Ldogg's Fluval EVO XII mini build

Ldogg · May 8, 2017

I am in the middle of planning a big tank for myself, a RedSea 625XXL and I had seen the biota kickstarter and liked the tank. When I found out it was a little Fluval system they were using i started looking for a place to put on. This was prior to my current build plan. I had been out of the hobby for 8 years or so and I thought this would be a neat tank to get back in. Well fast forward several months and I am now planning a big tank but my 10 year old has started to get interested in the hobby and wanted a tank. I figured well hell why not do both. This will let me compare things like RealReef which I was going to use in my tank, but I bought some CaribSea life rock instead and the size of the TropicEden MesoFlakes. I have decided to sell the CaribSea rock btw and I prefer the RealReef color better. Anyway so I ran across the Fluval tank on sale at petco online. They do not sell these in the stores around here for $140. That's $40 bucks cheaper then anywhere else and includes free shipping. Plus I used a discount code and got another $15 off. I picked up their branded heater and skimmer on Amazon and the rock and sand I mentioned above as well. The tank showed up today and I am impressed with the build quality. I have always liked Fluval products but this is a nice little tank for a beginner. I dryscapped it after I got the included pump and the heater installed in the rear chamber and I am going to go get some salt water in a bit and fill it up. I don't have my water mixing station setup or my RODI yet for that matter. Going to do that this week for top offs but to get him going I will go pick some up at the lfs. It's only 13 gallons. His stocking plan is a pair of Frostbite Frozen clowns yeah I know, he has expensive taste in fish, and probably some zoas shrooms, and low light LPS. We will see when we get there! Here's a few pics, I have already re aquascapped the thing twice. I am waiting for expoxy to dry and I will get those pics.

Ldogg · May 8, 2017

Moved the tank and added sand and water. There is enough room on the right side to view that panel. It's why I moved it off the wall.

Ben Weaver · May 8, 2017

Your making me want to do a nano!
Love the looks of this thing. What kind of lighting does it use?

Ldogg · May 8, 2017

It's a 16w 14k led strip that recessed into that hood. It's been sealed in silicone to protect it and it's pretty bright. They list softies, pls and low light sos but that may be a stretch. It's touch activated but I am probably going to get an apex jr to run this tank so when the plug power is off then on it comes back up full. We will have to touch the blues at night but that should be ok. It's pretty neat and for $140 with the return pump and the light I couldn't say no. The biota system is between $500-$600 and I put in a 10 pounds of real reef and tropic eden meso flakes I got from premium aquatics with free shipping.

Ben Weaver · May 9, 2017

Ldogg said:
It's a 16w 14k led strip that recessed into that hood. It's been sealed in silicone to protect it and it's pretty bright. They list softies, pls and low light sos but that may be a stretch. It's touch activated but I am probably going to get an apex jr to run this tank so when the plug power is off then on it comes back up full. We will have to touch the blues at night but that should be ok. It's pretty neat and for $140 with the return pump and the light I couldn't say no. The biota system is between $500-$600 and I put in a 10 pounds of real reef and tropic eden meso flakes I got from premium aquatics with free shipping.

Yeah that seems like a great deal! It will be cool to see what you can grow in this !

reef-rc · May 9, 2017

Here's one which is going with stock components with exception of an extra pump
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/show-your-fluval-evo-13-5.292874/page-2#post-3686531

This unit definitely gives IM and others in this size category competition. Outside of low-iron glass, it has the basic foundation to begin reefing imo.

Ldogg · May 9, 2017

I have been pretty impressed with it so far. I have a korallia nano sitting in a box for it but I wanted to see how it ran stock. Flow looks ok but it man need a little extra boost. I will probably need to modify the hood a bit to run the power cable and that's why I left it out for now. A cheap used mp10 may be a better option though. I can down this morning and my son had already turned on the light...

Christian H · May 10, 2017

Wonderful scape! I just got mine today, can't wait to see the results!

Ldogg · May 16, 2017

Thanks. I really like the RealReef and I am planning on using it on my RedSea 625XXL build for sure. I picked up a Foscam R2 to mess around with mainly looking to use a few of them on that build. They are pretty easy to setup and look great over LTE. I all looking at getting an Apex Jr and the ATK for this little guy and the skimmer showed up last week along with a flipper nano.

Ldogg · May 17, 2017

I ordered some pods and phyto from AlgaeBarn to seed the tank real good before adding any fish. Their combo pack of 5280 pods and phyto seems like a pretty sweet deal and I had a coupon from their last Facebook giveaway so I got 20% off and free shipping.

reef-rc · May 18, 2017

Ldogg said:
I ordered some pods and phyto from AlgaeBarn to seed the tank real good before adding any fish. Their combo pack of 5280 pods and phyto seems like a pretty sweet deal and I had a coupon from their last Facebook giveaway so I got 20% off and free shipping.

I seeded my Evo early on also. It took a while before I actually saw the little critters inside the tank once I had put them in. I almost didn't bother to look for them weeks afterward as they're so small and almost impossible to see once inside the tank. A few weeks back I accidentally saw a few crawling on the glass by accident. I feed phytoplankton regularly so glad to see they're still there as I was beginning to wonder if they were all gone.

Was wondering if or when best to reseed again as my supply of phytoplankton is running low.

Ldogg · May 24, 2017

Got my Algae barn order yesterday and added them in. Whats great with those guys is they are about 90 minutes from the house so it's basically a next day order for me...

I tossed them in, and I added some red legged hermits last weekend. Param's look great and i had started to get some hair algae and some diatoms on the sand. those guys mowed that down in about 30 minutes, and all the pellets that i had been adding to do a fishless cycle. I also added in the fluval skimmer which I am on the fence about right now. it runs high, which may actually be my tank water level and it is throwing micro bubbles like crazy. going to do another water change this weekend and lower that, and see how it runs. Looking to order a pair of Frostbite Frozen clowns from Sustainable Aquatics retail shop in the next week or so as well.... It's coming right along!

Ldogg · May 30, 2017

Frostbites are on order. They should be here Thursday. I also ordered an Apex jr, and I may setup the ATK that I just picked up as well for my 625XXL build on this tank. I also added some corals and I have a bunch I got online over the weekend shipping soon. Picked up a Flower nem, a Duncan head, several zoa frags, an acan, and a bunch of stuff I don't remember from that auction. That should all be in this week I believe. I also scored a nice blasto and a single Rasta polyp along with a couple heads of gold hammer. The crown jewel though was a mini colony of Jedi Mind Trick montipora that I picked up at the local petco by my house. It's about 3-4" in diameter and was 90 out the door. It needs to Blue up around the rim a bit still but hopefully it won't take long.

Ldogg · May 30, 2017

I am planning on removing the hammer and blasto from those plugs in a few days, I just wanted to make sure they were happy in their spots first before I stick them to the rock.

Ldogg · May 30, 2017

I just ordered an in tank media basket and the media and floss for it. I have a bunch of corals coming in later this week/next week as well. I am planning on picking up an AI prime soon and I am going to test fit the ATK as soon as it shows up. I am not real happy with the fluval skimmer so I am going to try the media basket instead.

Ldogg · Jun 2, 2017

Frostbite Clownfish showed up today from Sustainable Aquatics. They are awesome!

reef-rc · Jun 2, 2017

I have pair of frostbit a few months in the Evo and they definitely own the tank now. One of mine had lost most of it's orange and is mostly black now. It's also the one most likely to be the dominate female down the road.

That's a huge jedi mind trick

Sobo's Reef · Jun 2, 2017

Ldogg said:
I just ordered an in tank media basket and the media and floss for it. I have a bunch of corals coming in later this week/next week as well. I am planning on picking up an AI prime soon and I am going to test fit the ATK as soon as it shows up. I am not real happy with the fluval skimmer so I am going to try the media basket instead.

I'm just about to do the same... can't break free of the micro bubbles and it's annoying as hell!

Ldogg · Jun 2, 2017

Sad thing is the dang skimmer seems to be working better now so I may wait a few days and see before I swap the basket. a lot of whats in the water column is pods i think as they are all over the glass even during the day. That Jedi Mind Trick is massive for sure. when I saw it at petco, and then I saw the price I ran back over there the next day and got it. The ATK and the Apex Jr should be here today so I will mess with that over the weekend. I have about 12 coral frags coming in next week from a facebook auction group so it should look pretty full soon.