Fluval Edge 6 gallon

[burntricer]

Uhhh...you lost me a bit. Do you mean take out the the lighting fixture only, or the whole swing arm thing that holds the lighting fixture, or are you saying to get rid of the swing arm thing, the HOB filter, and the black aquarium cover and run lights over the top of the aquarium? cnfzd: I'm not exactly sure what you are saying to get rid of.

what i mean is take the ENTIRE filter off the tank

put a 10 gal hang on back filter on it with chemi pure
then run your lights over the acrylic

 

[psiconauta]

i fell in love with those minimalistic aquariums when i saw them at my LFS, dont put anything too big on top because you might take out part of the beauty of the tank, being able to see from above, has anyone considered current usa powerbright led strips? the are small, metal finnish and can be used while maintaining a modern sleek style without taking much viewing space. i have 2 and they work great.
just my 2 cents here... hope it helps

 

[Cloudburst2000]

what i mean is take the ENTIRE filter off the tank

put a 10 gal hang on back filter on it with chemi pure
then run your lights over the acrylic

Not sure a 10gal filter would be able to fit. The provided filter seems to work well so far.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

yo. you should make a custom little fixture for a 20W 50/50 screw in CFL (the "energy saver" fluorescent bulbs)

coralife makes a 50/50 cfl @ 10 and 20w... they are actually pretty dope especially because you get two different tubes, one tube is 10k the other true actinic. Small Aquarium Lighting: Mini Compact Bulbs

they only seem to have the 10w, but the 20w is out there! just don't feel like searchin for it... i have it, my LFS ordered it for me.

my tank first set up this way... i took the tiny lil 15w t8 that came with it out ripped the guts out of the light fixture (just the plastic hood..) then put in some 6500k CFL's, cheap ass way to get like 80w of lighting on a 20g. (cost me about 15 bucks)

eventually swapped the 6500k's for 50/50's now running a 70w metal halide, still not as bright as those CFL's.... so i gotta make a canopy so i can add the CFL's back in.

then i just took some extension cord and you can get this little light socket (got mine at walmart for like 1$) that just has a plug on the opposite end, so its a tiny piece like the size of a walnut, that has a light socket on one end, and the other end is a plug, so basically you can plug a bulb directly into a socket.... so just take the halogen light fixture off completely, and stick that sucker up under the canopy.

really simple...

I had thought about that, but how hot do those lights get? That's the problems with the halogens. They heat the water up too much besides not being very bright and having a spotlight effect. That's why I was thinking about LEDs since they put out so much less heat. I guess that I can always cut a hole in the back of the canopy and put in a fan to help with heat issues if need be.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

i fell in love with those minimalistic aquariums when i saw them at my LFS, dont put anything too big on top because you might take out part of the beauty of the tank, being able to see from above, has anyone considered current usa powerbright led strips? the are small, metal finnish and can be used while maintaining a modern sleek style without taking much viewing space. i have 2 and they work great.
just my 2 cents here... hope it helps

I had thought about those too. I plan on keeping the canopy on the tank so I have to find a lighting fixture that will fit in the canopy (or one that I can alter to fit into the canopy) that won't heat the water up to much. The usable space inside the canopy is about 7 1/2" x 4 1/2". The canopy is larger then that but part of the room is taken up with the filter.

 

[jimbojangles]

I had thought about that, but how hot do those lights get? That's the problems with the halogens. They heat the water up too much besides not being very bright and having a spotlight effect. That's why I was thinking about LEDs since they put out so much less heat. I guess that I can always cut a hole in the back of the canopy and put in a fan to help with heat issues if need be.

fluorescents are MUCH cooler than halogens. halogens are HOT~!

my little 12w desk lamp halogen feels about as hot as my 70w metal halide.

well the housing doesn't get as hot... but if i put my hand under it it's about the same.

i think they put out a lot in the infrared spectrum or something, a lot of radiant heat.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

fluorescents are MUCH cooler than halogens. halogens are HOT~!

my little 12w desk lamp halogen feels about as hot as my 70w metal halide.

well the housing doesn't get as hot... but if i put my hand under it it's about the same.

i think they put out a lot in the infrared spectrum or something, a lot of radiant heat.

Yeah, halogens are majorly hot and use up alot of electricity to boot.

I believe corralife makes a small 50/50 that is about 9" long. That is too long for my set-up, but a friend who has a 1.5 gallon pico bought that set up. He cut the ends off the light housing and then cut as much off the light housing as he could before re-attaching the very end pieces. Not sure how much he was able to shorten the set-up by. I'll have to find out what the final dimensions of it were. I only have about 7 1/2" x 4 1/2" of space to put a light into.

Also, if I do use fluorescents, do you think I will have to add a fan to the tank? I can if need be. It probably wouldn't be that hard to cut a section of of the back of the canopy to place a small fan.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

I currently have the tank cycling with some live sand and live rock. If the cycle doesn't take off, I might chuck a small piece of deli shrimp in there to jump start it. I'm thinking that I will need to change the heater I currently have in there. I have a Hydor 15w for 5-10gallon in there now, but it keeps the tank a bit too hot. It's keeping the tank at about 81F, and that's without any lights. There is no way to adjust the settings on this heater so I can't set it to a lower temp. It just automatically heats the water a few degrees. Does anyone have a better suggestion for a heater for such a small tank...6 gallons? I'd really like one with a low wattage (preferably under 20w) that actually has temperature control on it. Not sure they make ones with temp control in that low of watts though. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Here are some pics:

The filter running:

The tank w/live sand and live rock:

 

[SAZAMA]

it can be done I am proof... too many haters on RS

 

[Cloudburst2000]

it can be done I am proof... too many haters on RS

I know it can be done. I've seen some of these already set up as saltwater tanks. Do you have any pics of your system? What lighting, heater, etc are you using?

 

[Cloudburst2000]

I have the same aquarium. Got it about a month or two ago. I liked the cool modern look as well. I'm new to reefing and I'm learning with my 34 gallon RedSea Max (5 months now). Currently I only have some FW live plants and a Betta in the Fluval. Figured that was easy enough. :chair:

I'd be interested in seeing how this would work as a SW tank. My first question was what about skimming, there's no portein skimmer with the tank and I thought that was integral part of maintaining SW tanks?

Good luck, will be watching and learning.

I like your place. I was taking a gander at the furniture behind the tank...what I can see of it anyway. Is that mid-cemtury modern decor? That's my other hobby. I'm a mid-century modern whore

 

[l3fty999]

Well, when I upgrade the lighting, I'm thinking of putting a few small pieces of coral (only after a lighting upgrade though) and possibly a shrimp and a porcelian crab. I don't have any crabs but hermits in my main tank because I'm worried about them and my fish. But since I won't get fish for this one, I'm thinking it might be a good place for something like a crab. I'm open to other suggestions also. Any cool smaller animals that you don't have the guts to put in a larger aquarium. The one thing I won't consider is a mantis shrimp. I'd be too worried that it would break the glass.

And I wouldn't really give away my BennyBoy (the cat AKA Benson). Even though he's often a pest and doesn't realize that he hasn't been a kitten for two years, he's my baby.

I've heard that mantis shrimp that can actually break glass are not that common, and the few species that can only would do so if teased a lot. You would do well to research on them in my opinion. I've considered this myself and I'm watching my LFS for an appropriate specimen.

Aaron

 

[kwijobo]

Take a look at the below from another forum but they were able to direct replace the halogens for MR11 LED's which you can get at home depot.

My 6 Gallon Fluval Edge - Office Tank - Nano-Reef.com Forums

 

[kwijobo]

Take a look at the below they were able to direct replace the halogens with MR11 LEDs which you can get at Home Depot.

My 6 Gallon Fluval Edge - Office Tank - Nano-Reef.com Forums

 

[Ready4Reef]

Is that mid-cemtury modern decor? That's my other hobby. I'm a mid-century modern whore

Not sure if it is considered mid-century modern or not. The couch is pretty old though, it is by American Leather. I tend to like a more modern look. Thanks!;-)

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Not sure if it is considered mid-century modern or not. The couch is pretty old though, it is by American Leather. I tend to like a more modern look. Thanks!;-)

Me too. I'm a sucker for Eames, Saarinen, etc designs. Most of their stuff goes perfectly with newer modern designs That's one of the reasons I like the Fluval Edge so much. It totally fits into the modern decor...not many aquarium designs do.

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Take a look at the below from another forum but they were able to direct replace the halogens for MR11 LED's which you can get at home depot.

My 6 Gallon Fluval Edge - Office Tank - Nano-Reef.com Forums

Yeah, I've been checking that thread out too. I like the one guys idea about replacing the two blubs with MR11 LED lights and then attaching extra strip lights to it using zip ties. He showed a pic of where he attached strip lights with the zip ties. An extremely simple fix that I never even thought of. I think he also attached some moonlights that way.

 

[johnc43113]

I had thought about that, but how hot do those lights get? That's the problems with the halogens. They heat the water up too much besides not being very bright and having a spotlight effect. That's why I was thinking about LEDs since they put out so much less heat. I guess that I can always cut a hole in the back of the canopy and put in a fan to help with heat issues if need be.

Here is my fluval edge. I never had heat issues with these bulbs. It's a little different now, I made a new hood.

Anyways, here's what I did. I used (2) 10w coralife 50/50 bulbs.

Before I fitted the hood

 

[JNicho]

I love those tanks...very nearly set up one in my office...in the end I just used a 10G I had collecting dust...can't beat the look of those though if you like more modern/minimalist design...keep up the good work guys!

 

[Cloudburst2000]

Here is my fluval edge. I never had heat issues with these bulbs. It's a little different now, I made a new hood.

Anyways, here's what I did. I used (2) 10w coralife 50/50 bulbs.

Before I fitted the hood

Can you show some pics of how you secured the lights in the hood? Did you take out the swing are assembly? And you said you made a new hood. How does it differ from the one that came with the Edge?