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Natalia’s Evo 13.5: alk spike aftermath


natalia_la_loca

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natalia_la_loca

Ok I’m officially back in nano land.

 

I love my reefbowls but I really don’t need two. And they’re getting very crowded. And I miss fish and inverts. So I’m going to retire my 3-year-old sculpture bowl and put the corals in a brand new Fluval Evo 13.5.

 

I thought a lot about other tanks like the Fusion Peninsula 14 or the Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15, that seem to have better build quality, low iron glass etc, but the shape of the Evo is just more attractive to me. It’s got that golden ratio thing going.

 

The aim with this system is ultra low maintenance/ULM, which means mostly softies and LPS, macro and few water changes for nutrient export, only the most necessary tech, and a few fish. 

 

current status:


Scape:

0.5” layer of aragonite flakes
13 lbs. Life Rock and dry rock

 

Equipment/upgrades:

Sicce Syncra 0.5 return pump

VCA 1/2” Random Flow Generator

Fluval M50 submersible heater

Inkbird temp controller

Custom ClearView lid (solid acrylic to control evap—hoping to avoid needing ATO)

12w ABI Tuna Blue par38 in a midcentury modern brass light fixture

InTank media baskets for chambers 1 and 2

Kamoer X1 bluetooth doser

AA Green Killing Machine 9w UV sterilizer (at night as needed)


Filtration:

Floss

ROX Carbon

Macroalgae

 

Fish & inverts:

1 azure damsel (Caligula)

1 orchid dottyback (Caracalla)

2 trochus snails 

2 astrea snails

5 strombus maculatus snails

2 nassarius snails

3 stomatella snails

1 money cowrie

1 blue leg hermit crab

1 porcelain crab

1 harlequin serpent star

asterina stars

feather duster worms

 

Corals

Zoanthids

Goniopora 

Euphyllia

Nephthea

Acans

Duncan

Ricordea

Rhodactis

Leptoseris

Cyphastrea

 

Macro:

Red ogo (gracilaria parvispora)

Gracilaria hayi

Dragons tongue (halymenia durvillei)

 

Feeding daily or every other day:

Rods Food Coral Blend

Rods Polyp Popper fish roe

Avast Reef Jerky

 

Feeding weekly:

Reef Roids

Goniopower

Coral Frenzy

Fauna Marin Ultra Ricordea + Zoanthus 

Fauna Marin Ultra Min D


Dosing daily:

Tropic Marin All-for-Reef 1.2 ml

Joeys Reef Juice 4-species live phyto blend 7 ml

Brightwell Coral Aminos 7 drops

 

aand it’s wet! Added Aquavitro Seed to start the cycle.43B3666D-29F3-4BE6-8678-885772F013BC.thumb.jpeg.2dfddce84929cee9136637b3d18a4339.jpeg

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Welcome back to nano land! Thanks for the shout out. You are a amazing talent and I'm excited to see how your tank develops!

 

Do you already own the Fluval heater? I've heard it does not fit in the back compartment being just a little too long.

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natalia_la_loca
1 hour ago, DevilDuck said:

Welcome back to nano land! Thanks for the shout out. You are a amazing talent and I'm excited to see how your tank develops!

 

Do you already own the Fluval heater? I've heard it does not fit in the back compartment being just a little too long.


Aw thanks ☺️ Yeah I already had one of those heaters to heat my water change water. It just barely fits in chamber 3 next to the stock pump. Assuming it fits with the Sicce (getting it tomorrow), I’ll get another one of those because they’re way cheaper than the Cobalt and have great reviews on Amazon.

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Alriight... looking forward to following. 
 

Not so sure about Aquavitro Seed based on some reviews and info I’ve read, so I’m eager to see how it works for you, please keep us posted. 🤗

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natalia_la_loca

My only experience with Seed has been the one-quart reef jar with all dry rock and sand, but that may have been a special case because it’s so tiny. I did also add a drop or two of ammonia to help get the cycle going in the jar. In any case i won’t be adding anything besides macro and maybe a couple of corals to this new tank for at least a month. But I’ll post updates on how the cycle progresses.

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natalia_la_loca

Replaced the stock pump with the Sicce Syncra 0.5 last night. I was hoping to have that be the only source of flow in the tank, but it doesn’t seem like that much more. Will see what difference the VCA random flow generator makes when it arrives this week. 

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1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Replaced the stock pump with the Sicce Syncra 0.5 last night. I was hoping to have that be the only source of flow in the tank, but it doesn’t seem like that much more. Will see what difference the VCA random flow generator makes when it arrives this week. 

There will be a bit more flow when you remove the stock output split and replace it with the 1/2 RFG nozzle. The split and the 1/4 loc-line restricts the flow. If you still more flow you may need to move up to the Syncra 1.0. 

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natalia_la_loca
19 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

There will be a bit more flow when you remove the stock output split and replace it with the 1/2 RFG nozzle. The split and the 1/4 loc-line restricts the flow. If you still more flow you may need to move up to the Syncra 1.0. 


makes sense. In your experience is the 0.5 with RFG enough flow? Thinking about getting a Hygger wave maker but I’d love to have one less pump to clean!

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25 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:


makes sense. In your experience is the 0.5 with RFG enough flow? Thinking about getting a Hygger wave maker but I’d love to have one less pump to clean!

I have mostly LPS, so for me personally it is enough flow, but every tank is different depending on coral and rockwork.

For me from mid-tank to the opposite glass is high-medium flow, the flow bounces off the glass back around mid-tank to the false wall is an area of medium-low flow. Since you already have the Synchra .5, try and see. The nice thing about the larger Syncra 1.0 is that it can be dialed down if you want less flow.

 

I also agree it is nice to keep things simple and clean with just one pump.

 

 

 

 

 

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On 3/28/2021 at 6:56 AM, natalia_la_loca said:

This is the kind of energy I want to bring to this tank (yes I will do water changes)

 

 

Yes! I love that tank and that interview!! I’d love to meet Sanjay Joshi one day. 

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natalia_la_loca

The Evo evolves! This week I added the VCA random flow generator, an In-tank surface skimmer and an In-tank plug for that hole in the back wall. Also scored used In-tank media baskets on eBay for chambers 1 and 2.
 

The flow is a lot better with the VCA RFG, but still way less than what I’m used to with the reefbowls. I’ll see how it looks when I eventually add corals. I love the look of the Hygger and Nero 3 wavemakers, but I know DC pumps have reliability/longevity issues and would love to avoid that. OTOH the Koralia Nano is an AC pump that would probably last a lot longer, but it’s not very attractive 😣

 

the cycle is cycling. Per the free Salifert water test at the LFS (I’ll get Hanna checkers before I add anything besides macro):

 

Ammonia 0.15 ppm

nitrite 0.1 ppm

nitrate 2 ppm

phosphate 0.1 ppm

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natalia_la_loca

Aaand I got some macro. 

 

Gracilaria hayi, definitely the sexiest of the bunch

55A6A6F4-E5D4-4705-8F44-44198A889ABC.thumb.jpeg.9b5763235fb04e55e4c673d591843ef3.jpeg

 

Little frag of dragons tongue, halymenia dilatata

1E114832-40DA-4027-AAAB-7C3546E3F1B2.thumb.jpeg.82c24d7e2aed5b557a82df15f58718b7.jpeg


A branch of red ogo (gracilaria parvispora) that arrived in very very bad shape (eBay seller gave me a refund)...wondering if the red parts will pull through?

0C6CF972-F5EC-411B-BCA3-D07D88FD9811.thumb.jpeg.c3e729177b626b1472c257721fecd3cb.jpeg


And a little clump of chaeto (not pictured, y’all know what chaeto looks like). I’ll keep an eye on it in the display for now and if it doesn’t fall apart, I’ll set up a fuge in chamber 2.

 

Depending on how well they suck up the nutrients that are already in there, I’ll start adding nutrients to feed them this week. I’m not sure what’s a good way to feed macro with no inverts or fish in the tank yet. Thinking maybe a few drops of Phyto Feast every couple days?

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2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

The Evo evolves! This week I added the VCA random flow generator, an In-tank surface skimmer and an In-tank plug for that hole in the back wall. Also scored used In-tank media baskets on eBay for chambers 1 and 2.
 

The flow is a lot better with the VCA RFG, but still way less than what I’m used to with the reefbowls. I’ll see how it looks when I eventually add corals. I love the look of the Hygger and Nero 3 wavemakers, but I know DC pumps have reliability/longevity issues and would love to avoid that. OTOH the Koralia Nano is an AC pump that would probably last a lot longer, but it’s not very attractive 😣

 

the cycle is cycling. Per the free Salifert water test at the LFS (I’ll get Hanna checkers eventually):

 

Ammonia 0.15 ppm

nitrite 0.1 ppm

nitrate 2 ppm

phosphate 0.1 ppm

 

(yes it’s true I haven’t done water tests in years. Such is the reefbowl life)

You can just feed it fish food and let it naturally break down into nitrates or dose nitrate using an off the shelf brand like ChaetoGrow or DIY using Spectracide Stump Remover. 

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natalia_la_loca

Ah, I’ll look into those products! I’d love to avoid adding detritus-forming stuff like fish food before I actually have any fish...

 

...although maybe I should just stop delaying the inevitable and throw in some pellets 😅

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I have a ton of red ogo in my tank. I bought a tennis ball sized chunk, and I just traded in a softball sized chunk after only having it a month or so. I still have more than I started with! Haha your little fragments will probably bounce back. 

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3 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

The Evo evolves! This week I added the VCA random flow generator, an In-tank surface skimmer and an In-tank plug for that hole in the back wall. Also scored used In-tank media baskets on eBay for chambers 1 and 2.
 

The flow is a lot better with the VCA RFG, but still way less than what I’m used to with the reefbowls. I’ll see how it looks when I eventually add corals. I love the look of the Hygger and Nero 3 wavemakers, but I know DC pumps have reliability/longevity issues and would love to avoid that. OTOH the Koralia Nano is an AC pump that would probably last a lot longer, but it’s not very attractive 😣

 

the cycle is cycling. Per the free Salifert water test at the LFS (I’ll get Hanna checkers eventually):

 

Ammonia 0.15 ppm

nitrite 0.1 ppm

nitrate 2 ppm

phosphate 0.1 ppm

 

(yes it’s true I haven’t done water tests in years. Such is the reefbowl life)

The Koralia is very inconsistent and unreliable. I had 2 of them stop working in a 2 month span 

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natalia_la_loca
9 hours ago, TrashTank said:

I have a ton of red ogo in my tank. I bought a tennis ball sized chunk, and I just traded in a softball sized chunk after only having it a month or so. I still have more than I started with! Haha your little fragments will probably bounce back. 

Nice, I hope so!

 

8 hours ago, Frozen_Reef said:

The Koralia is very inconsistent and unreliable. I had 2 of them stop working in a 2 month span 

noted. I’m really interested in the Hygger, I love how small it is

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1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Nice, I hope so!

 

noted. I’m really interested in the Hygger, I love how small it is

I was too but I had an IM Wavelink sitting around so I am using that in my 13.5

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natalia_la_loca
17 minutes ago, Frozen_Reef said:

I was too but I had an IM Wavelink sitting around so I am using that in my 13.5

Ah that’s the first I’ve heard of that one, how do you like it? 

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50 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Ah that’s the first I’ve heard of that one, how do you like it? 

Its not bad, on the higher settings it can be kind of "whiney" when it pulses. Super simple control though, you select the mode you want, set the speed and just turn the dial for frequency

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natalia_la_loca

The cycle is just about complete, macro is growing, and there are lots of pods on the glass, so I added a nephthea from the sculpture bowl and a cheap zoa frag from the LFS!

 

9D69D2ED-A8A8-415B-96EC-AB79033402F5.thumb.jpeg.7f9f603b7f9af8a1a8bb55c71d2e0bc6.jpeg

 

212348E6-EDFF-4F86-84AF-21E591197934.thumb.jpeg.5751702ebd2e31ba06929846a1dddf5f.jpeg

 

Diatoms have been growing on the rocks, so I added a trochus and an astrea from the reefbowls. They’re eating them fast, so I’ll probably move one of them back to the bowl.

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20 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

The cycle is just about complete, macro is growing, and there are lots of pods on the glass, so I added a nephthea from the sculpture bowl and a cheap zoa frag from the LFS!

 

9D69D2ED-A8A8-415B-96EC-AB79033402F5.thumb.jpeg.7f9f603b7f9af8a1a8bb55c71d2e0bc6.jpeg

 

212348E6-EDFF-4F86-84AF-21E591197934.thumb.jpeg.5751702ebd2e31ba06929846a1dddf5f.jpeg

 

Diatoms have been growing on the rocks, so I added a trochus and an astrea from the reefbowls. They’re eating them fast, so I’ll probably move one of them back to the bowl.

Seems like our tanks are cycling at the same rate. My tank just finished cycling last night and have a diatom bloom that is growing by the minute 

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  • natalia_la_loca changed the title to Natalia’s Evo 13.5: alk spike aftermath

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