Mixed Reef Fluval Evo 13.5 with Natural Sea Water

[jfoahs04]

I’ve been waiting on my LFS to get some in. I told him I wanted two. Then I got nervous that if they weren’t male/female, they might fight and kill each other. Still of the fence if it is worth the risk. I would hate to lose one or both, after waiting all this time to get them.

I don't think there are any issues with having two (or more) together in groups regardless of sex. The only thing I've heard of is some minor aggression when adding a new one to a tank that has an established territory as they can get a little territorial. But nothing very serious at all. These guys have been together in my tank for almost 4 months. I even considered adding another just so I can see more of them. They don't interact much (except for mating and the occasional minor chase like the one in that video).

I believe there's a way to tell the sexes apart that you might be able to do at your LFS when they get some in stock. I ordered mine from Reefcleaners.org and John gave me a male and a female. If you went that route, you could ask. He did the same with my sexy shrimp.

 

[jfoahs04]

So I introduced me newest (and definitely last) fish 2 weeks ago. His name is Goober, the Yellow Watchman Goby. Last week, I got a buddy for him - a Randall’s Pistol Shrimp. This is my first experience with either creature and I absolutely love them. Goober was very shy (barely saw him) the first week and a half at home. But when I added the shrimp (I dropped it right in front of Goob’s hole), they paired instantly. Goober is pretty young (he’s only about 1.5 inches), so hopefully he’ll color up as he grows. The shrimp is TINY. Less than an inch long.

They’re still camera shy, but they’re out most of the day now. And they’re definitely tunneling a lot. Such a cool relationship.

 

[rmorris_14]

Hope you aren’t particular about your sandbed and how it’s arranged. Cool addition

 

[jfoahs04]

Hope you aren’t particular about your sandbed and how it’s arranged. Cool addition

Oh yes... he's already done some serious rearranging!

 

[jfoahs04]

Another Green Slimer growth update. I’ve always known this coral to be among the fastest growing acros out there. That’s not at all the case in my reef. It’s definitely basing out a bit more, branches are growing thicker, and new corallites are shooting out on the thicker branches (visible in pics below). But it’s very slow compared to some of my other acros. Especially the Upscales Microlades (shooting up new branches like crazy), Red Planet (basing out fast and shooting new branches), and PC Rainbow (basing out and coloring up nicely).

Slimer - Today (left) vs January 2022 (right):

Upscales Microlados:

PC Rainbow:

Red Planet:

 

[najer]

Nice, where are your alk, cal and mag?

 

[jfoahs04]

Nice, where are your alk, cal and mag?

Thanks! Alk is 8.0, Calcium is 420, and Magnesium is 1320. I had been running Alk at 7.0 since that's what the seawater I'm collecting is by default. Coral was growing fine, but I wanted a bit of a cushion/ margin for testing errors and slight changes. I add some 2-part to my fresh collected bucket of seawater and maintain the tank with All-For-Reef. The calcium and magnesium are default natural seawater levels and hold fairly steady with the A4R.

 

[jfoahs04]

Does anyone who has installed the Sicce Syncra 0.5 have any tips for getting it to fit into Chamber 3?

I've been running the stock pump since day 1. I did purchase the Sicce about 6 months ago thinking I'd probably upgrade the pump, but I never really felt the need to change it. I also have a $13 Vivosun pump that I picked up off of Amazon as an an emergency backup and a water change pump. Well, my stock pump crapped out on me last night. No surprise, it had been giving me trouble for a bit and I assumed the end was near.

The issue was that I went to swap it with the Sicce, and I can't seem to get it to fit past the little lip toward the bottom middle of the chamber. It will not go. After about 45 minutes of trying I quit and threw the Vivosun in there. I've googled and many people mention that it's "tricky" to get past the lip, but this feels borderline impossible to me. I'm kind of at a loss because I'd prefer to use the Sicce and keep the Vivosun as a backup. So I'm open to ideas...

 

[najer]

Can't help as I have an Eheim 600 in mine, hope someone chimes up.

 

[rmorris_14]

Does anyone who has installed the Sicce Syncra 0.5 have any tips for getting it to fit into Chamber 3?

I've been running the stock pump since day 1. I did purchase the Sicce about 6 months ago thinking I'd probably upgrade the pump, but I never really felt the need to change it. I also have a $13 Vivosun pump that I picked up off of Amazon as an an emergency backup and a water change pump. Well, my stock pump crapped out on me last night. No surprise, it had been giving me trouble for a bit and I assumed the end was near.

The issue was that I went to swap it with the Sicce, and I can't seem to get it to fit past the little lip toward the bottom middle of the chamber. It will not go. After about 45 minutes of trying I quit and threw the Vivosun in there. I've googled and many people mention that it's "tricky" to get past the lip, but this feels borderline impossible to me. I'm kind of at a loss because I'd prefer to use the Sicce and keep the Vivosun as a backup. So I'm open to ideas...

Sorry, I’ve never tried to Install that pump yet. It’s strange that you are having an issue because on all the threads I have read about this tank, people are constantly using that pump and recommending it for an upgrade. I tried to search the web for maybe a similar issue and wasn’t able to find anything. Is it the feet that are getting hung up on the lip or the entire body of the pump won’t fit?

 

[jfoahs04]

Thank you both. I’ve seen several posts (like this one) mentioning that it requires some shimmying, but nothing saying it’s impossible. A lot of people do use it so I have to be the issue, not the tank/pump. I can’t get the body past the lip (the feet are fine) no matter how much I try. I’ll have to try again or see if I can find a video or something. I think part of my issue is that my tank is on my kitchen counter and a cabinet overhangs part of the chamber. So it’s tough to get a lot of leverage.

 

[jfoahs04]

I grabbed a couple of shots just before "sundown" last night. I know that good reefers are supposed to have a "plan" when they start a tank, but I did not (at least not beyond just using exclusively natural sea water). I've spend the last 6 months or so really working on getting SPS (specifically the acros) to take off and I've had some relative success on that front (as well as a few losses).

But I've always been a fan of zoas, and while I never had a solid coral plan, having a variety of zoas at lower levels of the tank was always on my mind. And even though I'm spending a disproportionate amount of time on my sticks, I still love the way the zoas are filling in. Here's my little "zoa garden." The Eagle Eyes (at least that's what I think they are - the orange skirts in the bottom right) were actually in my tank on day 1. a couple of polyps came on that piece of live rock. They haven't grown super fast, but they've done well and weathered some rough patches.

And some other shots from last night:

 

[jfoahs04]

It's been a mixed few weeks with my tank. On the not so great side of things, my blenny appears to be having some stomach issues which I've outlined in this thread. I'm hoping it's something I can treat (or better yet, will go away on its own).

I also lost one of my my acro frags - my maleficent. I've been on an ongoing quest to increase PAR to color some of my SPS for the past several months. I started by slowly boosting the intensity of my AI Prime. Then over the course of a month and a half, I moved the light twice - an inch closer to the water each time. I used acclimation mode when I increased the intensity and the first time I moved the light closer to the water. The second time I moved the light, I forgot to turn on acclimation mode. i believe I shocked some of the coral. The maleficent (one of my newest frags) started to STN within a week. My Indo Milli still seems irritated (polyps retracted during the day, but color is fine) and I'd say it's a tossup whether or not it survives. My Red Planet looked a little annoyed too, but it seems to be rebounding fine. Everything else is fine. In about 3 months, I've gone from about 230 PAR at the top of my green slimer to nearly 400 PAR. The loss (hopefully it remains only one) is frustrating though. Hopefully the color and growth improvements in other coral make up for the loss.

But... the good news - I finally got the Sicce to fit. It really was a leverage issue for me (that chamber is at an awkward angle and under a cabinet), but it's in and working beautifully (pic below for proof). You'll not that the return line isn't secure - I pulled it off when wedging the thing in there. The silver lining is that it gave me an opportunity to immediately retest my ability to fit it in the chamber. Great success.

Also, my Green Slimer has noticeably started to grow really fast. I'll post my monthly slimer growth update next week. I think it appreciated the increase in light intensity.

 

[jfoahs04]

A couple of updates:

1) Last week's mystery of the blenny with the lumpy stomach seems to be solved. It was constipated. REALLY constipated. It started acting a little better over the weekend and also started pooping. A lot. The poor thing was probably incredibly uncomfortable. Updates with pics in this thread (warning: includes photos of fish-length poop). I'll keep watching for secondary issues, but I feel a lot better today (and I'm sure the blenny does too)

2) Monthly Green Slimer growth update. After 7 months in the tank, I finally feel comfortable saying that this thing is taking off. Most of the growth was really just thickening of the base and branches (which you can see in the side by side). Even without obvious growth, it was clear that it's a lot thicker than it was when I first put it in the tank. But now it's clearly shooting up new branches. I'm excited to see how fast they grow. If it's anything like the digitata (partially in these photos), it should be quick (new left, old right):

 

[rmorris_14]

A couple of updates:

1) Last week's mystery of the blenny with the lumpy stomach seems to be solved. It was constipated. REALLY constipated. It started acting a little better over the weekend and also started pooping. A lot. The poor thing was probably incredibly uncomfortable. Updates with pics in this thread (warning: includes photos of fish-length poop). I'll keep watching for secondary issues, but I feel a lot better today (and I'm sure the blenny does too)

The "poop fireworks ended". I wish the poop fireworks would put an end to the regular fireworks people are STILL SETTING OFF. Anyways, I'm happy to see it resolved! Such a neat little dude.

2) Monthly Green Slimer growth update. After 7 months in the tank, I finally feel comfortable saying that this thing is taking off. Most of the growth was really just thickening of the base and branches (which you can see in the side by side). Even without obvious growth, it was clear that it's a lot thicker than it was when I first put it in the tank. But now it's clearly shooting up new branches. I'm excited to see how fast they grow. If it's anything like the digitata (partially in these photos), it should be quick (new left, old right):

NICE!

 

[jfoahs04]

The "poop fireworks ended". I wish the poop fireworks would put an end to the regular fireworks people are STILL SETTING OFF. Anyways, I'm happy to see it resolved! Such a neat little dude.

NICE!

Thanks! I do love that little fish.

 

[jfoahs04]

I meant to post this yesterday but there was a lot already. While we were gone last weekend, it looks like one of my hermits found a new shell. Unfortunately, that shell belonged to my largest (of 3) nassarius snails.

I don’t THINK it was cold blooded murder. This snail was the newest and had been in the tank since February. Over the past few weeks it had been acting a little strange (above the sand during the day, not moving much). I also have a bunch of empty shells (including many this size) scattered around the tank. So my guess is that it died and the crabs fed on it and one took the shell. But who knows. In any case, RIP Vespucci and I hope the crab enjoys the new home. This is actually my first snail loss since starting the tank.

 

[rmorris_14]

I meant to post this yesterday but there was a lot already. While we were gone last weekend, it looks like one of my hermits found a new shell. Unfortunately, that shell belonged to my largest (of 3) nassarius snails.

I don’t THINK it was cold blooded murder. This snail was the newest and had been in the tank since February. Over the past few weeks it had been acting a little strange (above the sand during the day, not moving much). I also have a bunch of empty shells (including many this size) scattered around the tank. So my guess is that it died and the crabs fed on it and one took the shell. But who knows. In any case, RIP Vespucci and I hope the crab enjoys the new home. This is actually my first snail loss since starting the tank.

Is it a blue leg hermit?

 

[jfoahs04]

Is it a blue leg hermit?

Yep. I have 4 in here.

 

[rmorris_14]

Yep. I have 4 in here.

For now .......



You are right, it probably wasn't Cold blooded murder. My murder hermit has yet to go after my nassarius snails. It was probably opportunistic like you said, and now it wants to wear its victory.