Fluval Evo 5 questions

[phishin06]

Hello all,

My LFS has a ridiculous sale on Evo 5's this week and I may go grab one. A few questions...

Is there a way to add a small skimmer to these tiny tanks?

How about ATO? Opinions on this?

Also, is there an issue with heat issues with lighting built into the hood? Where does the heater go?

Any feedback on the success of these really small Evos would be appreciated!

Whit

 

[BeachVacationer]

In such a small tank I don't think you need a skimmer. I don't have one in mine. WC will export out waste enough to keep it healthy. At least that's my opinion. The heater goes in the chamber where the return pump is. Some people upgrade the return pump to create more flow. I upgraded mine and I also have a SW-2 Wavemaker to create a nice wave action. The light is not built into the hood like the larger Evo. There is a clear plastic cover and the LED bar "floats" above it. As for an ATO, I bought the Tunze nano ATO but didn't like it because my water level dropped too much before it kicked in and dumping a lot of RO water at once was visually stressing my corals. So I'm back to daily manual top offs. As for heat issues, IMO my tank was too hot especially in summer. It was at 84 with cover and lights on and the wavemaker too. So I run a fan on top hooked up to a temperature controller. Now it's always at 77 +/- 0.3 Fahrenheit. I also changed my lighting to add more actinic lighting as I like that look. Hope this helps. These are nice little tanks.