Jcrissey's Fluval Edge Office Build

[Jcrissey]

I wasn't planning on detailing my build, but after I learned so much from other members here I thought I should try to give back in some way. With that in mind, here's what I'm planning for my office tank...

 

Items on hand:

6-gallon Fluval Edge (black, LED)

AquaClear 50 HOB filter

AI Nano light w/ controller

Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead (240 gph)

Hydor Theo 50-watt submersible heater

Coralife digital thermometer

Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Salt Mix

API Reef Master Test Kit

Marine Depot refractometer

InTank media basket (will hold chaeto and Purigen or Chemi-pure elite)

 

Items on order:

Rena SmartHeater (50w)

Two Little Fishies NanoMag glass cleaner

 

Items yet to buy:

Auto top-off system

10-watt submersible light (for chaeto in AC50)

 

 

 

My goal with this tank is to preserve the stock look of the Fluval Edge as much as possible. Since I travel a couple times a month for my job, I'll also want some level of automation (ATO) and remote monitoring ability (RKL +Net) so I don't dread it every time I am out for a few days at a time. Good news is I have a couple aquarium enthusiast co-workers who never travel that I hope will be able to keep an eye on it for me and feed

 

My first order of business was hacking/sanding the back cover with a dovetail saw to remove the stock LED light arm to be able to fit the AC50. As you can see in the picture (taken from above) I sanded the inside left of the back cover slightly so that the plastic didn't bulge out when the AC50 is in place...

 

Next step was cutting a notch in the right side of the AC50 return so that it would fit within the back lip of the Fluval Edge opening. I also did this with the dovetail saw...

 

Since I dropped nearly $300 on my lighting system I wanted to protect it as much as possible from moisture and salt creep, so I cut a piece of Lexan acrylic and glued four clear acrylic mirror clips to the underside using silicone...

 

Here you see the AC50 and acrylic cover installed...

 

Now onto my concerns at this point.

1) The power and data ports on the AI nano will sit VERY close to the AC50 filter return, so I need to figure out a way to protect them from moisture/salt creep

2) Due to the limited space under the hood, the Ai nano will have to be mounted flush with inside front of the hood. This will eliminate the ability to use the touch controls on the front of the AI nano, but I guess I can fully control the light using the controller?

3) Cord routing- the AC50 fit is snug, and I don't know yet how I will make room to route the cords (heater/lights/ATO/temp probe/etc.) down the inside back cover. I may wind up cutting a notch in the side of the hood if I can't figure out another solution.

 

My project for today is to spray paint the metal grille of the Fluval Edge hood with satin black Krylon Fusion to protect it from rusting, which I hear can be an issue with this aquarium. I also hope to find some reflective tape with a non-toxic adhesive that I can line the inside of the hood to reflect as much "lost" light back into the aquarium as possible. Any suggestions on such tape would be greatly appreciated.

[redkneecoral]

very good start!!!!!!

[frags4life]

nice job!! i also have an edge so this thread is very helpful... i also want to get an ai nano, a lot of reefers who use the ai nano in there edge forget about salt creep so im glad u put a piece between ur light and ur tank

Do u plan on stocking it with fish or inverts or is it just gonna be corals?

Mine is stocked with 1 yellow watchman, 1 barnacle blenny, and a fire shrimp.

And a bunch of softies and 1 torch.

Keep posting pics!!!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26003034/fluval-edge/29.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26003034/fluval-edge/30.JPG

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26003034/fluval-edge/31.JPG

 

btw this design might get u more light instead of most of the light flooding the back

GOOD LUCK!

[Jcrissey]

redkneecoral- Thanks! It will be a slow build for sure. I'll do a freshwater leak test later this week when my Koralia nano comes in, and then won't add LR/sand until that latter part of September.

 

Fragsforlife-

I plan to stock this with frogspawn, pulsing xenia, zoas, acans and other softies, and would like to add a clam to the sandbed since I have the firepower of the AI nano. I'll go with a standard CUC for a tank of this size, and I definitely want 1-2 fish in there as well to add movement and interest. I'm debating getting a small oscellaris clown if I can get the LFS to agree to take him back when he gets big enough to outgrow the tank, which I'm guessing would be 6-8 months.

 

Thanks for the links- I saw that AI nano mounting solution in another thread but I'm not sure it'll work with a HOB filter because the plug-in jack is so close to the filter return. I laid the light on the acrylic cover last night and put the hood on just to get an idea of what the light spread is like, and I think I'll be OK mounting it flush against the front of the hood, but as low as possible. I'll post some pics later this evening that I took last night that shows the pool of light on the bottom of the tank created by the AI nano.

[krisko]

looks good! can't wait to see the rest of this build.

[frags4life]

Cant wait for the pics!!!

I also have a black oscellaris clownfish and i plan to attempt to house a rose bubble tip anemone BUT(can't stress this enough) if anything goes wrong or if its destroying my tank its goin back to the lfs or in my other larger reef tank, it would be tough to keep an anemone but it would be awsome to have one in an edge.

And ive seen on other forums reefers keeping a nem and clownfish together because if the clownfish is hosting the nem it wont need much swimming space and will stay close to the anemone at all times and if water parameters are met and stable.

[Jai1985]

Been thinking about getting one of these too go along with my 20 long. Can the stock lighting support softies? I am really wanting to possibly get one of these and make a small sortie coral garden.

[Jcrissey]

Been thinking about getting one of these too go along with my 20 long. Can the stock lighting support softies? I am really wanting to possibly get one of these and make a small sortie coral garden.

In my research on this tank some Edge owners speculated that softies could be kept in the tank w/ stock lights, but I wouldn't try it if I were you. There are some cheaper mods where people have strapped higher output led light strips to the stock light and had some success.

I really want to keep a clam as my centerpiece, thus the need for the AI nano.

[frags4life]

+1 on that ; ive kept a couple mushrooms w/the stock lights and they do fine but the colors dont really pop so just put some led strips or a cheap light fixture...

[Jai1985]

I have no experience with LED's. If I go with this tank, what should I look for to add to the stock LED's ?

[Jcrissey]

Quick late-night update on hood/light mod:

I went ahead and spray-painted the light hood's metal grille (top and bottom) with five coats of Krylon Fusion. After careful taping to make sure no paint got on the plastic itself, here's how it turned out...

 

And perhaps best of all, I laid the AI nano against the acrylic splash guard and put the hood on to test what the light spread might look like. Judging from the pool of light that the AI nano creates, I think I"m in business! I just hope that adding LR and a sandbed doesn't cut down on light spread. By the way, the AI nano has 80-degree optics...

[redkneecoral]

You're doing a fantastic job with this!

Those LEDs are looking Insane. I am looking forward to seeing this stocked up

[Jcrissey]

Quick Update-

I just did a three-day leak test using freshwater and only running the AC50 filter- no heater, no powerhead, no lights. There was literally no discernible water evaporation over this period. I filled the tank to about 1/8" above the lip of the top glass pane, and it has remained there.

 

I also unplugged the filter briefly to simulate a power outage to see how the AC50 siphoning water back into the tank would affect the water level, and it only came up to about 1/2 way up the upper lip of the tank. Not bad!

 

Now I will try a test with heater, lights and powerhead to see what evaporation will be like. I'm trying to avoid the expense of an ATO system altogether. If I can go 3 days without having to top off, I think I'll be fine without one.

[SkillZ]

Wow, amazing light coverage! I have a fluval edge 6 as well, I am still in the planning stages for a DIY LED light.

[Jcrissey]

OH, WE'RE GETTING CLOSE NOW!

 

Update- it's been a while since I posted but now I'm ready to get this party started...

I added 6.15 gallons of RODI water (TDS=1) from the LFS and am now mixing in the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt.

I ordered 10 lb of cured live rock and 5 lb of live sand from KP Aquatics (formerly Sea Life Inc), which should arrive the middle of this week.

 

Why 6.15 gallons you ask? After careful measuring, the tank itself holds 5.91 gallons (5.75 gal. in the "cube" and 0.16 gal. in the rim). The AC50 holds 0.24 gal. with the power off.

I filled the tank to the absolute top of the rim and the AC50 to it's max with the power off. When I turn the filter on, it drops the water level about 3/8" below the rim. I drew a line and this will be my max fill line. That way in the event of a power outage, the filter will only dump back in a little water and the water level will return to the top of the rim without overflowing.

 

On the equipment side, I've added an inTank media basket to the AC50 and have ordered a 50w Rena SmartHeater that I will connect to the AC50 allowing the heater to pull double duty as the filter intake. I'll relegate my Hydor Theo to use for water changes.

 

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on how to treat the LR before putting it in the tank. Ive read that dipping it in a high-salinity bath (1.04 sg) for one minute will cause all the critters to exit the rock and allow me to pick out any beneficial hitchhikers and add those back to the tank. Has anyone tried this with success?

[frags4life]

Awesome awesome awesome cant wait to see the next update!

[Jcrissey]

Live rock and live sand are installed- we're up and running!!

 

So I finally received my shipment of premium cured live rock and live sand from KP Aquatics (formerly Sea Life Inc.) and I can't say enough how awesome they were to deal with, very friendly and responsive to emails. Because of the narrow top opening, I had to be very specific about the dimensions of rock I needed to be able to fit through the hole and they made sure every rock met my specs.

 

The rock itself is dense and encrusted with coralline, halimeda and other goodies.

 

Here's a few shots of the live rock...

This one had a hitchiker crab, but he turned out to be dead.

 

 

 

Here is a closeup of the halimeda and behind that I believe is a sponge (red).

 

KP Aquatics threw in a bag of seven hermits, but I only kept two. If they make it through the cycle, great. If not, they will only increase the bioload which I need anyway while cycling. In the meantime, they can get to work picking at the live rock.

 

Within a couple minutes of turning the lights on in the tank, out pops this featherduster! The only problem is it's positioned toward the back of the tank so I'll rarely see it. But maybe more will pop out in coming days. EDIT-I just found two more poking out as I was typing this up!

 

Some more halimeda...

 

And finally, a FTS with no lights on so you can see my aquascape. I created a vertical wall on the right side of the tank that has a little overhang and arch for fish to swim through. Other than that, I wanted to keep the lirve rock as low to the sandbed as possible so I won't knock the corals over as I reach my hands in the tank. I also left a perimeter around all the rocks so I could get my nanomag between them and the glass.

 

Now for some questions for the experts:

• For now, I'm only running filter floss. Should I add any other mechanical filtration at this point?
  
• SInce I have some halimeda, would it be best for me to run my lights for a brief period of time each day to allow for some photosynthesis? Is it likely that these will even make it through the cycle when nitrites start to peak?
  

[Jcrissey]

After some prodding by a forum member on another site who had some experience with salt creep, I decided to take his advice and make a more water-tight enclosure for my AI nano. Just two pieces of acrylic carefully measured, cut and drilled, and then silicone applied to prevent moisture from seeping in.

 

And here's a FTS of my tank on day 4 of the cycle with lights on 20/50/50.

[frags4life]

Nice, REally nice like the aquascape, where did you get those acrylic pieces for ur light?

Btw my ai is comin later November YAY!

[Jcrissey]

Nice, REally nice like the aquascape, where did you get those acrylic pieces for ur light?

Btw my ai is comin later November YAY!

Lexan acrylic sheet from Home Depot. Only $3-$4 per sheet.

[frags4life]

Thanks, any updates????

[Jcrissey]

Thanks, any updates????

Well, yes...I've been battling an outbreak of bryopsis pennata that developed right at the end of my cycle. I'll try to post pics later. It has appeared on the back wall of the tank and on my heater/intake. I have been doing a no-light phase for over a week with little effect. Added two astrea snails and a turbo snail right before thanksgiving but they don't seem to have an appetite for it.

 

Thinking about getting a lettuce sea slug since they are known to eat the stuff. If that fails I will probably scrap the live rock and live sand and start from scratch. I've read bryopsis is very hard to control/eradicate.

[frags4life]

That sucks, i have an outbreak of cyanobacteria (red slime bacteria) and Im in the process of leaving my ai off for three days to get rid of it. Try raising ur magnesium levels heard it helps to get rid of them as well, and yeah might as well try a lettuce sea slug. Try taking out the infested pieces of live rock and maybe heater (as long as u dont need it for ur inhabitants) .

[Jcrissey]

That sucks, i have an outbreak of cyanobacteria (red slime bacteria) and Im in the process of leaving my ai off for three days to get rid of it. Try raising ur magnesium levels heard it helps to get rid of them as well, and yeah might as well try a lettuce sea slug. Try taking out the infested pieces of live rock and maybe heater (as long as u dont need it for ur inhabitants) .

 

Yeah, I've read about the elevated Mg and will do that if I can't control it naturally with the seaslug. Fortunately with only a few snails and no corals/fish, my options are pretty open at this point.

The frustrating thing is I have 0 phosphates (though it may be bound up in the bryopsis) and normal levels of nitrates relative to the end of a cycle at 40-80 ppm. My water is RODI with TDS of only 1 according to my LFS, so there shouldn't be any phospates to begin with. I've done two 40% (2-gallon) water changes in the last few days and will retest my nitrate levels tonight to see what they're at.

[1reefluvr2]

Looking great ! I remember doing my edge years ago, it was fun and had a blast doing it up. I since re vampd my edge again i tore it back down and redoing it up as i type