Fluval Edge

[Anja]

It was under the tree. 

I'm thinking Iwagumi, but don't know anything about it, so for the time being I'll just do some reading before setting up. But I was too excited not to share.

I'm also trying to get my hands on some of the accessories, like the little heater and the gravel vac. Needless to say I'm following the other Fluval Edge thread here very closely.

[Jeff1192]

I was going to get all the Edge accessories off Ebay but I found almost all of them at La Niche in Gatineau and the prices are really good on them. Now that I've been using them for a bit the net is a must...with the limited access to the tank at the top a normal net would make catching things pretty hard.

The gravel siphon is nice....but a regular one would work as well (I needed a small one anyway so I bought that one). The advantage with the siphon being cut on an angle is you can vacuum the front corners quite well.

The little round foam overlay for the intake is much tidier looking than cutting your own (I know I tried) and is a must if you're going to do shrimp.

An algae magnet is also a must as you can use it to remove the bubbles that accumulate from time to time on the top of the tank from the filter.

They didn't have the heater at La Niche so I bought a small Marineland Stealth Pro. It's all black so I have laid it horizontally along the back of the tank with the cord running up the middle of the tank so that it's essentially hidden.

I know what you mean about planning the set-up. My wife purchased mine for me for Christmas....but we bought it while Black Friday shopping because it was just so cheap. But she said I couldn't have it until Christmas....haha....waiting was killing me. But it gave me lots of time to plan a layout and what I was going to stock it with.

Even then I have still changed the layout a bit twice now....I can never leave my 90 gallon set-up alone either....haha.

Have fun.

Jeff

[sas]

Awesome Anja, can't wait to see what you do with it.

That's some good info Jeff passed on.

[Anja]

I have the net, but good info on the magnet and things being available at La Niche. Thanks. I'll have to plan a road trip.

I hear you about not being able to wait. I already bought the fish.  10 Emerald Eye Rasboras that are currently residing with my handful of guppies in a ten gallon. I'm thinking about moving some of the shrimp to the Edge (either some cherries or the Crystal Reds) and have my eye on the little pre-filter sponge.

Undecided about plants yet. Prolly mainly mosses. We'll see. This Iwagumi stuff is engrossing and quite involved. I've always wanted to play around with that.

[Jeff1192]

So far I have planted mine with echinodorus tellenus, echinodorus tropica, a small crypt (not sure which one), windelov java fern, java moss and christmas moss. So far everything seems to be surviving.

I did order some LED replacement bulbs for it. A lot of people have switched their Edge lighting to these bulbs. There are a few advantages; far less power consumption, no heat created and apparently they offer a slightly wider beam of light. I haven't received them yet so I can't vouch personally for the difference.

If you're interested I found them on Ebay and I can send you the link. I looked locally for them. I found some similar ones but not exactly the right bulb and they were almost double the price.

Jeff

[Anja]

I did order some LED replacement bulbs for it. A lot of people have switched their Edge lighting to these bulbs. There are a few advantages; far less power consumption, no heat created and apparently they offer a slightly wider beam of light. I haven't received them yet so I can't vouch personally for the difference.

If you're interested I found them on Ebay and I can send you the link.

I think I'll try it low light first, but please pm me the link anyway. I'd like to go have a look.

Oh and I found the gravel vac and heater at Critter Jungle yesterday. Yay.

[Anja]

I'm playing with rocks:

[Anja]

This was the state of affairs on Feb.1:

[Jeff1192]

Rock work looks really good!

[Anja]

In the meantime I've dismembered some Chladophora, anchored down a bit of Najas guadalupensis (we'll see how long that stays put) and gradually moved over the rasboras and the CRS. I still haven't got all of the air bubbles out of the top. I'll have to go find that algae magnet. But for what it's worth, here's my first poke at Iwagumi:

[sas]

I was going to post after your pic of the rocks and say you were being very patient and taking your time.
But glad I didn't you've obviously been busy .

I really like the rock you went with, lots of dimension.
What did you use for substrate, it looks so nice and black?

[Anja]

Rock work looks really good!

Thank you. 

[Jeff1192]

I was going to post after your pic of the rocks and say you were being very patient and taking your time.
But glad I didn't you've obviously been busy .

I really like the rock you went with, lots of dimension.
What did you use for substrate, it looks so nice and black?

Haha....I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing....I could never have been that close to getting it up and running and then leaving it. Looks even better now.  I'm guessing that the substrate is Flourite black because it looks exactly like mine..haha.

[Anja]

I was going to post after your pic of the rocks and say you were being very patient and taking your time.
But glad I didn't you've obviously been busy .

I really like the rock you went with, lots of dimension.
What did you use for substrate, it looks so nice and black?

*g* I did take my time, though (you should have seen me sitting on the floor at Big Al's arranging rocks on my little tank sized newspaper piece). I introduced the fish and shrimp 3 per day, even though I had material from their old tank for bacteria. They all seem to be doing well so far.  

Substrate is normal Estes Black Marine Sand. Since I'm not going to play with the light, I figured my plants won't need any nutrients beyond what the fish supply for free. ;o)

[Anja]

Haha....I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing....I could never have been that close to getting it up and running and then leaving it.

*lol* I kept moving the rocks around, because there was always an angle from which I didn't like them, and it took me a while for the algae pieces to stay where I wanted them. I thought I could just insert come pebbles, but those things fall apart just where you don't want them to. I also find you need a few contortionist genes to arrange anything through that opening.

[Jeff1192]

Yeah it's definitely NOT the easiest tank to aquascape. Especially if you decide to move some plants around and the rocks are in the way.