Fluval Flex 32.5 Saltwater (123 Marine) - Back to Reefkeeping

[SaltwaterandLime]

Take it apart and inspect the impeller. Even the tiniest bit of anything in there will make it noisy. My first thought would have been to make sure it wasn't touching anything but you said you've already done that. Mine has been running now for 18 months, there is a definite mechanical "hum" but no other vibration or noise. I have the same pump on a freshwater tank and it's occasionally given me issues when tiny annoying snails want to multiple like mad and get sucked up by the pump

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

I will say, I have multiple sicce pumps of varying sizes on multiple tanks. They have all been loud for a day and I never hear them again. If yours continues to be loud, don't let it go past your allowed return time because it should not be giving off that much noise

 

[JReef3]

I will say, I have multiple sicce pumps of varying sizes on multiple tanks. They have all been loud for a day and I never hear them again. If yours continues to be loud, don't let it go past your allowed return time because it should not be giving off that much noise

That's really good to hear, I was pretty disappointed when the Sicce Silent was louder than the stock pump. I disassembled and inspected it as you suggested when I first heard the noise but no luck, it seemed perfectly fine inside. Hopefully it quiets down like yours have. I really like how it fits in the sump and the amount of flow it puts out so I'd hate to have to return it. You're absolutely right though about not letting it go past the return time, if it's not quiet within a few days I'll order another or something else and swap it out. Thankfully Amazon is easy about returns.

 

[Reydin]

Light Adjustment:
I noticed that I had quite a few shadows in the tank caused by the upper rocks in my aquascape. The stock hood comes with mounting holes to have a single light in the center or you can buy a second fixture and move the single/original one slightly forward of center and the second/new one slight to the rear of center. I found that since the sump area on the Flex 32.5 sticks out several inches from the back into the display tank, the rockwork is nearly in the center of the tank as well so the single light fixture that comes mounted in the center of the hood ends up directly over the rockwork casting shadows on the lower rockwork facing the front of the tank.

While I currently have just the one light fixture and I don’t necessarily plan to get a second unless I decide to keep certain SPS, an anemone, claims or other higher-light livestock down the road, I decided to move the single fixture to the forward position to reduce the shadows. It was very easy to move the light fixture forward by just removing the two brackets on the ends of the fixture held on by 4 screws and then I repositioned it in the forward of center space. Since I didn’t take a before photo with my current light settings and since aquariums are difficult to photograph with a true representation of lighting and shadows so you’ll have to take my word that the shadows have been noticeably reduced by this move.

Here is the single fixture moved to the forward position.

The brackets are very easy to unscrew and move with just 2 screws on each bracket.

The sump sticks out so the rocks are nearly in the center just below the stock fixture position.

The photo makes the front rockwork look like it is still in shadows but it’s noticeably better and now has slightly more direct light which should easily support softies and LPS in most areas.

I did the exact same thing.

 

[JReef3]

Sicce Syncra 1.5 Update:
So I posted last week that I installed this pump and it was noisy from the start. From some searching, it seemed it may just require a break-in period. I ran it for about 5 days with no improvement so I ordered another of the same pump from Amazon thinking I may have just gotten a defective one. One week later to the day, the initial pump is still noisy and the replacement arrived yesterday so I installed the replacement this morning. Same issue. I have of course installed the suction cup feet, ensured it is not touching walls of the tank/sump, ensured the outlet hose and power cord are not laying against anything as much as possible, and I also took it apart and inspected it with no obvious signs of defect. When I put my hand on the pump running in the sump area, it has a noticeable vibration. I’m at a loss. It doesn’t sound like a lawn mower or anything but I can hear it quite clearly humming/vibrating while sitting on the sofa about 15 feet away. It doesn’t seem any better, if not worse, than the stock pump and the first and second Sicce are about the same. Perhaps my expectations were too high with “silent” in the name?? I’ll return the first one and give the second a week to break in and see if it quiets down and meanwhile, maybe I’ll research alternatives; DC pumps are supposed to be very quiet, perhaps I’ll look into that in case Syncra Silent 1.5 #2 doesn’t quiet down.

 

[JReef3]

Sicce Syncra 1.5 Update #2:
Last week I swapped out one Sicce Syncra 1.5 for a replacement as the first was quite loud still after giving it a week to break in. The second/replacement was also quite loud upon installation but I thought I'd give it a chance to break in as well. Another week later, I have found that it is not a matter of breaking in, the pump just seems to have loose tolerances inside and sometimes it gets off kilter and vibrates quite a bit making a lot of noise and other times the impeller must center itself as it quiets down. I have the return and all of my equipment on a power strip with individual switches so I can turn them off/on separately for feeding and maintenance. The pump got loud so I switched it off and back on and it got quiet. I did this several times and it turns on loud sometimes and quiet other times so I'm not sure if I got unlucky with a second bad pump or what. This seems to rule out vibration against other things as nothing else is moving, the pump is just being turned off/on.

You'll likely need the sound all the way up to hear the difference well on the video.

 

[JReef3]

Heater Upgrade?
I like to run two smaller heaters rather than one large one in case one stops working, the other will still maintain the temperature or at least keep it from dropping quickly. In the case that one fails in the on position, I’ll only have one smaller heater constantly on so it will raise the temperature very slowly. Between this and an InkBird controller’s alarm that warns if the temperature is out of range, I’ll have a good chance of fixing things before any major problems arise.

My most recent prior tank was a JBJ 28g nano and I ran 2 Eheim Jager 50W heaters in that which worked very well. When I started up this Fluval Flex 32.5, I decided to used the 10 year old Eheim Jagers I had saved from the JBJ since I still have about the same water volume because I used the rock from the JBJ and added a bit of new rock.

It’s been on my mind that heaters will definitely eventually go out, probably sooner than later at 10 years old, so I had been searching for good replacements. I couldn’t find anything that seemed more reliable than the Eheim Jager except maybe the newer Eheim ThermoControl e. I don’t know when it came out but assume it’s fairly new since there weren’t many reviews on it yet. I just couldn’t decide between the tried-and-true Jager or the newer ThermoControl e so I decided to go with one of each as a mini long-term experiment.

Both are made by Eheim in Germany, 50 watts, rated up to 16 gallons, and fully submersible. Before putting them in the tank, I put them side by side for comparison. The newer design ThermoControl e has a thinner, more flexible power cord that seems more like other heaters while the Jager has a much more stout but less flexible round cord much like a power strip. The ThermoControl is also about an inch shorter than the Jager. The ThermoControl has a red pre-calibrated temperature dial while the Jager has a blue dial with an adjustable calibration pointer. The Jager has an orange light that comes on when heating while the ThermoControl has a red light when heating that switches to a green light when not heating to let you know it is plugged in which I really like.

I have both heaters set to about 81 degrees and the InkBird set to 79 +/- 1 degree which seems to keep the temperature at 78.something pretty consistently. Theoretically the more accurate InkBird will do the temperature sensing and switching on/off so the heaters have nothing to do except heat the water. We’ll see if one lasts longer than the other or if any issues arise with the less tried-and-true ThermoControl.

 

[Bear Claw]

Love it!! I have a fluvial flex and I love it! I saw you had your heater on the side of your tank. I would recommend putting it in the back with the pump. That's where mine is and it works great. Have fun with it!!

 

[Bear Claw]

Love it!! I have a fluvial flex and I love it! I saw you had your heater on the side of your tank. I would recommend putting it in the back with the pump. That's where mine is and it works great. Have fun with it!!

Unless you have 2 of them.

 

[KonradTO]

Unless you have 2 of them.

I placed them in the 2 side compartments where the inflow is, they fit right there, but I guess depends on the heater. I use the fluval 100w

 

[JReef3]

I keep the heaters in the back sump area as well. They were only placed in the display tank for the photo to show the difference between the two types; I didn't want them out of water while turned on for the photo. I would have liked to put them in the narrow overflow compartments on the sides as KonradTO has done but, unlike the Fluval heaters, these are a bit larger in diameter and would not fit unless I were to trim the little plates near the top of those outer compartments.

 

[suspiciouspigman]

What model of InkBird do you use?

 

[JReef3]

What model of InkBird do you use?

I use the ITC-308S. I use a Y cord to plug two heaters into the heating side and I'm not using the cooling side yet but have the option of plugging a fan into it should I run into any heat issues.

​

 

[suspiciouspigman]

Interesting, thanks for telling me!

 

[suspiciouspigman]

Also what model of Hydor Koralia Nano do you use?

 

[JReef3]

Also what model of Hydor Koralia Nano do you use?

I can’t recall what model it is, it‘s an older one from perhaps 10 years ago. I’ve actually removed it and am currently using a Jebao SLW-10.

 

[suspiciouspigman]

Alright thanks!

 

[tpirovol]

Sicce Syncra 1.5 Update #2:
Last week I swapped out one Sicce Syncra 1.5 for a replacement as the first was quite loud still after giving it a week to break in. The second/replacement was also quite loud upon installation but I thought I'd give it a chance to break in as well. Another week later, I have found that it is not a matter of breaking in, the pump just seems to have loose tolerances inside and sometimes it gets off kilter and vibrates quite a bit making a lot of noise and other times the impeller must center itself as it quiets down. I have the return and all of my equipment on a power strip with individual switches so I can turn them off/on separately for feeding and maintenance. The pump got loud so I switched it off and back on and it got quiet. I did this several times and it turns on loud sometimes and quiet other times so I'm not sure if I got unlucky with a second bad pump or what. This seems to rule out vibration against other things as nothing else is moving, the pump is just being turned off/on.

You'll likely need the sound all the way up to hear the difference well on the video.

I am in the same boat what ever happened. You described my issue to a T.
Thanks

 

[JReef3]

I am in the same boat what ever happened. You described my issue to a T.
Thanks

I was convinced that the unit I got was defective so I exchanged it for a replacement only to experience the same thing. After taking it apart, inspecting it, and carefully fitting it back together, it continued to make the noise but I just let it run. Here we are a few months later and it has calmed down. I'm not sure I'd put "silent" in the name if I were Sicce, but it's quite tolerable at this point; its much better than it started out and I'm no longer on a mission to find a replacement. Hopefully yours calms down too. I guess some take longer than others to break in and find their groove. Good luck!

 

[JReef3]

Time for an update. I haven’t posted in several months because the tank has just been on autopilot, slowly maturing. I’ve been doing 5 gallon water changes once a week and otherwise, have tried not to mess with flow, lighting, or anything else so things remain stable. I haven’t had any significant algae issues and over the past month or two, purple/pink coralline has started to pop up on the rocks, the back plastic wall, and the glass.

The only equipment I dabbled with was the addition of an Eshopps Nano skimmer. After it broke in, I messed with it quite a bit but never felt it was very useful; it has a tiny collection cup and only ever produced a small amount of light tea colored skimmate. Perhaps with an ATO to maintain the water level, it may have performed more consistently but, as was, it didn’t pull enough skimmate to justify the effort and noise so it has been switched off for the past month or so.

As for livestock, I do not quarantine fish as I only have this one small nano tank and have had good luck in the past but, it finally bit me. Brooklynella was introduced to the tank and claimed both of my clownfish and a neon goby. I didn’t introduce anything new for a few months following that and have since added a pair of clowns who seem to be doing quite well. I’ve also slowly added a mix of easier corals including Birds Nest, Frogspawn, a Torch, Clove Polyps, Florida Ricordea, a Duncan, GSP, and perhaps one or two others which all seem to be doing fairly well.

Here is an current full tank shot and a few videos.