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12 gallon Fluval Edge Mixed Reef Build!


TDS1

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Hello to everyone reading this! I got a 12 gallon Fulval Edge for my birthday, so I'm finally going to start up another reef tank. This isn't my first, but I'd still consider myself pretty new to the hobby :P. So in any event, I started actually putting it all together on Saturday. Went to the LFS and picked up a twenty pound bag of sand and sixteen pounds of live rock. Got home arranged my rocks, added the sand and waited for it all to clear..........I then decided I didn't have enough rock >.<

So I went back to the fish store yesterday and picked up four and a half more pounds and now it looks better than it did in my head HAHAHA. All the rock looks really good too, no crazy clumps of dead whatever and no smell.....hoping my cycle goes quick! I will be headed to the fish store later on this week for the CUC. Oh yeah, and I'll post some pics in the next day or two!

 

Also any reccomendations on lighting? I'm planning on doing a DIY led mod to the cover but haven't fully decided!

 

UP TO DATE STOCK LIST

 

Clean Up Crew

*2 Astrea Snails

*2 Nassarius Snails

*4 Cerith Snails

*2 Scarlet Hermit Crabs

*2 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

 

Fish

*Yellow Clown Goby

 

Invertebrates

*1 Pom Pom Crab

*1 Porcelain Crab

 

Corals/Corallimorphs

*1 green/orange mushroom

*1 blue stripe hitchhiker mushroom

*3 Red/Green Ricordea Yuma

*Magicians Hat Zoas

*Pulsing xenia

*Anthelia

*Devil's Fingers Leather frag

*Kenya Tree frag

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So as I was cleaning up the downstairs area, I started tackling the mess of setting up my tank lol. One of the bags that I got the live rock in had literally like 2 tablespoons of water in it. When I went to grab it I noticed there was a crab in there....a pom pom crab! Sadly it has no pom poms though :( It is definitely one of the coolest hitchhikers I've ever got though :P

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No real changes thus far......small amount of diatoms starting to show up. Think I've finally decided on the light. I'm going to pick up an AI Nano and controller here in the next couple of weeks! Also found a really cool asterina star hitchhiker. It's not completely beige like most of them I've seen, It has red and green spots too! I think my favorite part of saltwater aquariums is not all the stuff you intentionally put in, but rather all the random hitchhikers that just pop up out of the blue!

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I'm actually building a custom hood now. This ishappening after I built DIY LED's and turned the stock hood 90 degrees. If you don't listen to anything else from anyone else. Make real damn sure when you put something that is where you want it. Remember you just cant reach in and move something, and even if you can reaxch it with a tool or something you take a REAL chance of dropping it on something undrneath it. That is the exact reason I will have a 12g Edge Convertible as soon as I'm of these 12 or 16 hour days. I think I have some pics on here with my LEDs in the stock hood but not sure if they were finished. Went with 4 3up stars, 4 TrueViolet, 2, Turquoise, 1 Deep Red and then 3 RB moonlights that start ramping up while daylight is ramping down courtosey of my DIM4. Heat isn't really an issue. If you want PM me and I can let you know some of the things I learned that may save you a headache.

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Make real damn sure when you put something that is where you want it. Remember you just cant reach in and move something, and even if you can reaxch it with a tool or something you take a REAL chance of dropping it on something undrneath it.

 

Why is this? Is this specific to the fluval tank design?

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Why is this? Is this specific to the fluval tank design?

The edge is kind of a pain to work in........The most obvious reason being that the opening is only 8"x6" (rough estimate). Also It's tall so you have to siphon out a bit of water to reach the bottom of the tank. I honestly don't think it's that bad however...I can handle the flaws for how cool the tank looks, and being able to look down into the tank and see everything is super awesome! Will have pics up in the next couple of days.....Diatoms are going crazy atm, going to add the cleanup crew sometime this week hopefully if I can find the time lol!

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Got the majority of my CUC today :D I got 2 Astrea snails, 4 cerith snails, 2 scarlet hermit crabs and 2 blue leg hermit crabs.......The only thing I'm missing now are my nassarius snails, my LFS was out :(

20 minutes in the tank and it's already looking way better! The ceriths are going to town!!!!

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So today I decided to take a walk down to the international district (way further than I thought it was btw! :P) and check out a couple of the LFS there. The first one was pretty cool, really no saltwater stuff but hella Discus with quite a few breeding pairs.....I've always loved watching the babies swarm the parents :)

Then I went down to the other one which wasn't terrible, but definitely wasn't great either. In any event I found a thin algae magnet to deal with all the trapped air bubbles. I also picked up a couple of nassarius snails and a single orange and green mushroom. I still have the stock light on the tank, and it's technically not through with the cycle yet but I figured what the hell and got it anyway. I have it sitting up at the top of my rockwork to get as much light as possible out of the puny little 5 watt light hahaha.

 

EDIT: BTW I will actually be adding pictures tonight......warning........they will be cell phone pics lol!

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So I just realized that the rock my mushroom came on had a lone aiptasia on it :angry:

Then my pom pom crab that had been MIA for five days pops up right next to my mushroom and starts stepping on the aiptasia all weird :lol: Then it pops right off the rock and the crab snatches it up and runs off with it to a cave at the bottom of the tank.....FML :slap:

The crab however is super happy to have a "mop"......The aiptasia however is not so happy LOL

I'm hoping that seeing as how the crab likes to take off into the rockwork so much that the little anenome will just die off from lack of light :) But just in case, going to my actual fish store to buy some aiptasia killer stuff tomorrow!

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temet vince
Then it pops right off the rock and the crab snatches it up and runs off with it to a cave at the bottom of the tank.....FML :slap:

 

 

ROFL

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So I just realized that the rock my mushroom came on had a lone aiptasia on it :angry:

Then my pom pom crab that had been MIA for five days pops up right next to my mushroom and starts stepping on the aiptasia all weird :lol: Then it pops right off the rock and the crab snatches it up and runs off with it to a cave at the bottom of the tank.....FML :slap:

The crab however is super happy to have a "mop"......The aiptasia however is not so happy LOL

I'm hoping that seeing as how the crab likes to take off into the rockwork so much that the little anenome will just die off from lack of light :) But just in case, going to my actual fish store to buy some aiptasia killer stuff tomorrow!

 

 

Put in some peppermint shrimp they will eat your aiptasia and it is better then chemicals:)

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Put in some peppermint shrimp they will eat your aiptasia and it is better then chemicals:)

Peppermint shrimp kind of scare me....I've heard way to many horror stories about them! I had a couple in my old 10 gallon and they decided that all my mini featherduster worms were delicious :angry:

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Just found a super weird slug thing in my tank.........any ideas as to what it is?

post-75267-1343590884_thumb.jpg

 

I know this is a terrible pic lol but it is a light reddish beige color and has a hump back with maroon insides........two tentnacles, no frilly stuff.

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So I went back down to the International district to check out the fish stores again. I ended up bypassing the one I got my first mushroom from, because the guy was jacking his prices up from what he quoted me two days prior :angry:

So then I went to the other store, King Street Discus, which literally has 1 big reef tank and 2 small tanks with a couple of damsels lol. There were some "mushrooms" that caught my eye.....They're huge! Like 3 inches across. The lady hardly spoke any english, so when I asked her what they were she just pointed and said, "Oh yeah, nice coral. Forty Dollar." LMAO. I bought them anyways and after looking around at pictures online, I'm pretty positive that they are Yumas! Going to my normal fish store today to go look at maybe getting a small kenya tree, maybe some zoanthids. I still haven't got my new light for the tank, so I'm going with super low light corals for now. I also decided that I am not going to add any fish to my tank for a while, I want to let all my pods get completely established first.

I will post some pics tonight after I get back from the fish store!!!!

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A lot has happened in these past couple of days! Yesterday I went to the fish store and picked up a kenya tree frag, a devil's finger frag, a mushroom hat zoa (or is it paly? I'm confused :huh:), a couple polyps of xenia, and some anthelia (not the biggest fan of it but for now it makes my tank look less dead hahaha)!

Woke up this morning to everything doing great! The only out of place thing is the xenia, which is not pulsing, but I remember my first one not pulsing for like three days after I got it, so I'm not really that worried.

So then on the way home tonight, I decided to stop by the fish store again :rolleyes:

I picked up a little yellow clown goby and a porcelain crab.........Nice painless 20 dollar fish store visit :lol:

I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow!

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Everything is doing great in the tank this morning, my xenia are finally starting to open and pulse a bit :)

I am completely in love with this little porcelain crab too hahaha.......Must have more omgomgomg

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  • 3 weeks later...

So over the past couple weeks, this tank has gone on the back burner as I have been working on my 75 gallon which is doing much better! All the corals from the edge moved to the big tank, because the stock light was just not cutting it :angry:

Today I just ordered an ai nano + controller from Hello Lights!

This weekend I will be moving things back into the edge as soon as the new light gets here!!!!

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  • 1 month later...

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