McGuff's 6 gal Fluval Edge

[mmcguffi]

Jan '11 FTS [set up tank]

 

 

Feb '11 FTS [removed ~5 lbs LR, added feather duster, percula, scarlet hermit, blue-leg hermit, 2 ceriths]

 

 

March '11 FTS [added Nanotuners LED, skunk shrimp, frogspawn, green implosions, whammin watermelons, GSP]

 

 

April '11 FTS [removed percula, added 2 acan colonies, 2 zoa colonies, sun coral, 3 halimeda frags, purple photosynthetic gorg, ricordea, blue striped 'shroom]

 

 

June '11 FTS [added 'branch frag' (see post), added 2 occellaris clowns, added various mushrooms, added various zoas, added more snails, removed emerald crab, added porcelain crab]

kind of a ####ty picture but I just snapped it real quick. there was stuff flying around everywhere, Ill be sure to get a better one

 

 

 

 

Current FTS from afar

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Goals:

not f%#k up as this is my first nano tank

keep the stock look

[FAIL kind of--still looks really nice, possibly better than stock]

build a fuge

 

Current LS/Equipment:

 

[fish/inverts]

1 percula clown

[sold her because the tank is too small]

2 small occellaris clowns

1 emerald crab (

Lucky aka Citizen Snips

)

[sold because he was eating my blue ochtodes]

1 porcelain crab

unfortunately died bc of lack of husbandry

(ie WCs)

1 skunk shrimp (Doc Rodgers)

1 money cowrie

1 blue-leg hermit, 1 scarlet hermit (Sonic and Knuckles)

1 large feather duster

15+ dwarf cerith snails

~10 certiths

~10 nassarius

~5 virgin nerites

micro brittle starfish (my LFS just gave me some)

[coral]

2 green explosion paly colonies

brown palys

 

whammin watermelon zoas

fire and ice zoas

gorilla nipples zoas

'monkey nipples' zoas [called gorilla nipples but theyre smaller and greener than the others]

green/gold/yellow zoa colony

assorted small random zoas frags

green/purple/brown zoa colony

[melted away--had nudi problems and it never recovered)

 

blue/red acan colony

purple/red acan colony

 

GSP

frogspawn (

currently 2 heads

4 heads now)

sun coral

purple photosynthetic gorgonian

~1" kenya tree that hitched in on something

 

1 large blue striped mushroom

1 small blue striped mushroom

1 green dotted mushroom

1 unknown mushroom

green/orange ricordea

[macros]

blue ochtodes

Halimeda monile

Halimeda incrassata

[hitchhikers]

lots of bristle worms including a 12"+ iridescent blue bristle worm (Jeffery Stanton)

tons of hair worms, tiny feather dusters and other micro sessile worms

various small snails

an assortment of asterinas

2 small leather corals

[dead - I suspect the emerald ate them]

1 ball tipped corallimorph

[dead/MIA]

[equipment]

koralia 240

Nanocustoms Fluval Edge LED fixture (CW:RB:CW)

AC 20 with some purapad

small preset heater set to 78 (forgot the maker works okay, about a 3o temp swing during the day)

6-7 lb LR, ~1" LS

 

Future plans:

 

[fish and inverts]

possibly 2 small percs or some other fish--need advice/opinions here

bought 2 small occellaris

possibly some new CUC members, I really want a chiton

got some more snails--still want that chiton though

perhaps switch my emerald crab for a porcelain or pom pom if the opportunity presents itself

switched for a porcelain, a pom pom would be cool though...

[corals]

ricordea florida mushrooms

other assorted 'shrooms

hammer/torch/frogspawn

assorted zoas/palys

an acan or two

whatever else I buy on impulse lol

[other]

a few ornamental macros

[ive got a couple but Im still building my collection]

[equipment]

Some kind of fuge

*possibly* a skimmer of some sort

definitely no need.

[hunggi74]

Nice tank! Do you think the Koralia 450 is too much for such a small tank. I hummed and hawwed and I went with the 450 because it was only $5 more than the 240.

[mmcguffi]

Nice tank! Do you think the Koralia 450 is too much for such a small tank. I hummed and hawwed and I went with the 450 because it was only $5 more than the 240.

 

Thanks! I actually made poll asking that exact question and the response seemed to be that the 425 would be too much. I didnt get to try it so I really dont know for sure.

[colinlp]

Looking good! I'm hoping to kick mine off this weekend, if mine looks as good as yours in a months time I'll be well pleased. I've just ordered the Nanocustom LED unit so looking forward to getting that, guess I'll have to start my own thread off as well, man these Edges are popular.

Looking forward to lots of pics and I'll be following your progress very closely, looking for help!!

[mmcguffi]

Looking good! I'm hoping to kick mine off this weekend, if mine looks as good as yours in a months time I'll be well pleased. I've just ordered the Nanocustom LED unit so looking forward to getting that, guess I'll have to start my own thread off as well, man these Edges are popular.

Looking forward to lots of pics and I'll be following your progress very closely, looking for help!!

 

Hey thanks for the kind words! I just ordered the Nanocustoms LED on Friday and emailed them to see when it would be shipped... 2-3 weeks apparently . In terms of help for putting this together, this thread was fairly helpful as well as checking out some people's individual build threads and what they did over the months. Also I just searched for answers to general questions--pretty much anything you need to ask has been asked before!

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing your tank! Keep us updated

[colinlp]

Yes I've read that thread thoroughly, loads of ideas different directions. I'm amazed how popular the Edge is here, this forum is definitely the place to get information. Just of a note of amazing tanks, have you seen PicoD's Edge? beautiful! Here in the UK the Edge isn't popular with SW types, actually maybe an understatement from what I've read so far, fingers crossed they will become more popular.

 

What configuration LEDs did you order? I went for 1 Blue and 2 white with independent dimming on the blue, not sure if that's the right way to go but I prefer the look of a whiter light with a hint of blue so fingers crossed it will work for me.

[mmcguffi]

PicoDs I think is my favorite Edge. AWESOME tank but she has more money invested in it than I have lol. And I believe she has spotlight-type lighting which is something Im trying to avoid.

 

For my LEDs I ordered back row 50/50, middle RB, front CW. I asked if I could get some NW or WW thrown in there to balance out the spectrum, but they said it was a no-go. I think I prefer a more "natural" look as well so Im hoping the configuration I got will allow me enough control to get the color I want.

[neversoclever]

Nice tank! Do you think the Koralia 450 is too much for such a small tank. I hummed and hawwed and I went with the 450 because it was only $5 more than the 240.

i used the nano 425 for a couple of days. took it out and put a nano 240 in.

425 is to much for such a small tank. it blows sand around to the point you will see bare bottom in spots.

 

very nice edge mmcguffi.

make sure to post pics when you get your lights, as i am trying to justify spending the money for them.

[mmcguffi]

Here's a few pictures of my first-ish aquascapes. The cloudy one was taken a day or so after I set it up and I believe the other two were taken maybe a week or two after that. I think I liked this scape better but I changed it for practical reasons.

 

I ultimately removed about half the sand as it was too deep for a normal-sized bed but not deep enough for a DSB and risked the possibility of forming dangerous pockets of crap

 

I also removed the rock outlined in red for a few reasons. First and primarily to make enough room to humanely house 2 clowns, and also to make sure I would be able to clean/preform maintenance easily. Furthermore I removed the rock to make sure that there was proper water circulation around the tank, and finally so that all of the space would be efficiently lighted.

[mmcguffi]

My Nanotuners LED fixture arrived yesterday and it's awesome. Im still trying to figure out how to take pictures of it (did you guys know it's near impossible to photograph LED lights? who knew!). When I do, I be sure to post lots of pictures/info.

 

I also bought a money cowrie on impulse yesterday--the only thing I have ever bought on impulse (sans corals )--and I was hoping he was reefsafe. Well, apparently he is so yay is me. Ive always liked these guys since I was younger.

 

 

 

 

 

I was having a hell of a time capturing my tank but it seems the new light has solved those problems ...but created a whole bunch of new ones in terms of capturing the correct color. Update later when I figure things out

[mmcguffi]

This cowrie is awesome. Seriously dedicated tank cleaner. He sleeps on my float mag during the day and during the night he goes into overdrive cleaning everything.

 

The other night I witnessed a truly fascinating behavior. The cowrie used its flesh that goes up the sides of its shell to grab the sand and flip itself over. While it was on its back, it had a large slab of sand in a mucus wad on its foot which it proceeded to ball up and eat out of it. Hard to explain and it only occurred to me after a few minutes that I should capture this. If he does it again Ill be sure to document it in all its glory

 

 

 

 

 

[picoreef78]

Great tank. Thanks for your input into my little problem. Anyway, all levels for me are zero except nitrate is up to 0-0.2 ppm. Glad to have that instead of NH3. I am in planning stages of upgrading the tank.

As far as your filtration you stated pura pad and extra carbon. Did you take out the ceramic filter media? How about the sponge? I have sponge, layer of purapad, fluval carbon media, layer of polyfilter, and finally the ceramic media.

[mmcguffi]

So actually my clown has been acting up and likes to "host" my sand bed... I think this tank might be too small for her so I think Im going to try to get rid of her and get two very small percs. Anyway, this hosting behavior causes a lot sand to go into the filter area. To combat this Ive put the sponge back in and then the purapad on top of that with nothing else inside the fliter chamber (besides my heater).

 

However, Im currently modding my tank so I can fit a Whisper 30 filter into it so I can throw some chaeto in there and Ill probably stuff a little polyfill in there as well as my purapad. Since Ive had the tank up Ive my trates have been ~15 ppm which is barely acceptable for my frogspawn and zoas so Im trying to figure out a solution for that. I post some pics once I get it up and running.

[pmoradi2002]

Wow surprisingly I really like it

[Arkayology]

Clowns do not host anything. Hosting is done by the thing/object that the clown is attracted to. Think about it, you do not visit someone's house and host anything. They are the hosts.

 

Nice little tank. I have a money cowrie as well. They are pretty cool, determined, little things. I think you are right that this tank is too small for a clown. I would advise against getting two smaller clowns to replace the big one, as they will grow and you will be in twice the predicament that you find yourself in currently. Try a shrimp goby instead.

[mmcguffi]

I know clowns dont host hence the quotes. They do have a hosting behavior though which is why everyone will understand you if you say your clown is hosting something; It was just awkward to say the sand bed is hosting the clown.

 

Youre right though, this tank is too small for my perc so Im selling her at a frag swap this weekend. Im going to try 2 small percs because I really enjoy them, hopefully they will take a liking to my frogspawn and not travel far from it. But if my tank is indeed too small for them as well I will not hesitate to get rid of them. A shrimp/goby pair might be cool too

[mmcguffi]

Here's a pic of a new ric I bought under my actinics. Huge update coming soon...

 

[mmcguffi]

less red/blue more red-purple/purple in person

 

[mmcguffi]

My new sun coral. It took a few days for the polyps to come out and when they did I fed it in a separate container. Still trying to figure out a system. In the picture with the closed polyps you can see a little oblong brown thing near where the sun coral is showing its skeleton. I think it was a nudi. I killed it.

 

 

[mmcguffi]

I thought this was pretty funny, I initially thought my palys had somehow caught my blue hermit but it turns out it was just eating its molt

 

My hermits, Sonic and Knuckles

[Zo0k365]

Tank looks awesome. I'm happy to see people using the nanotunders LED lights. How are you liking yours?

[picoreef78]

How often do you find yourself changing the poly-filter or purapad?

Advertised at monthly. Currently I am doing every two weeks as I am overstocked.

[mmcguffi]

Tank looks awesome. I'm happy to see people using the nanotunders LED lights. How are you liking yours?

 

It's awesome. However it's not completely without flaws. Ive been meaning to do a write up/review for a while now but I havent gotten around to it. Itll come eventually.

 

I actually did not like putting in place of the stock lights because it caused the shimmer that is associated with LED lights. I know a lot of people like this, but my tank is on my work desk and I found it very distracting. Also, I ordered [cool white : royal blue : cool white] for my fixture and this actually caused some 'color shadowing' (or whatever it's called) in the shimmer which was way too hypnotic and hurt my brain. I ended up placing it in front of the stock hood on an angle. This completely removes the shimmer effect and lights my aquascape much better. Makes it look much, much nicer IMO. I cut a little of the hood away so the chord to the nanotuners light could be hidden.

 

Here's where I cut the hood. I did an EXTREMELY sloppy job because I was impatient and didnt wait until I had the proper tools. Luckly you cant tell at all unless you take the hood off and inspect it closely

 

Here's how the chord fits into the hole. A big reason why I havent posted this yet is because I spilled a little bit of salt water on the fixture and it needs to be cleaned on the inside. I was too embarrassed to show people because it looks so messy lol

 

It actually looks very nice when the fixture is clean. IMO perhaps even better than stock. The guys over at nanotuners did a great job taking aesthetics into account. Deffinately does not look like a DIY LED fixture I can tell you that.

 

 

Also since I have it set up this way, it allows me to keep the stock lights in. This really lights up the back corners of the tank and most importantly balances out spectrum. It looks much nicer when I run the stock lights with the LED fixture.

 

What's really cool about having my lights setup like this is the effect it has on my light cycle. First the actinics come on. Then after an hour or so the stock fixture. This gives a really awesome effect that looks light sunrise/sunset. The front half of the tank is almost completely under actinics while the back half is lit by warm halogens. They both blend together very nicely. Then the cool white come on and gives it a daylight effect (the reverse happens at night, obviously).

 

Ill nab some pictures of this sometime soon and post em up here.

 

 

How often do you find yourself changing the poly-filter or purapad?

Advertised at monthly. Currently I am doing every two weeks as I am overstocked.

 

Im changing mine about every two weeks as well. I just use a tiny square that is cut to size for the AC20 though so Im really not using all that much.

 

The only reason I end up changing it most of the time is that physical debris clogs it, Im sure the chemical filtration is still going strong. I tried putting the sponge that came with the filter under the purapad but that didnt work out too well so I switched back to just the purapad.

[picoreef78]

I have had no problems with clogging, but I left in the stock sponge, I use the cut square with two layers. Thanks for the advise.

[mmcguffi]

Here's a pic of my awesome iridescent blue bristle worm. I only had one to begin with but recently I saw two out at the same time. The smaller one had a 1 cm long, red feathery tail. I guess it reproduced asexually, pretty awesome though because they are both roughly equal in size and huge.

 

Here's the biggun

 

 

 

 

Also here's a pic of some zoas I got at a frag swap. The colors are pretty accurate--it's taken me forever to figure out the white balance settings to properly capture my tank but I think Im getting closer to getting it right.

 

Any clue what these are? I did a quick search on zoaid.com but couldnt find anything