Fluval 13.5 Nano First SW Tank

[PPBlimpy]

You can stock corals basicly from day 1.

Usually when cycling you keep the lights off to reduce algea, With corals of course the lights need to be on. You can ad a bottle of copepods and a CUC to help fight the algea if you want to ad corals early.

so many ways to skin a cat in this hobby

 

[Salty_Fish306]

You can stock corals basicly from day 1.

Usually when cycling you keep the lights off to reduce algea, With corals of course the lights need to be on. You can ad a bottle of copepods and a CUC to help fight the algea if you want to ad corals early.

so many ways to skin a cat in this hobby

I understand.

My kit came with 2 light settings white with some blue leds and a blue setting.. is that a night setting the blue led?

 

[PPBlimpy]

EDITED

No, the blue is just there because some people really like looking thru a bottle of windex. Not my jam generally. The blue makes the corals pop in photos when you use a orange lens.

Corals generally grow brighter more vibrant colors under the blue spectrum, if not better then the white. The white grows the corals faster but actually tends to feed algea more by my understanding and is mostly their for our viewing pleasure. this is my personal understanding

I was out of the hobby for a long time and when I got back in everyone had blue tanks, didn't understand it then. Still don't really. I love my 14k Metal halides with actinics for the early 2000s.

you can ad small LED strips under the stock lid to help ad a bit more blue if you want more then the white/ blue offers

 

[Salty_Fish306]

EDITED

No, the blue is just there because some people really like looking thru a bottle of windex. Not my jam generally. The blue makes the corals pop in photos when you use a orange lens.

Corals generally grow brighter more vibrant colors under the blue spectrum, if not better then the white. The white grows the corals faster but actually tends to feed algea more by my understanding and is mostly their for our viewing pleasure. this is my personal understanding

I was out of the hobby for a long time and when I got back in everyone had blue tanks, didn't understand it then. Still don't really. I love my 14k Metal halides with actinics for the early 2000s.

you can ad small LED strips under the stock lid to help ad a bit more blue if you want more then the white/ blue offers

Thats a good idea. I happen to have a steip of leds. Ill give that a try!

 

[PPBlimpy]

make sure they are water proof!!!

 

[Cronicus]

An Evo is a great first tank! It has been by far the easiest tank to maintain I have ever had. Plus when the army says you got some places you need to be, it's easy to move, or have someone watch for a while. I can't remember the last time I had to do a water change. Just feed the fish and change out media. I have a refugium in chamber 1, some carbon, seachem purigen, and a box of Marine Pure PODS bio media in chamber 2.

Getting a better media basket is the move! I 3d printed one that had the flow diverter, that would move the flow from the side to the top, and the stock pump couldn't handle it, so I bit the bullet and got the ones inTank. You def don't need those exact one's, but the same shape/size is what I would recommend.

I 2nd the wifi power strip, I use the ones that Kasa/TP-Link make, they are very easy to use and setup. You can find them for half off a lot of the time.

In the future you might want to look at upgrading the return pump, and of course the lights like you said.

Good luck bro! For such a small tank, you can do a a lot with it.

 

[EastonsReef]

Welcome to the hobby!

I started my first tank about 6 weeks ago with the a fluval 13.5 just like you. The light isn't great and it's something you'll probably want to upgrade eventually but there isn't a rush, especially while you're cycling. I'm planning to swap to an AI Blade which can fit in the stock lid with a little modification (this is based off light research but I'm hesitant to guarantee it until I do so).

On an ATO, I've found that with the stock lid you actually have very little evaporation. I highly recommend buying a salt refractometer and the calibration juice for it first, the plastic hygrometers are unreliable and keeping stable salinity is important. The next purchase I'd recommend is an inkbird thermostat. This is a backup for your heater. Usually when heaters fail they fail in the ON position which can cook your tank, the inkbird is a second level of protection from this, just set it 1-2 degrees higher than your thermostat is.

Something else regarding the hobby, overall reef keeping is expensive. It's not uncommon that the tank itself is the cheapest thing you'll buy (there are exceptions of course) You can go slow, watch for deals, get free coral frags and swap with people and save money that way but just be prepared for the nice upgrades to be pretty hefty.

Something I considered with this tank was to buy the Protein Skimmer made for the tank, I'd recommend not doing so. Everyone I've spoken to about it said it did very little for their tank and was more of a headache than it was worth.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I'm not the most experienced reefer but I'm more than happy to share the knowledge I've gained so far.

Link to my build thread for this tank. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/eastons-fluval-evo-13-5-build.1116814/#post-13723544

 

[EastonsReef]

EDITED

No, the blue is just there because some people really like looking thru a bottle of windex. Not my jam generally. The blue makes the corals pop in photos when you use a orange lens.

Corals generally grow brighter more vibrant colors under the blue spectrum, if not better then the white. The white grows the corals faster but actually tends to feed algea more by my understanding and is mostly their for our viewing pleasure. this is my personal understanding

I was out of the hobby for a long time and when I got back in everyone had blue tanks, didn't understand it then. Still don't really. I love my 14k Metal halides with actinics for the early 2000s.

you can ad small LED strips under the stock lid to help ad a bit more blue if you want more then the white/ blue offers

Blue is for Gucci mode.

 

[Salty_Fish306]

Welcome to the hobby!

I started my first tank about 6 weeks ago with the a fluval 13.5 just like you. The light isn't great and it's something you'll probably want to upgrade eventually but there isn't a rush, especially while you're cycling. I'm planning to swap to an AI Blade which can fit in the stock lid with a little modification (this is based off light research but I'm hesitant to guarantee it until I do so).

On an ATO, I've found that with the stock lid you actually have very little evaporation. I highly recommend buying a salt refractometer and the calibration juice for it first, the plastic hygrometers are unreliable and keeping stable salinity is important. The next purchase I'd recommend is an inkbird thermostat. This is a backup for your heater. Usually when heaters fail they fail in the ON position which can cook your tank, the inkbird is a second level of protection from this, just set it 1-2 degrees higher than your thermostat is.

Something else regarding the hobby, overall reef keeping is expensive. It's not uncommon that the tank itself is the cheapest thing you'll buy (there are exceptions of course) You can go slow, watch for deals, get free coral frags and swap with people and save money that way but just be prepared for the nice upgrades to be pretty hefty.

Something I considered with this tank was to buy the Protein Skimmer made for the tank, I'd recommend not doing so. Everyone I've spoken to about it said it did very little for their tank and was more of a headache than it was worth.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I'm not the most experienced reefer but I'm more than happy to share the knowledge I've gained so far.

Link to my build thread for this tank. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/eastons-fluval-evo-13-5-build.1116814/#post-13723544

I went with a media basket for in lue of the protein skimmer.. Just have 2 filter flosses for now. There's nothing there yet lol Gonna get a blue led strip or 2. To play around with that/