2 Gallon Aqueon Evolve

[Reefer_Girl]

So I have decided to start my first pico reef, a 2 gallon aqueon evolve. I have not modified the tank as of yet, as I am currently running it with simply 1.024 salt water, a PH of 8.2 1.5 pounds of live rock and 3/4 inch of live sand.

 

I was lucky enough to make a small cavish/mountain rock scape, and around fourth of July will begin adding some inhabitants (I want the pods to be able to grow and cycle to fully complete, since the capacity of water is actually around 1.5 gallons I have a really low amount of room for error and have to do this right)

 

Here is a picture of the scaping and set up.

 

(Eventually this will be a sexy shrimp habitat)

 

 

For the clean up crew I plan on using the following to be my Pico Cleaning Team

 

5 (ultra tiny blue leg hermits) recently found a store that has them at sizes under 1/2 cm (shell size)

1 Nassarius (small one)

2 Nerite (small ones)

2 Cerith (again store has them at about 1cm size)

2 Astrea (store has them at 1cm sized shells)

 

And I already purchased about 20 super small shells to hide between the rear piece of liverock and the false wall, so no snails will become devoured

 

I just wish Mexican Turbo's were available in teeny sizes... They are my favorite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Enavas]

Looks like a good start.

[dtitus1]

Check out the evolve master thread under the All In One forum it will give you a lot of ideas. I'll add your build thread under the 2's cause you're like only the second person I've seen on here doing a 2.

[Reefer_Girl]

THANKS dtitus1 !!!!

[Reefer_Girl]

On a different note I cleaned my 29 gallon today and was non stop bit by my clownfish - she then earned a trip to the penalty box. (well until razor scraping, new chemipure was put in, and vacuum was done and water topped)

 

Meet Snowflake

 

[dtitus1]

MY CLOWN BITES ME ALL THE TIME TOO I HATE IT. I want to get rid of it but my girlfriend is trying to stop me but he may be disappearing when shes out with her mom real soon....

 

I guess they've never heard the axiom "Don't bite the hand that feeds".

[Reefer_Girl]

Seriously it feels like non stop rubber band flicks, I have to have a razor in one hand and net in the other to protect my hand (using the net shield) then I got angry and just scooped her into the penalty box... Silly fishy, I miss when I hand fed her Mysid, she's just way to aggressive now that she is huge (she's over 4 inches and FAT) But I love her

[Reefer_Girl]

First mods were made... I went to home depot and purchased 7/16 by 5/16 transparent vinyl tubing so I could elongate the water out flow from the pump to the display return. I placed the pump UNDER the silly plastic barrier divider under where the stock filter would be placed, and in the chamber where the pump is designed to go for say a freshwater tank I added 3/4 pound of golfball sized pieces uncured live rock topped with about half a cup of chaeto.

 

I also removed the water output diffuser in the display area

 

It appears at this time I do not need a heater, as when I run a 10 watt one, I get temps ranging from 86 to 89 and without a heater I have a steady 79 degrees.

 

I plan on purchasing a small bag of purigen to place behind the stock filter

[happyhour99]

try putting on a rubber glove. get one of those reusable nitrile coated fabric gloves with a sleeve from the hardware store. See if he can bite through that!

[Reefer_Girl]

This is how I adjusted the weird shaped chamber in the rear

 

[happyhour99]

i would replace the rubble with seachem matrix.- its less likely to get junk stuck to it, plus rubble is not very good with reducing nitrates. rubble is too small to hold non oxygenated areas.

[Reefer_Girl]

Really? I've done reef tanks for the past six years... My personal choice is rubble, Can you post up some pictures of your tanks that you are running the matrix in please.

 

Thanks

[happyhour99]

sorry my camera is out of order right now.

But i have an evolve 8. I did the filter mod for chamber 1 http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/325951-aqueon-evolve-master-thread/

But what i did for chamber one was put filter floss right under the filter opening, then add matrix under than and under the acrylic divider that i installed in filter 1. (total about 300 mL with of matrix, i still have room for a lot more). As far as i can tell from pictures, chamber 1 is the same width and height for all the evolve tanks but not depth, but i'm going on eyeballing the dimensions and could be really off. I'm planning to add some chato to the top of it later.

Chamber 2: only has a heater in it. I'm planning to add some purigen to the top of it later and maybe throw a bunch of matrix into that funky chamber ( that chamber is the only thing i hate about this tank)

 

 

I've never used rubble, but i've seen enough people report junk build up, and cleaning it would be a pain in that small space. its a choice. If you like go for it, i'm just giving you another option. I do like your setup a lot and am really impressed how you got that much filtration in that little space.

[Reefer_Girl]

Does it seem to flow thru well? I mean I have never had an issue with live rock... If the tank is maintained well and regularly, then nothing should build up that badly.

 

I mean the only "issue" I have is with my 29 - It looks like my fish barfed pepto bismol everywhere... HOLY PINKNESS (If only coralline were rainbow colored... heck I'd be in my glory

[happyhour99]

it flows nicely, i did make the small mistake of making the hole in the bottom of the divider a little too small, so there is a small drop (~1/4 inch not a big deal) in water level from chamber 1a to chamber 1b. But there is a much larger drop from chamber 1b to chamber 2 (1/2 to 3/4). I use the level in chamber 2 as a indication when i need to top off water. The matrix sizes range from tip of pinkie to thumb size. Denitrate would be smaller, and pond matrix would be bigger.

Wtih junk build up, if you clean regularly, then no problem, it just some people dont. and imo the smaller size of the back makes it a pain. I'm probably going to take my turkey bastor and blast it every now and again in chamber 1 and 2 but i'm still scratching my head how i'm going to get to the back of chamber 2 funky section.

 

I mean the only "issue" I have is with my 29 - It looks like my fish barfed pepto bismol everywhere... HOLY PINKNESS (If only coralline were rainbow colored... heck I'd be in my glory

lol, that really funny. at least it gives you a .... distinctive tank!

[Reefer_Girl]

So I picked up the CUC, HOLY COW... What a dope in the LFS another example why to never take advice from one, till you feel em out/test the waters you can say (NO this wasn't my regular fantastic shop it was the one closer to my job). I was told after "ordering" my creatures the following "Why so many snails and hermits do you have an algea problem?" I responded no they are my initial CUC. She replied "what's a clean up crew" I then briefly explained they cycling process and the different grazing preferences and very brief saltwater, she then asked me if I needed shells so the snails could also switch their "houses" as they grew = SMH

[Reefer_Girl]

So far my hikers consist of a few feather dusters, a small bristle worm, a LARGE peanut worm that enjoys spitting stuff out its hole, a small yellow polyp, and a black and white crab... Saw some pods tonight too when I shined a flashlight into the bottom corner, yet I know there are more somewhere in there... Also plumber putty'd the rock scape *just incase*

 

(The crab is gravid as well... TONS of eggs under her as well... yay tankmate food and maybe a baby or two)

[Reefer_Girl]

 

My 29 (mushrooms are growing out, I am hoping soon it will be multi colored mushroom filled) I like that idea, and it makes it easier since summertime I go away once every other week for my Jersey Shore visits

[Zia]

Looks great. Loving the look with black sand. Very cool clown, i just picked up a snowflake today

[Reefer_Girl]

Thank you ziareefer, that rock is actually one solid chunck with a swim thru hole, I lucked out, there is zero chance for collapse however due to the nooks and crannies I haven't seen my yellow pistol shrimp in months but still hear it popping daily

[Reefer_Girl]

So immediately after lights on I checked my levels (in the pico)

 

Ammonia 0.5 (ish)

Nitrates 0

Nitrites 0

PH 8.1

Salinity 1.024 (ish)

Temp 79 degrees

Calcium 520 (?)

 

Ladies and Gentlemen we are on our way, and due to it being a sexy tank, the LFS gave me a dried out dead Gorgonian (probably a failed blueberry) for decoration / extra "posing" areas for FREE

 

I also bought a vertical flow valve and Tom's aquatic aqua lifter pump to create an inexpensive ATO

[Reefer_Girl]

Found this lil guy moving gravel around and moving rock to rock it has white coloring and a black stripe down the center and brown claws when in actual water

 

 

And current FTS (full tank shot)

 

 

 

[Reefer_Girl]

i would replace the rubble with seachem matrix.- its less likely to get junk stuck to it, plus rubble is not very good with reducing nitrates. rubble is too small to hold non oxygenated areas.

 

If you actually read what I wrote instead of seeing what you want to see, you'd notice it is GOLFBALL sized pieces. Still waiting on your tank pictures, as I am having a hard time believing someone giving so much advise about a man made product that contains massive amounts of dust, and very small pieces yet can't post one picture. Cell phone, friend, many options for images.

[happyhour99]

I think you reread my 1st posts and thought they were newer than they were.

 

Rubble:

From what i see, LR generally has fairly large holes (.5mm and up depending on rock), that mean it get a lot of flow though it. In order to counter flow to produce anaerobic zones it need to be a large rock piece to slow flow down and have bacteria use up the oxygen. With normal live rock (~baseball size), it large enough and generally not directly in the path a huge flow that anaerobic zones can form. But with rubble, its small that it doesn't restrict flow nor allow enough time for anaerobic zones to form especially in high flow environments. (that's why imo use matrix, it has microscopic holes that greatly restrict flow so it can be used in a high flow environment and still have anaerobic areas). If your using rubble for ammonia and nitrite reduction then no problem, i'm just saying that i would use something that would help with ammonia nitrite and nitrate.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/rubble-rock-in-hob-147489.html

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46243&page=2

http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-52045.html

 

You can also see in later posts that i say its a choice. If you had good luck with rubble, keep it if you want.

I've never used rubble, but i've seen enough people report junk build up, and cleaning it would be a pain in that small space. its a choice. If you like go for it, i'm just giving you another option. I do like your setup a lot and am really impressed how you got that much filtration in that little space.

 

Camera: broken is broken is broken, which is not fixed. Wishing (and i do) that its fixed, doesn't work

sorry my camera is out of order right now.

 

as for dust, sand contains massive amounts of dust and we still put into our tanks. Wash it off. then put it into your tank. i didn't even bother to wash mine off, and there is no massive amount of dust in my tank. My sand creates more dust when i disturb my sand bed than my matrix could ever.

 

Junk buildup: you said you clean regularly so that why you didn't see buildup. some people don't and thus rubble becomes a trap. I like the KISS (Keep it simple stupid) method. If something could easily build up junk, and you have something that will not, I like to use the thing that will not. Less NEEDED maintenance=less things that can go wrong.

Wtih junk build up, if you clean regularly, then no problem, it just some people dont. and imo the smaller size of the back makes it a pain. I'm probably going to take my turkey bastor and blast it every now and again in chamber 1 and 2 but i'm still scratching my head how i'm going to get to the back of chamber 2 funky section.

Does it seem to flow thru well? I mean I have never had an issue with live rock... If the tank is maintained well and regularly, then nothing should build up that badly.

 

Your tank is looking great. I've been enjoying watching it come together. Keep it up! Are you planning on keeping the little crab in the tank? IMO it looks awesome.

edit: With no corals i like the crab in there, but if your going to have corals, its a good idea to remove

[dtitus1]

YOu took the crab out right?