Fluval Edge 6 gallon

Timmy Nizzle

New Member
Hi guys,

Ive been reading this thread and a few others online regards the Edge as a marine set up as I am a beginner to Marine tanks (though am experienced tropical) and am looking at this tank with the intention of learning all about marine fish keeping.
I plan to build up the tank with Fish only, adding Live Rock later and one day hoping to have corals, each step progessing as I can afford it and as I think I can control it without killing anything.
Having read everything I can easily tell there are a number of opinions and a number of different ways of converting to Marine with this tank so I wonder what people might suggest as easy first steps towards a FO tank. Im thinking the tank doesnt need very mcuh at all in order to do FO...
Any thoughts on what you might do in my place?
 
Hi guys,

Ive been reading this thread and a few others online regards the Edge as a marine set up as I am a beginner to Marine tanks (though am experienced tropical) and am looking at this tank with the intention of learning all about marine fish keeping.
I plan to build up the tank with Fish only, adding Live Rock later and one day hoping to have corals, each step progessing as I can afford it and as I think I can control it without killing anything.
Having read everything I can easily tell there are a number of opinions and a number of different ways of converting to Marine with this tank so I wonder what people might suggest as easy first steps towards a FO tank. Im thinking the tank doesnt need very mcuh at all in order to do FO...
Any thoughts on what you might do in my place?

You have to have live rock in order to keep marine fish in this tank. You need the beneficial bacteria that lives on the rock and sand in order to remove harmful nutrients like ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. You can have some nitrates and be okay but any ammonia or nitrites mean doom for your tank...especially in a small system. And since there is not an external sump where you can house your rock, you need it inside the actual tank. Also, I would not keep more than one fish in this tank. The tank is not large enough for multiple fish...especially with rock. And more bioload (more food waste, more fish poop), your parameters are more likely to get out of hand more quickly and cause algae blooms or even cause your tank to crash. Get one small fish...I would suggest a small goby for the fish, small shrimp like the sexy shrimp (most shrimp are too big for this build and you can keep several sexy shrimp in this tank), and some small, non-aggressive crabs like the pom-pom crabs...plus a normal cleanup crew of various types of snails.

And this tank will be harder to care for than a larger marine tank. It will need, at the very least, weekly water changes. Sometimes, I do two water changes in a week. My set-up was actually pretty cheap. I got my Coralife CFL fixture off ebay for $12. It fits under the hood long ways. Got a cheap laptop fan for the back of the hood. I have two pieces of live rock (decent sized pieces) that I got from my larger tank. Those two pieces would probably cost about $30 if I bought them at the LFS. So that is less than $50 not including the tank (which was free). I do plan on eventually upgrading the lighting to LED but my other two tanks are being upgraded first.

I have a bit of an algae bloom in the tank right now. I just got back from Orlando yesterday morning and my mother was watching my cat and tanks. I was very explicit with her about not over-feeding the tanks and topping the Edge off with water (the other tanks use ATOs). Anyhoo, she still over-fed the tanks (and the cat as well). The other two tanks are showing some algae growth but due to the size of the Edge, I have quite a nice little bloom going. I'll be doing several water changes this week and plucking out algae clumps. Just a warning of what can happen quickly in a tank this small. My mother will no longer be allowed to care for my tanks or cat :p Other than the algae bloom, the tank is still doing well, but it looks ugly at the moment with red slime algae on the sand and hair algae (I think) on the rocks. But it was worth it to go to Universal Studios and visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I even bought myself a wand and a Slytherin badge :) And I got myself a nice sunburn to boot :eek:
 

reyna117

New Member
Sorry for the over sized picture above. I just wanted to share a few pictures of my tank including the night LEDs.
edgep3.jpg

edgep2.jpg

edgep1.jpg

Hi, your tank looks awesome! I was wondering if you could tell me where you purchased the bookshelf/stand. Thank you.
 
That is a nice-looking stand. Not sure where he got it though. Looks similar to furniture from West Elm or Ikea. You might check their websites. But for all I know, he got it from Target :)

Still got my Edge running strong. I might be changing the livestock soon though. I plan on getting an Elos Midi before the end of the year. I'm going to be getting Tampa Bay Saltwater live rocks to go in the tank. Their live rocks come with so much life on them that some will likely end up in the Edge. One of the hitchhikers people often see are mantis shrimp. If I get a smaller species of mantis, then the Edge will be converted to a mantis tank. If I get a larger mantis shrimp, don't know what I will do with it.
 

chelseagrin

Member
Re: Fluval Edge 6 gallon other mods

First thing to go, besides the wimpy light setup, was the filter. Although the one packed with the tank is labeled "Edge", it's exactly the same as a Fluval AquaClear 10.

There is just enough room to install an AquaClear 20 if you trim the supports for the stock light out of the way. Running in the filter are a layer of live rock rubble in a bag, a layer of tribase pelletized carbon, and a 1/2 kit of ChemiPure Elite. The filter is run at the lowest possible flow rate, which appears to be just right. A Koralia nano powerhead is tucked in a corner behind a piece of live rock, and I'm using the standard Fluval Edge heater in the tank, again hidden by live rock.

The tank was setup using live rock rubble, live sand, and several pieces of live rock from my 45 gallon custom and 24 gallon AquaPod.

The chemistry on the tank has been zero Nitrates, zero Nitrites, zero Ammonia, and a pH of 8.2 since day one. SG is 1.025, temperature stays 78 degrees. All other critical chemical metrics are monitored, phosphates have never registered, nor have silicates. The tank never actually "cycled", even though the chemistry is monitored every other day due to the size of the tank. A small bottle of SeaChem Purity was used during the initial 7 days, but was probably not necessary. I have used the TriBase Carbon/RightNow! from Hiatt for starting and maintaining my tanks for several years now. Just didn't have time to order the RightNow! bacteria, and I had 10 lbs of fresh TriBase on hand, and I took some "seed" carbon for the filter from the 45. The TriBase is for housing bacteria more than anything else. Hiatt's research is sound, but seldom endorsed by the community at large. This combination of filtration is the foundation of what is used on all of my tanks, from an Eclipse 12 to the 45, and for me, this works very well. I've experimented using other things like Purigen and PolyFilter, but I keep coming back to using the bag of ChemiPure Elite with TriBase carbon and tons of live rock and rubble in all of the tanks I have.

I use various additives to maintain other chemistry, (iodide, molybdenum, etc) almost all from Kent Marine. CoralVite is an every other day supplement of 2-3 drops.

Many of you will criticize the bio load, or not believe that it is what it is, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I firmly believe in the filtration/waste management system, and I haven't lost a single critter due to chemistry. I have a long history of salt water back to the 1970's, and my background in marine ecology and conservation biology help me make informed decisions on how to manage the biotope. A jaw fish managed to jump out the small opening in the top, and the arrow crab took out the skunk shrimp during moulting, but other than that, no losses. The skunk shrimp was moulting for the second time since introduced on day 1 when the arrow crab got him. That's what happens when you moult out in the open i guess............

Fish:

Yellow head jawfish
Yellow box puffer
High fin goby/pistol shrimp pair
Purple dottie back

Inverts
Arrow crab
Red Leg Hermit Crabs (4)
Emerald crab
Brittle starfish (3-4 in) and about 3-4 very small hitch hikers from the other tanks, also a couple of tiny chocolate chip stars have appeared on the glass over the last few weeks.
Nassarius snails (3 very small)
Turbo snails (2-3)
Astrea (2-3)
All kinds of hitch hiker stuff has shown up too, worms, etc. from the live rock brought over on startup.

Corals
Several small mushrooms, a colony of zoos, a toadstool leather, a colony of "waving hands", a colony of green star polops.

The star polops and the toadstool have grown at least 20% since introduced to the tank.

Water changes are 20% every two weeks, using premix from my LFS. Makeup evaporation is replaced daily with distilled water I buy from the grocery store. No RO system at the office, and I've been too forgetful to bring some from home. Here's a pic under just the Blues/Red string combo.
Many of you will criticize the inclusion of red LED's. Photosynthesis of the algaes in soft corals that occur at shallow depths require red light, especially those with blue or purple colorations. Chlorphyll production is at its peak in most soft corals at 620-640nm. There will be the argument of overstimulating other algaes, but I will monitor and adjust over time.

Here's a pic of some of the denizens before I started messing with the hood. Everyone went into hiding for a little while....


Lessons learned so far:

I mis-measured the heat sink size. If I build another, I'll go with one that covers edge to edge in the hood. This would help with the dark spots in the corners, and simplify the permanent mounting of the light/heat sink to the hood with some small screws through the side of the hood, or a bracket of some type glued in the right places inside the hood.
I've yet to experiment with any kind of optics or diffusers, which may also help with light distribution.
I'm not yet protecting the LED's or the heatsink with any kind of sealer or coating. I'll probably mask the lenses and spray the whole thing with a poly sealer of some kind, at least where exposed to the salt water. A diffuser mounted in the hood and sealed in place would probably work too.

I've assembled everything with hot melt glue so far, makes it possible to take stuff apart as I evolve the design.

More later..............

dude that should be illegal! all those fish in such a small space, bosfish are rated at a minimum tank size of over a hundred gallons, do you know your tank is only 6? i usually am no the person to speak up when someone overstocks there tank but this is beyond overstocking.

entirely immoral if you ask me.

OP, great looking tank i love the look of the led's and great fish selection.
 

chelseagrin

Member
I've upgraded the lighting on my Fluval again. Each light is 14000K, the only thing about these lights is that they don't have a wide spread, so I had to raise the lighting fixture up in order to compensate. I don't mind though, but, at the moment it is still messy so in the next few weeks I will be sorting that out.


thats one of the best lighting setups ive seen in one of these little tanks, i have tried doing a fluval as a reef tank kind of back before led's were really getting going and its nearly impossible to find a good lighting system. led's are great.
 

ReefDuckk

New Member
Im doing one aswell first sw tank will be reef with some kool sexy shrimp plus a small clown or a goby , also guy with a box fish seriously BOXFISH clearly someone cheated on their tests that horrible would you like to live in a area the siz of a wardrobe??
 

ltra

New Member
anyone seen the new Fluval Edge LED ? It has builtin LED light (from manufacture, not mod)

Lighting: A powerful and efficient 21 LED Lighting System. The 7600K high luminosity LEDs are suitable for aquatic plants. The LED Light can be switched between bright daytime, deep blue nighttime and off.


This site start selling for $129. Hagen Fluval Edge 6 Gallon Aquarium LED Matte Black
 

john3232

New Member
I tlooks easy enough to set up, Im with you on the light it does look kinda weak, maybe the LED LIGHTS upgrade might be the trick,
Nope dont need a cat lol I have a full house lol
Thanks for posting the pics Have you decided what your going to put in it yet?

It looks easy to set up,but you have to be very careful when you do it.
 

Bobby1

New Member
I was at my LFS and they had this reefbright led hood for the fluval edge. It replaces the hood and stock lights and you can do a reef set-up. It looks a lot better in person than in pictures. Im really happy with it. Just fyi for any trying a reef tank. I saw one on ebay for 180, i paid 240 for mine and still think its a great deal.
 
Well, my little Edge is in for an overhaul. I finally got my Tampa Bay Saltwater live rock a few weeks back for my larger tank. I actually ended up with more rock then I wanted so I stuck a couple rocks in my quarantine so they wouldn't die. I liked the rocks better then then the ones I had in the Edge so I took the rock out of the Edge with the intentions of switching the rocks out. I removed livestock first which was only some crabs, shrimp, and corals and they went into my new tank. Anyhoo, while pulling the old rocks out of the Edge, I managed to chip the tank...doh! So I quickly broke the tank down while envisioning the tank breaking and spilling water all over the floor. I have found a location where I can order the tank only without the stand, lights, filtration, etc. I plan on doing this because I really like my Fluval Edge. Anyhoo, I was planning on making the tank into a Mantis Wennerae tank which I thought I had not gotten in my rocks from TBS. I had been hoping for one but only ever saw small pistols after hearing so much clicking. I was in no huge hurry to actually get the Edge set up since my new tank is still going through some growing pains...that is until today when I was looking inside the quarantine tank that was housing the surplus TBS rock. I saw something lurking on the bottom of the rock that looked suspiciously like a small mantis shrimp. I didn't get my hopes up that it actually was a mantis. I grabbed a flashlight, and sure enough, I saw a very small Wennerae mantis. It's probably only an inch long maybe smaller. I'm surprised I haven't seen it before now. The Fluval Edge (when the tank replacement comes in) will now definitely be converted into a mantis tank and sooner then expected since I apparently already have the mantis :) I'm really looking forward to this new project. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress.
 

Gavin1110

Member
As a lover of mantis shrimp I'd say go for it but the fact that you chipped the tank with a rock, what do you think his hammers will do to the replacement?
 

Matt5692

New Member
This is a pretty stupid question, but I just bought the 6 gallon fluval edge tank.

The blue lights come on, how do I get the white lights to come on?

Thanks,
Matt
 
As a lover of mantis shrimp I'd say go for it but the fact that you chipped the tank with a rock, what do you think his hammers will do to the replacement?

I chipped the tank because I knocked the crap out of it with a rock. I already checked with several people and they said the Wennerae will be fine since it is a small mantis species.
 

hayoto

Member
Good Evening everyone!
I was reading this thread, and so far a lot of great information!

My sister gave me her Fluval Edge 6 gallon tank from Christmas.
It was already "convertered" to salt water. It has Live Sand, 3 live rocks, two regular (dead) rocks, Two Clown Fish, A Slender Blue stripped fish that lives in one of the corals (Cannot identify it :( ), two Hermit Crabs, and a lot of Green Algea on the Rocks, and red Algea on the sand.

I've used Chemiclean for the past week, repeating the directional, to no avail. I am currently not using the Halogen lamp included with the Fluval for lighting, but instead a marine land LED Lamp kit (Can't tell how bright it is?).

I currently have said LED lamp resting on the surface of the top of the tank.
I'm also using the Included Filter, with its components.

Upon reading some of the posts here. I wanted to ask what were some of the tools/resources you guys use to measure the chemicals and balances of your tanks.
Any further advise would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Be sure to start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics :dance:
 

hayoto

Member
I can't include links unfortunatly until I have more posts. :(
When I get more posts in, I will include links of pics.

Thanks for welcoming me! I hope to learn a lot ;)

EDIT: I've uploaded the pictures to my Gallery.
Let me know what you guys think. I have an alge problem - so any guidance would be appreciated.
 
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