First Salt Water - Fluval Flex 32.5

mforde

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Always wanted to try a saltwater tank. Finally jumped in and started to get this fluval flex 32.5 going.
Worked on several different rockscapes before I added the sand and water 2.5 weeks ago.
Added 2 small clown fish last weekend. (pic was before that)
So far so good.
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Tank.jpg
 
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mforde

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Good start! What do you plan to add?
For equipment I switched the fluval pump for a sicce and I’ve got an Eshoppe protein skimmer that I will put on soon. I’m also going to attempt to use one of the back chambers as a small refugium.
For fish I really have no idea what’s next.
Id like to get a starfish and shrimp
Corals, start slow with something low maintenance and see how it goes.
 
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mforde

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Added a little arch on the weekend and 1 mp10 pump.
Nitrite still at around 1ppm
Nitrate at around 20ppm.
 

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Adrift

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That’s what I used too. Was just curious on the spike you are getting. My Ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites never spiked at all. Of course I’m using api and didn’t test everyday though.
 
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mforde

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That’s what I used too. Was just curious on the spike you are getting. My Ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites never spiked at all. Of course I’m using api and didn’t test everyday though.
Similar experience so far. The day after, ammonia was 0. Nitrite and Nitrates have been steady.
 
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mforde

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So after a week of tinkering with the rock structure, and some trial and error I am posting a new picture. I ended up adding a couple of pieces of caribsea nano arches. I don't like the colour but they provide a good structure and they were the right size. I have not glued them in place but they are nice and stable. It may have been hard to tell from the previous pictures but a couple of the rocks I had in there were quite large, almost dividing the tank in half. On the bottom right side of the picture is a live rock a added to help with the cycling. Its not permanent
Photo Dec. 3.jpg
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darrow0903

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For equipment I switched the fluval pump for a sicce and I’ve got an Eshoppe protein skimmer that I will put on soon. I’m also going to attempt to use one of the back chambers as a small refugium.
For fish I really have no idea what’s next.
Id like to get a starfish and shrimp
Corals, start slow with something low maintenance and see how it goes.
Hey let me know how you did your refugium. Your rock work looks amazing! I have the same and the Fluval pump has been noisy lol. Which sicce did yoh get?
 
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mforde

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What are you using to build your aquascape? I used Nyos reef cement and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
I tried a couple of things; reef glue (crazy glue), Marco cement, and epoxy. They all made a mess and I got carried away with trying to make it look perfect I lost sight of the overall goal.
 
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mforde

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Starting to get some algae in the tank.
As of last night the parameters are:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0.5ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago 1 clown died. He sank to the bottom, and was struggling. The other one is doing fine so I’m not sure what the problem was.
Once the nitrite goes to 0ppm I am either going to add another clown fish or some snails and a hermit crab. Any suggestions on which I should add first?
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Lsuhunter

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You can go ahead and start adding the snails and hermits since you have some algae showing for them to eat. Adding another clown now wouldnt hurt anything either. I would leave the skimmer off for a couple months though and just let everything settle, there is no need to be stripping resources out of the tank at this point. That will just lead to bigger problems. When I set up my flex, I didn't even do a water change for the first 2-3 months.
 
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mforde

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Update:
It’s been just over a month in the life of this tank. I replaced the stock filter sponges with intank media baskets and have a small pouch of carbon and filter floss in each of them. I will be setting up the protein skimmer on the weekend and ordering the chaeto for the refugium experiment.

In the last month the tank has just been growing hair algae, I’ve manually removed some but for the most part I’m just letting it play out. I discovered what looks like aptasia. Tried to pluck it out with tweezers but I didn’t get it. I’ll probably add a peppermint shrimp soon to see if they will eat it - i


There have been a few livestock additions:
Mocha Storm Clown
Blue leg hermit crab
Trochus snail
2x Nerite snails
2x Nassarius Snails
1x Cerith Snail


Parameters:
Temp 77.7 F
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 10-20ppm
Calcium 430ppm
Alkalinity 7.3dkh
Magnesium 1200 ppm
PH 8
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Sink_or_Swim

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Looks great! I'm currently considering this tank (just wish I could convert the white freshwater version for salt use... I like it better than the black personally for my space). Did you say you found the included pump noisy? That's a no-go for me as my tank will be in the living room and my fiance hates when my tanks make noise, lol).
 
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mforde

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Looks great! I'm currently considering this tank (just wish I could convert the white freshwater version for salt use... I like it better than the black personally for my space). Did you say you found the included pump noisy? That's a no-go for me as my tank will be in the living room and my fiance hates when my tanks make noise, lol).
Thanks. I actually never used the stock pump in the tank. I use it for mixing water and water changes. I could tell when I first looked at it that it was going to cause problems. I’ve had issues with aquarium kit pumps in the past, it’s the first thing I swap out.
before you get the white fluval consider the grim and algae that will buildup on the white background. It’s plastic, you won’t be able to get it clean. The tank will always look grimy. Just something to consider.
 
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