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Fluval Evo 13.5 - Somewhat Budget First Reef


DevilDuck

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Sounds like a good idea! Get on top of those parameters for sure. 👍

..or your hammer is totally gonna go next. 

 

When you said melted into jelly - was it brown and jelly like? So with LPSs like torch and hammers you need to watch out for Brown Jelly. Its a coral disease and it can kill all your LPS quickly. If by melted your torch imploded or lost its tentacles one by one, its because your parameters are off. If you intend to keep anymore than softies you'll have to start measuring and dosing. 

 

Crabs, no matter the species are all scavengers. Even when you get those new shell's they'll still kill your snails to try them on. They arent exactly gonna draft up a diplomatic accord with the snails even if shells are plentiful. 

 

I will never intentionally introduce a crab into my tank again. IME they will hunt and kill anything they can. Years ago I had a medium sized emerald crab who hunted and killed a number of fish including a clown pair and firefish pair. They arent useful enough and are too aggressive, IME, for a nano aquarium.

 

Hope that helps! 

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19 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

Sounds like a good idea! Get on top of those parameters for sure. 👍

..or your hammer is totally gonna go next. 

 

When you said melted into jelly - was it brown and jelly like? So with LPSs like torch and hammers you need to watch out for Brown Jelly. Its a coral disease and it can kill all your LPS quickly. If by melted your torch imploded or lost its tentacles one by one, its because your parameters are off. If you intend to keep anymore than softies you'll have to start measuring and dosing. 

 

Crabs, no matter the species are all scavengers. Even when you get those new shell's they'll still kill your snails to try them on. They arent exactly gonna draft up a diplomatic accord with the snails even if shells are plentiful. 

 

I will never intentionally introduce a crab into my tank again. IME they will hunt and kill anything they can. Years ago I had a medium sized emerald crab who hunted and killed a number of fish including a clown pair and firefish pair. They arent useful enough and are too aggressive, IME, for a nano aquarium.

 

Hope that helps! 

 

Thanks @geekreef_05!

 

I was following your build and started dosing 2.5ml/daily of Tropic Marin All For Reef.  Here are my parameters tested as of Today. Let me know what you think.

 

Tested on 01/25/2021

alk: 8.9 dkh
cal: 480 ppm
mg: 1410 ppm
po4: 0 ppm (below range of API Test)
no3: ~5 ppm

salinity: 1.024 sg

 

I figured out that my API Phosphate test is not sensitive enough for reef purposes. I may need to go with the Hanna digital Ultra low Range checker.

 

The torch completely melted into a very smelly brown-purplish jelly. I've tossed it and did a large water change. I'm thinking I got a unhealthy specimen from the coral dealer. So far everything else in the tank has not been impacted.

 

I currently have 5 or 6 small hermits in the tank. I'll start thinking about rehoming them.  

 

 

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Right on - those parameters look good! Glad to hear your also dosing all-for-reef. 👍

 

Definitely sounds like brown jelly disease, that bad small is one of its characteristics. That coral was doomed from the start. Glad you tossed it. Keep a close watch on your other corals to ensure it doesnt catch. That stuff can kill a reef in a week if it starts to spread. 

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I agree that hermits will kill snails to try on their shells... but I think having extra shells in there for them to try on definitely helps.  Definitely keep an eye out for those trochus snails!  At least by me they're hard to come by lately, and $$$.  IMO a trochus snail is worth several hermits in cleaning ability.  They rock.

 

 

 

 

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Some success on the hermit housing! One of the hermits took to the new shells! I was a little worried since they all came with cone shaped shells they would not like the round shells but low and behold one of them moved in.

 

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I've been watching a white spot on one of my clowns. I was thinking it was an injury from all the sparring the two were doing but I am not sure as it seems to have grown over the last couple of days. I've tried to take some pictures but these buggers won't sit still. There looks to be two spots on behind the head and one on the fin. It doesn't look like typical ich. I thought it maybe a coral sting. Any ideas?

 

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Its really hard to tell if its just a white blotch or an alien about to burst outta the clownfish from the pictures. 

 

(1) Are scales missing or is it puffy?

(2) Does it look pussy, fuzzy or other?

(3) is there any scarring, cuts, marks on the inside of the white blotch?

 

It could be anything. Illness... maybe stung by a coral.. or maybe... hunted by a crab. Where does this guy sleep at night? Near any rockwork?

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2 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

Its really hard to tell if its just a white blotch or an alien about to burst outta the clownfish from the pictures. 

 

(1) Are scales missing or is it puffy?

(2) Does it look pussy, fuzzy or other?

(3) is there any scarring, cuts, marks on the inside of the white blotch?

 

It could be anything. Illness... maybe stung by a coral.. or maybe... hunted by a crab. Where does this guy sleep at night? Near any rockwork?

 

Its very hard to tell, it does look a little raise above the skin/scale. There are not cuts or marks inside of the blotch.

It's acting normally, this one with the blotch the is becoming the more dominate one of the two fish.

 

Both clowns sleep together by the outflow, toward the back of the back wall. I do not have rockwork that reaches that high. 

 

 

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Lloydpancakes
1 hour ago, DevilDuck said:

 

Its very hard to tell, it does look a little raise above the skin/scale. There are not cuts or marks inside of the blotch.

It's acting normally, this one with the blotch the is becoming the more dominate one of the two fish.

 

Both clowns sleep together by the outflow, toward the back of the back wall. I do not have rockwork that reaches that high. 

 

 

What corals do you have in the tank that might sting like that after the torch passed?

 

 Nevermind. I forgot you had a hammer.

Edited by Lloydpancakes
General silliness
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Water change and testing day. Changed 2.5g and I reached my target salinity of 1.025 sg.

Saw my first aiptasia today on the smaller rock! I quickly entombed it under some superglue. 

 

 

Current: Tested on 01/31/2021

alk: 9.9 dkh

cal: 430 ppm

mg: 1440 ppm

po4: 0 ppm (on Hanna ULS) 

no3:  not tested 

salinity: 1.025 sg

 

Previous Tested on 01/25/2021

alk: 8.9 dkh
cal: 480 ppm
mg: 1410 ppm
po4: 0 ppm (below range of API Test)
no3: ~5 ppm

salinity: 1.024 sg

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Well, I did a bad thing and succumbed to great deal from a local hobbyist on two anemones, a beautiful rose bubble tip and a green and yellow Mini Maxi Carpet.

Both have settled into their preferred spots, the RBTA on top front and center on the rock arch. The carpets after a bit of late nite travelling decided on the shady section underneath the arch draping it's apron all the way down to the sand during lights on. Not my ideal place for him but it was their decision and it seems very happy there.

 

My tank is still immature at 3.5 months but I'm taking up the challenge.

 

I've had a huge explosion of baby banded trochus snails all over the tank. Weird since I only own a single adult trochus and 4 astrea snails. I'm assuming the snails hitchhiked in on the live rock when I bought it. 

 

I've started dosing Brightwell NeoPhos to bring my phosphates up to detectable levels.  

 

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Last night the RBTA decided to take a walk around the back of the arch and sat next to the mini maxi carpet. This caused me a lot of anxiety because they might have stung each other.

 

This morning it moved a bit to the front of the arch completely obscuring the carpet from my view. What a primadonna!

 

Adjusted the flow and reducing the light level a bit to see if it moves back to the original place.

 

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hey Devil, 

 

First the RBTA looks amazing!  

 

No worries on this one. Nems are usually comfortable in spots just like that. I think you were really lucky to have had the Nem right in the open before for a short time. 

In my experience with Nem's you can never really direct one into a particular spot.  Id advise against changing too much of your setup based on its movements as its better to let it settle into your tank, it may take a few days of roaming. But if you keep changing flow and lights, it may keep roaming and get stressed. 

 

Its likely that it will move again this evening. Im interested to see what happens! 

 

Long term with a Nem in this tank, its gonna get big and dominate the tank if you feed it ).  Doesnt matter where it moves, it 2-3 years, with regular feeding, it'll be half your tank. 🙂 I always thought about starting a Nem nano, so Im glad you did, but be careful, this is going fast in the hobby. 

 

Got that ATO and dosing pump installed yet 😉 ?

 

My warning is that Nems cant stand fast changes of any sort. Ie, large water changes should be outta the question or and be very careful in doing regular WC etc, etc. And if they die, it can be a tank disaster if unchecked. 

 

Goodluck! Keep us posted! Certainly looks fabulous. 

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5 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

hey Devil, 

 

First the RBTA looks amazing!  

 

No worries on this one. Nems are usually comfortable in spots just like that. I think you were really lucky to have had the Nem right in the open before for a short time. 

In my experience with Nem's you can never really direct one into a particular spot.  Id advise against changing too much of your setup based on its movements as its better to let it settle into your tank, it may take a few days of roaming. But if you keep changing flow and lights, it may keep roaming and get stressed. 

 

Its likely that it will move again this evening. Im interested to see what happens! 

 

Long term with a Nem in this tank, its gonna get big and dominate the tank if you feed it ).  Doesn't matter where it moves, it 2-3 years, with regular feeding, it'll be half your tank. 🙂 I always thought about starting a Nem nano, so Im glad you did, but be careful, this is going fast in the hobby. 

 

Got that ATO and dosing pump installed yet 😉 ?

 

My warning is that Nems cant stand fast changes of any sort. Ie, large water changes should be outta the question or and be very careful in doing regular WC etc, etc. And if they die, it can be a tank disaster if unchecked. 

 

Goodluck! Keep us posted! Certainly looks fabulous. 

Thanks @geekreef_05! I'll let it be and allow the RBTA to settle. My fiance' has taken a big interest in the hobby, especially with nems, so I can almost guarantee we will have a larger setup before 2 years. She is already asking to add a couple of rock flowers. I cut my hand pretty badly in a freak accident on Monday, so for the next few months she will be doing the majority of the tank maintanance.  

 

I have the auto doser but still waiting on the dosing container. I'm following your aquarium log and using the exact same setup as you are. Thanks for trail blazing!  Meanwhile, i'm still dosing All-For-Reef manually everyday and water testing every few days.

 

I am still using the factory lid, with the factory light along with two 9w supplemental blue LED strips, there is very little evaporation. Tank salinity has been very stable. I have been running without the filter portion of the lid during the day to control temperature increases while the LEDs are on. I might hold off on the ATO for a while longer.

 

5 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

Oh, also, careful with dosing phos, you'll have to feed this Nem lots and thats gonna naturally raise your phos. 

 

Just tested and Phosphate is at .07 ppm per the Hanna ULR tester. I'll keep an eye on it for now. 

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Sounds good Devil! Hope you hand heals quickly - that totally sucks. But super nice that you gf is helping out. Mine too - kinda....she brought me a starbucks on stocking day 😉 

 

With the lid on, that make sense your evap is low. For note, my tank evaporates between 600ml-800ml each day. Im gonna peg that down better in the future to configure my dual ATO reservoirs, but gives you a relative idea of what topless and strong flow can equate to.

 

BTW, some of those dosing containers took longer than a month to get delivered for me. Hope your's come sooner! 

 

So for dosing, since you have the pump, i would suggest dosing from a glass container for now. Its way better than manually dosing, keeps things far more stable. I was also dosing from a glass jar at first, while waiting for the containers. 

 

And finally your phos levels look good, I would suggest to stop dosing any phos additive. A good target should be 0.05ppm. 

 

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Quick lunch update. The RBTA did not wonder over night, is did shrink down into a tiny ball about 30 mins after lights out. An hour later it was back up to about 1/4 of the size in the picture. It's still looking happy in the tank.

 

The mini maxi carpet under the arch is looking more annoyed that it is now shaded by the RBTA. It has started to shift a part itself over to the back of the tank where there is more light.

I'm hoping this will force it to move to a more visible spot!

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One interesting thing I noticed is that the foot of the RBTA actually touches and is under the apron of the maxi carpet. Neither seems to be actively stinging each other.

 

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On 1/31/2021 at 4:36 PM, DevilDuck said:

Water change and testing day. Changed 2.5g and I reached my target salinity of 1.025 sg.

Saw my first aiptasia today on the smaller rock! I quickly entombed it under some superglue. 

 

 

Current: Tested on 01/31/2021

alk: 9.9 dkh

cal: 430 ppm

mg: 1440 ppm

po4: 0 ppm (on Hanna ULS) 

no3:  not tested 

salinity: 1.025 sg

 

Previous Tested on 01/25/2021

alk: 8.9 dkh
cal: 480 ppm
mg: 1410 ppm
po4: 0 ppm (below range of API Test)
no3: ~5 ppm

salinity: 1.024 sg

Curious. Are you concerned at all about your rise of 1dKH?

 

Why are you dosing AFR? I'm not necessarily seeing anything in your stocking list that necessitates any real significant alk consumption that can't be taken care of by weekly water changes? Other than your recently deceased torch (RIP). 

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38 minutes ago, pokerdobe said:

Curious. Are you concerned at all about your rise of 1dKH?

 

Why are you dosing AFR? I'm not necessarily seeing anything in your stocking list that necessitates any real significant alk consumption that can't be taken care of by weekly water changes? Other than your recently deceased torch (RIP). 

@pokerdobe Should I be? i'd thought the safe range for alk was 7-12 dKH? I was aiming to keep it around 10 dKH hence the additional dosing. I think my Fritz RPM salt is 8 dKH out of the box. 

 

 

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7-12 is the community accepted range, but most aim to settle onto a single value in that range. If you plan on keeping mainly soft coral ,this may be a non issue, but if you plan on delving into anything that's really skeletonized, LPS, SPS, you'll want to minimize the changes in your alk value as much as possible. How minimized the fluctuation is, is dependent on your primary stocking, with less and less margin as you go from softies ->LPS -> SPS. 

 

Generally speaking, 8 to 9 is the accepted 'safe' mid values in the range, because a swing in either direction still keeps your alk in that 'accepted' range. Personally for me, 10 is a tad high and falls into the "high alk, high nutrient' school of thought - but that's not really my forte as high alk has never really worked out for me. 

 

Accepting my mistake prone and lazy nature, my dKH value I strive for is 7, +/- a few tenths of a point. Looking over my past records, my alk typically ranges from 6.85 to 7.1. A good school of thought is to match your alkalinity with whatever your salt mixes at, which helps mitigate the delta change. 

 

That being said, I wouldn't necessarily worry too much about the actual value vs. keeping your alk consistent. 

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freestylejunki32
14 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

@pokerdobe Should I be? i'd thought the safe range for alk was 7-12 dKH? I was aiming to keep it around 10 dKH hence the additional dosing. I think my Fritz RPM salt is 8 dKH out of the box. 

 

 

My plan/goal with my tank is frequent water changes and that's it. No dosing at all if I can help it. Chasing number like alk to anything other than what your salt mix gives you can be a recipe for disaster with all the fluctuation possible. I'm changing 2 gal a week and thats it. So far everything has been very happy. My first reef tank year ago I started doing reef buffer and nano 2 part. Did more harm than good honestly. 🤷

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@pokerdobe and @freestylejunki32

 

Thanks for the advice, it makes sense. I don't have any really demanding corals. it will be the existing hammer and a replacement torch i'll be picking up soon.

I'll cease dosing the AFR now and see where the parameters are at after the sunday water change day.

 

Other than the replacement torch or frogspawn, I was planning on adding a couple of more pieces of live rock of similar size to the red piece, 1 fire shrimp, and a couple of Rock Flower Nems. 

 

 

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@DevilDuck Sounds good. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't dose if you need it, but it should demand driven. You can stop dosing for a few days and do a straight-line calculation of alk consumed over that period to determine your dosing needs. 

 

There will come a point where you probably will have to dose - but it's rarely ever in the beginning stages of a tank. A mature tank however, can easily consume 1+ dKH per day. 

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