New Member here! Hope its a great experience! Names Jeff!

Foggy Pirate

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Hello Everyone my names Jeff and am new to the reefing community. I went to school for aquaculture and fisheries and this is my first dive into it personally. (Not using university money or equipment) Also my area was not in reefs or tropical fish. So this is quite new to me however i have always loved reefs and am diving into it. I have an Evo 13.5, and this is much different than the setup i had designed in the past. I am familiar with using sumps and iv found it stressful working in such a small back chambers. I’m waiting for an organ transplant and am currently not working... my sister was very nice and got me this tank which she had no understanding of any of the research iv done. So while this isent the ideal set up for me, beggars cant be choosers and I’m going to have to make what i have work as best i can for me.


I want to keep both fish and corals in here, maybe not SPS because as far as flow I’m struggling with the grain size of the sand and it moving around with my minimal flow. I have many questions to ask that I’m sure i will break up and post in the proper areas... some along the lines of...


-Filter chamber set ups.... moving the skimmer to second chamber and media basket in the first as to try to clean up the flow of these back 3 chambers that in my opinion is less than ideal.


  • how to determine the amount of flow, the stock pump is alright but putting a larger pump in caused the temp to increase, so i put the stock in there and got a 240 wave maker. Not sure if this is enough flow for moderate corals.
  • What kinda live stock are my options. I believe there’s a fine line between 10-30 gallons and lots of stocking options air toward 30 gallons. However i def want a fire fish and it will be perfect for 10 gallons, i like friendly fish so he’s a must from what i understand.
  • Some cycling questions
  • And making the best tank i can with the least amount of mistakes because as i said i cant work and $ is an issue so no making wasteful mistakes.




As you all can see i have many questions, many of which I’m confidant can be answered by people with experience. That’s why i joined and i hope to make some friends that can help me out on my adventure with this.


Here is a picture of my tank thus far, its 20 days into the cycle with Microbactor and ammonia.
Black Spot Reef

D84D6469-57BD-4108-B180-9B649E781CA9.jpeg
 

GoReefin

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There are several upgrades you can do with the 13.5 I'd upgrade the pump and the lights. Maybe look into a hang on the back refugium or turn one of the chambers into one. You can have a custom glass lid made with some clips to hold it onto the top of the tank. I use an AI prime 16hd. Works great and can grow anything with it.

As far as fish go there are several lists available for nano feer fish. Personally I like the possum wrasses, pink streak wrasse which would be suitable for your tank. I'd stay away from other wrasses including the 6 line as they can get large and aggressive.

Coral wise I have lps, softies and anemones in mine with good growth. Have not tried sps corals.

Maintenance is 5g water change once a week. Salinity is best around 1.026.

Hope this helps.
Welcome to the forums!
 

chrisgold

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Hello Everyone my names Jeff and am new to the reefing community. I went to school for aquaculture and fisheries and this is my first dive into it personally. (Not using university money or equipment) Also my area was not in reefs or tropical fish. So this is quite new to me however i have always loved reefs and am diving into it. I have an Evo 13.5, and this is much different than the setup i had designed in the past. I am familiar with using sumps and iv found it stressful working in such a small back chambers. I’m waiting for an organ transplant and am currently not working... my sister was very nice and got me this tank which she had no understanding of any of the research iv done. So while this isent the ideal set up for me, beggars cant be choosers and I’m going to have to make what i have work as best i can for me.


I want to keep both fish and corals in here, maybe not SPS because as far as flow I’m struggling with the grain size of the sand and it moving around with my minimal flow. I have many questions to ask that I’m sure i will break up and post in the proper areas... some along the lines of...


-Filter chamber set ups.... moving the skimmer to second chamber and media basket in the first as to try to clean up the flow of these back 3 chambers that in my opinion is less than ideal.


  • how to determine the amount of flow, the stock pump is alright but putting a larger pump in caused the temp to increase, so i put the stock in there and got a 240 wave maker. Not sure if this is enough flow for moderate corals.
  • What kinda live stock are my options. I believe there’s a fine line between 10-30 gallons and lots of stocking options air toward 30 gallons. However i def want a fire fish and it will be perfect for 10 gallons, i like friendly fish so he’s a must from what i understand.
  • Some cycling questions
  • And making the best tank i can with the least amount of mistakes because as i said i cant work and $ is an issue so no making wasteful mistakes.




As you all can see i have many questions, many of which I’m confidant can be answered by people with experience. That’s why i joined and i hope to make some friends that can help me out on my adventure with this.


Here is a picture of my tank thus far, its 20 days into the cycle with Microbactor and ammonia.
Black Spot Reef

D84D6469-57BD-4108-B180-9B649E781CA9.jpeg
Nice scape you make it yourself?
 

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