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My first tank--Fluval Edge 6 gallon!


xHereFishyFishyFishyx

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Okay, here goes...

 

Fluval Edge 6 gallon

Caribsea live sand mixed with slightly larger grain regular sand

7 pounds of live rock

Small heater(keeps water right around 80 degrees)

Regular Fluval Edge filtration

Lighting upgraded to LEDs by previous owner(white and blue)

 

The tank has been up and running for about three weeks. I did a 10% water change about four days ago. About this time brown algae had started showing up on my rocks and a small patch on the sand. Seems to be diminishing slightly as of this morning. I did the water change because my nitrates were around 20 ppm. I'll upgrade my testing kit in the near future but what I'm using now will suffice. I also plan on upgrading lighting in the near future as well as starting a 40 gallon long/shallow tank(sometime this summer).

 

So far I've learned a lot from reading up on this forum and watching videos on YouTube. There are a couple decent fish stores here in town(Oklahoma City) and of course the local Petco and PetSmart....so I look forward to learning from them as well(good and bad). I'm pretty patient so I'm perfectly fine with just having a tank with rocks and sand in it for however long it needs until it gets used to itself. I already gave my better half a head's up..."Okay just so you know...for a little while it's not gonna have anything exciting in it at all..." lol. I just want to do this the right way and have something I'm really pleased with/love looking at/love spending time on.

 

Future goals for this setup:

Upgrade test kit(I hear digital is the way to go)

Upgrade to better lights(adjustable output

Upgrade filtration

 

Future livestock: (still researching)

1 shrimp

4 snails

2-3 small fish(Gobies/Blennies)

Zoanthids...looking for colorful ones

Maybe another soft coral of some type...we'll see how crowded it gets in there.

 

Comments and advice are always welcome...have a great day!

 

NANO.jpg

 

NANO3.jpg

 

NANO2.jpg

I love the added view from above the top glass allows.

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Got an actual nitrite and ammonia test kit today...tested for each and both tests showed zero! So that's good news. I will be testing for nitrates again in a couple days(it'll be a week since I last checked by then). My diatoms have increased in some spots and decreased in others...no big deal though.

 

In a few weeks or so i'll be getting a cleaner shrimp and two snails. Haven't decided what snails to go for yet. Maybe one nassarius and one astria...or a turbo and and an astria....anyone have any advice? I don't know which snails will play well together.

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Hey man, fellow 6 edge'r here. Got some pics on my thread and list of my CUC and corals. Digging your rock work, tank looks good so far. Will def follow to see how you progress. Any questions and opinions lemme know! P.S. I'd recommend some hermits and trochus snails.

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Hey man, fellow 6 edge'r here. Got some pics on my thread and list of my CUC and corals. Digging your rock work, tank looks good so far. Will def follow to see how you progress. Any questions and opinions lemme know! P.S. I'd recommend some hermits and trochus snails.

 

Yeah I was at the fish store down the road earlier looking at snails and shrimp. Haven't decided yet but i'll keep those in mind for sure. I'll check out your tank too and I look forward to learning more!

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Cencalfishguy56

 

Yeah I was at the fish store down the road earlier looking at snails and shrimp. Haven't decided yet but i'll keep those in mind for sure. I'll check out your tank too and I look forward to learning more!

tsb for fish and skunk cleaner for shrimp!
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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

tsb for fish and skunk cleaner for shrimp!

Well the thing I'm worried about is having enough for cleanup livestock to eat in such a small tank. With there being only a couple small fish and a couple corals, maybe I should just get a cleaner shrimp and only one snail? Might just start off that way and see how they do. What fish are you talking about when you say "tsb"?

 

I thought about adding a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp but I don't think my substrate is deep enough to allow the shrimp to burrow/tunnel like it'll want to. My bed is only about 1 inch deep.

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Cencalfishguy56

Well the thing I'm worried about is having enough for cleanup livestock to eat in such a small tank. With there being only a couple small fish and a couple corals, maybe I should just get a cleaner shrimp and only one snail? Might just start off that way and see how they do. What fish are you talking about when you say "tsb"?

 

I thought about adding a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp but I don't think my substrate is deep enough to allow the shrimp to burrow/tunnel like it'll want to. My bed is only about 1 inch deep.

you can get away with 2-3 snails and a shrimp, also a tsb is a tail spot blenny, they are really small have a ton of character, i think you'd enjoy one in such a small tank
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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

you can get away with 2-3 snails and a shrimp, also a tsb is a tail spot blenny, they are really small have a ton of character, i think you'd enjoy one in such a small tank

 

That's what I thought you meant. Thanks for the suggestion! It's one of the fish I was considering actually. Can't wait to let this thing get used to itself a little longer so I can add more to it!

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Actually just had my cleaner shrimp molt his shell and it got stuck somewhere that I can't reach.... now I have to deal with cloudy water for a week or two...

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Cencalfishguy56

 

That's what I thought you meant. Thanks for the suggestion! It's one of the fish I was considering actually. Can't wait to let this thing get used to itself a little longer so I can add more to it!

right! I'm excited for you lol and no problem!
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  • 2 weeks later...
xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Tank update...water parameters were stable for the last two weeks so I went ahead and added two snails to my tank. In a week or so i'll add a cleaner shrimp. I bought a turbo snail and a nassarius snail. As soon as I plopped the nassarius down on the sand bed he burrowed under with his little snorkel sticking out. I had a pretty good diatom bloom going on both my rock clusters and as soon as I plopped the turbo snail on the rock he went to town and was eating pretty good all over until I went to bed about six hours later. After getting up this morning I noticed he mustve been busy all night 'cause the rock cluster he's on is now pretty well picked clean and he's not moving around. I'm guessing he's pretty tired on top of being fat and happy. lol My nassarius snail is nowhere to be found but I've read that's common for them to seemingly disappear. He's not where he was when I went to bed...maybe he was busy last night too, I don't know. When I got the nassarius I was under the impression they would clean the surface of the sand bed and not burrow as much. Maybe he'll come out more eventually. I'm guessing it's just hit or miss with these guys. Either way it's been pretty cool to have something in there other than just water and rocks. Even if it's just snails, I've waited my whole life to be doing this so any little thing is really cool to me. lol I may try dropping a couple/few pellets on the substrate to see if I can draw out the nassarius...we'll see.

 

I do have one question though. Will turbo snails stay on one rock cluster or will they eventually make their way to separate rocks in the tank? Do I need one snail for each separated section of rocks? I hope this makes sense. He hasn't discovered the rocks to the right of the ones he's on now and I was just curious. Wasn't able to find what I was looking for by searching.

 

Oh and there's quite a bit of brown dots around the rock the turbo is on...I'm guessing that's his doo doo.

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Elizabeth94

Nassarius snails do not clean the sand bed like you may think. They are predatory snails, and eat the food you throw in the tank that settles to the bottom. They dont eat algae, soyou need to feed them. We call them zombie snails. As soon as you place food in the tank they will rise out of the sand to eat.

 

I really love you rock work, looks great!

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

he will make it over to the other rocks, they are slow critters, hes not done exploring that one yet lol

What's funny is right after I posted that question about ten minutes later he was really movin' towards the other rocks like "OH, DUDE! There's MORE?!?!?" haha. He seems to like to hang out by the heater/filter on the back glass up by the top where the water is enters the tank. I don't know if this is for a specific reason or not...but I'm very interested in learning why if there is a reason. I love learning new stuff, especially about marine life. Thanks for the comment by the way!

 

 

hey, just setting up the 12g edge. following...

Awesome! I'll check out your tank for sure and follow as well.

 

Nassarius snails do not clean the sand bed like you may think. They are predatory snails, and eat the food you throw in the tank that settles to the bottom. They dont eat algae, soyou need to feed them. We call them zombie snails. As soon as you place food in the tank they will rise out of the sand to eat.

 

I really love you rock work, looks great!

Yeah, I had read so much about them being this or that or everything in between...he was scootin' around pretty good the other day and he did eat some diatoms and poop from the Turbo snail. I can see where he has been 'cause there's a nice clean white trail here and there. But I took your advice and picked up some shrimp pellets thinking that might be up it's alley. Dropped in one pellet after not seeing him all day and in about 20 seconds after the water had softened it up a bit, it came FLYING out of the sand after it. I was laughing pretty hard at how fast it moved. Never seen a snail move that fast! He stayed in place and munched on it and after he was doing he messed around a little and then burrowed back under the sand. Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it a lot! Glad you like my rock work. Not seeking approval per say but it's always nice to know someone else appreciates it! If my tank can bring other people some form of enjoyment/happiness then that's even more motivation to make this thing awesome.

 

So, now my question is...which cleanup crew cleans up the sand bed the best? Not looking for speed, just efficiency. Will more Nassarius be the way to go? I'm not really interested in hermit crabs 'cause I don't feel like dealing with shells and them maybe eating my snails, etc etc...unless they're very efficient cleaners.

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Added a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp this evening...have really enjoyed watching it explore the tank. It really likes the tunnel I made with the live rock and the little cave like structure in back too. It's been in and out of those about six or eight times already. I'll watch my water for a couple weeks and if all is well by then, i'll add a fish. Not sure which one yet so we'll see. Still researching/debating that one. I'll post up new pictures tomorrow evening. It's getting kinda late now.

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

tank.jpg

 

Here is the tank as it stands now. Pretty clean still minus some snail poop. I'm getting a turkey baster tomorrow to help clean it up. Still have some stubborn diatoms in the back corner that haven't gone away yet on their own. Turbo snail has ate some of it so maybe he'll eventually get to it all. I dunno. May stir up the sand a little.

 

tank2.jpg

 

Here's a top down view of the tank. You can really see how well the Turbo snail has cleaned off the diatoms on the rocks. Pretty awesome.

 

shrimp.jpg

 

And we've all seen a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp before. He seems to really like the tunnel spot and has been hanging out half in/out of it at an upside down angle...which is awesome 'cause that's why I wanted some features in the tank. I figured something would utilize/enjoy it and that it would be neat to see.

 

I'll be upgrading my lighting to the Fluval Sea LED lighting sometime in the near future...that'll put me closer to where I need to be for corals as far as light goes. Will also pick up some new filtration(new charcoal and such). So far the tank has been stable and really easy which is good. Having a job and a family doesn't always leave the most time. Looking forward to adding a fish in a couple weeks and getting this snail poop out tomorrow...and I haven't seen my Nassarius snail in a couple days. lol. Tried feeding it with shrimp pellets but the shrimp got 'em both. Cannibal. haha.

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Pinner Reef

Good looking start! I really like the scape on this system. Quick suggestion: add some more hermits and snails. All that brown stuff is edible to them (Diatoms). Maybe like a dozen split down the middle in terms of numbers. And you'll soon come to lovingly hate the voracious nature of your shrimp. They steal food from the corals you are trying to feed. It does help if you placate them with sacrificial meal but they also seem to have an endless appetite. Any Ideas as to what type of light you're going to upgrade to?

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tank.jpg

 

Here is the tank as it stands now. Pretty clean still minus some snail poop. I'm getting a turkey baster tomorrow to help clean it up. Still have some stubborn diatoms in the back corner that haven't gone away yet on their own. Turbo snail has ate some of it so maybe he'll eventually get to it all. I dunno. May stir up the sand a little.

 

tank2.jpg

 

Here's a top down view of the tank. You can really see how well the Turbo snail has cleaned off the diatoms on the rocks. Pretty awesome.

 

shrimp.jpg

 

And we've all seen a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp before. He seems to really like the tunnel spot and has been hanging out half in/out of it at an upside down angle...which is awesome 'cause that's why I wanted some features in the tank. I figured something would utilize/enjoy it and that it would be neat to see.

 

I'll be upgrading my lighting to the Fluval Sea LED lighting sometime in the near future...that'll put me closer to where I need to be for corals as far as light goes. Will also pick up some new filtration(new charcoal and such). So far the tank has been stable and really easy which is good. Having a job and a family doesn't always leave the most time. Looking forward to adding a fish in a couple weeks and getting this snail poop out tomorrow...and I haven't seen my Nassarius snail in a couple days. lol. Tried feeding it with shrimp pellets but the shrimp got 'em both. Cannibal. haha.

 

Sooooo that algae in the corner can be fixed by adding a small powerhead. I would recommend the Koralia Nano. Works great for these tanks. Water movement is the best way to keep algae from growing. Also, for the bubbles, make sure to keep the top of the tank topped off. I make sure to keep the water level a little over halfway up the top opening with the plastic rim. If you need anymore tips feel free to ask me, I'm about a month ahead of you haha so I can fill you in.

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Looks great! I just started a 5.5 gallon. I'll be following you to see what to do or what not to do :)attachicon.gifWP_20160409_004.jpg

 

Awesome! Yeah, I think I'm following your tank...? I'll have to look and see. If not, I'm going to.

 

Good looking start! I really like the scape on this system. Quick suggestion: add some more hermits and snails. All that brown stuff is edible to them (Diatoms). Maybe like a dozen split down the middle in terms of numbers. And you'll soon come to lovingly hate the voracious nature of your shrimp. They steal food from the corals you are trying to feed. It does help if you placate them with sacrificial meal but they also seem to have an endless appetite. Any Ideas as to what type of light you're going to upgrade to?

 

Yeah I was thinking I need to add more snails. Not sure which ones I wanna go with. I don't think I wanna mess with hermit crabs. Don't feel like dealing with shells and stuff...don't want shells just hanging out in my tank. I dunno, personal taste. Unless I get to a point where the snails aren't cutting it(don't know why I would get to that point). I just wanted to start small with the snails since it's such a small tank and there isn't a lot going on in there yet. Don't wanna starve anyone. As much as my Turbo snail eats I worry he'll run out of food...my Nassarius is nowhere to be found(3 days now). My shrimp has been picking at a little bit of everything since I put it in there so he seems happy. He found his favorite spot and hangs out there 90% of the time(half in/out of the tunnel on the right side of the tank and upside down, lol). But anyways. Thanks for the input! I'll have to see...might pick up another snail next week.

 

 

Sooooo that algae in the corner can be fixed by adding a small powerhead. I would recommend the Koralia Nano. Works great for these tanks. Water movement is the best way to keep algae from growing. Also, for the bubbles, make sure to keep the top of the tank topped off. I make sure to keep the water level a little over halfway up the top opening with the plastic rim. If you need anymore tips feel free to ask me, I'm about a month ahead of you haha so I can fill you in.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've been looking at powerheads. I want something really small and not that powerful since it's such a small tank. I'll look into the one you suggested. Was planning on getting a new light and a powerhead in the next couple weeks. I took those pictures before I topped off the tank, but I gotcha about the bubbles! I didn't fill it as full this last water change. I need to fill it more and make sure the salinity is right...hakuna matata. I'm really enjoying the top down view and taking care of the tank overall.

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Got some photos of the controller for you!

 

IMG_2014_zpsdtbenu6d.jpg

 

FullSizeRender_zpsqauydjfb.jpg

 

IMG_2013_zpsraiwxcso.jpg

 

This one is actually under the hood. The LED system I got is all inclusive and actually comes with the new hood as a unit. You can see where I broke away the acrylic :rolleyes: lol nevermind that. My tank needed to breathe. It would heat up too quickly and lock the heat in.

 

IMG_2015_zpsxqdaq8s4.jpg

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xHereFishyFishyFishyx

Got some photos of the controller for you!

 

IMG_2014_zpsdtbenu6d.jpg

 

FullSizeRender_zpsqauydjfb.jpg

 

IMG_2013_zpsraiwxcso.jpg

 

This one is actually under the hood. The LED system I got is all inclusive and actually comes with the new hood as a unit. You can see where I broke away the acrylic :rolleyes: lol nevermind that. My tank needed to breathe. It would heat up too quickly and lock the heat in.

 

IMG_2015_zpsxqdaq8s4.jpg

 

Thanks a lot for posting some pictures up! I'll have to research it some more but it looks like a legit setup! Would be great having all those features so I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting to turn the daytime light on before I leave for work in the morning. About how much would it cause the temperature to rise? I have the tank around 78 all the time so not a lot of room there for extra...I'm not opposed to modifying it like you did.

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