The "it'll never last" non-reef, reef! Now Evo!

[Murphs_Reef]

13.5g Fluval Evo nano build. 

 

This one will be FOWLR to begin with (he says) upstairs in the hallway. NEVER LASTED!

 

Tank running in situ with fresh water no heater is 23°c.. leak testing. So have a very small preset heater (targeted at 3 gal size tanks) to supliment if needs be. 

 

Got to think about lighting and flow ..for now I'll use an AquaOne nano skim I have from my old nano for filtration and flow... Might even get away with that long term but will see when it's setup.

 

Added a nicrew light from the aborted fuge idea on the big tank. 

 

Now (from Dec 2021):  Fluval Evo stock light, Sicca 1.0 pump, InTank media baskets.

 

FISH

• 1 standard, 1 mocha Amphiprion Ocellaris
• Saffron goby

 

INVERTS

• Asterina star
• Hermits - Halloween, Zebra
• Cleaner Shrimp
• Porcelain Crab
• Snails - Nassarius, Bumble Bee, Cerith, Astrea, Rounded Turbo

 

CORAL

• Mushrooms (ultra green, blue, Yuma red)
• LPS - Duncan's, Acans Micromussa lordhowensis, Dragon Soul Favia, Goniopora, Red Center Alveopora
• Zoas - space invaders

 

[Murphs_Reef]

Will add the dry rock and had some other stuff in main tanks sump for a week to seed. Also have some pretty mature chunks of rubble in the sump at the moment which will go over to the nano as well. 

New dry sand will be seeded with half a cup of mature sand.

Not expecting much of a cycle if I'm honest due to the amount of established rubble and sand going into the the tank. 

 

There will be no animals in the tank however until I can see ammonia being managed. Will take the approach @Ratvan took with Mantis Manor and put some dead shrimp in to provide the ammonia... 

 

Once done and tested, pods will be added to the system to begin to build up microfauna. 

[Murphs_Reef]

Dry and live Rock / sand in, Water added, Dr Tims one and only added, Ammonia source in. (Just cause I never tried bac before)

 

The flow is pretty decent with the nano skim putting out at full... Surprised at that. But just in case I'll look for a small pump as well ........

 

Salinity: 1.026

Temp: 25°c 

 

😎

[Xj reefing]

Can’t wait until this thing gets some livestock

[ａｗａｋｅｄॢ]

Congratz~👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 finally U became a ‘nano’ reefer!?! 🐶

[Murphs_Reef]

Oh yeah nano reef is gonna be fun 😂🤣

 

Going to let this coast for a few days.. off to Scotland for a bit so will be good to test ammonia on Saturday. 

 

The underrated heater is working fine. Constant 25.5°c and its not on as much as I thought it might be. No lights yet but will sort something soon. 

 

Pictures soon as well 😃

[Murphs_Reef]

Not much to update on this other than its not my tank anymore. It's been liberated by my daughter so has selected an amount of hideous tank ornaments for it. 😂

Ditched the Dr tims, rubbish.... So just waited it out as normal.

The tank is cycled now so will select a bunch of inverts and clowns in the next week or two. Snails, stars, worms and crabs other critters will come from my reefspace as and when they are required. 

For now pods has been added..

[Xj reefing]

Good luck with not taking out the ornaments 

[debbeach13]

5 hours ago, Murphych said:

It's been liberated by my daughter so has selected an amount of hideous tank ornaments for it. 😂

 

Looking forward to seeing pictures. 

[Murphs_Reef]

THIS HAPPENED 😭

 

[ａｗａｋｅｄॢ]

she has much more tasteful taste than U!?!? 🐶

[Murphs_Reef]

Lots of good learning here and as it turns out a great way to spend time together learning. Yesterday we spoke about the difference between tap water RODI and salt water, the various elements that make salt water habitable for coral and fish, and spent a lot of time researching, was pretty fun. Ok so the tank isn't what I was planning into be as a secondary project... This is better! 

[Xj reefing]

The tank may not look the best but atleast it’s turned into a great learning experience 

[Murphs_Reef]

Here we go now start the stocking of the wee tank 

Get the CUC in early doors then next week a couple of misbar clowns 👍🏼

 

Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) 

Halloween Hermit Crab (Ciliopagurus strigatus) 

Live Copepod Pouches 100ml 

Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.)

Bumble Bee Snail (Engina sp.)

[Murphs_Reef]

All sorted now 

Stars added 

 

Cleaner shrimp 

[filefishfinatic]

On 7/31/2021 at 6:02 AM, Murphych said:

8g nano build. 

 

This one will be FOWLR to begin with (he says) upstairs in the hallway.

 

Tank running in situ with fresh water no heater is 23°c.. leak testing. So have a very small preset heater (targeted at 3 gal size tanks) to supliment if needs be. 

 

Got to think about lighting and flow ..for now I'll use an AquaOne nano skim I have from my old nano for filtration and flow... Might even get away with that long term but will see when it's setup.

 

Stocking..

• 2 clowns (yeah tank size is on the low end, as they get bigger they will go in the 90g) - yet to add
• Asterina star
• Hermits - Halloween, Zebra
• Cleaner Shrimp
• Snails - Nassarius, Bumble Bee (algae eaters in a couple of weeks will come from the 90 gallon)

 

dont worry about fowlr. ik zebra snail can possibly eat zoas. get some gsp it will thrive in a fowlr. if you want a good motivation, get rid of your fake decor as it can harm your sealife possibly and just have a bare tank and it will motivate you to improve your tan. 

 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

29 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

dont worry about fowlr. ik zebra snail can possibly eat zoas. get some gsp it will thrive in a fowlr. if you want a good motivation, get rid of your fake decor as it can harm your sealife possibly and just have a bare tank and it will motivate you to improve your tan. 

 

 

I'm ok with the decor. It's for my daughter. The good stuff happens in my reefspace 👍🏼

 

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/418257-reefspace-90g-mixed-reef-toying-with-sps/

[Murphs_Reef]

2 of the smallest clowns I have seen for ages..a misbar and a common Ocellaris

 

Also as it was dry rock, I picked up a chunk of cheato from the LFS, rinsed it in tank water. Really good way to seed rock with critters of you haven't tried it before... I do it quite often to keep my larger tank stocked with critters, and keeps the wrasses happy. 

 

Brittle stars, bristle worms, a variety or baby snails, a few more Asterina stars dropped out and some amphipods, copipods. I just toss the cheato out when it's been cleared of animals.. it cost £2 a fist full.. 

[banasophia]

On 8/16/2021 at 12:50 PM, Murphych said:

THIS HAPPENED 😭

 

I totally love it - great teamwork! How old is your daughter? Such a great way to get her interested in the hobby. 

[Murphs_Reef]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

I totally love it - great teamwork! How old is your daughter? Such a great way to get her interested in the hobby. 

Thanks she's 11. 

[Kindanewtothis]

1 hour ago, Murphych said:

Thanks she's 11. 

This is great!

 

Some people think that I have fish tanks for my kids but they don't really care. They're too young (3 & 5) so all they do for now is giving names to the fishs.

[Murphs_Reef]

4 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

This is great!

 

Some people think that I have fish tanks for my kids but they don't really care. They're too young (3 & 5) so all they do for now is giving names to the fishs.

She always liked to help me with mine. And is getting to understand the various tasks I do and why they need to be done. So we will see how the interest goes. If it stops then I have new fish for my tank 😅

[Murphs_Reef]

This mini tank has been crusing along. Got a few mushrooms that went walkabout in the reefspace in here now. 

Generally is a cool little tank, we are experimenting with it giving it absolutely no water change and no testing. It's had the initial change to bring nitrate down but other than that it's just RO top offs. Started using very low volume of quantum phosphate and nitrates remover, but guess what no testing so only assuming nitrates and phosphate is sky high as the tank gets FED!!

 

I'll have to get some pictures but, coralline is taking off well already and begining to spot up On the equipment and rock (I seeded a lot from the reefspace), GHA is going mad but cyano is smothering it out now, fish and inverts are great. 

 

 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

New just in Porcelain Crab, I wanted one for the reefspace but there was only one left so the daughter got it 😱

 

 The male clown 

[Murphs_Reef]

Ok need to sort this mess out. 10 more snails added, 5 Astrea, 3 Rounded Turbo and 2 Cerith . so we have 22 now.. done some GHA picking to shorten the length. 

Give it a week and I'll move the bigger Astrea over to my tank... They are far too big for this small 8g