Fluval Evo 13 mods!

[hipertec]

The skimmer is very silent.  Im not sure why everyone was complaining. You do have to clean the pump every few weeks so it does start to vibrate and produce more sound.

As for the efficiency, its pulling gunk but not a crazy lot like my HOB1 or insump skimmer - i only have 2 fishes in my tank so that may be another reason why. it does work tho.

[Toasted678]

TheBig053 - I have a very similar setup going on right now to what you have.  What have you liked running in your inTank media basket as far as media-wise?  I saw you wrote the filter floss, purigen, and chemi-pure.  Then added the phosguard later.  I'm about to put mine together and was wondering what to fill it with and how much.  

 

Also what schedule do you have your AI Prime on?  (Probably the coolest light I have ever seen by the way!)

[TheBig053]

Hey Toasted,

 

I am actually not running the InTank media basket at this time, but it is on my "to purchase" list.  Right now I am still using the DIY eggcrate basket I constructed several weeks back.  You've mentioned all the media I have been running, but I ended up not removing the phosguard as I had planned and have not seen any Ill effects from leaving it in place.  I've just been using the amount of media that comes in the prepared bags.  I forget the purigent measurement but its the smallest size they offer.  The ChemiPure is the 6.5 oz size bag and PhosGuard was the 100 ml size bag (smallest they sell).  The media set-up seems to be working as all my parameters have been within recommended levels but I've also been performing weekly 20% water changes and siphoning out trouble spots on my sand bed.  I am still having an issue with some diatoms or cyano on my sand bed but its not widespread.  Hoping this is just part of the "uglies" stage of a new tank (only two months old) and will clear up with continued routine maintenance. 

 

I really like the AI Prime HD.  I am still acclimating my corals to the light and increasing the percentages about 2-3% each day.  I began with the blues (UV, V, RB, B ) at about 30% and R, G, CW at 10%. I am currently up to UV - 38%, V - 38%, RB - 45%, B - 45%, G - 23%, R - 23%, CW - 20%.  I think about leaving the R, G, CW where they are (maybe a little higher) because I like the blu-er look.  Probably gonna keep increasing the Blues until they get to 75-80% as long as nothing in my tank reacts negatively to this amount of light.  I currently have this set for a 4-hr ramp period beginning at 9 AM with a 4-HR peak period 1-5 and then 4 HR ramp down ending at 9 PM.  From 9 PM to 11 PM I run the V, RB, B at 1% and then from 5 AM to 9AM I run V, RB, B at 1%.  I've seen a ton of different settings posted on here and on other sites and its hard to tell which is the best. I have just been toying with it and seeing what works best for my tank while slowly increasing the intensity. 

 

Anyways, hope this is helpful. 

[TheBig053]

So I feel like I am late to the party on this one but I just got around to plugging the hole half way up the AIO false wall and all I can say is wow!  Huge difference in the amount of flow coming through the overflow grate. Its night and day. If there are any other EVO 13.5 owners out there that have not done this yet I highly recommend this mod.  Now that I have done this, I cant for the life of me figure out why they put the hole there to begin with. It makes no sense at all.  Fluval fail!

[IVFluid]

35 minutes ago, TheBig053 said:

So I feel like I am late to the party on this one but I just got around to plugging the hole half way up the AIO false wall and all I can say is wow!  Huge difference in the amount of flow coming through the overflow grate. Its night and day. If there are any other EVO 13.5 owners out there that have not done this yet I highly recommend this mod.  Now that I have done this, I cant for the life of me figure out why they put the hole there to begin with. It makes no sense at all.  Fluval fail!

 

How did you plug the hole up? I just got mine starting to cycle, and I am looking for things that I can do to make this little guy run a little bit better while there isn't anything in there. 

[TheBig053]

For now I just stuck some coral mounting putty/epoxy in the hole.  I'm trying to figure out a more permanent solution, but this will work for the time being. I wish I had done this before I added water to the tank. It would have opened up a lot more options for plugging the hole.  Currently looking for an aquarium safe silicone sealant that will set underwater.  

[clownin around]

I used some loctite gel from walmart to seal the hole in the middle chamber after I had fish and corals. Almost any cyanoacrylate based glue should work tho. Did a 20% water change immediately after the gel dried just cause and did not see any negative impacts on my corals/fish. Use your finger on one side to hold seal and fill it with gel. I scraped the excess off before it dried and over time the white-ish glue should turn dark and not be an eyesore.

[TheBig053]

6 hours ago, clownin around said:

I used some loctite gel from walmart to seal the hole in the middle chamber after I had fish and corals. Almost any cyanoacrylate based glue should work tho. Did a 20% water change immediately after the gel dried just cause and did not see any negative impacts on my corals/fish. Use your finger on one side to hold seal and fill it with gel. I scraped the excess off before it dried and over time the white-ish glue should turn dark and not be an eyesore.

Thanks. I had thought of using super glue but figured it would be pretty messy and unsightly. In hindsight, it would probably be better than the purple blob at present. Although the purple blob will hopefully blend in with all the coralline that will soon be growing on the false wall. If that ever happens... hah.

[1891Bro]

On 5/3/2017 at 10:15 PM, clownin around said:

Hey 1891Bro, What ATO do you recommend?

I'm using the tunze nano. I haven't had any issues at all but others have. 

[Toasted678]

TheBig053 - Thanks for your reply!  Very informative for sure.  I'm still goofing around with my lights too.  Messing with the settings is too much fun on the AI Prime.

 

I've read good stuff on the Tunze for ATO.  I have the AutoAqua Smart ATO and that has worked very well for me.  

 

As for the hole in Chamber 2 I put some putty in there as well.  Too bad they didn't make a little rubber plug that fits in there.  Kind of crazy its there at all like your saying. 

[clownin around]

For those of you who have ditched the stock evo led hood and added a gooseneck light, about how much top-off water do you go through each week? I am looking into adding a kessil or ai prime then a 5gal ato reservoir but may bump that up if evaporation is crazy high. I go through about 1gal/2 weeks rn using the stock hood

 with my heater at 76 and room temp around 72.

 

[Toasted678]

clownin around - I have been running no hood with an AI Prime on mine for about 3 weeks now and strictly for top off I think I just went through about a gallon per week of top off.

[TheBig053]

6 minutes ago, Toasted678 said:

clownin around - I have been running no hood with an AI Prime on mine for about 3 weeks now and strictly for top off I think I just went through about a gallon per week of top off.

I'd say I go through roughly a gallon a week for top off as well. I keep the tank at around 79-80 and room temp at 71-72. 

[TheBig053]

Oh yeah, I also upgraded to the actual InTank Media Basket yesterday.  So far it seems to be working well but there is a little water seeping over the edge of the of basket and not making its way through the media.  I think I can resolve this by shaving a little bit of plastic off the corners of the stock surface skimmer being used as the flow director from the overflow.  It definitely fits way better than my DIY basket.  That was a pain to get in and out of the chamber. 

[Toasted678]

Forgot to mention I'm at about 74 degrees and my tanks heater is the same at about 79-80.

 

TheBog053 - I really loved the fit of the InTank basket as well.  

 

Added a little pic of my guy going here too.  Hopefully I'll be done with the cycle this week or next and we can start populating!  

 

 

[clownin around]

Aye I know exactly what you are talking about, I find moving the stock skimmer incrementally up and down helps the stream flow into the basket more a tad, but water still runs down the side between the basket and tank wall. Let me know how that works out!

[TheBig053]

3 minutes ago, clownin around said:

Aye I know exactly what you are talking about, I find moving the stock skimmer incrementally up and down helps the stream flow into the basket more a tad, but water still runs down the side between the basket and tank wall. Let me know how that works out!

I'll have to give moving it a little higher a try this evening and see if that helps.  If not I'll take the Dremmel to it this weekend and sand the edges down just a hair to see if that does that trick.

[TheBig053]

Is everyone running their heater in the 3rd chamber?  If so, what heater are you using?  I had a cobalt 50w easy therm that fit perfectly with the stock pump, but its been crapping out on me. I bought an emergency back up aqueon 50w but it doesnt quite fit with where I keep my water level in the rear chambers. Its in the display at the moment because I dont trust the cobalt to stay on, but I really dont want a heater in the display. 

[clownin around]

I'm digging that scape Toasted, I had two island rocks but recently switched to more of a singular clump and like how that changed the flow in my tank as well.

 

TheBig053-I used my second chamber for an aqueon pro 50w and plan to add my ato there as well, but  if you are using a skimmer in chamber two then maybe look at the cobalt neo-therm, they seem to take up less space bc of their flat shape

[TheBig053]

1 minute ago, clownin around said:

I'm digging that scape Toasted, I had two island rocks but recently switched to more of a singular clump and like how that changed the flow in my tank as well.

 

TheBig053-I used my second chamber for an aqueon pro 50w and plan to add my ato there as well, but  if you are using a skimmer in chamber two then maybe look at the cobalt neo-therm, they seem to take up less space bc of their flat shape

Thanks, I originally went with the cobalt because of its low profile and fit with plenty of space in chamber 3. Unless cobalt is willing to replace the easy therm model I already bought from them, I'd rather not give them any more business.  It was only two-months old!

[Clown79]

I'd contact cobalt regarding the heater issue and possibly the store you purchased it.

 

Heaters should be in a chamber where the water level doesn't change, as there is usually a minimum waterline level for the heater.

 

Temp should be 78-80. 76 is too low.

 

 

[TheBig053]

23 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I'd contact cobalt regarding the heater issue and possibly the store you purchased it.

 

Heaters should be in a chamber where the water level doesn't change, as there is usually a minimum waterline level for the heater.

 

Temp should be 78-80. 76 is too low.

 

 

Purchased off Amazon.  Just submitted a warranty claim/inquiry to Cobalt.  We'll see what they say!

[clownin around]

I used to have my tank at 79 when i started, but about 2-3 months ago I slowwwwwlllllyyyyy (over 3 weeks) dropped the temp down and liked the way my corals responded at 76, but to each his own. There's many things changing in the tank at once so it could very well have been something besides temp affecting my corals but to this day they still look great so i've decided to keep things as stable as possible.

100% on the warranty claim, hope it works out for ya!

[TheBig053]

Well that was easy.  They are sending me a new heater tomorrow.  Hopefully this one will last longer than two-months!

[Clown79]

On 2017-5-15 at 4:14 PM, Toasted678 said:

TheBig053 - I have a very similar setup going on right now to what you have.  What have you liked running in your inTank media basket as far as media-wise?  I saw you wrote the filter floss, purigen, and chemi-pure.  Then added the phosguard later.  I'm about to put mine together and was wondering what to fill it with and how much.  

 

Also what schedule do you have your AI Prime on?  (Probably the coolest light I have ever seen by the way!)

When using phosguard, its best to buy it in the container and add it to your bag of carbon or in a media bag on its own. Small quantities is best with frequwbt testing.

 

Using too much will strip your tank.

85ml is for 50g tanks. So 100ml in a 13.5 is far too much.

 

If being used with chemipure you are now using 2 products that reduce phosphates.

Corals need some nutrients and overkill on phosphate reducers will effect them.

 

 

 

The ai should be acclimated weekly 3-5%. Its a very strong light.

 

Reds and greens are best in lower percentages as red can burn corals. Green really doesn't do much.

 

Blue, royal blue, violet, and uv is important, white is normally lower thsn these.

 

Radion has a great section on their site for lighting schedules