Fluval Evo 60L/14.5G to WB 25 peninsula

[JamesTh]

Hi,

I started cycling my tank a few weeks ago now, and it's still going through the cycle. I've been ghost-feeding, and adding startup bacteria, along with almost daily monitoring of Ammonia, Nitrites, pH, and KH. I plan to have a mix of Softies, and LPS in my reef tank, along with some anemones for the clownfish. This is my first reef tank

Equipment:
1 x Fluval Evo Marine 60L/14.5G
1 x eheim 150W heater
1 x Tunze nano ATO system
1 x Standard Evo kit filtration set-up inc. carbon and bio-filter
1 x jebao dosing pumps (4 pumps in total)
1 x 2nd-hand Kessil 360we light & spectral X controller
1 x fluvial sea PS2 protein skimmer
1 x eheim auto-feeder
1 x Fluval wavemaker

Dosing (once I have livestock) & test-kits:
* I'm using ATI Absolute Ocean as my salt-mix
* Tropic Marin (TM) All-for-reef
* TM Bio-actif (carbon dosing)
* TM Nitribiotic
* TM Compact Lab test kits
* TM Pro ca/mg test kit.
* Hana Salinity pen

Fish & Coral Food:
* PNS Pro-bio (to test it really, but I hear good things about it though).
* PNS Yellow snow
* Aquaforest Marine S fish pellets, and I'll also try to get some Fauna Marin Soft Multi-mix pellets to give some variety.
* Fauna Marin Amin (Amino-Acids) once the tank has been set-up for a while, and I have some softies/LPS corals in my tank.
* Nori seaweed, and also some Hikori Algae wafers

Stocking:
* 2 clownfish
* 1 goby and cleaner shrimp combo
* 1 pom-pom crab
* 2 hermit crabs
* a conch or 2
* a few snails

So I've noticed a couple of things in the last few days in my tank:

* My Alkalinity (dKH) has been going down quite quickly the last few days like from 8dKH to 5dKH today! I think that this is due to the start-up/cycling bacteria doing their job, as it mentions on the start-up bacteria bottle to monitor and keep my dKH at a reasonable level whilst I continue to add the start-up bacteria to the tank. It's actually been going down by almost 1 dKH per day, when I've been doing my testing over the last few days. So I dosed 10ml Tropic Marin Balling liquid Set bottle B, and that raised my alkalinity by 0.5 to 1 dKH, so I dosed another 20ml (approx), and now my Alkalinity is closer to being 8dKh, so I'll keep topping up the tank with TM Balling liquid bottle B, to maintain the dKH going forward.

* My Ammonia had been steadily decreasing over the last week or 2, and then yesterday it increased by quite a bit. I bought a different aquarium stand, and moved my tank onto it yesterday prior to doing my daily testing. As I drained 50%+ of my tank into a 30L bucket, so I could physically move my tank onto the new stand, and then returned the 50% water back into the tank, I think that this might have been the reason behind my ammonia spike. It's going back down today though, so I'm not overly concerned, and I'll keep monitoring it over the next few days until it's at zero.

Future Plans:
1) Obviously getting the tank cycled is the main priority.
2) Once waterbox has the Cube 25 peninsula back in stock here in the UK, then I plan to buy that at a later stage, as it gives me an extra 30% larger water volume, compared to my Evo 60L/14.5G. So the Cube 25 will give me a 90L/23.5G tank, which for the price I think is a worthwhile upgrade.
3) I have found a UK natural seawater supplier that can deliver natural seawater to me on a weekly/monthly basis. The seawater is collected from the seabed at approx 3 miles off the coast, so it should be quite pure. Once I can get this delivered on a regular basis then I will migrate my reef tank over to using it 100%.

I'll probably post another thread in a few days, when something has changed in my tank

 

[JamesTh]

So i did another dKH Test today, and I used my alkalinity pro Test Kit, and it shows my dKH being 8.0. Using the alkalinity Test in the compact lab at about the same time it gave me a dKH of 6.0. So I think that the alkalinity Test Kit in the compact lab is defective. I’ll keep using both over the next few days, but I think that the pro version measurement is the one that I’ll be using going forward.

 

[BrandonMH]

That move could have stirred up stuff from the sediment causing the spike most likely. Question for you, since you have the stock lid. The area where the stock light was, what are the dimensions? I am curious if an AI Blade would fit in that slot. Keep going, things sound like they are going well for you! Any ideas on what corals you will be putting in?

 

[JamesTh]

That move could have stirred up stuff from the sediment causing the spike most likely. Question for you, since you have the stock lid. The area where the stock light was, what are the dimensions? I am curious if an AI Blade would fit in that slot. Keep going, things sound like they are going well for you! Any ideas on what corals you will be putting in?

Thank you! Yes, I agree that the move could well have caused the ammonia spike! I plan to test my tank again this afternoon.

So, regarding your lighting then I've measured the tank and the length of the entire tank is 22", or 55.8cms - this includes the filtration area. If you wanted to then you could knock off 3.25" as this area is simply for the filter area, if that's useful at all, as this are would not require direct lighting per se. I noticed that the AI blades comes with mounting arms, so you should be ok with the 21 inches AI blade. I think that the 12" AI Blade might be slightly on the small side, as it will need to light almost 19" of tank space (and have lower PAR readings), which would leave you with 6" being indirectly lit in the main tank area. I think you would need to look at the 21" AI Blade, and I noticed that it only gives out 60-80 PAR (at 24" height above the tank), which I believe (I'm no expert) might be on the low side if you wanted LPS, and some softies, at some stage. You might be able to mitigate this, and increase the PAR readings by placing the light directly on top of your tank ( a height of 0" in effect) but then it would certainly get splashed, covered in crud over time etc.

Regarding which corals then that's a good question! I'm thinking of having mushrooms, Duncans, and other softies, and eventually some other LPS once my tank has stabilised a bit more. I've made the conscious decision to not stock it with either Zoas, or Palys as, whilst the risk is really small, they generally have palytoxins and I don't want to risk it. I think that goniopora (an LPS coral) may be a reasonable substitute for zoas and Palys. I've also read online/youtube'd that Xenias tend to grow quite quickly, and can soon take over such a small tank like mine. So even though it seems to be a good and popular, beginner coral; I don't think I'll have any in my main tank!

Anyway, I hope that this helps!

 

[BrandonMH]

Yes, I've heard alot say they grow like crazy, as does green star polyps or gsp. Also, thanks for the measurements!

 

[JamesTh]

I keep testing the main parms on a daily basis still. That’s pH, salinity, temperature, ammonia, and currently only nitrites.

I’ve noticed that ammonia is dropping quite quickly now (0.35 to 0.1 over the last few days) and I also noticed nitrites remaining stable at about 0.1. I’ve been cycling my tank for about 5 weeks now maybe. I think it’s still too early to add fish, but certainly time to start checking nitrate levels going forward.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hi,

I started cycling my tank a few weeks ago now, and it's still going through the cycle. I've been ghost-feeding, and adding startup bacteria, along with almost daily monitoring of Ammonia, Nitrites, pH, and KH. I plan to have a mix of Softies, and LPS in my reef tank, along with some anemones for the clownfish. This is my first reef tank

Equipment:
1 x Fluval Evo Marine 60L/14.5G
1 x eheim 150W heater
1 x Tunze nano ATO system
1 x Standard Evo kit filtration set-up inc. carbon and bio-filter
1 x jebao dosing pumps (4 pumps in total)
1 x 2nd-hand Kessil 360we light & spectral X controller
1 x fluvial sea PS2 protein skimmer
1 x eheim auto-feeder
1 x Fluval wavemaker

Dosing (once I have livestock) & test-kits:
* I'm using ATI Absolute Ocean as my salt-mix
* Tropic Marin (TM) All-for-reef
* TM Bio-actif (carbon dosing)
* TM Nitribiotic
* TM Compact Lab test kits
* TM Pro ca/mg test kit.
* Hana Salinity pen

Fish & Coral Food:
* PNS Pro-bio (to test it really, but I hear good things about it though).
* PNS Yellow snow
* Aquaforest Marine S fish pellets, and I'll also try to get some Fauna Marin Soft Multi-mix pellets to give some variety.
* Fauna Marin Amin (Amino-Acids) once the tank has been set-up for a while, and I have some softies/LPS corals in my tank.
* Nori seaweed, and also some Hikori Algae wafers

Stocking:
* 2 clownfish
* 1 goby and cleaner shrimp combo
* 1 pom-pom crab
* 2 hermit crabs
* a conch or 2
* a few snails

So I've noticed a couple of things in the last few days in my tank:

* My Alkalinity (dKH) has been going down quite quickly the last few days like from 8dKH to 5dKH today! I think that this is due to the start-up/cycling bacteria doing their job, as it mentions on the start-up bacteria bottle to monitor and keep my dKH at a reasonable level whilst I continue to add the start-up bacteria to the tank. It's actually been going down by almost 1 dKH per day, when I've been doing my testing over the last few days. So I dosed 10ml Tropic Marin Balling liquid Set bottle B, and that raised my alkalinity by 0.5 to 1 dKH, so I dosed another 20ml (approx), and now my Alkalinity is closer to being 8dKh, so I'll keep topping up the tank with TM Balling liquid bottle B, to maintain the dKH going forward.

* My Ammonia had been steadily decreasing over the last week or 2, and then yesterday it increased by quite a bit. I bought a different aquarium stand, and moved my tank onto it yesterday prior to doing my daily testing. As I drained 50%+ of my tank into a 30L bucket, so I could physically move my tank onto the new stand, and then returned the 50% water back into the tank, I think that this might have been the reason behind my ammonia spike. It's going back down today though, so I'm not overly concerned, and I'll keep monitoring it over the next few days until it's at zero.

Future Plans:
1) Obviously getting the tank cycled is the main priority.
2) Once waterbox has the Cube 25 peninsula back in stock here in the UK, then I plan to buy that at a later stage, as it gives me an extra 30% larger water volume, compared to my Evo 60L/14.5G. So the Cube 25 will give me a 90L/23.5G tank, which for the price I think is a worthwhile upgrade.
3) I have found a UK natural seawater supplier that can deliver natural seawater to me on a weekly/monthly basis. The seawater is collected from the seabed at approx 3 miles off the coast, so it should be quite pure. Once I can get this delivered on a regular basis then I will migrate my reef tank over to using it 100%.

I'll probably post another thread in a few days, when something has changed in my tank

Best of luck with the tank!!

 

[JamesTh]

Best of luck with the tank!!

Thanks I’m starting to get excited about getting some fish finally

 

[JamesTh]

Sooo, I just noticed that Waterbox now have their 25G peninsula tanks back in stock. So I’ve just bought one! Figured it better to do it now, even if it does mean almost cycling the new tank again before having fish etc.

 

[BrandonMH]

That is probably the tank I'm going to get. Was at lfs and wanted to ask approx how many fish I could keep I there. Would be a reef tank mostly with a few fish. Not looking to put 10 fish and that in there. Just out of curiosity. They were busy having an event that day.

 

[JamesTh]

I set the WB 25 tank up this evening. I’m really super happy with it. It’s approx 30% larger than the eco marine, and it shows. I can certainly fit more rock inside. I’ve brought most of my evo kit over, and the filter area is so much bigger. I’ve ditched the protein skimmer, and the Fluval lid. I also bought the mesh lid from WB, and for someone that considers themselves not very practical, it was pretty easy to put together!

I’ve made 2 other changes since setting up my evo. I’m trying Carib sea Fuji pink live sand. No idea if it will make a difference re: cycling, but it claims to buffer pH, which I’m interested in. My pH was steady at about 8, but the sand apparently will buffer at 8.2. Let’s see. The other thing I changed was rather than using some generic cycling bacteria from my lfs, I’m using dr. Tim’s one-and-only, along with dr. Tim’s ammonia. I’m just curious really. I brought filters, rock, a small amount of my sand etc over from my evo and put that into my new tank. I’m hoping this will mean that the cycle will go faster this time, as the bacteria should already have a head start.

I plan on adding maybe 2 more fish, I might see if I can sneak a pyjama cardinal fish, and a banana wrasse in now though.

So my fish stocking levels will be:
* 2 clowns
* a goby paired with a shrimp
* pyjama cardinal fish
* a banana wrasse (I like the colour, but need to check more about what personality these fish tend to have in a bit more detail, first).

i think, have a think, about the adult sizes of the fish, you can always start with say, 3-5 fish and then add more, say 6 months down the line, once you’ve got a better feel for the tank, and your lfs has some time to give you advice.

Have you decided on what you’re going to do about lighting in your tank at all?

 

[JamesTh]

I forgot to mention that a protein skimmer would certainly help with the extra bio-load if you wanted to stock additional fish in your tank. I guess I could squeeze an extra one, or maybe 2 smaller fish if I used my protein skimmer.

 

[JamesTh]

I was really surprised that so much of my original cycle simply continued in my new WB tank! There was just a small spike in ammonia, and it’s almost back to where it was in the original Fluval tank. Nitrites are also coming down, whilst nitrates are having a bit of a think. I keep testing them pretty much everyday. I’m hoping that my ammonia might be zero by the end of the week

i won’t be going with the banana wrasse after all as I read it could grow upto 30cms, so it will become simply too big. I’ll have a think about a more suitable fish.

 

[BrandonMH]

Light I would get would probably be an ai prime 16, but have considered blade grow and glow combo. The preliminary results I've see from blades is pretty good. The results I've heard are pretty promising.

 

[JamesTh]

So finally my tank was cycled yesterday my ammonia and nitrites were zero, and my nitrates were 15.

so I now have the following in my tank:
2 small clownfish
2 turbo snails
2 red legged Halloween hermit crabs

they were acclimatised over 30 mins each, so I’ve finally started my reef whoohoo!

The LFS had some amazing clownfish, but I really wasn’t prepared to pay £350 for a pair I got some cheapies and they’re amazing

I’ll now wait for the bacteria to catch up after adding this new bio load, and give it another week after that before adding:

A goby shrimp pair
A Pom Pom crab

 

[JamesTh]

Golly, I expected an ammonia and a nitrites spike, but when I did my tests yesterday I simply didn’t expect ammonia to go from zero to about 0.2. Nitrites went from zero to 0.2, which was more in line with what i I was expecting. I noticed that the fish were stressed, but stupidly didn’t think to do a water change until this morning. But I came back from work this evening, and both fishes are swimming about and look happy. I’ll do todays water testing a bit later on, but I’m happy and’s relieved that the fish seem more settled, and content.

i added live copepods and some live Rotifers to the tank too. The fish are now busy darting about about stuffing their faces. I also tried a small amount off Nyos gold pods and also their pure algae product, both of which the fish went for, so they seem good products. Pellet and gold pod sizes seem a good size for a 2-3cms clown fish.

I also added 25ml of PNS Pro-bio, which should hopefully help the tank to do its’ mini cycle with the new bio-load. I added 25ml which is slightly under their recommended dosage for my 25 gallon tank . But hopefully it should help the mini-nitrogen cycle and also decompose any old food stuff etc in the tank to neutralise it. Let’s see!

 

[JamesTh]

So I’m making a couple of changes to my reef tank.

Firstly I realised that my clown fish were not really going further than 10-12cms from the top of my tank. I came across a thread that mentioned that it was because there wasn’t enough oxygen in the water, hence the clownfish staying towards the top of the tank. So I installed my cheapie Fluval power head, and they seemed so much happier within 30-45 mins. They’re Swimming around the tank now and also going much deeper into the tank too. The Fluval sea powerhead is pretty basic, it’s just either on or off. It’s also quite bulky and it’s quite obvious in my nano tank. So I’ve upgraded it to a Nero 5, which is much thinner and I’m very happy with it. I have it running between 25-35% of its power. I like the random flow option, and it kicked up a lot of detritus that was in the tank, and no dead spots either, which I’m happy about. In hindsight, a Nero 3 would have been really ok for my size of tank though.

i also decided to buy a random flow generator and replace the Standard Waterbox nozzle. That should arrive in the next couple of days.

finally I have bought a Tunze nano skimmer 9001. Once I have that I will need to make some changes in my filter area, and move some stuff around. I’ll remove the filter sock, and make some room for the new protein skimmer. Whilst my water does look clean, I hope that by using the protein skimmer it should reduce some of the ammonia, due to unbroken-down food in the tank. Also less maintenance as I won’t have to keep cleaning the filter sock every few days. I don’t think I over feed my fish etc. but I hope that it will keep the tank in a better and cleaner condition, going forward hopefully.