Fluval Flex 15 Nano

[magnetar68]

I am getting back into reef keeping after a bit of a hiatus. I started in 2010ish with a Red Sea 34 all in one. Then I upgraded to a custom 125G mixed reef and I converted the 34 to a Sea Horse tank. I then raise cuttle fish from eggs in 125G with the help of Rich Ross, a marine biologist at the Steinhart Aquarium. These guys only live for about a year. I then went back to a mixed reef for several years. I think my breeding clowns lived for about 10 years total. After getting out of reef keeping, I had a small planted tank in a Fluval Flex 15 for over 5 years.

So, long story short, I sent the remaining 3 freshwater fish to the Fish Barn in Orinda, and I am going to try to convert the Flex 15 to a Nano Clown Fish tank.

I travel a fair amount for work, so I need something simple. The idea I have is a clown fish with bubble tipped anemone tank. This should let me put the clown fish on a feeder and the anemones should be ok. I do not usually travel more than a week at a time. This tank should not need a lot of dosing.

I am also going try a bare bottom tank. Never done that and keeping sand looking clean over time takes a lot of work.

I will say I plan to wait several months before adding the anemones. They need a stable tank.

Here is the upgrade list for the Flex 15:

Mighty Jet medium pump
VCA Random Flow Generator conversion kit
InTank Media Baskets (1st and 2nd Chambers)
NICREW NavaReef 65 LED lights
Tunze 3151 Nano 3 ATO
Biosphere media (1kg) to augment the lack of sand
15lbs of Dry Rock

I am going to see how it does without a protein skimmer. I will likely run ChemPure blue and maybe Seachem Purigen in one of the media baskets.

 

[MolaMola]

Welcome! What a great and well thought out plan. When your tank is mature, consider adopting a green BTA from a line that has been in the Bay Area for decades. (=ask me)

 

[clownvan]

Welcome. I have tried this and it worked with a once a week water change. You will also need a clean-up crew to deal with the uneaten food. If not, you will keep coming back to small algae blooms =)

Good luck!

 

[clownvan]

i might also have a clown for you =)

 

[Adauqua]

If you need RBTAs I have plenty in San Jose for free

 

[magnetar68]

A few hacks for this build:

1. Painted the bottom white since this will be bare bottom to start.

2. Aquarium-safe silicon feet for the rocks. This worked surprisingly well.

3. Acrylic rods for a little more stability in addition to using cyanoacrylate gel to stack rocks.

 

[magnetar68]

Small Update. The tank has been going through the uglies a bit. I have a pair of designer clownfish ("Gladiator"). I have also been growing some Codium macroalgae. This stuff grows fast. It can handle the uglies better than corals, and if I had to reset the tank, it could go for a while with the lights off (much better than corals can). I have three scarlet hermits and a couple of Turbo snails that seem to be doing a good job as a clean-up crew.

I am prototyping a 3D printed lid. I am using my old orange for the PETG until I get it dialed in.

The main issue is that this tank is just going to be too small, so I have already started to build out a 60-gallon cube I got off of Facebook Marketplace. I will create a separate thread for that.

 

[magnetar68]

I got a Radion XR15 on Facebook marketplace for $100. I Macgyvered the mount for my Nicrew NavaReef 65. I turned it upside down to make it longer, so I could get the XR15 centered over the tank. Then I designed and printed a 3D bracket (based on a bracket on Thingiverse). Then I designed and printed a right angle brace to make sure the upside down mount has support. Works great. Tank looks a lot better. I will share a picture of the tank after I clean it.

 

[magnetar68]

evolving...
175 PAR at the top of the rock, a little under 100 PAR at the sand.