Good evening! Decided I'd go ahead and start a build thread for the tank my wife and I recently setup. It's a Fluval Flex 32.5G Saltwater Mixed Reef tank. Had a 55G saltwater tank back in high school (almost 15 years ago) and MAN has a lot changed! Below is some information on my tank:
Modifications to AIO stock items:
-Added Fluval PS1 Protein Skimmer
-Added Hygger Mini Wavemaker
-Added 2 In-tank-media baskets (1 chamber w/ chemi pure elite / bio media / and filter floss and 2 chamber w/ chemi pure blue / bio media / filter floss)
-Added Sicce 1.5 Return Pump
-Added 2 RFG Nozzles
Livestock currently:
Yellow Watchman Goby
Diamond Goby
2 Clowns
Neon Dottyback
CUC (4 turbo snails, 4 nassarius snails, 4 astrea snails, 8 hermit crabs, 1 emerald crab)
*Just added the emerald crab 2 days ago as I had a few bubble algae spots popping up on frags (yes they were dipped). I was skeptical after reading mixed reviews on whether or not the emerald crab would eat the bubble algae and WOW! He ate 5/5 in less than 48 hrs!
Corals currently:
1 Duncan
2 Blastos
3 Acans
1 GSP wall on back of tank
2 Ricordea mushrooms
1 Superman Rhodactis mushroom
Zoa Garden with 11 different varieties so far (i.e., Rasta, Pandora, Blue Hornet, Fruit Loop, Ultra Eagle Eye, King Midas, etc.)
1 Torch (purple w/ green tip)
1 Fruit Loops Micro Goniapora
2 Small colonies of clove polyps
1 Jack-o-lantern lepto
So far Zoa's are growing at a pretty quick rate / 1 Blasto has grown 3 new heads / & GSP has grown a bit
Tank's date of birth is 07/17/21 so coming up on 3 months. Cycled with Fritz. Was using API test kits early on but just ordered all Hannah Checkers.
Haven't had issues so far, however I've noticed that over the last week or so that my corals are open 2/3 of the day and the last few hours before lights out they seem unhappy. Some will be fully closed, some half closed, some fully open. Not sure what's up but hopefully the Hannah Checkers will shed some light , just don't trust API anymore as they have been very off from LFS Aquaspin testing. I'll attach a picture of what it looks like as of tonight (sorry, don't have lens to take better pictures yet) & some pictures we took early on.
Look forward to documenting this tank's journey & chatting with ya'll!
Kevin
Modifications to AIO stock items:
-Added Fluval PS1 Protein Skimmer
-Added Hygger Mini Wavemaker
-Added 2 In-tank-media baskets (1 chamber w/ chemi pure elite / bio media / and filter floss and 2 chamber w/ chemi pure blue / bio media / filter floss)
-Added Sicce 1.5 Return Pump
-Added 2 RFG Nozzles
Livestock currently:
Yellow Watchman Goby
Diamond Goby
2 Clowns
Neon Dottyback
CUC (4 turbo snails, 4 nassarius snails, 4 astrea snails, 8 hermit crabs, 1 emerald crab)
*Just added the emerald crab 2 days ago as I had a few bubble algae spots popping up on frags (yes they were dipped). I was skeptical after reading mixed reviews on whether or not the emerald crab would eat the bubble algae and WOW! He ate 5/5 in less than 48 hrs!
Corals currently:
1 Duncan
2 Blastos
3 Acans
1 GSP wall on back of tank
2 Ricordea mushrooms
1 Superman Rhodactis mushroom
Zoa Garden with 11 different varieties so far (i.e., Rasta, Pandora, Blue Hornet, Fruit Loop, Ultra Eagle Eye, King Midas, etc.)
1 Torch (purple w/ green tip)
1 Fruit Loops Micro Goniapora
2 Small colonies of clove polyps
1 Jack-o-lantern lepto
So far Zoa's are growing at a pretty quick rate / 1 Blasto has grown 3 new heads / & GSP has grown a bit
Tank's date of birth is 07/17/21 so coming up on 3 months. Cycled with Fritz. Was using API test kits early on but just ordered all Hannah Checkers.
Haven't had issues so far, however I've noticed that over the last week or so that my corals are open 2/3 of the day and the last few hours before lights out they seem unhappy. Some will be fully closed, some half closed, some fully open. Not sure what's up but hopefully the Hannah Checkers will shed some light , just don't trust API anymore as they have been very off from LFS Aquaspin testing. I'll attach a picture of what it looks like as of tonight (sorry, don't have lens to take better pictures yet) & some pictures we took early on.
Look forward to documenting this tank's journey & chatting with ya'll!
Kevin