DIY Drop off in Fluval evo 13.5

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

Been wanting an eshoppes Mariana but couldn’t swallow spending 250+ on a tank that wasn’t even 10 gallons so of course i made my own drop off for a fraction of the price and more water volume. Unfortunately I sacrificed the professional clean looking part of things because it pretty bad with silicone but once sand corals and rock go in it’ll barely be noticeable leak test in a few days fingers crossed

 

[Fish Fan]

Nice job on the drop off shelf!

 

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

Nice job on the drop off shelf!

I like the proportions so far , it’s 5 inches tall and 6 inches deep so I still have 12 inches of deeper water available

 

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

If my silicone seals hold this void will stay completely water less and I will paint the exterior glass black so the void isn’t visible but I may just use vinyl or something I can remove from time to time to make sure there is no leaks

 

[Dom]

Been wanting an eshoppes Mariana but couldn’t swallow spending 250+ on a tank that wasn’t even 10 gallons so of course i made my own drop off for a fraction of the price and more water volume.

How did installing a drop off add more water volume?

 

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

Been wanting an eshoppes Mariana but couldn’t swallow spending 250+ on a tank that wasn’t even 10 gallons so of course i made my own drop off for a fraction of the price and more water volume.

How did installing a drop off add more water volume?

I was comparing it to the 7 gallon volume of the eshoppes Mariana , adding the drop off to the evo has lost me some volume from the original 13.5 gallons but without doing the math I think I’m still over 10 gallons

 

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

Got the scape done , tried to make like a reef crest but not go overboard with rock or too minimalist the upper shelf has a lot of caves and the lower portion is just a pretty big overhang with an island . Thinking I’ll make this tank sps dominant and focus on some of the easier sps to get my feet wet in that world lol . still waiting on silicone to cure before water testing !

 

[FreshlyGettinSalty]

We got corals and uglies in lol

Coral wise I I’m gonna make a big zoa garden out of the hole tank paired with acans and other fleshy / meaty corals