Show off your Fluval Evo 13.5!

EagleEye121 · Jul 4, 2020

Hey all,

I’ve been seeing more and more build threads for this tank pop up lately, all which gave me some inspiration for my tank. And since it’s such an inviting AIO for new hobbyists, why not get a thread going to show all of them off?

I’ll start. Set up in March, mixed reef running on kessil A80 tuna blue at ~90% intensity.
2 clowns, 1 yellowtail damsel, various CUC

Servopkg · Jul 4, 2020

EagleEye121 said:
Hey all,

I’ve been seeing more and more build threads for this tank pop up lately, all which gave me some inspiration for my tank. And since it’s such an inviting AIO for new hobbyists, why not get a thread going to show all of them off?

I’ll start. Set up in March, mixed reef running on kessil A80 tuna blue at ~90% intensity.
2 clowns, 1 yellowtail damsel, various CUC

Mine started in Feb. Four fish, assorted BTA, zoas, softies and LPS. Ditched bio filtration for intank media basket in chamber 1, AI prime HD and various CoC. Fun tank to learn on. I made mistakes and adjusted.

FriendoFish · Jul 4, 2020

EagleEye121 said:
Hey all,

I’ve been seeing more and more build threads for this tank pop up lately, all which gave me some inspiration for my tank. And since it’s such an inviting AIO for new hobbyists, why not get a thread going to show all of them off?

I’ll start. Set up in March, mixed reef running on kessil A80 tuna blue at ~90% intensity.
2 clowns, 1 yellowtail damsel, various CUC

Wow! I love your aquascape!!!

This is mine.

I have a firefish and some snails and hermit crabs. I just upgraded the pump to a Sicce 1.0 and I’m in the process of upgrading the lights by adding some Truelumen actinic lights to the top (they are just taking FOREVER to get here). I also have an inTank media basket in chamber 1 and I haven’t really decided what to do with chamber 2 yet (I’m thinking of turning it into a refugium???)

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

Servopkg said:
Mine started in Feb. Four fish, assorted BTA, zoas, softies and LPS. Ditched bio filtration for intank media basket in chamber 1, AI prime HD and various CoC. Fun tank to learn on. I made mistakes and adjusted.

Let’s see some pics!

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

FriendoFish said:
Wow! I love your aquascape!!!

This is mine.

I have a firefish and some snails and hermit crabs. I just upgraded the pump to a Sicce 1.0 and I’m in the process of upgrading the lights by adding some Truelumen actinic lights to the top (they are just taking FOREVER to get here). I also have an inTank media basket in chamber 1 and I haven’t really decided what to do with chamber 2 yet (I’m thinking of turning it into a refugium???)

Looks good! I might turn chamber 2 into a fuge eventually. Water changes and dosing MB7 are doing a good job of nutrient control so I’ll stick with that as long as it keeps working

I wasn’t planning on upgrading lighting but I found a great deal on the kessil that I couldn’t pass up. The actinic light will definitely make the corals brighten up!

Angelwolf21203 · Jul 5, 2020

If I were to start one of these tanks, I really think I would try to keep seahorses in it.

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

Not a bad idea. I think the stock return pump would be the perfect amount of flow for them

ZipAdeeZoa · Jul 5, 2020

I started my Evo December 2018 sort following the BRS/WWC method for a softy/LPS tank and upgraded pretty much everything.

Light: AI Prime
Return: Sicce 0.5
Heater: Cobalt neotherm 50 watt
Controller: Neptune Apex junior
ATO: neptune atk
Powerhead: Ecotech mp10 + battery backup
Rock: Caribsea life rock
Livestock: I had a plectranthias inermis but after he passed I decided to go invert only (much more relaxing) so the current stock list is 1 dwarf blue leg, 1 scarlet, 1 pom pom crab, 1 porcelain crab and 1 fire shrimp.

Coral: Utter chaos, Purple monsters, Sunny D's Mandarin oranges, WWC illumanti's, Green Nepthea, Duncan and 3 different blastomussa. In QT right now I have a teal hammer, long tentacle japanese toadstool, Palythoa grandis and a Pipe organ thats been through the ringer but starting to comeback now. I only got the first round of corals into the tank a few weeks ago (although they were in QT for 7-8 months). Hair algae has been pretty much cleaned up since this photo, will have to get new ones when I get home.

najer · Jul 5, 2020

What you see is the filtration, there is live rock, Eheim 600 and a sicce 1000 in the display.

ZipAdeeZoa · Jul 5, 2020

najer said:
What you see is the filtration, there is live rock, Eheim 600 and a sicce 1000 in the display.

I've seen that tank of yours but I never knew it was an evo!

najer · Jul 5, 2020

ZipAdeeZoa said:
I've seen that tank of yours but I never knew it was an evo!

Lots of ways to run an evo!

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

@ZipAdeeZoa I thought about going only coral but couldn’t resist clowns after being out of the hobby for so long. Nice looking tank!

@najer unique! Any fish?

najer · Jul 5, 2020

EagleEye121 said:
@najer unique! Any fish?

Two spot blenny and a tiny green spotted dragonet.

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

najer said:
Two spot blenny and a tiny green spotted dragonet.

You must have a huge pod population. I bet the dragonet goes crazy!

najer · Jul 5, 2020

EagleEye121 said:
You must have a huge pod population. I bet the dragonet goes crazy!

This is tank 4 or 5 due mainly to tanks leaking that still got seeded from my original sandbed and rocks, a 55 litre aio was my first tank 10 years ago or so, you should see how wide the one in the big tank is!

EagleEye121 · Jul 5, 2020

Geez I can imagine. Let’s see it!

Servopkg · Jul 6, 2020

EagleEye121 said:
Looks good! I might turn chamber 2 into a fuge eventually. Water changes and dosing MB7 are doing a good job of nutrient control so I’ll stick with that as long as it keeps working

I wasn’t planning on upgrading lighting but I found a great deal on the kessil that I couldn’t pass up. The actinic light will definitely make the corals brighten up!

I was thinking about a fuge in chamber 2, but sheesh, its so small, for a fuge to really work you need to have it large... 1/2 gallon is not much.

Here is pics of my tank on day one, and then now about 5 months old. Battling some Cyano and GHA, but limiting my nutrient distribution (feeding) and doing more water changes. Four fish, assorted cleanup crew, BTA, Torch, Pulsing Xenia, Green mushroom and not seen is a zoa. More corals coming tomorrow from WWC.

EagleEye121 · Jul 6, 2020

Nice! What’s your plan for the Xenia? Looks pretty large already. Are you wanting it to spread throughout the scape?

somekindabonita · Jul 7, 2020

Everyone's tanks are really neat!! I'm curious - how loud would you consider this tank? Considering setting up a desktop tank at work to grow out frags, debating between the Evo and IM 10 nevo