Fluval Evo 13.5 Owners Thread

[NaturallyKait]

1 hour ago, TheKingInYellow said:

This looks like a decent size tank for QT.  How is it for evaporation?

With the stock lid I had basically zero evap, but it was way too hot in there. With a mesh lid a 4 litre jug of water lasts a little over a week. 

[Elephant999]

20 hours ago, Nano Rob said:

@Elephant999 it depends on your filtration, stocking and feeding. I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks but I have one fish and the tank is matured and I have a ton of coral.  I still believe you can’t go wrong with a 10% water change once a week. 🙂

 

[Elephant999]

Sorry replied to Nanorob but forgot to add text.  Was going to say, lovely looking tank. 

[MHNano]

I need to get a journal going but had a successful evo V then built a 75 with 20g sump but got out for a bit when my youngest was born. I wanted back in with an AIO but more room than the V. I'll be sticking with the stock light since the plan is a Duncan / acan tank but I had the same issue with heat. Found 2 5v fans that were for a Pi project I never got to and they fit great in the feeding opening and can splice into a USB cord since they're 5v. I'm tinkering with running one or two but my indoor temps are 80f+ since it's upstairs. One had been able to keep up so far. 

[Nano Rob]

@Elephant999 thanks for the compliment, I’m still making some minor adjustments slowly over time. The lights are going to be upgraded soon, I have been researching the hydra 26hd. 

[Elephant999]

Yes, I originally was going to keep the stock light but I find the hood annoying so thinking of an AI Prime HD.  

[popek]

How do you guys clean out the back chambers ? i have some residues and sand in the bottom of back chambers and my gravel vacuum does not pull them out.

 

[Garf]

I just use my water change tube vacuum and get what I can out of there. I have slipped the larger gravel tube off once to get the bottom of the middle chamber a bit cleaner. 

[Garf]

@MHNano, I was planning something similar, but in the skimmer cutout area. So far, with 4 truelumen strips at 36w and ambient room temp 76 or below, I havn't needed any cooling. 

[MHNano]

@Garf I was thinking about that as a more permanent solution so I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I think I measured and 60mm would fit well. 

 

I'm not surprised that ambient temps have as quick an impact on smaller water volumes but I may try to sneak a second fan in somewhere for redundancy. 

[Garf]

1 hour ago, MHNano said:

@Garf I was thinking about that as a more permanent solution so I'll be interested to see how it turns out. I think I measured and 60mm would fit well. 

 

I'm not surprised that ambient temps have as quick an impact on smaller water volumes but I may try to sneak a second fan in somewhere for redundancy. 

Ya, not so sure how permanent these will be running in a salt water environment. I was thinking of using the skimmer cutout as a template, and rigging a piece to support a single fan. A couple of mounting holes, two screws, and easy swapout and replacement. Hooked up to my cooling channel on my temp controller with a USB plug. 

[Mike P]

 

Today I finished taking my evo 12 down and switching it all over to a reefer 170.

 

Here is what the evo looked like

 

Reefer 170

[Elephant999]

Lovely.  Funnily enough I fancy the Reefer 170 as my next tank, after I have served my apprenticeship with the Evo.

 

 

[Mike P]

1 hour ago, Elephant999 said:

Lovely.  Funnily enough I fancy the Reefer 170 as my next tank, after I have served my apprenticeship with the Evo.

 

 

I’m noticing a trend of going to the reefer 170 from the evo 😎

[Elephant999]

Both tanks IMHO are great, clean looking tanks, which is high on my list of essentials.

[afcajax73]

I really like the reefer 170, if the mrs would have a bigger tank I’d have had one by now. Only thing I think is, would I go bigger to save me swapping again in a few years! But then again... you can always go bigger no matter what you have right?? 

[falcooo]

For those of you who have a Current USA Orbit Marine light over your Fluval, what are your light settings? I’ve landed on 100% blue and 50% white, based on what I like the look of best. But would it be beneficial to run more/less white?

[Nano Rob]

@falcooo I run mine blue 90% whites 30% red 15% green 15% 

   In the beginning the blues were 75% ,whites were running at 50%, but everything in the tank seems bleached out, I made some adjustments, over time the colors and the growth really improved. Also my lights are resting on the rim of the tank.  

[Reefing009]

Got a Fluval Evo 13.5 for $100USD when it’s on sale. Immediately upgrade most of the equipments since I will be keeping corals in the near future. I had a 65G SPS reef tank for 5+ years before and call it quits last year since I don’t have time anymore and the tank was neglected. I got the itch again and decided to get back in with a nano reef since it’s smaller and doesn’t take long for maintenance.

This time around I’m automating as much of the tank as possible to prevent making it feel like a chore. 

Equipments:

- Hipargero LED 60W on a mechanical timer.

- Stock return pump, although I have a cobalt maxi jet 1200 that I could use but for now the stock pump is sufficient.

- Aqamai KPS

- Intank chamber 1 media basket

- 100 watts cobalt heater

- Eheim automatic fish feeder

- Autoaqua nano ATO

- Dry rock with some live rock rubbles

- 20lbs live sand

 

Tank has been up for 2 weeks. Live stocks includes 2 oscellaris clownfish, 2 blue legged hermit crabs, a few pulsing xenia (eventually have to pull them because these will grow like weeds but I like the pulsing action). Will add more fish/ corals as tank matures.

 

 

[Nano Rob]

@Reefing009 nice set up.😁👍

[Elephant999]

On 8/12/2019 at 2:22 AM, Mike P said:

 

Today I finished taking my evo 12 down and switching it all over to a reefer 170.

 

Here is what the evo looked like

 

Reefer 170

What is this coral?

[Mike P]

5 hours ago, Elephant999 said:

What is this coral?

That’s a blue Cespitularia I got from live aquaria it’s grown a lot since I got it

[Elephant999]

Gorgeous looking coral, thanks.

[olig]

hello all fellow fluvial 13.5 owners, I'm sorry if this has been asked on here before but I couldn't see anything when I tried searching. 

What do you dose and how often? 

I've been running my tank with just water changes to replace elements and its worked ok, but I have just got my first SPS frag instead of just having LPS and it started me questioning if that is enough so I thought I'd see what other people are doing. 

Thanks

 

[Garf]

@oleg - It depends on your tank, how many corals, how established it is. You will have to monitor alk and calcium consumption and calculate a dosage to dial in the correct amount for your tank. You never want to dose without knowing if your tank is consuming it.  My advice is to never assume, it can sneak up on you. Within a couple weeks, I went from a steady 8.4 down to 7, it sneaked up on my. if you watch the corals, you will see the growth and know when they are consuming more.

 

To answer your question, I dose Tropic Marin All For Reef. About 2.2ml a day keeps my tank in a range where I can keep it between 8 and 8.4, with my Fritz water mixing at 8.4 or a bit lower. All LPS tank.