Hello everyone!
Today marks the first day of running my first saltwater aquarium, a Fluval Sea EVO 13.5. I have been researching for quite a while and decided about a month ago that it was time, and so I ordered my first all in one saltwater aquarium along with any other necessary accessories. I also decided that I would start a build thread here on Reef2Reef where I will be positing regular updates so that you can all join me on this exciting journey!
I spent all day yesterday running around all over the city, collecting everything and setting up the aquarium! As of right now, the aquarium is running on stock equipment including the lights, the filter in chamber 2, and the return pump in chamber 3. I am running a 100W Eheim Jager heater in chamber 1. I know this is not ideal but it was too big to fit anywhere else and it is has been heating the water just fine. The aquarium is set up with 15 lbs of CaribSea's aragonite aquarium reef sand (sand bed is just over an inch deep) and about 12 pounds of wet live reef rock that I picked up from a local Big Al's. I am using RODI water from another local fish store with Coralife Marine salt mixed in.
The live reef rock was kept wet but out of water for many hours before it was placed in the aquarium. With that being said, I did not add any ammonia or nitrifying bacteria to the aquarium because I thought that the little bit of die off from the live rock and any bacteria on it would be sufficient enough to start the nitrogen cycle. I know that this may take a bit longer than it would if I had added anything to it but I will monitor the parameters and add anything if it is needed.
I allowed the aquarium to sit overnight and settle. This morning I checked the water parameters using an API saltwater master test kit. The pH was about 8.0, the ammonia was about 0.50 ppm, and the nitrites and nitrates were 0 ppm. I believe that this is where it should be and that the nitrogen cycle has started but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I also checked the temperature which is 78 ℉ and the salinity which is 1.025 PPT.
Today I ran the lights on a 12 hour schedule that I worked out. I ran the blue light from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, the white lights from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm, and the blue lights again from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm. I know that the lights can promote the growth of algae but I figured that the aquarium will have to run through its "ugly" stage at some point so why not get it over with as soon as possible. The live reef rock that I picked up also had beneficial algae growing on it and so I figured that the light will keep it alive. Again, if I am doing something wrong or anyone has some recommendations, feel free to let me know!
With that being said, I believe that day 1 was a success! Below are some pictures of the aquarium. Tomorrow I will play around with the rocks and finalize the aquascape!
Today marks the first day of running my first saltwater aquarium, a Fluval Sea EVO 13.5. I have been researching for quite a while and decided about a month ago that it was time, and so I ordered my first all in one saltwater aquarium along with any other necessary accessories. I also decided that I would start a build thread here on Reef2Reef where I will be positing regular updates so that you can all join me on this exciting journey!
I spent all day yesterday running around all over the city, collecting everything and setting up the aquarium! As of right now, the aquarium is running on stock equipment including the lights, the filter in chamber 2, and the return pump in chamber 3. I am running a 100W Eheim Jager heater in chamber 1. I know this is not ideal but it was too big to fit anywhere else and it is has been heating the water just fine. The aquarium is set up with 15 lbs of CaribSea's aragonite aquarium reef sand (sand bed is just over an inch deep) and about 12 pounds of wet live reef rock that I picked up from a local Big Al's. I am using RODI water from another local fish store with Coralife Marine salt mixed in.
The live reef rock was kept wet but out of water for many hours before it was placed in the aquarium. With that being said, I did not add any ammonia or nitrifying bacteria to the aquarium because I thought that the little bit of die off from the live rock and any bacteria on it would be sufficient enough to start the nitrogen cycle. I know that this may take a bit longer than it would if I had added anything to it but I will monitor the parameters and add anything if it is needed.
I allowed the aquarium to sit overnight and settle. This morning I checked the water parameters using an API saltwater master test kit. The pH was about 8.0, the ammonia was about 0.50 ppm, and the nitrites and nitrates were 0 ppm. I believe that this is where it should be and that the nitrogen cycle has started but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I also checked the temperature which is 78 ℉ and the salinity which is 1.025 PPT.
Today I ran the lights on a 12 hour schedule that I worked out. I ran the blue light from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, the white lights from 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm, and the blue lights again from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm. I know that the lights can promote the growth of algae but I figured that the aquarium will have to run through its "ugly" stage at some point so why not get it over with as soon as possible. The live reef rock that I picked up also had beneficial algae growing on it and so I figured that the light will keep it alive. Again, if I am doing something wrong or anyone has some recommendations, feel free to let me know!
With that being said, I believe that day 1 was a success! Below are some pictures of the aquarium. Tomorrow I will play around with the rocks and finalize the aquascape!