Fluval Flex Owners - Experience, Mods, Advice

[rockdiver]

I had the same issue. I bought an eheim 350 surface skimmer. The surface scum disappeared within a few hours.

Personally the filtration on these suck. But will reading this I will close up the bottom some how.
Tank looks nice but I have more issues with the filter.
Was thinking of just ripping it all out !

 

[Lsuhunter]

Has anyone tried the Fluval autofeeder? What are people using for autofeeders?

I have it and it is ok at best. I only bought it for when I go on vacation, I personally would not rely on it for everyday use. The portion settings are not great, it goes from dumping very little on the lowest setting to dumping way too much on the next level.

 

[Niklas123321]

Could I keep a Bubble Tip Anemone under the fluval flex marine 3 LED stock light, or should I atleast upgrade and get a second one?

 

[fachatga]

I think a bigger issue than the light is that 32 isn’t big enough for an anemone. I’ve never tried to put one in mine. So maybe somebody else here had better experience to tell you if there’s a kind they had success with. But I think bta will be too big. Light probably can keep it alive though.

 

[Niklas123321]

I read green bubble tip anemones usually stay smaller, is this true?
Though I have read plently of times of people putting some in 20ish gallons, or smaller

 

[Lsuhunter]

One stock light works just fine for a bubble tip anemone. It will move higher up the rockwork towards the light if needed. 32 is also more than plenty enough for a bubble tip. I had 7 small ones in mine at one point.

 

[Niklas123321]

I actually really like this tank.
Most seem to prefer an open tank, but with the cover you seriously don't need an ATO whatsoever.

 

[jenhuei]

Hi All. I have just start my journey in Planted Tank about a months back doing extensive reading and finally take the plunge and got myself a Fluval Flex 15G.

I have pretty much finish my setup and are currently 1 week into DSM. I am using ADA Amazonia normal type substrate with a layer of Seachem Black sand on top. It hit me suddenly that i might have problem with the water flow as the vent to filter media compartment is completely cover by soil. During the setting up I initially thought that water will be able to travel thru the porous soil however I am starting to seeing some issue,

1. Over time the Amazonia soil will become compact and the space between the soil will no longer be there hence blocking the flow of water.

2. In the event that water does manage to pass thru the soil, it will be constantly leaching amonia into the water that need to constantly travel thru the soil to reach the filter media.

Look forward to some advice and hopefully be able to share their experience?

 

[ecswanson213]

Could I keep a Bubble Tip Anemone under the fluval flex marine 3 LED stock light, or should I atleast upgrade and get a second one?

I have a green BTA under the stock lights. I wish he would settle down in a place I like though.....

 

[JReef3]

For those of you who have blocked your lower intake vents, have you noticed any detritus build up at the bottom of the narrow intake chambers (red circle in the photo below)? I'd like to block those vents to improve surface skimming but wonder if it might be hard to keep that area clean. Just looking at the design, it seems like with the lower inlet blocked, it may become a dead spot where heavier detritus would collect.

 

[ecswanson213]

For those of you who have blocked your lower intake vents, have you noticed any detritus build up at the bottom of the narrow intake chambers (red circle in the photo below)? I'd like to block those vents to improve surface skimming but wonder if it might be hard to keep that area clean. Just looking at the design, it seems like with the lower inlet blocked, it may become a dead spot where heavier detritus would collect.

I am wondering about blocking the bottom vents too. I am having a buildup of surface scum that I want to get rid of. Any thoughts? Has this happened to others. I am running the stock pump but have ugraded the baskets.

 

[BTimms]

Block the bottom internal vents of the basket. Do not block the external intake.

 

[JReef3]

I am wondering about blocking the bottom vents too. I am having a buildup of surface scum that I want to get rid of. Any thoughts? Has this happened to others. I am running the stock pump but have ugraded the baskets.

Oh interesting, so you have the InTank baskets and still have the surface scum then? I just ordered some of them hoping they might solve the problem correcting flow. Still a great upgrade. I also have the stock pump at the moment.

Block the bottom internal vents of the basket. Do not block the external intake.

Are you referring to the Flex stock baskets or modifying InTank baskets in some way?

 

[BTimms]

Oh interesting, so you have the InTank baskets and still have the surface scum then? I just ordered some of them hoping they might solve the problem correcting flow. Still a great upgrade. I also have the stock pump at the moment.

Are you referring to the Flex stock baskets or modifying InTank baskets in some way?

The intake of the internal stock basket frame. I placed a piece of acrylic(see red circle in pic) that covers the bottom vents but allows water to pour in over the top two vents. I then use sponge on the top and bio media in the bottom. Essentially turning the entire box into a filter section.

 

[JReef3]

The intake of the internal stock basket frame. I placed a piece of acrylic(see red circle in pic) that covers the bottom vents but allows water to pour in over the top two vents. I then use sponge on the top and bio media in the bottom. Essentially turning the entire box into a filter section.

I think I understand. So the water can still enter through the top and bottom display tank vents/inlets but once inside that narrow channel, it is all forced up the channel and pours over/ through the top section of the stock basket and then down through the subsequent media below. Sounds sort of like a DIY InTank basket if I’m understanding correctly. Neat solution. I can see how it would improve filtration for sure. Since it still leaves the bottom display tank inlet open, did it also improve surface skimming or is the surface scum still an issue?

 

[BTimms]

I think I understand. So the water can still enter through the top and bottom display tank vents/inlets but once inside that narrow channel, it is all forced up the channel and pours over/ through the top section of the stock basket and then down through the subsequent media below. Sounds sort of like a DIY InTank basket if I’m understanding correctly. Neat solution. I can see how it would improve filtration for sure. Since it still leaves the bottom display tank inlet open, did it also improve surface skimming or is the surface scum still an issue?

You got it correct.

I have not had any issues with surface scum. Sometimes I’ll notice a surface film, if I feed too heavily. But it goes away.

 

[ecswanson213]

I think I understand. So the water can still enter through the top and bottom display tank vents/inlets but once inside that narrow channel, it is all forced up the channel and pours over/ through the top section of the stock basket and then down through the subsequent media below. Sounds sort of like a DIY InTank basket if I’m understanding correctly. Neat solution. I can see how it would improve filtration for sure. Since it still leaves the bottom display tank inlet open, did it also improve surface skimming or is the surface scum still an issue?

I have not had any issues with surface scum. Sometimes I’ll notice a surface film, if I feed too heavily. But it goes away.

Thanks for the discussion. I was also wondering if this could help improve the situation: https://www.3deep.co.uk/cart?appSectionParams={"origin":"cart-popup"} Does anyone have any expierence with these?

 

[Lsuhunter]

I have the lower intake guards from 3deep if that is what your link is for. They definitely help because they force water to enter the rear chambers from the top instead of the bottom.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I have it and it is ok at best. I only bought it for when I go on vacation, I personally would not rely on it for everyday use. The portion settings are not great, it goes from dumping very little on the lowest setting to dumping way too much on the next level.

an easy fix for this is to use a piece of tape to restrict the hole

 

[KonradTO]

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.