Fluval Edge Nano Take 2

[sirreef]

Hey ya'll!

While I had aspirations to start this little guy up a few years ago, I remained with freshwater keeping as it was a lot more economical for me at the time.

Well, I broke the ole fluval edge back out on November 21st and hopefully, won't be looking back : )

Started with about 4 or so lbs of marine sand that I had on hand and an old Top Fin 20 HOB (just temporary), as I'll be upgrading to a AC70/InTank media basket. I have ChemiPure Elite and filter floss in the HOB at the moment. I also took a betta stick (heater) and placed it in the filter as well, so the temp is a consistent 79 degrees.

Made a trip to PetLand Dunwoody and got my sea water, then on over to PureReef for 5lbs of Totoka live rock (love the branchy build of this rock!) Petland's sea water is cheaper than PureReef's, but PureReef will be my go to store moving forward. I actually only started with 2.5lbs of rock, then went back and got the other 2.5lbs a week ago.

Setup was Nov. 21st and I only had a simple clamp light fixture with a 6500K CFL bulb. After more reading on lighting, I thought the PAR38 bulb option was fitting for this small footprint of a saltwater tank, so I purchased one from ABI via ebay (6 white and 6 blue). I made a fixture for it using 3/4" PVC and a water resistant standard light socket from Lowe's (hard wired using a 16 gauge shop replacement cord and butt connectors, all hidden within the PVC). Now I know the ABI PAR38 isn't an OC Reef or Ecoxotic, but I just couldn't drop $140 on a bulb, not for this build anyway, lol!!!

Not sure what I'll want to stock this guy with just yet, but definitely "low tech" as far as coral life goes. I like the mushrooms and probably some zoa's. The yellow/green goby has grabbed my attention fish wise, as well. I'll be picking up a saltwater master test kit this weekend, so I'll have more on my parameters soon. I do currently have the brown diatom stuff going on though, so from what what I've read, I should be seeing some green algae next???

So, if you've made it to the end of my novel, here are some pics, lol!!! Thanks for looking and please guys/gals, comment and provide me with any insight you might have from your experiences.
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[tonymission]

Very cool!

 

[sirreef]

Thanks tonymission! I was excited to finally get started!

 

[dball711]

Pretty cool, the aquascaping in the last photo makes it look like a much larger tank! I just set up a 2.5 gal pico tank about 5 weeks ago.

 

[dawgface]

dball711;1000996 wrote: Pretty cool, the aquascaping in the last photo makes it look like a much larger tank! I just set up a 2.5 gal pico tank about 5 weeks ago.

Agreed! Key to a pico tank. Well done sir, following this one along the way!

 

[redstang]

Nice job! Like the rock work as well. Not too much and not too little.

 

[bulkrate]

I'm really impressed... it's hard to have negative space in a bank (what makes it "look bigger than it really is") let alone achieve it with the Edge's ship-in-a-bottle design. Can wait to see where you go from here with it!

A quick tip - making your own salt water's a much better way to go. On such a small tank it's not a big deal to use distilled if yPou don't already have a Rodi rig at your disposal and it'll save you a lit of time & gas money to mix up a gallon in a shaker pitcher on demand.

 

[sirreef]

Thank you ALL for the positive comments! I really pondered on how to scape the edge with the rock the longest, so I'm stoked to hear your responses!

dball711 - Do you have pics up of your pico? Hadn't been to your page, but I'm interested to see how you're coming along!

BulkRate - Thank you for the tip! Funny thing is, I was thinking about giving this a try. I purchased a couple gallon jugs of distilled water this weekend, lol! I've read various threads via a google search regarding this and so many for and against, as well. Whatever the case, I'm going to give it try this week.

Also, nothing new with the setup, just continuing the cycle (time wise anyway), as I've yet to pickup a master test kit. Taking care of that this week for certain though and will share parameters thereafter.

Thank you all once again, really appreciate the insight and views!

 

[rdnelson]

SirReef;1001258 wrote: Thank you ALL for the positive comments! I really pondered on how to scape the edge with the rock the longest, so I'm stoked to hear your responses!

dball711 - Do you have pics up of your pico? Hadn't been to your page, but I'm interested to see how you're coming along!

BulkRate - Thank you for the tip! Funny thing is, I was thinking about giving this a try. I purchased a couple gallon jugs of distilled water this weekend, lol! I've read various threads via a google search regarding this and so many for and against, as well. Whatever the case, I'm going to give it try this week.

Also, nothing new with the setup, just continuing the cycle (time wise anyway), as I've yet to pickup a master test kit. Taking care of that this week for certain though and will share parameters thereafter.

Thank you all once again, really appreciate the insight and views!

If I may, you said "Master Test Kit" which leads me to believe you are looking at buying API. If so, I would rethink that. Those test kits don't have the best track record.

I agree with the comments above. Very nice job on scale.

 

[sirreef]

rdnelson99;1001274 wrote: If I may, you said "Master Test Kit" which leads me to believe you are looking at buying API. If so, I would rethink that. Those test kits don't have the best track record.

I agree with the comments above. Very nice job on scale.

Hey rdneslon99! I was referring the API kit I've seen in the store, however, was unaware of a bad track record with this brand so thanks for the heads up!

Is there a particular brand you would suggest?

 

[ghbrewer]

SirReef;1001497 wrote: Is there a particular brand you would suggest?

Salifert is what most are going to suggest, but Red Sea is a good one as well.
Make sure that you pay attention to the expiration date on the test kit, you may not get correct readings if it is expired and to make sure that you are not buying something that will expire quickly.

Nice setup.

 

[sirreef]

ghbrewer;1001508 wrote: Salifert is what most are going to suggest, but Red Sea is a good one as well.
Make sure that you pay attention to the expiration date on the test kit, you may not get correct readings if it is expired and to make sure that you are not buying something that will expire quickly.

Nice setup.

Thank you, ghbrewer! Certainly will do!