Wee Mad Arthur’s Soft Fluval Evo 13.5

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I'm liking the scape. Are the rocks completely against the back glass?

Thank you. The majority is actual old school live rock. I didn’t have a plan, I just put it all in and was happy with my first attempt. Initially none of the rock touched the glass at the back, it’s mostly a few millimetres away to maximise space but as I added more coral I realised I was running out of suitable places to put it so I ended up bulking up the top with some caribsea life rock which does touch the glass at the top and a few bits that ended up lower down the back. I can pretty much see from one end to the other down the back though.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Cool softie tank! I’ve used sicce pumps. They work and are silent. I used I think Newa? brand which is eheim and it made the floor rattle.

Thank you. I’ve finished stocking so I’m just enjoying watching it all grow now. This Sicce pump hums quite loud, I’ve had it all apart and rinsed out and made sure it’s not touching any of the sides but no joy. When I took it out again I realised that it required the flow restrictor to keep the front of the impeller housing on so I fitted that which made no difference to noise and has made it a pain to get in and out of the chamber. At least it’s not rattling like my eheim pump was.

 

[Mfield16]

Thank you. The majority is actual old school live rock. I didn’t have a plan, I just put it all in and was happy with my first attempt. Initially none of the rock touched the glass at the back, it’s mostly a few millimetres away to maximise space but as I added more coral I realised I was running out of suitable places to put it so I ended up bulking up the top with some caribsea life rock which does touch the glass at the top and a few bits that ended up lower down the back. I can pretty much see from one end to the other down the back though.

I was worried about not being able to clean the sand if I put mine too far back there.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I was worried about not being able to clean the sand if I put mine too far back there.

I've browsed numerous forums and until this forum hadn‘t even heard of people cleaning the sand. I don’t touch mine at all. I’ve got various worms living in it and the shrimps are usually digging around too. I honestly don’t know if hoovering the sand is what most people do or not. In some tanks it looks nigh on impossible especially with some of the huge ones. I imagine I’d suck a lot of life out if I did mine. Also I haven’t got fish so there no fish poo involved.

You could always go bare bottom and then there won’t be an issue.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I got a diamond goby to get behind the rocks. Mine unfortunately thought the grass was greener on the dog bed and made the leap of bad fortune

 

[Mfield16]

I got a diamond goby to get behind the rocks. Mine unfortunately thought the grass was greener on the dog bed and made the leap of bad fortune

I have a mesh top for that reason!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I have a mesh top for that reason!

I have a mesh top too. It made it through 1/4” netting.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Added some Banded Trochus today. Worryingly all of my stomatella snails have vanished. I suspect it might be my peppermint shrimps as I’ve found mention online of them eating that particular species of snail. Yesterday I watched a peppermint pick a baby asterina starfish off a rock and start eating it!

 

[Mfield16]

I was considering a peppermint. Keep finding aiptasia here and there. Had no idea they eat some snails and asterinas. How many peppermints do you have?

 

[Bigbaby]

Beautiful tank!

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I was considering a peppermint. Keep finding aiptasia here and there. Had no idea they eat some snails and asterinas. How many peppermints do you have?

I had read they might eat various things but there’s some confusion as to whether people were talking about true peppermint shrimps or if they were mis-sold camel shrimps. Mine are definitely true peppermint shrimps. I’ve got 2 and they are decimating my aiptasias. I guess they can’t survive purely on aips so add stomatella snails and asterina starfish to the confirmed list of things they will eat. The thing with stomatella is that they cannot hide in their shell, they’re more slug than snail so would be easy pickings.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Beautiful tank!

Thank you. It doesn’t compare in the slightest to other tanks but I’m happy with it and it can only get better as the corals grow

 

[Mfield16]

Hopefully your trochus head over to the glass on the right

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Hopefully your trochus head over to the glass on the right

That’s the black plastic side and yes they’ve been busy overnight on that side.

 

[Mfield16]

They've already done some good work. My snails don't seem to like the divider. They're also nerites and don't seem to like moving.

 

[Mfield16]

I'm driving right now, I'll do a search later. Is there an easy way to tell the difference between a true peppermint and not?

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I'm driving right now, I'll do a search later. Is there an easy way to tell the difference between a true peppermint and not?

From what I can tell camelback shrimps have a pronounced hump between body and tail. Also looking at google images they have a lot of white markings on them.

 

[Mfield16]

Nice, thanks. You have any plans to do more than just softies?

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Nice, thanks. You have any plans to do more than just softies?

nope, very happy with soft corals. Kinda wish I had a bigger tank for more but I’ll let this one grow out before thinking about a bigger one.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Bought a D-Flow random flow nozzle to try. I’ll swap it over tomorrow during maintenance.