Fluval Evo 5 stock lighting

[JasonK84]

Is the stock lighting going to be good enough long term? I picked up a wall frogspawn coral this past Monday and here’s some picks from a few minutes ago.

I’ve already ordered a Par 38 23 watt tuna blue bulb that’ll be here in a few days but it seams to be doing really good this evening with the stock light. I’ve been feeding coral frenzy every other day and about a 4 gallon water change each week (today was the water change just about an hour or 2 before the pics).

Thoughts on other lighting options that look good on these little tanks.

 

[Sosuke]

I use a kessil a80 on mine

 

[JasonK84]

I use a kessil a80 on mine

Do you have any pics?

 

[Sosuke]

let me check

 

[Sosuke]

sorry not atm I can get pics tomorrow

 

[JasonK84]

sorry not atm I can get pics tomorrow

Just interested in how you mounted and what you keep in it. I took off the stock plastic lid because there was way to much evaporation and had a solid piece of glass cut to cover the entire tank section. Only thing open is the back compartments. My heater is at the very bottom of chamber 1 under the media basket and the pump is an MJ606.

 

[Sosuke]

I used the gooseneck mount on the right of the place you mount the stock one

 

[BobbyOtto]

Yes that light will be enough to keep that piece. I use one of those evo 13.5s to house a bunch of softies and LPS they all do fine and grow. Color is to be desired though. I also use the fluval nano light and it keeps the same stuff just fine.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I kept the stock light and my tank is doing great. Honestly depends on what you want to keep as its not a high powered light. Soft coral growth is fantastic and my small amount of LPS (Duncan, Acan, Trumpet) are doing very well.

 

[JasonK84]

I kept the stock light and my tank is doing great. Honestly depends on what you want to keep as its not a high powered light. Soft coral growth is fantastic and my small amount of LPS (Duncan, Acan, Trumpet) are doing very well.

Good to know. I’ll see how the par38 bulb looks and decide if I want to keep it or the original light. I hate that I have to pull the stock light off when I need to do any maintenance.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Good to know. I’ll see how the par38 bulb looks and decide if I want to keep it or the original light. I hate that I have to pull the stock light off when I need to do any maintenance.

See I must be the only person who likes the hood! I have a par38 on my Pico jar and placed it over my evo for a few days just for kicks. I don’t think you would get the light penetration or spread but give it a shot

 

[JasonK84]

Got the Par38 bulb yesterday. Mounted it with an Exo-Terra terrarium fixture I had from a previous dart frog enclosure. I think I’ll order another and get rid of the stock light completely. Light fixture is about $15 on Amazon or EBay. Very easy to adjust the height of the fixture and mounts with double sided tape to the back of the tank. It also swivels out of the way for maintenance.

A few pics of the light in different positions.

 

[ctopherl]

Just interested in how you mounted and what you keep in it. I took off the stock plastic lid because there was way to much evaporation and had a solid piece of glass cut to cover the entire tank section. Only thing open is the back compartments. My heater is at the very bottom of chamber 1 under the media basket and the pump is an MJ606.

How did you get the glass cut and get it to sit on the tank properly? Limiting evaporation sounds nice :-)

 

[Thjhiggins]

I use a kessil a80 on mine

can you keep the lid? [email address removed by moderator]

 

[Thjhiggins]

I have an evo 5, only because my Tom Deco 3 Gallon tank was ruined (severe scale) by seachem buffer 8.3 which I used properly (mixed in freshwater, shook, let sit for 6hrs, shook and slowly poured over the filter. It covered my entire Tom deco kit with white chalk scale as hard as a rock. brushes, toothbrush etc do nothing and a scraper just eats up and destroys the plastic. I have searched for a new one but they are discontinued, I was told the fluval marine nano light which I had on my Tom Deco 3 would work but it only lights up half the tank. The stock light gives me zero options and is not a coral light. Any suggestions without removing the kid would be of great help. I try to leave me email address here but it's always deleted and I can never find my post or answers to of you can be of any help to either problem contact thjhiggin1 at Gmail. thanks and I will try to find this post again