reefin on the edge

[mpad]

Hello!

 

Sooo, after a lot of lurking and hanging around in other threads, I thought it is time to finally start my own tank thread and properly introduce myself.

Well, I am a mid thirty guy living in Munich Germany. I did about ten years of freshwater in my youth, with a focus on african chichlids.

Maybe three years ago I stumbled across a fluval edge in our hardware store and I was instantly hooked by the design. The edge got me thinking about owning a tank again, and I went to the internet...

I quickly learned about the whole nano and especially saltwater tanks and thought - why not!

Lets do a saltwater tank!

After a bit more resarch I found out about all the disadvantages of the edge and that heavy modifications would be necessary, beginning with the lights, filter, etc.

I am a tech and DIY guy, but at the time it was too much and I forgot about the idea.

So about half a year ago I again accidentially landed on Neills Marine Pac 3 Video on youtube, his blog, and finally here.

The Marine Pac as "plug and play ready" mod, and all the cool new stuff that had developed in the scene (like the bluefish controller), finally convinced me to give the whole thing a try.

 

I am a plannig guy, so i spent a lot of hours reading through this forum (which is the best! - German forums suck) and two books I bought.

 

I decided to stick to idea of the getting the fluval edge, because it was the spark that got this whole idea going.

I know it is a tank with lots of restrictions and maybe not the easiest to make a successfull start into the reefing world (a lot of fluval edge threads around here get deserted... ).

But I like a good challenge :-)

 

I ordered the Marine Pac 3 from Neill (who did an awesome job and always helps out with noob questions) and with time i got several other things I "might" need.

So I got a lot of eqipment lying around here

 

I am still missing the tank!

I have little room in the flat, so I will get it when I have time to really start.

Most likely it will be a symbolic christmas present to myself

 

Also I am still undecided on the aquascape and what kind of rock to get...

Back to the "drawing board"

[mpad]

About the aquascape:

I really want something that goes with the vertical aspects of the tank, and I kind of want an overhang

Problem is the punctual light source in the middle back part of the tank, which gets most likely obstructed by vertical structures...

I also want some free space to put a clam on the sand bed, which also needs direct light.

Pretty ambitious for that shape of tank

 

I played around with sketchup, here you see some scape ideas. and a sketch of the tank situated in our living room...

 

 

 

 

 

[metrokat]

Welcome, looking forward to this build.

[aquarium]

Very cool!

I like the scape in the third picture.

Any stocking ideas? I think I see a sketchup clam

[mpad]

Thanks!

 

No, besides the clam (must have) no real stock list yet.

I do like the look of hammers and frogsspawn and so on.

Definitely some zoas at one point.

Pretty undecided about any kind of sps and uncertain if I am up for it.

 

I will get me a crab and some hermits and snails for clean up crew.

 

For fish I need something small... And I don't know if there really is a way NOT to get a clown as your first fish

[BRN]

Nice! I've been waiting for your thread.

[ajmckay]

Nice! I just watched the youtube video about the saltwater conversion kit for the edge - looks pretty nice honestly.

 

It sounds like you're doing your homework and taking the care to plan this tank out right - I'm positive it will turn out great!

[metrokat]

If space is a premium, frogspawn, torch, hammer may not be a good idea. The spread of the polyps plus their stinging personalities means they need a lot more room. Some suggestions are acans, zoas, mushrooms, leather, blasto.

[mpad]

As I have lots of time untill the BF mini arrives in Germany I started to make the BF mini / enhanced fan control mod for the lights.

 

The idea is to

1. power the BlueFish mini (accepts up to 15V)
2. enhance the PWM fan control by a manual voltage potentiometer

I know PWM + voltage mod is not the best combination and some fans don't like it, but I decided take my chances as I am totally scared of fan noises.

 

As I did't want to void the warranty (never gonna send this back all the way to Australia anyway - imagine the CO2 footprint...) I decided not to mess with the driver itself, but to make a cable extension which I needed anyways and just mess with that.

 

 

I just take the GND (pin5) constant 12V (pin 6) for the fan and leave the fan-PWM signal (pin 7) untouched.

First I use it to power the BF mini (not yet seen in the picture), and after that I implemented a 3 € PC fan controller which allows to dial between 5V (dead silent, fan still running) up to 12V (full speed).

This alone already works great, will see how it goes with the PWM kickin in...

 

When the BF mini arrives I put everthing in a nice plastic box and make a nice headphone cable for the LED channel control. Plug and play.

[mpad]

If space is a premium, frogspawn, torch, hammer may not be a good idea. The spread of the polyps plus their stinging personalities means they need a lot more room. Some suggestions are acans, zoas, mushrooms, leather, blasto.

 

God point, but I like the JustinFox setup so much. The hammer and the other "stuff" ( I looked it up but forgot) looks so great.

 

EDIT: And those toadstools I like!!! http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/327771-my-humble-12g/?p=5106030

 

No space means I have to keep the total number and diversity at a minimum. Just keep it simple (not really my strenght).

 

I still believe I can control the urge to buy a new coral every other day - haha, how naive

[mpad]

update!
life and some other things made me put the reef project on a halt. now to get things going.
Meanwhile I had time to ...
- collect the edge, all the equipment and stuff.
- forget about my research.
- finish the BF mini power and fan control mod for the marinepac3 (works like a charm) - pics will follow
- envision the perfect scape - see pic below. center piramid. little shelf left, branch on the right to the pump. just the best for how the light is positioned on the edge. should leave enough room for growth.

- start researching again.
- make 60l of salt water in a much too big barrel for our flat.
- notice that where I first planned to set up the tank it will get 38°C in summer (south windows top floor), so I decided to go down one floor where I will have 25°-26°C (now the maisonette pays off).
- change the color of the tank from black to white.
- start building my own stand.
That is where I am now. Water in the tank is planned in two weeks.

to be continued...

[mpad]

some pics

 

the finished MP3 BlueFish Mini + FanControl Mod. The potentiometer works like a charm together with the PWM fan control and gives me the quiet I desire. Put together in a nice case, also serves as extension cable...

 

 

STUFF

 

 

Stand finished and first mockup

 

 

[mpad]

putting everything together ... getting the pump down there in the mp3 was a nightmare and made me realize that my arms are just too thick with muscle.

fortunately my gf helped me out with her child-worker like hands.

 

 

neat

 

not so neat

 

let there be light

 

[xHereFishyFishyFishyx]

Looks like a good setup so far. Looking forward to seeing you get things going in the tank!

[BMMMW]

Looking good, and that light looks like it has plenty of power!

[superbluetang]

Looking pretty good. I like the setup especially with a white stand. Looks very modern.