Nano tank help

[mister_pikel]

Hey! I started fishkeeping 3 months ago and now have a planted 55 gallon and a 20 gallon. Well yesterday I decided to take the deep dive and bout a fluval evo 13.5 and plan on making a reef tank. The tank was pretty neglected so I cleaned it out with vinegar, bought new live sand, and soaked the live rocks in bleach and they are currently drying. So I plan on having a clownfish pair and was going to get an anemone but decides to do just coral and maybe do a torch coral. So my question is once I get the tank cycled what coral would go good in my tank and be fairly easy? Any tips for torch coral? I plan on upgrading the lighting to two fluval nano 25000k 20 watt lights. Would that be overkill? The stock flow is only 132 GPH so is that enough? I just started to cycle today so I’m trying to get a plan together so once it finishes I know what the next steps will be. Thanks for any help!

 

[davidcalgary29]

Welcome! I hope you have a lot of fun with your new build.

The return pump is underpowered. I'd replace it with a Sicce 1.0, and I've upgraded both my Evos with them. I'd also get rid of the mechanical filtration and replace it with an InTank basket.

You can successfully run everything else with the stock equipment. I certainly wouldn't replace the lighting, as you've indicated that you're mainly interested in softies and LPS, and the canopy helps minimize moisture loss.

Your tank won't be ready for most species of anemone for some time -- you're starting with dead rock, and it's going to take some time for your tank to mature. You could probably put a few maxi-mini or rock flower anemones a month or so after your cycle's finished, but don't rush things.

You can keep many of the most popular species of coral in an Evo, but SPS cultivation will take time and care. Mushroom corals, Grube's gorgonian, duncan corals, nepthea, and xenia are all excellent places to start, but I'd avoid Kenya Trees, as they can reach pest status fairly quickly.

There is a vibrant debate about the merits of quarantining livestock on this site, with many enthusiastic proponents on both sides. I'm simply going to suggest that you read through all of the relevant threads and make an informed decision about the direction you might want to go with this.

 

[mister_pikel]

Thank you so much for the helpful info! I’ve definitely been considering upgrading the return pump but didn’t know what to choose so thank you for the suggestion! After the tank is cycled, how quick do you think I would be able to add coral? I’m not particularly in a rush but it just looks so bland with just the rock in there. Also I was thinking of starting with a Zoa for my first coral. What do you think?

 

[davidcalgary29]

If you need life and movement in your tank at this point, I'd just add some halymenia macroalgae. It's lovely stuff, thrives in lower-light areas, and is relatively cheap.

You can add most soft corals -- including zoanthids -- at any time after your cycle finishes. Some people, as a matter of fact, add them during their cycles, although I don't recommend this at all. And there's a difference between "surviving" and "thriving" -- most coral species do much better when they're anchored on live rock.

Just make sure that you check your salinity regularly with a decent (and calibrated) refractometer. You won't have to check anything else as long as you do weekly water changes (made with RO/DI water, of course) and stay away from SPS.

 

[MaxTremors]

I would recommend you wait until you’ve had some easier soft corals (zoas, mushrooms, leathers, xenia, clove polyps, etc) thriving and growing for a couple months before trying some easier LPS (acans/micromussa, duncans, trachyphyllia, blastomussa) and once you’ve mastered those then try a torch. Torches are fairly finicky, and despite what some people say, they are not beginner corals.

 

[mister_pikel]

If you need life and movement in your tank at this point, I'd just add some halymenia macroalgae. It's lovely stuff, thrives in lower-light areas, and is relatively cheap.

You can add most soft corals -- including zoanthids -- at any time after your cycle finishes. Some people, as a matter of fact, add them during their cycles, although I don't recommend this at all. And there's a difference between "surviving" and "thriving" -- most coral species do much better when they're anchored on live rock.

Just make sure that you check your salinity regularly with a decent (and calibrated) refractometer. You won't have to check anything else as long as you do weekly water changes (made with RO/DI water, of course) and stay away from SPS.

Luckily there is a big fish store a quarter mile from my house so I will just go there to buy my saltwater because it’s such a tiny tank instead of mixing it myself and then I’ll just use distilled water for top offs from evaporation

 

[davidcalgary29]

Luckily there is a big fish store a quarter mile from my house so I will just go there to buy my saltwater because it’s such a tiny tank instead of mixing it myself and then I’ll just use distilled water for top offs from evaporation

That can be fine as long as you can be confident that they're not selling you their old tank water. That actually is a thing, and has happened to several people on this board. Aside from being wrong and gross, that's an excellent way to introduce disease into your tanks.

 

[brandon429]

you shouldn't have killed the rock at all, it could have easily been brought back into shape as live rock even if neglected no matter what was on it. new sand was ideal move.

that being said your current rock is going to express nutrients for months out of balance with normal rock because decaying animals inside haven't been removed and have to re-rot when you hydrate them again, that rock is about to be a total headache. toss it, go to a pet store and buy completely cured already-from-an-aquarium actual live rock with coralline on it and post here for removing its bad hitchhikers. That's if you want a smooth running reef with quick animal carry and low dinos invasion risk. if you don't want that, hold course

the choice set is headache course wanted vs easy reef wanted, comes down to the rocks you use as the base.

 

[mister_pikel]

That can be fine as long as you can be confident that they're not selling you their old tank water. That actually is a thing, and has happened to several people on this board. Aside from being wrong and gross, that's an excellent way to introduce disease into your tanks.

They are actually super upfront and allow you access to all their back rooms and I’ve personally seen the giant container that they mix the water in hooked up to a massive RO unit and they fill the water up directly out of the container so I’m pretty sure it’s fine but that’s crazy that some stores are willing to do that

 

[mister_pikel]

you shouldn't have killed the rock at all, it could have easily been brought back into shape as live rock even if neglected no matter what was on it. new sand was ideal move.

that being said your current rock is going to express nutrients for months out of balance with normal rock because decaying animals inside haven't been removed and have to re-rot when you hydrate them again, that rock is about to be a total headache. toss it, go to a pet store and buy completely cured already-from-an-aquarium actual live rock with coralline on it and post here for removing its bad hitchhikers. That's if you want a smooth running reef with quick animal carry and low dinos invasion risk. if you don't want that, hold course

the choice set is headache course wanted vs easy reef wanted, comes down to the rocks you use as the base.

He had already taken the rock out 2 weeks before I bought it and it had been sitting on his balcony for that entire time so it was already dead I’m pretty sure

 

[davidcalgary29]

One day I'd love to bore into a piece of live rock to see just how long microbial life can survive after the surface has been air-dried. Of course, if I put a piece outside right now it would turn into a block of ice inside of two minutes, so it's an experiment best left for the summer.

 

[mister_pikel]

One day I'd love to bore into a piece of live rock to see just how long microbial life can survive after the surface has been air-dried. Of course, if I put a piece outside right now it would turn into a block of ice inside of two minutes, so it's an experiment best left for the summer.

Ya, where I live during the timeframe he had it outside it got 28 degrees one night so even if it could’ve survived it probably would have froze

 

[brandon429]

David that's neat input too. for sure in my microbiology of cycling thread buried in the pages is a guy who took cured live rock and set it in a pile on a shelf in his closet on a plastic tarp thinking his tank rebuild would be a day or two. it took a month, a month without water

then he puts the rock back in the new setup, ammonia tests it, and it passed lol that was awesome. we're dealing in quite a bit of strength on these rocks and true desiccation really takes time, more so for the holey classic live rock and less for the marco rocks types with hardly any channeling I'd bet.