Wee Mad Arthur’s 24G Upgrade

[Wee Mad Arthur]

If you didn’t read my other thread ( Wee Mad Arthur’s Soft Fluval Evo 13.5 ) and I don’t blame you if you didn’t, I am upgrading due to realising that the only way I can get my rogue peppermint shrimp out is to strip my quite densely rocked Fluval Evo 13.5G down. I thought if I’m removing it all then I may as well put it back in a larger tank. I chose this particular 24G because it has the same footprint as the aquarium cabinet that my Fluval Evo is currently sat on which saves me spending more on a new cabinet. Also easier to get my upgrade approved by the mrs as that made it cheaper.

This is the one I have bought: Ultra Clear 24G

Fish tank features:

• Dimensions: 600mm x 400mm x 400mm
• 90 Litres
• 8mm Thick Glass
• Crystal clear low-iron glass for natural viewing
• Rimless & Braceless

The plan this time I think will be to give bare bottom a go. I’ll have to play around with the rock and corals as I don‘t have a fixed scape in mind but I do know that this time I won’t be piling the rock up on top of itself. I will probably have the leather corals all on the bottom to give them growing height and better spaced out. Not sure on zoa/play positioning yet.

No sump on this one, going to continue the previous KISS theme but minus the carbon. So it’ll just be my Jebao Crossflow SCP 90 doing all the flow which it is more than capable of and my Schego titanium heater somewhere that it’s the least conspicuous. I was toying with an external heater attached to a canister (have had this setup on past tanks) which I may do if I decide I need to continue running carbon or need to run anything else in the future. No plans right now for fish, I know the few extra gallons over my Fluval make fish more of an option so I’ll think about that. Not sure on lighting, I’ve got my 2x 20w Fluval Nano Bluetooths or my 30w AquaKnight that I can use. Both give very different spectrums. Given my current growth I don’t think I need to upgrade the lighting to anything different and I’m trying to keep this a low cost upgrade. I‘ve ordered the same sticky back cobalt blue vinyl that I have on my Fluval and an underlay mat. Mixed views on whether underlay is required but for the sake of £10 I’ll play it safe.

So, first tank pic. The seams on this are like my Fluval, absolutely minimal and perfect. I’ll be water testing it as soon as my underlay mat arrives. It has a pass sticker on the side but I don’t know if that means a quality pass or a water test pass.

 

[JoshO]

Looking forward to the progress. And yes I've been through the Evo thread...nice bit of inspiration for me!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Following likewise cause the last thread was atleast an interesting read

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Not much to update really. Tank has been leak tested for a few days. The underlay mat arrived too damaged to use (leak testing on polystyrene) so I’m waiting for a replacement.

Decided I will swap out the lights. Having spent a few days reading and watching videos I’m swaying towards the Red Sea reefled 50 https://www.redseafish.com/hardware/reefled/
I’ll try and make a final decision next week but watching red seas lighting videos has me preferring it over the ai prime 16hd. Also looked at the TMC Photon Connect but their whole stance on the wattage is very strange i.e. advertised at 84w but actual output is closer to 50w, also not many reviews on it.

Todays plan is empty the tank of its test water so I can move it out of the way and start filling my mixing barrel with rodi.

 

[JoshO]

What's the controllability like compared to the AI lights?

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

What's the controllability like compared to the AI lights?

Seems pretty similar. Big differences are that the reefled only uses blue and white leds. According to Red Sea these are the only ones corals actually use/safe to use. From what I have seen you can select settings from a number of reefs around the world as well as make your own custom one. Has the usual sunrise, sunset, clouds, acclimatation and a full 28 day lunar phase option. The app will warn you if you’re trying to use settings that would be unsafe for coral.

Well worth watching videos on it and their 4 part mini series on lighting. It’s all on that page I linked to in my last post.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

So, I decided on the AI Prime 16HD in the end. Apart from the RedSea one having power supply issues it also seems to have wifi connectivity issues where as the Prime seems to just work.

Also ordered a Fluval 307 canister. As there’s no sump area, it gives me the option of running any bagged media I need to and as I’m going bare bottom I hope to be able to Turkey baste any crud back into the water column for the filter to suck up then I can just clean the filter and change my water by way of emptying and refilling the canister. The 307 holds 7.3L of water.

So much for my cheap just buy the tank and reuse the equipment upgrade.

 

[Aqua Man]

Bare bottom makes cleaning very easy. Only drawback I’ve noticed is hermits and some snails have a hard time with the smooth glass bottom. They get turned upside down and can’t right themselves.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Bare bottom makes cleaning very easy. Only drawback I’ve noticed is hermits and some snails have a hard time with the smooth glass bottom. They get turned upside down and can’t right themselves.

I don’t use hermits, had nothing but trouble with them on past tanks. The bristleworms do a great clean up job. Snails are banded Trochus which I think will find it easier as on the odd occasion that I’ve seen one upside down it’s been struggling to right itself due to just grabbing substrate. On that note I came home today to find yet another Trochus pulled from its shell, I’ll be glad to see the back of that peppermint shrimp!!!!

 

[Aqua Man]

After I went BB, I rarely see bristle worms.

shrimp can definitely be evil sometimes.

Bought a few to supposedly eat some Aptaisia. They decided that Frogspawn is better and shredded my colony.

 

[Aqua Man]

Great choice on the tank too! I love the rimless look. Looking forward to the pics when you get it going!

KIss is good. In my 20G tall I only use 2 powerheads and a HOB filter with mesh/floss or carbon as needed. One fish and soft coral. Been going for 5 yrs

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

My bristleworms spend more time on the rocks than the sand, probably easier to move around on I imagine and can easily withdraw to safety.

Ive got my rodi heating at the moment. It’s in a 60 litre barrel but I can’t remember how much the barrel holds past the 60L mark on the side so I’ve ordered another barrel that I’ll siphon my current tank water into and use to make up the difference if any after displacement and whatever water level I decide on. I don’t want the light clamp in the water as that visually really detracts. I suspect I’ve made enough.

The replacement underlay mat was also damaged like the first so I’ve been refunded and gone with the suggested yoga mat instead.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Cardboard template shows the display size of the Evo so I can get an idea of the extra floor space.

Any idea what Fluval are using to convert litres to gallons?

 

[Vakko]

Cardboard template shows the display size of the Evo so I can get an idea of the extra floor space.

Any idea what Fluval are using to convert litres to gallons?

Dunno but I hate canisters with a passion. My wife swears that if we get one, she'll clean it and then she never does. Which leaves me to clean it and it's absolute horrendous work.

I get the HOB filter and stuff a bag of carbon into it.

 

[Vakko]

Also, if you have enough flow, some kind of conch snail, you shouldn't need to go bare bottom.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I’ve had canisters on a multitude of tanks fresh and salt over the years even got one on my pond and don’t find cleaning them any kind of hardship. Fluval seem to have made this new 07 range even easier.

Bare bottom is by choice, not because I’ve had a substrate issue. If I like it and it works out I’ll keep it, if not I already have a bag of sand to go in.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Some progress pics. 5hrs in and finally stopped for a bite to eat. Corals aren’t necessarily in their final places, it was just a quick placement to get them out of the buckets I had them in. Lighting is currently on the default profile that it booted with and I have to say I love it already. Thank you to those in my other thread for the suggestion of white prime with silver mount, it looks perfect.

I‘ll sort the canister filter tomorrow as I need to mix up another bucket of saltwater to fill it. Also bought a new top up reservoir so that still to sort out and I’m still mid clean up, buckets everywhere right now.

What‘s that you say? Looks like room for fish?

 

[MERKEY]

Looking really good!

I run canisters on my tanks as media reactors as well....fluval 307 and a FX6

I gutted both and filled with live rock/quartz and when needed we run floss/carbon/phosgaurd...or whatever and it makes it so easy to switch it out when ever I need.

If you dont stay up on husbandry of course the canisters get dirty but so do filter socks and sumps.....

We are going with sump on our 180g but that's just because I dont have room for 5 FX6's in my fish room HAHAHAH

Your tank looks great and keep the pics and updates coming!

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Not much to update. Canister has been running a while now. Bought some more frag rocks for the zoa plugs I’d placed on rock as I’ve got some silk palys that are growing fast and will eventually cover the rock. Bought a D-D jump guard kit but not sure I’ll bother with it as despite visually having what I thought was a lot of space it seems my choice of fish is still just one or two which I think will look a bit silly.