Slothy's Evo 13.5 Mixed Reef Build

[justslothy]

Hey all! I've never posted a build thread but always wanted to. Been deep in and out of the freshwater hobby my whole life and have dabbled in keeping a FOWLR system in the past, but I'm ready to graduate on to the world of reefing. I decided I'd go with something small that can easily be moved into an apartment in the future (sorta fresh post-grad, so moving is inevitable within the next few years of my life). Found a string of sweet deals from some local hobbyists and here we are! This is the setup so far:

Fluval evo 13.5g
AI Prime 16HD
Fluval PS2 skimmer (came with the tank, might upgrade this in the future if needed)
Stock fluval return pump
Sicce voyager nano 1000
~10 lbs of now dry rock from my old FOWLR
Dried caribsea sand (i think it was the Fiji pink?) also sourced from the old FOWLR
Redsea coral pro salt

New tank day! Not much of a "build" when everything comes AIO I guess

Filled up with RODI water but didn't have time to mix in the salt that day due to a work trip I had to go on. While I was away the tank definitely had a bacterial bloom but the water started clearing out day by day.

All cleared out by ~5 days. Mixed up salt to 1.025 sg and let it rest for a day. The next morning I went out and bought a bottle of Fritzyme 9 bacteria and a cheap saltwater molly to get the cycle started. I also added in the smaller middle piece of live rock I picked up while at the LFS. Threw in my Sicce powerhead to just test the flow, planning on moving it to it's final spot once I get it figured out. Also pulled out the stock 2nd chamber filter sponge and replaced it with a filter sock full of MarinePure Gems.

Feels right seeing these little guys in my tank again! Only one I've seen so far but I'll be keeping an eye on the numbers. Also noticed a few feather dusters on the rock; it's incredible how much life is supported on such a small piece!


That's all for now, hoping to keep this thread updated as the build goes along.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Nice start to your tank!!! Love the aquascape design in your tank!! Do you have any specific plans on what you want to add to the tank in regard to coral/ or fish?

 

[justslothy]

Nice start to your tank!!! Love the aquascape design in your tank!! Do you have any specific plans on what you want to add to the tank in regard to coral/ or fish?

Thanks!! Been feeling partial to my rockwork but the idea was to leave as much accessible space for frags as possible.

So far I've been keen on starting with some zoas (really like rastas, super saiyan's and blue eyed blondes!) and softies like sinularia once my tank is finished cycling so they can start sucking up any extra nitrates. Also on my immediate coral wishlist is a monticap or two, forest fire digi, some seriatopora and euphyllia (bubbles and hammers are probably my favourite) once my tank parameters start stabilizing.

I've been really into the pistol shrimp/goby pairs, leaning towards the yasha goby. Deciding between a blood shrimp or cleaner shrimp. Also thinking about stocking a designer clown or two, purple firefish, and maybe a bangaii cardinal? Pretty basic as far as fish go but I'm open to any interesting nano-fish suggestions if anyone has!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thanks!! Been feeling partial to my rockwork but the idea was to leave as much accessible space for frags as possible.

So far I've been keen on starting with some zoas (really like rastas, super saiyan's and blue eyed blondes!) and softies like sinularia once my tank is finished cycling so they can start sucking up any extra nitrates. Also on my immediate coral wishlist is a monticap or two, forest fire digi, some seriatopora and euphyllia (bubbles and hammers are probably my favourite) once my tank parameters start stabilizing.

I've been really into the pistol shrimp/goby pairs, leaning towards the yasha goby. Deciding between a blood shrimp or cleaner shrimp. Also thinking about stocking a designer clown or two, purple firefish, and maybe a bangaii cardinal? Pretty basic as far as fish go but I'm open to any interesting nano-fish suggestions if anyone has!

Zoas would be great for your tank!! For fish? the ones you mentioned are all good for Nanos, just take it slow when adding fish, and don't overcrowd the tank haha.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Thanks!! Been feeling partial to my rockwork but the idea was to leave as much accessible space for frags as possible.

So far I've been keen on starting with some zoas (really like rastas, super saiyan's and blue eyed blondes!) and softies like sinularia once my tank is finished cycling so they can start sucking up any extra nitrates. Also on my immediate coral wishlist is a monticap or two, forest fire digi, some seriatopora and euphyllia (bubbles and hammers are probably my favourite) once my tank parameters start stabilizing.

I've been really into the pistol shrimp/goby pairs, leaning towards the yasha goby. Deciding between a blood shrimp or cleaner shrimp. Also thinking about stocking a designer clown or two, purple firefish, and maybe a bangaii cardinal? Pretty basic as far as fish go but I'm open to any interesting nano-fish suggestions if anyone has!

Hey there! I love those stocking ideas! looks like you have lots of giid hiding places for a goby and shrimp pair. i have a pair myself and they are so fun to watch. Clowns may or may not be a good idea. Depending on the speciman, they can get aggressive in a tank that small. Purple firefish are cool just add them first. but don't expect them to come out too much during the first couple weeks. Bangaiis are a little too big.

 

[justslothy]

Hey there! I love those stocking ideas! looks like you have lots of giid hiding places for a goby and shrimp pair. i have a pair myself and they are so fun to watch. Clowns may or may not be a good idea. Depending on the speciman, they can get aggressive in a tank that small. Purple firefish are cool just add them first. but don't expect them to come out too much during the first couple weeks. Bangaiis are a little too big.

Thanks for the advice on the firefish! I've seen other people's clowns getting aggressive in smaller tanks so I'll definitely proceed with caution if I decide to add one.

 

[justslothy]

Time for the first update! Just a week ago, my seachem ammonia alert started to read 0 and has stayed there since. I tested nitrates later last week which came back kind of high as expected; just over 20ppm. I did a 10% water change and got ready to head to the LFS to pickup some supplies.

I grabbed some coralife epoxy to fix my rockwork up a bit. Also got a shroud for my AI Prime to keep the light from leaking out around the entire room. It makes a huge difference in keeping the light contained and ultimately puts much less strain on the eyes while watching the tank. While I was there I decided to pickup an astrea snail to keep my algae at bay. Coral were 20% off and I saw a nice utter chaos zoa frag so obviously I picked that up as well. Last thing I needed was a bottle of Revive.

After acclimating everyone, dipping my frag and getting it situated, I finally turned my light schedule on for the first time! I decided to go with Saxby's schedule and modified it slightly by adding more cool white to my liking.

Over the weekend I noticed a local hobbyist selling some golden hammer frags at a very reasonable price and just picked one up today. I know LPS can be finnicky in newer tanks but by keeping higher DKh and Mag I'm looking to give it my best attempt! Here's a Full Tank Shot with all the new changes.

Glued the live rock up to make a little bridge for sticking frags on. Kept the smaller piece beneath it to make a ricordea garden. So far I'm quite happy with how the tank is turning out! I noticed a tiny feather duster pop up on the larger rock on the right. I'm amazed at how fast things can propagate since this rock was bone dry not even a few weeks ago!!

Earlier this evening I noticed a bunch of copepods hanging out on my glass. With this little tank not even at a month old yet I feel ecstatic to see how much life has sprung up. I can already feel the reefing addiction flowing through my veins, arrghhh!!!!!!

Utter Chaos frag!

My new hammer frag! Camera really doesn't do it justice, I really love the colours on this one.

 

[BrandonMH]

Looking good! Those coral additions there are looking nice already!

 

[justslothy]

Looking good! Those coral additions there are looking nice already!

Thank you! They've acclimated quite well, I've already had a new head come up on the utter chaos and I'm really excited about it!

It's been exactly 1 month now since I've filled up the tank. With how smooth things have been, I've been really enjoying this build. I'm finally noticing some small spots of diatoms come up on the glass and on one part of the sand. One thing that I've been keen on has been copepods; I went out last week and finally got my hands on some Apex pods and bolstered my tank's pod population paired with some seachem phyto. My glass is now teeming with pods and the saltwater molly has learned to snack up on them to keep the population at bay. My thesis for the tank not having any significant blooms yet is the population of pods I've added as a part of the cleanup crew. I watched a BRS video the other day that seemed to confirm this idea. Hoping to keep them established by feeding the tank phyto. Has anyone kept chaeto in the second chamber of their fluval evo?

 

[Subliminal]

I have a similar situation in a similar tank. I think by dosing phyto it’s outcompeting the other algae. So not necessarily the pods but related.

 

[BrandonMH]

I've watched those videos as well and pods definitely seemed to help there. Also, upkeep helps as well. The copepods will act as food as well as cuc.