theradkid's Aqueon Evolve 8 build

[theradkid]

Hey Guys had this posted under all in one tanks, but i thought i would get more feedback under here...

First and foremost.
I had a salt water tank 6 years ago and due to me moving away for school, I had to leave the hobby behind. So after taking a long long break, I've decided to start back up. I will try to keep this thread updated as much as possible.

I purchased a Aqueon Evolve 8 for $70 from petsmart about a month ago and started my cycle process.

 

I recently tested my water and everything checked out. My tank is finally done cycling. I have been lurking on this forum for quite some time doing my research on how to make my tank better and I've been learning alot!

 

My plans for this tank includes a rich and colorful reef, with one fish. Since I haven't had a tank in a while please feel free to suggest on anything that i can improve on or any tips or tricks that you may have. It would greatly be appreciated.

 

Last but not least, I want to say that people on here have beautiful tanks that have truly been an inspiration! So let me get started!

 

Here is what i have in the tank so far:

 

 

1 1/2 in. carib sea live sand

7lbs of cured fiji live rock

 

 

Equipment:

Aqueon Evolve 8 gal

Stock Pump 98gps

Koralia Hydor 240 (since the stock pump isn't as strong)

Stock Lighting (for now until i get my Kessil a150w Ocean Blue this week)

Stock Filtration (Any suggestions on what I should do, to better my system?)

Aqueon 50w heater

Marina Floating thermometer

RO/DI water mixed with Instant Ocean Salt

 

 

CUC:

5 medium sized banded trochus snails

5 small scarlet hermits

 

 

THINKING ABOUT BUYING:

2-3 Zoas

1 Frogspawn

1 Clown

Soft Corals

SPS/LPS (maybe)

 

If i do decide to get corals which one's would be the best for my tank?

 

I'll be attaching two pics of my 1st and current aquascape. Please give me any tips/tricks/suggestions on how i could improve my tank.

 

 

1st Aquascape:

 

 

 

 

 

Current Aquascape:

 

 

Thanks for reading guys.

[theradkid]

After adding my CUC a week ago, I decided to test my water on Monday and my test results came out as:

 

ph 8.0

Ammonia 0 ppm

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 5 - 10ppm

 

Wasn't sure if having 5-10 nitrates was bad so decided to wait. It's sunday now and i just got done testing my water and the results are:

 

 

ph 8.0

Ammonia 0 ppm

Nitrite 0 ppm

Nitrate 5 - 10ppm

 

Is having nitrates this low good? If i decided to get zoanthids? Im thinking bout not having a fish and possibly just going with coral only... any suggestions on what i have to do to get my tank ready for soft corals? Not sure if i want to go with SPS or LPS...

[Wander]

Looking good. My evolve is still cycling. I am only about 1 week into setup. What made the decision for the Kessil over other lights?

[Nepenthes88]

I'd say that nitrates at 5-10 ppm is pretty dang good! Especially in smaller tanks that don't have a skimmer.

[theradkid]

@Wander - To be honest i was lookin at all kinds of lights such as the BoostLED par 38 with goose neck, AI Nano and some other brands out there. After reading about all of these different lights what caught my eyes was that the kessil isn't really bulky and looks pretty sleek on the Evolve, I also read that it's strong enough to keep corals. The BoostLED looked to big hovering over the Evolve and I read somewhere that AI nano would be an overkill for a 8 gal tank, so I decided to go with the kessil. I figured the price isnt that bad and you get what you pay for right? haha....

 

@Nepenthes88 Thanks for the re-assurance I thought i was freaking out for no reason.

[reeferman81]

First off glad you like your tank!!! I have the same tank myself and I'm currently using AI nano I get great spread from it and each edge of my aquarium gets great light plus with the controller you can program 14 different timers I use 7 myself plus thunderstorms and coral acclimation mode as well. Personally I think the Kessil will be more of a spot light due to the narrowness of the lenses. As for filtration I drilled about 15 1/4" in holes in the bottom of the 1st chamber and filled it with reef rubble got rid of stock filter cartridge and replaced it with filter floss I change every Friday, also took the stock pump out it's garbage and put in a maxijet 400 and a reef octopus NS80 in the 2nd chamber check out my build thread

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/316839-reefermans-evo-8/

[theradkid]

Hey reeferman i saw your tank in here and i must say your tank is pretty bad ass! To be honest I've been watching your posts...Do you think having a maxijet 400 and a koralia 240 would be toooo much flow?

[theradkid]

bump

[dtitus1]

Idk, personally I think so yeah. You'd probably be good just with the max-jet pointed towards the corner and downward. Maybe just the maxi-jet 600 would be good but IDK the measurements to see if it would fit. I personally wouldn't want the powerhead taking up the real estate.

[theradkid]

UPDATE! I noticed that my trate's was at about 20 so i bought some purigen from my LFS and used about 3 table spoon and my nitrates went down I waited about another week and decided to introduce a fish to my tank.

 

I was thinking about getting a yellow watchman goby to add do you guys think it's too much for the evolve 8?

 

I'm also going to wait about another month or two to start adding corals any suggestions on what i should get? I will also be purchasing my kessil for sure about a week from now, since ive been lagging on doing so.

 

 

 

my water parameter's are

 

Salinity - 1.024

Alk - 10.2

Cal - 450

Mag - 1260 ( a little low, but will be doing another water change in a couple of days, to try and fix)

Phosphate - .03

Nitrate - 10

 

Here are some pics of Gannicus, sorry if the quality is bad but i used my iphone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[happyhour99]

Hi looking great.

I’ve got the same tank than I’m currently cycling.

You probably could add more fish, but be really careful. You’re near the limit of that tank already. (Remember fish grow!) While you’re under the limit now, your fish may grow and reach a tipping point. You may want to consider adding some seachem matrix to the back. I’ve seen really good reviews about it and it supposed to support anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, so it will help with ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. (I have it in my tank but it’s too early to tell how well it works.

 

If you’re not keeping coral right now, you probably don’t need to test for the calcium or magnesium. That way you can save the tests for when you do get coral. Probably the same for phosphate, but it good to know so that you know if bacteria are about to get of hand.

 

Question: what did you keep the purigen in?, That stuff is really small, without a bag it’s going to be hard to remove for regeneration.

[happyhour99]

lol i meant to show some aquarium mods, and got sidetracked

 

anyways

I made some mods to my tank.

Pump: Remove the yellow knob on the pump to increase the flow. You can also remove the flow director (I didn’t), for more flow. I like these because they are non destructive, and can be reversed if you want

i also threw an old sock on the bottom of my sump to quiet my stupid pump.

 

Filter Mod: This improves the filtration and allows for a 3 chamber filtration. I like this one (haven’t done yet). Really inexpensive, requiring a $3 piece of acrylic and some filter floss.