Kind of a PSA - Fluval Evo 13.5

[Reefing102]

Alright, so I’ve been discussing this on another forum and figured I’d bring it up here too.

The Fluval Evo 13.5 AIO chamber is poorly designed.

My reasoning for this is the intake chamber does not flow over and into the middle chamber, rather it has a set of vents in the baffle. The lower-most vent just about lines up with the inlet to the return pump chamber.

The diagram below shows the optional skimmer in the first chamber and the heater in the third chamber, however it does not appear to matter which chamber the heater is in as the water level drops evenly across all three chambers.

What I have found with mine is this results in an even evaporation across all three chambers. If you don’t have an ATO or regularly top up, any heater you use may get exposed to air potentially causing catastrophic heater

Now this has not happened to my tank but just a friendly reminder to either have an ATO handy or do regular top offs.

Here’s what I am talking about:

 

[Spare time]

Yeah I just recommend no skimmer and the heater in the first chamber.

 

[Allenh427]

Another tip is to pull the black sponge up enough so that the very bottom vent in your red circles is free for blockage from the sponge. That will prevent the pump chamber from dropping water level from the sponge being backed up.

 

[SandNRocks]

I use an inTank media basket in the first chamber. It helps direct the water down to the bottom. Heaters in the middle chamber and return and ato in the 3rd chamber. Ato is a skemix water bottle ato. Costs $10 on amazon and i get roughly a week out of it. Never had any issues running it this way but the media basket makes a big difference with this tank.

 

[Reefing102]

I don’t run any filter media. Heater in chamber 1. Empty chamber 2 and just return pump chamber 3.

 

[dbrown2120]

I’m a newbie so I don’t understand how this is possible? Do you just have such a strong bio filter in your rock that is handles it? No mechanical for particles?

I don’t run any filter media. Heater in chamber 1. Empty chamber 2 and just return pump chamber 3.

 

[Reefing102]

I’m a newbie so I don’t understand how this is possible? Do you just have such a strong bio filter in your rock that is handles it? No mechanical for particles?

I just do regular water changes. The tank itself has about 15lbs or so of live rock (rock was transferred from my other tanks). I’ve found sponges and similar just too messy to want to deal with. If the need arises I can toss a bag of carbon in but yea, I just let my tank handle it.

Same on my 65. I have a sump but it’s just extra water volume with a fuge section. I don’t run socks (except during a water change), I don’t run carbon, skimmer, reactors, filter rollers, algae turf scrubbers, none of it. Generally water changes remove what I need removed.

 

[SlasherZ]

I've got my filter media in the first chamber, skimmer in second, and heater/return in third.

I noticed the risk for this early on and swapped my heater for a compact little guy and pushed it all the way down. Chamber needs to be basically empty for the heater to be exposed, and at that point I've prob got other issues.