my fluval 13.5

[clinton w]

Hi Nano-reef people. I wanted to share my tank with the forum. It's an Evo 13.5, which so far I'm really digging as a new marine hobbyist. It's 3 months in, and it is stocked with:

2 Ocellaris clowns

2 purple darts

1 sand sifting star

1 fire shrimp

1 emerald crab

3 tiger stripe snails

 

I've been running perfect numbers in the water, but I've also upgraded a bit to keep up with the waste all the critters produce. Of course I made these upgrades after reading all the fantastic posts on this site. It really has been a help! So far I have: swapped the stock pump to the Eheim compact 1000 (which runs a little hot even at halfway to keep the tank at 77 degrees), this blows all the waste out of the tank much better than the stock. I have to shut it off during feeding so the star gets his share. I took out the bio bag and added a second bag of charcoal matrix. There is also a 6.5 bag of chemi-pure in the second chamber under the sponge filter. I also added the specified skimmer, which works very well, and I opened up the chamber lid openings with my dremel drill so the thicker cords let the lid sit. 

 

I do the 10% change once a week, and haven't had to scrape algae much. I do see it form through and the snails polish it off pretty quick. Last month there was a fantastic bacteria bloom which made the tank milky white, but it went away after about 12 days. 

 

After reading other posts I'll wait until the tank is about 5 months old before i add an anemone, then month 6 I'll try a coral. 

 

I'll ask questions if anything weird pops up, but so far everything in there seems to be real happy. 

 

Thanks for having this site!!

 

-c 

[HarryPotter]

It looks awesome! How long has it been up? I didn’t think the stock lighting could support an anemone  

 

 

Make sure to get all the way down when you clean the sand, you don’t want any buildup. 

[Clown79]

Looks good. I love firefish.

 

The only advice is possibly customizing the filtration.

Making a media basket or buying one is a benefit for better filtering.

Ditching the sponge. They are nutrient factories. Replace with filter floss.  Its cheap, buy it in bulk, cut to size, replace twice a week.

 

When you say charcoal do you mean activated carbon? If so 2 bags of it plus chemipure is too much. Chemipure is carbon. 

You can use too much carbon.

[clinton w]

Cool thanks for the tip. Yes I want to make a media basket. 

[clinton w]

When I'm out for a couple days, I added this Eheim self feeder. I opened up the feeding hole in the cover with the dremel drill, then inserted the Eheim feeding station snug into the opening. I'll share if it goes okay or not. 

 

[FISHnChix]

One thing too the stock pump has a sponge in it.  It will get clogged.  I removed it and got more flow.. happy reefing 

[xthunt]

Thanks for sharing. The skull gives it a bit of a unique n interesting look. I don’t see too many decorations in reef tanks. I’d be tempted to grow some zoas or gsp on top of it for hair. 

[MrJoel]

Part of me wants a skull in mine to have cyphastrea grow on it. 

[clinton w]

HA! I am definitely going something on the skull. The darts love to hide in it. My 8yr old said it was a must have in the tank. 

[VictoryBell]

As everyone has already said, love the skull! It's awesome that you're going to grow something on it!

[NanoAaron]

so would the skull technically be classified as dead rock? eh?... eh?

 

...... ill see myself out......