My fluval evo 13.5

Richie1898 · Apr 13, 2020

Mandrew said:
Where did you get the LED strip and how much did it cost?

Just get the hiparegro aquaknight, it’s amazing. It’s $65 but here’s my happy reef

Mandrew · Apr 13, 2020

Richie1898 said:
Just get the hiparegro aquaknight, it’s amazing. It’s $65 but here’s my happy reef

That really is a beautiful color light haha. I just found a $17 Blue LED strip i could stick onto the stock lid to add blue. Im just looking into getting the evo myself so i have a lot of research to do yet. I have had a hand full of tanks over the years and im just looking into getting back into the hobby.

Richie1898 · Apr 13, 2020

Mandrew said:
That really is a beautiful color light haha. I just found a $17 Blue LED strip i could stick onto the stock lid to add blue. Im just looking into getting the evo myself so i have a lot of research to do yet. I have had a hand full of tanks over the years and im just looking into getting back into the hobby.

Can’t go wrong with this light, you’ll want to upgrade after a month anyways, the only downside is the evaporation. But nothing you can’t handle

Nicholas Dushynsky · Apr 14, 2020

Mandrew said:
Where did you get the LED strip and how much did it cost?

Hi, I brought it from Amazon but it was from a garden centre down in cornwall, I also believe they are not making them anymore. I posted the item slightly higher up on this page so you can see the actual item etc. I wish I'd bought 2 now though. This is my most recent shot with still using that light I'm currently just running that strip on it's own for 7hrs and adding the main light on for only 2 as I have a little dinoflagellates going on and everything still looks good.

Mandrew · Apr 14, 2020

Nicholas Dushynsky said:
Hi, I brought it from Amazon but it was from a garden centre down in cornwall, I also believe they are not making them anymore. I posted the item slightly higher up on this page so you can see the actual item etc. I wish I'd bought 2 now though. This is my most recent shot with still using that light I'm currently just running that strip on it's own for 7hrs and adding the main light on for only 2 as I have a little dinoflagellates going on and everything still looks good.

That’s a good looking little tank! So would you recommend the evo? Or should I look into something else?

Nicholas Dushynsky · Apr 14, 2020

It depends on what your looking to keep in it. It comes with everything you need to get started plus a hood to keep evaporation down. You do need to provide your own heater though. Nearly all the ones I see, people take the lid off, buy lights that are worth more than the tank. Put intank filter box in the back which is extra expense, change the return pump and add powerheads etc.

The reason I bought it was because of size and having a hood, as it was for my bedroom. I have modded it though, i removed the foam filter and made a floss holder for chamber 1 (free), put the heater in 2 and upgraded the return pump to a sicce 0.5 then also added a blue led strip to save me having to touch the button to have blue only. I haven't put any wave makers in either as i don't want to risk a nem getting minced. So yes I would reccomend this tank, but if you want a topless tank with prime HD etc on there are other all in one tanks out there that would be a better option.

Mandrew · Apr 14, 2020

Nicholas Dushynsky said:
It depends on what your looking to keep in it. It comes with everything you need to get started plus a hood to keep evaporation down. You do need to provide your own heater though. Nearly all the ones I see, people take the lid off, buy lights that are worth more than the tank. Put intank filter box in the back which is extra expense, change the return pump and add powerheads etc.

The reason I bought it was because of size and having a hood, as it was for my bedroom. I have modded it though, i removed the foam filter and made a floss holder for chamber 1 (free), put the heater in 2 and upgraded the return pump to a sicce 0.5 then also added a blue led strip to save me having to touch the button to have blue only. I haven't put any wave makers in either as i don't want to risk a nem getting minced. So yes I would reccomend this tank, but if you want a topless tank with prime HD etc on there are other all in one tanks out there that would be a better option.

Yeah I’m still undecided I guess. It seemed like a good way to get back into the hobby but the more research I do the more I want to start bigger... lol thanks for your opinion though I appreciate it!

Nicholas Dushynsky · Apr 14, 2020

Mandrew said:
Yeah I’m still undecided I guess. It seemed like a good way to get back into the hobby but the more research I do the more I want to start bigger... lol thanks for your opinion though I appreciate it!

Your welcome, good luck which ever route you go. You could always start with that and then use it as a quarantine tank later on as you will have all the equipment required for a quarantine tank while your new big tank is cycling.

Madd20s · Jul 2, 2020

That's nice I am currently on day 19 of my cycle with the same tank. here a sneak peak

Richie1898 · Jul 2, 2020

Madd20s said:
That's nice I am currently on day 19 of my cycle with the same tank. here a sneak peak

Looks awesome, mine looks a thousand times different now versus earlier in the year. I need to update the photos

nano reef · Jul 3, 2020

JoshO said:
I've seen a lot of people complain about how white it is, I'm debating using lighting gels to change the colours of the light, to make it more blue/uv, but I don't know if this will reduce the par.
Did you need an ato with the stock lid?

I just bought a strip of blue because I heard the same thing. You can buy them on ebay. What is this gel you are talking about? i have never heard of this. Ihave another light for my quaratine thats to white maybe I can get some of this gel, or might even need more for the evo.

nano reef · Jul 3, 2020

JoshO said:
Algae can't be totally attributed to light, it will contribute when other things such as water parameters, high bioload or heavy feeding are occuring

I have a 10 gallon no skimmer and never had algae ever. Then it crashed from salinity droped real low to start it all, then I got ammonia, followed by nirtites then nitrates so basically it recycled. Killed all my lps, but after that now I have some hair algae starting and some green on sand and glass. I think the reason I never had algae before was I never ran the light for the first 3 months, then added coral at about 3 1/2. Brs suggests not to run the light for the first 4 to prevent new tank syndrome and "the ugly phase" but who can wait that long? 3 months killed me haha. I didnt buy a light at first so I wouldnt be to tempted! lol. Now I am going to switch to this tank!

nano reef · Jul 3, 2020

I love this tank and plan on switching to it from my aqueon ascent. I wanted to ask how many of you that have this use a skimmer and how many use the xtra room for xtra media to help control nitrates? I have marine pure in my sump on my big tank and I am pretty sure thats whats keeping my nitrates so low since I dont realluy use anything else. Its a new tank about 3 months old. I might use denitrtae or sea chem matrix, for xtra media in the evo, since those balls wont fit,. Well, actually I could pound them up, they work really well and I have tonga and dense rock in my 36 so i really needed the xtra media.

On some of the reviews of this tank or the youtubes alot of the people recommend using the xtra space for that instead of skimmer. I always wish I had one though beacuse reefroids makes the water dirtier than before I used to use it. But They were saying that if you change the water every week (which I do) then no need for the skimmer and that the xtra help from the xtra media would be the best option. What do most of you do and how has it worked for you for controlling nitrates and phosphates? I use chemipure elite (gfo and carbon) and purigan and a poly bio sponge in my hob top by filter floss that i change up about every 3 days, always the day after I feed corals! I keep it on top so its easy to change and its always brown from the reefreoids! But inspite of tis and weekly water changes I stl have elevated nitrates. Hard to read but i think between 5 and 10 usually 10 right before water change and 5 after so hopefully with an AIO this will change!
I also just ordered my blue strip of lights because I heard that the light was really white

Also, have most of you been able to grow lps with this light? I love lps, acans blastos, duncans and torches are my faves! I hate to change the light beacuse it so clean and nice looking with it all one piece like that. I have a current orit that I could put there but that light has kept my lps alive but no growth. Do lps actually grow with the light and if I add one or even 2 strips of blue for more par?

Nicholas Dushynsky · Jul 3, 2020

I have nems in mine and a big bubble coral and I had lps in there, but currently (still, 3 months on) have dinoflagellates which caused polyp bail out on all my lps

. I added yet another reef blue strip in the lid. I use this on the same 12v supply with a splitter so I only have 1 plug to run both off the same timer.

ewoolpert · Jun 11, 2021

Nicholas Dushynsky said:
I have nems in mine and a big bubble coral and I had lps in there, but currently (still, 3 months on) have dinoflagellates which caused polyp bail out on all my lps

. I added yet another reef blue strip in the lid. I use this on the same 12v supply with a splitter so I only have 1 plug to run both off the same timer.

What strip lights are these? Link? Looks awesome.