jcrissey's Fluval Edge Office Build

[jcrissey]

I wasn't planning on detailing my build, but after I learned so much from other members here and on other forums I thought I should try to give back in some way. With that in mind, here's what I'm planning for my office tank...

Items on hand:
6-gallon Fluval Edge (black, LED)
AquaClear 50 HOB filter
AI Nano light w/ controller
Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead (240 gph)
Hydor Theo 50-watt submersible heater
Coralife digital thermometer
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals Salt Mix
API Reef Master Test Kit
Marine Depot refractometer
InTank media basket (will hold chaeto and Purigen or Chemi-pure elite)

Items on order:
Rena SmartHeater (50w)
Two Little Fishies NanoMag glass cleaner

Items yet to buy:
Auto top-off system
10-watt submersible light (for chaeto in AC50)


My goal with this tank is to preserve the stock look of the Fluval Edge as much as possible. Since I travel a couple times a month for my job, I'll also want some level of automation (ATO) and remote monitoring ability (RKL +Net) so I don't dread it every time I am out for a few days at a time. Good news is I have a couple aquarium enthusiast co-workers who never travel that I hope will be able to keep an eye on it for me and feed

My first order of business was hacking/sanding the back cover with a dovetail saw to remove the stock LED light arm to be able to fit the AC50. As you can see in the picture (taken from above) I sanded the inside left of the back cover slightly so that the plastic didn't bulge out when the AC50 is in place...

Next step was cutting a notch in the right side of the AC50 return so that it would fit within the back lip of the Fluval Edge opening. I also did this with the dovetail saw...

Since I dropped nearly $300 on my lighting system I wanted to protect it as much as possible from moisture and salt creep, so I cut a piece of Lexan acrylic and glued four clear acrylic mirror clips to the underside using silicone...

Here you see the AC50 and acrylic cover installed...

Now onto my concerns at this point.
1) The power and data ports on the AI nano will sit VERY close to the AC50 filter return, so I need to figure out a way to protect them from moisture/salt creep
2) Due to the limited space under the hood, the Ai nano will have to be mounted flush with inside front of the hood. This will eliminate the ability to use the touch controls on the front of the AI nano, but I guess I can fully control the light using the controller?
3) Cord routing- the AC50 fit is snug, and I don't know yet how I will make room to route the cords (heater/lights/ATO/temp probe/etc.) down the inside back cover. I may wind up cutting a notch in the side of the hood if I can't figure out another solution.

My project for today is to spray paint the metal grille of the Fluval Edge hood with satin black Krylon Fusion to protect it from rusting, which I hear can be an issue with this aquarium. I also hope to find some reflective tape with a non-toxic adhesive that I can line the inside of the hood to reflect as much "lost" light back into the aquarium as possible. Any suggestions on such tape would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CoralMeister]

That cover is sick!!!!

 

[jcrissey]

Quick late-night update on hood/light mod:
I went ahead and spray-painted the light hood's metal grille (top and bottom) with five coats of Krylon Fusion. After careful taping to make sure no paint got on the plastic itself, here's how it turned out...

And perhaps best of all, I laid the AI nano against the acrylic splash guard and put the hood on to test what the light spread might look like. Judging from the pool of light that the AI nano creates, I think I"m in business! I just hope that adding LR and a sandbed doesn't cut down on light spread. By the way, the AI nano has 80-degree optics...

 

[Bry17nyc]

I'm sticking to this
I have a fluvaledge aswell
Been thinking on converting it in a reef aquarium

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Interesting build, keep the pics flowing.

 

[jcrissey]

Interesting build, keep the pics flowing.

Wingo- Due to a slate full of travel over the next six weeks, this is going to be a slow, deliberate build. I'll happily update as I make minor mods and acquire new add-ons (ATO, probes, etc.) but it will likely be mid-October before I actually add sand and LR to start the cycle. As a fellow Edge owner, I always appreciate suggestions and feedback. How do you incorporate your heater into your system?

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Wingo- Due to a slate full of travel over the next six weeks, this is going to be a slow, deliberate build. I'll happily update as I make minor mods and acquire new add-ons (ATO, probes, etc.) but it will likely be mid-October before I actually add sand and LR to start the cycle. As a fellow Edge owner, I always appreciate suggestions and feedback. How do you incorporate your heater into your system?

I did not have a good way of doing that so I don't use one.
I am only good at LED lights.

There is one person who found a small enough heater(probably by Fluval too) that he can put in the filter box sacrificing the filter media space.

 

[jcrissey]

Quick Update-
I just did a three-day leak test using freshwater and only running the AC50 filter- no heater, no powerhead, no lights. There was literally no discernible water evaporation over this period. I filled the tank to about 1/8" above the lip of the top glass pane, and it has remained there.

I also unplugged the filter briefly to simulate a power outage to see how the AC50 siphoning water back into the tank would affect the water level, and it only came up to about 1/2 way up the upper lip of the tank. Not bad!

Now I will try a test with heater, lights and powerhead to see what evaporation will be like. I'm trying to avoid the expense of an ATO system altogether. If I can go 3 days without having to top off, I think I'll be fine without one.

 

[dherrera83]

Just get the ATO from autotopoff.com. I have one and i go weeks without touching the tank.

Wait... Even if you did have one i think it would be a challenge to have in fuction in such small space.

Good work, those lights are sick!...

 

[masterswimmer]

I did not have a good way of doing that so I don't use one.
I am only good at LED lights.

There is one person who found a small enough heater(probably by Fluval too) that he can put in the filter box sacrificing the filter media space.

Nice build so far. Please take note, I am not a Fluval Edge afficionado, but I do know of a small heater, only 30w and only 4.5" long:

Deep Blue Heat Stik Mini 30w

Not sure if it'll work, but certainly something to at least check out.

HTH
Russ

 

[jcrissey]

OH, WE'RE GETTING CLOSE NOW!

Update- it's been a while since I posted but now I'm ready to get this party started...
I added 6.15 gallons of RODI water (TDS=1) from the LFS and am now mixing in the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt.
I ordered 10 lb of cured live rock and 5 lb of live sand from KP Aquatics (formerly Sea Life Inc), which should arrive the middle of this week.

Why 6.15 gallons you ask? After careful measuring, the tank itself holds 5.91 gallons (5.75 gal. in the "cube" and 0.16 gal. in the rim). The AC50 holds 0.24 gal. with the power off.
I filled the tank to the absolute top of the rim and the AC50 to it's max with the power off. When I turn the filter on, it drops the water level about 3/8" below the rim. I drew a line and this will be my max fill line. That way in the event of a power outage, the filter will only dump back in a little water and the water level will return to the top of the rim without overflowing.

On the equipment side, I've added an inTank media basket to the AC50 and have ordered a 50w Rena SmartHeater that I will connect to the AC50 allowing the heater to pull double duty as the filter intake. I'll relegate my Hydor Theo to use for water changes.

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on how to treat the LR before putting it in the tank. Ive read that dipping it in a high-salinity bath (1.04 sg) for one minute will cause all the critters to exit the rock and allow me to pick out any beneficial hitchhikers and add those back to the tank. Has anyone tried this with success?

 

[NYC Joe]

Very nice build.
Looks like a great start!

Have something similar.
The only problem I see eventually is salt creep. Which will happen. Rig the light so the wires are in the up position so salt won't creep into the unit.

My light is pretty much sealed off and I clear the salt off constantly.

 

[jcrissey]

Very nice build.
Looks like a great start!

Have something similar.
The only problem I see eventually is salt creep. Which will happen. Rig the light so the wires are in the up position so salt won't creep into the unit.

My light is pretty much sealed off and I clear the salt off constantly.

Do you also have an AI Nano? Can you tell me what you mean by having the wires in the "up position"?

 

[NYC Joe]

Sorry I don't have a ai nano.
I have a custom light fixture that was built by nanocustoms. They dont exist anymore.

What I meant is to snake the wires in the up position. Kinda of like a drip loop for your powerheads.

Put another lip (an L shape) on the side of the filter. So it doesn't splash on your light fixture. That's where the salt will creep. Make it higher than normal and snake the wire over the top.

Maybe even do acrylic like 3-4 inches high. Drill a hole into it. Put the wire through if possible. Then silicone the wire in the hole, that way the salt wont creep through messing up your light fixture.

 

[jcrissey]

Live rock and live sand are installed- we're up and running!!

So I finally received my shipment of premium cured live rock and live sand from KP Aquatics (formerly Sea Life Inc.) and I can't say enough how awesome they were to deal with, very friendly and responsive to emails. Because of the narrow top opening, I had to be very specific about the dimensions of rock I needed to be able to fit through the hole and they made sure every rock met my specs.

The rock itself is dense and encrusted with coralline, halimeda and other goodies.

Here's a few shots of the live rock...
This one had a hitchiker crab, but he turned out to be dead.

Here is a closeup of the halimeda and behind that I believe is a sponge (red).

KP Aquatics threw in a bag of seven hermits, but I only kept two. If they make it through the cycle, great. If not, they will only increase the bioload which I need anyway while cycling. In the meantime, they can get to work picking at the live rock.

Within a couple minutes of turning the lights on in the tank, out pops this featherduster! The only problem is it's positioned toward the back of the tank so I'll rarely see it. But maybe more will pop out in coming days. EDIT-I just found two more poking out as I was typing this up!

Some more halimeda...

And finally, a FTS with no lights on so you can see my aquascape. I created a vertical wall on the right side of the tank that has a little overhang and arch for fish to swim through. Other than that, I wanted to keep the lirve rock as low to the sandbed as possible so I won't knock the corals over as I reach my hands in the tank. I also left a perimeter around all the rocks so I could get my nanomag between them and the glass.

Now for some questions for the experts:

• For now, I'm only running filter floss. Should I add any other mechanical filtration at this point?
• SInce I have some halimeda, would it be best for me to run my lights for a brief period of time each day to allow for some photosynthesis? Is it likely that these will even make it through the cycle when nitrites start to peak?

 

[jcrissey]

Sorry I don't have a ai nano.
I have a custom light fixture that was built by nanocustoms. They dont exist anymore.

What I meant is to snake the wires in the up position. Kinda of like a drip loop for your powerheads.

Put another lip (an L shape) on the side of the filter. So it doesn't splash on your light fixture. That's where the salt will creep. Make it higher than normal and snake the wire over the top.

Maybe even do acrylic like 3-4 inches high. Drill a hole into it. Put the wire through if possible. Then silicone the wire in the hole, that way the salt wont creep through messing up your light fixture.

Everything is so tight under the hood I don't think I could make an L-shape. I did however seal the port connections with silicone. Thanks for the idea.

 

[NYC Joe]

Looking good!

I'd keep the lights on for a few hours a day. For the plant.

I have a reefkeeper. Pretty much automated. The lights dim on slowly and the dim off. Very cool effect!

 

[jcrissey]

Looking good!

I'd keep the lights on for a few hours a day. For the plant.

I have a reefkeeper. Pretty much automated. The lights dim on slowly and the dim off. Very cool effect!

I'll leave the light off this weekend but can't help turning it on when I'm at my desk for a couple hours. My ai nano has a controller but I haven't tweaked it yet.

After one day of live rock my ammonia is already registering, albeit slightly.

 

[jcrissey]

After some prodding from NYCJoe, I decided to take his advice and make a more water-tight enclosure for my AI nano. Just two pieces of acrylic carefully measured, cut and drilled, and then silicone applied to prevent moisture from seeping in.

And here's a FTS of my tank on day 4 of the cycle with lights on 20/50/50.

 

[NYC Joe]

Looks awesome!
Nice and clean.

Now you got me wanting to do some pruning and cleaning in mine. Debating on going to the swap now.