Fluval Evo 13.5 Build

[bluebowtie]

Cool. A feather duster or two would look lovely too. Zenias and Palm tree Polyps are nice. Happy reefing dude! Will follow

My cousin who got me into this, has pulsing xenia?, and they are pretty cool. Might add some of those aswell.

 

[bluebowtie]

How are you like the Sicce 1.0? I have one ordered.

It's been great sofar, runs super quiet and flows a lot more water. You can see it running into the overflow now and creates good water flow in the tank. with the pump and nano 240 power head I feel I have enough movement

 

[NanoDad]

Groovy green man!

 

[Reef of Fillory]

It's been great sofar, runs super quiet and flows a lot more water. You can see it running into the overflow now and creates good water flow in the tank. with the pump and nano 240 power head I feel I have enough movement

I put a Hydor flow reflector on the output of my Sicce 1.0 and I really like the way it moves the water. One downside is that the output isn't deep enough under the surface, so you get some surface rippling - i'll post a short video when I get a chance!

 

[bluebowtie]

I put a Hydor flow reflector on the output of my Sicce 1.0 and I really like the way it moves the water. One downside is that the output isn't deep enough under the surface, so you get some surface rippling - i'll post a short video when I get a chance!

Thanks, would like to see the video of it in action. Was actually thinking of adding a VCA RFG or an IM Spin Stream.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Just took it! The problem is that you can't keep the flow all under the surface. I guess it's good for surface agitation, but in a quiet room, you'll hear the "water" noise occasionally.



How about another FTS/update - anything new?

 

[bluebowtie]

So update time. Been a long two months since last update, have had my ups and downs with the tank and corals. I have learned a lot about taking care of a tank, but also realize i have much more to go. I added an AI Prime HD with 12" flex arm on March 4th. I started off on the saxby file settings, as it had many good reviews. After the first week I noticed algae starting to grow, by midway through the second week it was all over the sand and rocks. This was even with the acclimation on at 50% reduction for 21 days. After reading many threads and posts on the Ai prime, the red and green channels are often left off or very low %. However on the saxby file they were over 25% for most of the time the light was on, he has no issue as his tank is over 48" tall. So i went with the Mike Hais Blues file, and have had great growth on my corals and a noticeable difference in algae growth. Also at the same time I figured out that i was probably over feeding and causing the nutrients to be high for the algae to feed off of .I added PhosBan to a media bag and added to my media basket, reading the directions it says in high dosage it may deplete Alkalinity so i bought Aquavitro 8.4 and added it once as per instrutions(Realized later on this was a bad decision without the proper test equipment for ALK). My skimmer took a crap on me, so I built a cheato reactor with LED strip lights and installed that on the backside of the tank, with the pump in chamber two and return line in chamber three. After the reactor was up for about two weeks, the cheato had doubled in size and was nice and dense in the tube, along with many copepods. The tank seemed like it was starting to come around after change in light and the algae started to disappear off everything. But i lost two of the four heads on my frogspawn and the other euphyllia coral never opened as much as they used to, at first I took it as they had a better light now and did not need to "stretch" for the light. But after the loss i took my water in to my LFS to have a second opinion on my water quality. My PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Salinity were all fine, which I had the same results with my API test kit. However when they tested my Calcium and Alk they were out of range, my calcium was only at 300 and my alk was through the roof at 17. Which now i realized I was at fault for adding the 8.4 to the tank without testing the levels first, the calcium being low I took as I did not mix the water to 1.026 sal or the corals were using it faster then i was adding it doing water changes. I did a 3 gl water change that night and did 1 gl every other day for awhile. It seems that the tank is heading in the right direction, but have started a IM Nuvo 10gl with dry Rock and sand, as i have many hitchhikers and things that came from the rock i started this tank with. The tank has been up since March-9th and has been cycling ever since. Will be adding a build thread for that one aswell, once i start to add livestock after it is done cycling.

New Zoas

Home made frag rack,

New AI Prime with Saxby File

Cheato Reactor

AI Prime with Mike Hai Blues with Cheato Reactor running

Mag Rack Pro

New IM 10 build coming

 

[dhof]

How are you like the Sicce 1.0? I have one ordered.

I have the Fluval Evo 13.5 also and have the Sicce 1.0 pump in it. I've had this tank for about 6 months now and have it pretty heavily stocked with corals and CUC, but I only have a clown, firefish, and Royal Gramma. The clown has been in there for several months, but just added the other 2 a couple of months ago.

All 3 fish have been basically hiding all the time except when feeding. The firefish literally hides deep in the rocks and I only can tell she is alive because I can see way down in a hole with a flashlight. I've been through hundreds of scenarios trying to figure out why they are just totally hidden, and after a bunch of various testing, I'm convinced it is the strength of the pump. I re-installed the original fluval pump for a few weeks and the fish came out and showed themselves nicely, but the pump was not strong enough and I got all sorts of crazy algae in the chambers. Even with the low power of the original pump, the y splitter and the flare nozzles of the return pumps caused so much flow jets I think the fish hated it.

So, now I have put the sicce pump back in. I am having great luck with the sicce input dial turned down about half way, and I have one of those 3D printed random flow generator nozzles pointing directly at the back glass and a huge rock. I have a Aquamai KPS wavemaker on the left back side, so that basically the wavemaker is pointing at the flow from the return and 'cancelling it out'. Now there is almost no flow at all in the front of my tank (torches just barely move) and my fish are loving the front of the tank. They are out all the time now, and swimming all over. They don't go anywhere near the back of the tank because it is like a tornado back there.

Basically my take away: The Sicce 1.0 pump is really nice (quiet, reliable, etc), but it is WAY too powerful for this 13.5 gallon tank. Now that I know the flow is the culprit I'll be searching out smaller pumps in the future for this tank.

 

[bluebowtie]

Just took it! The problem is that you can't keep the flow all under the surface. I guess it's good for surface agitation, but in a quiet room, you'll hear the "water" noise occasionally.
How about another FTS/update - anything new?

Okay, looks like it moves the water well but it does have water noise like you said when it is aimed up. Will update how the Spin stream or RFG end up working out, maybe i will add one to this tank and one the the IM nuvo 10. Just posted a little update, probably forgeting somethings

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Good idea on the Chaeto Reactor - I went a different direction because I was worried about the additional heat output from a second pump in the back chambers. I used a LED grow light off of Amazon which I [am going to 3M tape, for now it is resting between the glass and the wall]. I use the entire second chamber, as well as the bottom of my DIY media basket to grow the chaeto in. My levels have been sitting around 3-5 nitrates and .02-.04 phosphates. I'm very happy with using a refugium on this tank! I also periodically dose Julian Sprung's Reef Formula Iron Concentrate (plus manganese). I do a little less than 1/2 a cap once a week or so.

 

[VTBig053]

I have the Fluval Evo 13.5 also and have the Sicce 1.0 pump in it. I've had this tank for about 6 months now and have it pretty heavily stocked with corals and CUC, but I only have a clown, firefish, and Royal Gramma. The clown has been in there for several months, but just added the other 2 a couple of months ago.

All 3 fish have been basically hiding all the time except when feeding. The firefish literally hides deep in the rocks and I only can tell she is alive because I can see way down in a hole with a flashlight. I've been through hundreds of scenarios trying to figure out why they are just totally hidden, and after a bunch of various testing, I'm convinced it is the strength of the pump. I re-installed the original fluval pump for a few weeks and the fish came out and showed themselves nicely, but the pump was not strong enough and I got all sorts of crazy algae in the chambers. Even with the low power of the original pump, the y splitter and the flare nozzles of the return pumps caused so much flow jets I think the fish hated it.

So, now I have put the sicce pump back in. I am having great luck with the sicce input dial turned down about half way, and I have one of those 3D printed random flow generator nozzles pointing directly at the back glass and a huge rock. I have a Aquamai KPS wavemaker on the left back side, so that basically the wavemaker is pointing at the flow from the return and 'cancelling it out'. Now there is almost no flow at all in the front of my tank (torches just barely move) and my fish are loving the front of the tank. They are out all the time now, and swimming all over. They don't go anywhere near the back of the tank because it is like a tornado back there.

Basically my take away: The Sicce 1.0 pump is really nice (quiet, reliable, etc), but it is WAY too powerful for this 13.5 gallon tank. Now that I know the flow is the culprit I'll be searching out smaller pumps in the future for this tank.

I use the Sicce 0.5 in my EVO and it works perfectly. More flow than the stock fluval pump, but not too much. Small enough to get in and out of Chamber 3 relatively easily during cleaning.

 

[NanoDad]

Quick update to my EVO, added 3 conchs

 

[Crazeh]

Tank looks great! If possible could you share a photo of the M50 heater fitted within the return pump chamber? I've just had an M50 delivered and it doesn't fit!

EDIT: Managed to make it fit!

 

[NanoDad]

Tank looks great! If possible could you share a photo of the M50 heater fitted within the return pump chamber? I've just had an M50 delivered and it doesn't fit!

EDIT: Managed to make it fit!

That danged heater doesn't fit as stated by Fluval. For the longest time I had my M50 in chamber 3 with the pump and it was cocked sideways not really fitting. I have since moved it to my empty middle chamber (2) and it hangs in there just fine.

I ditched the stock filter media in favor of the InTank media basket which goes in chamber 1 so my middle chamber is empty, it just houses my heater and my temperature probe.

 

[Crazeh]

For what it's worth I was able to get it to fit by the pump using the images Fluval provided this user (see post #8). Very snug fit.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/evo-13-5-startup-questions-and-observations.326852/#post-4051864

 

[reffersmoke]

ok , I know this thread is old but how is the tank going now ? I too have the evo and i dont have the intank baskets yet , I have the skimmer and the stock foam filter and the stock pump , so far I have a couple of frags and two baby clowns , i really want the media baskets for chamber one and two and wanted to know is it worth it ? are you still using them ? what do you recommend