Mixed Reef Fluval Evo 13.5 with Natural Sea Water

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jfoahs04

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That's Awesome! Do you run the water through a sock or sponge before adding it to the tank?
Thanks! All I do is run it through a sock right at the beach (pour from one bucket to another) to get the big stuff out (like any seaweed chunks, the occasional small fish or shrimp, etc.), heat it to temp, and then do the change. I like to get it in the tank within about 12 hours (24 max) too.
 
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Got a Bali Green Slimer frag from another local reefer. A classic, but I love the way they look.
DF5CB9B8-8C57-4E3E-A5AF-29D65CE998FD.jpeg

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and a current FTS:
7550C8AC-EFF0-44A8-A775-A245B902DC73.jpeg
 

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Couple Questions,
What are the natural seawater parameters and do you filter it at all?
And how did you get rid of the black rubber hex pattern on the rim of the tank that comes on the tank?

Looks fantastic!
 
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Couple Questions,
What are the natural seawater parameters and do you filter it at all?
And how did you get rid of the black rubber hex pattern on the rim of the tank that comes on the tank?

Looks fantastic!
The water consistently tests at:
Alk - 7 dkh
Calcium - 420
Salinity - 1.025
Magnesium - 1300ppm
Ammonia, po3, no3 all = 0

Thanks! It’s gone better than expected.
 
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I also use NSW, and everything looks great.
Although I don’t get it from the shore.
I actually have a small whaler I keep at a marina around the corner in the summer months but it’s a lot easier to get water off the rocks than take the boat out every week. So far so good, and I’m pretty careful about only collecting about an hour before high tide, not after a big rainfall, etc. I do think collecting offshore is the safest bet though.
 

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I actually have a small whaler I keep at a marina around the corner in the summer months but it’s a lot easier to get water off the rocks than take the boat out every week. So far so good, and I’m pretty careful about only collecting about an hour before high tide, not after a big rainfall, etc. I do think collecting offshore is the safest bet though.
Oh I also don't use a boat. I live near a marine biolab (Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience). They have a pipe that goes out pretty far into the ocean (a couple miles of pipe I think) and they allow the public to use their source.
They use it for all their inhabitants like sea turtles, dolphins, etc. I use it for my reef tank :)
And just like you it gives me a good reason to visit the beach and take a nice ride on A1A.
The NSW params here are almost identical to yours. Just salinity is usually 1.026.
I am in Florida.
 
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Oh I also don't use a boat. I live near a marine biolab (Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience). They have a pipe that goes out pretty far into the ocean (a couple miles of pipe I think) and they allow the public to use their source.
They use it for all their inhabitants like sea turtles, dolphins, etc. I use it for my reef tank :)
And just like you it gives me a good reason to visit the beach and take a nice ride on A1A.
The NSW params here are almost identical to yours. Just salinity is usually 1.026.
I am in Florida.
Ohhh gotcha. Yeah, that’s a convenient way to do it. The aquarium here does that too, but it would mean 5 gallon buckets on the subway and I’m not really open to that.


Just asking again, how did you get rid of the black rubber pattern on the rim of the tank?

Also, have you ICP tested your NSW?
Sorry! Meant to answer that. A couple of razor blades and some time. That’s it really.

I haven’t ICP tested my water. But I’ve been meaning to. I’ll do it over the next few weeks.

That is an excellent idea.I’ll get my NSW ICP tested. Would be cool to compare if @jfoahs04 is willing to do it as well.

You’re on! I’ve wanted to do it anyway.
 
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So my living room and kitchen get a ton of natural light which leads to algae on the glass. We went away for 4 days at Christmas and came back to this. Pics don’t do it justice, but it’s amazing how quickly the algae grows (I scrape every day). The side facing the windows has a LOT more growth.
9D114B87-62F0-4FB0-9AE2-626CA826A1C6.jpeg
 
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Well, a bit of bad news. I have ich in the tank.

One of the hardest decisions to make setting up this tiny reef was to forego the QT. I've never done that before, but there is quite literally no place for it in our condo which is why we have a 13.5g setup instead of something larger to begin with. I had hoped that by by being diligent dipping coral and buying fish from trusted sources that I'd reduce the risk. It didn't work.

Thankfully, I am working with a local reefer to treat my fish in his QT/HT. But that means at least 76 days fallow for my EVO. I guess I'll be working on my coral growth for the next several months.
 

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Well, a bit of bad news. I have ich in the tank.

One of the hardest decisions to make setting up this tiny reef was to forego the QT. I've never done that before, but there is quite literally no place for it in our condo which is why we have a 13.5g setup instead of something larger to begin with. I had hoped that by by being diligent dipping coral and buying fish from trusted sources that I'd reduce the risk. It didn't work.

Thankfully, I am working with a local reefer to treat my fish in his QT/HT. But that means at least 76 days fallow for my EVO. I guess I'll be working on my coral growth for the next several months.
Did you add anything recently? Do you know how it came about?
 
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Did you add anything recently? Do you know how it came about?

I'm about 99% sure it came in on coral. I snagged a few candy cane heads and a bali green slimer off of someone about 2 weeks ago. He's quarantined several fish with ich over the past week or so too. I dipped the coral, but without quarantining it, it's likely it came into my tank that way. My most recent fish addition was over 2 months ago, so I don't think it came in that way, but it's also possible I guess. I would just assume I'd have seen symptoms earlier.

Either way, without quarantining fish/coral, this is on me. After the fallow period, I'm going to have to come up with a better method. This is my first time attempting to get by without a QT and I don't like it. I might have to claim some closet space for a small 3-5 gallon QT setup.
 

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Well, a bit of bad news. I have ich in the tank.

One of the hardest decisions to make setting up this tiny reef was to forego the QT. I've never done that before, but there is quite literally no place for it in our condo which is why we have a 13.5g setup instead of something larger to begin with. I had hoped that by by being diligent dipping coral and buying fish from trusted sources that I'd reduce the risk. It didn't work.

Thankfully, I am working with a local reefer to treat my fish in his QT/HT. But that means at least 76 days fallow for my EVO. I guess I'll be working on my coral growth for the next several months.
Sorry to hear that but hope you get back to where you were! And now you get to concentrate on a different area of the hobby
 
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Sorry to hear that but hope you get back to where you were! And now you get to concentrate on a different area of the hobby
Thanks! Looking forward to getting though the fallow and having my fish back. They’re all in QT at the moment so the clock is running.
 
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So as my fish have been situated and my fallow period is about to begin, I treated myself to two new additions:

Red Planet Acro (a classic):
D791BCB5-13C6-4A5A-81E7-BDBEDD11C31F.jpeg


Wolverine Acro (this one is super furry):
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62167505-38F1-4010-896F-C84582FCBEBE.jpeg


The clock starts now…
 
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A (sad) update on the fallow/hospital tank process:

Scutts (“Scuttlebutt”), our tailspot blenny, did not make it through treatment. I received a text last night from my friend whose hospital tank I’m using that he didn’t come out of the PVC pipe at feeding time. This morning he texted to let me know that the fish looked moribund (pale, breathing heavy, glazed eyes, and not moving much). I went over this morning and made the decision to euthanize him.

This is tough on multiple levels. For starters, Scutts was our first and favorite fish in this tank. Second, it throws a bit of a wrench in our plans for bringing everyone back. The blenny was the first addition because it’s a shy/peaceful fish and we wanted it to establish its territory and get comfortable first. I’m going to get another when the tank has competed the fallow period (they’re my favorite fish) and I don’t want it to have to contend with the dottyback. As of right now, I think I’m going to let my friend keep the dottyback for his 90 after it finishes treatment/QT. The clown is fine and will be returning to my tank.

Finally, these are the moments that make you second guess decisions. I’m a big believer in treating ich rather than going “ich management.” And I still believe this is the right call for the long term. But stress quickly weakens fish immune systems and I think the stress of moving to the HT/QT may have contributed to the fish’s demise. If I went “ich management,” it might have survived (it was doing the best of the bunch in terms of symptoms). But, it also may not have survived, so I can’t be too hard on myself. It just sucks.

Anyway, the other two seem to be doing fine (no visible trophonts, eating, and behavior is good). But tonight I’ll be pouring one out for Scutts.

D4D2C370-06A3-4DBC-BF8C-51E63FE85147.jpeg
 
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This NSW thing is a lot easier in the warmer months. Collecting today, on the coldest day of the year (8 degrees Fahrenheit, “feels like” temp of negative 2) was a far cry from August, but I still like getting down to the beach.

8EFCBA2C-2486-4E79-B21F-419EBFBB351F.jpeg


And we’re now about a week into officially being fallow. I miss the fish, but the coral looks good so far:

B4700AF0-68FC-4CB1-AD6D-D85BC3663C6F.jpeg
 
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Well, there are always challenges in this hobby and I’m learning so much with this tiny tank - particularly about how quickly things can change (as compared to a larger tank).

Last week, I took advantage of the fallow period to move some rock work around. In doing so, I must have stirred some sandbed up and released phosphates. That and/or my dialed back ghost feedings (still have CUC, cleaner shrimp and coral to feed anyway) caused a big spike. I first noticed some of my LPS not fully extending (particularly the Duncan and my golden frammer). Then I noticed some STN on my purple tort. My Wolverine (which I loved) went RTN a day later. I tested phosphates and they were up to 0.28ppm. A rise from .03 just a few weeks ago. The big spike clearly took its toll. I fragged the tort and it appears to be OK for now (we will see), but the wolverine is gone. I added Chemi-Pure blue and have done some water changes and it’s down to .2. I'm trying to drop it slowly so as not to re-shock the whole system. So far the Wolverine is the only loss, but that’s a tough one to swallow.

On another note, I planned on tracking Green Slimer growth with side by sides each month. Here is January 16, 2022 vs December 16, 2021. Negligible growth (I had to remount due to it falling initially), but better polyp extension. Not unexpected for a single monthX hoping for more visible growth next month:
41EF2F04-7F61-4F8B-B65A-A36EC9E6D4F0.jpeg
 
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