Upgrade Fluval Evo 13.5 Light

[inertabyss]

Hi

I’m new to the hobby (January) and even newer to the forum (today), and looking for some advice. I’m starting to get a bit dissatisfied with how my tank looks under the stock light as my corals don’t “pop” like at the store under their lights. I would also light to add a bit more stability to my tank by having set ramp up ramp down and time the lights are on compared to the control over the stock lights. Off/white&blue/blue.

But my options are limited as I would prefer to keep the stock lid on to keep my 5 year old from temptation. Has anyone got any experience with the AI blade grow light on this tank, will it give me look I’m after or am I better taking off the lid and going with the prime 16hd?

Any input would be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jekyl]

"Grow" concerns me. Is it meant for coral or plants? Prime would do fine

Welcome to R2R!

 

[inertabyss]

Definitely a coral light. They do 3 versions. Coral grow, coral glow and refugium.

 

[Acroconut]

I have a jump screen on my tank which manages to block some light. Right now I'm using a Prime 16 HD over the middle of my 13.5 gal. I'm also using a 12" blade grow over my acro frag rack that's attached to the front glass. All corals are doing well, but my tank is sps dominated. I have an Apogee par meter which gives me a good idea of how much light my corals are getting.

 

[JoJosReef]

Depending on your budget, I would go with a Noopsyche K7 mini with a screen top instead of the stock hood--it's just a light piece of plastic that my 4 and 5 year olds could tear off with ease if they had the desire to. If you have a bigger budget, AI Prime 16HD with a longer flex arm is a good choice but almost 3x price of the K7 mini (which is a light I like better than the prime in any case). Both will let you grow almost anything in an Evo.

 

[TranceLvr]

I chose an AI Prime HD16 and a mesh lid instead of a different light and top. Being able to view the tank from the top down was really nice. As mentioned above, the Prime allowed me to easily grow the SPS I had in the tank.

 

[inertabyss]

And did the prime make a big difference to viewing pleasure of the tank? The stock light I only currently get to see the colours of the coral under the full blue but I have to manually do that.

Looks like taking the lid off seems the way to go as well. The lid is a faff to get in for cleaning as it dribbles water everywhere when you do remove it.

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[jackiemon]

Hey! Would the noopsyche k7 pro 3 be too much for the fluval evo 13.5??

 

[JoJosReef]

Hey! Would the noopsyche k7 pro 3 be too much for the fluval evo 13.5??

If you want to grow clams I'm sure it'd be just fine! You could more easily do an acro tank using lower % power if you like to lower the power levels. I think of it like an AI Hydra 32, which is usually too much for an Evo.