fishynate
New Member
Hi all,
Very new to the hobby but trying to start right. I am cycling a Fluval flex 32 but am considering some mods and before i over-engineer this “all-in-one” tank I wanted to get some opinions. Short term goal is stocking with some straightforward fish and not killing them, medium term goal is adding some soft corals, maybe some LPS. Long term goals are adding a mandarin. Towards that end I’m thinking of adding a crp HOB fuge. My dilemma is how best to incorporate it with other seemingly important mods.
1. Intank media basket - easy upgrade, in the tank already and working well
I can place the intake for the fuge in the central pump chamber in the back (see pic). The attached tunze pump is rated about the same (210 g/hr) as the (mediocre) pump that comes with the Fluval but is significantly smaller. I was going to remove the Fluval pump, block the powerhead outlet hole so the fuge pump is pulling water through the 2 Intank baskets (with carbon, foam, ceramic) sending it to the fuge and dumping back into the tank. With the power heads blocked I’ll have to pick up a Nero or something like it to keep the water moving - but figured I’d have to do that anyway. I should be able to fit a skimmer in the back pump chamber with the Fluval pump removed - I think.
Am I missing something or would this work well - giving me a fuge, a skimmer and still pulling the requisite water through the filtration media? I suppose an alternative would be to upgrade the Fluval pump to a sicce and keep the stock powerhead to increase throughput - but I don’t think I could fit that, a skimmer and the fuge input all in the back pump area - so would either have to forego the skimmer or get a HOB aqua max 1.5 and hang off the side.
am I overthinking this? I will have to cut a little plastic on the hood to fit the fuge outflow - but may end up with a net top and better lights down the road anyway.
Thanks for any thoughts/insight.
Very new to the hobby but trying to start right. I am cycling a Fluval flex 32 but am considering some mods and before i over-engineer this “all-in-one” tank I wanted to get some opinions. Short term goal is stocking with some straightforward fish and not killing them, medium term goal is adding some soft corals, maybe some LPS. Long term goals are adding a mandarin. Towards that end I’m thinking of adding a crp HOB fuge. My dilemma is how best to incorporate it with other seemingly important mods.
1. Intank media basket - easy upgrade, in the tank already and working well
I can place the intake for the fuge in the central pump chamber in the back (see pic). The attached tunze pump is rated about the same (210 g/hr) as the (mediocre) pump that comes with the Fluval but is significantly smaller. I was going to remove the Fluval pump, block the powerhead outlet hole so the fuge pump is pulling water through the 2 Intank baskets (with carbon, foam, ceramic) sending it to the fuge and dumping back into the tank. With the power heads blocked I’ll have to pick up a Nero or something like it to keep the water moving - but figured I’d have to do that anyway. I should be able to fit a skimmer in the back pump chamber with the Fluval pump removed - I think.
Am I missing something or would this work well - giving me a fuge, a skimmer and still pulling the requisite water through the filtration media? I suppose an alternative would be to upgrade the Fluval pump to a sicce and keep the stock powerhead to increase throughput - but I don’t think I could fit that, a skimmer and the fuge input all in the back pump area - so would either have to forego the skimmer or get a HOB aqua max 1.5 and hang off the side.
am I overthinking this? I will have to cut a little plastic on the hood to fit the fuge outflow - but may end up with a net top and better lights down the road anyway.
Thanks for any thoughts/insight.
