Necepticon's Fluval 13.5 Gallon Reef

[necepticon]

Hi, I thought I would start logging my experience through this. I'll try not to ramble on. 

 

I've only done freshwater tanks in the past, I've had 5,10, and 20 gallon tanks. I had a Betta in one, a Pea Puffer in another, and a mixed community tank (mainly Mollies), and even though that tank went through several generations of fish that were born and died in that tank, I still consider myself a beginner. It felt super rewarding having fish breed and then having those fish grow up and breed and so on. Then it all went downhill. Betta died (natural causes, she was 4 years old),  Pea Puffer got sick and no manner of treatment helped him and he passed (he was 2 years old). And to top it off 2 months later, the new HOB filter I purchased for my remaining tank caught fire when no one was home and almost burnt my house down. I was unable to save the community and I called it quits and got rid of all aquarium stuff. It's been 4 years since then.

 

Fast forward to May 2023, I bought a small fountain for my desk and something bit me. I think the sound of water splashing gave me fond memories of past tanks and the urge to try a saltwater tank. I've always wanted to have a clownfish in a tank, and I thought that If i'm going to try again then why not try for a clown. Imagine my surprise when I find out that it's one of the easiest of the saltwater fish to take care of. I want to correct any mistakes I've made in the past with previous tanks and really nail this tank from the get go. 

 

Item list so far:

TANK

Fluval Sea Evo 13.5 Gallon 

 

SALT

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Sea Salt

 

LIGHTS

Stock Fluval Evo lights

 

FILTER/CIRCULATION

Stock Fluval sponge block and biofilfter and carbon bag

Stock Fluval Evo pump

 

SAND/ROCK

10lbs of Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Sand

11lbs of Dry Marco Rock for the aqua scape

 

TESTING

Coralife digital thermometer

Seachem Ammonia Alert 

Salifert tests (pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates) - I know I need more tests but I'm not sure which ones, and I'm debating going for the Hanna checkers or just get the Salifert. But again I'm not sure which tests I will be doing all the time.

Coralife Deep-Six hydrometer

 

ACCESSORIES

Nano Flipper Float

Seachem Prime

MicroBacter StartXLM

Seachem Reef Glue

Gravel Vacuum

 

STILL NEEDED

Wifi Power strip

Fluval Sea Evo 5 Gallon - I think this is my best bet for a QT setup. All the fish I'm planning on adding are all small, The stock light will be good enough for a coral QT when I get to that point, and maybe one day I setup that tank with something in it.

AI Nero 3

LED light dimmer/timer

Hanna salinity/temp tester

Protein Skimmer - I kind of want to get the stock one and be done with it, but I'm looking at the Bubble Magus Mini Q/Icecap K1 Nano. and then I would modify the lid or buy a 3d printed one.

Tunze Osmolator 3152

Seneye Reef Monitor

RO/DI system

Eheim 1000 pump

 

STOCKING PLAN

1 x Clownfish ( I plan on keeping a single one because I really dont want to have them breeding, and from what I read once they start you can't really stop them)

1 x Yellow Clown Goby

1 x Helfrichi Firefish

1 or 2 Sexy Shrimp

 

CUC

1 x Turbo Snail (more if needed)

2 x Cerith Snails (more if needed)

 

**CUC maybe**

1 x Fighting Conch (Not entirely sure about this one because of the size. My LFS says the ones they get grow up to 2"  so I would think It would work. I like them tho so I'm looking into them. (My LFS link for reference: https://www.jlaquatics.com/fighting-conch-small.html ) and I think feeding algae wafer to them would be ok as long as I can keep the water ok)

1 x Tuxedo Urchin (Also not sure because of size, I could go either way with this one honestly)

 

My big thing with the CUC is that they don't breed, I've had snail explosions with freshwater tanks in the past and it was a pain.

 

Tank was started on May 13 and the cycle started on the 15th

I did a fishless cycle where I ghost fed marine pellets and dosed with the MicroBacter Start XLM 

Ammonia spiked on May 19/20 and came down to 0 on the 26

Nitrites spiked on May 27/28 and as of today they are at 0.5 

Nitrates went to 100+ on May 24 and as of today they're down to 50

Salinity has been 1.025 the entire time

pH has been stable at 8.0

 

I haven't changed the water yet, but in a day or so when the Nitrites are at 0, I plan on changing 50 or 60 % of the water.

 

THINGS I'VE LEARNT SO FAR

 - I gotta do my research, I've learned a couple of things the hard way. I thought I had found a good price for the tank at the closest LFS, and combined with my excitement, they charged me $100 more than my new LFS. The first LFS ended up giving me some bad advice and I got started a little bit backwards and have had some difficulties because of it. For example they said that you can keep a pair of clowns in a 2.5 gallon tank, said that with enough water changes and attention to the fish that it's possible. Possible? I don't know, unethical? yea, I think so. And to tell that to a newbie? probably a bad idea. New LFS is more about saltwater, nicer store, everything is cleaner and the staff are much friendlier. Their advice is on point and they have a very impressive store, I will be more than happy supporting this new store.

 - Aquascaping is hard, and it's harder to do it underwater. Took some bad advice and filled the tank with water immediately to get the salt water mixed up in the tank itself before I even had the rock to scape with. But with resources like this site I was able to learn and ended up tinkering with it while it's cycling, and got it to a point where I'm really happy with it. I tried to account for flow, hiding places, overhangs, and potential spots for the corals to be placed with room for future growth.

-I'm in trouble. I'm a tech junkie and my wife says I'm happiest when I'm researching things. I have been endlessly watching youtube videos and researching all the fish and cuc. I feel like my bank account will be emptying into this hobby fast. I feel like I will be upgrading a lot of this tank.

 

 

Nest Step? I think that the cycle is almost done. so in the next day or two, big water change, and then going to buy the Clownfish!

[natalia_la_loca]

welcome and congrats on getting into saltwater! I love my Evo. I’d make absolutely sure your cycle is complete before adding any fish. No need to hurry! (sometimes I have to remind myself that lol)

 

Fwiw snails are unlikely to reach plague proportions in a nano reef tank. 

[necepticon]

Exciting times! I tested today and Nitrites are down to 0. 

 

I'm going to do a 50% water change with saltwater I bought at the LFS last week and then I'm off to the LFS to get my clownfish. I'm super excited 😄

[necepticon]

So for good measure I tested my Parameters after the water change and my salinity is at 1.028. Boooo. So I'm off to the my LFS, going to buy the Hanna salinity/temp checker (since I can't trust the hydrometer I'm using), and 5 gallons of freshwater that I was going to buy for topping off anyway. Only that I'll be using some of it to lower my salinity.

 

I thought about getting the clownfish at the same time but I will get the salinity under check first and then tomorrow I'll head out to the LFS and bring home the clown. If nothing else simply just to practice my patience with the hobby.

[necepticon]

I'm glad I got the Hanna salinity/temp checker. Turns out my Salinity was actually 1.023. I used two of the calibration fluid packs and calibrated the unit twice just to be sure. And my digital thermometer was bonkers as well, it was reading 77.9 F but the Hanna had it at 78.8F. I don't know if its a big deal or not. 

 

So I got the salinity and the temp under control overnight and tested all my parameters again the next day. Everything checked out so I went to my LFS and got my first clownfish! I peeked yesterday when I came to get the water and tester, and I spotted the one I wanted. I spent a while watching him to make sure he wasn't already sick.

 

His name is Kevin, named after the big blue bird in "Up"

 

He is doing well so far I think. He found a spot in the corner where he swam in the flow, and today I think he felt more confident today as he was exploring more and spent some time chilling in the cave. It was rewarding seeing him use the aquascape kinda like I had envisioned and tried to plan. 

He's eating well and I've kept the lights off so far, not sure when I'll turn them on. But for now I'll be testing every day for a couple weeks and do 10% water changes weekly.

[Woodini]

Kevin 🤙🏾 

a true hippy @ReefGoat 👍🏿 

[JamesQ]

Good start! 

[necepticon]

Week 1 is in the books.

So far so good. I've been testing every day and the water parameters has been super consistent. None of the parameters have gone up or down, just stable, which I'm taking as a good sign (although I know it's still early). The main thing I've been fighting with is the temperature. I've started turning the lights on for brief periods of time (2-4hours) and the stock light is heating the water a little bit. Also I'm using the Fluval M50 heater and the little dial on top is impossible to adjust properly. My plan is to get the inkbird heater controller and hopefully that will help keep the temp more consistent. 

 

Kevin the clown has been doing well, eats well and swims around checking things out. I find it interesting how his behavior changes with the light that is on.

With ambient room lighting he just chills out swimming around  checking things out all over the tank and he looks relaxed, and he'll just hang out in front of the cave. I really like this because he's front and center for optimal viewing.

When the tank lights are on he's more alert, swims a bit with more purpose, and he hangs out by the overflow and he looks downward a bit, like he's trying to sit on the back wall and he'll occasionally swim in the front.

When the lights go out, he goes to the "bed" he's created. He chose a corner of the tank and has moved a fair amount of the sand out to create a crater and he'll head there and sleep through the night.

 

I went out today and got a quarantine tank. I decided to go with the Fluval Sea Evo 5 Gallon. I like that it's the smaller version of the display tank, and for the livestock that I'm planning to add to the display tank I think the size will be fine since I plan on going slow and one fish at a time. Plus when I start adding corals, the stock light should be good enough for the corals while they are in QT I know I don't have a lot of space between the two tanks but I am going to take steps to avoid cross-contamination. I have limited space and I figured any QT is better than no QT. By my math I have to get this QT up and going right away so I can QT the inverts that I'm planning on adding next. I'm hoping that by keeping the lights off mostly, I'll be able to add the inverts before the tank explodes in algae.

 

Once I had everything in place I mounted the power bar to a board for now to raise it and create a permanent drip loop. I then did a bit of cable management to make things neat. I'm really liking how my little slice of reef is coming along.

[natalia_la_loca]

Looking good!! Definitely get a temp controller, will make life easier. I’d stick with ambient light until you get coral, will help prevent nuisance algae from taking hold. 

[kssquared]

Hi

 

I am enjoying following your journey. I am looking to get one of these tanks for my bedroom. In your very first post you included a video which had some background noise. Is that the noise of the tank ?  I am a little concerned about the noise in the bedroom ?

[necepticon]

On 7/2/2023 at 3:48 PM, kssquared said:

Hi

 

I am enjoying following your journey. I am looking to get one of these tanks for my bedroom. In your very first post you included a video which had some background noise. Is that the noise of the tank ?  I am a little concerned about the noise in the bedroom ?

I  think the noise you're referring to is the highway noise ( I live just by the highway and with the A/C unit in the window, you can constantly hear it. The tank itself I don't find makes any noticeable noise.

[necepticon]

Time for an update!

Seven weeks down and we're still going strong. Kevin the clown is a happy little clownfish. He has explored the aquascape and he found a different cave area that he has claimed as his own. He has actually moved a lot of the sand out of there and expanded the space. 

 

There have been a few scares with Kevin. He had some white spots show up, and after some research and talking to my LFS experts, it was nothing to worry about. He kept eating well and never tried rubbing up on anything, but I was worried until it cleared up and went away. I'm calling it teenager pimples. And there was a couple instances where he freaked out during feeding time and it turns out I gave him brainfreeze. I now thaw his food before feeding it to him.

Otherwise the tank has been doing well, I have been consistently doing weekly water changes of 10%, cleaning the sand with a siphon as I go. The temperature controller is great (Inkbird ITC-306A). I no longer worry about the temperature of the tank, and it's super easy to see if there is a problem. 

 

The QT tank finished the cycle and I have added the alpha team of the CUC for the DT.

- 1 Tuxedo Urchin

- 4 Nassarius Snails - One of the snails didn't make it through the acclimation process but that was my fault. When it came time for the transfer, I think I pulled the little snail too hard instead of nudging him loose. 

 

The QT has been cloudy since I added the livestock. I have been testing the water and there have been small swings (I assume due to the small size of the tank) but for the most part the water has been good. I added more carbon to see if that would clear up the water but no. I was worried about the O2 and a bacterial bloom so I added an airstone. I have no way of testing O2 but I figure it can't hurt. I increased water changes and that seems to help slightly. The only concern I have is that the snails are almost always near the surface. I feed them daily and the water parameters are in check, not sure what else I can do to help them but they are still kicking so I hope they make it through QT to the DT.

 

I have also picked up a few things

- RO/DI filter - This makes me feel better that I can take care of the tank without relying on getting water from my LFS

- Hanna Checkers - Alkalinity, Ammonia, Nitrates  -  These checkers are the best. I plan on getting the rest of them as I run out on my Salifert tests.

- Acrylic rods to move things around in the tank without getting my hands wet

 

I also cleaned up some of the rats nest of wires I had. I built this board to mount things onto, it has a stand and space behind the board for all the cables to be neat and tidy. I plan on getting light controllers and another inkbird temp controller for the QT tank. I left lots of room to I can mount more onto this board but I also made the stand in a way where I can swap out the front board with something bigger if I need to. I know it's dumb but I'm really proud of how it turned out.

 

I'm loving this hobby, and I am looking forward to when I start adding corals. Here's some current pictures of my tank and control board.