show your fluval evo 13.5

[mccune]

Why do people swap out the stock light immediately and is it necessary?

What can the stock light sustain?

I'm in the market for a new nano tank and leaning towards the Evo. Is this the best tank for the money cause I see a lot of modifications going on?

I gave the stock like a chance it is very low power. I then tried the current USA orbit which esthetically looked amazing but only preformed slightly better then the stock.
Once I swapped to an AI prime it was night and day better then the stock and current orbit.
The stock light and current USA orbit can sustain coral al be it soft coral and limited lps. The color will not have much pop to it and the corals will look somewhat drab in appearance. A more powerful and controllable light like the AI prime will give the corals amazing color and pop

 

[Russelm]

I gave the stock like a chance it is very low power. I then tried the current USA orbit which esthetically looked amazing but only preformed slightly better then the stock.
Once I swapped to an AI prime it was night and day better then the stock and current orbit.
The stock light and current USA orbit can sustain coral al be it soft coral and limited lps. The color will not have much pop to it and the corals will look somewhat drab in appearance. A more powerful and controllable light like the AI prime will give the corals amazing color and pop

Mccune,
Thanks for the reply. When I move in June looking to invest in a small tank so just keeping my ear close to the ground. I am trying to avoid buying something new and immediately changing things due to a deficiency. My last tank I did exactly that and I wound up having a Frankenstein tank that I wasn't happy with. Eventually, I will change things but looking to leave it stock and build. Also, if i spread out my purchases the wife won't notice.

 

[mccune]

Mccune,
Thanks for the reply. When I move in June looking to invest in a small tank so just keeping my ear close to the ground. I am trying to avoid buying something new and immediately changing things due to a deficiency. My last tank I did exactly that and I wound up having a Frankenstein tank that I wasn't happy with. Eventually, I will change things but looking to leave it stock and build. Also, if i spread out my purchases the wife won't notice.

If I were you I would look into a Waterbox cube beautiful tanks l.
I have a cube 20 that I will setting up. The fluval 13.5 was nice but does need modifications right off like tossing all the filter media and sponges that come with the tank and buying some Intank media baskets.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

This is mine as of now. I have been running the stock light for well over a year and a half but still felt it looked too yellow. I have a bubble coral that looks good but my btas lost colour either the tank was still too young or not enough nitrates or phosphates as I did lose 1 red bta. I have now added a tmc reef blue led strip from tmc in the hood and it looks much better, the colour that is. The big nem is going greener again.
This is just the stock light

this is with the extra 9 watts of blue reef light that I fixed to the inside of the hood. Being only 9 watts it doesn't add heat.

 

[Russelm]

The blue makes it look great and it looks like you are able to sustain the corals I'm interested in. I'm looking for an aquarium with a lid because I have kids and I'm trying to mitigate water loss. I want to prove to my wife this isn't a time suck and it can be enjoyable. My last tank was all DIY and I was always fixing leaks, sorting through noise problems or tank swings. The waterbox looks great but doesn't have a lid and I'm looking for something under 20 with a lid. Thoughts?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

The blue makes it look great and it looks like you are able to sustain the corals I'm interested in. I'm looking for an aquarium with a lid because I have kids and I'm trying to mitigate water loss. I want to prove to my wife this isn't a time suck and it can be enjoyable. My last tank was all DIY and I was always fixing leaks, sorting through noise problems or tank swings. The waterbox looks great but doesn't have a lid and I'm looking for something under 20 with a lid. Thoughts?

This 13.5 is a tank for my bedroom, I did do a couple of mods, I took the foam out of chamber 2 and out of the original return pump, I did a diy mod to chamber 1 by making a little shelf to hold filter floss. I have since changed the original pump out, I ran it for a year but my wife made more noise about it being to noisy for the bedroom so I replaced it with the sicce 0.5 and it's much quieter. Now I have had the extra light for a while now and I use it on a separate timer so it's on an hour before and after the main light. I liked the tank as it was as it had a lid but it does need a few little mods, not even expensive ones really. I just didn't see the point of paying for a tank then buying a light like a prime hd that's worth more than the tank is. The stock light is good but doesn't show the good colours of the corals. I have a small 7 gallon tank that I built a lid for and put a cheap asta20 led light on it and that is my least maintenance tank I have.

 

[najer]

Update on mine.
I upgraded the return to an Eheim 1000 when I got it and added a 50 watt heater.
No wavemaker.
Oh and took all the junk out of the back.
I do run floss if needed.
And here we are today.
I have a few different nps in here now, the tank needed a direction.
Yes there is an lta, I had to move it in from my big tank, it hasn't moved.
The scroll was a dumb purchase yesterday for the big tank, one of my angels went straight for it!
The lobo is a re-rescue it was being looked after by a friend, his aiptasia fill fish to a liking to lps mouths, the head on the left has lost both mouths the others are intact. He lost 2 master scollies before we noticed!
There is a red monti plate.
There is a jewel blenny and a basslet that I never see and various cuc.

No mechanical filtration and no waterchanges unless required.

 

[Zook1300]

Just got my Evo up, just rock and sand for now. Upgrading lights to the Kessil A80 tuna blue, intank chamber 1 media basket, probably a slightly stronger pump, and a nano power head of some kind. I have a 29 gallon that's been running for almost 2 years and doing pretty good overall. Very excited to get everything really set for the 13.5! Any suggestions on new pump and power head?? Everyone's tanks look fantastic!

 

[SahiraSK]

Hello All
Here is my Fluval Evo, had it for just over 2 years now. All stock equipment. I do of course have a wavemaker though and an extra strip blue led light.

 

[Nubomb]

Finally jumped back in after 5+ year hiatus -mostly FOWLR setups in the past.

Planning on keeping the Evo stock for now.

Used about 15lbs of live Fiji pink sand.

Old dried out live rock has been curing in a tub for about 4 weeks. I had some nicer bigger pieces but didn’t end up using them - tank still feels like I have too much in it.

let’s see if I can attach some pics. still a little cloudy from the sand storm.

Main viewing angle...

 

[Nubomb]

 

[Nubomb]

Other side

 

[redsoul136]

Pic of mine. Relaunched in August, aquascape is rough but it's more of a grow tank for future 90 gallon upgrade (planning stages).

Upgrades
Ai prime hd
Koralia nano
2x sicce 1.0 (one in aio chamber and one in sump as return)
Seapora nano overflow box
Eshopps rs-75 sump
Simplicity 120dc skimmer
Intank media basket chamber 2

Had the tank running for 8 months (without sump) crashed due to mass algae outbreak and time constraints. Swore to get the reboot right and adding the sump/testing params more often has helped alot.

Cheers!

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

 

[rantipole]

I have purchased a lot of things for this tank and after about 15 months I have found the following is all I use:
Sicce 1.0 pump to replace stock pump
Filter floss
Bio filter media
Tunze ATO
Jebao SOW-4 wavemaker
Jebao dosing pump
Cobalt 50 watt heater
AI Prime lights to replace stock lights
Desktop UV light since I had run my tank too clean and had dinos this past summer. I just keep it on now.
I don’t use any of the media baskets I bought or the skimmer. I have tried a handful of different wavemakers and Jebao is the best for the price IMO

I know others have had some Success with stock lights but I really like the Prime lights with the coral.

I've decided to get an ATO for this tank, and I've never used one before. Is the one you bought the Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155? How do you like it?

Cheers,
rant

 

[Wee Mad Arthur]

I use this ato although I think mine might be the previous 110 model, not sure what changed. Mine has been flawless.

AUTOAQUA

www.autoaqua.com.tw

 

[InvaderJim]

Just set mine up last night. Been out of the hobby for a while so I'm excited.

 

[Nano-DaveJ]

set my Evo up this weekend.

just realized it looks a lot like InvaderJim’s tank in the post above but heck there’s not a lot of options when you only have two pieces of rock.

- intank media tray in chamber one
- Bag of Seachem Matrix biomedia and heater in chamber two
- XPaqua duetto ATO and stock return pump in chamber three
- current USA wave pump on loop controller
- 15 pound of Caribsea Fiji pink live sand
- 10 pounds dry rock drilled for frag plugs

also have AI prime that I will add post-cycle. Strongly considering Tunze 1073.008 return pump and random flow generator upgrades.

 

[Shawn Waldon]

I have had mine up for around 6 months and it is going good. Last Christmas my wife finally gave me the ok to build my dream system. I have been working on it the last couple months. before you all get on me about the tang just know he will go in the other system in a few weeks.

set my Evo up this weekend.

just realized it looks a lot like InvaderJim’s tank in the post above but heck there’s not a lot of options when you only have two pieces of rock.

- intank media tray in chamber one
- Bag of Seachem Matrix biomedia and heater in chamber two
- XPaqua duetto ATO and stock return pump in chamber three
- current USA wave pump on loop controller
- 15 pound of Caribsea Fiji pink live sand
- 10 pounds dry rock drilled for frag plugs

also have AI prime that I will add post-cycle. Strongly considering Tunze 1073.008 return pump and random flow generator upgrades.

 

[nigel escalada]

This is my evo 13.5. I had it for 1 year now. 2 intank media, chamber 1 and 2.. bio media,chemipure, purigen, activated carbon,filter floss. I recently upgraded the stock light this month, not an expensive light but it's been doing great so far. Hipargero $60+ in amazon. I also upgraded the pump to sicce syncra 1.0, it fits the chamber nicely and much better water flow. I have mostly lps, some soft corals, and got some sps recently.