fire/medic
Community Member
The longwindedstory so far…
This is my first attempt at anything salt water. I’ve had the tank set up for about a month now. The tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5. Mostly stock. My thought process was start small, see how it goes, then go big. I know smaller tanks are more maintenance intensive due to how fast changes in water can snowball…but I had limited funds to invest and a wife with compromises to be made.
I bought the tank from a LFS, along with some already cycled live rocks, some ro/di saltwater, and some live sand. The guy talked me into buying a three striped damsel and a yellow tailed damsel. Knowing not much about reef setup, he convinced me they’d be fine. The were cheap…why not? I did talk to him about cycling the tank, having experience with that from freshwater. Again, he said I’d be fine.
Got home, got the tank set up, got the sand in, got my live rock arranged, got the water in, no issues…except one of my 5 gallon containers of water managed to spring a leak in back of my truck, so I was short a few gallons.
I went to a different local reef store this time, because, in all honesty, I was not impressed with the first one. Talk the the owner at the new reef store, awesome dude, tons of info. He asks about the setup and recommends a bottle of bacteria, Turbo Start 900. He says it should help the tank establish itself and make the whole process less painful for me and the fish. I also leave the store with two tiny clowns, two snails, and a cleaner shrimp.
Back home with the tank full, the heater in, the pump circulating, and the tank up to a cozy 78*, the fish, snails, and shrimp are introduced.
At first all seems okay. Everyone is checking the pace out. Swimming around minding their own business. Then I realize something: the damsels are jerks! They picked the smaller of the two clowns and bullied him. I went to bed he was fine. I wake up and he’s decease… Strike one for the damsels.
The tank is left alone for several days, running fine. Amonia, pH, nitrites, nitrites, salinity, and all of that stuff are right where they need to be. At this I decided to add skimmer to the setup. I got the Fluval Sea PS2. It was a royal pita to set up and tune. I fiddled with it for days. It’s a finicky little machine! After several weeks, I think I’ve finally figure it out. It’s been running smooth without over flowing the catch cup.
After Thomas Jefferson died (that was the clown, my daughter named it, I have no idea…) I decided to try another fish. A pearly jawfish. I acclimate him, get him settled in, and he disappears. I’m thinking he’s just hiding, new aquarium, ******* roommates, he’s a little freaked out. Apparently all of that was true. I found him two days later in the pump part of the aquarium. I scoop him out and back into the tank he goes. He seems okay for a bit, but the starts swimming funny, like maybe he had a spinal injury. Sick/injured fish watch ensues. He hides out in a cave. I go to be expecting to check on him in the morning. I wake up and he’s front and center…in two pieces severed directly behind the gills. I can only assume it was the damsels. Strike two!
Several days later I try again. This time with a chalk basslet. He goes in the tank, immediately starts hiding, only coming out to eat. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving I witness the three striped damsel attack him. Strike three!
Tuesday the two damsels were re-homed to the LFS. The were replaced with a small signal goby.
Thats how the tank stands now, except for adding a small (but possibly not small enough) power head, an emerald crab, two trochus snails, a brown blotch snail, and two small frags of “free to anyone that will take them” green star polyp. And the cleaner shrimp that’s been MIA for weeks. He molted and I’m betting those danged damsels for him in his fragile state.
I have a Tunze 3152 ATO in the mail as we speak. I also have a mesh lid on the way. The last bit of kit I want for now is a different light…and maybe a controllable wave maker.
TANK:
Fluval Evo 13.5
Stock pump
Stock lights
Stock filter
Fluval Sea PS2 skimmer
Aquatop MaxFlow CPS-1 power head
LIVESTOCK:
one little bitty clown
a much happier chalk basslet
one signal goby
two trochus snails
one brown blotch snail
two nerite snails
one red emerald crab
two pitiful pieces of green star polyp
Tanks current state
Tiger the Chalk Basslet
Jacques
Marty, the re-homed, but very attractive damsel.
This is my first attempt at anything salt water. I’ve had the tank set up for about a month now. The tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5. Mostly stock. My thought process was start small, see how it goes, then go big. I know smaller tanks are more maintenance intensive due to how fast changes in water can snowball…but I had limited funds to invest and a wife with compromises to be made.
I bought the tank from a LFS, along with some already cycled live rocks, some ro/di saltwater, and some live sand. The guy talked me into buying a three striped damsel and a yellow tailed damsel. Knowing not much about reef setup, he convinced me they’d be fine. The were cheap…why not? I did talk to him about cycling the tank, having experience with that from freshwater. Again, he said I’d be fine.
Got home, got the tank set up, got the sand in, got my live rock arranged, got the water in, no issues…except one of my 5 gallon containers of water managed to spring a leak in back of my truck, so I was short a few gallons.
I went to a different local reef store this time, because, in all honesty, I was not impressed with the first one. Talk the the owner at the new reef store, awesome dude, tons of info. He asks about the setup and recommends a bottle of bacteria, Turbo Start 900. He says it should help the tank establish itself and make the whole process less painful for me and the fish. I also leave the store with two tiny clowns, two snails, and a cleaner shrimp.
Back home with the tank full, the heater in, the pump circulating, and the tank up to a cozy 78*, the fish, snails, and shrimp are introduced.
At first all seems okay. Everyone is checking the pace out. Swimming around minding their own business. Then I realize something: the damsels are jerks! They picked the smaller of the two clowns and bullied him. I went to bed he was fine. I wake up and he’s decease… Strike one for the damsels.
The tank is left alone for several days, running fine. Amonia, pH, nitrites, nitrites, salinity, and all of that stuff are right where they need to be. At this I decided to add skimmer to the setup. I got the Fluval Sea PS2. It was a royal pita to set up and tune. I fiddled with it for days. It’s a finicky little machine! After several weeks, I think I’ve finally figure it out. It’s been running smooth without over flowing the catch cup.
After Thomas Jefferson died (that was the clown, my daughter named it, I have no idea…) I decided to try another fish. A pearly jawfish. I acclimate him, get him settled in, and he disappears. I’m thinking he’s just hiding, new aquarium, ******* roommates, he’s a little freaked out. Apparently all of that was true. I found him two days later in the pump part of the aquarium. I scoop him out and back into the tank he goes. He seems okay for a bit, but the starts swimming funny, like maybe he had a spinal injury. Sick/injured fish watch ensues. He hides out in a cave. I go to be expecting to check on him in the morning. I wake up and he’s front and center…in two pieces severed directly behind the gills. I can only assume it was the damsels. Strike two!
Several days later I try again. This time with a chalk basslet. He goes in the tank, immediately starts hiding, only coming out to eat. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving I witness the three striped damsel attack him. Strike three!
Tuesday the two damsels were re-homed to the LFS. The were replaced with a small signal goby.
Thats how the tank stands now, except for adding a small (but possibly not small enough) power head, an emerald crab, two trochus snails, a brown blotch snail, and two small frags of “free to anyone that will take them” green star polyp. And the cleaner shrimp that’s been MIA for weeks. He molted and I’m betting those danged damsels for him in his fragile state.
I have a Tunze 3152 ATO in the mail as we speak. I also have a mesh lid on the way. The last bit of kit I want for now is a different light…and maybe a controllable wave maker.
TANK:
Fluval Evo 13.5
Stock pump
Stock lights
Stock filter
Fluval Sea PS2 skimmer
Aquatop MaxFlow CPS-1 power head
LIVESTOCK:
one little bitty clown
a much happier chalk basslet
one signal goby
two trochus snails
one brown blotch snail
two nerite snails
one red emerald crab
two pitiful pieces of green star polyp
Tanks current state
Tiger the Chalk Basslet
Jacques
Marty, the re-homed, but very attractive damsel.
