Fluval Flex 15 gallon build thread

[PheonixKingZ]

I've got some Emerald Dwarf Rasbora in my 20g. They have nice colors and personality.

they’re absolutely gorgeous!

Watching your thread intently I have considered totally downsizing my tanks, down to two now. Keep up the posts.

of course! will def be updating frequently

 

[PheonixKingZ]

finally got some work done tonight .

got the tank cleaned out, hooked up the filter and got the heater working with the app, washed the sand and added the piece of driftwood with some dragon stone on top of it to water log it. i think this piece is absolutely perfect. tomorrow im going to add more dragon stone and see if i need to purchase more than i have right now, and might add another small piece of driftwood

 

[PheonixKingZ]

just some notes on the tank that i thought i should mention

• it’s extremely clean looking and smooth, like it’s just a sleek tank and i like how everything is included besides the heater
• the light is very powerful and has a lot of different options for adjusting spectrum and such with the remote. it’ll definitely be able to grow a lot of plants
• the filter is SO quiet, probably the quietest filter i’ve ever had and it’s the most powerful too because of the sump like design
• the water flower is pretty dang strong it seems like, but it has two output jets that you can take off or adjust to make the flow less in the tank

and black substrate was definitely the way to go on this tank, i’m excited for it to progress even more

 

[MuddyWaters]

just some notes on the tank that i thought i should mention

• it’s extremely clean looking and smooth, like it’s just a sleek tank and i like how everything is included besides the heater
• the light is very powerful and has a lot of different options for adjusting spectrum and such with the remote. it’ll definitely be able to grow a lot of plants
• the filter is SO quiet, probably the quietest filter i’ve ever had and it’s the most powerful too because of the sump like design
• the water flower is pretty dang strong it seems like, but it has two output jets that you can take off or adjust to make the flow less in the tank

and black substrate was definitely the way to go on this tank, i’m excited for it to progress even more

I've had mine for a couple of years and my light is starting to die off- the diodes on the far end away from the electricity source are blinking out. I never use the remote that comes with it- I just set it to 100% white and put a timer on it - but I'm going to put a battery in the remote and see if I can play with that to get the lights going again. Never had trouble with anything else in this tank- I love it- may end up having to buy a replacement light- hopefully I can get that and not have to buy the whole top.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I've had mine for a couple of years and my light is starting to die off- the diodes on the far end away from the electricity source are blinking out. I never use the remote that comes with it- I just set it to 100% white and put a timer on it - but I'm going to put a battery in the remote and see if I can play with that to get the lights going again. Never had trouble with anything else in this tank- I love it- may end up having to buy a replacement light- hopefully I can get that and not have to buy the whole top.

gotcha okay. if my light does die after a bit i’m pretty sure the tank came with a warranty so it should cover that, but if it doesn’t i’ll probably just upgrade lights anyway



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very little progress today, added the few small pieces of dragon stone i had left, into the tank. i’m going to have to go to my LFS and see what other driftwood options they have, because i have a feeling like i want to add another larger piece in the back right corner. if i can find a decent piece that i like, i’ll also get more dragon stone to put around it.

i want a better scape but i’m afraid if i add too much it’ll take away from the swimming room the tank has to offer, so i might not add that much more

it’ll all come together once i get it planted, but that’s for some time later

also here’s where i have the filter, next to the pump/outlet

 

[PheonixKingZ]

water cleared up even more, i’m loving the filtration on this tank, it’s super smooth and quiet. i might add the live bacteria in the next few days and then get some nerite snails and hopefully some shrimp just to get some life in the tank. i’m also going to hopefully get some java moss for the shrimp to reside in until i get the tank more planted.

 

[connorlindeman]

Looking good! What type of plant growth are you aiming for? Jungle?

 

[Rocky998]

Gotta follow this!!
Return of the Phoenix lol

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looking good! What type of plant growth are you aiming for? Jungle?

thanks! definitely jungle yes, but i don’t want to distract from the hard scape too much because the driftwood really is a beautiful piece.

Gotta follow this!!
Return of the Phoenix lol

thanks! yes definitely

 

[PheonixKingZ]

got some life in the tank!

picked up the following

• 3 neo shrimp (they were $6 a piece but they’re gorgeous)
• 1 nerite snail
• 3 stems of water wisteria
• java moss

tank is looking bare still but it’s a work in progress. i want to get java ferns and vals in there but my LFS didn’t have any for sale

i absolutely love the shrimp, they’re gorgeous. and this one is full of fry!!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

also i’m 99% sure this is going to be a betta only tank, and im pretty set on getting a plakat koi betta because ive wanted one forever. im not sure how im going to obtain one because they are kind of rare, i might see if my LFS can order one though, because i trust them over ordering it online somewhere.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

absolutely horrible pics but i’ll get some better ones later.

got a gorgeous galaxy koi betta today along with a massive amazon sword. i still need to actually plant the sword so it’s gonna look a little different but i haven’t started on that yet

the betta had just come off the truck when i got to the store so he was rattled, but i can tell he’s healthy and he ate as soon as he got used to the tank, he looks pretty young too which is good

 

[PheonixKingZ]

side shot of the tank and some better pics of the betta and shrimp

the tank is really coming together and i’m loving it. i need to get a better CUC (clean up crew) and im thinking more snails but i also might look into some cory’s but im unsure how aggressive my betta is, and only time will tell that.


as far as the scape goes, i really want to focus on planting in and around the base of the driftwood, and kinda of leave the right side of the tank open how it is. i still want to get some val’s and some crypts in there, i just haven’t found any good specimens yet.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Welcome back matey, lovely Betta you got there looking forward to watching this develop

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Welcome back matey, lovely Betta you got there looking forward to watching this develop

thank you!! i’m excited for this tank too