Flys first sw fluval edge

[flyfshrmn98]

So I bought a 6 gal fluval edge a while back and thought it would be sweet as a little nano reef. This will be my first saltwater aquarium but I have always wanted to have one. There will be lots of learning along the way. Hopefully my experience with freshwater planted tanks will help. The biggest problem with the edge is the lighting or lack there of for reefs. I decided to build a custom lid for it and retrofit it with 9 3 watt LEDS. It has 5 white and 4 blue on separate drivers so I can control them each. Here are some pictures so far. Right now its just tank and water. Have some live sand and hoping to get some live rock tomorrow or this weekend. Will update as I go. Comments, suggestions, and critiques are appreciated!

 

Here is what the outside of the new lid looks like. I had fluval send me an extra base and I cut out the center to fit around the original lid.

 

 

The 2 LED drivers fit perfectly in the base

 

 

Underside with the LEDs on heatsinks

 

 

 

Tank with water in it tonight:)

 

 

[jakob1980]

Lookin good. I'll follow along.

[djfrankn]

Looks good. Keep us posted with updates. Frank.

[straydog]

Best edge lighting I've seen so far. Great job!

[flyfshrmn98]

So I finally was able to pick up some live rock today and get the tank done! The tank consists of about 75% live rock and 25% dry rock. I put the rock in first on the glass so it wont settle later when I get my livestock. And after the sand I have a cloudy mess! Do I leave my filter off while everything settles or go ahead and turn it on to help clean? I can also already see where the hob filter comes in im getting sand blowing around and have a hole developing. Should I take out the sand that I can get to and put something different down or should I cap it with some aragonite or something different?

 

 

[Jessy-Ray]

I like what you did with the lighting, haven't seen that before!.

following

[flyfshrmn98]

Here it is this morning after running filter floss over the night. Cleared up nicely! Now just have to address the issue of blowing sand

 

[Cnebo]

Awesome idea for the lighting. I'll be following along.

[flyfshrmn98]

Last night and this morning I have started noticing a brown/rust appearing something on my sand in the front of the tank. It is only on the sand and not the rocks. Wondering if I am starting to get a diatom bloom or is it some kind of detritus

 

water parameters currently are:

 

pH- 8.2

Ammonia - between 1-2

NO2- 0

NO3- 0-5 (closer to 0)

PO4- 2

Ca- 400-420

KH- 150-160

dKH- 8.68

 

[Cnebo]

Looks like diatoms to me.

[flyfshrmn98]

My LEDs have been generating a lot of heat especially since they are enclosed. I decided to modify the hood a little more and add a couple 40mm fans. They fit perfectly in the back and don't add too much noise.

 

 

[flyfshrmn98]

Update time. So it appears my tank has finished its mini cycle. Had a slight ammonia spike then to zero then slight nitrate spike and drop down. Getting some nice coraline growth on some of the pre-established live rock. Added a purple zoa frag, watermelon zoa frag (i think), 2 purple mushrooms, green stripe mushroom, green star polyps, and clove polyps (i think). Also did some rearranging, added some live aragonite sand, a koralia 240 circulation pump, 4 snails, 2 blue leg hermits, 1 pom pom crab, 1 cleaner shrimp, and 1 yellow clown goby. Still waiting on some resistors for the LEDs so I can fix those and make them run at the proper power level. Also planning on picking up some more frags here soon and 1 more small fish maybe. Here are a few pics for now, more later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[flyfshrmn98]

overdue picture update...