Yet another Fluval Evo 13.5 ;-)

Dave Clark

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Howdy. So years ago I had a 55 gallon FOWLR (not entirely FO, there was a bubbletip anemone in there too), and gave up the hobby for a while when the center brace snapped ... luckily not spilling the tank's contents onto my living room floor, but giving me nightmares for weeks afterwards. ;-)

So I wanted to get into something more manageable size-wise, and do some reef instead of just FOWLR. Yes I know, large tanks have slower changing chemistry etc.. I just wanted something smaller in footprint that required smaller water changes. I'm at home all the time, am a science nerd, and will monitor water parameters closely.

Enough of that ... here's what I got so far.

Fluval Evo 13.5 (see subject line)
Fluval Marine 3.0 light
Tunze 1073 pump
VCA RFG nozzle
10 pounds of live rock from Gulf Live Rock
CaribSea Arag-Alive Hawaiian black gravel
75 watt Cobalt Aquatics NeoTherm heater

I cycled the tank with Fritz "Fishless Fuel", monitoring the rise and fall of ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. Originally I had put in "dead" rock but removed most of it and added the live rock after the cycle completed. That was a couple of days ago; I'm going to wait a bit and then test water parameters again.

I also added a ton of Florida shells because I like 'em.

Picture:

1677176533728.png


Haven't done an ID yet on that cactus-like thing ;-) attached to the rock ... anyone know what it is?

Comments and criticism welcome.

- Dave
 

Gumbies R Us

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Howdy. So years ago I had a 55 gallon FOWLR (not entirely FO, there was a bubbletip anemone in there too), and gave up the hobby for a while when the center brace snapped ... luckily not spilling the tank's contents onto my living room floor, but giving me nightmares for weeks afterwards. ;-)

So I wanted to get into something more manageable size-wise, and do some reef instead of just FOWLR. Yes I know, large tanks have slower changing chemistry etc.. I just wanted something smaller in footprint that required smaller water changes. I'm at home all the time, am a science nerd, and will monitor water parameters closely.

Enough of that ... here's what I got so far.

Fluval Evo 13.5 (see subject line)
Fluval Marine 3.0 light
Tunze 1073 pump
VCA RFG nozzle
10 pounds of live rock from Gulf Live Rock
CaribSea Arag-Alive Hawaiian black gravel
75 watt Cobalt Aquatics NeoTherm heater

I cycled the tank with Fritz "Fishless Fuel", monitoring the rise and fall of ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. Originally I had put in "dead" rock but removed most of it and added the live rock after the cycle completed. That was a couple of days ago; I'm going to wait a bit and then test water parameters again.

I also added a ton of Florida shells because I like 'em.

Picture:

1677176533728.png


Haven't done an ID yet on that cactus-like thing ;-) attached to the rock ... anyone know what it is?

Comments and criticism welcome.

- Dave
Tank looks great so far!!!
 
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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

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Looks like my adding live rock kicked up the ammonia. No livestock yet. Yesterday’s parameters:

Calcium ppm 340
Alk dKH 11
Salinity 1.026
Phosphate ppm 0.25
Ammonia ppm 0.5
Nitrate ppm 10

Added Phosguard.
 
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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

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Updating my build thread. I replaced the Tunze pump with a ZKSJ pump ... takes up less space, is quieter and I like its speed control and wavemaker function. Added an Inkbird controller using only the cooling output to a little computer fan mounted over a hole I cut in the stock hood. Found a nice box to sit behind my aquarium and hide a lot of the wires, Inkbird, pump control etc..

A gorgonian coral hitchhiked with my live rock as well as a couple of clams ? bivalves ? ... since then I've added two hermit crabs, two turbo snails, a GSP and a mushroom. No fish yet.

The existing inhabitants seem pretty healthy. I've been measuring water params regularly and the only thing that's bugging me a bit is that the pH is kinda low ... consistently measures at about 7.85 (alkalinity is usually just above 8 dKH). Probably because of CO2 ... the tank is in a relatively small room that has the door closed most of the time, and during the day the room is my office, so I'm most likely the culprit. Will try keeping the door open more often.

That's it for now.

1683387469005.png
 

JoJosReef

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Just saw your other post. Tank looks nice! Good move on the gulf live rock. You can likely add any and everything you want right now--there's nothing those rocks can't biofilter. I'd still go a bit slow with fish, but you could easily start stacking the corals. The LED is a bit on the weak side, so SPS and nems might be more challenging (except RFAs). Have you thought about a theme for your tank yet?
 
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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

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Just saw your other post. Tank looks nice! Good move on the gulf live rock. You can likely add any and everything you want right now--there's nothing those rocks can't biofilter. I'd still go a bit slow with fish, but you could easily start stacking the corals. The LED is a bit on the weak side, so SPS and nems might be more challenging (except RFAs). Have you thought about a theme for your tank yet?

My theme is "keep it alive". ;-)
 
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I think everything's settled now. Never had a problem with algae, water parameters are fine. I removed the Purigen and only use floss and Rox carbon now. I got a Kraken lid and while it looks good, I decided to go back to the stock lid because there's less evaporation and it seems to keep the tank temperature more stable. I could use an ATO but for me, the less equipment the better. I'll probably put the Kraken lid back on temporarily if people come to visit ;-) because it does look good.

Tank is very easy to take care of. Every day I change a quart of water. I just put 2 tbsp of Reef Crystals into a quart jar, shake it up, and pour it in. Every now and then I check the salinity with my refractometer; if it's low I use 2.5 tbsp of salt instead, if it's high I use 1.5 tbsp instead. But it rarely moves off of 35 ppt. Inkbird controller plus NeoTherm 75w keeps temperature good with very little variation. I check pH every now and then, but there seems to be so much variability between different pH measuring methods that I don't check it very often.
 
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