which I boil a day before. 

 

Long story short I think this may have been a cure for everything^^

 

I've noticed ever since I got the coral on the far right of the tank, it is the only one that has not grown or glow whatsoever under the blue light. I'm wondering if it's dead or if that's just how it is..

 

One of my trochus snails also has these bubble-like textures on it's shell, and I tried brushing it off but it's rock hard. Anyone have thoughts what that is? 

 

 

[Tired]

Boiling tap water won't get much out of it. It'll dechlorinate it, but won't remove any of the minerals or other substances. In fact, it'll concentrate those more, since you boil some of the water out. Unless your tap water reads 0 TDS, you should get an RODI unit and use the water from that. Otherwise you're vulnerable to any changes in the water, and to anything that might be in the water that will stress your corals out.

 

That's bubble algae on the snail. Take the snail out and pry the algae off, it can be a pest because not much will eat it. 

 

The coral in the picture is not dead. You can tell because it has flesh. A dead coral will either be a skeleton, or will be completely gone, depending on if it had a skeleton in the first place. It does look a bit receded. It's an LPS (though I'm not sure what type), so you should feed it. Place meaty foods on it, with the pumps off, and see if it takes anything. 

[DevilDuck]

Get your own RODI filter and makes your own saltwater. It's much more convenient and you have absolute control over the quality.

I have this unit and it's the best $60 you'll spend. No more running to the LFS and hauling water and it's always available when I need it.

The unit is small and portable.

 

https://www.chewy.com/aquatic-life-ro-buddie-four-stage/dp/146155?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Aquatic Life&utm_term={keyword}