Fruval Evo Tank

[Tozer0314]

Hello again R2R friends...
I have a Fruval 13.5 gallon tank. I currently have in the tank a Blue and Gold Damsel, a Black Velvet Damsel, a Clown Fish, 3 astraea snails, a turbo snail, a coral banded shrimp and a green tip Anemone.
I would like to get some corals and I believe I need a protein skimmer (can someone verify that)...my question is what is a limit I should stop adding to the tank cause I don’t want to overload it and start having problems with my levels, they have been good so far.
Tank has been running since May 2.

 

[andrewey]

No need for a protein skimmer on this tank You can put one if you want, but WC alone should be fine for nutrients.

When you say limit, do you mean fish or coral? If fish, you're already there with 2 damsels plus a clown (aggression concerns long term with three Pomacentridae in that size tank). If coral, start stocking and you'll run out of real estate

 

[Fishbro]

Nice looking tank! I think you’re at your max with fish but you can add as many corals as you want as long as they have room to grow. Like Andrewey said above no need for a protein skimmer just keep up with water changes.

 

[Seffner]

I just went back through your introductory thread. It sounds like a great way to spend time with your son. I teach high school (Social Studies, not a cool science class that would pay me to keep a reef tank like some of my coworkers) and I know that having involved parents is one of the keys to the student's success.

It sounds like you are at the limit for the number of fish (to repeat what the others said).

When I went through your previous thread I think someone suggested that your nano tank will make a great quarantine tank when you move on to a bigger build... Has your son started asking about moving on to a larger tank yet?

Finally, what have you found to be the most challenging aspects of this experience and what have been the most rewarding so far?

 

[Tozer0314]

I just went back through your introductory thread. It sounds like a great way to spend time with your son. I teach high school (Social Studies, not a cool science class that would pay me to keep a reef tank like some of my coworkers) and I know that having involved parents is one of the keys to the student's success.

It sounds like you are at the limit for the number of fish (to repeat what the others said).

When I went through your previous thread I think someone suggested that your nano tank will make a great quarantine tank when you move on to a bigger build... Has your son started asking about moving on to a larger tank yet?

Finally, what have you found to be the most challenging aspects of this experience and what have been the most rewarding so far?

We are having a very good time with the tank. We have made several trips to the LFS which is about 45 minutes from my house. We have both done research and we talk about what we have read. So far we have had a very successful tank. We cycled it for about 2 weeks, added two damsels, about 2 weeks later a coral banded shrimp and then a clown fish and green tip anemone. Today we added our first Coral and green hammer coral. It’s beautiful.
We haven’t even talked about a bigger tank at this point. We are very content with this tank which has cost me a small fortune already (not complaining just a statement). My husband is starting to get involved also which is awesome. He wants the coral. My son really wants a Mantis Shrimp, but he has told me that they can be the only thing in a tank - That doesn’t sound fun to me, I like watching my fish swim around happy.
My son loves History. That is his favorite subject next to his Natural Sciences Class. He loves to learn about WWII. We were planning a trip this winter to take him to Germany with my FIL and MIL. My MIL is born and raised in Germany. So she knows all the good local places to go. My son was really looking forward to it. We are probably going to postpone that trip until next winter with all this CoVid Craziness going on.