Aqueon Evolve Master Thread.

[dtitus1]

hey guys, i have a aqueon evolve 4, that now i have turned into a small frag tank. i have a ledtric par30 over it and upgraded pump. would yall suggest a 1 gallon waterchange a week or a 1/2 gallon? just curious. these little tanks are cool except for the lack of flow and detritus buildup. anyone doing anything to increase the flow besides the pump mod?

 

You should be good with just the pump mod on the 4. I really can't imagine adding any more flow to it and having everything happy. How do you have rock scape if there is any (you said it's a frag tank) and how do you have the nozzle positioned? When I get back from my vacation I can show you how I have mine and it's perfect. Detritus is an issue with these though but I think HOB filter is still the way to go, I'm probably just gonna pick up the smallest cheapo one I can find for a short term experiment.

 

1 gallon changes would be best, but it pisses everything off since the area is so small. I've started just doing small water changes of a few cups every day or other day, not too regimented and a half gallon change every week and it seems to work better.

 

ViaAqua reactor with bulk reef supply GFO

Is that one HOB? Thiking of getting one of that company's heaters for this when it gets colder.

[blankminded]

It has the clip to hang on the back but its to tall for the 8 gallon. I just have it sitting behind the tank. I was thinking about getting a bigger pump for the reactor and removing the pump the tank came with. That way I could run the reactor directly into the outlet of the tank. so all the water that goes back into the tank from the sump runs through the reactor.

[dtitus1]

That would work. Too tall for my 4 then definitely though lol. Only problem i would see is detritus possibly building up in chamber 2, but you could always turkey baster it out which is a little harder to do in the 4 since it's smaller.

[blankminded]

Every other week during a water change I siphon the water out of the 2ed chamber to try amd remove as much of the detritus as possible.

[QuickSilver525]

what filters are yall going with for the HOB? just wondering thanks i actually have the nozzle removed on my tank so it just blows harder. that little nozzle that comes stock sucks i took it off and tried to sand down the inside to make it bigger still not enough. hmm. oh well the flow is good for now. my rockscape is actually piled up underneath the eggcrate in a way that there are little valleys and holes for my green chromis to swim through. hes the only fish i have in it and hes super small so ya. if he begins to growto big ill throw him in my biocube . but ya my sps like the par30 and the flow so far good polyp extension and decent growth so far. ill post pics when i can

[dtitus1]

Dang so at least with the 4 it looks like options are severely limited on filtration which really sucks. I could either take an acrylic cutting tool and widen where the water flows in from chamber 1 to 2 so I would have enough room for a filter, get an azoo palm which I think would fit as is, or build a custom media basket with acrylic shield to maximize it like in the video. Problem is, all of these options would not leave room for a heater, and I'm actually wondering what heater would even fit in chamber 1 anyways since its more shallow than I thought for some reason.

 

Would the heat from putting a heater right next to the pump in chamber 2 have adverse effects on it you guys think?

[tetraodon]

Dang so at least with the 4 it looks like options are severely limited on filtration which really sucks. I could either take an acrylic cutting tool and widen where the water flows in from chamber 1 to 2 so I would have enough room for a filter, get an azoo palm which I think would fit as is, or build a custom media basket with acrylic shield to maximize it like in the video. Problem is, all of these options would not leave room for a heater, and I'm actually wondering what heater would even fit in chamber 1 anyways since its more shallow than I thought for some reason.

 

Would the heat from putting a heater right next to the pump in chamber 2 have adverse effects on it you guys think?

i put my heater in chamber 2 alone with my skimmer, and i see no effects on temp, so i dont think it would matter too much

[famousdan314]

Hello everyone, new to nano-reef and setting up an AE8.

 

Looking for some recommendations on affordable led reef lights, that have been successful with growing corals. I currently have a beamswork LED light on it, from when I was using the tank for FW and was curious if it would be enough lighting. The light is not the ultra bright its the standard beamswork with 33 leds @0.6W I believe which comes out to about 19.8 W output.

 

My current tank setup is cycling with live rock/sand, I have a Koralia Nano 240 power head and just purchased an upgraded pump for extra flow. The pump is a RIO 800 and flows about 170 gph with 12" head pressure im going to instal it in the morning ill update with results. I made the filter mod last week to break up the filter compartments to three chambers and also did the egg crate/ pump protector to hold coral frags and ceramic rings. Since im cycling I am just running filter floss, however I had spare parts from an old Aqueon quiet flow HOB and moded the "diffuser grid" to act some what like a mech. skimmer. Ill have to take pics and see what you guys think.

 

 

 

On another note, I may have an extra evolve 8 for sale if anyone is interested in buying just PM.

[BattleAthletics]

Set the other tank as a macro display tank!

[sageblade24]

Aqueon Evolve 8

 

It has been running for quite some time now.

 

[tetraodon]

Hello everyone, new to nano-reef and setting up an AE8.

 

Looking for some recommendations on affordable led reef lights, that have been successful with growing corals. I currently have a beamswork LED light on it, from when I was using the tank for FW and was curious if it would be enough lighting. The light is not the ultra bright its the standard beamswork with 33 leds @0.6W I believe which comes out to about 19.8 W output.

 

My current tank setup is cycling with live rock/sand, I have a Koralia Nano 240 power head and just purchased an upgraded pump for extra flow. The pump is a RIO 800 and flows about 170 gph with 12" head pressure im going to instal it in the morning ill update with results. I made the filter mod last week to break up the filter compartments to three chambers and also did the egg crate/ pump protector to hold coral frags and ceramic rings. Since im cycling I am just running filter floss, however I had spare parts from an old Aqueon quiet flow HOB and moded the "diffuser grid" to act some what like a mech. skimmer. Ill have to take pics and see what you guys think.

 

 

 

On another note, I may have an extra evolve 8 for sale if anyone is interested in buying just PM.

sounds like the tank is coming along great, the biggest thing for reef tanks is what you are gonna keep, softies generaly need the least amount of light and SPS generaly need the most, so figureing out what you ultametly do with the tank is a great place to start, i use the wave point 6 inch 8 watt light and i keep softies and LPS with no problem, and on amazon i bought it for 40 dollars, also ill just say that lighting is one thing you really dont want to skimp on, usally with lighting you get what you pay for, that being said, ive had good luck with wavepoint, ive seen lots of people do great with par 38 bulbs, and duel(or more) t-5 lights, just shop around read reviews. good luck

[happyhour99]

i put my heater in chamber 2 alone with my skimmer, and i see no effects on temp, so i dont think it would matter too much

+1 I have a 100 watt heater in chamber 2 and my temp is stable as a rock (+- 0.5 C)

[dtitus1]

Hello everyone, new to nano-reef and setting up an AE8.

 

Looking for some recommendations on affordable led reef lights, that have been successful with growing corals. I currently have a beamswork LED light on it, from when I was using the tank for FW and was curious if it would be enough lighting. The light is not the ultra bright its the standard beamswork with 33 leds @0.6W I believe which comes out to about 19.8 W output.

 

My current tank setup is cycling with live rock/sand, I have a Koralia Nano 240 power head and just purchased an upgraded pump for extra flow. The pump is a RIO 800 and flows about 170 gph with 12" head pressure im going to instal it in the morning ill update with results. I made the filter mod last week to break up the filter compartments to three chambers and also did the egg crate/ pump protector to hold coral frags and ceramic rings. Since im cycling I am just running filter floss, however I had spare parts from an old Aqueon quiet flow HOB and moded the "diffuser grid" to act some what like a mech. skimmer. Ill have to take pics and see what you guys think.

 

 

 

On another note, I may have an extra evolve 8 for sale if anyone is interested in buying just PM.

 

 

Try it and see if stuff is open under it. I feel like it should be enough for softies since even the light that comes with the tank is enough for them. Does the model you have have blues or is it the all white one? Also you may not need the second pump, 170 gph should be enough but it's always handy to have an extra powerhead around to mix water and for emergencies.

 

sounds like the tank is coming along great, the biggest thing for reef tanks is what you are gonna keep, softies generaly need the least amount of light and SPS generaly need the most, so figureing out what you ultametly do with the tank is a great place to start, i use the wave point 6 inch 8 watt light and i keep softies and LPS with no problem, and on amazon i bought it for 40 dollars, also ill just say that lighting is one thing you really dont want to skimp on, usally with lighting you get what you pay for, that being said, ive had good luck with wavepoint, ive seen lots of people do great with par 38 bulbs, and duel(or more) t-5 lights, just shop around read reviews. good luck

 

I've been meaning to ask you, do you have any zoas and if so how do their colors look under the wavepoint? Only complaint I have about the beamswork ultra bright is that some of them have kinda turned crappy but I may have had the light too close to the water so I raised it a bit and I'm gonna see if that helps.

 

Lol also I've decided to build my own media basket kind of like the one in the video but I'm doing things differently, I'll post a guide on here on the first page when I do it.

[tetraodon]

dtitus1: these are my zoas http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a526/tetraodon1/IMAG0039_zpsb5f379c4.jpg

i would take a pic of my others but they are irritated with flatworms so they arent open, and that frag is on the sand as you can see and they do well, ive even noticed a few new heads

[dtitus1]

Not bad I have some of those too. Just give them a good Bayer dip a couple times and you should be good.

[famousdan314]

Maybe someone could chime in on this. I have an Evolve 8 and wanted to see about adding a second nozzle. I was thinking about adding a Y Socket Fitting where the nozzle is now and putting a nozzle on each end of the Y. Has anyone tried this? My reason behind this is my koralia nano takes up a lot of space and it would be great to take it out. Having 2 nozzles facing different directions, I would be able to eliminate any dead spots without using the koralia.

 

That actually sounds like a good idea. Have you upgraded the pump or would you keep the stock pump. The down fall of using the stock pump when you split the nozzle to a Wye is you create additional friction loss and loose pressure to the already pretty week pump. However, if you were to upgrade the pump then split the nozzle to a Wye you should still be able to get decent flow.

[famousdan314]

Try it and see if stuff is open under it. I feel like it should be enough for softies since even the light that comes with the tank is enough for them. Does the model you have have blues or is it the all white one? Also you may not need the second pump, 170 gph should be enough but it's always handy to have an extra powerhead around to mix water and for emergencies.

 

The model light Beamswork has 27 whites and 6 blues, I may just opt to upgrade to the 3W leds. Just debating which one would be best. The RIO 800 pump is going to be in place of the stock pump. I would use the old pump to mix up my salt water.

[dtitus1]

Well the light you have should be good for awhile until you want to change it.

 

Still think you'll have too much flow, if you did the stock pump and the koralia you would be good, the rio and the koralia will give you like 60x turnover which is way to much.

[famousdan314]

So heres a quick video of my current setup. Any suggestions?

 

 

Also some pics showing the pump, I used a half inch hose as a coupling. Also shows the diffuser blue piece im using and the egg crate shelf i made.

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/107868847950711233410/albums/5881783735876723569

[famousdan314]

Still think you'll have too much flow, if you did the stock pump and the koralia you would be good, the rio and the koralia will give you like 60x turnover which is way to much.

 

I placed the stock nozzle back on which seemed to focus the flow and slow it down a bit, with the RIO 800 it came with a quarter turn control valve attachment so I can actually adjust or gate down the flow. I may just end up removing the power head that takes up space so its more visually appealing.

[happyhour99]

I placed the stock nozzle back on which seemed to focus the flow and slow it down a bit, with the RIO 800 it came with a quarter turn control valve attachment so I can actually adjust or gate down the flow. I may just end up removing the power head that takes up space so its more visually appealing.

looking good,

rather than using live rock rubble, i would use something synthetic. The larger pores in live rock works better with bigger live rocks. With synthetic Live rock, it can be smaller and still support denitrifaction bacteria. And its more resistant to junk buildup. I use ~300 mL of seachem matrix at the bottom of the 1st chamber of my evolve 8. supposedly it is enough for a 30 gallon tank, and i still have room for more or make the top into a refugium.

Edit: and i still haven't touched the 2nd chamber yet.

[blankminded]

I was wondering what you guys use for heaters on you AE8? Right now I have the Marina 25W Compact Heater which im not to happy with. Its a preset heater so I cant adjust it at all.

[happyhour99]

I was wondering what you guys use for heaters on you AE8? Right now I have the Marina 25W Compact Heater which im not to happy with. Its a preset heater so I cant adjust it at all.

i'm using a petsmart brand, topfin 100 watt heater. It was cheaper than the 50 watt heater at my LFS for some strange reason. Same size as the 50watt, and keeps my temp rock solid, bit of an overkill, but works

[tetraodon]

I was wondering what you guys use for heaters on you AE8? Right now I have the Marina 25W Compact Heater which im not to happy with. Its a preset heater so I cant adjust it at all.

i use and aqueon 50 watt, more then i need but does very well

[famousdan314]

i'm using a petsmart brand, topfin 100 watt heater. It was cheaper than the 50 watt heater at my LFS for some strange reason. Same size as the 50watt, and keeps my temp rock solid, bit of an overkill, but works

 

Just be careful, if the heater breaks and gets stuck in the on position you will fry everything in minutes, with a 50W hopefully you could catch it before too much harm is done. Just my .02.

 

I currently have an Eheim Jager 50W. What temps are you guys setting your tanks at.