My first fish tank attempt

I bought a Fluval Edge as my first ever fish tank, my other half is actually scared of fish and it was the only tank I was allowed to have. Apparantly the smaller tanks are harder to keep so it might all go pear shaped but hopefully i will have some success.

I started off by buying the tank and some black and white gravel to go in it. I added the chemicals that came with the Fluval Edge and left it over night to settle.






I then bought the heater and the Zen Ornament Bamboo Wall With Plant Holders and some plants.



I then added a piece of bog wood to finish off the tank. The plants didnt look the healthiest at first so i pointed 2 desk spot lams at the tank to help with light.




I kept adding food to the tank to help cycle the tank for a few days and then left it a week while i was away on holiday and came back to find it full of snails! The good news is the plants have taken root and look alot better, not sure if this was down to time or due to the extra lights shining at the tank?


This weekend I bought 3 Pygmy Cory's, 5 Boraras Brigitee and a shrimp. I am hoping this isnt too much fish to add in one go, only time will tell. I have a testing kit and the Ammonia and nitrates levels are still at zero, i will keep checking these everyday.

Next i think i will buy a Assassin Snail to help cull the snails that are filling my tank. I also think a little cave is needed for the shrimp to hide in, he has already shed one skin which made me panic as it stuck to the sponge covering the filter intake, i thought the filter was too strong and had killed it LOL Luckily i saw the shrimp swimming about the tank and i realised it was just a skin that had been shed.


Today I have bought some LED replacment bulbs off Ebay. They are of the same fitting (MR11) as the halogens and give the tank a better look. I also added some slate to make a cave type place for the shrimp to hide.



Now i just have to keep everything alive!

Hi, I'm intending to purchase some Fluval Edge accessories as well but only way for me is via online which is hard to know what I'm actually getting.

Can you tell me how did the Algae magnet work out for you? Is it good at pushing bubbles away from the corners and towards to the opening?

I already have the small the Mag-Float but not only it's hard to reach the bubbles in the corners, it still allows micro bubbles to slip through due to the velco-like ribbed cleaning surface. I'm not sure if all glass cleaners have such surface and I'm wondering if acrylic cleaners will work better (assuming acrylic cleaning surface if smooth and not ribbed).

Also, I don't quite understand the product description:

"Features a clever, built-in magnet retrieval system comprise of a tether and floating buoy."

Does it mean the inner cleaning piece does not float on it's own and it has a string tied to it and on the other end of the string is the floating buoy (the orange part)?

"Buoy fits into the external handle portion of the Algae Magnet when not in use."

The string seems permanently tied to the inner cleaning piece and the bouy. I don't understand how the string will not get in the way. How does it work when in use and when not in use? Do you detach the buoy from the handle and let it float in the water and when you're done, use the external magent to attract the buoy? Or do you use w/o the string like this and risk picking up dirt and scratch the glass?

Btw, your Bamboo wall seems broken. Was it damaged in shipping? I'm afraid of this happening to me as well but I got no local store selling it.

I'm having a hard time deciding who should I purchase from in Amazon as it appears there may be more than 1 version of it judging from sellers' picutures, reviewer comments and "live" pictures. Needless to say, everyone can see for themselves which looks horrible.









Reviewers' pictures:







compare to



Yours definately looks like the correct one. May I know which company you got it from?

Hi Carz

I bought my bamboo wall thing from a local garden centre that sells Aquatics, it is slightly damaged and i knew this when i bought it as it was the display model and i got a discount.


the algea magnet does work, but im not sure if its any better than a noraml square one. I still struggle to get the air bubbles from the very corners. It does clean the glass ok and i havent used the float to to retrieve it. Like you said you can attach the tank side piece to the float with a piece of cotton so if it falls of you can retrieve it. I find it easy to just use a net to retrieve it.

Thanks for replying.

I'm not too concern with dirt and algae cleaning at the moment, just the micro bubbles.

I guess my Edge suffers from lots of them as there's nothing currently deflecting the water outflow, resulting in too much agitation of the water. Running the filter at slower flow rate helps a little.

With the bamboo wall, I guess you don't have the same micro bubbles issue.

Otherwise, if you do have the same issue, when you said the algae magnet cleans well, do you mean it does not allow micro bubbles to slip through?

If it helps I have two on mine fluval one for the top (get rid of bubbles)
and this neat little one for the sides http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=368794

Ibby,

What LEDs did you get off ebay? Thinking of changing for LEDs myself, but some lamps seem to suggest that they weren't suitable for a 10w halogen transformer.

I bought these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220607713643 but i did only pay £10.50 and not £110!!!

Cool.

Do you have any problems with condensation on the lamp, due to them being unsealed?