Sea Evo - first attempt at marine
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- Thread starter Yamaha1634
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Yamaha1634
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The clowns have been in for 10 days now. I have RealReef dry live rock, Fiji Pink live sand, I have added 8oz bottle of Fritz 9 and i have some crushed live rock in the filter compartment and I'm still seeing ammonia!?!
I'm using API test kits which I know some people think are unreliable....... But my results look like this from my daily testing. Ammonia isn't spiking so to speak but it isn't zero either! How is this tank not cycled with all the bacteria I've added!?
I've purchased the D-Flow media baskets for chamber 1 and 2 and a random flow generator, waiting for them to arrive. I'm also seriously considering changing the stock pump for a sicce 0.5 or 1.0 purely for noise reasons! The shock pump is so noisy!
I'm using API test kits which I know some people think are unreliable....... But my results look like this from my daily testing. Ammonia isn't spiking so to speak but it isn't zero either! How is this tank not cycled with all the bacteria I've added!?
I've purchased the D-Flow media baskets for chamber 1 and 2 and a random flow generator, waiting for them to arrive. I'm also seriously considering changing the stock pump for a sicce 0.5 or 1.0 purely for noise reasons! The shock pump is so noisy!
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Yamaha1634
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Reef Jockey
Active Member
looks like your tank is coming along nicely. that was fast how you got livestock in already. Did your tank go through a cycle? I'd watch for that before you add more livestock.
as for evaporation, i have the same tank without the top and i run through 9 litres in a week and a half.
as for evaporation, i have the same tank without the top and i run through 9 litres in a week and a half.
Yamaha1634
Active Member
My cycle was live rock, live sand, Fritz 9 and live rock in the filter chamber too. Added the clowns after a week. They've been in for just under 3 weeks now. The Pajama Cardinal will be at least 3 weeks in the QT tank before he joins the others. Showing nitrates so bacteria are doing what they should do.
With the lid on my evaporation is just over a litre per week.
Yamaha1634
Active Member
Only taken him 2 hours to come out. Must be a good sign
Yamaha1634
Active Member
Yamaha1634
Active Member
Reef Jockey
Active Member
coming along nicely
Yamaha1634
Active Member
Yamaha1634
Active Member
I've also upgraded the return pump to the sicce syncra silent 1.0 with a RFG on the return. Then upgraded the filter to baskets in chamber 1 and 2.
Filter is now
Floss
Coarse sponge cut from what came with the tank
Chunks of live rock
2 shelves of marine pure gems
One empty shelf for media as needed
Added a bottle of Dr.tims to boost the filter after adding the new media so the photo looks a little cloudy!
Filter is now
Floss
Coarse sponge cut from what came with the tank
Chunks of live rock
2 shelves of marine pure gems
One empty shelf for media as needed
Added a bottle of Dr.tims to boost the filter after adding the new media so the photo looks a little cloudy!
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Yamaha1634
Active Member
Update.
New corals added. Now have a rhodactis mushroom, a brain coral and a plating Montipora.
Added Seachem Purigen to the filter baskets.
Finally, ordered a mesh top and an AI Prime 16HD which will be here in a few days, see what that looks like.....
New corals added. Now have a rhodactis mushroom, a brain coral and a plating Montipora.
Added Seachem Purigen to the filter baskets.
Finally, ordered a mesh top and an AI Prime 16HD which will be here in a few days, see what that looks like.....
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cgripp256
Active Member
Wow. You're going really fast (as compared to what I thought it would take).
I started a 32 gal bio cube the same way as you have done your tank, i used arag alive Live sand, live rock from my lfs and 100ml of bio-spira (just in case).
I‘m just at 2.5 days of fully up and running. All parameters are good.
I guess I’m OK to add a fish now.
I started a 32 gal bio cube the same way as you have done your tank, i used arag alive Live sand, live rock from my lfs and 100ml of bio-spira (just in case).
I‘m just at 2.5 days of fully up and running. All parameters are good.
I guess I’m OK to add a fish now.
Yamaha1634
Active Member
If I'm honest I received mixed information when I started my first thread on here. I was told that adding live sand and live rock AND bottled bacteria would basically cycle the tank instantly, hence I added the fish straight away. Immediately after I did that people started telling I'd done things too quickly! I think to a certain extent whatever you choose to do someone will always comment that you've done something wrong........ All we can do is do the research and try our best.
To be fair I had one tiny ammonia spike, like 0.5ppm which then went down and my nitrites topped out at around 5ppm before falling swiftly back to 0 so it appears with all the "live" elements I added it does appear my tank cycled within a day or two of adding fish, have since added another fish and had no trace of ammonia or nitrites and my nitrates are stable at 10ppm so parameters are pretty stable for such a small tank.
With the water volume being so small, around 10gal total water volume, I tested the water daily for the first 2 weeks or so and then back to every 3-4 days in an attempt to spot any fluctuations quickly enough to sort them before they cause an issue. So far, so good.....
Yamaha1634
Active Member
Updates.
So my lobophylia (brain coral) looked to have a couple of hydroids on the side of it so it's out in the QT awaiting some sort of treatment, thinking hydrogen peroxide dipping. Will be a shame if I loose the coral but don't want an infestation in my tank! So far can't see any anywhere else so hope I caught it in time.
Also upgraded to the AI Prime 16HD light and the DD jump guard as I got an awesome deal on a used light on eBay. Loving it so far! Have it on an acclimation for 20 days on the Saxxby settings from AIs website. Also turned all the final values down a bit as I feel it may be a little too intense for such a small tank. Can't wait to see it's full potential in another 15 days!
Evaporation has obviously gone up, was loosing around 450-500ml a week, now loosing close to that each day. Glad I invested in the ATO early on!
Also my Hammer (possibly a Frammer?!) Is growing 2 new heads! Very very small but still exciting! And my Duncan has 2 well formed heads and a further 3 on the way it looks like!
So my lobophylia (brain coral) looked to have a couple of hydroids on the side of it so it's out in the QT awaiting some sort of treatment, thinking hydrogen peroxide dipping. Will be a shame if I loose the coral but don't want an infestation in my tank! So far can't see any anywhere else so hope I caught it in time.
Also upgraded to the AI Prime 16HD light and the DD jump guard as I got an awesome deal on a used light on eBay. Loving it so far! Have it on an acclimation for 20 days on the Saxxby settings from AIs website. Also turned all the final values down a bit as I feel it may be a little too intense for such a small tank. Can't wait to see it's full potential in another 15 days!
Evaporation has obviously gone up, was loosing around 450-500ml a week, now loosing close to that each day. Glad I invested in the ATO early on!
Also my Hammer (possibly a Frammer?!) Is growing 2 new heads! Very very small but still exciting! And my Duncan has 2 well formed heads and a further 3 on the way it looks like!
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Yamaha1634
Active Member
Appear to have an abundance of copepods on the glass these past few days. Signs of a maturing tank!
Yamaha1634
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My time with the Evo was short lived... time for an upgrade!
www.reef2reef.com
Build Thread - Upgrading to a 50
So I've had a Fluval Evo set up for 4 months and I've definitely caught the bug for marine keeping after keeping freshwater for many years. After finding a cheap second hand upgrade on eBay I've gone larger! I collect the tank tomorrow so will upload pictures as i go. First step will be the big...
www.reef2reef.com
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