This is part 2 in a series of videos about a project I'm working on.
It's a Fluval Evo 13 and a half gallon saltwater tank.
If you missed part 1 where I introduced the project, and talked about the tank and filtration,
I'll link to that down in the video description.
I'll also provide links to all of the products I talk about.
As you can see, the tank is no longer empty.
As is fairly common with these tanks I went with a pretty simple scape.
The sand is from CaribSea which tends to be my go to brand for sand.
It's their Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand and I used 10 pounds.
They called it 'alive' because it's one of those products that's supposed to jump start
your cycle,
though I never use sand for that because I think it's important to rinse it first.
For the rock I went with some dry live rock from Bulk Reef Supply.
I could have gone with some actual live rock from a lot of different places
and there's nothing wrong with doing that.
But I just wanted to start off clean.
This is 15 pounds of rock which may have been a little too much but I do really like the
look of it.
I have it stacked in the center so that I can easily reach in and clean all four sides.
I put the rock in before the sand for stability which is a mistake I seem to see a lot of
people making.
You really don't want to have your rock on top of sand if you can help it.
To kick start my cycle I just pulled a few pieces of biomedia out of my 220.
It seems to have worked because I had nitrites very quickly.
So for now I can just sit and stare at what has turned out to be a surprisingly clear
tank.
The filtration setup I went with seems to be working.
It was cloudy for a day which is about the best you can hope for when you add everything.
The filter floss seems to be doing it's job.
I don't have any chemical media in here for now while it's cycling.
But I do want to talk about one other aspect of this system which is my auto top off.
I'll go into detail next week about how I'm making my RODI and saltwater in the basement,
but up here I decided to go with what I hope will be a really reliable system for auto
top offs.
I went with a Tunze Osmolator, which is known to be one of the best ATOs on the market.
I have it attached to the side of my third compartment with a magnet.
And it has two sensors.
One is an electronic eye that senses the water level.
and the other is a float switch which acts as a backup.
It's a very safe system and the chances of flooding my desk are low.
The return line I just have zip tied to one of the sensor cords for now.
It comes with a clamp to hold it but there wasn't really a way to use that and keep the
tank lid in place.
The controller is pretty straightforward, with lights to indicate the water level and
whether the pump is running.
For my reservoir I went with the Innovative Marine Hydrofill.
It's a 5 gallon glass tank with a couple of cool features.
Part of the back is open which makes it easy to run the cord and water line for the pump.
And the front has a drawer that pulls out so that you can pour your RODI water right
in.
It also has a little red ball that floats to help you see the water level.
I definitely could have used a spare aquarium for this or even a 5 gallon bucket
but this is kind of visible under my desk so I wanted it to look halfway decent.
And having a container built specifically for this purpose is kind of nice.
So for now I just continue to wait for my cycle to complete so that I can add my clean
up crew and fish.
In the next video I'll show my RODI unit and saltwater mixing station that I set up down
in the basement.
So be sure to tune in for that.
Thanks for watching, and have a good one.
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