First tank!

[the_hoff_mann]

Hey y’all, this is my first ever tank and I’d like some advice! It’s a fluval evo 13.5 and it’s been up and running for around a month and a half.

I’ve heard that it’s somewhat pointless to have a skimmer with such a small tank. What do y’all think?

I would also like to hear some thoughts about future livestock. So far I have a pair of clowns, 4 nassarius snails, 4 trocus snails, and an emerald crab. I’ve been looking at possibly going with a small Yellow watchman goby and a small cleaner shrimp. Do y’all think this would be too much?

For my filter I’m using an intank media rack. In the first compartment I’m running some filter floss on the top and right below that I have some 200 micron filter cloth. In the second compartment I have chemi pure blue and ceramic media that the tank came with. As of right now the third and biggest compartment is empty, most likely going to add cheato but would be open to suggestions! I also have some marine pure gems in the second compartment in the back.

In terms of coral I only have a frogspawn with 2 heads and a Kenya tree. I’m going to be adding more corals soon!

 

[ichthyoid]

There used to be a ‘rule of thumb’ stating one inch of fish per five gallons, in a saltwater tank. That might be either liberal or conservative, depending on how often & degree of care provided for your system.

I would say go for the goby, if you do frequent water changes, say 2 gal/week.

As for a skimmer, there are good reasons to use one. Removing wastes & gas exchange are at the top of my list. Do you have space for one?


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[ichthyoid]

Just to be sure, your tank has completed it’s initial nitrogen cycling hasn’t it?


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[the_hoff_mann]

Yes it has, and I waited around a week before I added my second clown. The second one has been in there for around 2 weeks and at first was stressed as the first was a female. Now after 2 weeks I believe they’ve paired and I don’t see signs of stress. I’ve only just started my water changes last week because I wanted my bacteria to fully establish and my nitrates were below 10ppm.

In terms of a skimmer, the only one that I know of that fits in the sump area is the one that fluval makes. I’ve heard good and bad things about it but haven’t been completely sold on it yet.

 

[ichthyoid]

FWIW,
When you do water changes, try to skim water from the surface, by gently lowering a clean bowl or similar container into the water, with one side slightly lowered.
This will remove most of the oil based wastes which float to the surface of your tank.
This oily layer gradually builds up over time and impedes gas exchange with the atmosphere.
Having a surface overflow performs a similar task continuously, which is why many aquariums are designed with one.

 

[Mom2Many]

So happy you shared your tank here. Your tank looks wonderful. I think you could do one more small fish easily if you keep up with your water changes.

Most of my fish keeping goes a bit against the norm... but I have kept nanos for many, many, years and have not used skimmers in a long time. The choice is up to you. If you plan to keep up with your water changes weekly you will not need one at all. If you want to wait longer inbetween water changes or plan to stock heavily, one would probebly benifit you.

Keep up the good work, especially in asking questions and doing research... Love it!

 

[Brandonfishdish89]

As many have already mentioned, water changes have a greater impact on nano tanks since an average water change of say 5gal is potentially around 50% of the overall volume. Because of this you can skip the skimmer. However it would help with gas exchange/ph and overall water quality.

 

[ActiveAngel]

Agreed. There is truth to the statements that a skimmer will be useless. In addition to their relative effect; most companies just don’t make good quality skimmers for nano tanks. Even the expensive ones don’t do a good job collecting dissolved organics once they’re below a certain size. In the end, because it’s so easy to do a small water change often, that’s usually the best bet with nanos.

If you want a small Watchman goby; go for it! As long as you’re doing your regular water changes, it’ll be good. That said; you’ve definitely overstocked the nassarius (it’s not terrible though, they will just be hungry. For a 13.5g, I’d recommend 0-2 of them). Also, in such a small tank, that emerald may get feisty/aggressive, so I’d keep an eye on him. The cleaner shrimp is ok; but in your shoes, I would recommend a pistol shrimp to go with your Watchman goby, such as a tiger pistol. You’ll have a lot of fun with pistols, and they won’t irritate your corals (unless the coral breaks off and lands in the sand).

I’d be a little more patient with new coral. How long have you had the frogspawn? My initial thoughts are to stick with some soft corals or awesome mushrooms, until your frogspawn is ~3 months old in your tank. Test your water then; and make sure that your nitrates are on a downwards trajectory, before pursuing more moderate difficulty corals.

Tank looks great! Keep up the good work!

Edit: Also, you may want to invest in a screen top for your tank... especially if you get a goby. My general rule for newbies is “If the fish is shaped like a torpedo, it has a higher tendency to be a jumper.”

 

[Tanster2]

I have ran this tank with and without a skimmer. Because of the design, I felt that the skimmer was very effective due to the way it's setup. My skimmer always collected plenty of skimmate.

However, many nano skimmers that'll fit into that compartment are a pain in the ass to get working just right, and you only have like 2-3 options top.
I ended up replacing the skimmer and stuffing filter floss into the chamber instead and got better results. If you are doing weekly water changes, then the skimmer is just overkill.
Chaeto is overkill as well. If you do weekly water changes, then the nutrients the chaeto feeds on should be taken out before it even becomes a problem

As for livestock, I had 3 banded trochus snails in mine, and they got pretty large to the point of it looking kind of strange that such huge snails were in a tiny tank. I have all 3 in my 30 gallon now and they're nearly quarter sized!

I would recommend upgrading from the stock lighting eventually. The stock lighting isn't awful, and will grow coral, but it can't be programmed and is easily upgraded. Put an AI Prime over that bad boy.