New Fluval 52l - Next steps?

zerozero · Jul 21, 2024

Hello everyone!

As you can probably tell by my choice of tank, this is our first foray in to the marine hobby. The tank is totally stock at the moment. So far it's been unbelievably exciting. We set the tank up so we would be able to pick up a pair of clownfish for my son's birthday. He's absolutely thrilled with them. What's pleasing is that he's showing real interest in the corals too.

Currently
This is where we're at. The hardscape consists of three islands. Two were to be given over to the bullet-proof "weeds" - Xenia, GSP and Clove polyps. If they got overrun that was fine by me.

Already, I'm thinking we've probably allocated too much real estate to them.

Inhabitants

2x Ocellaris Clownfish - My son only had eyes for "Nemo". Though not an original choice they are gorgeous fish. The LFS had them already paired, so compatibility was one less thing to worry about. A few nights back I thought the little guy was having a seizure, but apparently he was doing a pairing dance. They are so interesting and bold.
2X Electric blue legged hermit crabs
2x Amphipods I spotted on the clove polyp

2x Zoas (type unknown)
GSP
Firecracker clove polyp
~~Pulsing Xenia~~ Such a shame as this was one coral I was really looking forward to observing. It started out really well but once it was moved from the sand bed, it looked great for a while, but then slowly started to close. Once diminished I noticed, what I thought was a small brown coral. It was identified as a majano anemone. I removed the anemone but two days later noticed what I took to be a tiny aipastsia, about 5mm across. Following some advice I found on the forum, I covered the aipastsia in superglue and reef putty. The Xenia rallied for a couple of days before parts of it started to die off. So I had to remove it

Planning for the future and upgrades
For now we're content to let the four corals we have get established and let the tank mature. We went with easy to grow beginner corals as it's our first marine tank. The loose plan is to add a couple of easy softies each month till we're confident that the tank parameters are stable.

We will upgrade the return pump to a Sicce Sandra 1.0 with RFGs next month.

Future inhabitants
Red Fire shrimp - In no hurry to get one, but it'll happen in the next four months (unless advised otherwise)
Gorgonian
More Zoas
Pulsing Xenia
Duncans - Dipping our toe in to LPS. They are not easy to find here in the UK - I've seen 4 heads for £18 which seems a good deal
Euphyllia - Start with hammer and/or frogspawn and then look to getting a torch later.

Advice
Is the hardscape we have appropriate? I've read that Torches have 6inch sweeper tentacles. Then again, I've seen plenty of Fluval EVo's on R2R with them in. Am I worrying too much? We're in no rush to get these. Around Christmas would be nice.

This is the end-on view. The rock on the right is now Xenia-free. On reflection it should probably swap places with the rock on the left.

Lighting
The stock light obviously has its limitations. As it stands the corals are doing well. The clove polyp is visibly bushier after two weeks and there's a little tuber (for want of the correct term) that grows 3-4mm a day. The GSP has grown and the Zoas have settled in nicely.

The plan is to get as far as we can with the stock light and then invest in a better light when we're closer to getting the LPS corals.

Costs
The Fluval Evo 52l- £150 - This is just for perspective but I'm resigned to the fact I'll spend more on light than I did on the tank

Fluval Marine 3.0 - £160 - I'd prefer to keep the lid if possible so that evaporation won't become a concern whilst we're still learning the ropes. It also has more red than the alternative.

AI Blade Grow - £160 - Alternative to the above. Feedback definitely sounds like they are brighter than the 3.0

AI Prime 16 HD (new) - £235 - Everyone says it's money well spent. On top of that it'll cost £100 for a jump guard (£40 is I take the DIY option)
AI Prime 16 HD (used) - £160 - Plus the cost of the jump guard

What would you suggest? I'm looking for budget friendly suggestions (if there are any in the hobby

). We're months away from making a move on the Euphyllia and the light upgrade but want to plan now.

tbrown · Jul 21, 2024

Not sure on cost for you but have you looked at Noopsyche lights? I use them on my tanks and really love the spectrum and par.

tbrown · Jul 21, 2024

Also, I really just clicked on this thread because your avatar reminded me of Tide pods.

zerozero · Jul 21, 2024

tbrown said:
Not sure on cost for you but have you looked at Noopsyche lights? I use them on my tanks and really love the spectrum and par.

Oh that's a good shout! Not available in the UK, but £135 for the light and mount from Aliexpress delivered. That's very reasonable, I think.

NooPsyche K7 V3 Review! Perfect Light for a Nano Reef? Let’s see!

Before I dive into this thread, I want to give @noopsyche a big shout out for my brand new NooPsyche K7 V3! I was looking to upgrade the lighting on my 20 gallon and just so happened to be one of three lucky winners of this fixture. Very grateful! Anyways, here goes… The Tank My tank is an...

www.reef2reef.com

Just had a quick look through the above thread and it does seem viable. The quiet fan is important as the tank is in my lad's bedroom.

Cheers for that!

zerozero · Aug 3, 2024

Just thought I'd share a small update.

We added two Nassarius snails last weekend. It's nice to have some inhabitants we're not guaranteed of seeing. They have been busy turning over the sand bed so that there's been a reduction in those little air pockets. The diatoms, which never got too unsightly have been steadily going down.

Hermit home invasion!
One night I saw our two blue-legged hermit locked in battle. It didn't look friendly so I separated them to opposite sides of the tank. Checking a little later they were at it again. I could hear their shells clacking together. I decided an emergency intervention was in order so placed the larger on under a glass. S/he sat there a bit dazed whilst the smaller one went for him again. I gave them a selection of shells and the smaller one discarded their old shell and picked a roomy new home.

They got to enjoy their new home for three days before I looked in to see there had been a home swap overnight. Probably by force, knowing hermits a bit better.

The clowns and the corals have been doing well. The weather has been quite warm for London in the +30C range so I've been running with our the full spectrum standard light to keep the water temp lower. The high temps meant that the online retailers weren't willing to ship the softies and LSPs I'd ordered.

Hopefully Tuesday when the proper British summer returns next week.

I'll hopefully be receiving the Noopsyche K7 V3 lights at the same time so we can settle the corals to their new lighting regime from the get go.

zerozero · Aug 6, 2024

A few days ago I saw this creature. I was worried it might be another aipastasia but when I cleaned the glass for a better look it disappeared... or more accurately retracted into it's tube. R2R members assured me it is just a harmless filter feeder. Pretty cool. In FW the only hitchhikers you get are snails.

Gumbies R Us · Aug 6, 2024

zerozero said:
A few days ago I saw this creature. I was worried it might be another aipastasia but when I cleaned the glass for a better look it disappeared... or more accurately retracted into it's tube. R2R members assured me it is just a harmless filter feeder. Pretty cool. In FW the only hitchhikers you get are snails.

Feather duster. Harmless filter feeder. It’s cool with love rock you can get all sorts of neat looking hitchhikers ranging from simple filter feeders, to even coral.

zerozero · Aug 6, 2024

Gumbies R Us said:
Feather duster. Harmless filter feeder. It’s cool with love rock you can get all sorts of neat looking hitchhikers ranging from simple filter feeders, to even coral.

Thank you. After losing my first Xenia to a majano nem/aipastasia double team, and reading the forum I was in full "Nuke it from orbit" mode. There's so much more biodiversity possibilities in a reef tank. I hope to pick up more of the beneficial or benign types on my journey.

tbrown · Aug 6, 2024

You'll likely get Pineapple Sponges soon!

zerozero · Aug 6, 2024

I like to feed my fish live food every other day. When we got the pair of clowns I thought they'd appreciate some mysis shrimp. I got the distinct impression that they'd never seen live mysis before, especially as the smaller clown would rush up to them on instinct and then balk at the size of them. So, I switched to copepods and daphnia as they are much smaller. Yesterday I tried brine shrimp and they loved them.

This is actually the "after" photo but shows what the clove polyps look like normally.

And after my son has launched some copepods at them with a turkey baster. I still find it amazing that the corals take live food.

He loves getting involved with feeding the fish and they respond by coming to the feeding hole as soon as the pumps go off and then displaying their predatory behaviour.

It's also a bit disconcerting the way the nassarius snail surfaces when we feed live food. How do they know?

Gave the tank a spruce up and a water change because tomorrow some new corals arrive; some more softies and our first LPS! . Can't wait.

Ollie67 · Aug 8, 2024

zerozero said:
A few days ago I saw this creature. I was worried it might be another aipastasia but when I cleaned the glass for a better look it disappeared... or more accurately retracted into it's tube. R2R members assured me it is just a harmless filter feeder. Pretty cool. In FW the only hitchhikers you get are snails.

That's actually crazy, I've just found one of those in my sandbed today! Good to hear it's not harmful...

zerozero · Aug 21, 2024

Well, after getting stuck in customs for over a week, I finally had my Noopsyche K7 delivered today. The tank looks fantastic!

Our, admittedly easy, soft corals had been doing well with the stock light to be fair but I'm so glad to have a light that will ramp up and down.

I had to come to R2R to get the app working because the instructions to pair the light with the app were not accurate at all.

I used this:

Noo-Psyche K7 Profile Generator | BeanAnimal's Reef

Noo-Psyche K7 profile generator can be used to generate custom QR Code lighting profiles for Noo-Psyche K7 Pro III reef aquarium LED light fixtures.

beananimal.com

to set the timings around when my son wakes up, gets back from school and goes to bed. Will have to wait a little bit to see how the corals respond to the new light but we're really excited

Flameback Pair · Aug 21, 2024

Subscribed.

-Mitchell

zerozero · Sep 18, 2024

I've been meaning to update this thread, so here it is.

In search of stability
Taking the original hood off to tackle heat build up and better lighting, meant I had to get an ATO. I chose the D-D H2Ocean Compact ATO. Price is reasonable and it's very easy to set up.

So, hopefully I brought consistency to light schedule, salinity and temperature.

The new lights are fantastic! The tank immediately looked so much better. I've kept the lights low; 40% at peak for the Blue, cyan and UV LEDs at peak, 20% for white for a much shorter peak. I've also resisted the urge to fiddle with the settings and the corals have responded well.

My NO3 went down to 0.2 and PO4 has never been above 0.03. The Zoas looked like the enjoyed the new light, but my clove polyps had stopped putting out new runners.I wanted to avoid the NO3 & PO4 from bottoming out completely and started to double the amount of feedings for the clownfish.

I only feed phytoplankton every two days and give sometimes target feed live brine shrimps or copepods. I'm trying to keep things simple at this point.

Two weeks later NO3 is up to 7.0 and I've finally moved the needle with PO4 to 0.06.

I have two two-headed Duncans that both had tissue recession a week after they went in, but bounced back impressively and are showing good growth. They really have come on and their heads have doubled in size.

(I know, I know. I saw a forty head Duncan colony on here, but it's early days for us)

Yesterday afternoon whilst looking at the tank I saw two long tentacles/antenna attached to a "master" looming out from behind a rock. I couldn't coordinate getting the lights adjusted before it disappeared.

It's about the size of a kidney bean and I think it's a Stomatella snail. I've never seen it before, which doesn't say much for my powers of observation.

Only slightly less shocking was the fact that this was the first time I'd seen the tank as it actually is under white light. We're going through the uglies and we've been suffering with diatoms since for about two months now. At least that's what I think it is...

Have to clean the glass every three days, with less on the sand bed that gets removed during the weekly water change.

This hairy stuff is limited to this frag plug and the back wall. Could it be dinos?
This frag is partly the reason why I won't buy anything other than WYSIWYG from online sellers. Very disappointing. Lesson learned.

This green algae doesn't even show up in the normal lighting schedule.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Ollie67 · Sep 19, 2024

zerozero said:
I've been meaning to update this thread, so here it is.

In search of stability
Taking the original hood off to tackle heat build up and better lighting, meant I had to get an ATO. I chose the D-D H2Ocean Compact ATO. Price is reasonable and it's very easy to set up.

So, hopefully I brought consistency to light schedule, salinity and temperature.

The new lights are fantastic! The tank immediately looked so much better. I've kept the lights low; 40% at peak for the Blue, cyan and UV LEDs at peak, 20% for white for a much shorter peak. I've also resisted the urge to fiddle with the settings and the corals have responded well.

My NO3 went down to 0.2 and PO4 has never been above 0.03. The Zoas looked like the enjoyed the new light, but my clove polyps had stopped putting out new runners.I wanted to avoid the NO3 & PO4 from bottoming out completely and started to double the amount of feedings for the clownfish.

I only feed phytoplankton every two days and give sometimes target feed live brine shrimps or copepods. I'm trying to keep things simple at this point.

Two weeks later NO3 is up to 7.0 and I've finally moved the needle with PO4 to 0.06.

I have two two-headed Duncans that both had tissue recession a week after they went in, but bounced back impressively and are showing good growth. They really have come on and their heads have doubled in size.

(I know, I know. I saw a forty head Duncan colony on here, but it's early days for us)

Yesterday afternoon whilst looking at the tank I saw two long tentacles/antenna attached to a "master" looming out from behind a rock. I couldn't coordinate getting the lights adjusted before it disappeared.

It's about the size of a kidney bean and I think it's a Stomatella snail. I've never seen it before, which doesn't say much for my powers of observation.

Only slightly less shocking was the fact that this was the first time I'd seen the tank as it actually is under white light. We're going through the uglies and we've been suffering with diatoms since for about two months now. At least that's what I think it is...

Have to clean the glass every three days, with less on the sand bed that gets removed during the weekly water change.

This hairy stuff is limited to this frag plug and the back wall. Could it be dinos?
This frag is partly the reason why I won't buy anything other than WYSIWYG from online sellers. Very disappointing. Lesson learned.

This green algae doesn't even show up in the normal lighting schedule.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

Glad to see an update! Good to hear you've found some stability. Tank looks to be going through some uglies for sure! Looks like possible diatoms in the sand and area. The hairy stuff appears to be GHA (green hair algae), which I still occasionally see growing on my rock. It's nothing harmful and can be taken care of.

Do you currently dose any bacteria? I found it helpful for my system. I really like Microbacter. I dose Microbacter 7 daily and Microbacter Clean every week and that possibly helps keep my system clean.

When I was going through the uglies, I also had GHA and diatoms. To help beat it, I would brush the rocks as best as I could with a toothbrush to get rid of the algae I can. I would also stir my sandbed a little to get the diatoms off the surface and try and kill them off.

There was a time where it started to get bad in the sandbed, so I did a 3 day black-out for my tank. I would recommend this if you want. At the time, my tank was new and I had only 2 or 3 small corals that were pretty rigid and were not very valuable. They did survive the black-out, but it is a risk. The black-out was very successful for my tank. It killed off all the algae and diatoms in my sand.

To prevent anything from coming back, I also invested in a UV light. I kept mine on 24/7 for a while, but now only run it during the night. Some CUC might also help. I have a Tiger Conch which keeps my sandbed in tip-top shape. I also purchased Nassarius snails in the past which also work in the sandbed.

Hope this helps!

zerozero · Sep 19, 2024

Ollie67 said:
Do you currently dose any bacteria? I found it helpful for my system. I really like Microbacter. I dose Microbacter 7 daily and Microbacter Clean every week and that possibly helps keep my system clean.

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I used Fritz Turbostart 900 when I was first cycling this tank. I didn't think to keep adding bacteria.

I had a quick look around the forum and as expected there's a variety of opinions

.

Benefits

1. Rapid reduction of organic carbon, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate.
2. Digestion of uneaten/undigested food, excreta, detritus, and other latent organic material, resulting in cleaner and healthier aquarium substrate
3. Reduction of organic compounds into nutrients that encourage the growth of photosynthetic organisms
4. Greatly-reduced hydrogen sulfide production.
5. Increase in dissolved oxygen concentration.
6. Limits availability of pre-existing phosphate to undesirable forms of algae and cyanobacteria.
7. Increased water clarity.

Obviously right now I'm trying to increase PO4, so I'll have to do a bit of research to find out which bottled bag will give me the results I'm after.

Luckily, the GHA is literally limited to that frag plug and the shell of one of my hermits (he got a good scrub after the pic was taken). I'm not sure a blackout is feasible at this stage, but I'll consider it if things get out of hand.

I was looking at UV sterilisers in case I have a dino problem looming.

Extra CUC is a good shout too. We have two Nassarius snails. Conchs are a possibility. Unfortunately one of our hermits was killed by the other last night. I love them but when they're not walking all over the zoos they're killing each other.

Lots to think about. Your post was really helpful, with lots of good suggestions. Thanks, @Ollie67 .

SliceGolfer · Sep 19, 2024

zerozero said:
Luckily, the GHA is literally limited to that frag plug and the shell of one of my hermits (he got a good scrub after the pic was taken). I'm not sure a blackout is feasible at this stage, but I'll consider it if things get out of hand.

If GHA is contained to shells and plugs, remove the item from the tank, dip a cotton swab/Q-tip in 3% hydrogen peroxide and dab the peroxide all over the affected areas. Do this for about 2 minutes, give the shell or plug a rinse in seawater, then place back in tank. You'll see the GHA melt off those areas and likely not come back.

Ollie67 · Sep 19, 2024

zerozero said:
Oh, I hadn't thought of that. I used Fritz Turbostart 900 when I was first cycling this tank. I didn't think to keep adding bacteria.

I had a quick look around the forum and as expected there's a variety of opinions .

Obviously right now I'm trying to increase PO4, so I'll have to do a bit of research to find out which bottled bag will give me the results I'm after.

Luckily, the GHA is literally limited to that frag plug and the shell of one of my hermits (he got a good scrub after the pic was taken). I'm not sure a blackout is feasible at this stage, but I'll consider it if things get out of hand.

I was looking at UV sterilisers in case I have a dino problem looming.

Extra CUC is a good shout too. We have two Nassarius snails. Conchs are a possibility. Unfortunately one of our hermits was killed by the other last night. I love them but when they're not walking all over the zoos they're killing each other.

Lots to think about. Your post was really helpful, with lots of good suggestions. Thanks, @Ollie67 .

Yes, there are multiple different bacteria you can dose daily/weekly to help maintain your system! The Microbacter ones I listed are usually general ones, but there are many others like you read that might be better for your needs!

And I agree, the blackout should probably be a last resort if things don't get better.

Do you have the same types of hermits or different types? I would only recommend getting one type so they don't fight (as much). I have 6 red-legged in mine. I do really like my conch, so I would recommend one later on!

Here is the link to the UV Sterilizer that I purchased. When I got it, I moved my heater into the third chamber of my Fluval where my return pump and ATO sensor are. It's a little packed now, but works! I placed the UV into my second chamber and it fits perfect.

zerozero · Sep 19, 2024

Ollie67 said:
Do you have the same types of hermits or different types? I would only recommend getting one type so they don't fight (as much). I have 6 red-legged in mine. I do really like my conch, so I would recommend one later on!

They were both electric blue-legged hermits. I think it was a housing dispute. Now that the tank isn't brand new I'm up for improving the biodiversity of the tank. I have no time for those snails that can't right themselves. I was looking at Conchs but they're not that easy to come by. I'd prefer to pick up anything new from my localish LFS because I've had some really disappointing frags from online sellers.

Here is the link to the UV Sterilizer that I purchased. When I got it, I moved my heater into the third chamber of my Fluval where my return pump and ATO sensor are. It's a little packed now, but works! I placed the UV into my second chamber and it fits perfect.

That's how I have things set up now. I currently have extra rock and Bio media in the middle chamber. I was looking at the:

IM AuqaShield™ 9 Watt UV Sterilizer / Clarifier [Desktop]

(can't see your link). Another option is

AQUAEL INTERNAL UV FILTER 500

This is an internal filter with a UV steriliser with a directional out put, so it would increase the flow in the tank. Two birds with one stone. The downside is that it takes up valuable real estate in the display, is constant flow and I'm a bit sceptical that the UV will be effective with the flow being so fast.

I have my eye on a decent budget wave maker, so with the Aquael it would be overkill.

Ollie67 · Sep 19, 2024

zerozero said:
They were both electric blue-legged hermits. I think it was a housing dispute. Now that the tank isn't brand new I'm up for improving the biodiversity of the tank. I have no time for those snails that can't right themselves. I was looking at Conchs but they're not that easy to come by. I'd prefer to pick up anything new from my localish LFS because I've had some really disappointing frags from online sellers.

That's how I have things set up now. I currently have extra rock and Bio media in the middle chamber. I was looking at the:

IM AuqaShield™ 9 Watt UV Sterilizer / Clarifier [Desktop]
(can't see your link). Another option is

AQUAEL INTERNAL UV FILTER 500
This is an internal filter with a UV steriliser with a directional out put, so it would increase the flow in the tank. Two birds with one stone. The downside is that it takes up valuable real estate in the display, is constant flow and I'm a bit sceptical that the UV will be effective with the flow being so fast.

I have my eye on a decent budget wave maker, so with the Aquael it would be overkill.