Decided to dive in this hobby! Confused between the 5 gal and 13.5 gal Fluval seawater kits. Fishes + inter + coral.

[barbarian825]

I would like to have a 2-3 species of fish, 1-2 inters and a some corals. I have seen a few seawater setups under 5 gal that look beautiful, but heard smaller tanks are tough to maintain. Would love for someone to educate.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I would like to have a 2-3 species of fish, 1-2 inters and a some corals. I have seen a few seawater setups under 5 gal that look beautiful, but heard smaller tanks are tough to maintain. Would love for someone to educate.

Check your other thread for my advice, but if you want to keep 2-3 fish you really should consider saving up for a larger tank, which would give you much better options. Another suggestion is to wait for a dollar per gallon at a petco near you and buy a 20 or 40 gallon.

 

[ScottJ]

The 13.5 is a good starter tank. You can keep a couple small fish and soft coral just fine with the stock light. It's also an easy tank to upgrade. I wouldn't go more than 2 fish, personally. I have a clown and a tailspot blenny in mine. A 5 gallon is pretty small, not the best for a 1st tank. Besides hard to keep stable, 5 gallon is really to small foe just about any fish.

I'm not sure what you are referring to by inters. Inverts, maybe? I have a bunch of snails in mine. You need a good clean up crew.

 

[sharkbait-uhaha]

13.5 is a good starter tank ,also good enough room for some easy corals, and room for few fish .

 

[BristleWormHater]

For a little more money you could an innovative marine 20 gallon(200$) or 25 gallon($260)

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Don't get a 5 gal and plan to stock it with fish and coral; those are reserved for the veterans of this hobby. A 13.5 will work well for 2-3 smaller fish, and coral. Smaller tanks are harder to keep, but easier to maintain if that makes sense. Smaller waterchanges, ETC. But, they are a lot less stable parameter wise. One small mistake can cause the tank to crash. Many reefers successfully keep Smaller tanks as begginers, but that's because they closely monitor it, and never have neglected it.

 

[maroonstang]

I run an evo 13.5. I like it ok.. But the stock light isn't very good (mine took a dump in a couple months and it's not very powerful.. so that's gotta go. And i would recomend replacing the stock return pump for a more powerful pump.. I went with a maxpect jump blue 65w light (its way over kill and i only run it at like 30% power) and a sicce 1.0 pump that almost doesn't fit in the return chamber. Anyhoo just those 2 upgrades are over 300 bucks. a China light could save $..

I don't like the filtration compartment design.. it works but is not optimal... there are upgrades you can buy but then your in for another 75 bucks or so... and i dont really like anything that is avalible...

also the compartments are more narrow
than say... innovative marine or waterbox tanks.. which may limit what you can put back there... like a skimmer.

having said all that I've got a clown, a yellow watchmen goby /pistol shrimp pair. Hermits, an emerald crab, a cleaner shrimp and coral frags.. and just with a piece of filter pad and some carbon and zeolite mixed together in a bag for filtration my water tests to clean...

In the end I wouldn't buy it again... not new anyway... but it gets the job done.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and to the saltwater hobby! I wish you the best of luck with whatever you choose.

I'm with everyone else that's suggesting the Fluval 13 gallon kit over the 5 gallon. It's a little counter-intuitive, but very small tanks are really expert-level tanks, and if you're interested in fish you are already very limited to what fish can go in a 13 gallon. There are even fewer fish that most would agree are suitable for a 5 gallon aquarium, and even then you're looking at basically just one fish in a 5 gallon tank. If you hope for two or three small fish, go for the 13 gallon for sure.

I'm not an expert at all, but my humble advice to keeping a very small reef tank, and by that I mean tanks under about 20 gallons, is to do very large, routine water changes. Like, basically change out all the saltwater that is practical every week. This rids your system of unwanted pollutants that build up, and just kinds of brings all your water parameters back in a good range. Assuming you are budget-minded - and I'm not saying you are - but get yourself a 5 gallon, food-grade bucket or two from Walmart, a small water pump or power head to circulate water, and a small, maybe 50 watt heater/5 gallon bucket. You will want to fill your bucket(s) with Reverse Osmosis and De-Ionized (RODI) fresh water which can be made at home with an RODI water filter, or you can purchase distilled water from any major grocery store, pharmacy, or Walmart by the gallon for about a dollar or so/gallon, US dollars. It's really important to start with clean, pure fresh water as using tap water can potentially lead to problems if you keep corals, and likely lead to uncontrolled nuisance algae even if you only kept fish and motile (moving) inverts, like snails, crabs, shrimp, etc. Fill your bucket(s), turn your circulation pump on, turn your heater on, and mix in your salt, measured with a decent refractometer. Long story short, you want to have on hand ready-to-go, premixed and preheated saltwater to facilitate large water changes. A little long winded, and I'm sorry, but this is a good paradigm for keeping small aquariums.

Check your other thread for my advice, but if you want to keep 2-3 fish you really should consider saving up for a larger tank, which would give you much better options. Another suggestion is to wait for a dollar per gallon at a petco near you and buy a 20 or 40 gallon.

Sadly, PetCo hasn't done a dollar/gallon sale in many, many years, however, they now do a 50% off Aqueon standard, rimmed tanks. This sale is currently ongoing, good to the 14th, I was told at my local PetCo store.

For a little more money you could an innovative marine 20 gallon(200$) or 25 gallon($260)

True, and I too like the IM all-in-one tanks over the Fluval Spec, but the benefit of the Fluval kit is that it includes at least an entry-level light. I'm guessing the OP probably doesn't want to spend extra on a light, but I could be wrong. This is definitely a good option if the OP doesn't mind the extra initial layout for lighting.

Best of luck!

 

[Fish Fan]

I run an evo 13.5. I like it ok.. But the stock light isn't very good (mine took a dump in a couple months and it's not very powerful.. so that's gotta go. And i would recomend replacing the stock return pump for a more powerful pump.. I went with a maxpect jump blue 65w light (its way over kill and i only run it at like 30% power) and a sicce 1.0 pump that almost doesn't fit in the return chamber. Anyhoo just those 2 upgrades are over 300 bucks. a China light could save $..

I don't like the filtration compartment design.. it works but is not optimal... there are upgrades you can buy but then your in for another 75 bucks or so... and i dont really like anything that is avalible...

also the compartments are more narrow
than say... innovative marine or waterbox tanks.. which may limit what you can put back there... like a skimmer.

having said all that I've got a clown, a yellow watchmen goby /pistol shrimp pair. Hermits, an emerald crab, a cleaner shrimp and coral frags.. and just with a piece of filter pad and some carbon and zeolite mixed together in a bag for filtration my water tests to clean...

In the end I wouldn't buy it again... not new anyway... but it gets the job done.

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Thanks for joining the community, and offering your experience with the Fluval 13 tank. Enjoy your time here

 

[Narideth]

The Evo 13.5 is a very good tank for a person who is interested in starting the hobby with a couple of small fish and corals. The stock light, despite some previous comments, is more than adequate to support and grow soft and LPS corals, and comes back with solid PAR in the mid 150s about 8 inches below the surface.

Most people do upgrade the lights eventually, but it's not a requirement unless it breaks entirely which of course is always a possibility!

The filter definitely needs some extra oomph, but I sourced a cheap pump that doubled my output for $15 - there are numerous 3D printed filter chamber baskets that help redirect the water flow and get you the best layout for adding floss, packets of filter media etc.

All of this being said, the type of tank you want to get might depend on how 'all in one' you want it to be. Some kits are great, some need improvement and sometimes just picking everything separately will get you exactly what you need. Whatever way you choose, good luck and welcome to the party!