Tys Fluval EVO 13.5 build.

[tydeck]

I also added the 6 line to the 13. So far he looks happy and the cleaner shrimp are fine

 

[tydeck]

Well both cleaner shrimp are dead. And I think I found the culprit. A huge brittle star. Body is the size of a quarter. Do brittle stars eat fish

he could have gotten them all during the night. They all seemed to find a cave to lie in. ******* is gone asap. I know where he lives and it’s easy to get too.

 

[jfoahs04]

Sorry about your recent losses. Did you buy the brittle star or was it a hitchiker? A quarter size body is much bigger than the micro brittles that are fairly common. I don't blame you for wanting to get rid of it after its pricey shrimp dinner. If you catch it, I'd love to see a pic.

 

[tydeck]

The offender has been brought to the local shop for rehoming

 

[tydeck]

And it was a hitchhiker. He’s been with me for about 7 months. Started in my 5 gallon. Was never an issue.

 

[tydeck]

Decided I wanted to use some sort of refugium. Ordered the inTank 2nd chamber. Should work well for that. Gonna use some rubble for now.

Want to get the inTank refuge light in the future. Try some macro algae. I need to increase pod numbers. This seems to be the easiest way on this style tank

Tank is doing great. Very happy with its progress so far. Coralline appears to be starting.

Decided I’m gonna break down the smaller tank. Gonna talk to the local shop about trading my gsp and shroom rocks plus the bta. He’s well attached to the rock. Just really only want to one tank.

 

[tydeck]

I pulled the Rasta zoas off the wall. There are 2 aptasia anemones on it. Much easier to work with it laying flat.

Once the refuge is running, I need a ATO. Oh well. More $$$

 

[rmorris_14]

I pulled the Rasta zoas off the wall. There are 2 aptasia anemones on it. Much easier to work with it laying flat.

Once the refuge is running, I need a ATO. Oh well. More $$$

Always

 

[tydeck]

The chamber 2 insert arrived crazy fast. Thumbs up to inTank.

Picked up 2 bunches of cheato. Used the bottom 2 sections. May remove the divider in the future.

Had the led light from the original hood lighting upgrade . Just kinda leaned it against the side of chamber two. Gonna figure out a way to clean it up. Maybe split a piece of pvc and paint it black. Is this enough light. It’s listed as 3 watts. InTank makes a nice wall mounted fuge light but this is cheaper.

I plan of running it at night. Maybe 8-4. Can’t wait to see pods running around in it.

 

[rmorris_14]

The chamber 2 insert arrived crazy fast. Thumbs up to inTank.

Picked up 2 bunches of cheato. Used the bottom 2 sections. May remove the divider in the future.

Had the led light from the original hood lighting upgrade . Just kinda leaned it against the side of chamber two. Gonna figure out a way to clean it up. Maybe split a piece of pvc and paint it black. Is this enough light. It’s listed as 3 watts. InTank makes a nice wall mounted fuge light but this is cheaper.

I plan of running it at night. Maybe 8-4. Can’t wait to see pods running around in it.

Agree about intank shipping. All of my orders ship out and arrive quickly! Can’t wait to see how it all works out for you!

 

[tydeck]

Reused to original lid for the filter lid.
Things are looking sharp.

 

[tydeck]

Ok. Was motivated to cover the fuge light. Nothing fancy at all. I plan on upgrading to this light in the future but for now this was made from stiff floating around the house.

Eh. Cleaner looking, easy to remove. cost was about an hour. Cutting it lengthwise was the *****

I also scraped the grid off the outside of the the tank where the fuge is.

 

[tydeck]

Another update. Lol. Traded in some mushrooms and some extra rock with the bta on it. Got a real nice 2 head torch. Blue tips. Still waiting for him to open up. Turned off the wave maker for a bit. It blows on the spot pretty good off and on 400gph.

I’ll post a pic once he’s all opened up.

 

[tydeck]

Here he is………Starting to open up

 

[tydeck]

Ok. Torch is fully open. 2 heads. Super happy with it. Looks great next to my Duncan’s. Ended up moving him to the side. The place I wanted was too close to the frogspawn. Don’t want to kill that.

Hard to imagine those Duncan’s as 2 single heads. 12 now. About 9 small ones growing in.

ended up picking up the Acke grow light. InTank lists it for $50. On sale for $42. $25 on Amazon. Had to get it. Refuge is now complete. Gonna seed the cheato with some tiger pods soon. Might start very low phyto dosing.

Well there goes my simple reef. No dosing. No fuge. Stock lights.

stock setup $200 with heater and dry rock and sand. Upgrades probably $500. . Not to mention the money is livestock. Probably 1k in the tank now.

 

[tydeck]

The light arrived. Wow. Much brighter than the home brew light i put together. 12 watts. Chaeto should be happy. Have it set to power on at 8pm and off at 5am



Hope it doesn’t heat up the tank. I left a fan blowing over it just in case it get hot.

 

[tydeck]

No heat issues at all. Runs pretty cool.

 

[Malakai2]

I'd be careful that the cat isn't just biding its time, making you think it is uninterested in jumping on it. It is a cat after all.

Sorry about the zoas

Oh yes, I had a cat wait for months before finding a way to surf a light fixture into one of my old tanks. One day I came home from work to an odd smell, dark tank, all that business.

Something else to think about when picking a lid...what will your cat bring down onto the lid.

 

[tydeck]

Oh yes, I had a cat wait for months before finding a way to surf a light fixture into one of my old tanks. One day I came home from work to an odd smell, dark tank, all that business.

Something else to think about when picking a lid...what will your cat bring down onto the lid.

Well I have a egg crate top. Held in place with lid lifters. It’s pretty solid. Worst case is the cat would take a dip. And break the lid.

 

[purplereef]

I don’t see a skimmer. Are you running it without one?