show your fluval evo 13.5

TB Nano · Feb 28, 2019

Just at month 5 now and I never did put together a build thread so I figure I would just do a quick update here. I am doing weekly 20% water changes, I am doing 2 part dosing...I have to dose a lot to keep my alk around 9 for some reason and calcium hovers around 420, mag around 1450. I have bought a decent number of frags mostly from WWC when they do their sales and I also won a few eBay bids (some a little unexpected). Things are growing well, my Hammer is currently going from 3 heads to 7, 2 of the heads are now 3 each! The Cyphastrea I have are probably going to be a problem down the road as fast as they are growing but that is ok. The Favias and Lords are all showing multiple growth as well. Overall, very excited at the growth! The only coral that has some loss is a blasto so I moved it because I think the flow was too high.

The key seems to definitely be good husbandry and monitoring the tank levels. I really appreciate all the people on R2R! I don’t post much but I do scan through the threads and have learned a lot from everyone here. Hereare some picks from mid-Feb.

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Crested · Mar 6, 2019

Recently bought the inTank media basket for chamber 1 and it raised my water line a lot more than I expected lol
Anyone else have this experience?

TB Nano · Mar 6, 2019

Crested said:
Recently bought the inTank media basket for chamber 1 and it raised my water line a lot more than I expected lol
Anyone else have this experience?

Same thing happened with mine. I believe others were able to cut some of it down and make it work but I didn’t care for it. The water ran over the top of the basket rather than in my filter floss in addition to the really high water level in the tank. I took mine out.

HiBRiD109 · Mar 7, 2019

Crested said:
Recently bought the inTank media basket for chamber 1 and it raised my water line a lot more than I expected lol
Anyone else have this experience?

Yeah, with the inTank chamber 1 basket and using the inTank skimmer, it caused my water line to touch my lid and an audible water pouring into the filter floss if the water level wasn't just perfect in chamber 3. I moved the skimmer to the opposite side of the inlet to essentially push the basket up against the false wall so that the water coming in wouldn't bypass the media basket/filter floss. Now the water level in the display is where I like it and I have more water in chamber 3 so I don't have to worry about my heater being out of water. I dont do top offs as the lids keep evap down and I do weekly 25% water changes. My salinity stay at 1.025-6

BoBoBREWSKI · Mar 7, 2019

Crested said:
Recently bought the inTank media basket for chamber 1 and it raised my water line a lot more than I expected lol
Anyone else have this experience?

Yes. I modded mine to fix it. See my post (#346) in this thread.

Zoajohn · Mar 11, 2019

What lights are everyone running?

Connor Sloan · Mar 12, 2019

Just over a year old

BoBoBREWSKI · Mar 12, 2019

^ Wow! I love how colorful it is.

James Tucker · Mar 17, 2019

I converted mine into a frag tank. Works really well for a couple dozen.

With a AI Prime HD on one side and a Kessil A80 on the other, I have a great par spread so far I think. I’m getting 275-300+on the top rack, 175-275 in the middle, 100-175 on the sides, and 50-80 under the top rack.

I run the intank in the first chamber and I modified the second chamber to run a skimmer. I might pull out the skimmer though. The filtration is too good now I think.

The higher water level freaked me out at first but I don’t mind it now.

I think my next addition is a ClearView kid.

BrandonV2193 · Mar 19, 2019

Here's mine, running for about 4 months now

Zoajohn · Mar 20, 2019

How many people run algae reactors or other reactors on their tank?

Robg139 · Apr 9, 2019

Noinoi24 said:
Here’s ours!!!

Where do you get that lid? I’m guessing you made it, from wat kit I want to do the same.

BoBoBREWSKI · Apr 15, 2019

Video of my Fluval Evo 13.5 - been up and running for 2 years.

Crested · Apr 15, 2019

After a battle with ich and a total tank teardown, she's finally re-cycled with the original fish back in and doing great!

(Ignore the water spots and salt haha)

Ryanouw · Apr 20, 2019

I am running the chamber 1 media basket and I have noticed that water seems to skip the media basket alot. Should I upgrade the stock pump to something abit stronger so that water flows more into the media basket?

kchristensen8064 · Apr 20, 2019

This is my 14 year old daughter's new evo. Been cycling for a few weeks now. Won't get our first fish until mid June but this is a sweet little tank. First AIO I've ever had.

HiBRiD109 · Apr 22, 2019

Ryanouw said:
I am running the chamber 1 media basket and I have noticed that water seems to skip the media basket alot. Should I upgrade the stock pump to something abit stronger so that water flows more into the media basket?

I ended up putting the water director behind the basket, opposite of the inlet, to push the basket up against the false wall so that the water flows into the basket better. I had to play with the water level to get it where it flows just the right amount so that it would flow into the basket and not around it.

TB Nano · May 3, 2019

Ryanouw said:
I am running the chamber 1 media basket and I have noticed that water seems to skip the media basket alot. Should I upgrade the stock pump to something abit stronger so that water flows more into the media basket?

I had the same problem with mine and I use a Sicce 1.0 wide open. I took it out maybe 2 months ago and put in a mini desktop reactor instead. I think you just have to play around with it or take it out and try a different option. I personally would not recommend using the basket in chamber 1 but that is just me.

Crested · May 8, 2019

Hey all, I recently set up a refugium in chamber 2 with a $20 grow light from Amazon (linked below) just to see what happens and it has been amazing. I set it up on April 26th and started with about 25 ppm of nitrates. Tested again today and it's at about 2ppm. Definitely recommend this light if you're just kinda expirementing and want to see if a refugium is right for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Dim...ll+grow+light&qid=1557329211&s=gateway&sr=8-3

elic173 · May 8, 2019

Crested said:
Hey all, I recently set up a refugium in chamber 2 with a $20 grow light from Amazon (linked below) just to see what happens and it has been amazing. I set it up on April 26th and started with about 25 ppm of nitrates. Tested again today and it's at about 2ppm. Definitely recommend this light if you're just kinda expirementing and want to see if a refugium is right for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Dim...ll+grow+light&qid=1557329211&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Awesome! Got a pic?