Fluval Evo 13.5 Owners Thread

[smirkis]

On 12/7/2020 at 1:33 PM, Jphillips said:

Hi guys, so I’ve been thinking of diving into the reefing hobby for a few years now and want to start with the fluval evo 13.5 as I love the way it looks. But as my first saltwater tank, smaller water volumes are harder to keep stable than larger ones so was thinking of plumbing a sump into it but have no idea where to start. Has anyone on here plumbed a sump into the fluval evo and could post how they did so? 
 

Thanks. 

as long as you have an ATO, and keep up with water changes, you should be fine. i wouldn't over complicate things by adding a sump to this tank as it isn't necessary. i've had my evo up for a year now and it gets easier the more mature a tank is.

 

if you decide to add one anyway, your overflow device should be in the pump chamber. your pump from the sump should be routed to the spout on the false wall. that way water from the sump goes to the display, it overflows into chamber 1, pushes through chamber 2, then overflows back to your sump. you can keep your heater/ATO/whatever other equipment you have in the sump too.

[lambogriffin]

21 hours ago, smirkis said:

as long as you have an ATO, and keep up with water changes, you should be fine. i wouldn't over complicate things by adding a sump to this tank as it isn't necessary. i've had my evo up for a year now and it gets easier the more mature a tank is.

 

if you decide to add one anyway, your overflow device should be in the pump chamber. your pump from the sump should be routed to the spout on the false wall. that way water from the sump goes to the display, it overflows into chamber 1, pushes through chamber 2, then overflows back to your sump. you can keep your heater/ATO/whatever other equipment you have in the sump too.

+1

[Sealybomb]

So excited 😆 (new to this forum) the wife has let me buy an evo for my Christmas present and I get to go pick it up from my lfs today!! Has only taken 2-3 years of pestering her for a tank.

I have done considerably more research for this than I did for the poor freshwater fish I kept in the 90s 

im hoping everything works as planned. I am in no rush to hurry the processes up and looking forward to the learning curve of this exciting hobby.

Hopefully get to know some of you here and steal some of your knowledge!! 

Current plans....

This nano will be set up in my bedroom. I have 3 cats so that’s one of my biggest concerns at the moment so the lid will be staying on unfortunately.

I will be keeping it virtually stock with possibly upgrading the return pump if it is to loud. I have one question at the moment regarding loudness. Are powerheads silent? 
I am looking at low fish stock of a pair of clowns, gobi, shrimp, cuc. And soft and lps corals.
I will continue to use this site even if it’s for my own keeping diary.

you guys have some great looking tanks I hope I can do something remotely close.

 

 

[lambogriffin]

5 hours ago, Sealybomb said:

So excited 😆 (new to this forum) the wife has let me buy an evo for my Christmas present and I get to go pick it up from my lfs today!! Has only taken 2-3 years of pestering her for a tank.

I have done considerably more research for this than I did for the poor freshwater fish I kept in the 90s 

im hoping everything works as planned. I am in no rush to hurry the processes up and looking forward to the learning curve of this exciting hobby.

Hopefully get to know some of you here and steal some of your knowledge!! 

Current plans....

This nano will be set up in my bedroom. I have 3 cats so that’s one of my biggest concerns at the moment so the lid will be staying on unfortunately.

I will be keeping it virtually stock with possibly upgrading the return pump if it is to loud. I have one question at the moment regarding loudness. Are powerheads silent? 
I am looking at low fish stock of a pair of clowns, gobi, shrimp, cuc. And soft and lps corals.
I will continue to use this site even if it’s for my own keeping diary.

you guys have some great looking tanks I hope I can do something remotely close.

 

 

My Evo just turned a year old, and I actually just got rid of the powerhead.(smallest jebao slw) how noisey it is is a little subjective I think (and in the context of it being in your bedroom, you will likely be more sensitive to it).. it's def not "silent" but it's no louder than the main pump, and the only time I ever noticed it was when snails were cleaning it and their shells clicked on the fan blades lol. I only took it out because I was experimenting to see if my Xenia would start pulsing again if there was less movement.. they haven't.. but my bubble tip nem started leaning the opposite direction, away from my large rock flower anemone.. Thank God cuz the rock flower was really getting beat up. Also, i got the power head to eliminate dead spots and help promote a cleaner sand bed, but since I got a tiger conch, the sand bed is spotless. I just don't think the extra flow is really needed unless you are keeping sps or something.

That stock is fine bioload-wise with good tank maintenance, but clowns have big personalities, and they might be aggressive with each other and the goby(have experienced both). Seems like my clown has pretty much claimed the whole tank, and any other fish have ended up being stressed and hiding. Likewise, a cleaner shrimp also has a big personality(loved it), but I can almost guarantee it will make Coral feeding stressful in the Evo.. mine went ballistic any time food was in the tank, and stole food from inside of my lps and anemones.. I now have 1 clown and one fire shrimp(perfect gentleman compared to cleaner but way less personality), and things are pretty mellow. If you read thru this forum and this thread you will have a good head start on success with this tank 👍

[Sealybomb]

21 minutes ago, lambogriffin said:

My Evo just turned a year old, and I actually just got rid of the powerhead.(smallest jebao slw) how noisey it is is a little subjective I think (and in the context of it being in your bedroom, you will likely be more sensitive to it).. it's def not "silent" but it's no louder than the main pump, and the only time I ever noticed it was when snails were cleaning it and their shells clicked on the fan blades lol. I only took it out because I was experimenting to see if my Xenia would start pulsing again if there was less movement.. they haven't.. but my bubble tip nem started leaning the opposite direction, away from my large rock flower anemone.. Thank God cuz the rock flower was really getting beat up. Also, i got the power head to eliminate dead spots and help promote a cleaner sand bed, but since I got a tiger conch, the sand bed is spotless. I just don't think the extra flow is really needed unless you are keeping sps or something.

That stock is fine bioload-wise with good tank maintenance, but clowns have big personalities, and they might be aggressive with each other and the goby(have experienced both). Seems like my clown has pretty much claimed the whole tank, and any other fish have ended up being stressed and hiding. Likewise, a cleaner shrimp also has a big personality(loved it), but I can almost guarantee it will make Coral feeding stressful in the Evo.. mine went ballistic any time food was in the tank, and stole food from inside of my lps and anemones.. I now have 1 clown and one fire shrimp(perfect gentleman compared to cleaner but way less personality), and things are pretty mellow. If you read thru this forum and this thread you will have a good head start on success with this tank 👍

Awesome response, thank you.

will defo take your experience into how I do things. Not going to buy a power head (and I was planning to get one straight away) until the fishless cycle is complete and only if it looks like I will need one.

I have been doing research, mainly YouTube,  but only signed up to here last night and managed to read around half of this thread but slowly getting through it 😆 so much more info collected here and it all seems genuine compared with some YouTuber just trying to sell a product.

will take my time thinking about the exact livestocking of this set up and defo going to look into the tiger conch (tbh not sure what that even is yet!). I have a lot of learning to do! 

[dazedman00]

Hi all! I just jumped in with the 13.5 after taking a break for a few years. We setup the tank last night with water from the ocean and about 8lbs of live rock. We got a few snails on the rock and my kids were beyond thrilled about them. Lol

 

Does anyone else run a Current USA Orbit Marine LED? Looking to see what you run the lights at and the livestock you choose. Trying to get a better understanding of what this light will support over the stock light. I ordered one on Amazon and it comes today.

 

[Sealybomb]

On 4/20/2020 at 5:53 AM, mipster said:

Joining the club! I just got my hands on a used Evo 13.5. I previously had a 29 gallon bowfront reef that I had converted from a freshwater system that had all the equipment stuffed in the display tank. I had to take down my old tank when I moved from Ottawa to Toronto ON, Canada and said I would set something up when I was able to move to a larger apartment. Well isolation coupled with the reality of the Toronto real estate market have made me throw that thinking out!

 

I just finished scraping the honeycomb off the display area edges as I am not a fan and it was already roughed up from the previous owner and working at getting as much of the superglue off the back wall as I could (previous owner had glued frags or rocks I think). 

 

I've got the Intank basket for chamber one (one of the local reef shops stocks them so that's pretty awesome for Toronto reefers) which will have floss, chemipure blue and purigen I think but I don't have to worry about that until I cycle through. For lighting, I want to see if I can make my old Maxspect Razor 120W unit work. I always liked the look of the light but it has been in storage for a while now and is older tech. We'll have to see how she goes, if I can even mount it over the tank in a way that doesn't look terrible.

 

My goal (other then to have a healthy ecosystem) is to have a sleek, well thought out, organized system. I want to keep cables and lines together and clean looking. 

 

I'm going to start with dry rock and live sand and I think I'm going to give the Red Sea Reef Mature Starter Kit a try. Have anyone given this cycling system a try? One thing I'm not sure about is I'm going to go skimmerless but the instructions specifically say to run a skimmer using this program. I have my old Tunze 9004 so I could toss it in the display while cycling but I'd really rather avoid the hassle and just try to sell the 9004 to get a little extra funds for more fun things lol

 

I'll get a build journal going once I have more then an empty tank to journal about! This is going to be fun!

 

 

How did you get on with the Red Sea reef mature kit without the skimmer? I’m hoping to do this exact startup in a few days from now 😣 shitting myself! 

[dazedman00]

So I opted to return the Orbit Marine light and replaced it with the Orbit IC Pro dual 18-24” lights and Bluetooth controller. I just installed them so I have not even seen them fully running outside on moon lights. Tomorrow will be fun to see the difference. I need to figure out my mounting format. I purchased two of the arms but seems one is enough since they are small lights. Plus I need to wait for my ATO and eflux wave pump before I fully mount everything so I can make sure to do it as clean as possible. 
 

Anyone else running the Orbit IC lights? 
 

The tank 4 days in with new Orbit IC pro lights in moonlight mode.

 

[Sealybomb]

Filled the hole in chamber one and painted the rear glass😎

[Nang Yuan]

Six months....

 

Think I might need to start fragging or upsize..

[dazedman00]

4 hours ago, Sealybomb said:

Filled the hole in chamber one and painted the rear glass😎

That’s a good idea. Lots of space for frags. Don’t forget to plug the little hole on the sump. It bypasses the filter media.

[dazedman00]

1 hour ago, Nang Yuan said:

Six months....

 

Think I might need to start fragging or upsize..

Still pretty! Where are you located? I will gladly come trim your garden. 😉

 

[lambogriffin]

10 hours ago, Nang Yuan said:

Six months....

 

Think I might need to start fragging or upsize..

Man.. I wish my GSP would go weed status like that!

[Sealybomb]

9 hours ago, dazedman00 said:

That’s a good idea. Lots of space for frags. Don’t forget to plug the little hole on the sump. It bypasses the filter media.

I’m a long way off needing frag space 😂 (I put water in today, wet rocks!!)

I have ordered an InTank chamber 1 basket and it says it comes with the plug for chamber 2. Taking its time though cos of Christmas and covid I guess

[lambogriffin]

Threw on the stock light for comparison since I hadn't seen it in a while, figured Evo peeps would appreciate the comparison, especially people considering a new light

[dazedman00]

On 12/19/2020 at 9:39 PM, lambogriffin said:

Threw on the stock light for comparison since I hadn't seen it in a while, figured Evo peeps would appreciate the comparison, especially people considering a new light

Wow, what a difference. I’m loving my Orbit IC Pro lamps. No coral yet. Wife is getting me a gift card for the lfs.

[Sealybomb]

Day 3 using Red Sea reef mature...., those readings are not filling me full of confidence! 
I know this is super early days. There is no livestock and I’m not panicking but I am expecting an algae outbreak very soon 🤣

many tips and advice are welcomed however I will be sticking to the Red Sea mature 21 day plan and after that will see where we are at 🤷‍♂️

[dazedman00]

On 12/19/2020 at 5:50 AM, Nang Yuan said:

Six months....

 

Think I might need to start fragging or upsize..

What is the tree like coral in the middle of gsp on the left?

[lambogriffin]

On 12/27/2020 at 8:02 AM, dazedman00 said:

What is the tree like coral in the middle of gsp on the left?

Gorgonian I believe

[dazedman00]

On 12/31/2020 at 9:31 PM, lambogriffin said:

Gorgonian I believe

Thank you

[Nang Yuan]

6 hours ago, dazedman00 said:

Thank you

Apologies - I replied to this on my phone a while ago, but it didn't load.

Pink Gorgonian - yes 🙂

[Cdav929]

 

Hello, new member here who is 7 days into a cycle of an evo 13.5.

came home from work today and saw that the water level in the main display tank area was touching the netted plexiglass top I have for it.

what could cause the water to rise in this area? Does return pump strength dictate display water level? 
i upgraded to a sicce silent 1.0 but it’s been running for a week with no problems so far 

in sump I have 

in tank media baskets 1 &2

in 1 I have black sponge, filter floss and carbon

in 2nd basket I filled completely with bagged media - bio home and marine pure gems including space below where basket sits

 

thank you for any help! Hopefully I posted this in the correct spot

[Dave J]

2 hours ago, Cdav929 said:

 

Hello, new member here who is 7 days into a cycle of an evo 13.5.

came home from work today and saw that the water level in the main display tank area was touching the netted plexiglass top I have for it.

what could cause the water to rise in this area? Does return pump strength dictate display water level? 
i upgraded to a sicce silent 1.0 but it’s been running for a week with no problems so far 

in sump I have 

in tank media baskets 1 &2

in 1 I have black sponge, filter floss and carbon

in 2nd basket I filled completely with bagged media - bio home and marine pure gems including space below where basket sits

 

thank you for any help! Hopefully I posted this in the correct spot

I would guess that your filter floss is starting to clog up and restricting the flow back into the return chamber.

 

[Dave J]

New Evo Tank project. 

 

After not stocking Evo tanks forever, Petco is finally back in the game and had them on sale before just Christmas - plus there was a 25% off BOPUS discount which brought the price down to $101.00.  I just couldn't resist so I grabbed one and started a new project.

 

Here's what I've done so far:

- Removed the plastic pedestal base

- Removed the honeycomb around the top

- Upgraded pump to IM MightJet 326 DC pump

- (removed the small lower wall between chambers 2 and 3 so it would fit)

- VCA Random Flow Generator Nozzle and Loc-Line 

- DIY egg crate media basket for chamber 1 (planning to order an InTank basket)

- XP Aqua Duetto ATO

- Inkbird Heater Controller

- AI Prime HD 13 LED

- Leftover dry rock from other builds

 

 

[chvvkumar]

Hello, I thought I would share my DIY hood for the Fluval Evo.

The reason I made this is to control the light spill from the AI Prime 16HD that was illuminating my living room and was pretty distracting while watching television.

The materials I used were:

4 x 20x30 black foam board from Michael's
12 x 2" Plastic 'L' brackets
and the dollar store glue we all use to attach frag plugs to rock work for gluing these together.