Adam`s Fluval Edge Build

Here's some pics of my new Fluval Edge tank. It's tiny, so there's some serious challenges to maintaining it. So far, I've got about 5 lbs. of Marco Rock from AC&C, 10 lbs. live sand, established water from my 125, two black and white clowns, a 50 watt heater, and an acan frag.
I switched out the two crappy halogen bulbs it comes with for two 10 LED MR11 direct replacements. What a difference that made. I just got my blue XR-E LEDs and I hope to find a way to install them soon without affecting the clean stock look to the tank.
Box pic of dimensions.

Empty with stock lighting.

Filled. Notice the spotlighting of the original bulbs.

Close up of rock layout. I think it turned out well. Notice the cave in the middle for a future goby/shrimp pair.

Factory/new light comparison.


New lights in. I'm still having troubles with the micro bubbles on the top glass.

Acan Frag under white lights only. Can't wait for the blue LEDs!

To come:
Blue LEDs
Yasha White Ray Goby
Pistol Shrimp(undecided what species)
Pom Pom Crab
Tiny Rose Bubble Tip Anemone
Overflow Box/PVC Overflow
10 Gallon Sump
Maxi-Jet 1200 Return Pump
Bigger Heater
More Corals

 

Also, when I get the blue LEDs going, I'll try to get some PAR readings.

 

Yea the heater sucks, but I was hoping to get by with it until the sump project, but I might just order a 100 or 150 watt Via Aqua heater this week.

I'm using Cree XR-E Royal Blue LEDs for the blues, along with the MR11 White LEDs.

 

Couple new pics.
I had to cut the back of the "hood" out to be able to slide it out for better spread from the LEDs. It turned out pretty good.

I took the acan off the disc and put it on the rocks.

There's a bit of rock that doesn't get hit by the LEDs as well, but it's a lot less noticeable in person.

All in all, I'm happy with the way the addition of the 4 Royal Blue XR-E LEDs turned out. With the hood scooted forward a bit, I might add 3 more blues to the front to get complete coverage. For now it looks just fine.

 

Yea yea....

 

That's good to hear, I was wondering how to proceed with the overflow idea. I have been looking at the Mame overflows, but it would be much easier and cheaper to get a CPR overflow. Do you know what model number I should look for?

 

So update time...

I had a falling out with a lot of my livestock (no one wants to hear this). Either the pump(nano Koralia) or heater(50w Tetra), or both malfunctioned and my temp was 89 degrees one morning! I put everything in my 125 and managed to save the acans, but I lost my 3" tear drop maxima, 1.5" purple maxima, both b/w clowns, my 2" tiger pistol shrimp, my rbta, my tiny elegance frag, and my tiny green plate.

On a Monday I felt a slight tingle when I fed, so I put an extra grounding probe in the tank that I had lying around. That next morning(Tuesday) was when it shot up to 89 degrees. I unplugged the heater, took out all the corals, and fished out the dead fish. The grounding probe looked white, so I unplugged it to clean it off and BAM, got a huge shot of electricity up my arm. It hurt like hell, so I threw the grounding probe back in, unplugged the Koralia nano as well, pulled the grounding probe, touched the water, and no shock. So I threw the heater and pump away and bought a new 50w Eheim Jager heater and a new Koralia nano to start over.

Could the pump have shorted out and either directly or by getting grounded screwed up the heater to keep it on? I'm still at a loss as to what happend.

Anyways, after a couple 90% water changes, I'm back to a somewhat full tank!

Pictures to follow...

 

It sucks to clean, I usually do a water change to the top of the tallest rock and while the water is lowered I clean the glass by hand. My brother has a nano mag float I'm getting when he makes the trip for Spring Fest, which will make this much much easier to clean. I've got a small tube I use for water changes that I suck up any crap on the sand or rocks. I run the smaller koralia nano for extra flow. When I feed, the food goes flying around pretty good, enough for sps it looks like. The shrimp/goby pair is exactly what I had in mind when I thought about getting this tank!

 

These pictures are probably out of order of when I got them, but here they are. I took all these pics with my DroidX, they're good for a camera phone, but nothing special.
Here's the tiger pistol I had before the crash:
RIP Pistol

A pic of the super ultra acans I had before the crash. I didn't lose any of them, but they were super pissed off! I actually just moved them back to the Edge last night.

My RBTA from Josh Heinen. I'm pretty sure I miss this the most!
RIP RBTA

Here's the new RBTA I got from Casey Shares. It's much smaller, but it will grow in time. Does anyone know what the white spots are? Me and Casey have tried finding any info on this and came up with nothing.

My new b/w clowns, about twice the size as the previous ones!