Nano Reef – Fluval Edge 2

The Edge 2, in the box, and the location chosen behind it (replacing the wine rack).

What’s in the box.

Tank in situ.

I chose finer coral sand as I like the look and I’ve always wanted a finer substrate. It’ll harden up the water (higher pH) and open me up to either African Cichlids or Marine. It was an absolute bitch to clean. After much cleaning with the hose outside I still failed to get it to clear so I thought I’d just dump it in and use some filter wool to remove the dust (I’ve got SO much gear left over from all my previous tanks, filter foam, carbon, test kits, you name it!)

Unfortunately the surface the tank is sitting on isn’t 100% level, thuis this bubble in the corner. To be 100% honest, I’m not at all fussed as the tank is quite high up and you can’t see down from the top too easily in any case. Then there’s evaporation too, which is most likely always going to be an issue with this tank.

The Edge 2 uses a an Aquaclear hang on back filter. I’ve used these for years, they’re not the best, but hey they work just fine. Also note the sealed 42 LED light bar which has a deep blue night setting and a 7600k high luminosity white which I doubt will be suitable for hard to keep corals or plants, but it should be AOK for hardy species.

I had to go with the Two Little Fishies magnet glass cleaner, just a sucker for it’s cute hipster like design (so much better looking than most cleaning magnets out there!).

All set up for now, much dust in the water!

With the blue light on.

Been missing not having an aquarium in the house lately. Especially missing my old 6ft marine tank which was a work of art IMHO. I only let that tank go as I just didn’t have enough time to maintain and enjoy it when I started Zen in 2011.

I’ve been tempted to start another build since late last year, but the other night my Mum asked me if I could help her set up a tank in her lounge room so that Miles and Leo my little cherub nephews could enjoy. What a great idea! I was always brought up with tanks in the house as Dad was aquarium crazy (he was one of the first guys to sell salt water fish in Australia and had a small shop in Bondi Beach when I was little).

I did a bit of research and kept coming back to the Fluval Edge, a modern looking all-in-one style tank which is in a market of it’s own as it lets you fill water all the way to the top of the tank, thus giving you another “face” on the tank which allows you to view the fishies from above. They’ve been around for a while and there’s currently 2 sizes on the market, the original 23 litre and the 2nd gen which doubles to 46 litres.

Alain and I were due for adventure time as I’d not had a proper hang with the guy since testing tyres in Melbourne, we could have gone either way, a hike, or aquarium shopping, he’s had tanks before so he was totally down to go aquarium shopping, we visited Barry at B&C in Matraville first up (the guy remembered me!!!), then Slippery Little Suckers in Kingsford (who were shut), then we dropped in to Aquaristic in Beaconsfield and these guys had the little Fluval on display in pewter.

BOOM! I was pretty much sold right away. It looks so much better in real life (than in pictures all over the net). I had made my mind up to buy this set-up for my Mum, and keep it simple. Dark substrate, a few logs, maybe with some hardy plants and guppies for lots of colour and movement.

I then got thinking about getting one for me too, and as lovely as the little one is I decided to go for the larger version. The guys didn’t have any white units available so I went for the black one (no real biggie but I would have preferred white). One thing I’ve got to mention is how awesome the service was at Aquaristic. Dave was the guy who looked after me. He approached both Alain and I when we first walked in, greeted us, and welcomed us to have a look around. When we were deliberating about the tank he came back to us and helped us out. Far from pushy, just a mad dude who went all out to bring out the larger Fluval Edge 2 and unpack it out of the box for me to look at.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with the tank. I’m already kicking myself for putting the coral sand in, as bare bottom just looks so clean, and opens me up to thinking laterally (ie: not a typical fish tank set-up with substrate). One idea was simple to buy 8 (because it’s my fave number lol) electric yellows, done! Lovely movement, colour, perfecto. Another was to buy a ridiculous aquarium ornament every single week and fill it up to the top with them! You know… skulls, pirate ships, and other bad taste stuff people put in their aquariums! Could be HILARIOUS?! And of-course, the temptation to go marine is massive.

So, the build thread begins!!!