Flex 15 redo design and stocking ideas

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

My wife got me a Flex January 2020 right before the pandemic. I’d been out of the hobby for a decade and was itching to get back in. Fast forward- MTS has set in, we’re summer tubing, and I’ve had some bumps in the road but over all things have gone well with my hobby. Now she has asked me to move the Flex out of the kitchen area to the kids playroom and this presents an opportunity to do something different. 
At present the tank houses a trio of pseudomeugil luminatus and some Neocaridina culls. My plan is to rehome the blue eyes to my sons 20 long and start fresh. 
Was wanting to pick the brains of my fellow NERMS for stocking and design suggestions. For those not familiar this is a 15 gallon bowed front tank with internal filtration. I’ve successfully mastered the limitations of this tank and maximized the filtration with upgrades to the pump (eheim) and have used a host of sponges, biohome, filter floss etc etc to maximize its filtration ability. Always have 20-40 nitrates, never have ammonia, and only trouble I’ve had is the TDS and especially the GH tends to run high with the current setup. Think I could use an aquasoil substrate mixed in to soften things up a bit. I have eco-complete in there so perhaps the soil has reached it nutrient peak and can’t take more not sure. Think I’d like to do lava rock base, then mix the eco-complete and some Fluval stratum for the main substrate. Think I’ll slope the substrate stacking lava rock in the back to help the perspective of the tank. Anyway loads of ideas thanks for your help with stocking and design. 

[Patrick_G]

I like the scapes that have a high point in  one of the top back corners and slope down from there. If you went for small plants and nano fish you could create the effect of a bigger tank. 
 

here’s some random internet pics. These are a bit fussy, but still look great

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Patrick_Gthese are great! I love the looks. I’ll use some filter media bags to pile up some Lava rock in one of the corners. Thanks for these. 

[Max G]

I think some cherry barbs would look great! The males look really cool when in breeding dress. Also very hardy with watter conditions. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

So far wife wants shrimps, can always sneak in some fishes down the road! 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Well here’s my attempt at one of those rocky landscapes nano tanks. Used lava rock in filter media bags to get the height, local obsidian, the eco-complete plus crushed coral plus gravel and some small river stones. Anubias nana, Java fern and subwassertang. I like it and it’ll be fun to see how it looks with the subwassertang grown in.  My sons love this little mushroom house thought it was whimsical and since it’ll be in the kids playroom thought it was appropriate. Thanks for the inspiration @Patrick_G!

[Max G]

Love the look of the obsidian(I'm assuming it's the black rocks). They have some cool edges and look so glassy. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Max Gthanks so much! Yep I live in volcano alley here in Central Oregon so lots of obsidian flows to choose from. The red and black is mahogany obsidian and the other is rainbow obsidian with some red lava rocks. Since this is going to be a shrimp tank wanted loads of rock piles for the berried shrimp and shrimplets.

[Max G]

@Beardedbillygoat1975 it's so cool that u can collect rocks like those in your area! I'm sure the shrimp will love it. 

[Maximus297759]

I have 15 flex I’ll show you my filter mods. Stocking basically whatever you like atm mines quarantine I’m moving stuff around. 
 

the filter configuration on flex is garbage. So

1.first chambers mechanical and plants are perfect because hole lcover. I use bamboo you can use anything but whatever put there will grow fast. 

2. I modified the mine you can see media in pick it’s awesome and cheap on Amazon I think 16 EXTREMELY porous bricks 10$.

3. I stoped hole up force water up flow over to 3rd chamber. And toss heater pump in 3rd cover any bio media I use fluval.

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Maximus297759

[Maximus297759]

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Maximus297759ive definitely changed it up - I do course medium and then fine sponge in the first chamber with a bag of biohome at the bottom, I use the sponge provided and 2 bags of the Fluval ceramic rings, then last chamber same as you created an overflow and tons of filter floss to get to the pump.  

[Patrick_G]

The new scape looks cool. I like the idea of using filled filter socks to create depth. I did the same in my 75g. 
Did you decide on what to stock? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think it’ll be shrimp. Not sure which color. 

[Patrick_G]

That’ll be cool. There are some yellow Caridina called Tangerine Tiger that can be kept with Neocaridina without interbreeding, so you could have two colors. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’ve thought about getting them before you just have to find a breeder who keeps them in regular not ro water. There’s a guy on Aquabid who always has them and keeps them in tap. I really love that idea actually. I’ve got blue dreams presently and that combo of blue and yellow/orange sounds awesome. 

[Patrick_G]

I’m thinking about getting some from a local breeder who raises them in our local tap. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Patrick_G

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Well I wanted to update this thread. I placed 15~ yellow “goldenback” Neocaridina in the Flex 15 beginning of June. It took them several weeks to settle in. No casualties until today - forgot the dechlorinator when I was trying to deal with kids (plus their friends) in the middle of my water change routine which is usually all by myself on Sundays - I blame @Coryfor not live-streaming as usually that chases my wife and kids away to my mother-in-laws house. I threw an airstone in, a bunch of Fritz ACCR, and I cleaned all the filter media as when I did my test kit there was detectable nitrite at 0.25. No ammonia with the dechlorinator and the nitrate was 10-20. I’ll test again tomorrow and see where things land. I mayjust keep the airstone in but might hide it with some obsidian like the rest of the tank. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Beardedbillygoat1975

[tonyjuliano]

Shrimp and stratum are a great combination.  This substrate will also reduce GH, pretty radically in my limited experience (I’ve only used it in two setups so far, so much so, in fact, I’ve had to supplement calcium).

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@tonyjuliano I have stratum in several tanks. As this one is only for Neocaridina I didn’t feel the need. I’ve been working on an 11 gallon bowl for awhile that will be a mixed Caridina and Neocaridina tank- thinking Tigers and Blue Dreams. It’s a little cloudy from some planting I’d just done. 

[tonyjuliano]

That looks great, @Beardedbillygoat1975!

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about a “shrimp-only” setup.

This large bowl is a very cool way to pull it off.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@tonyjulianoLast time I looked on Amazon for the big bowl I couldn’t find it. But yep it made my design conscious wife do a double take and allowed me to bring it into the bedroom. I’ll keep posting once I get some shrimp in the bowl. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Well I am very excited and gratified by some hard work on my part with this setup. Just found my first berried female! I feel like where you get your stock makes a difference and I was lucky to find an in-state breeder. 

[Patrick_G]

Is it a Neo or Tangerine Tiger? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Neo. Golden back. Nice line of them. The females just glow against any green or black surface.