Fluval EVO 13.5 Filtration Upgrade

[ClearRain]

Plug the bottom intake hole, upgrade return pump to Sicce 1, add Marine Pure balls, and micron pad. Done.

 

[Jonreefer]

if you can 3D print. I have printed this 1st chamber and been using it in my tank for the past 5months. I just run filter floss in the top and carbon on the 2nd level. My water is usually crystal clear except when my pistol shrimp wants to make a mess digging.

 

[Johnb65]

Hi everyone! I've had my Fluval EVO 13.5 saltwater aquarium set up for 5 months but the water has never been crystal clear. There are always tons of little particles floating around, clouding the water. I've been researching a bit and can't seem to find the cause of it apart from my filtration setup. Currently, Chamber 1 has my 50 watt Eheim Jager heater, chamber 2 has the sponge filter with ativated carbon and bio media, and the third chamber has the stock pump. I've been wanting to upgrade my filtration anyways and hopefully if I do, it'll clear up the water! I've been researching about filtration upgrades others have made on the Fluval EVO 13.5 and it seems that almost everyone upgraded to the InTank media baskets. Now my question is, is it worth it to get both InTank media baskets for chamber 1 and 2? And what should I put in them? I've read that most people use filter floss and biomedia. I also saw someone else who put chaeto into the InTank media basket for chamber 2 and made a little refugium. Would a refugium of this size be worth it for filtration? I am very intrigued by the natural filtration methods like the refugium. What would you do to upgrade the filtration setup? Thank you in advance!

Would love to see an updated pic of your filter/baskets/fuge if you’ve got it set up :) ?

 

[freshfisher]

1. Get InTank Chamber1 caddy. Throw that stock sponge in the trash right now!
2. In the top of that, place a square of bonded Filter Floss. (Change 2 or 3 times per week)
3. In the next compartment down place Boyd's Chemi Pure (Blue or Elite) 6.5 ounce bag.
4. In bottom of chamber 1 put nothing or Poly fill wad (teddy bear stuffing). (works amazing)(HobbyLobby)
5. Put heater in chamber 3.
6. Plug hole in wall. Plug comes with InTank ch1 caddy. Floss and ChemiPure get from InTank too.
7. Get a Sicce 0.5 silent pump and adjust outlets to create surface agitation.

Get back to me for more awesome Fluval mods once you get this done

Could i put a protein skimmer in chamber 2?

 

[davidcalgary29]

Yes, you can.

 

[fishtown-tom]

Hi friends, related question.

I have an Evo 13.5 with skimmer in Chamber 1 and considering UV Shield Desktop for Chamber 2 but that would probably mean I can't have filter floss in Chamber 1 or 2 or anywhere. My goal is to manage/prevent algae and parasites and I do weekly water changes.

Is adding UV but losing filter floss a reasonable tradeoff?

 

[169468]

I don't know much but I would probably prefer to lose the skimmer than the floss.

If you want to keep the skimmer, can you get a UV that doesn't need to go in the chamber?

 

[SkinngGinnie]

1. Get InTank Chamber1 caddy. Throw that stock sponge in the trash right now!
2. In the top of that, place a square of bonded Filter Floss. (Change 2 or 3 times per week)
3. In the next compartment down place Boyd's Chemi Pure (Blue or Elite) 6.5 ounce bag.
4. In bottom of chamber 1 put nothing or Poly fill wad (teddy bear stuffing). (works amazing)(HobbyLobby)
5. Put heater in chamber 3.
6. Plug hole in wall. Plug comes with InTank ch1 caddy. Floss and ChemiPure get from InTank too.
7. Get a Sicce 0.5 silent pump and adjust outlets to create surface agitation.

Get back to me for more awesome Fluval mods once you get this done.

Walmart has a huge box of the bear stuffing for next to nothing

 

[SkinngGinnie]

Hi friends, related question.

I have an Evo 13.5 with skimmer in Chamber 1 and considering UV Shield Desktop for Chamber 2 but that would probably mean I can't have filter floss in Chamber 1 or 2 or anywhere. My goal is to manage/prevent algae and parasites and I do weekly water changes.

Is adding UV but losing filter floss a reasonable tradeoff?

Do you have a cleanup crew? https://addictivereefkeeping.com/pr...k-astraea-nerite-cerith-blue-leg-hermit-crab/

Highly effective

 

[Reef.]

No idea on that tank but I have a similar size tank, I had a similar issue, I ended up wrapping the uv in a filter sock, a sock is far better than floss anyway imo

 

[sophiang25]

Get my afforementioned suggestions done first. I promise you, that is the best jump forward you can make.
The refugium and all that is way down the line. I always believed in bio-media but have recently abandoned it in lieu of my chunky live rock in my display. Thats a discussion worth it's own post.

That being said, if you have enough live rock in your display, you really don't need any media in your sump.
I would leave chamber 2 empty until you get chamber one tuned up. Give yourself time to think about it.

As long as nothing crazy is happening that you are not telling us about, the previous recommendations will absolutely get you crystal clear water.

What you need: Flow, Floss, ChemiPure, InTank basket.

Hi! I‘m just finished cycling my tank and have added fish. It’s the 13.5 Gallon Fluval Evo and I’ve also been using the Original filter sponge and media that came with the tank. I’m going to get the In Tank Caddy instead. Am I safe to replace the filter now that the tank is cycled or do I keep some components so that I don’t have to recycle? Thank you!!

 

[Reef.]

You can rinse the sponge in old tank water when you do a water change, sponge collects a lot of detritus, better without them or they need cleaning every few days.

 

[mckennamichael407]

Hi everyone! I've had my Fluval EVO 13.5 saltwater aquarium set up for 5 months but the water has never been crystal clear. There are always tons of little particles floating around, clouding the water. I've been researching a bit and can't seem to find the cause of it apart from my filtration setup. Currently, Chamber 1 has my 50 watt Eheim Jager heater, chamber 2 has the sponge filter with ativated carbon and bio media, and the third chamber has the stock pump. I've been wanting to upgrade my filtration anyways and hopefully if I do, it'll clear up the water! I've been researching about filtration upgrades others have made on the Fluval EVO 13.5 and it seems that almost everyone upgraded to the InTank media baskets. Now my question is, is it worth it to get both InTank media baskets for chamber 1 and 2? And what should I put in them? I've read that most people use filter floss and biomedia. I also saw someone else who put chaeto into the InTank media basket for chamber 2 and made a little refugium. Would a refugium of this size be worth it for filtration? I am very intrigued by the natural filtration methods like the refugium. What would you do to upgrade the filtration setup? Thank you in advance!

I read through and saw you already took some advice but you can always play around the the set up. I started with the protein skimmer in chamber one and the sponge in 2 and stock pump and m50 heater in 3. I then add red macro algae in the bottom of chamber one. Next I used seachem purigen in a media bag and wedged it between the pump and inflow of chamber 3 and that worked wonders. Then i upgraded the pump to the sicca syncra 1. I ditched the sponge in chamber 2 for the intake basket and put phosguard, the bio media bag and partial sponges but kept loosing the proper flow in the overflow area. I then glued solid walls on the one side of the basket in the bottom to sections to make it overflow. Now I am removing everything and custom mounting a felt filter sock and going to a small wall mounted media reactor that I will put seachem denigrate, seachem phosguard and seachem purigen that will be connected to the pump and water inlet that will give me an extra half gallon of water to the total volume plus give me complete access to the media without having to stick my hands in the actual water to do so and the red sea 18L reef can auto top off system to keep a consistent water level and pretty much turning it into a mini canister filter for a fraction of the cost.

If your anything like me, you so constantly want to upgrade and tweak it until a certain point you just start a new tank.

But with only the stock items that come with the tank, as long as you do weekly or twice weekly smaller water changes (maybe a 6th of total volume instead of the 4th and rinse your sponge and make sure one of the inlet novels is creating surface agitation and another aiming down will create enough circulation to keep the particles flowing up and into the overflow where you could add a filter floss pad into chamber one.

Just always make sure that waterever you do suits your tank inhabitants, don't add more flow then they prefer or not enough and smaller more frequent feedings to ensure that everything going in gets ate.

 

[Adam_1992]

Hi guys,

I’m almost finished cycling my Fluval 13.5 too.
I bought a cheaper version of the InTank chamber 1& 2 caddy - because InTank has been out of stock for ages now in Australia and I didn’t want to wait.

I’m thinking of actually replacing caddy 1 with some sort of filter sock. But I can’t find any that fit chamber 1 (or I don’t know what I’m looking for).

Has anyone done this before?

I’m looking for something like this:

 

[Reef.]

Hi guys,

I’m almost finished cycling my Fluval 13.5 too.
I bought a cheaper version of the InTank chamber 1& 2 caddy - because InTank has been out of stock for ages now in Australia and I didn’t want to wait.

I’m thinking of actually replacing caddy 1 with some sort of filter sock. But I can’t find any that fit chamber 1 (or I don’t know what I’m looking for).

Has anyone done this before?

I’m looking for something like this:

Try red sea socks, they have a few options for their nano tanks.

 

[Adam_1992]

Hi guys,

I’m almost finished cycling my Fluval 13.5 too.
I bought a cheaper version of the InTank chamber 1& 2 caddy - because InTank has been out of stock for ages now in Australia and I didn’t want to wait.

I’m thinking of actually replacing caddy 1 with some sort of filter sock. But I can’t find any that fit chamber 1 (or I don’t know what I’m looking for).

Has anyone done this before?

I’m looking for something like this:

Try red sea socks, they have a few options for their nano tanks.

Do you know if it will fit in chamber 1?
Just to slot it in maybe?

 

[Adam_1992]

I found this. Has anyone used these before? https://ebay.us/m/La112r

 

[Reef.]

Do you know if it will fit in chamber 1?
Just to slot it in maybe?

RED SEA MAX NANO 100 THIN-MESH FILTER BAG​

No idea but they are 5cm in diameter, the length if not correct can easily be shortened.

 

[Reef.]

I found this. Has anyone used these before? https://ebay.us/m/La112r

If going for that, you might as well just stick some floss in the basket you already have, floss is not as effective as socks, the top layer of floss gets covered in detritus, the water then bypasses the blocked floss and finds a easy pass through, whereas a sock the water has no option but to go through it.

I am not advocating for one over the other, I use neither but have tried both, floss was a waste of time and socks too much effort, I use an internal filter, the type mainly used in fresh water tanks, very effective and less hassle than socks…though to be fair, when I tried socks out I did go for extremely low micron sized socks so cleaning them was a nightmare, the 100 micron I linked above, if not felt they are a lot easier to clean.

 

[Adam_1992]

Yes I agree. But I need to find a holder for the sock that fits perfectly in chamber 1 of the fluval evo. That way the water has to go through the sock only.