KCM's New EVO 5

[KCM]

Just getting into the Nano reef hobby with this first tank.  I have been keeping freshwater planted tanks for a long time and always wanted to try my hand at reef tanks.  The Tank is almost a week old and looking great.  I am starting this tank as  FOWLR but will maybe try a couple easy corals down the road.  I went with live sand and live rock from the newly reopened Tampa Bay Saltwater. I went with the "package" for a 5 gallon tank, but rather than get two different shipments a week or so apart, I got the whole shipment at once. This was in an effort to save substantially on freight costs.  I live in Washingotn State, so shipping wasn't cheap.  Everything looked really good and smelled fine when I opened everything up. Lots of cool hitchhikers so far. Some may become problematic if not dealt with. I have noticed a bit of aptasia but I think the blue legged hermits are eating them, and I plan on adding a peppermint shrimp or two when the tank stabalizes. I did loose all 4 snails, but all 4 hermits are still doing great. I have been testing daily and doing water changes when I notice the Ammonia starting to get a bit high, like around 1ppm.  So far the Ammonia has never gotten above 1, the Nitrite has stayed at 0 and just today the Nitrate when up to 10 from pretty much zero.  Seems a bit weird that the Nitrite has never changed, but the Nitrate is now going up.  However, one of the reasons I went with TBS live rock and live sand was because I read that it really shortens the cycling time of a new tank. I think I am also going to eventually replace with Hydor heater with something a little more accurate. The temp fluctuates several degrees between night and day.  Would love any feedback or thoughts.

 

Equipment:

Fluval EVO V. with bottom intake hole plugged.

Intank media basket 

stock pump (Have a Newa 606 coming this week)

Fluval Aquasky LED light

Hydor 50 w aquarium heater. 

 

Stock:

5lbs TBS live sand

10lbs TBS Live rock

4 blue legged hermits

4 Astrea Snails (they died)

Various hitchhikers.

 

 

[ReefTaco]

Ahh fellow Evo 5 owner. Nice start. Can't wait to see this tank progress.

[KCM]

More photos from today.

 

Today's readings. 

 

Ammonia - 0.25

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 30

Temp - 77.4

SG - 1.025

pH - 8.0. 

[chipz]

I'm so jealous of your TBS rock! I used it to set up a couple of my first tanks back in the early 2000s and I miss the adventure of new discoveries every time you look in the tank.

[KCM]

Here is a graph of the nitrogen cycle parameters over the past week.  A minor Ammonia spike a few days in, and now NO3 went up but appears to be going down now. Is it weird that I haven't seen any N02 at all? Could be just the live rock is going gang busters with beneficial bacteria and organisms right off the bat. 

 

 

[KCM]

Quick 2 week update. Tank is plugging along. Ammonia is dropping and nitrate is holding steady. Introduced 3 Astrea snails last Saturday and they are grooving.