Aquarium Days

December 23, 2019December 24, 2019

Declutter Fluval Evo 13.5

Build up mess in aquarium

My Fluval Evo 13.5 is about 2.5 years now, and there were build up mess. Red slime algae, green algae, green hair algae grew up on the live rock, wall, and even on the sand. Green Star Polyps grew up 3 times bigger in 2 years, and clown fish grew up bigger than anemone! When I upgraded my aquarium from Fluval Spec V (5 gal) to my current Fluval Evo 13.5, there were lots of space. I had cleaner shrimp and one clown fish at that time and they had enough swim area.
However they grow and I had to declutter my Fluval Evo.

Current issue of Fluval Evo

Red Slime Algae
Green Algae
Green Hair Algae
Aiptasia
Not enough swim space
Too much dust in the sand and on the rocks
Odd smell when I vacuum sand

Red Slime Algae

I worked on the Red Slime Algae first. It was making looks bad in the aquarium and not healthy for fish and corals there. I was sucking them up manually with dropper, however I acknowledged that it can not catch up!
So I decided to use Red Slime Algae Remover. I was concerned what if it affect fish and coral… however it was all fine and all Red Slime Algae was gone in 2 weeks!

Clean Up Crew

Now I know Clean Up Crew is crucial to keep the aquarium clean. The store I got all my salt water aquarium and fish didn’t have any snail or crabs, so I didn’t get them when I started. The store closed down after and I didn’t know anywhere to buy anything about salt water aquarium until a few months ago.
One day I found a store that has Snail and Hermit Crabs for salt water aquarium and I could finally add them! It worked like magic, the green algae was gone by snails and sand and rocks got cleaner by Hermit Crabs. Hermit Crabs even eat left over from fish, so the water quality can stay cleaner as well.
Currently I have 5 Hermit Crabs, 2 Turbo snails, and 1 bamboo bee snail in my Fluval Evo 13.5 gal aquarium.

Remove a live rock and deep clean up

It was hard to decide but I decided to remove one of big rock from aquarium. It was the biggest and I had it since my fist aquarium, but it had most green algae and clatter on it. So I decided to take off.
In the same time, I removed all rock once and rinsed them in the fresh water quickly, and then deep clean the sand. The aquarium was like dust storm while cleaning up.
However it seems a lot better after, there are more space to swim.
Now I see the wave is too weak, I’m ordering new wavemaker to increase the flow.

Aiptasia

Aiptasia started one day, it was only one when I noticed, however I didn’t know what that is at that time. I thought it’s pretty, I had no idea that was later spread whole my aquarium! I started seeing it stanging my clownfish, so I decided to get rid of them.
I used Aiptasia Rx, it works instant and kills the aiptasia. However I could not use some of them that was too close to anemone. So now I’m ordering peppermint shrimp to eat them!
Now it’s time to be patient….

Review my cleaning up routine

Beside all the work, I’m reviewing my cleaning up routine. It has been 5 gal water change every week, however it build up this mess.
So now I increased the water change to twice/week, and will do the deep clean up the sand monthly.
Hope it decrease all the issue.
I will update later.

December 20, 2019December 20, 2019

Red Slime Stain Remover

What is Red Slime Algae?

If you see something red/purple covering the live rock, sand, and corals, that is the Red Slime Algae. It expand in the aquarium and it could damage the corals as well.
Red Slime Algae is type of bacteria called “Cyanobacteria”. Cyanobacteria grows in the aquarium when waste levels include both phosphate and nitrate are elevated, and fills up int the tank.
If your aquariums is leading the Red Slime Algae, you want to review the water circulation, light bulb as well.

How to get rid of Red Slime Algae

You can suck them up with dropper if it comes off from surface, however you probably won’t be able to catch up. If Red Slime Algae are filling up your tank, you need to consider to use a helper.
I decided to use Red Slime Stain Remover to get rid of Red Slime Algae in my aquarium.

Review of Red Slime Stain Remover

I mixed it in a small cup with water, and then drop it into the tank where the flow is. It’s yellow and I can see the yellow thing spread into the aquarium water.
I was worried if it might harm fish or coral, but they all were fine.
I didn’t see much change first 3 days.
About one week after, I started to see some rooms between Red Slime Algae and rocks. Some were getting loose from the surface and I could suck them up easily.
However there were still Red left around.
So I decided to add the second batch after one week.
It worked as visible!
Some left over Red on the Rock, which was not thick enough to come off or suck them up, I could see the “Red” just started to fade out! It took about 2-3 days to be completely disappear but it was all gone after.

Red Slime Stain Remover also worked brown colour algae.

December 17, 2019December 27, 2019

How to get rid of Aiptasia

What is Aiptasia?

Aiptasia is anemone that appear in the reef tank. Since Aiptasia is anemone, it hitch hike in the aquarium to search the food.
I saw it first time one little, and since I didn’t know what that is at that time, I left it till it grows bigger, and next I saw bunch of Aiptasia in my aquarium.
Aiptasia was stinging my clown fish as well as they are expanding around her territory.
Aiptasia is just like dandelion in the yard, if you see one, get rid of it before it expands!

How to get rid of Aiptasia

When I started to get rid of it, I tried to pick it up with tweezers. It got smaller but it came back again soon.
Next, I removed the rock and pick it up with finger (wearing glove), it seemed disappeared, however again it came back soon.
To get rid of Aiptasia, you need to make sure it’s gone from its root.

There are 2 methods that may work to get rid of Aiptasia.

One is Peppermint shrimp. Peppermint shrimp eat Aiptasia, however it will be up to shrimp. Some peppermint shrimp eat them but some are not. Peppermint shrimp is seasonal in the store, there are many in the Spring but might be hard to find it during the Winer time.

The other method is using Aiptasia Rx. It is reef safe and you can use it with other fish in the aquarium. It come with syringe, you can use it to put the liquid into Aiptasia. Aiptasia will be gone instant.

Is Aiptasia Rx safe?

I used Aiptasia Rx for my Fluval Evo 13.5, with clown fish and anemone in the same tank. I avoided around anemone as Aiptasia Rx is for Aiptasia which is also anemone.
All other coral and fish have been fine after the Aiptasia, I could use it safely in my aquarium.

Before & After

I left some small Aiptasia around anemone for now, but all other anemone on the rock has gone!

December 13, 2019

Red Slime Algae week1

2 years old aquarium

Even though I have been changing water weekly, red slime algae grew in the tank. There were slimes on the rocks, wall, glass, sand, and even on the corals.
I decided to focus to get rid of all those red slime algae, and there have been some progress.

My Previews setting

1 clown fish
2 anemone
1 grown up star polyps
Temp 75F
Protein skimmer
Built in light and power pump

Week 1

I added 1 medium size snail and 1 medium size Hermit Crab.
They made visible change in the aquarium.
Snail cleaned some algae on the wall, and Hermit Carb cleaned some part of the rock. Sand didn’t get much algae after I added the Hermit crab.
They worked well but didn’t catch up all the build up algae.

Week 2

I decided to use Red Slime Remover.
One week after I put it in the aquarium, I started to see some change.
There were space between red slime algae and live rocks.
Some algae were starting to hang on the rock, so I could just suck them up with Dropper.
One big live rock and one small rock got free of red slime algae.
However there are still more.

Week 3

1 week after the first Red Slime Remover, I added second one.
It worked visibly, red slime on the rock and wall started to disappeared!
All red slime algae were gone in one week.

Next Plan

I will be reviewing the cleaning up crew in this tank. I will be adding some more small Hermit Crab and snail, and then see how it can change!

December 12, 2019December 13, 2019

Fluval Evo 13.5

New Tank Set Up

I started Reef Aquarium with Fluval Spec V which is 5 gal salt water tank. It was ok for one small clown fish, but it didn’t have enough space for layout.

After one year, the clown fish grew up bigger and I upgraded to Fluval Evo 13.5.
There were more space for the rocks and even for corals.
Fluval Evo 13.5 is just perfect size for 1 or 2 small fish.

Start Up Cost

Here are the cost to start the Fluval Evo 13.5 (CD$)
Fluval Evo 13.5 $227
Live Sand $17
<a href="http://<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00F8DVAO4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=B00F8DVAO4&linkCode=as2&tag=skinnypig-20&linkId=bf364fb5b61024b7324ca1be60cda881">Nature's Ocean 12-Inch Coral Base Rocks for Aquarium, 40-Pound</a>Live Rock $85
Red Sea Salt $50

TOTAL $379

Layout

Layout is one of the fun part of new aquarium. I used some from my old aquarium, combined with new live rocks to make cave.

Corals in Fluval Evo 13.5

I had some mushrooms that came with live rock, and placed Xenia and Star Polyps.
Star Polyps were just perfect size to Fluval Evo 13.5 when it was new, however it grew a lot to take space in 2 years.

December 10, 2019

Xenia Coral

Xenia is a soft coral and it opens and close. It is pretty to have it in the aquarium and fun to watch. Xenia is also compatible with clown fish.

Placement

You can place the Xenia on it’s own rock, and keep it away from others. Make sure to keep it away at least 4 or 5 inches from other rock. Any type of grow that appears on the rock should be removed as well. Removal can be done by gently pulled out by waking a fingernail around the base of the corral to slowly loosen it. If you have Xenia for a long term in your tank, you may need to plan to trim down as they grow.
Watch out for some aggressive corals such as Hammer Coral. Keep them away 4 to 5 inches from Xenia.

How to care Xenia Coral

Xenia Coral does not require feeding. Xenia grows with good lightning and good water quality.
Keep the water temperature between 75F to 80F.
If you have Xenia in Fluval Evo 13.5, you may want to upgrade the light to make sure Xenia stay in the tank.

December 10, 2019

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog!
I started the aquarium with a plastic 5 gal tank for guppies 2013. There have been a lot to learn.
Aquarium is also very addictive!
I still do the Fresh Water Aquarium with Fluval Edge, but also running Salt Water Aquarium as well.
I’ll be writing about my aquariums, about fish and corals, how to maintain, how to solve the issue etc.
If you have any question, please leave your comment!