My Fluval Evo 13.5 build

Fishyj · Oct 15, 2016

Hi all. Before talking about my build, thought I would give you a little info on me. I have been keeping fish tanks for over 30 years. I have had 150 gallon tanks down to my current tank of 13.5 gallons. Most people start small and go big, but I prefer at this point in my life of going smaller. Now lets get to the tank. Like all the aio's I have seen the filtration is not good at all. The lighting is not very good either. On the filtration, I took and old fuge from intank and cut it to fit into chamber 1. In chamber 2, I took the filter out and put in my heater and my float ato. In chamber 3 is the return pump which I changed out to mj1200. Next up addressing the light.

Fishyj · Oct 15, 2016

My next problem was the light. The light that came with it is touch control. they say it 14k, and reef capable but I was looking for something that I could control. I could go with an overhead light like a prime hd, but we really wanted the hood. On the hood , I cut a piece of glass and siliconed it to the top. I had a retro kit on my bc29 tank from nanoboxreef. I removed the factory led off the heat sink with a little force. I took the kit off the bc29 tank, rewired and drilled and tapped the factory heat sink and mounted. The mod for the light could not have gone any better.

Fishyj · Oct 17, 2016

Finally got it switched over, the bc29 is sold and gone. I still need to play around with the aquascaping. Looking for ideas.

Fishyj · Oct 22, 2016

I have been moving rocks around and came up with this.

Fishyj · Nov 4, 2016

Been busy since my last post. We found a cabinet for the tank. Only cost us $50 dollars. I also upgraded the ato to a hydor smart level. We also added a few more corals to the tank, thanks to Cherry Corals.

TylerMoralez · Nov 4, 2016

Love the thread. Following!

Ljaus · Nov 4, 2016

Looking really really good, wouldnt change a thing with the aquascape

sayitfast · Nov 4, 2016

Looks great... following.

I just set one of these up myself today... My Dremel came in handy.

Fishyj · Nov 4, 2016

Thanks, I just love this tank. It has been so easy to maintain.

Fishyj · Nov 18, 2016

Just an update. After my 2nd. live sale from Joe's knows reefs, my tank is becoming full. I added another 12 frags to the tank to go along with the several other ones I already have. I also ended picking up another small anemone for my tank. Now with an upcoming vacation next month its going to be just feeding and water changes. Here's a few pictures after I moved the corals around. Some of them were still upset with the move.

revhtree · Nov 18, 2016

Looks good!

illjoshlli · Dec 11, 2016

How is the tank doing?

sayitfast · Dec 11, 2016

How is your custom media rack doing... I'm not a fan of the sponge.

Fishyj · Dec 12, 2016

I like the rack but not all the water flows through it and the sponge was just a pain to use. I am going to after the holidays try mounting a filter sock in the first chamber so 100% of the water goes through it. Right now from overfeeding, I am dealing with a out break of algae. I am also considering picking up a skimmer for my setup.

sayitfast · Dec 12, 2016

Fishyj said:
I like the rack but not all the water flows through it and the sponge was just a pain to use. I am going to after the holidays try mounting a filter sock in the first chamber so 100% of the water goes through it. Right now from overfeeding, I am dealing with a out break of algae. I am also considering picking up a skimmer for my setup.

The sponge is horrible... I cut a the center divider out so I could add my own media. I'm a horrible over feeder myself and I just dealt with a small cyano outbreak. I added a small nylon media bag with GFO in the return pump chamber helped clear things up.

I did get the skimmer that goes with the tank. It does work, but occasionally gets really noisy. I have to raise it up a couple inches and it settles down again for a day or two. It is the loudest thing in the tank for sure.

Fishyj · Dec 14, 2016

Today I received my po4 hanna checker. My first test showed 123 ppb which works out to a .377 ppm. Way to high, no wonder I have algae. I am thinking the reef rock that I recently put in is leaching po4. The algae out break coincides with the addition of the rock. Since the tank is only 13.5 gallons I have decided to start a daily water change of a few gallons trying to bring the numbers down. Over the next month or so, I will also be getting rid of the black sand and going back to a more natural sand color. I plan on siphoning out sections during water changes so I don't affect the tank.

sayitfast · Dec 14, 2016

Fishyj said:
Today I received my po4 hanna checker. My first test showed 123 ppb which works out to a .377 ppm. Way to high, no wonder I have algae. I am thinking the reef rock that I recently put in is leaching po4. The algae out break coincides with the addition of the rock. Since the tank is only 13.5 gallons I have decided to start a daily water change of a few gallons trying to bring the numbers down. Over the next month or so, I will also be getting rid of the black sand and going back to a more natural sand color. I plan on siphoning out sections during water changes so I don't affect the tank.

I had the same issue... almost have it under control. My Hanna checker had me at .36 on the Dec. 2. I've added some GFO in a bag in the return pump section of the filter, twice a week water changes, and decreased my feeding amount. Today I'm at .05. Fish and Corals all still look good... On the first two days I did add 1ml of nopox also. So I'm getting close and the Algae which was not too bad is almost gone.

tomtom2245 · Dec 14, 2016

Looks good! I was on the fence with that tank when I upgraded my pico but went with the 6.2gal bowfront instead. Looks like you are doing some great mods to it!

Fishyj · Dec 15, 2016

Today I decided to remove the sand by siphoning out. I was able to remove all the sand. I also removed the extra reef rock I put in the tank. I did have some new sand that I put in a container to place some of my corals on. In the next few days I also will be getting a couple more blue and red leg crabs to help with cleanup. Other than 1 more water change this will be it until January 4th. Once I get home, I will need to address the substrate and flow issues. I am also considering a sand sifting goby.

Fishyj · Dec 15, 2016

Excuse the glass, I didn't clean it yet. Every thing is happy still. P04 is now at .025, at this point I am just going to maintain until vacation and see what happens when I get back home.