Mike's Fluuval Flex 32.5

[mavillan]

Hello!
I made my account a while ago and haven't touched it since I have let my tank mature with my two clown fish (Davinci and Darwin). They live in a nice Fluuval Flex 32.5. My old tank's seal broke in my third floor apartment, and I had to get a smaller tank as we expect to move a few times in the next few years. I have 2 blue-legged crabs and 2 trochus snails. I got a Fluuval PS1 skimmer in December and am having some trouble keeping decent skimmate, but I have inconsistent success. The one major difference in the tank is that I got the freshwater version to save money on the light, and I threw the Fluuval Marine 3.0 I had from the previous tank.

My QT is a Fluuval Evo with the standard PVC pipe and circulation fan. I just got my first two corals to live in there for a bit before I move them over. I got GSP and a Gold Hammer. I have some questions about if they are healthy, but I'll throw those in another thread.

My goal is to grow GSP on the back wall of the Flex as a backdrop and have various corals on the rocks. That being said, I can't do it until the tank is in a more permanant location, so I will have to wait for that. I have a bit of an algea spike right now, but I will update pictures when I am more proud of what it looks like under white light.

Fish List (DT):
x1 Davinci Clown
x2 Trochus Snails
x2 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs
x1 GSP Frag
x1 Gold Hammer Frag

Livestock (QT)
x1 Green Hammer Coral
x1 Emerald Crab
x1 Nassarius Snail
X1 Turbo Snail

 

[kpoj9]

luv the aquascape. Great job

 

[mavillan]

UPDATE:

One of my clowns killed the other, and we ended up deciding it would be best to return livestock to the LFS for credit and put the tank on hold for a few months while we focused on a new dog and saving for a wedding. In that time, bubble algae and long hair algae really built up, but all the lights were off and flow was kind of low since one of my powerheads died and I did not notice.

In the past few months, I have started doing very active water changes and really trying to get the tank to a good spot again. I am planning on getting a Nero 3 and Orbit 2 next week along with a new heater and controller. I am wanting to move towards more automated equipment that I can control from my phone, as I think this was one of the limitations of my old set up.

Someone in my area is selling a Rainbow BTA that I am going to throw in the tank after I get those new flow equipment. This will be my first ever anemone, and I am looking forward to starting the tank up again. I will set up my QT once again and start that process with a new pair of clowns in a few weeks time.

Livestock:
x2 Emerald Crabs
x1 Nassarius Snail
x1 Trochus Snail

Future Additions
x1 Rainbow BTA - (I want to get this before any corals go in the tank)
x1 Urchin - (I want to get into this, but I don't know much about that. I saw a cool video of one with pretty large 'spikes' and they were not the traditional small pointy ones that looked so cool. If you have any recommendations, let me know)
x2 Hammer Corals - (I loved having these previously and they did very well for me)
x1 - x2 Torch Corals - (They looked cool and I never dove into them previously)
x1 Cleaner Shrimp - (There are some real solid colored red shrimp at my LFS that look sick, but I need to do more research to see best practices to keep them from eating corals)
x? Traditional Clean Up Crew- (more Trochus snails and maybe some hermits, but open to this)


If anyone has any recommendations for a 32.5 gallon tank, please feel free to reach out and add what you think you love. The tank is fairly mature at this point in time, it just needs a little TLC to get back to where it was. My light isn't too powerful, but enough to get some easier corals growing well enough.

 

[mavillan]

UPDATE:

I have restocked my fish tank after a month or two of just letting it live without lights or livestock. I got a rainbow bubble tip anemone off of FB Marketplace this weekend and got chocolate clowns today. I think the anemone is doing well, but I have never had one before so I am only assuming. I still plan on getting an urchin, fire shrimp, hammer, and torch corals, but that will likely wait a month or two. I'll throw a question about how hard I should be running the pumps I got last week, but I am pretty happy with how the tank has shaped up since I brought it back from algae terror at the beginning of the year. I think within the next month or two, all the hair and bubble will be gone (especially with the introduction of the urchin).

Livestock:
x2 Chocolate Clownfish (Hershey & Chip)
x1 Rainbow BTA

x1 Emerald Crab
x1 Nassarius Snail
x1 Trochus Snail

 

[BristleWormHater]

Tank looks nice what are you going to do next?

 

[mavillan]

Tank looks nice what are you going to do next?

Hammer and Torch corals are up next with an Urchin and Fire Shrimp. As far as fish goes, my fiancée wants to get a royal gramma. Other than that, I might just look out for some cool reef-safe fish at the LFS. I'll probably go for one more fish after the royal gramma and just do corals from there.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Hammer and Torch corals are up next with an Urchin and Fire Shrimp. As far as fish goes, my fiancée wants to get a royal gramma. Other than that, I might just look out for some cool reef-safe fish at the LFS. I'll probably go for one more fish after the royal gramma and just do corals from there.

Royal gramma are great, they are on the stock list for my tank, have you considered a purple firefish the colors pair well with a gramma