My 'Get back in the hobby' Fluval EVO 5... Feedback always requested :)

russell.dexter

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Hey guys,

Here is the little pico that has plunged me back into the hobby. I will post my pics and journey here and am constantly looking for advice- the hobby has changed a lot in my long absence lol.

AIO is a fluval evo 5- I have already upgraded the pump to a Mini MJ 606 with an inTank surface skimmer attachment and chamber plug so I should now be filtering all of the water. The flow before this upgrade was a trickle at best- and the difference in the amount of surface skim and amount of water flowing through the chamber is incredible. I am still using the stock sponge filter insert but have replaced the carbon with a Chemipure blue nano sized bag. (I should change this once a month right?) I rinse out this sponge filter assembly thoroughly during every water change (using aquarium water). I do not have an ATO so manually top up about a 1/4 of distilled water every evening. I still have stock lighting.

I started with some live rock and finished the cycle in about three weeks. Dusting of sand for the substrate that I rake around every other day. So far I have only been testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate- now all at 0. (First question is to recommend a decent test kit- the lfs here only stocks the api dip strips and I know they probably aren't that accurate. Being in the islands I have to mail order anything 'fancier.')

I change roughly 95% of the water weekly with sea water I collect from right off of the native reef. I am using an old fashioned swing arm hydrometer and it is measuring at 1.028 -1 .029; but I have posted in the chemistry forum and agree with others that my hydrometer is probably reading high. Nevertheless I am keeping the salinity in the tank at 1.028 until my mail order refractometer comes. I am slightly concerned that I am running too high a salinity but don't really want to mess with anything until I am sure that those readings are correct. (And even then- if my NSW is stable and I am replacing 95% a week anyway- I don't really want to fiddle with diluting etc...)

Since the tank has cycled I have added the four frags in the pictures you see- I know that one is an acan and one is GSP, I think the other is a random sort of paly- but any I.D's or tips on placement would be really appreciated. I assume they are fairly happy since they are mostly open.

The little beau gregory (Stegastes leucostictus) is wild caught from a tide pool (I can do that here without a permit) and he is about a half inch long- he can always go back to his pool when he gets a bit bigger. He was picking at the paly (zoa?) when I first glued it to the rock, but since seems to be satisfied it is not edible, lol

I have discovered that I have a nano sized brittle star- which I am sure is reef safe; but I also took a look in the middle of the night last night with a spotlight and saw TWO emerald crabs. I am worried they will eat my polyps and frags- should I remove them immediately? They are tiny, but they will grow. (Should I feed nori?) My live rock also has a bit of lesser starlet coral on it- of course the light may not be able to support such an sps but I read on the web they are pretty resilient.

Any tips on the test kit, (which params should I be testing in such a set-up) I.D's for my frags; advice on the emeralds, dosing / supplement advice and any other tips or suggestions would be so appreciated.

I am also already thinking about a 20g high upgrade- but am committed to just this pico for six months or so. (But we all know how MTS works)


Thanks a lot!

Dexter

:)

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Specific Ocean

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Either Red Sea or Salifert. If you wanna spend the few extra dollars, go the digital route and check out Hanna

Brittle stars are fine but they do grow fairly large. If there's enough left over food to be scavenged, you'll be fine

As far as basic testing goes, you really just need to test for nitrate, salinity, pH and monitor temperature. But always a good idea to check on ammonia if something looks off in the tank (heavy breathing, etc)

Then there's testing water parameters for corals. You want to test for alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and phosphates.

There's a more to say so just ask if a question pops up. Plenty of knowledgeable people here
 
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Either Red Sea or Salifert. If you wanna spend the few extra dollars, go the digital route and check out Hanna

Brittle stars are fine but they do grow fairly large. If there's enough left over food to be scavenged, you'll be fine

As far as basic testing goes, you really just need to test for nitrate, salinity, pH and monitor temperature. But always a good idea to check on ammonia if something looks off in the tank (heavy breathing, etc)

Then there's testing water parameters for corals. You want to test for alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and phosphates.

There's a more to say so just ask if a question pops up. Plenty of knowledgeable people here
Thanks a lot for the above. I'll mail order a set of salifert tests.

Tank ranges 78- 81 degrees at ambient temperature. I know the 81 is a tad high based on forum guidance- but it has been consistently between those numbers so I'm hoping that works. Everything continues to look happy... GSP is fully open tonight. (Although they seem to close when the light goes off- I can't remember them doing that.

The upside to all of this is I haven't had to run a heater yet lol
 
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Here's my rose coral (Manicina areolata)... Anyone on here had one of these before? I've placed it low and in an area of fairly mild flow and it seems fairly happy so far

Thanks for any feedback
 

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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Update on rhe pico...

It's in the ugly phase! Cyno all over the sanded. Tomorrow is water change day so I'll manually remove as much as I can.

Mail order tests STILL not here to check params. Hopefully this week coming. Salinity is at 1.027 and I've decided not to mess with it - I still change out about 90% every week with NSW I collect.

Mail ordered some superman's but they still won't open all the way (been in the tank for two days).... We will see what happens.
 

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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Got half of my test kits in the mail today.... Red Sea

Calcium at 400
Magnesium at 1200
KH at 9.0

Using NSW that has ended up being consistently at 1.027

I will test again the night before the weekly 90% water change and then of course the NSW.

Coralline algae is really coming along, and of course I am only keeping softies. (Excluding the one rose coral)

Glad to finally have the ability to test the params though!

Bad cyno on the sand bed- I keep stirring and raking but is so unsightly- my GSP has also been a little temperamental lately, but lots of new growth in the mat so I won't worry too much.

What is your opinion on the water changes- it's a five gallon so there isn't a lot of difference between changing 20% vs 90%. Any feedback?n
 

Island Reef 242

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Cool, another Bahamian reefer.

First off, don't expect to keep any other fish peacefully with that damsel in there, once you find a nicer fish you will have to release him. I have even had Sargent majors (another type of damsel fish) fight each other to death, although if you have a bunch of them they get along better.

I only do about a 40% water change every week or two, and haven't tested anything in a very long time. With large frequent water changes in a small tank you will replenish anything used up by the corals, and dilute anything bad that might be building up in your tank.

How is the rose coral doing, I tried to keep one a while ago but it didn't last long. I have finally been able to grow some stony coal recently so might try the rose again, they are always washing up around my house.

A couple hermit crabs might help with the cyano and any GHA that will show up eventually. My emerald crabs haven't messed with my corals, but you always want to keep an eye on everything, temperaments can change. I also have a Sea Cucumber, they are great at cleaning, and even though he is big I hardly ever see him.

Keep us updated, and maybe when the water warms up we could go collecting together.
 
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Hey @Island Reef 242,

Yes! There don't seem to be too many of us!

Thank you for the feedback - it's just a five gallon so I am planning on just keeping the single damsel for now. And you are right about him being aggressive- he sizes me up every time I come near the tank. I am already wanting a bigger set-up though.

The rose coral is doing really well I think, I feed it every other night with some formula one pellets when it's tentacles are extended. It's colour looks really good.

I have been doing about 90% water changes every week and the Mg, Alk and Calcium seem to be within normal parameters. I agree with you though, doing large water changes with the NSW we both collect will replace anything the corals use up. I may actually cutback a bit and do a 50% change weekly as long as the numbers stay in line.

I have one too many emerald crabs and will try to remove one on the next water change.

Definitely interested in searching for corals together. Thanks a lot for the tips!
 
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Quick update on the build;

Finally got my test kits in after several weeks of delays. My parameters are really good even before water changes I think:

Magnesium: 1520
Calcium: 440
KH: 10.2
Nitrate: 20
Salinity: 1.026

It's all softies (with the exception of the rose coral) and with the volume of water changes I do (90% weekly) I figured the params would have been okay.

I think I am going to start with 2 gallon water changes instead every week mostly because it's a little easier to carry two one gallon bottles to the ocean to refill rather than a five gallon pail. Now that I can test I feel better about smaller water changes.

I am still slightly worried about salinity fluctuations, the NSW I collect is about 1.027, but occasionally can be as low as 1.025 or as high as 1.028. The last few changes I have made sure to adjust the salinity to 1.026 using distilled water, but I am thinking that it will keeps the parameters more stable to swamp out two gallons at a time versus the 4.9 or so.

Any feedback on weekly smaller water changes with sand bed vacuum?

I have been having a really bad cyno outbreak in the sand-bed along with issues with an increasingly aggressive emerald crab that hitchhiked on some of my live rock. I realized I would have to tear down to catch the crab so I decided to do a sand rinse as well last night. My super small sand bed was full of detritus and I rinsed with tank water until it ran (mostly) clear and put most of it back in the tank. I am now left with my one tiny emerald, a nano brittle star and a Cittarium pica. (Still only a single juvenile damsel in the way of fish) Hoping that will help with the cyno. I have been reading a lot of pico and tank rinse threads and decided to give it a shot.

Everything was pi$$$d off for a bit, but all the polyps are now open and happy this afternoon it looks like.
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(Collected some native zoas as well that look really happy)

I have also recently added an ato that has made topping off a lot easier, and I hope will help with my fluctuating salinity issues.

Feedback always welcome!
 
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Things continue to go well- the tank looks a whole lot better since the massive sand rinse.

Salinity steady at 1.026 and my new collected corals (encrusted white zao, corky finger and some sort of native zoas) look happy!
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russell.dexter

russell.dexter

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Been a very long time since an update!

Reef has been chugging along and I've added a few more zoas and softies, moving stuff around to find out where they like best.

I am still not the happiest with the growth rate- parameters seem stable enough and I still swap put over 50% of the water in this pico weekly- but things are only growing slowly.

Temp is consistent 78F, salinity is 1.026,

Any feedback would be great!


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I don't know why anyone hasn't posted on your build... I think it's neat
 

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