Matri961’s first saltwater tank

[matrix961]

This is my very first saltwater tank. I decided to go with a nano tank so I can get a feel for it before going all in on a bigger tank.

Fluval Evo 13.5 gallon AIO
Stock pump
Fluval M50 heater
Inkbird ITC-308s heater controller
Fluval PS2 Protein Skimmer
Intank chamber 2 basket
Sicce voyager nano 1000
Hygger mini wave maker 1600
Fluval marine 3.0 light
BN-Link 6 socket Wi-Fi smart power strip
Caribsea Arag-Alive sand
Caribsea Aragonite
Dry live rock
Pacific Ocean boxed water

The initial setup was fairly quick and using the boxed ocean water made it easy since it’s a nano tank and didn’t need much. I put in the sand with a layer of aragonite on top since I noticed the sand was super fine and didn’t want it blowing around. I wanted the benefit of the live sand for a bio filter. Thinking back I could have done it a bit different tho, maybe not so thick for this size tank.

I chose to set it up with the pump and heater in the first chamber on the left, the media basket in the middle chamber, and the skimmer in the right chamber. I also used the plug that came with the intank basket to plug the lower intake hole.

I mounted the heater controller and the wave maker controller on the end to try and keep things neat. I also tried to manage cables the best I could. Disregard the displays, they don’t show correctly through the camera.

I upgraded the light to the Fluval marine 3.0. I chose this because I wanted to keep the hood and it fit well.

I also went further by cutting a notch in the hood on the right side to make it fit better.

Altough not pictured I setup the smart power strip with the app on my phone so now I can switch off each piece of equipment for maintenance. Better than trying to pull plugs when needed.

My water parameters seem stable so far, not fluctuating much. I’m keeping the tank around 78 degrees. During the setup I also added Bio Spira but that’s it. Trying to do some research on what’s best to start with as far as livestock goes.

Tank parameters the last several days.
High Range pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Calcium - 360
Carbonate Hardness - 196.9
Phosphate - 0.2
Salinity 1.025

I’m testing with the API saltwater and reef test kits.

I’d love to hear any suggestions.

 

[blaxsun]

Looks great so far!

 

[Nebunu]

Any updates on the tank?

 

[matrix961]

Any updates on the tank?

Sorry for the delayed response. Yeah it’s going good. Got 2 clown Fish, Green Star Polyp, peppermint shrimp, and a couple of zoa frags. I have some red cyano in the sand and on the rocks. Currently researching the best treatment. I only feed twice a week and have done a few water changes. I might have to resort to using the chemiclean I ordered.

Overall I love this tank and enjoy learning what I can.

 

[matrix961]

Had to remove rocks and rid the tank of the green hair algae that took over. It was a mess. Not sure why it took hold. I only feed the fish 6 tiny pellets a week and target feed the corals once a week. I was dosing this coralife A & B stuff for nano tanks. Supposed to add trace elements that reefs need or so it says. Maybe that did it? Here it is now all nice and cleaned up. Gonna see what happens now. I reduced the sand bed and put new rock in. Gonna scrub the old rock and keep it for later use. Also added a few more astrea snails to help with algae.

Before

 

[matrix961]

Update since January. So I also added cheato in chamber 3 under the skimmer. It’s been in there since early February. Mid February I saw some algae trying to grow again but now it’s all gone and nothing new showing up. Fingers crossed but it’s looking real good compared to before.

Here is the cheato under the skimmer.