reeferpercaso
New Member
After months and months of my Evo sitting empty, and me doing reserach, I finally started my build just before Christmas and I am so excited to share my journey with you guys.
Tank: Fluval Evo 13.5
Light: AI Prime
Pump: Sicce silent 1.0 (chamber 3)
Heater? (chamber 2)
Filtration: filter floss and media (chamber 1)
Substrate: Ocean Direct
I am going to add live rock rubble at the bottom of chamber 1 (will arrive in a couple weeks tops) and maybe a refugium with chaeto in chamber 2.
Current Livestock:
These all came from our established tank and were added on day 1
Biome Cycle
Before starting the tank in an unorthodox way, I did my research, and specifically based my choices on this article: How to Cycle a Reef Aquarium Right Away – With Corals First and the BRS series on the biome cycle.
My takeaway from these sources were:
I did not follow all the steps in the correct order as I started during the holidays and a few things took longer to arrive or are still in transit.
My timeline so far has been:
16/12
Added live sand and hand mixed water and started tank
17/12
Added livestock from established tank
21/12
Added zoa colonies and codium
22/12
Started noticing diatoms on sand, ordered pods (will arrive 6th of Jan)
24/12
First water test
28/12
First water change
30/12
Second water test
Next steps:
Adding pods and live rock rubble.
Wait and observe.
If/when green alge start to appear, add CUC.
I don't plan on adding fish until maybe Easter.
Current Parameters:
Livestock wishlist
CUC and Inverts
Full tank after 2nd water change, you can see the diatoms in the sand, rock and glass, but they are spreading very very slowly.
Two of the zoa colonies with the mushroom, who decided to wedge himself there.
The other 2 zoa colonies, sorry for the quality but the glass right here is quite dirty
The Kenia tree with the codium in the background, this side of the tank is exposed to direct sunlight from time to time so I expect most of the algae will grow on this side.
Tank: Fluval Evo 13.5
Light: AI Prime
Pump: Sicce silent 1.0 (chamber 3)
Heater? (chamber 2)
Filtration: filter floss and media (chamber 1)
Substrate: Ocean Direct
I am going to add live rock rubble at the bottom of chamber 1 (will arrive in a couple weeks tops) and maybe a refugium with chaeto in chamber 2.
Current Livestock:
These all came from our established tank and were added on day 1
- 1 green mushroom
- Kenya tree frag
- 2 head Pandora Zoa
- 2 asterina snails
- 1 bristleworm
- 1 brittle star fish
- 4 zoa colonies
- Codium macroalgae
Biome Cycle
Before starting the tank in an unorthodox way, I did my research, and specifically based my choices on this article: How to Cycle a Reef Aquarium Right Away – With Corals First and the BRS series on the biome cycle.
My takeaway from these sources were:
- Start with live sand and dry rock (to maximise seeding with beneficial bacteria avoidingthe introduction of pests and 'uglies')
- Use live rock rubble (dark cured if possible) in your sump/back chamber to increase seeding with non-photosynthetic, nitrifying bacteria
- Add corals on day 1 with macroalgae to compete with Photosynthetic algae (on the assumption that corals are not as affeted by ammonia as fish and inverts are)
- Add microcrustaceans (pods) as soon as possible to keep diatoms and other uglies at bay
- Then add CUC for the green algae
- Only add fish last, very slowly, once the tank is stable
I did not follow all the steps in the correct order as I started during the holidays and a few things took longer to arrive or are still in transit.
My timeline so far has been:
16/12
Added live sand and hand mixed water and started tank
17/12
Added livestock from established tank
21/12
Added zoa colonies and codium
22/12
Started noticing diatoms on sand, ordered pods (will arrive 6th of Jan)
24/12
First water test
28/12
First water change
30/12
Second water test
Next steps:
Adding pods and live rock rubble.
Wait and observe.
If/when green alge start to appear, add CUC.
I don't plan on adding fish until maybe Easter.
Current Parameters:
- PH: 7.8
- Ammonia: 0.15
- Nitrite: 0
- Nitrate: 5
- Calcium: 494
- dKH: 7.6
- Salinity: 1.025
Livestock wishlist
CUC and Inverts
- Astrea snails
- Trochus snail
- Cerith snail
- Nassarius snail
- Pistol shrimp
- Cleaner shrimp
- Sexy shrimp or anemone shrimp (once I have a rock flower nem)
- Shrimp goby
- Firefish (red or purple)
- Tailspot blenny
- Yellow-striped cardinalfish
- Toadstool
- Rodactis mushroom
- Discosoma mushroom
- Rocordea mushroom
- Clove or pulsing xenia
- Duncan
- Candy cane
- Blastomussa
- Torch
- Rock flower anemone
Full tank after 2nd water change, you can see the diatoms in the sand, rock and glass, but they are spreading very very slowly.
Two of the zoa colonies with the mushroom, who decided to wedge himself there.
The other 2 zoa colonies, sorry for the quality but the glass right here is quite dirty
The Kenia tree with the codium in the background, this side of the tank is exposed to direct sunlight from time to time so I expect most of the algae will grow on this side.
