DCJ
Community Member
And this is the last of my four build threads that I'm resetting up.
- a weird shaped ex-LFS 26 gallon "cube"
- a Fluval Spec III pico tank
- a Red Sea Reefer 350 classic (73 gal, 90 display), my first big reef tank
A little background: I'm in the UK and don't work due to disability, which limits my mobility, but mostly my energy and strength. I live at home with my parents and my mum is my carer; they're wonderful and supportive of my hobbies. I'm on benefits so I have a really limited amount of money after bills go out, so I'm going to try to spend as little money as possible without compromising too much on quality, and keeping things manageable for me as a disabled reefer.
I've got a lot more experience with freshwater tanks than I do marine, but I have had reef tanks before, so I'm not starting from scratch. I did have to take all my tanks down a few years ago when we moved up North, and now I'm trying to set them back up again.
The Fluval Evo 13.5 was my first reef tank.
Here's some pics of when it was first set up:
And some progress pics (just two so I don't clog the page)
I kept a firefish, a barnacle blenny and a yellow clown goby who kept disappearing into the back wall of the AIO. I tried a few corals, only softies and LPS (and a gorgonian) - my favourite was the fox coral, then the trachy, but I really loved the mushroom rock on the right hand side of the pic. I'm hoping to recreate it but better in my other pico build.
I lost my stock to ich (which is why I'm going to QT absolutely everything including corals from now on) and then coverted the tank to FW.
Currently, it's dry and empty in it's box in my room, waiting for a shelf to be cut to size on my fish rack so I can start setting it back up. I still have that main piece of rock, I may add another piece in the back, I'm not sure.
I used, and will probably go on to use, the stock light and pump. I have a little Hydor Koralia Nano 900 Circulation & Wave pump in there, which worked pretty well for the needs of the tank.
I have the inTank media basket with floss, and I think GAC and GFO? I need to revisit that. I grew chaeto with some extra rubble in the middle section, then had the return pump and heater in the third. I didn't get the skimmer that fits with the kit, and I didn't have an ATO, which I probably will invest in now.
NEW STOCKING
I've pondered a few choices, my current tentative list is:
- 1 firefish
- 3?x barnacle blennies (the panamic or the mexican, I'm not referring to the larger gobies like the tail spot, I've seen people be confused by that in other posts)
- 1 pink-streaked wrasse
- 2?x cosmic nano gobies with plate coral (eviota lachdeberei from Biota)
- maybe a green coral goby
I had a possum wrasse, but I've seen that pink-streaked wrasse are a little easier.
I have a huge barnacle cluster for the blennies (and whoever else) to live in.
Eviota lachdeberei apparently form a symbiotic relationship of some kind with fungia, and I've always wanted one, so that should be fun.
I could use some help re: CUC.
Some of these fish are really small, and I don't want to risk them being caught and eaten by crabs or shrimp in their sleep. I'd like a classic skunk/cleaner shrimp, and I'll probably get some nassarius snails and trochus snails. I can keep or leave any crabs, depending on risk factor. I had an emerald crab in my last Evo build, and some scarlet legged hermits who were fine, but this is different stocking.
I'd like to hear back if anyone has any experience keeping these fish with a CUC, and any cautionary tales.
Update to come!
- a weird shaped ex-LFS 26 gallon "cube"
- a Fluval Spec III pico tank
- a Red Sea Reefer 350 classic (73 gal, 90 display), my first big reef tank
A little background: I'm in the UK and don't work due to disability, which limits my mobility, but mostly my energy and strength. I live at home with my parents and my mum is my carer; they're wonderful and supportive of my hobbies. I'm on benefits so I have a really limited amount of money after bills go out, so I'm going to try to spend as little money as possible without compromising too much on quality, and keeping things manageable for me as a disabled reefer.
I've got a lot more experience with freshwater tanks than I do marine, but I have had reef tanks before, so I'm not starting from scratch. I did have to take all my tanks down a few years ago when we moved up North, and now I'm trying to set them back up again.
The Fluval Evo 13.5 was my first reef tank.
Here's some pics of when it was first set up:
And some progress pics (just two so I don't clog the page)
I kept a firefish, a barnacle blenny and a yellow clown goby who kept disappearing into the back wall of the AIO. I tried a few corals, only softies and LPS (and a gorgonian) - my favourite was the fox coral, then the trachy, but I really loved the mushroom rock on the right hand side of the pic. I'm hoping to recreate it but better in my other pico build.
I lost my stock to ich (which is why I'm going to QT absolutely everything including corals from now on) and then coverted the tank to FW.
Currently, it's dry and empty in it's box in my room, waiting for a shelf to be cut to size on my fish rack so I can start setting it back up. I still have that main piece of rock, I may add another piece in the back, I'm not sure.
I used, and will probably go on to use, the stock light and pump. I have a little Hydor Koralia Nano 900 Circulation & Wave pump in there, which worked pretty well for the needs of the tank.
I have the inTank media basket with floss, and I think GAC and GFO? I need to revisit that. I grew chaeto with some extra rubble in the middle section, then had the return pump and heater in the third. I didn't get the skimmer that fits with the kit, and I didn't have an ATO, which I probably will invest in now.
NEW STOCKING
I've pondered a few choices, my current tentative list is:
- 1 firefish
- 3?x barnacle blennies (the panamic or the mexican, I'm not referring to the larger gobies like the tail spot, I've seen people be confused by that in other posts)
- 1 pink-streaked wrasse
- 2?x cosmic nano gobies with plate coral (eviota lachdeberei from Biota)
- maybe a green coral goby
I had a possum wrasse, but I've seen that pink-streaked wrasse are a little easier.
I have a huge barnacle cluster for the blennies (and whoever else) to live in.
Eviota lachdeberei apparently form a symbiotic relationship of some kind with fungia, and I've always wanted one, so that should be fun.
I could use some help re: CUC.
Some of these fish are really small, and I don't want to risk them being caught and eaten by crabs or shrimp in their sleep. I'd like a classic skunk/cleaner shrimp, and I'll probably get some nassarius snails and trochus snails. I can keep or leave any crabs, depending on risk factor. I had an emerald crab in my last Evo build, and some scarlet legged hermits who were fine, but this is different stocking.
I'd like to hear back if anyone has any experience keeping these fish with a CUC, and any cautionary tales.
Update to come!
