Fluval Flex Owners - Experience, Mods, Advice

[Lsuhunter]

I would be careful with a lot of light bars, you have to remember that with the hood, it is basically going to sit right above the water level. A strong one may burn corals, and also it will get splashed from water.

 

[KonradTO]

I would be careful with a lot of light bars, you have to remember that with the hood, it is basically going to sit right above the water level. A strong one may burn corals, and also it will get splashed from water.

Yeah that's a good point, I always fear that stuff might not get enough light but the contrary is ever worse. I need to check if those bars are dimmable. They should be splash proof if I understood from the description

 

[cocoReefer]

I setup a 9 gallon flex for a buddy.

Just stuck a second pump in the bottom vent, and also closed off a bit of it, to force more water to cascade over the top weir. Skims the surface great that way.

Took off the top and threw on a kessil.
Easy to maintain with small weekly water changes and a vinegar/alcohol daily dose.

breeds euplica/dove shell snails like crazy

 

[cocoReefer]

Dont like the glare from the curved front glass. Otherwise fun tank

 

[ecswanson213]

Hi All!
I officially join the flex 123 club !
I started already to mod the tank a bit while it's cycling. I wish I knew about this thread before filling with water and sand to have a bit more choice for the mods but well..
I still haven't decided yet about the stock of the tank but I would like to have a reliable system that could potentially hold all the way up till SPS.

For now I did the following:
- Integrated a float switch in the hood for a DIY Arduino ato (I will post the build thread with code and circuit scheme once it's smooth and tested properly).
-Scraped off the honeycomb stuff from the back of the filter area (dusty crap!)
- Added a canister filter (tetra ex600plus)

I am currently planning to do in the next weeks:

- Block the lower intakes of the filter chamber with some biomedia inside the narrow chambers on the side. What do you think about this? Could be problematic in any way? I could also just use sand so it's easier to aspire it out with a siphon.
-Build some acrylic&net baskets for one of the media chambers and use it as refuge (that's why I scraped off the honeycomb crap)
-DIY media basket in the other chamber but I am not sure what to use it for. Another chaeto basket? Or maybe keep it for chemical filtration in case of need.
-add a surface skimmer inlet to the canister filter (those inlets that collect the water from the surface, not sure if that's the right name)
- add 2 powerheads, one in the front to keep the front glass clean and the other one somewhere else depending on the flow.
- Light-wise the tank came with the freshwater fluval aquasky led. I was planning to fit another mostly blue led bar in the hood to compensate the whites. At the moment I found a german company that makes quite powerful led bars https://www.ledaquaristik.de
But I might as well use a fluval marine 3.0, still haven't found out what's better.
- depending on the water params once the tank is crowded, I will decide if it's necessary to fit a Nano skimmer. For now I am setting up some 10%/week automatic water change connected with the Arduino board, hopefully it's enough.

Sorry for the long post! I hope I will get some feedback on the above. Also I hope I can contribute to this tread in some way. I am very into diy and coding so I might get something nice out of this in the next months.

What Power Heads are you thinking about getting?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Hi All!
I officially join the flex 123 club !
I started already to mod the tank a bit while it's cycling. I wish I knew about this thread before filling with water and sand to have a bit more choice for the mods but well..
I still haven't decided yet about the stock of the tank but I would like to have a reliable system that could potentially hold all the way up till SPS.

For now I did the following:
- Integrated a float switch in the hood for a DIY Arduino ato (I will post the build thread with code and circuit scheme once it's smooth and tested properly).
-Scraped off the honeycomb stuff from the back of the filter area (dusty crap!)
- Added a canister filter (tetra ex600plus)

I am currently planning to do in the next weeks:

- Block the lower intakes of the filter chamber with some biomedia inside the narrow chambers on the side. What do you think about this? Could be problematic in any way? I could also just use sand so it's easier to aspire it out with a siphon.
-Build some acrylic&net baskets for one of the media chambers and use it as refuge (that's why I scraped off the honeycomb crap)
-DIY media basket in the other chamber but I am not sure what to use it for. Another chaeto basket? Or maybe keep it for chemical filtration in case of need.
-add a surface skimmer inlet to the canister filter (those inlets that collect the water from the surface, not sure if that's the right name)
- add 2 powerheads, one in the front to keep the front glass clean and the other one somewhere else depending on the flow.
- Light-wise the tank came with the freshwater fluval aquasky led. I was planning to fit another mostly blue led bar in the hood to compensate the whites. At the moment I found a german company that makes quite powerful led bars https://www.ledaquaristik.de
But I might as well use a fluval marine 3.0, still haven't found out what's better.
- depending on the water params once the tank is crowded, I will decide if it's necessary to fit a Nano skimmer. For now I am setting up some 10%/week automatic water change connected with the Arduino board, hopefully it's enough.

Sorry for the long post! I hope I will get some feedback on the above. Also I hope I can contribute to this tread in some way. I am very into diy and coding so I might get something nice out of this in the next months.

Skip the Fluval Marine light, I have one the nano version over a 10 gallon and even turned up to 100% on everything my anemones are stretching for light. I currently use an Aquaknight A029 on my Flex 15 and just ordered another for the 10 gallon. The Fluval lights are pretty much only good for fish only or just softies, the Aquaknight is growing every coral I have in the Flex, even the SPS are loving life

 

[KonradTO]

What Power Heads are you thinking about getting?

Still have no idea. I heard about few brands but I would like to avoid the Ai ones because too pricey. I was thinking about getting 2, maybe with app controlled flow so I can decrease and increase flow along the day. Do you have any suggestions? How much flow it's necessary in a 30g tank?

 

[KonradTO]

Skip the Fluval Marine light, I have one the nano version over a 10 gallon and even turned up to 100% on everything my anemones are stretching for light. I currently use an Aquaknight A029 on my Flex 15 and just ordered another for the 10 gallon. The Fluval lights are pretty much only good for fish only or just softies, the Aquaknight is growing every coral I have in the Flex, even the SPS are loving life

I keep hearing contrasting opinions about those. I found some Leds from a German company with water cooling system, 80W for each led bar (can't tell the PAR but obviously much higher than fluval)

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I keep hearing contrasting opinions about those. I found some Leds from a German company with water cooling system, 80W for each led bar (can't tell the PAR but obviously much higher than fluval)

Here's a picture of my tank with the Aquaknight. I have the Flex 15 so I don't have as much room to play with lol Blues at 100%, whites at 10% (whites are BRIGHT). I suppose you may need 2 for the bigger Flex, but you'd still be getting 2 lights for less than $150. As for powerheads, the Jebao SLW series are a great deal. They come with a controller and are designed like the AI Nero pumps, just a fraction of the price. I'm a cheap reefer if you couldn't tell ;Joyful

 

[ecswanson213]

What Power Heads are you thinking about getting?

I just picked up a Sicce Voyager Nano. I wanted something simple and this fit the bill. So far I like the added flow. https://www.sicce.com/en/products/stream-pumps/voyager-nano.html

 

[JReef3]

Sicce Silent Question -

Hi everyone. I’m hoping this is a good place to get some feedback/experiences on the Sicce Silent 1.5. I know it’s a popular return pump upgrade on our tanks so I went ahead and got one. Mine is currently far from silent. I searched around a bit and a few people said they have a break-in period and then quite down after a few days. Anyone experience this or was your quite from day one?

Here’s my post about it in my build thread with more detail and pics if it helps. Thanks!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...arine-back-to-reefkeeping.847230/post-9339213

 

[kamehameha]

My tank has started getting some build-up in the rear chamber. I have my canister filter return in the middle bay right now. It seems there is enough flow in there and the chamber it's pointed at that they don't seem to get the build-up, but all the other little chambers do.

Has anyone else had this issue, or have a solution to it? I thought maybe a skimmer, but I don't think it's going to get much flow going through there really.

 

[BTimms]

My tank has started getting some build-up in the rear chamber. I have my canister filter return in the middle bay right now. It seems there is enough flow in there and the chamber it's pointed at that they don't seem to get the build-up, but all the other little chambers do.

Has anyone else had this issue, or have a solution to it? I thought maybe a skimmer, but I don't think it's going to get much flow going through there really.

Surface scum like that couldbe a result of over feeding and or lack of surface agitation.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

My tank has started getting some build-up in the rear chamber. I have my canister filter return in the middle bay right now. It seems there is enough flow in there and the chamber it's pointed at that they don't seem to get the build-up, but all the other little chambers do.

Has anyone else had this issue, or have a solution to it? I thought maybe a skimmer, but I don't think it's going to get much flow going through there really.

I've got build up in those two tiny chambers even with a skimmer and an extra pump. I'm not sure there even is a solution.

I'm interested in your canister filter though, how is that working for you? I've thought about it myself a few times

 

[kamehameha]

Surface scum like that couldbe a result of over feeding and or lack of surface agitation.

I think it's definitely just a lack of agitation in that back chamber. I thought about possibly cutting down the dividers so the water might flow from right to left, just not sure.

 

[kamehameha]

I've got build up in those two tiny chambers even with a skimmer and an extra pump. I'm not sure there even is a solution.

I'm interested in your canister filter though, how is that working for you? I've thought about it myself a few times

So far, fantastic. It makes filter maintenance a breeze. You just flip up the little tabs to stop the water, pull off the lid, and then dump the canister water in a bucket and rinse off all the media in the old tank water. Replace anything that needs it and then pop the lid back on and you are done. At this point, my filter maintenance takes ~6-7 minutes.

I got one rated for a 75G tank so if there is anything in the water, it doesn't stay there for long. It's also super quiet.

 

[KonradTO]

I use a Tetra Ex600plus in addition to the stock filter and I find it super easy to clean. I get some detritus as well though. But I am not too much concerned, I guess once every N weeks you can siphon it out.

 

[kamehameha]

Just an FYI/Review of sorts to anyone who might have seen these. I got my new Kraken Reef lid today and its absolutely perfect. It costs a bit, but its well worth it for me!

 

[kamehameha]

Another heads up, if you are having the build up in the back section, I just cut notches in the middle of the dividers and the return water from my canister flows through each section now.

It has completely eliminated the build up in the back.

 

[Cantusaurus]

I bent the top plastic fin in all the way so the water would flow past it. You will see what I mean after you install the baskets and watch the water flow. You do have to fill the tank very high with water as well. I have since installed a UV canister filter to compliment the Intank basket. I had to cut the lid to fit the intake and outflow for that. I like the look of the fluval flex tank but had to completely gut it and go with all none fluval parts to get it working really well. Now it works great and I am very happy with it. Using it as is out of the box was nearly impossible. It overheated and the filter was terrible.

Hey, I want to do what you did to allow better water flow/surface skimming. (In the image below) is it one of these plastic pieces? And or both of them?