New Fluval 13.5 nano build

[StevieGM]

Hi,
My first post and I am starting a new tank. Very excited.
5 days ago my wife authorized a new tank for my in home office.
By the time she got home from work the tank was assembled on a stand and had a 2" live sand bed
12 pounds of live rock from my 4 year old reef tank new pre mixed salt water from my lfs and a dead shimp in a perforated container floating in it.

I chose the fluval because i really liked the design ant the price was right.
I am planning a nanobox mini tide for it down the road but the stock light is fine for now.
My only concern is about the water movement, I believe I need to increase it.

My plans are for soft corals mostly and 2 fish and a CUC.
For the fish I am thinking 1 yellow clown goby and 1 white banded possum wrasse.

Took my first ammonia reading today .50+

I am looking forward to sharing thoughts and ideas about reef keeping and happy to be part of this forum

 

[Fishyj]

First off welcome to R2R. I have the same tank and I love it. On my tank, chamber 1 (intake) has my filter in it. In chamber 2, I took out the original filter and now holds my heater and my fill line from my ato. In the last chamber, I went with a mj1200 pump, hydor smart ato, anda temp probe. The only problem I had with the pump was it had some vibration because of the space. On the original pump, the problem I had with that was it blocked up on the intake side with debris which slowed the output. On the light I wanted to keep the top so I used a nano box retro from a bc29 and was able to mount it on he light strip.

 

[Chrisfish]

Congratulations on your new set up, btw we love pictures :)

 

[StevieGM]

Thank you for the welcome

Ammonia still at .50+ but shrimp is disgusting. Changing to an ammonia dose method.

put in 2 tsp waited an hour and took a reading 6.0. Cooking now.

Dosing daily with stability

I have two nanobox mini tides on my 37 gallon tank and love them. I am planning on a custom retrofit from Dave in about 6 months

I am looking for thoughts on a koralia 240 power head

 

[Midknightskie]

That looks great, not trying to highjack but how do you like it so far? I was thinking of setting that up for a QT tank.

 

[StevieGM]

I like the size and the layout. Also it looks good up on its pedestal.
Some things I will change over time are the pump (upgrade to lifegard 800), I will add a power head (koralia 240) and I am going to modify the hood to hide the power head wire and try to get a retrofit from nanobox for lighting.
These are things that I can do over time and in the meanwhile I can just enjoy the tank because it works fine straight right out of the box.

 

[StevieGM]

Changed to ammonia dosing 2 tsp waited 1 hour reading is 6.0+ Still dosing with seachem stability daily. Patience is required!

Meanwhile my 37 gallon reef is doing very well
.50 nitrates
ph 8.0
temp 78 degrees
waiting for alkalinity test kit and phosphate test kit but test strip says ideal so I am hopeful

I will post pic of it tomorrow

 

[StevieGM]

Probably should have given run down on 37 gallon

Recycled older tank 30" long 22" high 12" deep
live rock and sand bed
Esshops 150 hob skimmer
CPR aqua fuge 2 hob w/live rock rubble live sand and excellent pod colony
Large cannister for flow and media
2 hydor koralia I think they are 650 gph
1 hydor 425 gph
2 heaters
2 nanobox mini tide plus m
eggcrate top
1 ton of love and care
1 clowh
1 dottyback
1 starfish
1 tuxedo blue urchin
and an ever changing CUC

 

[MermaidTail]

Awesome little nano. I have the koralia 240 in my 6g and it's great!

 

[mikee002]

Nice tank. I was looking at the IM Nuvo 10, maybe I'll have to research this one as well. How are the stock LEDs for coral? I'd just be looking to use it as a coral QT tank.

 

[StevieGM]

They are pretty bright and they look good they say 14k temp. Should be fine for short term quarantine

 

[StevieGM]

Photo of my 37 gallon reef

 

[StevieGM]

First blush of nitrite in my new nano, showing some pink. Yay!

 

[Mikedawg]

Just added a Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0 to both of my Evo's and dialed the flow down a little; much better than stock pump and fit easily with a little maneuvering - no modifications required.

 

[StevieGM]

seems like a good idea and not too costly. I just put in my koralia 240 power head but I would still like to increase the pump flow

 

[StevieGM]

Tested my water in both tanks and my dkh is 12.0 I am using imagitarium water from petco which also has a dkh of 12.0.
My ph is at 8.4.
Should i try the seltzer water method to try to lower dkh to between 8 and 9.5

 

[StevieGM]

For Zoas & Palys there are mixed opinions on dkh liveaquaria says 8-12, vivid says 8-9.5, and reading threads says 8-12.
This has resulted in extreme confusion.

 

[StevieGM]

I buy water because I have no place to make it. No man cave, no fish room.
Is there water that anyone has heard of?

 

[Frop]

I buy water because I have no place to make it. No man cave, no fish room.
Is there water that anyone has heard of?

I've heard of water :)

Not sure what you mean. Usually people use RO/DI or RO/DI+salt brand. I'm using HW Marinemix.

 

[Frop]

For Zoas & Palys there are mixed opinions on dkh liveaquaria says 8-12, vivid says 8-9.5, and reading threads says 8-12.
This has resulted in extreme confusion.

I think it's low dKh low nutrients or high nuetrients with high dKh but not low nutrients high dKh. I keep my dKh low because I don't have a computer to watch the levels and dose when needed