Hi All! I’m a new saltwater tanker, and just started a Fluval Evo 13.5 Tank. I’m super excited but also scared that I’m doing something wrong. My equipment entails live rock from my LFS, CaribSea Live Sand, NutriSea Premade salt water, the stock return pump, and the stock intank filters. After a few days, I checked my levels and everything was great! So I decided to buy some inverts (Snails, Emerald Crab, and Ghost Shrimps) to get my tank going. Before I start getting the “hardcore” livestock, I want to make sure that my tank is the best it can be! I’m going back and forth about if I need a refrugium or a protein skimmer? Also, should I change out my intank filter to a DIY one so I could add more media? Any general advice for a newbie? I really appreciate it!!
Scared I’m Doing Something Wrong - Newbie!
- Nano Build
- Thread starter The Newbie!
- Start date
- Tagged users None
SEMA
Community Member
I would personally get a quality skimmer before the refuge.
Then, get a custom sump with a refugium incorporated all in one that will fit your protein skimmer, returns, any 'extra' media your referring to.
This all depends now on size of tank, if its drilled or not..
Then, get a custom sump with a refugium incorporated all in one that will fit your protein skimmer, returns, any 'extra' media your referring to.
This all depends now on size of tank, if its drilled or not..
JumboShrimp
5000 Club Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2018
- Messages
- 5,806
- Reaction score
- 8,227
If you want a small skimmer, I use a Coral Life in my 7-gallon tank; I think it was around $45.00. It has suction cups to stick inside the main tank, if need be. You should read the dimensions first. This should do until you are ready for a dedicated sump with a skimmer upgrade.
they have a skimmer that is made for that tank and fits it very well. I would use that one and not worry about a refug. I have had a 32 BioCube and have never had a refug on it. They are good to have but not a have to thing. My BioCube has never had a issue not having one. but yeah I would get the skimmer made for that tank it fits right in the back perfectly and skims enough for that tank. I use the coralife one in my BioCube and it does enough for that small of a tank. Maybe a long ways down the road when you can save up some money you can look into getting a sump. and if you do get one large enough that if you upgrade your tank it will also work on a larger tank. always think ahead and get multi use out of things your getting so you dont spend so much money.
BoBoBREWSKI
Active Member
I had the Fluval skimmer that was made for the Evo 13.5 and hated it. It was very loud and skimmed inconsistently. Do 25% weekly water changes and you wont need a skimmer.
I say keep the intank media basket. Here is my set up:
Chamber 1 - intank basket - top is filter floss - middle is purigen and chemipure blue nano (x2) - bottom is marinepure balls and the ceramic rings that came with the tank.
Chamber 2 - filled with marinepure balls
Chamber 3 - heater and Sicce Synra 0.5 pump (more flow than stock pump)
About once a month, I take everything out of all 3 chambers and suck up any crap that's settled at the bottom and clean the pump.
I say keep the intank media basket. Here is my set up:
Chamber 1 - intank basket - top is filter floss - middle is purigen and chemipure blue nano (x2) - bottom is marinepure balls and the ceramic rings that came with the tank.
Chamber 2 - filled with marinepure balls
Chamber 3 - heater and Sicce Synra 0.5 pump (more flow than stock pump)
About once a month, I take everything out of all 3 chambers and suck up any crap that's settled at the bottom and clean the pump.
Geebs19
Give me all the Euphyllia
Welcome to R2R!
I think what you have right now is fine. If you wanted to add a skimmer and refgium later you can, but those items are not necessary to get you started. I would take a read on a few things before adding anything else.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/
I think what you have right now is fine. If you wanted to add a skimmer and refgium later you can, but those items are not necessary to get you started. I would take a read on a few things before adding anything else.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cycling-an-aquarium.306554/
BoBoBREWSKI
Active Member
Lots of info in this thread for the Evo 13.5. And it'd be awesome if you posted a picture of yours in this thread also.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/page-19
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/page-19
Welcome to r2r there is a ton of useful info here. My main advice is to read before you buy stuff - it is advice I need to take too!
What I did before I got my 10 gallon tank is
Read through people’s build threads here and see what they did. Here is a thread where people who have the same tank as yours show off and discuss their fluval
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/
Some of the tanks are set up in pretty complicated ways in order to keep sps coral or just because people like complicated equipment! If you’re new my advice is to focus on easier soft coral first and use weekly water changes as your main way to get nutrients out of the tank. You can always add equipment later and with a small tank keeping things simple can work really well.
So basically my advice is-
Go slow and copy/read what other people do with a tank around your size
But don’t feel like you need to make your tank as upgraded and complicated as the
Most amazing and rigged out nano tanks on the internet. You can have a beautiful tank with mostly stock equipment and water changes.
What I did before I got my 10 gallon tank is
Read through people’s build threads here and see what they did. Here is a thread where people who have the same tank as yours show off and discuss their fluval
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/
Some of the tanks are set up in pretty complicated ways in order to keep sps coral or just because people like complicated equipment! If you’re new my advice is to focus on easier soft coral first and use weekly water changes as your main way to get nutrients out of the tank. You can always add equipment later and with a small tank keeping things simple can work really well.
So basically my advice is-
Go slow and copy/read what other people do with a tank around your size
But don’t feel like you need to make your tank as upgraded and complicated as the
Most amazing and rigged out nano tanks on the internet. You can have a beautiful tank with mostly stock equipment and water changes.
its your first tank, and since its small, i would do your best to keep it simple. try not to fall in the "i need technology" trap (for lack of better words). for your tank i would just commit to doing weekly 10-15% water changes and keep your livestock very low. you can always add more later, but dont try and throw a bunch of fish in there and also try and do a lot of corals. with this small of a volume all the nutrients/etc can easily be handled with water changes.
you said you are new to saltwater, so i think the first issue you might have to deal with is the difference in the chemistry. you dont need more "media" the rock and sand if you have enough of them and its been established for a while, is all you need for chemical filtration. mechanical filtration is going to be a lot different than freshwater too.
i have run quite a few tanks under the 20 gallon range and had good success. i have run a few nice mixed reef 20 gallon tanks that only had a hang on back filter (empty, no filter material) and a small powerhead....the only thing it required was consistent water changes.
you can do this, but try and keep it simple at first and really get to learn the processes in the tank...you can always add bells and whistles later.
obviously this is just my thoughts/opinion
Reef of Fillory
Valuable Member
There's a thread dedicated to the Fluval 13.5 gallon tank - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/page-18#post-5090363
* Lots of us have made modifications such as InTank media rack, DIY media racks, upgraded return pumps, upgraded lighting, DIY net tops to keep fish in after changing the lighting, adding in Algae reactors etc. This thread is a great resource for ideas and suggestions on what has worked for some of us with these tanks.
With that said, i've also documented most of the changes that i've made in my own build thread linked here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/michigan-evo-12-13-5-gallons.366050/
My suggestion [and how I run my EVO]
Chamber 1 : DIY/InTank media basket w/ filter floss on the top, media [I use Chemipure Elite] in the middle, and grow Chaeto with an Amazon grow LED on the bottom
Chamber 2: Fluval Skimmer [mine runs great, despite poor reviews by others - maybe they've updated it in the past year]
Chamber 3: any sensors [ATO is essentially required on this small of a tank IMO], heater and return pump [I use Sicce 1.0]
* Note that I also run an Apex controller on my tank and dose into chamber 3, so that's a full compartment for me. This is definitely not needed until long down the road.
Last edited:
Similar threads
