Edge 6 Gal build

[sailfish]

Well I decide to play around a bit today and bought myself a Edge 6 gal tank.

It is some what spur of the moment as I only thought about it for two days. I have never had a nano tank and thought it would be fun.

I bought the tank and one bag of Carib Sea Aragamax select sand. I took some rock out of my sump and added a little power head I had setting around.

The tank is easy enough to get into and reach all around but it will a overflow when you stick most of your arm in. So I have to take some water out before I reach my hand in and put it back when I am done. :doh:

They could have built the upper lip taller to fix this problem.

The lights suck and most people are replacing them with LEDs and I may do this later. I did measure the PAR and it was 80 right under the bulb but dropped off quickly to around 10 away from the source.

I like it and think it will fun to play around with for while. I may try some non photosynthetic coral such as Dendros ETC....

The pictures that look more yellow capture the real color of the bulbs. Still cloudy from adding some sand from my current tank.

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Link to the Tank if you want details.
http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge_discover.cfm">http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge_discover.cfm</a>

Thanks Joe

 

[codsack]

That's a pretty cool looking tank, can't wait to see some livestock in it :up:

 

[weaglereefer]

Any concerns about oxygen levels in the water?

Could a HOB skimmer fit where the filter is? Maybe a small one?

 

[bclark7169]

looks cool

 

[bobz]

Very cool!

 

[sailfish]

Maybe one of the nanos will fit. I have not gotten that far yet for now I am just using the HOB with the top off. You can easily fit a fan in the canopy to blow on the Power filter.

I am toying with a couple ideas. Heck half the fun is just playing around. I am in no rush to add live stock so I will play around with it tell I get it just right.

The openning for the filter is 5 1/4" long 3 1/4". The openning for the tank is 6 3/4" x4 5/8"

Their is no reason you could not make you own larger compartment to house what ever you wanted but just need to make it look nice and sleek to match the tank.

Joe

 

[lees]

Very cool

 

[james s_]

Cool Tank! Those Halogen's scare me though...do they always hang down like that? Maybe they just look closer to the water in the pics.. How do you access that overflow area? Do you have to pull the whole top off?

 

[sailfish]

James S.;404322 wrote: Cool Tank! Those Halogen's scare me though...do they always hang down like that? Maybe they just look closer to the water in the pics.. How do you access that overflow area? Do you have to pull the whole top off?

No thats when they are in the down position. It has a top that comes off it just a rectangle. I will get some pic later.

Joe

 

[ricksconnected]

my LFS has one of those. its sweet. everytime im in there i want to leave with one. wonder is a couple seahorses would work in that tank?

 

[bobz]

Looks like it would be great for Dwarf Seahorses but they require live newly hatched brine shrimp

 

[ricksconnected]

maybe even a small mantis shrimp tank.

 

[smoothie]

Mmmmmm hope to see a carnation in there

 

[sailfish]

Well today I found an old pump that has a sweeping head on it. I decide to play with it. First I glued a Tunze magnet to it so I could use it to attach to the top glass but the magnet caused the pump to be to deep in the tank for my taste. Then I built a little bracket out of acrylic so the pump could hang inside the opening. It worked great and here are some pics of the pump mod and the tank taken apart. You can see the stand is separate from the tank. If you wanted you could ditch it all together or rebuild the back part to hold more equipment. I may do that down the road when I am looking for a project.

pics

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Joe

 

[tnyga]

ricksconnected;404344 wrote: maybe even a small mantis shrimp tank.

took the words outta my mouth

 

[dakota9]

I bet the Tunze 9002 Skimmer would slide right in that space about 5" wide and 2 inches deep. The depth would only require about 10 inches......

 

[tjherman]

Interesting little tank with a modern look. I'll tag along to see how this one turns out, should be good!

 

[sailfish]

Thanks for the suggestion guys but no skimmer on this one at least for now.

I added some maidens hair and a super nassarius I had in my refugium.

Well with the halogen lights and powerhead the tank was getting up to 80 plus so I decide to see what I could find to replace them with. I searched for led bulbs and found some online but ended up buying some from homedepot to try before ordering.

These are MR16 instead of MR11 bulbs but still use less watts so I figured it would be OK to try. I know very little about electrical stuff so I could be wrong.:doh: I do know that if you try the MR 16 you will most likely not be able to go back to Mr 11 because you will stretch out the whole for the contacts.

The old bulbs were MR11 10 watt these are MR16 using only 4 watts. If anyone thinks this will cause major problems let me know.

I am hoping these will be cooler but I am not sure if that will be true. They seem cooler on the light emitting side but just as hot on top of the bulb. These only have 3 small LEDs inside them so they do not spread the light very well. The ones online have as many as 11 so if this works OK I will order some to try. The other problem is that they end up close to the water so no matter what bulb you use there will not be much spread. I may rebuild the top allowing me to rase them up and easily add a fan but not now. If I go to that much trouble I might as well rebuild the hole filter compartment as well to allow more room for everything. If I wanted I could add a fan over the filter now but not over the lights themselves.

The color is great compared to the old ones. The 1st pic has the old bulb on the left and a new one on the right.

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Two new bulbs in.

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Par readings were very impressive compared to the 80 right under the old bulbs.

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Thanks Joe

 

[ricksconnected]

keep us posted. your doing good. will be following this close. i like these tanks myself.

 

[sailfish]

dawgdude;405507 wrote: Joe, see how cold it gets if you can. Im considering one for a catalina tank.

76/77 with lights out, the filter on 24/7, and 160gph power head running(not sure how many watts it it). If you did not add a power head it would be a little cooler I am sure.

Joe