Time to say hello

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomd_1
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users None
Tidal Gardens
Jump to Last
T

tomd_1

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
9
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hello!!

So, I’ve recently joined the forum and have been doing lots of research. About a week ago I purchased my first ever sw tank and can’t wait to get started. I went for the Fluval Sea evo as I have very limited space. I’m sorry for the long post, or if it’s been asked a million times but when I’m researching all I’m finding is conflicting suggestions!! I’m planning on running all stock equipment until I feel I’m confident enough to start changing bits.

So.... I have a Fluval sea Evo 13.5, fluval mini protein skimmer, 50w heater, fluval wave maker cp1. I think I’m going to use Marco dry rock and live sand when I eventually unbox everything. This is how I think I will get started from what I have read.

1.Test my tank for leaks
2. Aquascape my rock and add to tank
3. Add my live sand
4. Add my saltwater
5. Run everything and begin cycle
6. Test for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates etc
7. Once happy, do 10-20% water change
8. Add cleanup crew
9. Leave for few weeks taking readings etc then think about adding some fish

I think I’m kind of there but if anyone can shed some light on anything I’m missing it would be greatly appreciated.

I do have a couple more requests.......

Protein skimmers.....to run or not to run?? I purchased the fluval mini skimmer but why do some people not bother? Mine is still boxed so can still be returned if there’s a good enough reason to not run one and if not, why not and should there be something else I should be doing?

Lighting.......using stock lighting. How should I be lighting the tank whilst cycling? On/off/white light, blue light?? I’m lost haha

Once again, I’m very new to this and appreciate all the help I can get and sorry for the long post!!
 
AS
1. Welcome to Reef2Reef!
2. Your order seems good I'd recommend adding sand before aquascapeing but that's preference at the end of the day
3. Protein skimmers are extremely helpful but on nano tanks not everyone can fit a non hob one so some choose not to run it
4. Lighting dosnt really matter when cycling I ran it to see what came on my live rock and I got a snail hitchhiking so I wanted to keep him happy but it's not essential and can encourage algae
5. Better to make one big post than several small posts imo and I'm sure others will agree.
6. I recommend starting a build thread for your tank it's nice to look back on progress and see how far you have come
 
Welcome to R2R!!! It looks like you are headed in the right direction. Some people use skimmers on nano tanks but many do not - if you keep up with consistent water changes it isn't necessary. Good luck!

#WelcometoR2R
 
Hi and Welcome to R2R. I think you have a pretty solid plan. Whether you add sand before or after aquascaping, I would ensure rocks are sitting on the glass bottom of the tank, not the sand bed. This can prevent toppling if critters dig in the sand later. I would use the lights but sparingly during the cycle. It will allow you to watch whats going on but not help algae grow. You can also seed the tank with a little bit of bottled bacteria to help the cycle along. Looking forward to seeing it come together!
 
Welcome to R2R! As for lighting, it depends what you will plan on keeping. I’m not familiar with the stock lighting (assuming it’s LED). But if you’re keeping only fish, the color won’t matter really. If you don’t plan on keeping photosynthetic animals like corals, anemones, clams and such, blue and white mix is fine. Or just blue or just white depending on your preference. If you do want photosynthetic animals, you will need to really look into proper lighting and if your light is right for your needs. (There’s a lighting section on this forum)

As for a skimmer, it depends on what you plan to keep. If you keep 2 fish, I’m sure regular water changes will take care of the bioload as @Peace River mentioned.

Good luck!!!
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
I ran that tank for 8 months or so I really liked it. Its my QT tank now. I set it up and told the wife this will last me 3 years as I ease back into the Hobby I now have a Reefer 350 :)

I Had 3 shrimp. skunk cleaner, peppermint and pistol
2 fish a clown and a yellow watchman goby
5 hermits
bunch of random snails
3 or 4 frags that all did well

I used live rock and live sand. No skimmer and never had a single problem water changes were so easy. just a home depot bucket a week. I replaced the return pump with a better one from Eheim, I never used the stock filter sponge area I purchased the acrylic media trays and put filter floss and Chemi Pure Elite in it. I tossed in some marine pure balls into 2nd chamber about half full.

Inside the tank I added 1 Koralia nano pump for more flow I then added a second on the other side and I thought it really made a big difference.

I had no issues with that tank at all everything did great for the 8 months only complaint is it gets salt creep around the cover all the time daily and I guess the light is a pain. It works fine but having to turn it on and then to blue then off was a pain.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Welcome to R2R. Everything sounds good and it seems like everyone has put in some great comments. One thing I think would be very helpful is an ATO, unless you’re around the tank a lot to top off it will evaporate a little quicker then you think and with smaller tanks I’ve found that the more stable the tank is the healthier it is.
 
Here it was at some stage of its short life

nano1.jpg
 
Chewy.com
ducati1212 said:
I ran that tank for 8 months or so I really liked it. Its my QT tank now. I set it up and told the wife this will last me 3 years as I ease back into the Hobby I now have a Reefer 350 :)

I Had 3 shrimp. skunk cleaner, peppermint and pistol
2 fish a clown and a yellow watchman goby
5 hermits
bunch of random snails
3 or 4 frags that all did well

I used live rock and live sand. No skimmer and never had a single problem water changes were so easy. just a home depot bucket a week. I replaced the return pump with a better one from Eheim, I never used the stock filter sponge area I purchased the acrylic media trays and put filter floss and Chemi Pure Elite in it. I tossed in some marine pure balls into 2nd chamber about half full.

Inside the tank I added 1 Koralia nano pump for more flow I then added a second on the other side and I thought it really made a big difference.

I had no issues with that tank at all everything did great for the 8 months only complaint is it gets salt creep around the cover all the time daily and I guess the light is a pain. It works fine but having to turn it on and then to blue then off was a pain.
Click to expand...

What exactly is the reason change the stock pumps for more powerful ones? Is it a case that it pulls more through the filtration chambers? And what is the reason you chose to not use the stock sponge filtration? Sorry if I’m sounding dumb just trying to gather some more knowledge
 
tomd_1 said:
What exactly is the reason change the stock pumps for more powerful ones? Is it a case that it pulls more through the filtration chambers? And what is the reason you chose to not use the stock sponge filtration? Sorry if I’m sounding dumb just trying to gather some more knowledge
Click to expand...

Just a better quality pump that I could adjust the flow on. And yes it could pull more flow through and create more water movement from return. I think the pump it comes with is 130 gph? the one I put in was 260 ish gph but adjustable. I thought the sponge would trap detritus it also seemed to really limit what I could jam into those two little pockets I think it comes with a small bag of bio balls and some carbon? The acrylic media baskets are nice and clean and have large chambers to put in whatever I wanted. Just seemed cleaner to me it made better use of space.

I ran a nice big bag of chemi pure elite and a filter floss pad with the marine pure balls and I think that gave me a good amount of additional filtration going on in that chamber.

I also like to tinker with things so it was fun to upgrade.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Nutramar Foods
I think for now I think I should give the stock equipment a go as it’s my first sw tank and good to get a basic understanding. I’m sure it won’t be long before I follow a lot of your advice and go over to changing filtration/pumps/lighting
 
Tidal Gardens

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

New Posts

TCK Corals
Nutramar Foods
Chewy.com
Deltec
Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
World Wide Corals
Tidal Gardens
Top Shelf Aquatics
New Posts
Back
Top