Fluval Sea EVO 13.5

[RhiD08]

Hello everyone!

My saltwater aquarium is now just over 2 months old. It's been a while since my last update but I have lots to share!

I haven't checked the water parameters in quite a while but everything seems to be stable, giving me no reason to constantly check them. The temperature is currently 78.8°F and usually ranges between 78.2°F to 79.0°F. The salinity remains at 1.025 PPT. I have been running the same 12 hour lighting schedule with no issues. I have been doing weekly 1 gallon water changes every Friday, stirring up different sections of the sand each week and vacuuming the surface.

A few weeks back, I went to my LFS and picked up a CUC which consists of 2 Mexican turbo snails, 2 Astraea snails, 3 Blue legged hermit crabs, and 2 red legged hermit crabs. They are constantly on the go and did quite an amazing job at cleaning up all the algae in the aquarium. Below are before and after pictures of the aquarium.

About a week and a half ago, I picked up a pair of Ocellaris clownfish from my LFS. Both have been doing extremely well and have grown quite a bit, they're always hungry! The one had a bit of a nipped at tail which has now completely grown back. They're constantly swimming around the aquarium and playing in the current from the powerhead. I have decided to name them Poseidon and Amphitrite, the god and goddess of my mini ocean! They were unpaired when I bought them and because of that, I have been able to observe quite interesting dominant and submissive behaviours exhibited by them! I have a good feeling which one will be the dominant female.

I'm thinking about adding my first coral this week but I will decide after I have checked the water parameters this week! I was thinking about a green star polyp which I would glue to the back wall of the aquarium with the hopes that it will grow to cover the entire wall!

 

[GoReefin]

Green star polyps will grow quick and cover the back wall will look nice. You can also try waving hand corals I have a blue one that grows super fast.

 

[RhiD08]

Green star polyps will grow quick and cover the back wall will look nice. You can also try waving hand corals I have a blue one that grows super fast.

Thank you for the suggestion, I had never heard of that coral! I'll definitely have to check it out.

 

[GoReefin]

Blue waving hand coral. It's great and grows like a weed so don't put it anywhere you don't want it to cover.

 

[RhiD08]

Blue waving hand coral. It's great and grows like a weed so don't put it anywhere you don't want it to cover.

Wow, such a beautiful coral!

 

[greetl01]

I'm thinking about adding my first coral this week but I will decide after I have checked the water parameters this week! I was thinking about a green star polyp which I would glue to the back wall of the aquarium with the hopes that it will grow to cover the entire wall!

LMAOOOOOOOOOO he looks so scared

 

[RhiD08]

LMAOOOOOOOOOO he looks so scared

That picture was taken right after they were put in the tank! I didn’t even realize that one’s face but they were definitely a little scared lol

 

[RhiD08]

Hello everyone!

Its been about two months since my last post! My aquarium is now just over 4 months old.

I haven't been checking the water parameters as I haven't had any need to, everything seems to be doing really well and growing lots! The temperature is constant, usually ranging between 78.0°F to 79.0°F. The salinity remains at 1.025 PPT. I have been running the same 12 hour lighting schedule. I have been doing weekly 1 gallon water changes every Friday, stirring up different sections of the sand each week and vacuuming the surface.

The clean up crew does an amazing job of keeping the aquarium clean! The hermit crabs have been growing a lot too but unfortunately I did lose one of them after another hermit crab dragged him out of his shell. I was thinking about picking up a couple of nassarius snails to help with cleaning the sand bed too!

Poseidon and Amphitrite have been doing great! They're eating well and growing lots, Their colours are vibrant and they get on good with each other too! I was thinking about adding another fish or goby and shrimp pair but I'm unsure of what fish I want. I want a bright fish that won't hide too much and that will most likely get on well with my clownfish as I know they can be a bit dominant at times. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great!

About a month ago I purchased a GSP and Pulsing xenia frag and was gifted a kenya tree and cyphastrea frag from a friend. The pulsing xenia and kenya tree have been doing great, they have grown a ton since i got them. Both started off with about 2 heads and are now around 6 heads. Below is a photo of the corals a few days after I got them compared to what they look like now. The cyphastrea did not do too well, it lost about 95% of its tissue and was all skeleton. It has now been growing back slowly and is about 15% covered again. The GSP was on the sand bed, up against the wall with the hopes that it would grow onto the wall but it didn't seem to be doing too well there. About a week ago I removed it from its frag and glued it to the wall where it seems to be much happier and has been growing a bit more. Any ideas how I can get the GSP to grow more and the cyphastrea to grow back? I haven't added anything to the aquarium for about a month and a bit so I was thinking about adding some more coral, maybe some blastomussa, ricordia, torch coral, or something like that! I'm deciding whether or not I want an anemone in the tank too. I know most things say not to get one before your tank is 6 months old because it needs a mature system and I know they move around quite a bit and I wouldn't want any of my other corals to get stung so I don't know what to do.

I think the aquarium is maturing nicely, I've been trying to take it slow and it seems to be paying off! I went through a phase where I had tons of hydroids growing on the glass but I'd just scrape them off and they eventually disappeared. I heard thats normal for a new tank though. Recently I've got a lot of spirorbid worms growing on the wall and glass which I've heard is a sign of a maturing aquarium! On top of that, I've got all kinds of coralline algae beginning to grow on the rocks. I've also noticed that the one feather duster on my pulsing xenia seems to have reproduced and now I've got about 4 on the base of the pulsing xenia and a couple on the rocks throughout the aquarium. I also noticed a spaghetti worm on the base of my kenya tree which also seems to have reproduced as I can see the tentacles sticking out from another hole in the rocks. I've read that both of those hitchhikers are good though so I'm not too worried about that! I also have a bloom of copepods and amphipods. They're all over the glass and rocks and some of the amphipods are quite large! But I've heard they're all good and just free fish food!

That's pretty much all the updates that I have!

 

[GoReefin]

Looks great! As far as your hermit death, they help each other molt by pulling on them. Maybe was just a molt. You can buy some spare shells and throw them in your tank to give the hermits larger shells. They will harass the snails if you don't. As far as the gsp it'll eventually attach to the back just takes time.

 

[RhiD08]

Looks great! As far as your hermit death, they help each other molt by pulling on them. Maybe was just a molt. You can buy some spare shells and throw them in your tank to give the hermits larger shells. They will harass the snails if you don't. As far as the gsp it'll eventually attach to the back just takes time.

Thank you so much! I didn’t know that about the hermits but I think he’s definitely gone! I’ve got a bucket of shells that I collected on vacation and have cleaned them out and placed different sized ones in there too!