Media Basket for Fluval Evo 13.5

[Wayne P.]

I've recently returned to the hobby, after some big failures due to lack of time to maintain tank. So restarting my Fluval EVO 13.5. I have already changed out the light to an A1 Prime, put a power head in the tank to get better circulation and am in the process of adding a JBJ Nano ATO. In process because I screwed up the first time and put the discharge end under water, which of course created a backflow. Had my AH-Ha moment about that a few minutes ago. I have been looking at making my filtration better. Currently have the standard foam block with BioMax media, activated charcoal. Was thinking about upgrading to a media basket with filter floss, chaeto and chemical filter media. Not sure if the chaeto will survive as it would be below the filter floss and would not get any light. Thoughts?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I 3D printed them for both chambers and it made a serious impact on filtration. Intank sells some and I have seen others make them out of egg crate. Plugging the hole in chamber 2 helps the flow a ton as well. Chaeto might grow but you would need to think about lighting through the tinted glass. I got a few nano-glo lights from a craigslist trade recently and have been meaning to try it out.

 

[Wayne P.]

I 3D printed them for both chambers and it made a serious impact on filtration. Intank sells some and I have seen others make them out of egg crate. Plugging the hole in chamber 2 helps the flow a ton as well. Chaeto might grow but you would need to think about lighting through the tinted glass. I got a few nano-glo lights from a craigslist trade recently and have been meaning to try it out.

What did you plug hole with, filter floss? or something more complicated?

 

[Mikedawg]

When I had this tank, I used a piece of tapered semi-hard rubber to plug the hole with the idea that it was easily removable if I changed thoughts. Sounds like you've got a good set up.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I 3d printed mine but this also helps quite a bit if you go the media basket route. Otherwise water tends to just drop straight down and miss the basket. Comes with the plug too.

 

[Wayne P.]

I went ahead and got the Intank Media basket. No Cheato, not sure if it will grow. Thinking about scraping the tint off of the back and seeing if that let's enough light in for the Cheato to grow. May need to add a light to the back for the Cheato. My chemistry is pretty good, so maybe I don't need any either.

 

[StephDaReefer]

I have chaeto growing in the second chamber for about 2 years now. Works great, you do need a grow light attached though but luckily the honeycomb print allows much light in there. I also have to turn it every few days which is a bit of a pain but it’s been working just fine. I don’t run a skimmer on my tank. Only filtration media and chaeto.

pictures are old. I’m now running an AI prime.