Instant Taco's EVO 5

[Reef_taco]

Hello fellow reefers,
I guess its about time i started a little journal of my little pico tank. quick history, been reefing for about 5 years with a 45 gallon then took a 3 year break from the hobby. some coworkers got into the hobby and found out i used to own a reef tank. they were able to convince me to get back in. so with limited space in my apartment and wanting something simple yet challenging i always wanted to take a crack at a nano/pico tank. after some research i found the fluval evo line. i wanted the 13.5 but didnt have a place that could support the weight so i settled with the evo 5. so here we go





Equitment

• Tank: Fluval evo 5 gallon 20.5 x 11.6 x 7.5"
• Return pump: NEWA MN606 - 159gph
• Lighting: stock 11k LED with 12inch ebay blue led strip
• Filtration: intank media basket with Top. floss Middle. carbon. Bottom. MarinePure Bio gems
• Circulation: Sicce nano 1000
• Temperature control: inkbird ITC 308A WIFI, and TP link kasa wifi outlets
• Heater: Aqueon preset 50 Watt heater

Livestock:


Fish

• Green Clown Goby

Invertebrate

• Sexy shrimp X4 (X5 now)
• porcalien crab
• Scarlet hermits X 2
• blue legged hermits X 2
• nassarius snail X 3
• Astrea Turbo snail X 4

Coral

• Red spotted Mushroom ,Discosoma
• Blue spotted Mushroom , Discosoma
• Neon Orange Mushroom, Discosoma
• Lava lamp mushroom, Discosoma
• Neon Green Mushroom, Rhodactis
• Red mushroom, Rhodactis
• Forest Fire Mushroom, Rhodactis
• Neon Green Ricordea
• Green Ricordea
• Orange RIcordea
• Yuma orange Ricordea
• Blue Ricordea
• Serenity zoanthids
• Green star polyps
• Mystery chalice (ID unknown)
• Blue trumpet, Caulastrea curvata
• Lord Red & Blue Acan, Acanthastrea
• Duncan, Duncanopsammia
• Rock Flower Anemone X 6

FTS First day of tank 09/01/2021

Current FTS 12/01/2021

 

[Reef_taco]

Big photo dump coming soon

 

[Reef_taco]

After about a week of cycling I add my first cuc memebers

After another week with just the cuc I added my first corals, couple of RFA , and a porcelain crab

Stubborn mushroom fell off it's frag plug

 

[Reef_taco]

I got my first fish a couple days later a green clown goby AKA Mr.Popo

After a 1 month month I upgraded the return pump and got some more frags

You can tell the difference in filter flow the NEWA pump

 

[Reef_taco]

After a couple days Mr.Popo is getting comfortable

There was a reason I left the hobby it hurts the wallet but reasons I came back "it's cheaper then therapy"

After a week of getting my first corals a copepod population blew up.

 

[Reef_taco]

I ran into my first problem with my reef

He thinks he's funny

 

[Reef_taco]

A couple days later I was able to solve the problem

 

[Reef_taco]

At this point my tank is already a month and a half old and I've been moving a bit fast on stocking the tank lol but one of my goals was to make this a sexy shrimp tank and I was able to finally find some at my LFS and ofcourse more coral hehe

They settled in rather quickly

 

[Reef_taco]

Days when by and I got more goodies.

Orange Ric

Strawberry discosoma

Red and blue acan

Got a sweet deal on a Duncan

Was able to get a pic of the whole gang

 

[Reef_taco]

...it all happened so fast... then there were three...



I didn't think that sexy shrimp would be cannibalistic, strange cuz they had been well-fed. My guess is that my three females caught the male mid-molt.




I was able to witness this coming home from work and I started recording right away. There was nothing I could do it happens very fast

 

[Reef_taco]

I got more goodies at a local frag swap

I caught one of my sexy shrimp mid molt

Mr.Popo says hi

My blue spotted mushroom is already splitting

FTS 10/02/2021

 

[Reef_taco]

My SO had a DSLR and we started messing around with it we're still learning how to use the camera

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

#5 is by far my favorite we took

 

[Jeffcb]

Very nice. More pics!

 

[Reef_taco]

I've got a lot more coming to catch up with current time. Gonna be a very picture heavy journal

 

[Reef_taco]

*Delicious mexican entree walks to a podium* *Taps mic* eeeeeeeeeee! "Is this thing on. Oh... Ahemm. Hello everyone, my name is instant taco and I have a problem."

I got a feather duster but he turned out to be a dud

I got 2 more sexy shrimp

A blue ricordea

And I got some GSP for my little frag rack rock

 

[Reef_taco]

I removed a pest the other night

I did a mini upgrade to the stock light on the tank I got a blue led strip from eBay and attached it to the light. I like the result of my little upgrade.

I went to a local frag swap and got some new stuff

Forest fire mushroom

Neon green ricordea

And a beautiful RFA

FTS 10/02/2021

 

[Reef_taco]

Looks like I have flat worm.

In other news my orange ricordea spit

Is only been a week and my forest fire rodactis is splitting !!!!!

Caught Mr popo out and about

 

[Jeffcb]

I got a feather duster but he turned out to be a dud

Tank is looking good.

Some times Feather Dusters move or stay dormant for a time . Leave it there. I had one that left its tube and is back after several weeks..

 

[Reef_taco]

About a week has passed here I got more goodies

I got a nice trumpet coral

I got a killer deal on an orange yuma rock with like 9 babies

And I got a mystery chalice with 3 zoas on it

 

[Reef_taco]

Tank is looking good.

Some times Feather Dusters move or stay dormant for a time . Leave it there. I had one that left its tube and is back after several weeks..

I should problem date these photos that picture is like a month old. Sadly that worm died. I have a bunch of photos I'm trying to upload to catch up to current time. I'm almost there lol