ZipAdeeZoa's Fluval evo 13.5 Build thread

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ZipAdeeZoa

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I would normally say you shouldn't have bryposis in a tank so new, but I got it in my nano also and fairly quickly into the uglies stage. I've also never seen it grow on glass, it's usually on the rocks but here this hobby goes, proving me wrong again.

For your nitrates, I wouldn't worry about them too much. After the 14 day treatment, just perform a 'large' water change. 5 gallons should be plenty. Make sure you heat it and match salinity with your tank. I'm close to the end of my 14 days and I'll be doing a very large WC. Close to 90%
I always tell people living things love to make liars out of us;Hilarious

I was careful to inspect the rubble my boss gave me from his tank and didn't turn up and although I didn't see any I forget to ask my boss if he had specific algae issues, that probably explains why its in such a young tank because his system is 5 years old. I got some 150 mg fluconazole capsules today and figured that with the rock and all the equipment I'm probably dealing with 8-10 gallons of water so I was going to just do one capsule (at 20 mg per gallon that comes to 7.5) I just did a water change earlier today so now I just have to remove the carbon and add back a little of the removed water (forgot about the displacement of the carbon). Do you think that dose should be sufficient? I got a second capsule just in case but I'm not sure I trust my judgment enough to guess a half dose.
 
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One, 150mg capsule should work. It might take a bit longer than normal but I wouldn't expect too much longer.
Just added it to the tank so we'll see how it goes! I was surprised how little Hermes cared about the change. I figured he'd smell it and start running around but nope... Just sat there in the great fluconazole blizzard of 2019 like nothing was happening. That crab makes my day;Hilarious
 
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Hello everyone!

Today was water change day but thats on hold until the fluconazole has done its thing although I'm happy to report that just 7 days in and I'm seeing positive results! Some of the bryopsis is already turning white and withering away, hopefully a trend that continues! One thing I was a little worried about when I started the dose was my pod population which had been steadily increasing and doing a fantastic job at removing the uglies from most of the glass and starting to work on the rock. I wasn't sure what the fluconazole would do to them but I really didn't think it would be good for them... Jokes on me... I cranked up the white after the scheduled light had turned off and there so many pods I honestly thought something had gone wrong with the salt and I was seeing precipitation all over the glass! I took the photos tonight very close to the same time I took the last ones and I'm sure you can spot the difference! Perhaps the fluconazole breaking down the cell wall of the algae has made it easier to feed on?

In other news the LFS called me today and although they ordered two perchlets (they want one for the store) neither of them showed up so hopefully next week I'll actually get my fish! I just did a water change on the QT today, siphoned out most of the precipitation, cleaned up the salt creep and covered more of the lid with cling wrap- I'm ready! With any luck the pod population will stay the way it is so after qt the new perchlet will have no shortage of live foods!

They say a picture is worth a thousand pods;)
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Update time! I'm falling asleep on my keyboard so I'm going to do the wordy update on my laptop and then upload the pictures directly from my phone to save me the time it takes to convert the files etc... Here we go!

Bryopsis Battle: Not much of a battle to be honest (knock on wood). I thought the bryopsis was resisting treatment as it was the 14 day mark 5 days ago and thee smaller strands had lost all their colour but the larger strands hadn't. I tossed on the Polyp lab Macro to see what was going on and although I'd appreciate if you guys could confirm- it appears the larger strands have actually died as well but they're larger surface area is accommodating some of the uglies. If this is the case than I believe treatment is complete and tomorrow (today? yay insomnia...) is water change day so if the bryopsis looks cooked to you guys I'll be doing a 4 gallon water change tomorrow- the biggest in my tanks history! I'll also remove "Mount Olympus" which is the result of Hermes eating the algae... I now know what 2 weeks of hermit crab crap looks like;Hilarious I just have to clarify with Hermes wether that crap tonne is metric or imperial, once I hear back from him I'll update the thread.

Hitchhikers: Theres been some new life popping up recently! Identified in the hitchhiker ID forum as detritus worms, it appears mount Olympus has supplied them with the food needed to increase their numbers. I'm pretty sure their numbers will go down once I restart my weekly water change routine. While looking at thee bryopsis with the macro lens tonight I noticed some amber coloured clusters that I originally thought were some sort of egg case but closer inspection revealed tentacle like structures emitting from the edges of the amber sphere cluster. Long story short theres a second ID thread up and running right now and once I get an ID I'll update the thread, if anybody here knows what they are that works as well!

Perchlet Purgatory: My boss informed me that Plectranthias inermis was no longer on the list so he's going to keep an eye out for me but at the moment we're poignantly perchletless. I'm leaving for Florida from April 21st to May 5th and although I know my girlfriend would be ok with QTing a fish for me while I'm gone I've decided to not put her through that and just have her top the QT every few days just to keep things stable for when the time comes. I put my head down and worked everyday last week so I'm considering ordering a pre quarantined perchlet and timing it so that it will be ready when I get back. I'll still QT it so I can get the practice and discipline qt provides.

Hermes: Working 9-5 on the algae and waiting for his big break although we're not really on speaking terms right now because he told me he wanted to go into the arts and A) I could have handled it better B) He's a crab.

Thats all for now, pictures will be below and hopefully in the order described. I'm sorry if this is just a nonsensical post riddled with typos, I need sleep and my "e" key keeps getting stuck.
 
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Yep, take a cheap dollar store tooth brush and clean that dead algae off the rock, then do your water change. You are bryopsis free!
Awesome! I'll do 4 gallon water change tomorrow and do the scrub and syphon combo, theres only 10-15 strands and most are on the glass so should't be to time consuming. any pieces I miss I'm sure will dissolve in time. It seems I'm getting a slight bacterial bloom from the pause in water changes but I'm sure adding the carbon back and some water changes resolve that before it gets out of hand!
Glad to see Hermes is still up to his usual antics. Imagine the abstract impressionist interpretive dance that crab could do. Why, he's a crab prodigy!
The kids shell to shell swing isn't to bad if I'm being honest, he just gets carried away with the jazz claws and it really sets him back. His mysis reach and algae shuffle are on point though.

I think one of the first things I'll do when I get back is get a scarlet hermit crab, I enjoy their antics to no end! and I'm never really planning on getting snails so thats not a concern, I'll just double the amount of shells (not that Hermes is going to switch any time soon, he hasn't switched since he got into that thing. Before that the record was 2 days in the same shell;Hilarious

I'm also going to get my first test corals when I get back, I can't wait to get this ball rolling!
 
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Hello everyone!

Theres fair bit to unpack here and an equal amount of photos in the next post so lets get to it!

Uglies: I think I may be through the thick of it (knock on wood)! I took my Tunze nano algae scraper and decided it was finally time to clean the glass because I was honestly just tired of trying to find Hermes through the green mist. I decided to only scrub the front panel and did it right before I did my weekly water change so I could take small power head and send it into the filter floss in the over flow and siphon out the remainder. It worked like a charm and by pure coincidence later that day getting my daily dose of BRS I heard Ryan say that if you remove some of the uglies and they comeback thats a strong indicator that the tank needs more time but if it doesn't come back your in good shape. Well that was last Wednesday and the front panel has stayed perfectly clear! I do plan on giving it more time with my upcoming trip to be certain but I'm excited nonetheless!

All that remains of the bryopsis is the odd ghostly white strand that will be removed as I work my way around the tank walls with the scrubber when the time comes, however I noticed a handful of what I would consider alarming things. A non bryopsis, sparse white fuzz started growing from nearly all of the liferock which at this moment is being treated like a new ugly (but if you know otherwise about whatever this is please sound off below). The truly concerning ugly was some long green filaments growing on just one edge of the liferock which I suspect to be the infamous GHA! I have an ID thread running but even if its GHA I have hope, I'll elaborate down below...

Auto top off about to be auto: I'm really excited about this one! I made a quick little ATO container our of 5 litre cereal box from Walmart which has been working but since I switched from the included canopy to the redsea DIY cover (which i still really like) evaporation sky rocketed and I've been topping of the ATO container every 2-3 days when it gets down to about 2/3s when I manually top off the QT. I've done some testing and found it tops off 1 litre roughly every 2 days meaning I cant leave this for longer than 10 days until now! I ordered a 5 gallon plastic hedpack from a brewing company off of amazon and its arrived just in time. I've rinsed it out and hopefully this coming Wednsday I'll be able to set it up and not have to worry for 36 days at the current rate!

All seeing sun: Its no secret that I've been thoroughly enjoying Hermes since his debut and while disappointed in my search for tiny utilitarian fish for the BRS/WWC hybrid method something Randy said in the following live stuck with me, I can't recall the exact quote but I believe it was along the lines of look into more inverts for smaller tanks- so I did just that! After some deliberation, research, getting some opinions on here and consulting with Hermes himself I bided my time until the next day that I worked at the LFS and pulled the trigger. I'd like to introduce you all to Helios the scarlet hermit crab! I did at one time have fish by that name but he has since passed and although I typically don't reuse names I feel the bright red of this crab among other things is a tribute to one of the brightest catfish fish I've ever kept. asides from the fiery colour that adorns him, this Helios also got his name because the god Helios was known as the all seeing sun and every time I've peeked around the rock work since I introduced him (April 10th) theres a pair of orange eye stalks looking directly back at me! I haven't quite figured how he does this and I doubt I ever will. I must say there is stark contrast between the two species, Hermes even only several days after being added was all over the place and always on the go. Helios however has yet to come out from underneath the rockwork into plain view which is why the pictures of him in the next post are the only ones I have... I've also seen Hermes completely circle the tanks perimeter in under 10 minutes while Helios has happily moved about 4 inches deeper into thee rockwork since Wednesday. As soon as I get a proper photo of him in tank I'll post it!

Fool me once: Most would be disheartened to see the whole body of their beloved crab laying lifeless on the rocks and admittedly I felt such a thing for the first 10 seconds. Hermes is famously one of the most mischievous gods of Mount Olympus and just like his namesake this crab of mine enjoys deceit to no end. Fooled once by a faked death of his I was certain this was another of his vanishing acts but I must say he concealed himself much better this time around. In fact today was the first I've seen of him since the day I added Helios but Hermes is alive and well (and bigger)!

Now to bring this full circle, The new GHA patch had me very concerned after the horror stories I've read, with my upcoming trip I feared I'd would return to nothing but its green filaments flowing in the current and two crabs who'd have no taste for such a thing. Helios was/is still peering out from deep within a crevice far from the algae and Hermes was nowhere to be seen! Until tonight, in his new gleaming blue armour Hermes was halfway through clear cutting the filamentous forest that had taken root. Luckily he appears to be quite hungry after his molt, all I can say is GO HERMES GO!

Photos are in the order they were described!
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Well it's been sometime since the last update, allow me to bring you all up to speed!

I set up the larger ATO jug days before I left for another 2 week trip to Florida and when I returned it was still 1/3 full! I also used this as an opportunity to stress test the system since one of the main requirements for this setup is that it can flourish with or without meaning its easy enough to look after while I'm home but much more importantly its easy for the people who look after my animals when I'm gone and keeps the burden as small as possible. With that said since I am home for a while...

I finally have my first saltwater fish! Some of you may know that I was looking for this fish and some of you may already know I have it if you've been following my QT thread. Since I delve into the details in that thread I'll just do a small write up for this thread but for those who want all the details you can find them here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/first-quarantine-am-i-ready.596223/page-3#post-6054550

I put out feelers to all my LFS in late February asking them to let me know if plectranthias inermis (this fish has a plethora of common names so... latin..) ever showed up on their list. About a month ago I started losing hope and found a place that had one and shipped from Toronto but I figured I'd wait until I got back to email them and I'm some glad I did! The LFS I work at had gotten one in stock but my boss forgot that was the species I was looking for so I was quite surprised when I saw the little red eyes I had been dreaming of peering out of the rockwork! I immediately put him on hold so I could make sure my QT tank was ready (Setup since early march, just wanted to double check everything and meds on hand) and picked him up the next day! Other than a slightly pinched belly and being quite washed out he appeared to be in good health. Being in Canada means that the fish medicine cabinet is pretty much crippled so I decided to get a few drugs that we're available to have on hand (prazipro, cupramine, some left over kanaplex etc) and that I would not treat the fish unless issues where observed. I did a 5 minute freshwater dip (mind you the fish said "heck with this" at the 4:53 mark and jumped from the tupperware into the the qt).

I know thats a controversial approach but fish medicine is going the way of the dodo up here so if this hobby is to survive we need to adapt. From all the research I've done and people I've talked to it seems that best way to go about it is to focus on limiting stress, picking appropriate tank mates and a varied diet are the best way to keep the immune system of the fish intact and thats what should be focused on. With that said if observe an issue within the 30 days of qt I will not hesitate to medicate the fish as needed. So far the only cause for alarm I've seen was thin white feces but after talking it over on the QT thread and observing improvement after just 3 days of light feeding I've decided to just continue observation for now.

I still love my crabs but I must admit the fish certainly has a lot more personality! Although I've only had the fish for 8 days now I'm really enjoying having him and I can't wait to get him in the display! He's started eating regularly (roughly 5-7 enriched brineshrimp every other day), has really coloured up and is also getting more confident with each passing day. I've named him Atlas in reference to his pattern and his habit of perching high above just like his namesake who sit upon Mount Olympus holding the sky above us. Hopefully Atlas will live up to his name, the success of my first saltwater fish rest squarely on his shoulders!

Nothings really changed in the DT other than me scraping off some algae on the front panel before I left to see if it would comeback while I was gone. It did so I guess the wait for my first corals continues. I'm pretty bummed about that but at least I have Atlas, Hermes and Apollo (new name of scarlet hermit, I know I chose helios but I just kept calling him Apollo) keeping a smile on my face!

Photos of Atlas in his comfy QT, Enjoy!
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ZipAdeeZoa

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Nice! Looks like a Geometric Pygmy Hawk. I love mine. Excellent fish that keeps to the rockwork, but is always out and about.
Thanks! the behaviour you describe is exactly why I picked this fish! I went heavy with the rockwork in my scape to accommodate both large amounts of corals but more importantly the fish I was planning to get. However after not being able to find a yellow spotted scorpionfish I wanted a fish that could use the rockwork just as well!

Plectranthias inermis and the geometric pygmy hawk fish are one in the same however along with the name you used I've seen them called the Unarmed perchlet, geometric perchlet, geometric hawkfish and the pygmy hawkfish so I decided to use the latin to limit confusion. Although it doesn't seem to have been very effective;Hilarious
 
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I think its time for an update!

Honestly not all the much has changed since my last update, everyone is still where they were and doing well. Apollo molted but still doesn't come out all that often however he seems to be doing well as are Hermes and Atlas (still patiently waiting to be added to the display).

One thing I noticed was that the GHA got significantly worse but only on the back wall... Anywhere Hermes and Apollo could reach was reduced to mere strands but some of the filaments on the back panel were in excess of 4 inches! The last few water changes I had been scrubbing and siphoning out as much as I could. I could't understand why this had only recently became an issue, my tank has been running practically unchanged for nearly 8 months... Change... Change... O **** the Carbon! I'd forgot to change out my carbon last month an it appears that it finally caught up with me. My last water change I did was 4 gallons instead of the usual 2 and with all that extra time I finished clearing the back panel with the exception of a few strands here and there that I'll remove with the next WC in a few days.

In other news my replacement dryside for the mp10 I purchased has arrived and with that additional flow on the bottom I'm hoping to send most of the detritus that currently sits on the bottom between WCs will be able to make its way to the overflow and be removed with my weekly filterfloss change. This Tuesday I'm off to Toronto for a week and while I'm there I'm really hoping to make it to the store I plan on getting all my corals from to check it out and hopefully (unless the GHA keeps giving me grief) I'll be placing an order for my first corals shortly after my return. I may have to move the tank before then though... I'm going to have to play that one by ear...

I've been anxiously awaiting the day I could add corals since I started this tank and am very excited to possibly be so close to doing so! I know its been a little longer than what the BRS/WWC hybrid method calls for but I've been way to busy to do anything other than think about corals as of late. Hopefully that will be changing soon!

Today I picked up my battery backup, some more redsea coral pro and some more redsea carbon!
 
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Well as is tradition- It's been a while ;Hilarious

Summer has been really busy and and I must admit at times I missed a few water changes but I've been keeping up with tanks although I haven't really been advancing them due to time constraints but with the misery of winter creeping up on us I've decided I've waited long enough!

As recently discussed in another thread (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i...order-first-corals.648789/page-2#post-6513453) After 9 months I've decided to pull the trigger and ordered my first corals! I've been waiting for this moment for quite some time and I'm beyond excited! I had dream thee other night that they showed up, I unboxed them and put them in the tank- that was the whole dream...

For my first few corals I wanted a decent variety of shapes but also representatives from different groups of corals I'd like to have. With that said I've ordered a frag of yellow hornets (pretty sure they are LA lakers but yellow is yellow), one larger frag of electric green nepthea and a frag of blasto. The blasto is the only one that wasn't wysiwyg pictures from the retailers site below and I'll be sure to update this thread Friday when they arrive!

In other big changes I think the time has come to add Atlas to the DT, he finished a month of observational qt 3.5 months ago and although he seems quite content in his pvc pipes but he certainly deserves a much more interactive environment and I have no doubt that he'd be more comfortable in the crevices that the DT offers. I also want the tank to get used to his bioload before the corals go in but mainly its because I need to QT the corals in the tank he is currently in. hopefully three weeks is enough time for the biofilter to adjust to his presence.

The crabs are still doing well, Hermes recently upgraded to small a horse conch that is much to large for him while Apollo has yet to try a shell that isn't one of two augers.

The hair algae is still present but honestly its pretty mild and never got to plague proportions (courtesy of the crabs) but does get noticeable if I don't wipe the panels off for a few months, I think once corals are in there to compete for food I'll see even less of the stuff.

I'm feeding Atlas tonight because tomorrow is moving day! I'm also going to change the filter floss, the carbon and do a 2 gallon water change/final scrub tomorrow. If I have time tomorrow I'll let you know how it goes but I'm also looking after the rest of my zoo so it get clumped into the post when the corals come. In the meantime enjoy the photos!
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Well everyone the day finally arrived- On Friday I received my first corals! I had planned to get everything prepared the night before but I was exhausted and had an early morning on Friday so I just crashed. Friday morning I woke up at 6 am to get to a dive site for 8 to get my advanced freediver certification (which I did!), stopped at the drug store for some crazy glue and went home. About 20 minutes after I got back the Fedex truck pulled up so I brought the box downstairs and got to work!

The first thing I did was make a quick frag rack out of some leftover egg crate from my QT lid, some aqueon ceramic rings for legs and then super glued them in place while watching videos on how to acclimate corals. I did have the where with all to move Atlas into the DT the night before (as of this writing he has yet to forgive me and continues to peer out from the deepest nooks and crannies of the rock work).

Next I opened the box and while being really impressed by the packing job I started to sort through the small bags. they were all nicely labeled too except for one which said Freebie! I quickly removed the bags from the box and floated them in the tank for 15 minutes. In that time I got my coral RX dip ready. The dip went well and nothing of to much concern was dislodged except for what appeared to be a piece of small starfish. I thoroughly inspected each piece and once I was satisfied I plopped the frag rack in, swished the frags one by one in small cup of tank water and placed them in the rack. I also pulled out the light the evo came with and turned it on to see 4 very unhappy but healthy corals. within a few minutes of being placed the freebie zoas started to open up and the blasto started peaking out.

I left them for the night and this morning after the light had been on for a little while I checked back in on them and they all looked much more content, the blasto was fully extended, some of the zoas we're peaking out and the nepthea had more than less straightened itself out! I'm really excited to finally have corals but much more excited that they appear to be settling in quickly and doing really well! So begins the count down on their 2-3 week QT- below are a few photos of each step and each coral- Enjoy!
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Great thread so far. Excellent aquascape
Thank you very much! Other than making a few parts to close to the glass for the magnetic scraper I'm still pretty happy with how it turned out. As long as the fish is happy then I don't mind the extra work, fingers crossed he takes to it soon!
 
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