FLUVAL EVO 13.5 Budget Build 2025

[MichaelB]

July update.


The 2 more turbo snails and urchin are finally pulling their expected weight. Tank is starting to look better. I also added a older 10gal size hob I had laying around the house.

I was able to deliver the kraken (green brittle starfish) to @Woeday in trade for another tiny golden nugget maroon clownfish. In hopes the female won't try to kill this one like the previous male after the tank move.

The other male was barely smaller than her this one is only 1/3 her size so it shouldn't turn into a battle royal with luck.

Now that the water is clear I see a few aptasias in this budget build tank I will have to address pretty soon.

Lastly I added a small frag of gsp taken from the frag tank.

 

[MichaelB]

So pretty big update for me this time around.

I managed to swap tanks to a Fluval Evo 13.5gallon tank.

Very kindly given to me by @bravotango who needed to take a break from the hobby. While it's not a biocube the filtration set up is pretty much similar with the in tank media baskets.

This is the tank as it was when I broke it down this afternoon. It had a decent size gha outbreak on most of the rock work.


Since the tank was broken down. I scrubbed them a good bit and applied Hydrogen peroxide over all the rocks taking care to avoid the corals.i removed the rock that had the larger toadstool leather. I broke that leather off and added it to my frag tank with my other larger leathers.

This didn't kill all of the gha but it's all changed color and seems to be fading hopefully it dies and is easier to remove in a few days. Granted I have reef flux prefered for in tank treatment. Chose this option because rocks were already out.

II added all existing corals & inverts from orginal 6 gal budget build.


The tank came with some corals. Once the gha is under control and see if the current clean up crew is sufficient, I will probably make a effort to arrange the rocks better or swap them out.

After setting the tank back up.

I also maybe swap out the light, but will hold off until things level out and I can get par readings.

The tank also came with while not a maroon (my favorites) and very nice looking designer clown of some type.

 

[MichaelB]

Budget build update. Tonight I finally got around to fooling with this tank.

1.) I got rid of all the crappy man made cement rock. I originally tossed in a few rubble peices I've had soaking for almost 8 months for my 210gallon Sump. The stuff I added never caught diatoms etc despite being in the tank overrun with hair algae.
I replaced all that rock with combination of rock from @MarcosD and some I had cooking for Sump.

2.) I glued a few different varriants of toadstools on to the rocks. I didn't do a legitimate structure just opted for a center peninsula rock pile. Leaving room for some corals on the sand bed.

Fooling around with the stock lights I discovered it had blue lights after all yet the par on blues was less than 50 so I expect most likely only blue moon lights.

I will likely swap out the lights to something more reef suitable in the future. Or the previous light I had on the smaller tank.

I have lot of corals in the frag system I could frag to add to the budget this tank. If things look good I may try to pack it out.

I do feel for the lonely clownfish she needs another fish friend.