My Fluval 13.5g update

[Plunder]

I recently just got into the saltwater hobby back in May and wanted to give an update to the status of how things were progressing. I haven't done a water change in about 3 months and it's been somewhat ignored. We were recently evacuated due to the wildfires in northern California so we have been trying to play catch up with things around the house. I do change and replace the chemical and mechanical filtration around the month. I checked my parameters a few days ago and couldn't detect ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. My goal is to eliminate water changes like some do and try to create unique bio-diversity that takes care of itself (somewhat). Lemme know what you think.

 

[wonroc]

Love it. And the starfish. What kind of star?

 

[Chrisfish]

Tank is looking good, really like micro algae in the display, lol I had some but my fish ate it

 

[Plunder]

Love it. And the starfish. What kind of star?

Hey, thanks! It's a sand-sifting starfish I picked up at the LFS.

 

[Plunder]

Tank is looking good, really like micro algae in the display, lol I had some but my fish ate it

I eventually took most of the sea grapes out, it's very invasive. I pulled most of it except for a very small amount that has found its way into some live rock. I will leave some for the copepods.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Hey, thanks! It's a sand-sifting starfish I picked up at the LFS.

Not to ruin your day but starfish don't work well in home aquaria much less a tank that small. From the day they are pulled from the ocean they slowly starve to death. When they do die they will bury themselves into the sand and nuke your tank with ammonia. Sadly he has about 6 months to a year.

 

[wonroc]

Try micro brittle stars. They will work.

 

[Plunder]

Not to ruin your day but starfish don't work well in home aquaria much less a tank that small. From the day they are pulled from the ocean they slowly starve to death. When they do die they will bury themselves into the sand and nuke your tank with ammonia. Sadly he has about 6 months to a year.

That sucks, I wasn't aware of that. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Even a nutrient-rich substrate still won't make them happy? Do they starve because of a lack of detritus in most tanks?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Not exactly sure what they feed off of besides "micro fauna". They need a fairly deep (5+ inches) and well established sandbed (several years old) and a large tank (75+ gallons) just to maintain themselves.

 

[Plunder]

Not exactly sure what they feed off of besides "micro fauna". They need a fairly deep (5+ inches) and well established sandbed (several years old) and a large tank (75+ gallons) just to maintain themselves.

I tried to research it a bit and got mixed information regarding if they eat detritus. I will say this though, I recently witnessed my clownfish attack the SSSF when he got close to his territory. In a "knee-jerk" reaction the SSSF contorted its entire body and shot a bloom of detritus around its self and the clownfish. I don't know what I witnessed, but it led me to believe, maybe they do consume detritus.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I think its pretty well understood they need a much larger tank than the evo, a deep sand bed and have it been well established. I had one in a 40B (about 6 months old at the time) for about a year before it started to decline. They are interesting but a ticking time bomb. Try target feeding it, some have been known to accept food.