Fluval evo 13.5

[kingjames_dc5]

This tank is my first ever saltwater tank. I got the tank last year and set it up In January had cycled in February using Dr Tim’s and had first fish couple weeks later tank is currently almost 5 months old. Have learned everything from all my fellow reefers here. Very thankful to be a part of such great community. I hope this thread will help others on there journeys. I am still always willing learn something my self. So please feel free to give me your opinion.


Tank is fluval evo 13.5

Live Stock
-2 ocellaris clowns
-1 blue legged hermit crabs
-3 nassarius snails
-3 asters snails
-2 spiny star astraea
-1 strawberry conch
-1 Bubble tip anemone

Equipment
-AI-prime16hd
-Stock pump w/ one vca rfg
-Fluval protein skimmer
-intank media basket in chamber2 w/ filter floss carbon and biomax in that order.
-Fluval m50 heater with inkbird heating and cooling temp control. Standard fan hooked to cooling
-Hygger mini wave maker on random mode
-Autoaqua smart Ato lite w/ 5 gallon res for
Ro water.
-Caribsea arag alive sand 20 Ibs
-Marco dry rock about 10 lbs
-One full bottle of coriline algae in a bottle ‍

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Current parameters. I am battling on keeping dkh at a reasonable level have been up to 11 last few weeks currently doing 10-15% weekly. Before batting dkh I was doing 20% once a month.

 

[ninjamyst]

highly recommend upgrading the stock light. it makes coral look like crap. since you already have nicrew timer, try their 30w light on amazon for $65.

 

[kingjames_dc5]

highly recommend upgrading the stock light. it makes coral look like crap. since you already have nicrew timer, try their 30w light on amazon for $65.

Definitely will check it out I’ve seen they had lights but not much ratings on them that I can find. I’ve had my eye on the fluval marine 3.0 light seeing good reviews for that one. Plus can keep the stock lid down side much higher in price tag though. So I will definitely take another look.

 

[Mulkxican]

highly recommend upgrading the stock light. it makes coral look like crap. since you already have nicrew timer, try their 30w light on amazon for $65.

I'm new to reefing but i got a AquaKnight off amazon and heard good things about the Nicrew lights too! i use nicrew lamps on my freshwater cichlid 90 gal tanks too. although different haven't had any issues with the brand ever. Eventually i plan on an AI Prime light or Kessil

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Hey beautiful tank and nice setup. Just got my new evo up and currently cycling. I’m curious which hygger wave maker do you have? Is it the 1600?

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Thank you! Congratulations on your new tank good choice. Yeah it’s the 1600. For having a super small footprint it’s got some power. No issues what so ever and very user friendly easy to program to your preference. Love that It does dawn, sunrise, daylight, sunset and night time. I run mine on random and it changes power threw out the day.

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Awesome. I think my mind is made up. Appreciate your input. Wish you continued success with the tank.

 

[zachSalty]

Current parameters. I am battling on keeping dkh at a reasonable level have been up to 11 last few weeks currently doing 10-15% weekly. Before batting dkh I was doing 20% once a month.

What type of machine is this that sends this to your phone? I want one!

 

[kingjames_dc5]

What type of machine is this that sends this to your phone? I want one!

It’s just an app (AquaticLog) I use to track my parameters. I use a mixture of Hanna and salifert test.

 

[Terry_7]

Hey beautiful tank and nice setup. Just got my new evo up and currently cycling. I’m curious which hygger wave maker do you have? Is it the 1600?

I have a hygger wave maker, but it's the 2600 from https://www.hygger-online.com/product/wave-maker-pump/

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Update. So I am finally upgrading light to ai prime hd. I recently moved my rock work around in preparation for the new light creating more spots to put corals. I have also moved my wave makes to the opposite side of the return to have the 2 collide in the middle for more random flow. Also going to be purchasing a kraken reef top. Super excited for the new challenges to come. My favorite part of this hobby is the constant research and changes keeping me on my toes. Now matter how much you think you know we can always learn something new. I’m no expert by any means… so I relay on brs, tidal gardens, coral lab, fragbox and this site of course for all my learning experiences. Lmk what you guys think.

 

[DirkCourage]

Update. So I am finally upgrading light to ai prime hd. I recently moved my rock work around in preparation for the new light creating more spots to put corals. I have also moved my wave makes to the opposite side of the return to have the 2 collide in the middle for more random flow. Also going to be purchasing a kraken reef top. Super excited for the new challenges to come. My favorite part of this hobby is the constant research and changes keeping me on my toes. Now matter how much you think you know we can always learn something new. I’m no expert by any means… so I relay on brs, tidal gardens, coral lab, fragbox and this site of course for all my learning experiences. Lmk what you guys think.

It looks very nice. I think you’ve done well with rearranging the scape. I’ve found most corals in a mixed reef enjoy roughly the same “mid-range” PAR, so you’ve really maximized the real estate and kept a nice, natural look. You’re going to love that Ai Prime btw!

 

[kingjames_dc5]

It looks very nice. I think you’ve done well with rearranging the scape. I’ve found most corals in a mixed reef enjoy roughly the same “mid-range” PAR, so you’ve really maximized the real estate and kept a nice, natural look. You’re going to love that Ai Prime btw!

Thanks. I feel like I need a higher spot in the tank though. I really wanna try birdsnest for
My first steal attempt at sps. Still a little intimidated by sps. I took a look at your build. Loving the scape work you’ve done very nice range. I see you have a few different sps in your tank. Do you mind me asking how they’re doing? What light setting are you running? I’ve been looking into the brs recommended setting for the custom ab+. Coral lad has a Spectrum settings for lps tanks. I would really like to have a mixed reef.

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Excellent job KingJames. Looking great. I’m a little behind you. Started cycling my Evo in late June. Eventually looking to go with HD prime. Seems to be the preferred route for Nanos. Have you made any filtration upgrades? How do you like the Fluval skimmer? I’ve been dealing with diatoms and a manageable amount of Cyano. Thinking of getting either a skimmer or UV next. But will probably need to get the intank chamber 2 basket (currently running the chamber 1 basket.

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Thank you! Prime hd Definitely it the preferred way to go for Nanos and starting to be for larger tanks as well when place correctly. After watching a bunch of videos from brs on the light I finally pulled the trigger. I absolutely love the skimmer. It takes awhile to build up a good slime algae in it I order for it to work properly. And I know this from experience I made the mistake of cleaning at the six month mark before vacation and took me another month and a half to get the slime built back up in it. Once dialed in key factor is maintaining a consistent water level. Works like a charm. I do have the intank media basket in chamber 2. With skimmer in one. But I have seen people run the skimmer in chamber 2 just fine. Do you have an upgraded pump or wave maker for circulation. From what I understand cyano doesn’t like a lot flow. I found that conch is the way to go to keep that substrate looking pristine.

 

[DirkCourage]

Thanks. I feel like I need a higher spot in the tank though. I really wanna try birdsnest for
My first steal attempt at sps. Still a little intimidated by sps. I took a look at your build. Loving the scape work you’ve done very nice range. I see you have a few different sps in your tank. Do you mind me asking how they’re doing? What light setting are you running? I’ve been looking into the brs recommended setting for the custom ab+. Coral lad has a Spectrum settings for lps tanks. I would really like to have a mixed reef.

When people talk SPS difficulty, I think it speaks mostly to acropora. Acropora are the ones susceptible to RTN and such, where the built-in instability of nanos up the difficulty to the extreme. On the other end, I think most montipora are pretty adaptable/resilient. My pocillopora… I moved that thing several times, it was savaged by a crab… it now sits atop the scape in glory, spreading bits of itself all over. This is an “SPS.” Same with the monti setosa, moved several times and has grown steadily. Lighting has pretty much been BRS settings (Ai Prime16) with less white for around 8hrs. Stability, imho is key here too. The sunset monti has bounced back by keeping my dkH around 8-8.3.

I appreciate your comments on my scape! I do still like how dynamic it is, but I am definitely struggling with the fact that I have corals I love up high shading and hurting corals I love down below. That sandbed space you have is just as valuable as the rock work. Just food for thought as you move forward.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Purple Stylophora is another easy SPS. Ours was almost completely stripped bare by a pair of sexy shrimp that decided it was delicious (along with a bunch of other corals, but the stylo was their favorite) and completely recovered in less than 3 weeks.

 

[kingjames_dc5]

Purple Stylophora is another easy SPS. Ours was almost completely stripped bare by a pair of sexy shrimp that decided it was delicious (along with a bunch of other corals, but the stylo was their favorite) and completely recovered in less than 3 weeks.

Awesome thank you for sharing that. I’m excited to try sps. I bought a 10$ Acro frag for the lfs that looked like it was gonna die anyhow. Needless to say I was unable to help it out. I know they are super hard so I been looking for easier more beginner friendly ones. I can’t believe you were able to save it. I’m assuming you had to remove the shrimp. I currently have a peppermint shrimp. Hopefully it won’t give me to much of an issue. It does like to go after my Duncan during feeding if I don’t feed it first.

 

[captainbeardly]

This tank is my first ever saltwater tank. I got the tank last year and set it up In January had cycled in February using Dr Tim’s and had first fish couple weeks later tank is currently almost 5 months old. Have learned everything from all my fellow reefers here. Very thankful to be a part of such great community. I hope this thread will help others on there journeys. I am still always willing learn something my self. So please feel free to give me your opinion.


Tank is fluval evo 13.5

Live Stock
-2 ocellaris clowns
-1 blue legged hermit crabs
-3 nassarius snails
-3 asters snails
-2 spiny star astraea
-1 strawberry conch
-1 peppermint shrimp

Equipment
-stock light w/ nicrew timer/dimmer
-Stock pump w/ one vca rfg
-Fluval protein skimmer
-intank media basket in chamber2 w/ filter floss carbon and biomax in that order.
-Fluval m50 heater with inkbird heating and cooling temp control. Standard fan hooked to cooling
-Hygger mini wave maker on random mode
-Autoaqua smart Ato lite w/ 5 gallon res for
Ro water.
-Caribsea arag alive sand 20 Ibs
-Marco dry rock about 10 lbs
-One full bottle of coriline algae in a bottle ‍

How do you like that hygger wave maker