CBG's first SW tank - Fluval Edge 6G now with 10G sump

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

20101224 - One of the biggest complaints I have with the Fluval Edge in Calgary (being such a dry city for most of the year) is that water evaporation occurs at a very high rate. So I decided that I needed a solution to prevent such heavy evaporation from this SW tank. The solution I came up with protects my MR16 LED light bulbs from the salt water while also reducing the amount of evaporation that would occur from the tank. This is constructed from acrylic and a chunk of glass cut on a wet tile saw to fit inside the open mouth of the Fluval Edge tank.





This is attached to the existing arm in the tank and utilizes screws which go into nylon center nuts epoxied into the arm so that I can detach and reattach the lid at will.

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

20101224 Here it is after adding salt and live sand. Both salt and live sand caused the water to look extremely cloudy but cleared up quite quickly. In this pic you can also see (sorta) that the glass on my custom cover hovers about 2mm above the water level as it goes into the overflow.


20101226 - Went out on boxing day and picked up 8 lbs of live rock on sale.



Wasnt really sure how to arrange these chunks so I just left them where I dropped them. I am open to suggestions.




20101228 - Another quick look at the overflow box. I had made a small cover in order to reduce the amount of evaporation from the overflow.


20101228 - set up complete with a "herbie" setup to reduce the noise coming from the overflow box. At this point I still needed to go out and find a 2" hole saw bit so that I could cut out a hole for the skimmer cup to poke out of the sump lid. I still need to get to organizing the wiring. Pump is a Maxijet 900 rated at 230 GPH.

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

20110106 - added some critters
Spiny Astrea snail



Blue legged hermit crab - about .5 cm long and bit out of focus due to shooting at an angle through the glass


Trochus Snails



Nassarius Snails - Periscope up! - what I usually see of the Nassarius Snails


rare view of one of them zooming to a new location



20110107 some sort of macro algae growing


and a view of the chiton I found on the rock


20110113 - added another 7 lbs of live rock to the sump so I am up to about 15 lbs of LR in water volume of about 9G. Dont know why I bought so much as my sump is totally filled and there is really no room. I ended up breaking up the one big hunk I bought into about 4 smaller chunks so it would fit in the different compartments. Is there such a thing as too much? This pic also shows the installation of the skimmer cup for the Tunze Nano 9002 skimmer through the acrylic lid.

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

20110118 - added a peppermint shrimp to start work on the apistasia but have yet to see any noticeable dent in the population and might add another soon.


20110123 - Found this hairy little crab grazing on the purple stuff on the top of my live rock after turning on the lights. Would estimate his body is about half a cm wide at most.


20110123 - Bubble Algae?


20110124 - Most recent FTS with the change to a black spray bar that is split and shoots some jets down towards the sand and some along the top glass. The small hole I made to break siphon in case of power outage (just below where the green tubing connects to the spray bar) gently agitates the water at the opening making the light shining through shimmer a bit and also doesnt allow the water level to get below the glass top.

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

So now I am at the point where I am starting to think of stocking my 2-3 small fishies... will be picking up a red fire shrimp along with some more snails this evening I think. I would love to find a red mandarin goby that eats anything and wouldnt mind the small quarters but I hear there are quite some challenges with this fish though.

Any other fish suggestions out there?

[Magma]

the red mandarin wont do well in tank IMO they eat pods and there is no way you will have enough pods in there ever for him, sure you can buy live pops for him but that gets expensive.

Even if they are eating frozen food they still eat pods all day long..

[CGY_Betta_Guy]

Thanks for the input. Yes I realize the tank is probably too small for a mandarin. Its on my wish list of fish but I know its not practical to put one in the Edge.