Buying a fluval flex 32 this week and have a few question

[peterat33rpm]

I’ll hopefully be getting a fluval flex 32 this week and just have a couple questions before I get going. I have a 10 gallon planted freshwater tank right now but have never tried my hand at saltwater and this tank seems like a good starting point.

- I just ordered a set of 2 in tank media baskets. Do I need to buy any particular media for them or will the filter media/floss that comes with the setup work with the baskets?

- I’ve read that the pump will probably need to be upgraded, and I’ve seen that the syncra silent 1.5 is a good option. Can I do this down the line (weeks/months)? Or should it be done right away

- any suggestions for a power head/wavemaker?

- Live rock vs not live, is one easier than the other for newbies or one clearly better than the other?

- is an auto topoff (relatively) easily doable with this tank? I don’t think I’d spring for it right away but likely will want it down the line.

- planning on lugging home 32 gallons of RODI water, figuring out how to mix saltwater, then filling it along with sand and rock, and adding some sort of turbostart then letting it sit and cycle for a few (4-6?) weeks. Anything glaring I’m missing as far as day one out of the box setup?

Thanks very much for any help!

 

[Cthulukelele]

Does the flex 32 have a back compartment for filter media, heating, and mechanical filtration? Filter media is less important in salt water as the live rock acts as all of your necessary bio media.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Also I'd suggest tbs live rock if you can afford it. Comes with hitchhikers but massively improves first year experience. Best option is putting it in a holding tank and removing the nasties at night.

 

[Spare time]

Quality bituminous or ROX 0.8 carbon is all you need other than a mechanical filter like a filter pad. GFO can be mixed into the carbon is phosphate becomes an issue.

As for rock, consider bommie reef rock. It is basically coralline rock. I will never buy live rock again (albeit I'd consider bommie reef rock) unless its a tiny tank where any pest can be delt with very easily. Otherwise, dry rock with the immediate addition of a large, diverse set of snails as soon as you start seeing algae. All rock becomes live rock. All rock will grow algae without a proper algaevorous set of creatures. I personally think dry rock algae issues occur because people are too slow to add snails and add too few and not enough different kinds, not because of microbial diversity.

No clue about the auto top off for that tank. Turbo start cycles the tank almost immediately. Just add ammonium chloride (fritz sells some) and it will be done very fast.


I highly suggest you consider making a QT tank using the QT guideline on here from Jay Hemdal or buying pre-quarentined fish.

 

[peterat33rpm]

Thanks for the suggestions! think I’m going to go with dry rock, just seems easier to deal with staring out. got a few supplies today but still waiting on my lfs to get the tank in stock

 

[Spare time]

Thanks for the suggestions! think I’m going to go with dry rock, just seems easier to deal with staring out. got a few supplies today but still waiting on my lfs to get the tank in stock

Live rock is fun but I think dry rock is easier IF you know how to manage the algae. You can always add live ocean sand for cool critters if you want.

 

[peterat33rpm]

Well, I can’t say I do currently but I’m trying to read up on it beforehand. I wasn’t going to turn the lights on until cycling done, and then was leaning towards doing a refugium and learning about appropriate algae eating animals. I didn’t realize live vs dry made that much of a difference where algae was concerned.

 

[peterat33rpm]

So I set up the tank with about half live rock and half dry. The salinity right now is 1.027 which as I understand is a little high. I have two questions about this -

Is it too high to stock at this level? And if so, are you supposed to do a water change after cycling and before stocking anyway? If so I could just replace some of the water with plain RO to decrease the salinity?

Follow up to that question, is there a rule of thumb or something for how much water to replace with freshwater to lower the salinity by X Amount?

Should I remove and replace filter floss at some point during the cycle? I feel like I’ve been told that before but it doesn’t make a lot of sense if that sponge is seeded with bacteria?

At what point can I add inverts for a clean up crew? When there’s visible algae?

Final question and if anyone is still reading I owe you a beer. I added ammonia chloride to 2ppm two days ago, and now my levels are
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 5
Nitrate 40

is it normal for nitrate to be this high already?

Thanks very much for any advice!