ReefTaco Posted October 12, 2021 Share Posted October 12, 2021 Hello fellow reefers guess its about time i started a little journal of my little pico tank. quick history, been reefing for about 5 years with a 45 gallon then took a 3 year break from the hobby. some coworkers got into the hobby and found out i used to own a reef tank. they were able to convince me to get back in. so with limited space in my apartment and wanting something simple yet challenging i always wanted to take a crack at a nano/pico tank. after some research i found the fluval evo line. i wanted the 13.5 but didnt have a place that could support the weight so i settled with the evo 5. so here we go Equitment Tank: Fluval evo 5 gallon 20.5 x 11.6 x 7.5" Return pump: NEWA MN606 - 159gph Lighting: stock 11k LED with 12inch ebay blue led strip Filtration: intank media basket with Top. floss Middle. carbon. Bottom. MarinePure Bio gems Circulation: Sicce nano 1000 Temperature control: inkbird ITC 308A WIFI, and TP link kasa wifi outlets Heater: Aqueon preset 50 Watt heater Livestock: Fish Green Clown Goby Invertebrate Sexy shrimp X4 (X5 now) porcalien crab Scarlet hermits X 2 blue legged hermits X 2 nassarius snail X 3 Astrea Turbo snail X 3 Coral Red spotted Mushroom ,Discosoma Blue spotted Mushroom , Discosoma Neon Orange Mushroom, Discosoma Lava lamp mushroom, Discosoma Cheetah mushroom, Discosoma Neon Green Mushroom, Rhodactis Red mushroom, Rhodactis Forest Fire Mushroom, Rhodactis Green hairy mushroom, Rhodactis Neon Green Ricordea Green Ricordea Orange RIcordea Yuma orange Ricordea Blue Ricordea Serenity zoanthids Green star polyps Mystery chalice (ID unknown) Blue trumpet, Caulastrea curvata Lord Red & Blue Acan, Acanthastrea Duncan, Duncanopsammia Green singularia leather Rock Flower Anemone X 6 FTS 09/01/2021 CURRENT FTS 12/01/2021 3 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 im do a photo dump soon Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted October 12, 2021 Share Posted October 12, 2021 Welcome back. The tank looks great. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 Stubborn mushroom came off his plug First day with the CUC First corals after tank was cycled 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 ... First and only fish Green clown Goby aka Mr.popo The NEWA pump is a great improvement over stock Trying the power head location Installing the pump and gluing coral 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 ... Mr. Popo has made this hole his home Copepod polulation blew up a week after I added my first corals First situation with my reef He thinks he's funny More goodies. Reasons why I left the hobby. It hurts the wallet. Reasons why I came back it's cheaper then therapy 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 Problem solved 1 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 I finally found sexy shrimp in stock at my LFS Everyone is checking out their new digs All 4 doing the dance Checking out the stubborn mushroom container I love sexy shrimps 🤭 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 More goodies orange ricordea New acan red and blue Red spotted discosoma looking like a strawberry Duncan looks happy already Blue spotted discosoma is already splitting after a week lol 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 ...it all happened so fast... then there were three... I didn't think that sexy shrimp would be cannibalistic, strange cuz they had been well-fed. My guess is that my three females caught the male mid-molt. ( I should make a note that all these photos are happening within the span of a month; first 2 weeks were cycling, and last 2 weeks was purchasing corals and invertebrates) 2 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 I caught one of the sexy shrimps mid-molt. Neon green ricordia i got from a frag swap last weekend 10/09/2021 I got this cool green and orange rhodactis also from the same frag swap Another score from the frag swap. Beautiful RFA 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 Me and my SO were messing around with her DSLR camera. (Canon t7) We're still learning how to use the camera... 😅 1. 2. 3. 4. 1 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 this was the best picture we took, well really my SO took this one, so she gets the credit 😁 3 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Nice journal, and the tank is looking really good. All the pics are awesome, but that pic of the RFA with the porcelain crab is spectacular. 🤩 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 How did you get that flow director piece to stay in place and work? I couldn’t get it to fit properly in my tank and ended up using a surface skimmer instead. Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 21 minutes ago, banasophia said: How did you get that flow director piece to stay in place and work? I couldn’t get it to fit properly in my tank and ended up using a surface skimmer instead. My basket came with 2 different flow directors ones for the spec and ones for the Evo I believe. They both fit loose. I put the Evo one and wedged some zip ties in the back to put everything right up against the glass. it doesn't really work that well until you upgrade return cause there is not enough water rushing over into the floss but it works Also thanks for the kind words. Your Evo V is also an inspiration. Gives me hope for the stock light. 2 Quote Link to comment
less than bread Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Awesome rock flowers. Big fan of those. Really excited to follow this tank 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 8 hours ago, Instant_taco said: My basket came with 2 different flow directors ones for the spec and ones for the Evo I believe. They both fit loose. I put the Evo one and wedged some zip ties in the back to put everything right up against the glass. it doesn't really work that well until you upgrade return cause there is not enough water rushing over into the floss but it works Also thanks for the kind words. Your Evo V is also an inspiration. Gives me hope for the stock light. Ah thanks for the pics… great job figuring out how to make that piece work! The surface skimmer is working for me with the stock pump, but it I feel like it was sheer luck that I got it sorted out when I couldn’t make the flow director fit. Your tank looks so nice already, can’t wait to see what you come up with. I have a kessil but never felt the need to swap out the light… interested to see how the stock light does with the corals in your tank. Between your tank and @debbeach13 ‘s, I’m feeling inspired to add some mushrooms to mine. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 13, 2021 Author Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 hour ago, banasophia said: Ah thanks for the pics… great job figuring out how to make that piece work! The surface skimmer is working for me with the stock pump, but it I feel like it was sheer luck that I got it sorted out when I couldn’t make the flow director fit. Your tank looks so nice already, can’t wait to see what you come up with. I have a kessil but never felt the need to swap out the light… interested to see how the stock light does with the corals in your tank. Between your tank and @debbeach13 ‘s, I’m feeling inspired to add some mushrooms to mine. Mushrooms are great corals. they fill almost every box for me. Easy, colorful, can live in toilet bowl water, Multiply like crazy(money maker 🤑), Not aggressive. Now I'm looking for a easy softie or LPS that likes the stock light and high flow to fill the back (debating on switching out the koralia 425 to something smaller) Was thinking of a green sinularia or some GSP for a magnetic rock shelf I got. 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Instant_taco said: Mushrooms are great corals. they fill almost every box for me. Easy, colorful, can live in toilet bowl water, Multiply like crazy(money maker 🤑), Not aggressive. Now I'm looking for a easy softie or LPS that likes the stock light and high flow to fill the back (debating on switching out the koralia 425 to something smaller) Was thinking of a green sinularia or some GSP for a magnetic rock shelf I got. Mushrooms never seem to spread like that in any of my tanks… it’s a mystery! I like GSP Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 14, 2021 Author Share Posted October 14, 2021 Looks like I got some flatworms. Never had them before should I be worried More hitch hikers but I like this one. There is a little asterina starfish next to the blue mushroom Mushroom is almost done splitting and SURPRISE there is another one in the back of the shell that I didn't notice I'm pretty happy with my little reef being so full of life already. 2 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Wow, yes, lots going on! Not sure about the flatworms… 1 Quote Link to comment
hooligan_78 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Get rid of the flatworms as soon as you can. They will reach plague proportions very quickly and start bugging your corals. 2 Quote Link to comment
ReefTaco Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 22 hours ago, hooligan_78 said: Get rid of the flatworms as soon as you can. They will reach plague proportions very quickly and start bugging your corals. I was doing research. They seem to be acoel flatworms and are harmless unless they turn into a plague. They fiest on copepods which probably explains why I had a bloom and now they are mostly gone. I was also reading theyll die off with the copepods. And only get out of had when they have a massive bloom and start walking over coral and bothering them. I was looking at flatworm exit but idk about if it will affect my inhabitants and my tank is very young. I'll keep an eye on them for now. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Off to the races, Mushrooms making more mushrooms. Some flat worms are harmless but not all. The ones I had were not. Based on color and asking on here but when ever they were on the glass I always picked them off. The populations has died way back with out doing any thing else. and I very rarely see one. 1 Quote Link to comment
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