Amandakayphoto
Active Member
- Review score
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Midwest Reefer
Build Thread Contributor
Hello all! About 6 weeks ago I rescued a 5+year old Fluval EVO V setup that the previous owner had let slide and was ready to literally flush and toss.
Equipment:
It had been setup as a reef tank with the stock AIO equipment and filtration, and what looks to be an aqueon 50w heater. About 2 weeks ago I swapped out the stock filter for the intank media basket (filter floss, chemipure blue, media balls). I also upgraded to the Current USA light.
Current inhabitants based on what I was told and have tried to ID:
Fish
-Humbug/three stripe Damsel
CUC
-Several blue leg hermits
-2 adult nassarious snails
-3 baby nassarious snails
-1 turbo snail
-small pincushion urchin
-2 bumblebee snails (to work on vermitid snail infestation...)
-numerous limpets and other hitchhikers (bristleworms, spaghetti worms) plus some unwanted
Corals
-Hammer coral (was three heads when I first got tank, is now 5 heads)
-Frogspawn coral (three heads)
-various zooanthids
-Captain America Favia
- Neon Duncan (1 head)
-Green Birdsnest
-Mystery coral #1 (see photos)
The tank had a significant amount of hair algea all over the rockscape, brown/green algea on the glass and under the sand line, and coralline algea that has taken over the back wall to the filters, and a section of glass. With weekly 1 gallon water changes and some manual removal, I have gotten the hair algae reduced.
I checked parameters when I got the tank home, and there were a few issues:
Calcium was low at 300
Phosphate was elevated at 2
Nitrate was elevated at 20
Everything else was ok- used both the reef master kit and Ammonia tests from API as well as tetras easy strip (6 in 1 and ammonia), as that was what I had on hand.
I quickly upgraded my test kits and now have a combo of red sea, hanna, and AquaForest tests.
Most Recent Parameters:
Alkalinity: 10.1
Calcium: 400
Magnesium: 1230
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate: 0.08
Salinity: 1.025
Temp 77.5 - 80
The tank came with Reef Crystals, and she had been using bottled purified water for mixing and top-offs. Since tge tank size is so small and I work near a saltwater specialty store I have opted to buy pre-mixed saltwater as well as RO/DI from them in 5 gallon jugs. They use red sea blue bucket. The change in salt alone with consistent water changes has really helped bring the parameters in line, so once that is settled I will see what I truly need to dose.
Currently trying to run blue lights for 7-8 hours, whites for 4-5, and 12 off. Dosing phytoplankton (seachem) 2x weekly- just ordered some from algea barn as the supply she sent with the tank looked super old! Have been dosing stability and pristine weekly with the water change.
Pictures:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 4
Week 6
As you can see, still very much a work in progress with the hair algea... stay tuned for updates as I hopefully get this tank rehabbed! I LOVE those nassarious snails though- remind me of narwhals!
Any tips/tricks, thoughts/ideas welcome! I have been a freshwater keep for years, but this is my first saltwater experience.
Mystery Coral #1
Mystery Coral #2
Equipment:
It had been setup as a reef tank with the stock AIO equipment and filtration, and what looks to be an aqueon 50w heater. About 2 weeks ago I swapped out the stock filter for the intank media basket (filter floss, chemipure blue, media balls). I also upgraded to the Current USA light.
Current inhabitants based on what I was told and have tried to ID:
Fish
-Humbug/three stripe Damsel
CUC
-Several blue leg hermits
-2 adult nassarious snails
-3 baby nassarious snails
-1 turbo snail
-small pincushion urchin
-2 bumblebee snails (to work on vermitid snail infestation...)
-numerous limpets and other hitchhikers (bristleworms, spaghetti worms) plus some unwanted
Corals
-Hammer coral (was three heads when I first got tank, is now 5 heads)
-Frogspawn coral (three heads)
-various zooanthids
-Captain America Favia
- Neon Duncan (1 head)
-Green Birdsnest
-Mystery coral #1 (see photos)
The tank had a significant amount of hair algea all over the rockscape, brown/green algea on the glass and under the sand line, and coralline algea that has taken over the back wall to the filters, and a section of glass. With weekly 1 gallon water changes and some manual removal, I have gotten the hair algae reduced.
I checked parameters when I got the tank home, and there were a few issues:
Calcium was low at 300
Phosphate was elevated at 2
Nitrate was elevated at 20
Everything else was ok- used both the reef master kit and Ammonia tests from API as well as tetras easy strip (6 in 1 and ammonia), as that was what I had on hand.
I quickly upgraded my test kits and now have a combo of red sea, hanna, and AquaForest tests.
Most Recent Parameters:
Alkalinity: 10.1
Calcium: 400
Magnesium: 1230
Nitrate: 2
Phosphate: 0.08
Salinity: 1.025
Temp 77.5 - 80
The tank came with Reef Crystals, and she had been using bottled purified water for mixing and top-offs. Since tge tank size is so small and I work near a saltwater specialty store I have opted to buy pre-mixed saltwater as well as RO/DI from them in 5 gallon jugs. They use red sea blue bucket. The change in salt alone with consistent water changes has really helped bring the parameters in line, so once that is settled I will see what I truly need to dose.
Currently trying to run blue lights for 7-8 hours, whites for 4-5, and 12 off. Dosing phytoplankton (seachem) 2x weekly- just ordered some from algea barn as the supply she sent with the tank looked super old! Have been dosing stability and pristine weekly with the water change.
Pictures:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 4
Week 6
As you can see, still very much a work in progress with the hair algea... stay tuned for updates as I hopefully get this tank rehabbed! I LOVE those nassarious snails though- remind me of narwhals!
Any tips/tricks, thoughts/ideas welcome! I have been a freshwater keep for years, but this is my first saltwater experience.
Mystery Coral #1
Mystery Coral #2
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