Fluval Evo 13.5....... first nano!!

[Salukis97]

Hey all! I used to have a 75 gal FOWLR tank but I converted it to a freshwater predator tank several years back. Got the itch to get back into saltwater but wanted to keep things more budget friendly. That pretty much put a large tank out of the question so after a bit of research, I’m giving the Fluval 13.5 a try.
As you can see, my first tank apparently received the Ace Ventura treatment during shipping.......
Amazon made it right, though, so we finally got our tank up and running after waiting a few more days for a replacement to arrive. I’m planning to cycle without any livestock. I added 15 lbs of live sand, dry rock, and a small piece of live rock from the lfs.

Currently day 2:

Ammonia .5 ppm
Nitrites 0

 

[Salukis97]

Kids convinced me to start a vlog so we’re gonna try to keep it updated at least weekly.

 

[jsker]

Nice start.

 

[James M]

Like the rock work , what kind of livestock are your thinking ?

 

[Salukis97]

Thanks. I’m not sure about livestock yet. Thinking about a watchman goby to start with fish wise. Then a typical cleanup crew and maybe a cleaner or pistol shrimp.

I’m pretty much a noob when it comes to corals. I had a Kenyan tree and some zoas that hitchhiked in on my lr last time but I didn’t do anything special for them. Any suggestions would be welcome for sure.

 

[James M]

I think a goby and pistol pair would be cool

 

[NY_Caveman]

Kids convinced me to start a vlog so we’re gonna try to keep it updated at least weekly.

Nice production with the kids. Definitely keep it going.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Salukis97]

Day 3:

Ammonia holding steady at .5 ppm

No sign of nitrites yet.

Cmon ya darn cycle!

 

[Salukis97]

Day 6 cycle update:

Ammonia holding steady at .5 ppm

Nitrites 0

Tested nitrates for the first time this evening. Turns out they are reading 5 ppm. Thought that was weird since there’s no sign of nitrites yet but I’m no expert. I had the first chamber filled with floss so I changed that out and only filled the top third of the chamber this time. Is having nitrates this early common?

 

[Katrina71]

The kids would love watching a Tailspot Blenny.

 

[Salukis97]

Decided to go ahead and try a filter mod I’ve had my eye on while waiting for the tank to cycle.

 

[jaegers_reef]

Looking great so far!

 

[Salukis97]

Day 9 update:



Ammonia is up to 1 ppm



nitrites finally starting to show up! .25 ppm



nitrates are up to 10, though. My understanding is that I’m pretty much gonna need the nitrates to be zero if I want happy corals? Is this correct?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Day 9 update:



Ammonia is up to 1 ppm



nitrites finally starting to show up! .25 ppm



nitrates are up to 10, though. My understanding is that I’m pretty much gonna need the nitrates to be zero if I want happy corals? Is this correct?

Most people say soft corals and LPS like a little Nitrate. SPS less so. While generally true, the reality appears to be less exact. My best advice is 0 nitrates can often be as problematic as high nitrates. Best in the beginning is to see where your system settles out and do not try to chase the numbers. Once your system matures you can adjust as needed.

 

[PshThisGuy]

Nice tank! The cycling process may seem like forever, but you'll get there. My wife and I started ours in 22DEC17. Many ups and downs, but we've learned a lot since then, and still learning. Have fun and good luck!

 

[Salukis97]

Day 12 update:

Ammonia is down slightly to .25 ppm since the nitrite spike



nitrites up to 1 ppm



nitrates holding around 10 ppm



Things seem to be moving along slowly but surely. One thing I’m not digging so much is the super fine sand. I thought it looked a little more coarse in the bag, but nope, it’s as fine as it gets. I was planning on upgrading the stock pump to add a little more flow, but it’s already been a challenge keeping the sand from blowing all over the rocks with just the stock pump and cheap extra power head I added........

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

If I was you, I'd replace the super fine sand with something thicker/bigger/chunkier. I'd hate to deal with the sand blowing all over the place.

 

[Salukis97]

Yeah I’m thinking about it and I know I should do it before I start adding livestock. But yeah, ugh. Don’t really want to deal with the hassle.

 

[Salukis97]

3 1/2 week update:


The cycle seemed to be pretty much complete roughly a week ago. Ammonia and nitrite were 0 and nitrates were 5. I was planning on waiting another couple weeks before introducing any livestock but the kids talked me into getting a couple fish while at the lfs for RODI water. I let them pick out 2 damsels, Lucy and Freddie. Guy at the store said I could trade them in later if I wanted so I figured why not. A significant diatom blooom appeared a few days later so I got a couple turbo and astrea snails. They’ve done a pretty good job of feasting on the algae as you can see from the pics. The rocks were completely brown and the turbos went to work right away and had them cleaned off within a day.


Only weird thing at this point is that ammonia has appeared again at .25 ppm. No nitrites. I’ve been dosing prime and have done a water change since. The fish and snails don’t seem to be stressed......


oh also, I removed half of the super fine sand and added dry crushed aragonite. I did rinse the dry stuff thoroughly but a couple days later is when the ammonia showed up again. Not sure if that had anything to do with it....

 

[Fat Sacs]

I wouldn’t have put the damsels in, goodluck catching those guys