Looking for advice on my 5 month old 13.5 Evo. (warning LOTs of information)

[DannoOMG]

Ya I am going to have to get creative if I get a refugium for this tank.

He is definitely taking his time around the tank. I also think I caught him sleeping under a rock when I woke up. The blenny and basslet seem to ignore him. Except the Basslet has stopped and stared at him for a bit and then moved on.

I will keep training him every day to maybe take some frozen food. I smash it up into fine pieces so they are bite size for him. *Fingers crossed*

 

[DannoOMG]

@Sharkbait19

It didn't work... =(

I feel like a murderer.

I'm kind of mad that the guy at the store that said the ruby dragonette he had eats frozen food. I should have known better. So... maybe don't try this guy out unless you have a large source of pods.

 

[Sharkbait19]

@Sharkbait19

It didn't work... =(

I feel like a murderer.

I'm kind of mad that the guy at the store that said the ruby dragonette he had eats frozen food. I should have known better. So... maybe don't try this guy out unless you have a large source of pods.

I’m so sorry to hear about your loss. Don’t beat yourself up over it, though. Oftentimes, we take risks and conduct experiment in our reefs, and that does unfortunately result in occasional deaths. I’ve been given advice in the past at various local fish stores that in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t listened to. As far as trying one out for myself, I probably won’t, even a captive bred one. My tank has such a large pod population, but there’s only so much room and surface area in a 13.5 gallon tank for the population to remain stable.

 

[FragFarm]

13.5. To 135 go for it

 

[DannoOMG]

I thought a nano tank would be beginner friendly. I'm finding out they are harder to keep consistent than a larger tank.

The appeal of a tiny reef tank on my desk was huge but... I dunno. Maybe in the future I will go big.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I thought a nano tank would be beginner friendly. I'm finding out they are harder to keep consistent than a larger tank.

The appeal of a tiny reef tank on my desk was huge but... I dunno. Maybe in the future I will go big.

After a year in it should calm down, I really don’t have to do much for everything to be okay and stable in my tank at this point…but yeah I agree bigger sounds so much easier.

 

[DannoOMG]

I decided to upgrade my light. The other light I had was not very good in the color department or the PAR department. (Fluval Nano Marine)

I went for the Hydra 32 HD. None of the LED's are over 50%. Colors look dope!

I have an algae issue at the moment. Should be fixed soon though...

Hope I didn't go TOO big. The light is just over 10" above the tank which is the recommended height.

 

[DannoOMG]

Is this an okay spot for a hard tubed feather duster? Aka a coco worm?

I have the feathery part perched on top of a small rock.

I have always wanted a feather duster like critter. I had a duster cluster a while ago but didn't know a 6 line wrasse would potentially nip at it. Well it died a couple days later. Now my 6 line is not in the tank anymore so I saw this at the store and went for it. I have phytoplankton to feed it etc...

 

[Sharkbait19]

To my knowledge they don’t really care where they are as long as they have access to food.

 

[DannoOMG]

By the way. Just as an update to the intake media basket that I am using. Since I am using it in the middle slot of the Evo 13.5 I made a big error. That small hole on the back wall can't be plugged up or it messes with the water flow. My tank water level was always 3 inches higher than the filtration areas water level...

It dawned on me that the plastic panel of the media basket was blocking that hole. So I grabbed a saw and cut it open. it still works for what I need it to do but I thought those who might be interested in using it in that slow probably don't want to do what I am doing. It is supposed to go into slot 1 anyways.

My nitrates are 0 though...? Eh? So maybe getting rid of the foam block has stopped my excess nutrient?

 

[DannoOMG]

Got some chaeto at a store. Got some pods and dumped it in the chaeto. Trying this light that had not terrible reviews on bulk reef supply. Hooked it up to a timer I got at lowes....

Hope it works! The light is supposed to come on a minute after the main lights go off. I have it set to go off at 6 AM.

 

[DannoOMG]

Made a new piece of rock work for the tank. The mortar got a little messy but what ya gonna do. I didn't want it falling apart.

When it is dried I will be curing it etc...

 

[BanjoBandito]

I'm late to the party on this....but did you fix your dino/algae problems? I have almost the same size tank as you (12 gallon) and it was a real bear outta the gate. I'm confused, why are you adding new dry rock? That new rock is gonna go bonkers in there. You'll most likely feed whatever dino/algae problems you originally had due to it leaching and being "fresh turf" for habitation.

 

[DannoOMG]

For the simple reason that the tank is a tad boring in the scape department.

My dino problem went away on it's own. I just did a bunch of water changes etc.

Algae problem is not as bad since the urchin was added and I have been doing maintenance.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I feel like there's a lot going on in there, you have an urchin and more livestock? Are you still having issues with corals and livestock survival? I see you have a mock refugium setup, a protein skimmer, etc. My 12 gallon uses nothing but filter floss and some sponges along with the live rock. Are you chasing numbers at all? Seeing swings? What's your WC schedule like?

 

[DannoOMG]

I attached my entire testing and water change history via spreadsheet.

I do weekly water changes. I don't chase numbers at all. I am just trying to be consistent.

I only have inverts in this tank. I am waiting to get some kit thing to test my water for fish disease cause 2 fish died very quickly within days of each other. Corals for the most part are healthy. I have had to move an Acan cause it didn't like the new light I got. Now it is coming back. Inverts appear to be happy. The fish I had in the tank RG Basslet and Midas blenny definitely didn't help those numbers. They were too big for the tank due to bad advice from LFS. IF my tank has a clean bill of health I might get a firefish and that is it. But not for a year at least.

My numbers have swung in the past where my nitrates reached 20+ at some points. I guess when I used flatworm x at one point I didn't get all of the flatworms. Probably cause a mean spike.

The refugium has yet to prove itself effective. I was hoping it would house pods but... who knows.

The spreadsheet lists what is currently in the tank on the right hand side.

 

[BanjoBandito]

OK, this helps. Sorry - again, I am late to the ball game. So the main issue is that you had 'something' kill fish pretty quickly. If you want a refugium on that tank, you should look up how guys do it with breeder boxes or some other HOB type filter setup. It's pretty slick. I'm not sure it's necessary though. What is your goal for this tank? Do you have like certain livestock you are aiming for?

 

[DannoOMG]

OK, this helps. Sorry - again, I am late to the ball game. So the main issue is that you had 'something' kill fish pretty quickly. If you want a refugium on that tank, you should look up how guys do it with breeder boxes or some other HOB type filter setup. It's pretty slick. I'm not sure it's necessary though. What is your goal for this tank? Do you have like certain livestock you are aiming for?

I would just like to grow corals successfully. No SPS, no Acros, just a few LPS and Zoas and some green star polyp. When that rock goes through it's cycle in teh tank I might get one more coral to place in a high light/flow area on the new scape. I dunno.

I'm not super happy with the scape so that is why I am adding a big rock piece. The original scape was put together with some reef putty. That fell apart in the long run.

 

[BanjoBandito]

So softies and some LPS, perfectly doable. Ok I’m up to speed. I’ve taken a lot of lumps with small tanks. If you have questions I can try and help you.

 

[DannoOMG]

Added the hunk of rockwork to the tank to give the tank a little more scenery.

I bleach bathed it for 2 days with a little power head circulating the water.
Then I rinsed it and soaked it for a day with water conditioner with the power head running.
Then I took it to work and used these ovens we use to terminate fiber optic connectors, made a tent with some plastic and baked it for 8 hours at 110 degrees F. It was as dry as a bone.

At this point right now I am only going to do water changes every week and feed reef roids twice a week and phytoplakton every other day to keep my cocoworm happy. (hes ticked) I'll pick at GHA when I do the water change but I am tired of stressing over this. Whatever happens is something I will just accept. Hopefully things grow.