Hello from NW Atlanta

chrismbartlett

chrismbartlett

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Hey everybody! Joined to per the suggestion of the homies at Premiere Aquatics, happy to be in a place big enough to have such an active community! Looking forward to the meet and greets and what not

Having a reef tank/coral garden has been a bucket list item for me since the early 2000's when I took an Oceanography in college so I was pretty stoked when 2 years ago a friend gifted us a Fluval Evo 5g kit for Xmas. Been a hell of journey as I'm sure everyone here can empathize with, this shit can be equal parts joy/wonder and heart ache/sorrow

Specs:
Fluval Evo 5g
Current Orbit LED
Amazon prime heater
Hand-me-down power head
5x recommended mg Phosnet

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FutureInterest said:
Welcome! That tank is packed!

Nice :)
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Yep thanks! Tbh another reason why I'm here is to get some coaching on how to scale a system, we're losing coral to reef warfare and are out of room to move stuff around. I think everything would really begin to fill out if had more space

Anyway, thanks for the welcome see you around the forum and IRL activities
 
Need a bigger tank, 4 nems and a pair of clowns alone sold be in a much larger tank. Tank looks pretty nice for being so tightly packed though.
 
Welcome! allow me to suggest if you are going to move or get rid of something, it be the Kenya trees. You will find that they will spit out babies all over the place and soon, there will be a Kenya tree jungle! :)
 
urbanknight said:
Welcome! allow me to suggest if you are going to move or get rid of something, it be the Kenya trees. You will find that they will spit out babies all over the place and soon, there will be a Kenya tree jungle! :)
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Oh man I know you're right! They are really adding a sense of urgency to scaling the system, the big parent has shed damn a dozen limbs over the last 6 months and they've all taken

So what's the play here, do I source the bigger tank and cut new salt water with water change water from the current system? Will that expedite the cycle?

Also, what are some pro tips from people that have done this themselves?

Also also, happy to move this into a new thread in a different room too

CB
 
Welcome and very nice tank! I love nano tanks and will agree with you, that you should probebly move up to a bigger tank at this point. Also, I have found, that in small systems, leathers and softies like kenya are one of the biggest in affecting their neighbors from chemical warfare, so I would also suggest them being taken out for that reason.

If you are still wanting to stay nano sized-smallish and are on a budget, you could do a standard 20L or 40 breeder.

If you want an almost instant cycle you could get your tank, lights, HOB and power heads, use live rock from your LFS(to ad to what you are moving over to get to your desired amount of live rock in your new system) and buy live sand like Caribsea. Use water from your old system when doing a water change and add new water to new system to bring to full level. Then take filter sponge or material and let it run in the filter of the new tank for a week or so, plus use Stability. It should cycle in less than two weeks. Add your old sand from your old system too. It will help bring your bacterial load up to par quickly.

Just one option. :)

You could also find a larger plug and play set up or go really big and have all the real estate you want!
 
Mom2Many said:
Welcome and very nice tank! I love nano tanks and will agree with you, that you should probebly move up to a bigger tank at this point. Also, I have found, that in small systems, leathers and softies like kenya are one of the biggest in affecting their neighbors from chemical warfare, so I would also suggest them being taken out for that reason.

If you are still wanting to stay nano sized-smallish and are on a budget, you could do a standard 20L or 40 breeder.

If you want an almost instant cycle you could get your tank, lights, HOB and power heads, use live rock from your LFS(to ad to what you are moving over to get to your desired amount of live rock in your new system) and buy live sand like Caribsea. Use water from your old system when doing a water change and add new water to new system to bring to full level. Then take filter sponge or material and let it run in the filter of the new tank for a week or so, plus use Stability. It should cycle in less than two weeks. Add your old sand from your old system too. It will help bring your bacterial load up to par quickly.

Just one option. :)

You could also find a larger plug and play set up or go really big and have all the real estate you want!
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Thanks for following up and for the suggestions, very helpful indeed. I got home yesterday evening to find a new to me Biocube 32g in my living room! Turns out some good friends got it off a couple that exited the hobby after an early system crash and were in the middle of a move and needed it gone asap. Needs a return pump and protein skimmer, but largely unscathed and intact. Crazy how the world works sometimes, I'll post images when I start the rockscape/transfer etc.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback and coaching, paid my membership dues looking forward to the next club meet and greet

CB
 
Great! I didn't want to pile on with the "you need a bigger tank" but, you really needed a bigger tank. Keep us posted as you set up the biocube! I would encourage you to NOT put kenya tree in your new system. -OR- if you do, manage it so it doesn't end up everywhere. I have some in one of my tank and remove pieces whenever I do a water change. The main piece is pretty large and constantly removing the babies keep the tank balances. It sounds like a lot but it's really no a problem at all. If you still want softies in the new tank, hit me up, you can have a nice 4-5" piece of toadstool leather from my tank. The toadstool and finger leathers can get big but they don't shed nearly as many "babies".
 
jcook54 said:
If you still want softies in the new tank, hit me up, you can have a nice 4-5" piece of toadstool leather from my tank. The toadstool and finger leathers can get big but they don't shed nearly as many "babies".
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!!! Definitely! thanks for the suggestions too, tbh I hate euthanizing anything but understand the need here and also it doesn't have a central nervous system and pupils so whatever I guess hahahahah
 
chrismbartlett said:
!!! Definitely! thanks for the suggestions too, tbh I hate euthanizing anything but understand the need here and also it doesn't have a central nervous system and pupils so whatever I guess hahahahah
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I'm right there with you and for some reason killing off the little chunks that recently attached doesn't seem as cruel. Now that I say that, err, it almost sounds worse. i.e. I don't mind killing the babies but the grown up make me feel bad.
 
jcook54 said:
I'm right there with you and for some reason killing off the little chunks that recently attached doesn't seem as cruel. Now that I say that, err, it almost sounds worse. i.e. I don't mind killing the babies but the grown up make me feel bad.
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'Kill the babies'...got it lol
 
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