Tank appearance… advice, reassurance or encouragement

[phillipmajigger]

Hi all

Relatively new (couple of months) to the hobby and very new to this forum.

I’ve been running my tank for a couple of months and have probably been dealing with all the things a new tank faces.

I currently have a Fluval Evo and have got it to a place where, with a few fish and invertebrates, the tank is stable, parameters are good, I think, (correct PH/Salinity, 0 ammonia/nitrite, some nitrate).

I am focused now on tank appearance and water clarity. I’ve attached a photo here for reference. But I my water is pretty clear (lots of bubbles which I’m not sure is a good thing), but my tank has a decent amount of algae (is this good or bad) I haven’t used live rock as was warned off it. My snails happily munch the algae but still present, not a fan of the green when you see the lovely purples of other tanks.

Basically, my frame of reference is some super squeaky clean reefs from YouTubers and I’m keen to emulate this. Any advice to get my current tank to a show tank? Or am I fool to try. Any thoughts on taking this tank to the next level (within the limitations of the tanks size)

 

[Miami Reef]

Add a piece of rock or snail shell that contains coralline algae.

You can achieve a clean appearance with ozone/UV. Since your tank is small, I would stick with water changes and activated carbon.

Also, tanks take time to mature. The ugly stage is natural and expected, especially with dry rock.

 

[Mr Fishface]

I think your tank is looking really good and has a very normal look. Algae is not always the enemy - it's a pretty natural process for the tank to go through. I have heard wonders about these bottled algae, this is what I am going to try.

Using charcoal really does a lot for the tank clarity. I have never used UV or ozone so I can't speak about those, but I have personally had big success with carbon. Does your AIO have little media baskets? That would be a great place for the carbon.

 

[phillipmajigger]

I think your tank is looking really good and has a very normal look. Algae is not always the enemy - it's a pretty natural process for the tank to go through. I have heard wonders about these bottled algae, this is what I am going to try.

Using charcoal really does a lot for the tank clarity. I have never used UV or ozone so I can't speak about those, but I have personally had big success with carbon. Does your AIO have little media baskets? That would be a great place for the carbon.

I’ve read that these require the presence of coralline algae in order to promote growth as opposed to adding coralline algae. But have seen this.

 

[phillipmajigger]

Add a piece of rock or snail shell that contains coralline algae.

You can achieve a clean appearance with ozone/UV. Since your tank is small, I would stick with water changes and activated carbon.

Also, tanks take time to mature. The ugly stage is natural and expected, especially with dry rock.

Thank you. I’ve actually got a small, cheap UV light in one of the sump chambers and did really help, thanks for the advice on the addition of small piece of rock/shell will look into best way to obtain this

 

[oreolk]

Be patient, keep the parameters stable. Tanks take time to mature. A nice addition to the tank for the algae might be a tuxedo urchin. They will munch that algae better than a snail and are adorable. I have them in all my tanks.

 

[dedragon]

You're off to a good start but I would say at first (and prob most important) is to get rid of the leopard wrasse, a fluval 13.5 is just too small for a fish that likes to have room to swim like a wrasse. You could also use a powerhead and change out the stock lighting if you want to keep more demanding corals (LPS, SPS) in the future. The rock also looks super dense so I would add bio media to the aio chamber (there is no sump on the fluval evo, unless you added one after the fact, which would be sweet)

I’ve read that these require the presence of coralline algae in order to promote growth as opposed to adding coralline algae. But have seen this.

These are actually live coralline algae spores so you dont need coralline algae present for them to work, but I agree with miami, a piece of live rock from a trusted reefer that actually tells you what pests you may encounter from their tank would be even better

 

[dedragon]

On second glace there is detritus and fish/ crab poop on the floor of the tank, so I would def increase flow with a powerhead. The sand does look pretty fine so you may have trouble adjusting flow to where it doesnt kick it up but it is hard to tell by picture.
The bubbles I would ask someone else that has the fluval evo tank, usually i think it happens if there is too little water or if the media in the back is packed too tightly