Fluval Evo 5 Owners Thread

[Pinballguy]

Ok good intel. I am going to try to run the stock lights for now - we shall see how it does. I'm going to go extremely slowly with this set-up. Might do corals for a while before I introduce any fish. Am thinking only a small goby or blenny, and then one damselfish.

 

I'm also debating live rock vs. dry. I did live rock when I had a RedSea Max a number of years ago, but I had so many hitchhikers. I'm thinking going with dry rock and using a baceteria supplement to cycle.

[ReefTaco]

On 4/9/2022 at 2:18 PM, Pinballguy said:

Ok good intel. I am going to try to run the stock lights for now - we shall see how it does. I'm going to go extremely slowly with this set-up. Might do corals for a while before I introduce any fish. Am thinking only a small goby or blenny, and then one damselfish.

 

I'm also debating live rock vs. dry. I did live rock when I had a RedSea Max a number of years ago, but I had so many hitchhikers. I'm thinking going with dry rock and using a baceteria supplement to cycle.

hey there, i would recommend going dry rock for now. get some cultured bacteria(i like instant ocean biospira) the main thing you need to figure out with these tanks is maintaining proper temp, since they are so small, temp swings can happen fast. once you can get the temps in check and the tank is cycled you can get some live stock. i have a recent build thread if you wanna get ideas. its a fun little pico. happy reefing 🙂

[shredder56]

 

I upgraded my pump to ViaAqua VA-302 Submersible Economy Water Pump -160GPH. 

 https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K2L7C8F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's a real tight fit. Took the back cover off of the pump (where the power cord exits). Seems to fit better with the cord in the back of the tank rather than facing the water side. Also nipped the plastic around the cord and also ran the power cord down and out through the media chamber. I was worried about getting it out of the chamber by pulling only on the cord and the pump getting wedged. I wrapped a long wire-tie around it. I can grab the end and pull it right out. As for the light, I have mine on a time so it's all or nothing 8 hours per day.

[xreaper93]

Hi evo 5 owners. Just picked up an ai prime HD (not 16) and was wondering what you all run for light schedules.

[Pinballguy]

On 4/22/2022 at 7:44 AM, xreaper93 said:

Hi evo 5 owners. Just picked up an ai prime HD (not 16) and was wondering what you all run for light schedules.

Following.

[xreaper93]

Corals look so good under the prime compared to stock lighting! 

[Pinballguy]

Sweet! I've upgrade to the Current USA Orbit Marine lighting and they are beautiful compared to the stock lighting. I need to start a tank thread and probably will as soon as I get all my equipment and start cycling. I added a great ATO system, upgraded the lighting, added a nice compact heater to the sump, added an InTank media basket, and am getting a Tunze nano wave-jet/powerhead tomorrow via Amazon. I also just got my digital thermometer yesterday. I'm going with the Marco Dry Rock and regular Aragonite and will use a bacteria product to get my cycle going/done. That should begin fairly soon now. 

[FarrahxX]

I don’t know if I’m posting right in here. I have looked everywhere and I was pointed here. How does the filter work on this all in one. I have the sponge with the carbon and the media but I’m so confused. This is my very first tank and it was sold to me very cheap with zero instructions. Please help 😅

[xreaper93]

On 5/20/2022 at 8:37 PM, FarrahxX said:

I don’t know if I’m posting right in here. I have looked everywhere and I was pointed here. How does the filter work on this all in one. I have the sponge with the carbon and the media but I’m so confused. This is my very first tank and it was sold to me very cheap with zero instructions. Please help 😅

So the stock evo filtration has 3 parts. First is the sponge filter which is the mechanical filtration, the bag of carbon is chemical filtration to take out anything impurities in the water and then you have the ceramic media which is for biological filtration allowing beneficial bacteria to grow. Many opt to switch to baskets because the sponge filter tends to just be a place for waste to decay and cause nutrient. I personally use the intank media basket with filter floss, carbon, and the biological media from the stock setup. 

[shredder56]

If you are cheap like me, DIY it. A couple small acrylic sheets from a big box store and some acrylic glue. Measure twice, cut once, make it square.

[Pinballguy]

HI everyone, a question about my tank cycle. I am about a month into my cycle. I'm using dry Marco Rock and dry sand (plain aragonite), and I'm using the Micro-Bacter start kit that has the ammonia, the nitrifying bacteria, and then (for once the tank cycles), the micro-bacter clean to help with the ugly stage.

 

Ammonia started at 2 PPM since that's what the product does when you put it in, and over time it's come down to basically zero. My Nitrites, however, have spiked at 5 PPM and are still somewhere between 5 and 2 PPM after nearly four weeks. The value of using the "fast" product aside (feels like I could have just done the shrimp method and saved money if i'd known it was going to take this long), how long does it / should take for Nitrites to come down to zero? I am trying to be patient, but as another week rolls by and it hasn't really changed, it's getting more difficult. Thoughts?

[shredder56]

I'm at the 10 month point and trying something new so tell me what you think. I have a wifi timer hooked up to my pump. I have it on 60 minutes and off 30 all day. Yes, the math doesn't quite work for 24 hours so it stays on a bit longer at the end. Anyhow, after a week nothing appears worse and the Duncan and Cloves seem a bit better. My little filefish also seems to like the quiet water occasionally. So what do you all think?

[banasophia]

On 10/31/2022 at 5:05 PM, shredder56 said:

I'm at the 10 month point and trying something new so tell me what you think. I have a wifi timer hooked up to my pump. I have it on 60 minutes and off 30 all day. Yes, the math doesn't quite work for 24 hours so it stays on a bit longer at the end. Anyhow, after a week nothing appears worse and the Duncan and Cloves seem a bit better. My little filefish also seems to like the quiet water occasionally. So what do you all think?

Hmm that’s interesting… I haven’t heard of anyone doing that before… how’s it working after a couple of weeks? 

[xreaper93]

On 10/31/2022 at 8:05 PM, shredder56 said:

I'm at the 10 month point and trying something new so tell me what you think. I have a wifi timer hooked up to my pump. I have it on 60 minutes and off 30 all day. Yes, the math doesn't quite work for 24 hours so it stays on a bit longer at the end. Anyhow, after a week nothing appears worse and the Duncan and Cloves seem a bit better. My little filefish also seems to like the quiet water occasionally. So what do you all think?

What's the reasoning behind having it off and on?

[shredder56]

Wavemaker pumps got me to thinking that varying the flow is beneficial so I thought that a little off and mostly on might work. So two weeks in. I was a bit concerned since the heater and heater control are in the chamber but no effect. I had to tweak the timing of my ATO so it came on when the pump was running but other than that, no system issues. The brittle starfish and pep shrimp come out to explore when the pump is off. Two of the three RFA's never looked better; everything seems happy. The Duncan seems much happier. All is well. I suppose one could get the same results for the coral by fine tuning the locations, but with 5g (and my crappy rockscape) the options are limited. Your mileage may vary.

 

Sort of an FTS. 

[DickTest]

Hi Reefers,

This is my first post. I have a  Fluval spec 19l/5galon (freshwater) that I plan to convert to salt. I know I need a better light as I am planning to have some starter coral, cleaner shrimp/hermit crabs and a pair of clowns. Just looking for any advice or suggestions that I have not thought of yet.

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, DickTest said:

Hi Reefers,

This is my first post. I have a  Fluval spec 19l/5galon (freshwater) that I plan to convert to salt. I know I need a better light as I am planning to have some starter coral, cleaner shrimp/hermit crabs and a pair of clowns. Just looking for any advice or suggestions that I have not thought of yet.

Hi, welcome to nano-reef! 
 

I have an Evo 5 and I love it. You could try a clownfish pair, but the tank will probably become too small for them pretty quickly as they grow and become more territorial, so you might consider different fish. I have one clownfish in my Evo  5 right now that gets hosted by a coral so it’s pretty happy in a smaller space since it’s in the coral all the time, but usually they swim around and need more room. 
 

A yellow clown goby is a really nice nano fish and there are others we can suggest if you are open to suggestions and not totally set on a clownfish pair. 🤗 

[DickTest]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Hi, welcome to nano-reef! 
 

I have an Evo 5 and I love it. You could try a clownfish pair, but the tank will probably become too small for them pretty quickly as they grow and become more territorial, so you might consider different fish. I have one clownfish in my Evo  5 right now that gets hosted by a coral so it’s pretty happy in a smaller space since it’s in the coral all the time, but usually they swim around and need more room. 
 

A yellow clown goby is a really nice nano fish and there are others we can suggest if you are open to suggestions and not totally set on a clownfish pair. 🤗 

Yes, I realise the tank would be too small and they would need to move as they got bigger - Just as my start into salt I thought the smaller tank would be good idea. I plan on getting a bigger tank later (when I have the space and money) I really like the clown fish and they are very hardy fish so I thought it’s a good start - I’m sure I’ll look at other fish/anemone as I get more confident. I am happy to take on suggestion.
Currently looking at;
Green star polyp - (I know they grow fast)
Kenya tree
Pulsing Xenia
and a bunch of Zoa's

I believe they don’t require too much light and flow - and if they struggle I can always buy a wavemaker and better lights.

[banasophia]

5 hours ago, DickTest said:

Yes, I realise the tank would be too small and they would need to move as they got bigger - Just as my start into salt I thought the smaller tank would be good idea. I plan on getting a bigger tank later (when I have the space and money) I really like the clown fish and they are very hardy fish so I thought it’s a good start - I’m sure I’ll look at other fish/anemone as I get more confident. I am happy to take on suggestion.
Currently looking at;
Green star polyp - (I know they grow fast)
Kenya tree
Pulsing Xenia
and a bunch of Zoa's

I believe they don’t require too much light and flow - and if they struggle I can always buy a wavemaker and better lights.

Sounds good, just be sure to read up on palytoxin… I personally do not keep zoas or palys because I don’t want to worry about it. 
 

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/palytoxin-in-the-marine-aquarium/

[DickTest]

30 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Sounds good, just be sure to read up on palytoxin… I personally do not keep zoas or palys because I don’t want to worry about it. 
 

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/palytoxin-in-the-marine-aquarium/

Right, another reason to do your research, to be fair any coral and specifically anemone I would wear gloves, they have stinging arms so you don't want to handle them with bare skin.

[banasophia]

10 hours ago, DickTest said:

Right, another reason to do your research, to be fair any coral and specifically anemone I would wear gloves, they have stinging arms so you don't want to handle them with bare skin.

True… I don’t wear gloves though when handling anything else. 

[Aaronjg]

Hey… can anyone share their lighting schedule for optimal health and growth for coral and fish. 

[kcbend]

Hello, thanks for adding me to your site. LOL, after posting this i see that quite a few of questions have been answered in previous posts, but I think a couple are still needing clarification. 
Hopefully I’m not asking too much, but, can I get everyone’s opinions on what you would use to a new nano tank together? I just posted this on reef2reef as well to see if I get more specific info for this exact tank. I’ve tried to do searches for some of the return pumps people are using, but they all seem to turn into dead ends. Also, if anyone has direct links to equipment it would be great. 
I’m starting a fluval evo V tank and I’m basically new to marine tanks. I’ve had freshwater tanks for most of my life but only one marine tank(25yrs ago). I have the fluval evoV tank I just designed and 3D printed a media basket and I’d love to get recommendations on everything else that I’ll need. Like, are there better types of sand? Should I get live rock or rock that is dried out to minimize hitchhikers that can pose problems from entering the tank, are there better return pumps than the stock one,I’d like to be able to run the power cord up through the same chamber in case I need to clean or replace it easily.  Do I need a protein skimmer(and is there a really small one that works), is there a really small wave maker that won’t overwhelm the small tank, when cycling should I add a fish as well as copepods and phytoplankton, and with all of the options out there is there an inexpensive light I can use with corals, anemones(opinions welcome on if I should put one in the tank as well) and a fish or two(I’d like small clownfish). Also, what is Cheeto? And what is a refugium for? Thank you all for any help/info with building this tank.

[Adam18]

I’m getting a Fluval 5g and was wondering if the stock light and pump is good for softies and lps? I’m going to get a wave maker but is it still good?