Profc' Reef Tank - Fluval Evo 13.5

[profc]

Greetings and welcome to my reef tank log!

Equipment	Fish/Substrate/Salt	Coral	Inverts
Fluval Evo 13.5 Gallon Chamber 1: (InTank Media Basket) filter pad, filter floss, seachem purigen, bottom half empty for now Chamber 2: stock foam with fluval carbon top, and fluval biomedia bottom, and seachem matrix on the bottom of chamber Chamber 3: Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300gph, 50watt HITOP heater Single 3/4 3D printed random flow generator on return Fuval CP1 Circulation Pump (on a 1 hour timer per day)	1 Juvenile Regular Clown​ 1 Juvenile Snowflake Clown​ Nature's Ocean Coral Base Rocks​ Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Aquarium Sand, 10-Pound, Pink (not actually so pink)​ RedSea Coral Pro Salt​	Pulsing Xenia (doubled in size in 3 weeks) Duncan (initially wouldn't extend, but now looks happiest of all my corals) Zoa Blastomussa Merletti (Pineapple Coral) Golden Girls Cyphastrea Acan Scolymia Rhodactis Mushoom Favites Brain Coral Clove polyps Torch Coral Blue Mushroom	Green Emerald Crab 2x Blue Legged Hermit Crab 1x Astrea Snail 2x Trochus Snail 2x Cerith Snail 2x Nassarius Snail 2x Margarita Snail 1 snail so small I can't id. Its covered in purple algae and hitchhiked in on a coral

Timeline

Soaked live rock in tap water for a week. Is it still called live rock when it comes dry? It was definitely live at one point because it has shells encrusted inside it. After the soak, it developed bright yellow stains on it that I can't quite identify. Internet says diatoms are brown, but the live rock in the tank is covered in a very bright neon yellow. You can see it here before I added saltwater:

I decided the above had too much live rock and not enough water volume. I cycled using pure ammonia for a total of 5ml over 5 days and testing daily to not exceed 5ppm. I also dosed 2 capfuls of Seachem stability twice daily, which is 4x the prescribed amount. Overkill? I cycled with lights on 10 hours a day just because I wanted to see life and didn't mind the algae growth. This is what the tank looked like after cycling:

Chart of my parameters: (Aquarimate iOS)

Thoughts on parameters:

• Accurate and consistent results are hard to get!
• Cycling process is clearly visible and took 2 weeks
• I'm using Redsea test kits (the basic versions, not the pro)
• During cycling I tested with API test strips for a backup/quick result, but they aren't as accurate
• My salinity is much more stable than what is shown. The EVO has a lid and there is very little evaporation loss to cause salinity swings. I bought calibration solution for my refractometer which is a perfect 35 ppt. I'm still trying to figure out a consistent testing process. I find the first test i perform gives me a 40+ ppt result and then repeated tests start giving me accurate results around 35 ppt. Its suppose to have automatic temperature control but it doesn't appear to be working. Anyone have tips?
• I've been doing weekly water changes of 20% (2 gallons) mixed with 1 cup of red sea coral pro salt. I should be doing it based on weight but I'm lazy. My refractometer hasn't been accurate, either, so I stuck with exactly 1/2 cup per gallon to give me stability.
• Ignore my phosphate results - I've contacted Redsea and my test kit is bad.
• The small spike on Dec 1 of ammonia and nitrites was likely caused my blue mushroom and torch coral going down hill. I noticed a slight off-smell coming from the tank so I did my testing and started monitoring more closely. The parameters recovered with a water change, and a day later, I had another bloom of the bright yellow diatoms or algae. (still haven't been able to identify)

Here is another shot after stocking:

After stocking coral, I've noticed what look like isopods hiding in under Favites Brain Coral. I chose to put all the coral on the sand bed and slowly over time glue them on to the rock as I learned more about them. I ordered a beginner frag pack, and nothing was labeled, so I had to spend a good week just identifying the coral species properly. It was actually quite fun.

A few days after stocking inverts, my 2 Trochus snails started ejaculating into the water column. That was quite the interesting show. I assume it was sperm. They didn't move for a few days afterwards. The second crazy thing I've seen the Trochus do is what I call their poop dance. They do a really fast back and forth twist making a heck of a lot of noise for a snail!

Blue Mushroom - on the third or so day, the blue mushroom detached from its frag and started floating around. I read that they might re-attach but I wasn't so lucky. I put it in a shot glass with a piece of rock.

My snowflake Clown decided to have a nap in the filter by swimming into the unprotected overflow grates. Poor guy. I've since removed the protein skimmer and installed the surface skimmer and Intank media basket to prevent another casualty. I saw that coming and should have acted on it. dang.

Torch Coral - the torch arrived very brown but otherwise appeared healthy. It started declining after the second week. It developed brown jelly disease and wasn't extending. Luckily my super glue wasn't that hard to remove the torch with a good size monkey wrench. I don't understand why the torch didn't make it. Parameters have been well within norms throughout. The torch did get knocked over a few times and could have been damaged. The flow could have been too high and the dying blue mushroom could have irritated it further. I did try feeding it reef roids. I may have fed it too much? I will try another torch sometime after the tank is more stable and established.

Progression: Nov 25th, 30th, and Dec 3rd start of brown jelly disease appearing.

Todays shot:

Outstanding Issues:

• 3/4" RFG seem to be too powerful and causing salt creep. I'm just ignoring it for now because I think the extra oxygen is needed while I deal with a the diatom/algae bloom. After that I will try a pair of 1/2" RFG's instead.
• Calibration of Hamh Optics refractometer
• It looks like diatoms on the sand bed but the live rock is very yellow. I can't tell if its yellow algae which is fairly rare or yellow diatoms?
• The clove polyp may be in too high of flow as I haven't seen it fully extend flat yet
• Tiny white bugs everywhere! I really hope they're not parasitic!

Any thoughts or tips welcome!

 

[reef lover]

#WelcometoR2R ! Tanks coming along nicely!

 

[DidYouSayReefer]

Not sure what the yellow is. Even though your tank is cycled, you still have to go slow so the bacteria can catch up with the bio-load. I think it’s typically recommended about a fish per month until you get it where you want. 4-6 months will give you more stability for better luck with corals.