WarEagle88's Evo 13.5

[WarEaglesReef]

Got the Marine Pure spheres installed under the skimmer. I was able to fit 10 of them in there with plenty of space...maybe could have gone for 2-3 more, but I wanted to be sure none of them touched the skimmer and caused any extra noise. Plus, with 10 of them I've added 2400 sq/ft of new surface area for bacteria, so I think that's probably plenty. Even after rinsing them in RO/DI water they still made my water a bit cloudy, but that's slowly getting better. I took the opportunity to take apart my skimmer and clean it since I had to remove it to put the spheres in, and it's SO quiet now that it's put back together and running squeaky clean. Guess I'll have to make a habit of cleaning it more frequently.

I also picked up some Coralife fine filter pad and cut it down to size to fit on the side of my egg crate media basket in the middle chamber to add a bit of mechanical filtration to catch all the fine particles now that the foam block that came stock with the Evo is gone.

 

[reef-rc]

Looking good.

I have yet to put the marine pure into the skimmer chamber myself as I am considering what to do as detritus do fall and settles within the chamber.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Looking good.

I have yet to put the marine pure into the skimmer chamber myself as I am considering what to do as detritus do fall and settles within the chamber.

Yeah, I figure every month or so I'll pull the spheres out and siphon out all the gunk. I don't usually have too much fall back there though, so I'm not too worried about it being an issue.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Success! Hermit pretty much immediately swapped into the new shell I brought home for him as soon as he found it. Appears to be much more comfortable now even though it's a bit big for him and he has trouble carrying it around. But I'm glad this means he's got a comfy new home with plenty of space and he'll stop eyein' my snails for a new living space!

 

[Maacc]

Intank has just released a media basket for the first chamber. I have already ordered it, waiting for it to arrive next week or 1st week of May. I am going skimmerless thinking of an algae scrubber in the second chamber with marinepure in the bottom of the media basket and in the bottom of the middle chamber.

 

[reef-rc]

Success! Hermit pretty much immediately swapped into the new shell I brought home for him as soon as he found it. Appears to be much more comfortable now even though it's a bit big for him and he has trouble carrying it around. But I'm glad this means he's got a comfy new home with plenty of space and he'll stop eyein' my snails for a new living space!

That is one COLORFUL shell! You sure it's not a "her"? ;Blackeye

Glad you considered the hermit crab's growth and extra shell. It's one reason I have yet to add a single hermit crab.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

That is one COLORFUL shell! You sure it's not a "her"? ;Blackeye

Glad you considered the hermit crab's growth and extra shell. It's one reason I have yet to add a single hermit crab.

Haha...could be. I guess we'll never know.

I'm wondering when it will stop growing. The red leg hermits are not supposed to get big, but this one seems to just keep getting bigger and bigger. The other ones have not grown near as much.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Intank has just released a media basket for the first chamber. I have already ordered it, waiting for it to arrive next week or 1st week of May. I am going skimmerless thinking of an algae scrubber in the second chamber with marinepure in the bottom of the media basket and in the bottom of the middle chamber.

Interesting...are they only making media baskets for the first chamber? I know there's that lip in the second one that would make it really difficult to make one that fits though, so making it for the first one makes sense. I wonder if the skimmer could fit in the second chamber so I could swap them out. You'll have to let me know how you like it!!

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Seeing some great growth in several of my corals with the AI PrimeHD so far! Looks like my candy cane is making a split on the main head, and growing the tiniest hint of a new head underneath. You can just barely spot the little teal growth from this angle on the bottom right. This thing eats like a beast too. As soon as the lights go out it sends out all the sweepers looking for food, so I'll drop a little Piscine pellet in its mouth every evening or two in addition to feeding it the Reef Roids and Coralific Delight food that the other corals get. Not too bad for a tiny $5 frag that I got at the beginning of the month! ;Joyful

My micro lords has really taken off as well! This coral had the most noticeable immediate response to the new light with the two main heads opening up way more than they previously did and showing quite a bit more vibrant colors than with the old light. It's even started to show little specks of green in various places that weren't there before. And the three tiny polyps are now almost full grown heads. They respond to feeding now and will send out little sweepers at night. Now if only I could get my goby to stop dropping sand on it all day. Haha.


Also, this was my first attempt at sticking the camera of my "water resistant" iPhone7 underwater to get a good view of these guys from above. Worked pretty well...phone's still kickin'.

 

[brett_schn]

Waaaaaarrrrrrrrr Eagle! Hey! Sorry I had to. U an auburn fan? Nice tank I was recently looking at that tank. It's a pretty good idea for a company but just not the price for it now

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Waaaaaarrrrrrrrr Eagle! Hey! Sorry I had to. U an auburn fan? Nice tank I was recently looking at that tank. It's a pretty good idea for a company but just not the price for it now

War Eagle!! My family is a rather extensive "House Divided" mix of Auburn and Alabama. Several generations all split down the middle. So I've been in Auburn gear since day one and wouldn't have it any other way. Might head back to Auburn in a few years for an MBA...maybe overlap a year with my younger siblings who are both there for undergrad currently.

I've been pretty happy with the price Biota charged. I pieced it all out and it's really not much more than if I had bought everything all separately, and the upcharge to have their advice as I was getting started was worth it to me. But I can see how some people would rather cut out the middle man, and I don't blame them.
Although they did say their initial fundraising price was discounted from what their final price would be which was not true. They've kept the same price after their Indiegogo campaign for new packages on their website. Never would have been worth it at the price they said it would end up at, so it was smart of them to keep that smaller profit margin to keep from pricing themselves out of the market.

 

[brett_schn]

War Eagle!! My family is a rather extensive "House Divided" mix of Auburn and Alabama. Several generations all split down the middle. So I've been in Auburn gear since day one and wouldn't have it any other way. Might head back to Auburn in a few years for an MBA...maybe overlap a year with my younger siblings who are both there for undergrad currently.

I've been pretty happy with the price Biota charged. I pieced it all out and it's really not much more than if I had bought everything all separately, and the upcharge to have their advice as I was getting started was worth it to me. But I can see how some people would rather cut out the middle man, and I don't blame them.
Although they did say their initial fundraising price was discounted from what their final price would be which was not true. They've kept the same price after their Indiegogo campaign for new packages on their website. Never would have been worth it at the price they said it would end up at, so it was smart of them to keep that smaller profit margin to keep from pricing themselves out of the market.

I heard it's going to be priced at about $550-600. The $400 may be good for beginners and that included a 2 clowns and 4 coral frags.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Just a little tank eye-candy for the evening. The new light has created a bit of a learning curve with taking photos. The added brightness causes some issues with colors going out of gamut on my phone...you can see it a bit here on the purple tips of the frogspawn. So far the best fix has been to manually underexpose 1/2 a stop or so, and then correct with some dynamic range edits to help bring the shadows back up a bit. Not perfect, but much better than full auto.

After being moody for a couple weeks, my GSP is back open in full force and is finally encrusting itself onto the rock round the edges instead of only being attached by the glue I used. Gold hammer coral is really starting to get some good growth. The euphyllias all seem to really dig the new light. Can't wait to see how everything grows when the light is finished with acclimation mode.

Headed to ReefEd here in Denver tomorrow unless this blizzard we're having gets unmanageable. Will try to control myself, but I know I'll probably come home with a new frag or two even though I'm running out of tank real estate. Gonna try to stick to stuff I can put on the sand if I do decide to pick up some new stuff.

 

[brett_schn]

Just a little tank eye-candy for the evening. The new light has created a bit of a learning curve with taking photos. The added brightness causes some issues with colors going out of gamut on my phone...you can see it a bit here on the purple tips of the frogspawn. So far the best fix has been to manually underexpose 1/2 a stop or so, and then correct with some dynamic range edits to help bring the shadows back up a bit. Not perfect, but much better than full auto.

After being moody for a couple weeks, my GSP is back open in full force and is finally encrusting itself onto the rock round the edges instead of only being attached by the glue I used. Gold hammer coral is really starting to get some good growth. The euphyllias all seem to really dig the new light. Can't wait to see how everything grows when the light is finished with acclimation mode.

Headed to ReefEd here in Denver tomorrow unless this blizzard we're having gets unmanageable. Will try to control myself, but I know I'll probably come home with a new frag or two even though I'm running out of tank real estate. Gonna try to stick to stuff I can put on the sand if I do decide to pick up some new stuff.

Did all those frags come with the tank kit?

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Hey! Love what you did with the tank!! I just recently purchased one myself. Question, how do you have the tank set up? Standard side view or peninsula style? I want to set mine up peninsula style but having trouble finding a suitable stand for it. Might have to wind up building my own.

 

[brett_schn]

Hey! Love what you did with the tank!! I just recently purchased one myself. Question, how do you have the tank set up? Standard side view or peninsula style? I want to set mine up peninsula style but having trouble finding a suitable stand for it. Might have to wind up building my own.

Definitely build your own. It will cost a lot less and it's pretty easy. And it's 100% custom

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Did all those frags come with the tank kit?

Nah, I have added all of those myself. The tank comes standard with zoas, xenia, green polyp leather, and long polyp toadstool leather with an option to upgrade any of those to a neon green finger leather for an extra charge if you want. They start you with super easy soft corals that can all do really well with the stock lighting and fluctuations in water parameters that beginners may face.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Hey! Love what you did with the tank!! I just recently purchased one myself. Question, how do you have the tank set up? Standard side view or peninsula style? I want to set mine up peninsula style but having trouble finding a suitable stand for it. Might have to wind up building my own.

Thanks! I set mine up peninsula style at the end of my sofa. This Kallax shelf from Ikea is what I went with. Super affordable, and it fits the tank really nicely with a bit of space left in the front. And the four cubbies underneath work perfect for housing all my salt and supplies, and I drilled in a large surge protector power strip into one of the insides of the shelves for all of the electrical components so I could see everything clearly and have good access. It houses my ATO container as well. Can't be beat for less than $40.

Here's what it looks like with the tank on it:

 

[Sobo's Reef]

Thanks! I set mine up peninsula style at the end of my sofa. This Kallax shelf from Ikea is what I went with. Super affordable, and it fits the tank really nicely with a bit of space left in the front. And the four cubbies underneath work perfect for housing all my salt and supplies, and I drilled in a large surge protector power strip into one of the insides of the shelves for all of the electrical components so I could see everything clearly and have good access. It houses my ATO container as well. Can't be beat for less than $40.

Here's what it looks like with the tank on it:

That's looks awesome!! I wanted to do something a little more concealing though to hide wires and the ATO tube and whatnot. Do you think this particular stand would be okay to drill into? Like perhaps using a hole saw?

 

[brett_schn]

Thanks! I set mine up peninsula style at the end of my sofa. This Kallax shelf from Ikea is what I went with. Super affordable, and it fits the tank really nicely with a bit of space left in the front. And the four cubbies underneath work perfect for housing all my salt and supplies, and I drilled in a large surge protector power strip into one of the insides of the shelves for all of the electrical components so I could see everything clearly and have good access. It houses my ATO container as well. Can't be beat for less than $40.

Here's what it looks like with the tank on it:

Ooo an ai prime. How do u like it. I plan on getting the prime hd for my 10gallon tank