Thank you for making this video. I’m having problems with noise of the pump. It’s making the lid of my tank vibrate and the pump is loud in running. I made sure pump wasn’t touching the tank and I put a sponge under the pump. Is your pump loud? If so can you recommend a quiet pump for this tank?
I've been thinking about doing a dedicated video on this subject for a while now since this topic often comes back and there's many things that could influence this. Overall, pump placement and cleanliness seem to be the major factors in reported vibration. I run the original pump kit with no modifications in all my aquariums (2+year now) and here's what I do if/when I hear vibrations : -Check if the pump is touching side panels, if so move the pump. -Take the pump apart, clean it thoroughly. Gunky pumps work harder, hence more vibrations. -Make sure that the part securing the propeller is placed properly. If not the propeller moves too much which can cause vibrations. -Make sure the pump is secured to the bottom via the suction cups. If the pump is ''freefloating/not touching the bottom'' when assembled with the output nozzles it can cause the whole back pannel to vibrate. This happens to me sometimes when the tubing feels ''too short''. That's usually because I pushed it too far down on the pump output. I fix this by pulling the tubing up a bit so that the pump can adhere to the bottom and that usually fixes the issue. I have never tried putting a foam block under the pump so I cannot say if this really helps or creates other unexpected problems. Hope this helps!
Thank you for making this video! We gave our 7 yr old granddaughter this aquarium for Christmas, hoping that it would ignite her interest in this great hobby. She is so happy with it; feeding the fish before school, excited to see the fish after school, watching them on and off before bedtime, etc. Your videos are so interesting and enjoyable! Well done!
Love this review! I appreciate that you’ve used the tank for a year before doing this review. I have this 9 gallon in white for my betta fish. So perfect for him. I do wish he could have the full 9 gal space but as a solo fish he still has plenty of room for himself. I do like that his heater and filter are hidden.
Thanks! For me it made more sense to see how it performs in the long-term and truly get a feel of the durability and other features. That aquarium is still running well to this day.
I have owned the 15 gallon for over a year here in UK and I am very pleased with it. I have added extra filter medium in the first chamber and played around with the filter a bit and have pristine gin clear water. I have added an extra light and the plants appreciate that. I may upgrade the pump to Eheim just because I saw someone else did this and liked it.I do like the Fluval flex and there are 3 sizes to choose from. Thanks for sharing your excellent video.
Excellent evaluation. I have a Fluval Flex 15, and I would agree with most of your points. One of your negative comments is about its size. If one wants something larger and one likes the design, get a Fluval Flex 15. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the back compartment. It is nice to hide the filter and heater, but the back compartment takes up about 20% of the space. That's a lot of space lost to the fish. If you like the all-glass design, an alternative to the Flex 9 is the Aqueon rimless 10. It isn't 100% glass, but the black plastic is only on the bottom. It's much cheaper than the Flex 9 (about $65 CAN), but doesn't come with a hood, light or a filter unit. By the time you add these it probably costs as much as the Flex, but you have more choice about which pieces to buy. I have both, and each is good in its own way.
Thanks Michael and yes I also agree with you on the points you mentionned. I find that it's a good all in one kit for people who don't want or know all the intricaties related to buying separate pumps, lights, lids, etc. All options are good as long as you love your aquarium!
You're welcome! Volume-wise it should be ok for a Betta. Be careful with the flow nozzles; the directed flow might be too strong for Bettas with long fins. One way to reduce the direct flow is to mod the output nozzles (ex. with a piece of filter foam).
Beautiful plants! I am almost embarrassed to say it. I had bought a 15 gallon aquarium for my new home in Georgia, good price, then I was a pet store yesterday and they had a new white 9 gallon for 50% clearance. I had to buy it!
I used a Fluval M series 50W heater but found it was still a bit large but it was able to fit in the 9G heater. Haven't had the chance to test out other heaters.
@@DoAqua , thank you. I’ll look into that type. Cobalt Aquatics makes a small, flat heater in their geotherm series that would fit as it fit in my Fluval Spec V, but sadly after a year or so, it malfunctioned and my Betta died. They do not stand behind their products so I will not purchase another Cobalt heater and risk killing my fish. Ehiem makes quality heaters - but even the smaller ones are large for nano tanks. Love your channel and reviews on the Fluval smaller tanks. I like the neatness of their designs for smaller tanks.
Yes, however you must be careful with guppies because they can breed and you can quickly get overrun with babies if you're not careful. You could ask your local fish store to give you only males so this doesn't happen. Plus, they are usually more colorful. I think you could safely have around 6 males.
Do you have any comments about glass thickness on the fluval flex 9? I just bought one and Im very surprised and concerned about how thin this glass is....Never saw an aquarium with such thin panels. My Flex 15 glass seems normal, but this one scares me!
It's a shared concern by many others. I've owned it for quite a few years now (filled with water, etc.) and I've had no issues. Make sure that the aquarium is properly installed (levelled, etc.).
Yes but this depends on the substrate. Ultimately one way or another you need to provide some sort of "food" for your plants if you want them to look good. I try to have a basis of proper plant substrate and/or supplement with root tabs. I usually dose ferts once every week or two week.
@@tylersyncs8550 yes, Fluval stratum is what I used and it works. From what I've heard other brands work really well too so take what is easily available for you.
Can you share the full name of the fish you're thinking of? I'm not familiar with keeping trout and the only fish that comes to mind is the large species found in lakes around here.
Thank you for making this video. I’m having problems with noise of the pump. It’s making the lid of my tank vibrate and the pump is loud in running. I made sure pump wasn’t touching the tank and I put a sponge under the pump. Is your pump loud? If so can you recommend a quiet pump for this tank?
I've been thinking about doing a dedicated video on this subject for a while now since this topic often comes back and there's many things that could influence this. Overall, pump placement and cleanliness seem to be the major factors in reported vibration.
I run the original pump kit with no modifications in all my aquariums (2+year now) and here's what I do if/when I hear vibrations :
-Check if the pump is touching side panels, if so move the pump.
-Take the pump apart, clean it thoroughly. Gunky pumps work harder, hence more vibrations.
-Make sure that the part securing the propeller is placed properly. If not the propeller moves too much which can cause vibrations.
-Make sure the pump is secured to the bottom via the suction cups. If the pump is ''freefloating/not touching the bottom'' when assembled with the output nozzles it can cause the whole back pannel to vibrate. This happens to me sometimes when the tubing feels ''too short''. That's usually because I pushed it too far down on the pump output. I fix this by pulling the tubing up a bit so that the pump can adhere to the bottom and that usually fixes the issue.
I have never tried putting a foam block under the pump so I cannot say if this really helps or creates other unexpected problems.
Hope this helps!
Try the Eheim CompactOn 300
Thank you for making this video! We gave our 7 yr old granddaughter this aquarium for Christmas, hoping that it would ignite her interest in this great hobby. She is so happy with it; feeding the fish before school, excited to see the fish after school, watching them on and off before bedtime, etc. Your videos are so interesting and enjoyable! Well done!
That's awesome! It's a great learning experience for a child and I am happy to have contributed somehow
I forgot to ask earlier, do you leave fish and decor in tank, when doing a cleaning and partial water change?
@@williamprevatt1210 yes, leaving everything/everyone in vastly reduces stress for the fish and is what I do
Love this review! I appreciate that you’ve used the tank for a year before doing this review. I have this 9 gallon in white for my betta fish. So perfect for him. I do wish he could have the full 9 gal space but as a solo fish he still has plenty of room for himself. I do like that his heater and filter are hidden.
Thanks! For me it made more sense to see how it performs in the long-term and truly get a feel of the durability and other features. That aquarium is still running well to this day.
I have owned the 15 gallon for over a year here in UK and I am very pleased with it. I have added extra filter medium in the first chamber and played around with the filter a bit and have pristine gin clear water. I have added an extra light and the plants appreciate that. I may upgrade the pump to Eheim just because I saw someone else did this and liked it.I do like the Fluval flex and there are 3 sizes to choose from. Thanks for sharing your excellent video.
You're welcome! Gin clear water 🤣 I like that and will probably reuse it
Amazing review, thank you. Ive wanted a Flex for a while and the 9 gallons are only $109 on Amazon right now.
Glad I helped!
Excellent evaluation. I have a Fluval Flex 15, and I would agree with most of your points. One of your negative comments is about its size. If one wants something larger and one likes the design, get a Fluval Flex 15. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the back compartment. It is nice to hide the filter and heater, but the back compartment takes up about 20% of the space. That's a lot of space lost to the fish. If you like the all-glass design, an alternative to the Flex 9 is the Aqueon rimless 10. It isn't 100% glass, but the black plastic is only on the bottom. It's much cheaper than the Flex 9 (about $65 CAN), but doesn't come with a hood, light or a filter unit. By the time you add these it probably costs as much as the Flex, but you have more choice about which pieces to buy. I have both, and each is good in its own way.
Thanks Michael and yes I also agree with you on the points you mentionned. I find that it's a good all in one kit for people who don't want or know all the intricaties related to buying separate pumps, lights, lids, etc. All options are good as long as you love your aquarium!
Thank you for the great review! Do you recommend keeping bettas in this 9 gallon tank?
You're welcome! Volume-wise it should be ok for a Betta.
Be careful with the flow nozzles; the directed flow might be too strong for Bettas with long fins. One way to reduce the direct flow is to mod the output nozzles (ex. with a piece of filter foam).
Beautiful plants! I am almost embarrassed to say it. I had bought a 15 gallon aquarium for my new home in Georgia, good price, then I was a pet store yesterday and they had a new white 9 gallon for 50% clearance. I had to buy it!
Hahah I get it! I was strolling through my local fish store today and was eyeing the tanks on clearance 😅
Hello Mr Dolbec, can you recommend a specific, unobtrusive heater for this tank that will fit in the sump area? Thank you very much. Xx
I used a Fluval M series 50W heater but found it was still a bit large but it was able to fit in the 9G heater. Haven't had the chance to test out other heaters.
@@DoAqua , thank you. I’ll look into that type. Cobalt Aquatics makes a small, flat heater in their geotherm series that would fit as it fit in my Fluval Spec V, but sadly after a year or so, it malfunctioned and my Betta died. They do not stand behind their products so I will not purchase another Cobalt heater and risk killing my fish.
Ehiem makes quality heaters - but even the smaller ones are large for nano tanks. Love your channel and reviews on the Fluval smaller tanks. I like the neatness of their designs for smaller tanks.
@@adeleferguson663 thank you for sharing your experiences and for the kind comments, much appreciated!
Could
You do guppy’s ?? How many of so?
Yes, however you must be careful with guppies because they can breed and you can quickly get overrun with babies if you're not careful.
You could ask your local fish store to give you only males so this doesn't happen. Plus, they are usually more colorful. I think you could safely have around 6 males.
Do you have any comments about glass thickness on the fluval flex 9? I just bought one and Im very surprised and concerned about how thin this glass is....Never saw an aquarium with such thin panels. My Flex 15 glass seems normal, but this one scares me!
It's a shared concern by many others. I've owned it for quite a few years now (filled with water, etc.) and I've had no issues. Make sure that the aquarium is properly installed (levelled, etc.).
@@DoAqua thanks very much for your advice. Im gonna give this tank a try then ☺️ Overall this kit seems to be very highly rated.
and will plants grow without fert and co2
Yes but this depends on the substrate. Ultimately one way or another you need to provide some sort of "food" for your plants if you want them to look good. I try to have a basis of proper plant substrate and/or supplement with root tabs. I usually dose ferts once every week or two week.
@@DoAqua will Fluval 12694 work for the plants?
@@tylersyncs8550 yes, Fluval stratum is what I used and it works. From what I've heard other brands work really well too so take what is easily available for you.
did you use any fert or co2?
I only used ferts for that aquarium. But very light fert (one treatment per week of seachem Flourish and Advance)
Small, yet versatible! Do you own one?
Can I keep trout in it? I don't want snails.
Can you share the full name of the fish you're thinking of? I'm not familiar with keeping trout and the only fish that comes to mind is the large species found in lakes around here.
@@DoAqua Trout are all pretty much the same.
@@Tugela60That would be a no for trout. Trout get way too big for this tank. Check out celestial pearl danios they look like miniature trout.