Kitchen Counter 9gal

[Sniffingkrylon]

After 10 years I fell back into the hobby. My brother gave me a Fluval Flex 9 gallon and we’ll, I couldn’t say no.

I cleaned it thoroughly and ran water and vinegar and a touch of bleach to make sure everything was sterile.

Once clean I went and bought live sand, “life rock” and some ocean water. Put together a couple rock scapes but stuck with this one, reminds me of a wave. When it cleared up, I liked it even more so started the cycle by adding some live bacteria and waited.

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Mid cycle my brother had a rogue Xenia floating around his tank and he asked if I wanted it, I know these things are hard to kill so I said screw it, if it died nothing lost.. “these things are like weeds so might not be a bad thing if it dies,” I though. It didn’t die. It’s sitting on a lonely Little Rock away from my other rocks but has already grown so it’s getting close to decision time. I wedged the foot into a hole on a small rock and set it upside down on another rock so it couldn’t move.. it stuck on the intended rock in 2 days. That was pretty cool, stupid, but cool.

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

I ordered a Noo-Psyche k7 mini and that’s on its way and when I went to my LFS and my water tested nitrite free so I bought a small zoa frag in celebration.. Lol did a water change and threw them in and under the stock lights they look bad but under the moonlight LEDs they show a little potential. Yesterday I got a little baby chromis (he’ll have a bigger place to go when he grows), 5 snails and 5 hermits because I was having a little algae bloom and, sheesh, I forgot fast they work, tank was clean today. I’m gonna buy a pump this week, I was thinking sicce 1.0 but apparently it’s loud? I don’t know, recommendations? Also don’t know if to go with a 1/2” RFG straight off the return (a little under gunned 250gph but 300-400 recommended) or VCA nano RFG kit with two 1/4” RFGs. Everything was closed up in the last pic because I just turned the lights on take a pic of the clean tank, I think I startled the chromis too. Lol

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

So the light (Noo-Psyche K7 mini) came in yesterday and it’s dang bright but if I’m honest, it’s a bit too blue/purple even on the whitest setting, it is what it is. I may be a little old school but, dare I say, I miss my MH lights. I just don’t miss the heat.. with that said I can’t complain for the price. Was fairly simple to set up for me, I have it at 30% right now when I get some more light needy corals I’ll turn it up a bit. Gonna have to buy a filter for my cameraphone or maybe a pair of filtered glasses to get pics because you can’t see much. My one zoa frag seems to be happy though, they grew under the stock lighting which was surprising but with this light the polyps are fully extended and the skirts too. Only one of the new polyps had popped open but an hour or so after I put on the light the second one popped open too and I imagine the third will open soon also. Surprised how fast these grew even under bad lighting, when I got the frag there was 3 tiny bumps and in a couple weeks 2/3 are officially polyps. Here’s a couple pics. The last tank pic is pure “white” no blue or purple channels on. Should be throwing in a pump this week too, the stock waterbox 20 cube one, my brother is getting a new pump and is giving me the stock one. It makes some noise but we have a toddler, I'm sure it’s not louder than he is. A frog spawn frag, and a rock nem too and we might frag a candy cane head that grew upside down.

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Added a ricordea today, not a Yuma but I like it. Feels weird editing a pic so much, the pic looks closer to real life but it’s a lot of work to get rid of some of the blue

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

My water bottle ATO finally came in today. Was expecting it to look more obtrusive, glad it’s no so in your face since it is a 1.5L bottle. Without the lid the tank evaporates water a lot quicker. Slowly but surely coming together.

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

This week I added a surface skimmer to the tank because I had a clear film growing over it, it cleaned it up but the tank later ended up with a little bit of either cyano or diatoms and I think they were related, one went away the other showed up instantly. Checked my water and there was 5 nitrate and phosphate was 0 which was strange to me, all Ive added to the filtration was chemipure blue which I don’t think removes phosphate. Either way did a water change today with water from my lfs to get some nutrients back and cleaned up the sand and the rock that was infected and it’s all good now. Also installed my pump, 264gph vs the stock +/-60gpg, muuuuuch better but i wish I didn’t have to add a surface skimmer, filtration system on these tanks suck. My RFG kit should get here next week to improve the flow some more and get better surface agitation. My brother saw the tank for the first time yesterday and was impressed with the Noop light, that was cool considering he’s running an AI Prime. I offered a trade, we laughed. LOL

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is looking great so far!

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Tank is looking great so far!

Slow and steady. Lol thanks

 

[Jreich16]

Did you block the bottom intake or just leave it? I’m getting ready to set my 9gallon flex up

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Did you block the bottom intake or just leave it? I’m getting ready to set my 9gallon flex up

Yeah, I got the cover from FishGuildCorp on Etsy. Kind of helps for the surface of the water although I still had to add a surface skimmer behind the top intake vent because it was building up even with the cover. I’m going to remove it tomorrow actually and see what happens if I run the tank without it now that it has a better return pump.

 

[Jreich16]

Yeah, I got the cover from FishGuildCorp on Etsy. Kind of helps for the surface of the water although I still had to add a surface skimmer behind the top intake vent because it was building up even with the cover. I’m going to remove it tomorrow actually and see what happens if I run the tank without it now that it has a better return pump.

Do you recommend any upgrades?

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Do you recommend any upgrades?

Definitely recommend upgrading the return pump and the lights.

 

[LeannaBanana]

Love this little tank! Excited to follow your progress here!

 

[V A R I A N T]

Looking good! BTW, Chemipure Blue does remove phosphate.

Chemi Pure Blue (5.5 oz) - Aquarium Filtration Media - Boyd

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

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[dstockwell]

Tank lookin good

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Looking good! BTW, Chemipure Blue does remove phosphate.

Chemi Pure Blue (5.5 oz) - Aquarium Filtration Media - Boyd

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

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I guess that makes sense, huh. Lol Thank you, I had no idea. I thought it was just carbon. ‍

 

[pusztareefer]

Nice looking tank.
love your scape

 

[DonTavo27]

Great job with the tank. Now all you need is some GSP to go with the Xenia lol.

 

[Sniffingkrylon]

Great job with the tank. Now all you need is some GSP to go with the Xenia lol.

A race to see who takes over first? Who are you betting on? Lol