My Daughter’s Fluval Evo 13.5 Reef

OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Cool. What does your daughter think?
She, or they, both like it a lot. But they don’t Fully grasp what it is, Understand the ecosystem, etc. I show them new things and explain. They’re 3 And 7; you know how that goes...
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Couple of pics. And an update. The beautiful Trachy did not make it. Lost feeding response and started losing flesh. My others are doing great. I almost feel like once you lose the momentum of feeding them solid foods they lose that Feeding momentum and perish. I’m feeding the remaining trach‘s twice a week and all seems good. Additionally I’ve listen to my lighting to around 14-15 Watts in total.

Few pics

3975F011-1CAC-4834-9C08-ABCAC0B9221C.jpeg
EA14D1F2-F01B-4D02-9A1B-F8974DBA663B.jpeg
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Also the first week of July I started checking for potassium, alkalinity, phosphates, and more. Everything is spot on except for phosphates they were around 1 PPM. Slowly going down an appoint .3PPM at the moment
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
End of July I picked up this other new green Trachy coral. It is doing excellent so far puffs out more than any of my other previous trach corals did.

5E6BEF87-3F6D-4F83-9A34-F7FC12F0E7A8.jpeg
D655EF41-A56B-4280-AEC0-7513C4B8ECBE.jpeg
54C5DDCE-6C24-4956-AF47-4668133D4981.jpeg
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I did learn an important lesson in regards to store bought RO water and mixed waters... Test them!

Turns out my store bought water was low in alkalinity, and high in phosphates!

Over the last three weeks or so I have been slowly weaning on to the HW MarineMix Pro Salt. So far, so good. Also, my phosphates are getting much better now as well. From about 1ppm to about .25 last I checked. Hoping to be close to 0 here in the next few days...
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I mentioned earlier that I lost a Trachy, because I am not 100% sure what happened I did get rid of my 3 hermit crabs and my cleaner shrimp in case they were digging in to the Trachy at night.

Also, everything is doing well. However, my Superman mushrooms seem to slowly be shrinking. Any thoughts on this?

Also, I did quite a bit of par testing and charting which I will share later. Pretty interesting how par is affected and also at different wattages...
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Couple of updates. I’ve bought a few more and sold a few off lately. Couple of pics.

AC74DA0F-DA27-4FF5-91EB-202577130CF3.jpeg
321CE861-BF13-4DB3-8EAD-5E30DEB94F74.jpeg
D6C4814C-E756-4A05-9F6C-770707DAC294.jpeg
FA4A23A7-7BFA-49B4-A277-6D3A16073B4B.png
CC4CDD3C-EE38-44D8-A792-FEFC4FBAB536.png
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Phosphates are about 0 now. Nitrates 20-Ish. Would like to get them down a little.

Just added This Paly and some echinatas.
B2578063-8EB4-45C6-A080-EF48333E481F.png
B4CF5D91-9338-4AA5-A51F-E3DF8A6E6973.png
14DE0BBC-87B3-4BD8-BE3A-E380A3913401.png
 

2Sunny

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 24, 2010
Messages
456
Reaction score
745
Location
Pound Ridge, NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Love your aquascape, and man, you have a beautiful collection of corals. :cool:

Couple thoughts. Hope you don't mind if an old "salt" offers some ideas. Just trying to help.

How are you controlling phosphates? Have you invested in a RO/DI unit yet? With that many corals you either need to do large weekly water changes or dose a two part. What size and how often are your water changes? Mushrooms are among the hardiest corals there are. If you are losing mushrooms and not zoas it is highly likely you are killing them with too much light. You have a lot of "expert" corals that are REALLY tough to keep in a 13.5 gallon tank with no skimmer. Acans, Lords and Chalices need super stable water parameters. That means keeping salinity spot on, phosphates and nitrates low but not zero, and alkalinity and calccium close to NSW levels with only small daily variation. Not saying it can't be done, just saying you have very high goals and are using a light that is perfectly suited for the job, but very powerful as well and easily able to over light corals.

All in all you have a beautiful selection of corals and a nice simple setup. I'd love to see it blossom into a beautiful overgrown mini-reef but you do seem to be going at lightening speed so far. Have you per chance seen this video from Jake at Reef Builders? It's one of my favorites . . . chock full of great advice:

 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Good Morning and thank you. So far it's been a fun journey.

And definitely do not mind any advice.

Phosphates- Did not know they were a problem until I started testing for them 2-3 months ago or so. Could this have been the issue with the Superman Mushroom? I traced it to the "Premium" salt water I was buying from my LFS. It was over 1ppm. Checked their RO water and it was the same. At that point I started mixing my own salt (HW MarineMix Pro) with RO water that tested excellent from a different LFS. With using a commercial phospate absorbant and salt water changes I am now down to almost 0. This has been at this level and steady for a month to 6 weeks. No Ro unit yet, but in the works.. Nitrates are usually between 10-20 and holding steady. Calcium, Potassium, salinity, and alkalinity are all remaining stable and alkalinity usually hovers around 8.5-9.0. Also, knock on wood, have never had an issue with Nitrites or Ammonia.

Additionally, I DID learn an expensive lesson as far as lighting goes. I lost a pricy Trachy. I have since checked and charted my tank's par measurements with my HD16 set up with different wattage levels. It now seems my Trachys inflate crazy, with around 75-85 par. The HD16 is set way low to only 16 watts, 1/4 of its rated power I believe. Mushrooms and Zoa's seem happier too, growing and making babies :) This could be the lighting or lower wattage.

I do have an anomaly however, the zoas are bright and colorful, and even growing. However, their "stalks" seem more elongated and longer that many I see online. Wondering... more light and/or move them up higher in the tank maybe???

I'll admit I do not understand all the chemistry of the tank yet... Still learning. Also, really thinking of going up in size to maybe a 30 gallon. I suspect it will be stable so I'm not maintaining things as often as I do now..

I'll check out the vin in a few too, Thanks!

Love your aquascape, and man, you have a beautiful collection of corals. :cool:

Couple thoughts. Hope you don't mind if an old "salt" offers some ideas. Just trying to help.

How are you controlling phosphates? Have you invested in a RO/DI unit yet? With that many corals you either need to do large weekly water changes or dose a two part. What size and how often are your water changes? Mushrooms are among the hardiest corals there are. If you are losing mushrooms and not zoas it is highly likely you are killing them with too much light. You have a lot of "expert" corals that are REALLY tough to keep in a 13.5 gallon tank with no skimmer. Acans, Lords and Chalices need super stable water parameters. That means keeping salinity spot on, phosphates and nitrates low but not zero, and alkalinity and calccium close to NSW levels with only small daily variation. Not saying it can't be done, just saying you have very high goals and are using a light that is perfectly suited for the job, but very powerful as well and easily able to over light corals.

All in all you have a beautiful selection of corals and a nice simple setup. I'd love to see it blossom into a beautiful overgrown mini-reef but you do seem to be going at lightening speed so far. Have you per chance seen this video from Jake at Reef Builders? It's one of my favorites . . . chock full of great advice:

 

revhtree

Owner Administrator
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
47,602
Reaction score
85,990
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Sweet little tank!
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Will try an update with Par reading charts with different wattages and different programs later tonight..
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Happy Trachy... feel like I’m starting to figure these guys out.

5835979B-195F-4505-B8FD-3A88201C8618.jpeg
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So, I haven't cleaned this up yet. But it is a rough draft of par measurements on the AI Prime 16HD. This is a slightly Modified AB+. The far left is measurements at 16 watts, center is 20 watts, then 24 watts. SB is sandbed. Then I measure incrementally up every 3 inches.. Pretty neat how you can see the measurements increase with wattage and/or height in the tank. Additionally, wattage seemed to matter most in relation to Par values... What I mean by that is many of the other settings the Par measurements were similar with the same wattages.

I'll post some of the other settings/measurements later too..
 
OP
OP
5

56cbr600rr

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 12, 2020
Messages
195
Reaction score
216
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not exactly sure what’s going on, maybe it’s the supplementation, but it seems this Acan is coloring up nicely. Growing new heads too.
5C80F0B3-C494-46B4-9976-E349F4437AFE.jpeg
541D46B0-4774-4B1D-8FD5-4373E09113D8.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top