My Evo 13.5 build from Central Oregon

[reefguypnw]

Hello all. I've been out of the hobby for about 8 years, and finally decided to do a nano reef. My knowledge is pretty cloudy since it's been so long, so I wanted to start this thread to help assist me through my build and ask for guidance and input along the way.

Here's what I have so far.
-Fluval Evo 13.5
-5 days cycling (no lights)
-18lbs live sand
-5.5 lbs cured live rock
-7.5lbs dry rock

Parameters that I've tested
Ph- 8
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0
(Ammonia was 1ppm on day 2)

LFS said my cycle finish would be very quick. (Approx 1 week).

I will be adding a refugium soon (next week) with 1lb rock rubble, small chaeto algae, 1000 pods, and phytoplankton.

Should I add my clean up crew now (crabs/snails) and turn on my light, or wait until after my refugium is running, or other? Any advice is recommended. Again, please be kind and patient with me, I'm having to re-learn everything. Thanks.

 

[Tahoe61]

Welcome back to the hobby.

I would wait at least a month before adding algae eating snails. They will starve in a new tank just cycled. A small hermit crab type would be fine.

Stock slowly.

LFS maybe pushing you a little fast.

 

[reefguypnw]

Added 4 blue leg hermits today.

 

[reefguypnw]

Here are a few pics.

 

[DidYouSayReefer]

Make sure to drop some food in for the crabs. Without algae or fish to clean up after, they’ll need to eat. Don’t you need a fish or ammonia to cycle a tank? I’m getting ready to start back up as well with the same tank so I’m researching now. I plan on adding 1 tough fish to cycle, no lights for at least a month. Once the algae comes, add the snails. Go slow and read read read.

 

[reefguypnw]

Make sure to drop some food in for the crabs. Without algae or fish to clean up after, they’ll need to eat. Don’t you need a fish or ammonia to cycle a tank? I’m getting ready to start back up as well with the same tank so I’m researching now. I plan on adding 1 tough fish to cycle, no lights for at least a month. Once the algae comes, add the snails. Go slow and read read read.

I'm feeding my crabs a small amount of food daily. Keeping an eye on my water quality and all parameters are good.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Nice tank. Considered buying one to have a reef tank in my bedroom, but decided instead to just take my unused 10 gallon and set it up as one.

 

[Bontchimuz]

Awesome stuff. Im about to set up very similar. Any progress updates for us?!?!

 

[reefguypnw]

Awesome stuff. Im about to set up very similar. Any progress updates for us?!?!

Thanks. Yes I've done a lot in the past weeks. Will try to post an update later today.

 

[Mav88]

EVOs are one of the best looking nanos. I stated mine a couple month ago also an EVO best of luck!!

 

[reefguypnw]

***UPDATE***

Tank is 30 days old today.

Week 1- let tank cycle with live rock/dry rock, live sand, no light. Tank cycled in 3 days. Added 4 crabs

Week 2- added pair of B&W clown fish, pulsing xenia, 3 snails, chaeto algea, 1000 pods, GSP. Added refugium in chamber 1 with rock rubble, chaeto algea, and chaeto light 24hrs/day. Turned main light on for 10 hrs/day. Hair algea began to grow. Note: i think 10 hours was too much light, also the stock LED that comea with the evo does have enough blue led's and the spectrum is too much white light. Within a week, hair algea was 1" long all over the tank. Water change.

Week 3- added 10g algea CUC from reefcleaners online. There was a 2 day delay in shipping and below freezing temps, so only about 2/3 of CUC survived. Reef cleaners was very understanding and refunded some money back. I now turned the lighting down to 8hrs/day. Water began to become cloudy in week 3. Noticed traces of ammonia, did water changes and added fritz zyme 9.

Week 4- Almost all hair agea is gone. Water is still cloudy. Noticed chaeto is dying off. Probably too much light and not enough Nitrates. Upgraded return pump to Eheim compacton 1000 264gph. Added green button polyps, green plate monti, green moniopora, toadstool, and lord of war zoas. Water change. Added carbon to try and clear up water.

Week 5- Upgraded light to Hipargero 30w LED and removed lid. Much wider spectrum of colors and looks 100% better. Blue light is 2 clicks and white light is 7 clicks and is on a timer 8hrs/day. Seeing good growth in my GSP. ***Pods reproduced***. Glass is covered in baby pods and water looks more cloudy. Could be because of the reproduction of pods in the water.

Overall, tank is doing well. Nothing has died but one crab. I'm thinking of turning my return down to about 200gph and adding a 240gph wave maker. Not sure yet. With the addition of corals, I plan on dosing kalkwasser. Here are a few pictures but my phone sucks and does not do justice.

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

Looking good. Do yourself a favour now and put that pulsing Xenia on its own island not touching anything otherwise it’ll cover all of your rock work before you know it.

Xenia Xenia Xenia and more Xenia

,my pumping Xenia is beginning to take over the tank is there anything I can use to get it to die back a little bit

www.reef2reef.com

 

[reefguypnw]

Thanks. It's slowly coming along. I have the xenia on it's own rock. I've had xenia in the past so I am aware of it's overtaking power. I plan on letting it grow a bit then putting small peices of rock around it to control it's grown. Will donate/trade pieces to LFS. Some people don't like it because of the hassle. I love the way it looks so I deal with it.

Looking good. Do yourself a favour now and put that pulsing Xenia on its own island not touching anything otherwise it’ll cover all of your rock work before you know it.

Xenia Xenia Xenia and more Xenia

,my pumping Xenia is beginning to take over the tank is there anything I can use to get it to die back a little bit

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I like it too, everyone who sees my tank is drawn to it but I have it on an island. Its growth rate has increased dramatically since I added more flow to my tank.

 

[reefguypnw]

Question. My Ph is at 7.8. What method should I use to raise Ph in this size tank? DKH buffer, kalkwasser, or other?

 

[reefguypnw]

 

[reefguypnw]

Update!

Tank is now 9 months old. Here are some new pictures. I’m having issues with high nitrates. Don’t know why. They were at 100. Did a series of small water changes and now their at 80. I added filter floss to my overflow and got some more chaeto. Parameters are:
PH- 8.2
Salinity- 1.024
alkalinity- 12
Calcium- 480
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 80
Ammonia- 5

I am doing another 3g water change tomorrow and hope nitrates continue to go down. Duncan and frogspawn are not happy and have been closed for weeks.

 

[reefguypnw]

Some more pics