Just getting back into saltwater; Fluval 13.5

[Bombschell]

I see these a quiet popular little tanks, so I'm not showing y'all anything special my wife and I are just getting back into the hobby after and extended hiatus and hope to do something bigger soon. Our 13.5 EVO, with a Fluval marine 3.0, skimmer, etc... Expecting a little Jabao or however you spell it wave pump to come in today. Will put up some more pics as we have moved a few things around.

 

[blaxsun]

The EVOs are great little tanks!

 

[Bombschell]

So the Jebao even on lowest setting is too high for my tank. Any ideas on a good micro circ pump?

 

[Bombschell]

I have been using the reef roids for about 1.5 months, and poylplab "One" for about a month and have seen great results from my fungia, and hammer.

 

[Bombschell]

Hopefully my crappy phone camera captured the difference

 

[Bombschell]

Some pics of our corals. The leather was just picked up at a local chain store, I am hoping it will perk up.

 

[MNFish]

So the Jebao even on lowest setting is too high for my tank. Any ideas on a good micro circ pump?

I use this one

Voyager Nano 1000 (270 gph) - Sicce

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I am a big fan of sicce they have been bullet proof for me.

 

[Hairyteeth]

Nice work, welcome back!

 

[Bombschell]

I use this one

Voyager Nano 1000 (270 gph) - Sicce

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I am a big fan of sicce they have been bullet proof for me.

I have the small Fluval one that is similar to that and I still feel like it is too much for my thank and layout. It looks like a freaking hurricane. I think I am going to upgrade my filter pump to the 185gph Sicce and see how that works.

 

[Bombschell]

I have the small Fluval one that is similar to that and I still feel like it is too much for my thank and layout. It looks like a freaking hurricane. I think I am going to upgrade my filter pump to the 185gph Sicce and see how that works.

Maybe I'm just not putting it into the right spot

 

[MNFish]

I upgraded my pump and have that on the other side, but there is a lot of current in a few spots.

 

[Bombschell]

I have a ridiculous diatom bloom! I had used a skimmer but it seemed like it was stripping too much good stuff out with the bad and I was getting bsome red algae. A little reading said I maybe pulling too much of the other beneficial bacteria and critters that control it so I pulled the skimmer out. Now, I have a nasty case of what I believe is diatoms, but my parameters are good and all the coral and fish are healthy. Any ideas? I use filtered water in gallon jugs, I was using distilled but someone scared me when they said distilled water might have too much copper from the distillation process.

 

[Bombschell]

We got a frog spawn a week or two ago. Along with some new zoa's. The frog spawn is doing really well.

 

[Bombschell]

So about a month ago we made an order from corals.com ( I am in no way affiliated with them), we have purchased almost every coral we have from them. That order was for my acan, and some zoas my wife liked, well when we opened the box there was also this great acropora frag! I was not sure I could keep it alive with our current set up, but it has actually added a few buds I think! Anyway we love John and has products great store and very friendly people. Everything has arrived alive, I have only lost one coral and I think it was due to our shrimp molesting him stealing food from it's mouth.

 

[Bombschell]

Still trying to get the algae under control, but looks like it's getting a bit better, slower to return. Added a mithrax and she is putting in good work

 

[Bombschell]

Here are some updated pics. As I said still battling the dang algae, but the critters all seem healthy.

 

[Bombschell]

We got a little clowny and hopefully he will move into one of the euphylia coral, but who knows?

 

[Bombschell]

So have been battling the dinos for weeks now. Thick mats on the sand slime on the rocks that would return almost as thick the next day. As stated in an earlier post I stopped skimming and upped the feeding, add a crab to help out and things started to slowly turn around. Then I added some pods from algae barn and about two weeks later another batch of pods and started dosing phytoplankton. It's been two weeks now and there is a noticeable thinning and patchiness to the algae, and it is much slower and less thick when does come back. The slimy stuff on the rock was visibly turning whitish and dissolving. So here is a pic, keep in mind the tank is only a few months old and I'm still battling the algae.

 

[ISFNick]

The ugly stage is part of a cycle if you turn your lights on early into the cycle. Try dosing some Vibrant. Does wonders. And be patient!

 

[Bombschell]

The ugly stage is part of a cycle if you turn your lights on early into the cycle. Try dosing some Vibrant. Does wonders. And be patient!

Yeah I'm not using any chems. Thanks for the advice though. This is my first "reef" tank and it's taken a little getting used too.