Fluval Evo 13.5 Owners Thread

[Smitten4Witten]

Had a fun Saturday crafting a custom canopy to house my new Nanobox small retrofit. Really classes up the look of everything and is quite functional. I am proud of it.

[PshThisGuy]

The tank is 4 months old!  We have problems keeping the water clear, constantly cleaning algae, getting the lighting just right, and micro bubbles from the skimmer flowing into the display. Other than that, we're chugging along. 

 

 

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

6 Month Update

 

[Stoops718]

On 2/25/2018 at 6:23 PM, PshThisGuy said:

Late afternoon on the reef. 

How are you liking the MicMol? I'm seriously considering it for my Nuvo 10.

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

 

[Bribear]

ok EVO 13.5 owners. I have a bit of a dilemma. we bought new Furniture, YAY! now I have to rearrange the living room and possible loose the IKEA Kallax that I have the tank on.  My Question to you all is what type of stand are you using for your tank?  I like the peninsula style and was looking at some chair side end tables and thought I would ask what others are using that support the weight.  

[benjho]

My 13.5 evo, no filter floss, no fish, waiting for 1 fish to add a candy basslet. Cheato algae in middle and left chambers.

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

7 hours ago, benjho said:

My 13.5 evo, no filter floss, no fish, waiting for 1 fish to add a candy basslet. Cheato algae in middle and left chambers.

Great coral, nice and clean!

[benjho]

12 hours ago, ThisPlaceIsAPrison said:

Great coral, nice and clean!

Thanks broski

[Lugmos12]

21 hours ago, benjho said:

My 13.5 evo, no filter floss, no fish, waiting for 1 fish to add a candy basslet. Cheato algae in middle and left chambers.

Wow I love the way this looks

[benjho]

49 minutes ago, Lugmos12 said:

Wow I love the way this looks

Thanks broski!!

[robbie_boy]

Hello Everyone,

I have been looking at replacing the lighting for this tank and was wondering if anyone has attempted to retrofit their own leds in to the same location as the stock lights? I would like to keep the hood on the tank so i don't have to fight evaporation to much.

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:23 AM, robbie_boy said:

Hello Everyone,

I have been looking at replacing the lighting for this tank and was wondering if anyone has attempted to retrofit their own leds in to the same location as the stock lights? I would like to keep the hood on the tank so i don't have to fight evaporation to much.

Just keep your stock lights and hood, it's the way to go :) 

 

[banasophia]

I’m considering this tank for an anemone (bubble tip) and pair of clownfish only... for those of you that have it, what are your thoughts? My LFSs were steering me toward the IM Nuvo instead, but this tank has the perfect dimensions for my space, and I prefer a tank with a canopy. The guys at my two LFSs mentioned concerns with leaking and overheating with this tank. Have you all experienced any of these issues? 

 

I appreciate your input... just doing some preliminary research as my hubby just agreed to another tank last weekend. ☺️

[robbie_boy]

I feel you would be fine with this tank. Leaks and over heating happens in any tank no matter the make or model you just need to know how to combat it if you need to.

If the tank works for you get it. 

I was originally going to get the IM Nuvo as well but to be honest this one at least comes with a LED light that can be used for most corals.

Hope this helps a little bit.

[banasophia]

On 6/2/2018 at 5:28 PM, robbie_boy said:

I feel you would be fine with this tank. Leaks and over heating happens in any tank no matter the make or model you just need to know how to combat it if you need to.

If the tank works for you get it. 

I was originally going to get the IM Nuvo as well but to be honest this one at least comes with a LED light that can be used for most corals.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Thank you!!! Will be looking at them more over the weekend. 🙂

[Lugmos12]

On 6/1/2018 at 10:55 AM, banasophia said:

I’m considering this tank for an anemone (bubble tip) and pair of clownfish only... for those of you that have it, what are your thoughts? My LFSs were steering me toward the IM Nuvo instead, but this tank has the perfect dimensions for my space, and I prefer a tank with a canopy. The guys at my two LFSs mentioned concerns with leaking and overheating with this tank. Have you all experienced any of these issues? 

 

I appreciate your input... just doing some preliminary research as my hubby just agreed to another tank last weekend. ☺️

I've had no leaks with mine. Heating can happen on any tank but I do run mine without the canopy.

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Lugmos12 said:

I've had no leaks with mine. Heating can happen on any tank but I do run mine without the canopy.

Thank you! Love your tank! 

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

Quick update, *change video player settings to play at 1080*

 

 

[ThisPlaceIsAPrison]

July

 

[AccioFishes]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have started a reef tank in a Fluval 13.5 and having a seriously hard time keeping the temperature of the tank down. As soon as i started it up it was in temps over 80. I bought an aquarium cooling fan which i run over the sump and that brought it down a degree. Then in the hot weather is began to climb again. Yesterday i took the whole tank apart and moved my whole desk and aquarium to another room which is a lot cooler than the one it was originally in. It's been running in the new room for a day and even with the fans going it's still over 81! The AC is on in my house and it's 73-74.

 

Everything is stock with an addition of power head. The hood is on an light are on about 12-13 hours a day.

 

Tank has been up since May. I only have crabs, snails and a few hardy corals. I feel like the corals are bleaching because of the temp.

 

Attached are pics of my tank and the fans i have going over the sump.

 

Any way of getting the temperature down? Super frustrated!

 

Thanks!

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, AccioFishes said:

Hi Everyone,

 

I have started a reef tank in a Fluval 13.5 and having a seriously hard time keeping the temperature of the tank down. As soon as i started it up it was in temps over 80. I bought an aquarium cooling fan which i run over the sump and that brought it down a degree. Then in the hot weather is began to climb again. Yesterday i took the whole tank apart and moved my whole desk and aquarium to another room which is a lot cooler than the one it was originally in. It's been running in the new room for a day and even with the fans going it's still over 81! The AC is on in my house and it's 73-74.

 

Everything is stock with an addition of power head. The hood is on an light are on about 12-13 hours a day.

 

Tank has been up since May. I only have crabs, snails and a few hardy corals. I feel like the corals are bleaching because of the temp.

 

Attached are pics of my tank and the fans i have going over the sump.

 

Any way of getting the temperature down? Super frustrated!

 

Thanks!

I think a temp in the low 80s is okay... I’m a newbie myself but I was really worrying about it with my Biocube in the beginning, but based on what I found online it seemed like it’s not a concern unless it’s climbing up much higher than 84. Hopefully some of our veterans will chime in. 

[old_turkey]

just looking for suggestions on cleaning:  I've had my 13.5 for 8-ish months now.  I replaced the stock pump with a Syncra 0.5 a couple months ago (I thought it would offer more flow but it has not seemed to be much of a difference), but otherwise everything else is stock.

 

the water flow looks pretty anemic at this point so I figure I should take out the pump and clean it (I also have the old pump handy so I can clean that first and then swap it out).

 

I'm planning on using a siphon to suck out all the stuff that's settled at the bottom of the back area (there appears to be quite a bit of gunk that spews out every time I restart the pump after water changes/coral feeding).  Are there any other maintenance recommendations while I'm thinking about this?  

[TheBig053]

I clean my sicce 0.5 and vaccum out the rear chambers once a month just during routine maintenance. I take the pump apart and clean off the parts and chambers with a bottle brush and some ro/di water. I used to do both once a week during waterchanges but I ran into issues with my nutrients bottoming out, so I’ve cut back on the cleaning regimen to help get some “dirt” back in the tank.

[EvilFish]

What is the best light for this tank?

 

Thanks