Hi there. I have been learning a lot on this site and thought it was time to actually join and start to contribute back to the community.
Started my saltwater journey in January 2024. I purchased a Fluval Evo 13.5 and made a few upgrades to it. I added the InTank media baskets and a couple of random flow generators and upgraded the stock pump to the Sicce Syncra 1.5. I kept the stock light.
This was my first time setting up a saltwater tank and it did OK, not great. I had two clown fish and the whole host of invertebrates like Emerald crabs, peppermint, shrimp cleaner, shrimp hermit, crabs, and snails.
I learned a lot. All the bad stuff happened like algae blooms, cyanobacteria, dyno’s etc. but I navigated it and it all cleared up and was a pretty nice looking tank.
Then I started watching YouTube videos about reef tanks and coral and that was very interesting to me. So I tried what were supposed to be the easiest ones and failed with all of them multiple times other than green star polyps thrived.
In January 2025, I decided to upgrade although many may not consider this an upgrade. I purchased an innovative marine 15 cube and added lots of stuff to try to be more successful with stony corals.
Right now it’s running great and corals are growing like crazy. It is getting so packed it is about time to go up to a larger tank. This little tank has been a great way for me to start to learn this style of reefing.
When I can get some better pictures, I will put a post in the build forum on all the details.

Started my saltwater journey in January 2024. I purchased a Fluval Evo 13.5 and made a few upgrades to it. I added the InTank media baskets and a couple of random flow generators and upgraded the stock pump to the Sicce Syncra 1.5. I kept the stock light.
This was my first time setting up a saltwater tank and it did OK, not great. I had two clown fish and the whole host of invertebrates like Emerald crabs, peppermint, shrimp cleaner, shrimp hermit, crabs, and snails.
I learned a lot. All the bad stuff happened like algae blooms, cyanobacteria, dyno’s etc. but I navigated it and it all cleared up and was a pretty nice looking tank.
Then I started watching YouTube videos about reef tanks and coral and that was very interesting to me. So I tried what were supposed to be the easiest ones and failed with all of them multiple times other than green star polyps thrived.
In January 2025, I decided to upgrade although many may not consider this an upgrade. I purchased an innovative marine 15 cube and added lots of stuff to try to be more successful with stony corals.
Right now it’s running great and corals are growing like crazy. It is getting so packed it is about time to go up to a larger tank. This little tank has been a great way for me to start to learn this style of reefing.
When I can get some better pictures, I will put a post in the build forum on all the details.

