MJSzos' Fluval Evo 13.5 Mixed Reef

[mjszos]

Hi all! Relatively new member to the forum, though I've been lurking around since I started the hobby. This tank was started in February '21 as my first foray into saltwater fish keeping. The amount that I've learned from R2R is staggering and has helped me see the success that I have so far! I'll be updating this as time goes on, hopefully with the plan to move to a 50+Gal tank and reallocate the Evo as a QT.

I recently (this past weekend) moved the tank from one side of the room off of my desk to a dedicated stand as I'd been battling a GHA issue that I believe was being compounded by the light. I have black vinyl on the back of the tank to minimize it, but I've been fighting against it. Bit the bullet and hoping this will help! Next steps are to monitor it for the next month or so to make sure my parameters stay consistent. No additional fish are going to be added as I don't want to increase my bioload, but I'll likely pick up some new frags once I'm confident it's a safe environment.

Specs:

Tank: Fluval Evo 13.5
Light: Red Sea 50
Pump: Sicce Micra
Wavemaker: Sicce Voyager Nano
Filter: Sponge w/ Carbon, Chemipure Blue, Biopellets

Livestock:

2x Oscellaris Clowns
1x Six Line Wrasse
1x Cleaner Shrimp
6x Blue Leg Hermits
2x Nassarius Snails
1x Turbo snail

1x Rainbow Ricordia
1x Torch
1x Galaxea (allegedly?)
1x Duncan
1x Hammer
1x Daisy Polyp
1x GSP

Feeding/Dosing Schedule:

I alternate Frozen Mysis and Pellets (PE Pellets) daily. I feed only once per day.
I started spot feeding the corals zooplankton a few weeks ago right about an hour before my water changes.
Dosing SeaChem Reef Fusion 1/2 once a week, but need to track my params more to see if that's enough.
Dosing Vibrant 2x a month @ half dose.

Maintenance:

30% weekly water change
Daily glass scraping
Weekly parameter testing

Thanks for taking a peek! Would love your thoughts.

 

[mjszos]

This comment will be serving as the "Update" area as well as various parameters...

9/7/21:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5ppm
Calcium: ~410
Alk: 8.7

 

[mjszos]

Build updates:

I have purchased and installed both of the InTank Media Baskets for Chamber 1 and 2. Filtration is now as follows:

Chamber 1: Floss -> Floss -> Bioballs (arriving today)
Chamber 2: Carbon -> ChemiPure Blue -> Bioballs
Chamber 3: Heater & Pump

I also purchased a few frags yesterday, but in my excitement I actually have no idea what I got.

 

[mjszos]

Unfortunately had a death yesterday, lost an oscellaris clown and I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around what had happened. Seems like it may go undiagnosed. I started a thread about it in case anybody would like to check it out or has any ideas.

Seemingly Random Fish Death - Help Me Understand What Happened?

Not entirely sure where to post this, but trying to wrap my head around what has happened. I had an oscelleris clown that I've had for 7 months pass away seemingly at random. I fed my tank this morning, everyone ate. I checked on the tank before I’d left around 2-3pm, when I’d got home I didn’t...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[suspiciouspigman]

What size ChemiPure bag do you use?

 

[lissailor]

30% weekly water changes seem like a lot. Maybe that was a contributing factor on the death?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Great tank! Looking good! Love to see another fluval 13.5!
I do 30% weekly with no problems.
Is it possible the 6 line killed it, those things are nasty.

 

[Vlad990]

Great looking tank!

 

[mjszos]

What size ChemiPure bag do you use?

I actually use the standard 5.5oz ones. It fits perfectly in the media baskets.

30% weekly water changes seem like a lot. Maybe that was a contributing factor on the death?

It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but I highly doubt it as it's been my maintenance routine since the tank was cycled. Everything else in the tank has been perfectly happy and healthy before and since.

Great tank! Looking good! Love to see another fluval 13.5!
I do 30% weekly with no problems.
Is it possible the 6 line killed it, those things are nasty.

Thank you! I love this little thing. 30% is definitely a lot don't get me wrong, but it seems to be the sweet spot I've found. Regarding the 6 line, I highly doubt it as there was 0 signs of any physical damage to the little dude. May have just been an unhealthy fish unfortunately. I've been keeping a close eye on everything else in the tank and it's thriving.

Great looking tank!

Thank you!

 

[mjszos]

Since it's been a little while since I've posted an update, here's where we're at now!

In an effort to combat my GHA problem, I picked up a pincushion urchin which hoovered the heck out of my algae... but since I have commitment issues and haven't glued frags down it's not uncommon for me to find the dude wearing a galaxea frag as a hat (see video evidence below)

I also attended Reefapalooza here in Chicago this past weekend and picked up 10 new frags!! It all happened so fast, but as my first foray into the reefing community events.. I had an absolute blast. I've been realizing that mushrooms and euphyllia are my true loves in the hobby, so that's the direction the tanks going... With that being said, I picked up 6 ricordeas, 2 torches, and 2 hammers. I apologize for the poor quality video below, my next investments will be into filters and lenses for my phone to get better quality video!

 

[GHOSTLY]

Update time!