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Fluval Evo 13.5 Owners Thread


Smitten4Witten

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8 hours ago, Friendofish said:

I did a water change in my tank the other day and found a small leak coming out of the bottom right corner. I was going to patch it up with some Gorilla brand silicone I had but I don’t think it’s reef safe. Can I still use it since it’s on the outside of the tank? Is there something else y’all would recommend?

get fish safe silicone and patch it from the inside with the tank empty. silicone on the outside will not actually seal it.

 

2 hours ago, Carson Caulfield said:

Thinking about making the Evo 13.5 my next nano tank. I'm debating on whether to keep the lights that come with it or get a AI Prime 16 HD Light. Any thoughts? I do not plan on having SPS. Just not sure if the Prime Light is worth the $200 when the Evo already has LED's. Thanks!

Prime 16HD is worth every penny. the stock light is pretty weak and will barely keep anything alive. i ran the stock light for almost a year before finally getting the AI Prime 16HD and now my tank actually looks like a nano reef instead of a water box with rocks n a few fish.

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Rastareefer
2 hours ago, Carson Caulfield said:

Thinking about making the Evo 13.5 my next nano tank. I'm debating on whether to keep the lights that come with it or get a AI Prime 16 HD Light. Any thoughts? I do not plan on having SPS. Just not sure if the Prime Light is worth the $200 when the Evo already has LED's. Thanks!

I went through the same dilemma and ultimately I think it comes down to how important your coral growth, health and colouration AS WELL AS visual appearance (for your own enjoyment) are to you. If you’re fine with having a tank where the coral survives perfectly fine but takes a long time to show significant growth and colours aren’t as vivid as you see in photos of more high-end tank setups, then the stock light does a fine job.

 

Corals will still be beautiful under the stock lighting (especially set to blue for fluorescence) but they’ll lack the “wow” factor you get from a prime or any equivalent LED unit. 
 

If I had to try and quantify it, I’d say that adding a prime to my tank doubled my enjoyment and appreciation of my corals and how much I enjoyed the tank in general. It’s by far the most significant addition I’ve made to the system in terms of impact for sure. 
 

In terms of all-round benefits imo lighting is the area you want to focus resources on if you have to prioritise something. 

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findingnemo23
On 7/21/2020 at 9:41 AM, Friendofish said:

I did a water change in my tank the other day and found a small leak coming out of the bottom right corner. I was going to patch it up with some Gorilla brand silicone I had but I don’t think it’s reef safe. Can I still use it since it’s on the outside of the tank? Is there something else y’all would recommend?

How old is your tank? And is the leak like condensation on the glass or does it actually drip and leave a puddle? 

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Friendofish
15 minutes ago, findingnemo23 said:

How old is your tank? And is the leak like condensation on the glass or does it actually drip and leave a puddle? 

I thought it was actually dripping and leaving a puddle but now it doesn’t seem to be leaking at all. So maybe I just jumped the gun thinking there was a leak. Idk. 

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On 7/20/2020 at 6:33 PM, Ash1176 said:

What’s everybody favorite ATO for the Evo? Toying up one of these:

Tunze osmolator 3155 

autoaqua Smart ATO Micro

xp aqua duetto

I’ve been very happy with the XP Aqua Duetto.  Lots of safety features and has worked flawlessly on my tank for a couple years. 

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1 hour ago, Dave J said:

I’ve been very happy with the XP Aqua Duetto.  Lots of safety features and has worked flawlessly on my tank for a couple years. 

Thanks! I ordered the duetto too! Should be here this week... need to find a non expensive container, those $150 ones are just robbery hahaha 

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@Dave J do you mind telling what the dimensions of the pump are? Couldn’t find anything online, just need to know the width to see what kind of opening I need on the RODI container 

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1 hour ago, Ash1176 said:

@Dave J do you mind telling what the dimensions of the pump are? Couldn’t find anything online, just need to know the width to see what kind of opening I need on the RODI container 

It’s tiny.  Mine is is a jug with a 2” diameter opening ( it did take some effort to get it in there though)

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13 minutes ago, Dave J said:

It’s tiny.  Mine is is a jug with a 2” diameter opening ( it did take some effort to get it in there though)

Thanks! Good to know 

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I just started my evo, I have an InTank basket in chamber 1 with carbon filter floss and bio media. Heater stock pump and light. about 12lbs of live rock and some live sand. I am debating whether to add more rock? I will upload a picture soon. Should I leave the lights on or off while cycling? My old tank i did with lights on but reading conflicting things.

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10 minutes ago, Lindz said:

I just started my evo, I have an InTank basket in chamber 1 with carbon filter floss and bio media. Heater stock pump and light. about 12lbs of live rock and some live sand. I am debating whether to add more rock? I will upload a picture soon. Should I leave the lights on or off while cycling? My old tank i did with lights on but reading conflicting things.

I did lights off, it pushes back the algae start. you can then have your tank cycled and then add cuc as the algae shows up

 

I’m regretting not using live rock in my tank, not because it helps speed up the cycle but because it adds good biodiversity that can establish itself during the cycle without predators (fish, shrimps) eating them, i used the Caribsea life rock, which is fine but my tank is too sterile, and I’m finding out that is huge factor for loads of different algae

 

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I shouldn't need to add anything else to start the cycling, the live rock should do it correct? I am just wondering if an actual cycle is going to start because I had live rock from LFS and nutri sea water. My old tank cycled pretty fast but I had ordered live rock on line so I think it helped start the cycle.

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@Lindz 

you will need some ammonia to kick start the cycle, either get some pure ammonia with no scent added from hardware store (shake the bottle if there are no bubbles you’re good to go) or a piece of frozen shrimp, or start feeding the tank some fish food for a few days... the pure ammonia being the most accurate way to dose in my opinion... you want to dose 2-3ppm of ammonia 

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you’re rock might be full of beneficial bacteria, it might also not be enough, but you need some kind of reading to see where your tank is at.

adding ammonia, and testing will show you if your tank is actually processing the ammonia and how quickly.

if your tank is not cycled, adding ammonia will kick start the cycle. if your tank is cycled then the ammonia And nitrites will read zero in 24hrs.

your fish will produce ammonia once you get em in the tank, so adding ammonia to your tank with live rock in it is not going to hurt anything 

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There was a whole thread I read somewhere about not dosing ammonia. Idk lol I am waiting for my test kit so I can test the parameters I used to have a Jbj 24 gallon around 5 years ago.  Stuff went down as it does in salt water. Back in the game again! Here is my tank cycling. I found a bristle worm and removed it because worms are gross.

A4397F2E-4A7F-433B-BDAA-B402729E39AD.jpeg

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There was a whole thread I read somewhere about not dosing ammonia. Idk lol I am waiting for my test kit so I can test the parameters I used to have a Jbj 24 gallon around 5 years ago.  Stuff went down as it does in salt water. Back in the game again! Here is my tank cycling. I found a bristle worm and removed it because worms are gross.

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Sorry about the double post it was an error. I found this on my live rock, it’s tiny but these tentacle things come out and go over the rock? 

3F632776-42F9-49E8-8841-F6F2D3F75CFD.jpeg

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TerraIncognita
On 7/20/2020 at 3:33 PM, Ash1176 said:

What’s everybody favorite ATO for the Evo? Toying up one of these:

Tunze osmolator 3155 

autoaqua Smart ATO Micro

xp aqua duetto

Honestly I'm running this perfectly great for 2 months so far. completely topless, and when I measured I was at about a 16OZ a day evap rate.

 

I have it ATO into the Back Chamber, so it'll do like 3 or 4 pumps, I don't know if that will have a long term effect on the pump, but I don't imagine so. It also makes sure it only turns on for about 3 seconds at a time.

 

I actually got it 2 weeks late as well so they gave an automatic refund. haha 😄 SCORE

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X2HHX1G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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39 minutes ago, Lindz said:

There was a whole thread I read somewhere about not dosing ammonia. Idk lol I am waiting for my test kit so I can test the parameters I used to have a Jbj 24 gallon around 5 years ago.  Stuff went down as it does in salt water. Back in the game again! Here is my tank cycling. I found a bristle worm and removed it because worms are gross.

Once you get your test kit you’ll get some answers 🙂 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello all! Happy to be joining the thread, as I absolutely love this tank so far. Just got the tank cycled and have started adding fish and coral. Going with a softie and LPS tank, don't want a lot of maintenance and a need to buy upgrades. My question is, I've always like the idea of a GSP wall, but not sure how it would work on this tank. Does anyone have any experience with the stock lights and keeping GSP? Should I try a GSP wall or just keep GSP on a piece of rock by itself? Thanks in advance! 

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