Evo 13.5 mixed reef build thread

[924er]

Hey guy! long time lurker, first time poster. Ive had planted tanks for a few years and have always wanted a reef aquarium but was intimidated by it. Thanks to all the help from R2R, Im happy to announce my first reef tank!

Evo 13.5 tank, 3.5 months old.

lighting- stock lighting with amazon LED blue strip

filtration-
chamber 1- intake media basket (floss, chemipure blue, floss, and bio media)
chamber 2- media basket with chaeto refugium, growing on amazon light
chamber 3- sicce 0.5 pump, 100w heater, more bio media, ATO using half dose kalkwasser

lifestock- pair of ocellaris clowns, royal gramma, six line wrasse, yellow watchman, and cleaner shrimp, a 6 snails

cora- zoathids, acans, hammers, frogspawns, torch, mushrooms, duncans, montipora, gsp,

Now I know my tank is heavily stocked with fish and, but my I believe the fact that I have chaeto, plenty live rock and biofiltration is making it work. my nitrates are never past 5ppm. The cheato is growing really well and I run lights reverse schedule. All the fish get along well and seem happy. I know the six line wrasse will get big, but hopefully in the next 6 months ill have a larger tank to transfer to but hes an awesome fish to watch.

As far as coral growth, I am definitely seeing new heads and good coloration. The euphylias are happy, and growing well. I may need to move my duncans away from the frogspawn but havent exprerinced any signs of warfare.

I do 10% weekly waterchanges with IO water. My KH is stable around 8-9dkh with the help of the kalkwasser, although may be overkill from this tank. This week I shut it off and will monitor alk levels. calcium levels 450-500. mag is +1300. temp always stable 75-78F.
There are been no algae growth once I got past the uglies. There is some brown algea in the cheato refugium.

My only concern is my phosphate level constantly reading 0.25 on API testing which I think is too high, I would live to get it down to prevent nusissance algea. I know API isnt that relaible so I might invest in some more Hanna readers.

Overall, I feel that the tank is stable and happy. parameters are within range and the life seem happy.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated



picture below

 

[blaxsun]

If your tank is handling the nutrient load then it’s not too many fish.

 

[924er]

If your tank is handling the nutrient load then it’s not too many fish.

is it okay that my purple frogspawn is growing on top of my green hammer like that?
I was thinking about moving it but I dont feel like ticking the corals off by touching them

 

[jfoahs04]

Looks great! Nice work. These are great little tanks (I have the same one).

 

[Sharkbait19]

Looks great!
I’d normally say that’s too many fish, but if nitrates are below 5 ppm then you are doing fine (great actually). Just watch for clown and 6 line aggression.
Since frogspawn and hammer are so closely related, there isn’t a worry about the two touching each other and stinging each other. The only concern is whether you like it there (and if they both are healthy).

 

[924er]

Looks great!
I’d normally say that’s too many fish, but if nitrates are below 5 ppm then you are doing fine (great actually). Just watch for clown and 6 line aggression.
Since frogspawn and hammer are so closely related, there isn’t a worry about the two touching each other and stinging each other. The only concern is whether you like it there (and if they both are healthy).

ill watch out, so far the clowns dont seem to mind. I do see the royal gramma and 6 line chase eachother but its short lived.

Ill keep an eye out on the nitrate, its staying below 5 even before my water change is due. I really think the chaeto algea is helping keep it down.

 

[snakemau]

How is the stock light working for the tank?

 

[924er]

How is the stock light working for the tank?

So far so good, it does produce some heat but since its winter its fine. As far as coral growth and coloration, everything appears well. There is a member who provided PAR readings for the fluval stock lighting and everything seems to be within recommended PAR for my euphylias. In fact, my green hammer produced more color compared to at the LPS. I run it for 10.5 hours but I am going to reduce it to 9.5 soon as I dont want any algea growth

the only downside is lighting control, I bought an adapter that controls the light but its just on/off. no dimming features. corals dont care though.

 

[snakemau]

Ok sounds good! I’m contemplating on getting this Fluval 13.5 or a waterbox 10 or IM Nuvo 10. I got several return pumps already that I can replace in either one and a hygger Wavemaker as well, what I don’t have is a light, that’s what I was wondering about the stock light. I just purchased a Reef Breeders LED Nano for a 3.8 gal tank and it’s great, so might do that later on if needed, but right now just trying to see which tank….

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’ve been running the stock on my evo since august 2020.
Not the best for color, but it does the job well. Sps like acros may have trouble but everything else grows well.

 

[jfoahs04]

I’ve been running the stock on my evo since august 2020.
Not the best for color, but it does the job well. Sps like acros may have trouble but everything else grows well.

I agree, the stock light is perfectly adequate for growing just about anything. The issue with SPS (especially some of the acro varieties) will be color - it just won't be as vibrant under the stock light. I'm running a Prime 16HD on my EVO and I have two different acros, a birdsnest, monti digitata, and two monti caps, all of them really pop. It was worth the upgrade to me, but I think they'd have grown under the stock light as well. They just wouldn't have the same color. For SPS, I think parameter stability is the most important factor and it's a bit trickier in these tiny systems.

 

[924er]

UPDATE--

I finally just pulled the trigger on an AI prime 16 HD and WOW. I cant believe I didnt get this sooner. The colors of the corals are alot more vibrant and getting rid of the lid really helped give my tank a sparkle.

I am currently running david saxby settings on 50% acclimation for 30 days and I have been raising the percentage every other day. The only concern is that my frogspawn's polyps are not as extended but I am sure they have to get acclimated to this new light.

 

[jfoahs04]

Looks good! I think the light is perfect for this tank (I'm running one on my EVO too) and you can't beat the color and shimmer. Two quick comments:

• You don't need to change the acclimation percentage after you've initially set it. If you start at 50%, it'll automatically increase on its own over the period you selected. If you're coming from the stock light and now running the default Saxby (that's what I'm using), I'd consider just leaving it at 50% for 30 days and letting the light adjust on its own (that's the percentage and duration I used too).
• If you're just growing softies and LPS, you may want to consider a lower setting. There's a Fluval EVO group on Facebook where you can find a modified Saxby setting specifically for softies/LPS in this tank. I had to move my euphyllia lower and out of the middle of the tank because default Saxby was too much for them once it was out of acclimation mode. Everything looks great in yours, so maybe that acclimation will do the trick. But if you plan on adding SPS, default Saxby is awesome.

Enjoy it. It's been a game changer for me.

 

[924er]

Looks good! I think the light is perfect for this tank (I'm running one on my EVO too) and you can't beat the color and shimmer. Two quick comments:

• You don't need to change the acclimation percentage after you've initially set it. If you start at 50%, it'll automatically increase on its own over the period you selected. If you're coming from the stock light and now running the default Saxby (that's what I'm using), I'd consider just leaving it at 50% for 30 days and letting the light adjust on its own (that's the percentage and duration I used too).
• If you're just growing softies and LPS, you may want to consider a lower setting. There's a Fluval EVO group on Facebook where you can find a modified Saxby setting specifically for softies/LPS in this tank. I had to move my euphyllia lower and out of the middle of the tank because default Saxby was too much for them once it was out of acclimation mode. Everything looks great in yours, so maybe that acclimation will do the trick. But if you plan on adding SPS, default Saxby is awesome.

Enjoy it. It's been a game changer for me.

hey thanks for your response!

Do you think I should move the light farther away from the water?

I am planning on just keeping LPS. I dont feel like moving my euphylia around, so I will check out those FB groups and see if they have a modified saxby setting.

thanks!!

 

[kiran]

Love the aquascape

 

[jfoahs04]

hey thanks for your response!

Do you think I should move the light farther away from the water?

I am planning on just keeping LPS. I dont feel like moving my euphylia around, so I will check out those FB groups and see if they have a modified saxby setting.

thanks!!

I don't think you need to move the light further from the water (I have the same bracket you do).

You may be fine with the default Saxby, but it can't hurt looking at the modified versions for LPS/Softies. My frogspawn, hammer, and candy canes are all great with the default at the lower levels of the tank. They just didn't like the middle/top.

 

[924er]

I don't think you need to move the light further from the water (I have the same bracket you do).

You may be fine with the default Saxby, but it can't hurt looking at the modified versions for LPS/Softies. My frogspawn, hammer, and candy canes are all great with the default at the lower levels of the tank. They just didn't like the middle/top.

hmm, okay. The light is currently 9 in from the water. I downloaded a pre set from the FB group that is popular from a guy named Aaron. Hes got PAR readings for all and is running LPS and softies. I will try that and see how it goes, and keep Saxby in mind.

My frogspawns are not as extended when comparing to my stock evo light but then again its only been 4 days so I am sure that are acclimating to this new light.

How do I know if the light is too strong for the coral? Will they start to bleach?

 

[jfoahs04]

hmm, okay. The light is currently 9 in from the water. I downloaded a pre set from the FB group that is popular from a guy named Aaron. Hes got PAR readings for all and is running LPS and softies. I will try that and see how it goes, and keep Saxby in mind.

My frogspawns are not as extended when comparing to my stock evo light but then again its only been 4 days so I am sure that are acclimating to this new light.

How do I know if the light is too strong for the coral? Will they start to bleach?

I think I know the one, he knows his stuff and lots of people have had success with his settings.

It could be the adjustment that's preventing the frogspawn from fully extending. Too much light will cause them to not fully extend and sometimes even bleach. But like you said, it's only been 4 days so it may just be the change that's thrown them off. I'd try the new settings on acclimation mode and see what happens over 2 weeks. Even default Saxby at 50% over 30 days shouldn't case the frogspawn to bleach. Slow (30ish day) acclimation and those new settings shouldn't be too much for your frogspawn where you have them.