Fluval Evo XII Saltwater Aquarium Kit, 13.5 Gal. – Saltwater Fish Tank with Reef-Capable LED, Efficient 3-Stage Filtration and Seamlessly Integrated Hardware

Great tank. Easy setup. Great for starters or those who are looking for a smaller tank.

Breathtaking nano reef from Fluval: the 3D peninsula, all included in one nano tank. Placed on the kitchen countertop, big enough desk or stand-alone stand, an aesthetic marine tank in your home. Hardcore Hobbyist experienced or not, and whatever your taste in the nano reef, this is a beautifully designed saltwater aquarium. And functional. Now the bad things targeting the newbies: The Fluval EVO 13.5 box comes with a recommendation, what type of fish and corals to have in this aquarium. Follow that, if you don't, and get excited for more fish, expensive ones, or want that awesome coral from the fish store this tank will end up crashing, losing the livestock, and sold for pennies at the garage sale. -This saltwater fish keeping hobby requires money and knowledge. No matter if is Fish Only or Reef -Whatever livestock you put inside your tank, treated like your beloved, dog, cat, snake, iguana, or tiger you keep as a pet. Fluval EVO 13.5 comes ready to set up right out of the box. You just need extra: Knowledge( cycling the tank, water quality, and temperature control), rocks (dead or alive), sand (not a must), marine salt, thermometer, heater, saltwater test kit, salinity test, extra wavemaker for improved water movement (not a must). Reverse Osmosis is a must!!!!. You need to prep saltwater for a new set up and future water changes and to refill evaporated saltwater with fresh R/O water. No way around. Get it cheaply in jars from a local store, buy a home system (in the long run, you have insurance, cheaper solution, you get to maintain control) whatever you do, freshwater from your house will not do it. The only biggest problem all nano tanks and bigger ones too ( the smaller the tank the fastest things go wrong) have is temperature control in the summertime. If your tank is going above 80 F you have to modify the outlook of your Fluval to be ready for summertime. Give up canopy, Cooling fans (water evaporation fast), different suspended lighting, your home ambient temperature no more than 78F for cooling fan to keep it under $80F. And all of this extra hardware, chosen carefully not to end up with an ugly Fluval EVO 13.5 tank on your home!!! The expensive route to keep the stock Fluval outlook is a Mini Chiller, not many on the market and the only one with some degree of effectiveness and aesthetics is this one from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Chill-Solutions-11415-Thermoelectric-Aquarium/dp/B00JY6UJB6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Chill+Solutions&qid=1588560696&sr=8-1. On this chiller, the maker is out of stock, the dedicated marine sites out of stock., Amazon has it for $50 more than the market and without tubing and the right pump. Yes, you need to have the right pump and the tubing to fit inside the Fluval filtration chamber in order for this chiller to work. Sorry for the bad news.

I looked around for a while at several different tanks before deciding on the Fluval EVO 13.5 gallon tank. The first one arrived shattered but Amazon as usual made the return very easy and luckily the second tank arrived in good condition. The first thing I have to say is I love the way this tank looks, Fluval choosing to use a built in pedestal on the bottom to raise the tank up some makes a big difference. If you look online you will see there are tons of modifications that people are making to this tank and I made a few myself. I upgraded the return pump to increase the flow from 135 gph to 185 gph and I added a Hydor Koralia 240 nano circulation pump. The only other modification I made was to add an intank media basket to replace the foam filter that comes with it but there are several folks who have used it with no issues. I started with live sand and base rock then used nutri seawater in lieu of mixing up my own since it was such a small amount. I cycled the tank for 4-5 weeks before I added a clownfish and several weeks and more inhabitants later everyone is doing fine. I basically do a one gallon a week water change and replace the filter floss then once a month I replace the phosgen and every two months replace the chemipure blue nano packets. Following this routine has made things pretty simple and I will start all my future tanks the same way. If you're looking for a saltwater tank and aren't sure if the hobby is for you this is a great way to test the water, no pun intended. Yes, nano tanks are more susceptible to bad water conditions killing your fish because of the small volume of water but if you follow a routine maintenance schedule you should be fine.

Lid is pretty low quality but when it’s on it’s good. Tank can look really good as a rimless. 3 chamber sump so built in room for filtration. Very modern looking tank though as it appears to “float” on its stand, hood not programmable for lights but I think most intermediate aquarists will opt for clamp on upgrade lighting but it’s still pretty sleek as it is, you can add an additional submersible blue light and put the hood on a timer for whites but the hood does blues too, lid perfect if you think u might have “jumpy” fish in it though. I had some mature sand and mature decorations all 5-6+ years old, and a bully clown I put in it to start the cycle but maybe give you an idea what it offers at an entry price point. Return pump is weak but I put a small pump in each chamber that feeds into the next one- so on and so forth, and a wave maker thing. Added mature rock and some live rock and youll want a digital heater if you want to go reef.

The Fluval 13.5 gallon saltwater tank kit is the perfect setup for any beginner saltwater enthusiast. Out of the box you'll have everything you need to get started, including a powerful LED that can sustain some hardy corals and a pump that's quiet and effective. The filtration media that comes with the tank is enough to get you started, although you'll be better served to upgrade it as you start adding livestock. I'd highly recommend you purchase this tank with the following items in your shopping cart: - A 150W heater: this tank doesn't come with one, and although the heater is oversized, it will ensure a stable temperature. - A pump: saltwater tanks thrive when there's good circulation. - Live sand: you can buy a bag of live sand on Amazon. I put 20lbs in mine for a 2.5" deep sandbed. - Live rock: you'll need to pick this up at your local fish store (LFS). - A Saltwater Test kit: for monitoring parameters and ensuring your tank has cycled. By using live rock and sand, you'll be able to cycle this tank within 3-4 weeks. Once established, weekly water changes are recommended considering the tank doesn't have a refugium and it's a small body of water. I'm keeping 2 Clownfish, 1 Watchman Gobi, a bubble-tip anemone, a peppermint shrimp, some hermit crabs, emerald crabs, turbo snails, zoanthid corals and 1 pincushion toadstool coral in this tank and they're all doing really well.

Do NOT buy this tank. I bought it June 23rd and am sitting here now at 2:30 am after smoke alarms went off because the tank cracked in the botttom and leaked out flooding the desk and everything on it including electrical items which shorted out tripping the breaker and setting off the smoke alarms. So now I sit and watch all the coral and fish I spent tons of money on did because of this piece of junk. And of course it waited until 10 days after the return period ended so I can’t even get a refund. My $80 anemone, now dead My $75 black snowflake clownfish, now dead My $30 orange snowflake clowmfish, now dead My royal gramma, now dead My fire shrimp, now dead All my coral, now dead Thanks Fluval for selling trash!!! You should be reimbursing me for all of this! I will never buy a fluval product again and strongly suggest everyone else stay as far away from their products, especially this tank, as possible unless you prefer your fish dead.

Moving down in size from a 75 gal. reef tank that I had running for 5+ years. I took a hiatus and decided to come back to reef keeping with a smaller tank. The Fluval Sea Evo has worked out great with the upgrades I've made. I don't use the lid or light that the tank came with. I'm running an AI Prime for lighting, and use an InTank media chamber in chamber 1. I also have a Bubble Magus hang on the back skimmer {which does a fantastic job without looking obnoxious in the tank). I also upgraded the pump and nozzle for better flow. The tank has been running great for the 3 months it's been running. I'm even planning to add a couple SPS corals this week. Update: Highly recommend this tank. You can't go wrong for the price. Update The 2nd pic of the tank is 3 years since setup. Frogspawn torch is now taking over the lover right 3rd of the tank. Many sps and zoas are doing maybe a little too well. 3 years down the line I would have to say that this little tank was well designed. You just might have to tweak it a bit to achieve your reefing goals. Overall I would have to say that this is an awesome nano tank, and you can't beat this price for an AIO reef tank.

These really are nice little tanks and a good value. I bought two and love them both with one exception, the lid is a POS. The lid is nice in that it keeps evaporation to a minimum, and keeps the fish in the tank. Downside is when removing to clean/access the tank you need to disconnect everything if you want your light to last. Light is great, but has a touch on/off. A small amount of saltwater on this can cause it to malfunction(randomly shifting modes)and render it unusable. I had this happen to one of mine within two months and had to toss it due to the constant cycling which was horrible for the fish/corals. Couldn't find the exact stock replacement light, so I tossed the lid and light and bought some clip on lights and now have one an open(no jumping fish!)tank. I do highly recommend these tanks though with the caveat of being very careful with the lid/light. A really good value out of the box, and can be greatly improved relatively cheaply with some filter media modifications.