Setup and Operation Explanation of Fluval Flex 15 Gallon Low Tech Planted Aquarium

[@zacharyposey4689]

It's so nice to see Toby McGuire talk about aquariums with such enthusiasm.

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

I’m just your friendly neighborhood aquarist

[@mattmovrich414]

Right?? 😂😂 that’s the first thing I said when I saw this video

[@APirateNamedJohn]

Was literally heading here to type something like this lmao 🤣

[@pnwoutdoors8873]

Bro I been telling people for 20 years that lava rock is the best shit ever! This is literally one of the best aquarium videos I’ve ever seen Toby. Sorry man, you look like Spider-Man, no harm intended!

[@Riley095]

Hey Spider-Man :)

[@krazykid2002k]

Beautiful tank and information

[@marcusescobedo168]

Great video, ever thinking of doing an update video on it?

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

I do constantly, but every time I go see the tank I get wrapped up in conversation and kick myself after I leave. The next time I see it I will have to make an update video.

[@debbiebridges6350]

Do you have a video on how you set up the extra lighting?

[@oG0P0G0]

Thank you, love the video and the aquascape. Can you please provide some clarification/additional info on: 1)Light is no longer available at amazon, can you please send a lonk for a suitable alternative. 2) Type of Lava rock -How much (lbs) do i need for all the places you put them in, is it the decorative type availabe in Wal-Mart? - where did you get yours (link) 2) You said you used a sand bed in chamner one can younplease state what type.of sand 3)Substrate - you mentioned: Spinkle of carbon Sperkle of calcium crabonate sand Quarter inch sillica sand Fluorite 3 inches Contasoil 2.5 Inches What quantity of each and if yiu can a link where to buy for my Fluval 15 identical eco system setup to yours.

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

Sorry for the late reply As far as a light as long as it’s waterproof, RGB, of fairly good quality and has an app where you can fine tune the color it should work well. Really you just want to fill in the missing colors. This could work: Kimdelee 16.5ft Waterproof Led Light Strips, 12v RGB Outdoor Led Strip Lights Waterproof Color Changing with Bluetooth Music Sync App Remote, Christmas Decor Lights Outdoor Rope Lights a.co/d/02ZFRtu As far as lava rock I would imagine most would be fine, I like to soak mine in distilled water over a week just to get out anything dissolvable in water. Personally I use black lava a lot, here you’ll want 1-2” stones, I’m sure 2 or 3 lbs is more than plenty. In the back chamber I used silica sand and really was just to hold back a piece of acrylic that was covering the lower intake. Lava rock would do fine. The point is cover that lower intake so it’s not pulling water through the main bed. Carbon comes with the tank Calcium carbonate, if you don’t have it skip it Silica sand probably Amazon or Home Depot, a lb is probably plenty The fluorite I think the 7lb bag would be small, the 15lb bag I think is more of the right size, I may be wrong. The controsoil, it depends. If you’re doing a lot of rock work you can probably do 3 liters. 10 liters is more than you need. Every 3 liters gets you 1” but if half the bottom is rock(big rocks should not go on top of soil but on the fluorite) then 3 liters makes 2” which is plenty. I pretty much get everything from Amazon now

[@jimj.6412]

I am just starting out and this is very helpful info, thank you

[@jeremiahbishop6322]

Just got this tank, I love it but it has no thought into cable/cord management!

[@cat267]

I really appreciate your video. I am going to add the light strip but I noticed your strip is attached with clips. Can you tell where I can buy the clips?

[@Aravensdream]

I also have a Flex 15 gallon. How do you keep algae out of the tank? Does the lava rock help and the red things (forgot the name)? I have wood, stone, Caribbean substrate (which has been in my tank since 2017. Yikes I think time for some new stuffs) that sits on top of a plastic grate and easy live plants. I put floss in the intake side. I have the foam with carbon and these little packets that look like tea bags. I bought at Petco and comes in a green container. I have the stock light (on for 8 hours) but will be changing for the Aquasky. Just to give you an idea what I am working with. 😊 I would really appreciate some tips. Ps water osmosis

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

I’m going to assume you mean Carib sea eco-complete. If that’s the case I would just clear all the flora/fauna out, siphon it well and maybe throw about an inch to an inch and a half of controsoil. If you have fish you want to reintroduce quickly then I would advise soaking the controsoil in water for a few days outside the tank. Algae is a tough subject, but here’s what it boils down to, it’s a balance of light, nutrition, and plant health. The stock light is terrible, that’s the most likely cause, the white light is too cool in color and the rgbs don’t make up for it so the new light will make a huge difference. Personally I’m looking for a light with a high CRI, I grow great plants with a $5 GE refresh screw in led light bulbs as long as the CRI is high it’ll work. It could be the case that there’s way too much nutrient(s) that the plants aren’t using. It could also be the case that there’s too little of a nutrient and the plants aren’t doing well and so there may be a build up of other nutrients because of that or a build up of organic from the plants not doing well. Which brings me to the plants not doing well or as well as they should be. This could be could be for a number of reasons including nutrition, lighting, water hardness(most plants like softer water), toxins, etc. If you’re using tap water that may be the problem, 90% of problems usually go away with remineralized water or even store bought water is a second best. When I started making my own water I lost most of my problems. Your tap water might be terrible, it might be great and that’s what makes diagnosing algae difficult. Then there’s algae’s like cladophora, which you really just can’t balance out. I think the light is a good start, see where it takes you.

[@CTTH100]

What type of fasteners did you use for the LED strip, and are they still holding with all the humidity?

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

Sorry for the late reply, I have to check this more often. I used: ATB- Clear Strip Light Mounting Clips Self-Adhesive Hooks,Fixing Clamps LED Strip Light 8mm,10mm,12mm.100 Pack Strip Light Brackets Holder,USB Cable Wires Organizer. a.co/d/hOFMlGs It’s not so much the humidity that makes them release than the tension. They make 90 degree connectors, which is probably the right way to do it over looping it. With that being said put gorilla super glue around each clip anyway. So far, after nearly 2 years, things are holding, I did use gorilla glue with the clips.

[@CTTH100]

@@thewanderingaquarist9158 No problem. Thanks for the update!

[@eaeaea555]

This is a very helpful video, as I am planning to set up a flex 15 soon. I'm curious about your filter chamber advice -- did you put the Biohome Ultimate into a mesh bag, so that you can take it out easily? Did you stuff it into the provided sponge or just jam it down into there?

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

Thank you, I hope you make yourself a spectacular tank. I just shove the bio home in, do you need to use it? Absolutely not, I just had some on hand, lava rock will do perfectly fine. I don’t think I pulled that sponge out in two years now, the lava rock chamber is really doing a lot of the work, by the time it gets to the sponge a lot of large debris get filtered out and so the sponge doesn’t really get clogged. So far over about 2 years the tank runs like clockwork.

[@eaeaea555]

Thanks for the response and extra info! Sounds like a very good approach for the filter chambers. I had been considering doing aqua soil plus some sand but after seeing your video, I like your reasoning for using the slower to deteriorate substrates and am going to look into that more. Great info all around. Thanks!

[@flyinsolo20100628]

When you let the tank cycle for two weeks unplanted, do you add any fish food to help with the cycling? Thanks!

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

You could, but you don’t need to if you’re using an aquasoil. Aquasoils will leach plenty enough ammonia in the beginning, I used controsoil which leaches less but still plenty to cycle. If you’re using something like Amazonia it will leach so much ammonia you’ll have to do some daily water changes for a while. I recommend controsoil, pretty fertile, gentle on the initial cycle, and very long lasting. I did Amazonia once, in three years it completely turned into powder and it was messy. I have controsoil tanks running over 7 or so years and they still haven’t fallen apart into powder. As by now I’m sure you can tell, I highly recommend controsoil.

[@flyinsolo20100628]

I gathered that, and you sold me! I had already ordered some by the time of my comment. You are the first person I saw put sand down as the first layer, and I saw that you used lava rock as the base layer of your how to on your beta tank. Wondered if you’ve developed an opinion on which method you prefer. Also, this will be my first tank getting back into the hobby. Do you have any suggestions on how to introduce copepods, etc. or will that occur naturally? Also ordered many 3D mods for the filter medium, intakes, and outlet as well. Thanks for your quick reply! Your video is my #1 resource 👍

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

@@flyinsolo20100628 thank you, I wanted to make a nice tank and document it this time. Well the betta tank was a budget build while this tank had a big budget. I didn’t have much fluorite so I used the lava rock as filler. If I had to do it again probably sand with lava rock on top, this adds negative space as long as it’s larger than the fluorite which increase flow through the substrate. If I didn’t do that I would just do the lava rock fluorite and controsoil. Of course there are lots of ways to make a successful planted tank, this is just my method for a long term tank. As far as microfauna I’m sure you’ll get some that hitchhike along with plants. You tend to collect them through the years, some are harder to get than others. You can even buy them online if you really wish to, I’m actually planning to start selling mixed microfauna cultures soon. In the end they will always find a way into your tank.

[@flyinsolo20100628]

Thanks again for the advice! Let us know when you start selling microfauna. I’ll buy some 👍

[@flyinsolo20100628]

Where else can we find you online, or are you only on KZbin?

[@mattmovrich414]

How do you get rid of all your pest snails that you have all over???

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

I consider snails to be important in a well balanced ecosystem. This tank had limpets, which disappeared when fish went in, and blue ramshorns which are manually removed every so often. Just throw down a glass dish, put an algae wafer in it and wait about an 30min/hour, then remove the glass dish with all the excess snails in it.

[@mattmovrich414]

@@thewanderingaquarist9158 I don’t mind snails but I hate how fast your tank can be overrun with pest snails if you don’t keep up on em. I have a nerite tiger snail and he does a fine job. I dont necessarily like having hundreds of pest snails constantly breeding

[@mattmovrich414]

@@thewanderingaquarist9158 how is this tank doing? I really enjoyed your breakdown of setting up this tank. Wish you had more informative videos!

[@OpticsN3rv3]

Spiderman?

[@pnwoutdoors8873]

Spider-Man?

[@LLearned843]

Honestly, this is enough to turn anyone off of this hobby. It is great information, but it makes it seem like an average person can't possibly do this.

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

It is a lot of information and it’s not really made for somebody who’s just getting into the hobby, perhaps I’ll make one of those at some point. I just really wanted to document my current aquarium design for longevity and long term aquarium health, my “living aquarium” design where the tank itself is treated like a living organism. I also wanted to make it reproducible for anybody interested in doing so. I made this aquarium for somebody who never kept fish and this was specifically designed for them to just trim and do some water changes. It’s done so well for the last year and a half, it’s designed for about a decade of operation. Maybe I’ll do an intro to fish, shrimp, or plant keeping at some point.

[@eaeaea555]

I disagree. I am new-ish to the hobby and I love seeing and hearing detailed info about how people set up their tanks and the WHY behind them. Will I do everything this video suggests? No, but I am learning for sure and will apply some of this knowledge when I set up my next tank. I love all the info!

[@SpecialEd-ru4jo]

@@eaeaea555that’s the perfect attitude. You will go far in our beautiful hobby. It’s been 10 months. How are your aquariums doing?

[@jeremiahbishop6322]

Love it all but you doing too much with all the chems bro. Fish live in a lake. The fact that theres ppl that get this obnoxious about fish or insert _____ hobby here. Like I LOVE & RESPECT how into you are... but for EXAMPLE... you cycled the tank for a week. But wanted to do 2 weeks... why not 3 weeks? You did 2... wanted to do 3... why not 4? Why not send the fish to the doctor? Do you have pet insurance for your fish? Why not dental? Feel me?

[@thewanderingaquarist9158]

@@jeremiahbishop6322 I don’t decide where the tea leaves fall I just read them