HiBRiD's Fluval Evo 13.5

[HiBRiD109]

Just got my Fluval Evo 13.5 up and running. Added Bio-Spira on day 2 and it took about 14 days to cycle with the last 5 days dosing ammonia hydroxide to speed things up.

This is my first SW tank. I've had a couple of freshwater tanks that started from a 3g, then upgraded to a 29g, which got upgraded to now my 75g planted. Picked up the Evo on a black friday sale at my LFS for 1/2 off.

Current set-up:
Equipment-
InTank Chamber 1 media basket - Top-Filter Floss/Middle-ChemiPure
1 lb of Seachem Matrix in Chamber 2
InTank Chamber 2 plug
Sicce Silent 0.5 pump (185gph)
Cobalt 75w nano heater
AI Prime HD - added 7/18
Vivid Creative Aquatics Random flow generator (1/2")
Jebao OW-10 Wavemaker
XP Aqua Duetto ATO - added 8/3

Hardscape-
14.5 lbs of dry rock
6 lbs of Caribsea Arag-Alive reef special grade

Livestock:
Frostbite Clownfish
Tailspot Blenny
Cleaner Shrimp
Cerith snail
3 Astrea snails
2 Tonga Nassarius snails
1 Purple tip Hammer
1 Neon green Hammer
1 Pink Goniopora
1 Green Polyp Toadstool
1 Orange Ricordea Mushroom
1 Green Ricordea Mushroom
2 Hairy Mushroom
1 Lava Lamp Mushroom
1 Orange Acan
1 Purple Torch
Montipora
Kenya Tree
Hitch hiker Zoas
Sunny D Zoas
Stargazer Zoas
Orange Oxide Zoas
Blueberry Fields Zoas
Tri-Color Acro

Salt and dosing:
Red Sea Coral Pro with 25% weekly water changes

Last update photo:

Looking to add 1 small clown soon and maybe some coral. My plan is to have 1 clown, a tailspot blenny (after tank has matured with good algae), cleaner shrimp, and snails. I want to add as much coral as I can make work. There is no rush and I plan to add things with some time in between.

The tank when cycling and before I got any aftermarket hardware.

 

[HiBRiD109]

I ordered some Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a bottle to see if I can jump start the coralline algae. The only LFS I have has only been running for a few months so they don't have any coralline aglae in their tanks yet. They two turbos had some on their shell but probably not enough to get things going. If it doesn't work, I'm only out $20 as I added it to my shopping cart for more floss for my 75g FW tank's canister filter. Reviews looked decent.

Also, I am on the hunt for another stock Evo light. I want one to open up and see if I can modify to have more control on as I really like the hood to keep evaporation down. I don't want to spend money on lights and ATO right now.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Looks great!
I think it would look much better if you got a small heater that will fit in chamber 3. That's what the majority of us Fluval Evo owners do.

 

[HiBRiD109]

Thanks BoBoBREWSKI, I actually did add the Cobalt 75W heater to chamber 3. I just didn't have it at the time I started the cycle and figured I could use my old eheim at the time. I'll post pics tonight on what the tank looks currently, mainly the same without the eheim heater but now going through the new tank diatom outbreak stage.

 

[HiBRiD109]

Pictures of the tank currently. Diatoms are taking over along with some hair algae. My Cerith snail and 2 Margarita snails are slowly demolishing. Nice thing about the hair algae is that I finally get to see that Random Flow Generator's effect as the algae goes back and forth.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Gonna look great once you get some corals and fish.

 

[reef-rc]

I would be interested to see how the addition of Purple Helix Coralline Algae does.

Same goes for Vivid Creative Aquatics Random flow generator as I am seeing more usage of them; especially on nano size tank. Do you have Sicce on full power?

 

[HiBRiD109]

I would be interested to see how the addition of Purple Helix Coralline Algae does.

Same goes for Vivid Creative Aquatics Random flow generator as I am seeing more usage of them; especially on nano size tank. Do you have Sicce on full power?

Yes, I have it on full power. It seems to be doing well. The minimum flow VCA lists is 150gph so I'm above that but their optimal range is 300-450gph which would be way too much. I may try a Sicce Silent 1.0 (251gph) turned down in the future but some fluval evo owners say it could be a little much for some of the livestock. I'm going to try to go without a powerhead but I will so how the coral grows.

 

[HiBRiD109]

Turned on the lights this morning before going to work and noticed this red/maroon spot on the glass. Its about the size of an eraser head.

I checked my water parameters last night and did not notice it before so it must have popped up over night.

Any ideas? I hope not Cyano but its on the glass.
My parameters are:
Temp: 78*F
pH: 8.3
NH3: 0ppm
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: <5ppm
Phosphate: Undetectable or 0 with API Reef Test kit
Alkalinity: 9
Calcium: 330

 

[HiBRiD109]

Decided that the red spot is cyano, there is also black slime behind the rock as well. I scraped it off and vacuumed the sand bed. I just assume its just new tank woes.

Stopped at the LFS, they were picked over from last shipment and didn't get a new shipment in this week. All their unique clowns were gone. I was hoping to pick up a frostbite, black ice, or wyoming white. The owner came out from back where he has is quarantine room and frag tanks. Asked if I was looking anything in particular and said I was hoping he still had some unique clowns. He said he might still have one swimming around his frag tank. Sure enough he had a tiny frostbite waddling about between frags. Had to have him as he said wasn't getting a new shipment of them for a couple weeks and I needed something to look at in the fish besides the snails.

I picked up two astreas that he had in the frag tanks as well as he didnt have any on display. I also couldn't help on grabbing a small hammer coral. Did a large water change before I added them all in. I get all my RODI and saltwater from the LFS as it just seems better to just spend $3 a week for water for a water change and top off than $200-$300 of initial costs of a RODI system (we have really hard water), container for mixing/storage, another heater, and powerhead along with salt. Plus I have no need to really drip acclimate as the parameters are almost identical. Once I get more coral and an established tank I may need to get my own system but for now this should suffice.

My wife always wants to name my fish, I told her the clowns name should be James Franco.

 

[reef-rc]

You're more than likely just going through the ugly cycle since it's a new tank. Mine's currently going through that now too; brown algae mostly.

I am so tempted to put a designer clown or pair into the new tank too.

 

[HiBRiD109]

You're more than likely just going through the ugly cycle since it's a new tank. Mine's currently going through that now too; brown algae mostly.

I am so tempted to put a designer clown or pair into the new tank too.

Yeah, after the 2nd large water change I did my nitrates are almost 0 and I don't see any more slime or algae.

I was conflicted about going with a designer clown as this is my first attempt at saltwater after 2 years of freshwater with 3 tanks. But I wanted a clown that I actually wanted because I knew I would be watching the parameters like a hawk in the first few months. And I didn't want to be stuck with a standard ocellaris because I don't like to return livestock. Not that the regular ocellaris isn't a good fish but the designers look so unique and stand out so much especially in a nano when you are limited in only a handful of fish.

 

[reef-rc]

i like designer clown myself. i have one in three of the four tanks: 2 black storm and 1 frostbit. I tried pairing them up but has not been successful unfornately so they're single ;Shamefullyembarrased.

 

[HiBRiD109]

Things are progressing. Diatoms have started to slow down. The black slime algae has stopped growing for now.

Lost the Nassarius snail. I would feed and he never came out of the sand bed. He moved around for a week but then I noticed he stopped moving after two days. I pulled him and he reeked of death. I put him in ziplock with some sw and after two days of no movement I pitched him. Must have been dying or sick when I got him as everyone else is happy.

Added a few things. A cleaner shrimp who won't leave me alone anytime my hand is near or in the water. Such a fearless creature. Added an orange Acan, a green Ricordea Mushroom, and a orange Ricordea Mushroom.

Added a Jebao OW-10 wavemaker. Had it on the slowest setting and slowest pulse but it caused my water to slosh and my Hammer started to deflate and my Acan to shriveled up. I moved it around and pointed at different angles to hit the glass to diffuse, but ended up turning it off and everyone was happy so I guess for now, the Sicce 0.5 pump with the RFG is good enough for everyone.

I added the the ARC Reef Coralline in a bottle. It maybe have gotten pretty cold but hopefully should work. Only time will tell.

Started dosing Aquavitro Fuel. A LFS I stopped by had a buy one get one free so I said why not. I plan on just doing weekly dosing with about 75% of the recommended dose as I just have 4 small frags.

I plan on ordering some Red Sea Coral Pro to up my calcium and other minerals/elements as I am still sitting at 320ppm for calcium with the LFS saltwater (they use IO, so I will just get the RO from them). I rather just do 25-30% weekly water changes then to dose what is needed.

 

[NY_Caveman]

This tank is really coming along nicely!

 

[HiBRiD109]

Added a green polyp Toadstool frag and a pink Goniopora frag. After a day on the sandbed, both seemed happy so I relocated them and attached them to my rockwork.

Started using Red Sea Coral Pro. Introducing it with my 25% weekly water changes and the coral is handling the change well. Trying the wavemaker again at the lowest setting to get more turbulence.

As I was moving the frags around my frostbite clown was attacking me and was pretty intense about it. He was even jumping out of the water if my hand was near the surface. I hope this is just a one time thing or I'll have to wear gloves and I may not be able to add a tail spot blenny that I wanted to do after a few months.

 

[reef-rc]

That's typical for most clownfish; territorial by nature. You may just want to get use to it. I feed most of my clownfish by hand so they don't nip at my fingers or hand as much. It's when when I use something like a glass cleaner that they really show how they don't appreciate something new in their space. Once you get them to nip food off your fingers, it does make catching them very easy and without any fuss.

Usually if it's a different specie of fish, they will ignore and leave them along.

 

[HiBRiD109]

That's typical for most clownfish; territorial by nature. You may just want to get use to it. I feed most of my clownfish by hand so they don't nip at my fingers or hand as much. It's when when I use something like a glass cleaner that they really show how they don't appreciate something new in their space. Once you get them to nip food off your fingers, it does make catching them very easy and without any fuss.

Usually if it's a different specie of fish, they will ignore and leave them along.

Ok, I guess I don't mind the pain of the bite. Its just between the cleaner shrimp and clown, I can't get anything done in the tank with them all over my hand. I also don't want to get an open wound in the tank with the risk of a bacterial infection that people warn with the cyano. I just scooped him out with a rubbermaid container and put him back after I was done. (10 mins)

 

[HiBRiD109]

Any criticism or suggestions on coral/placement?

I am trying to figure out what to put on the left large rock structure. It gets a good amount of flow from the return pump and the RFG blasts all over it. Any suggestions? I would assume SPS but I was hoping to stay with LPS and softies as I am still a beginner and have zero knowledge on SPS coral besides they are more demanding.

I either want to put GSP or Xenia on the small rock island in the front left. I like coral that has a lot of movement with the flow.

 

[reef-rc]

Potential candidates - Acans and/or Favia or even Zoas. Your hammer should also do good there.