My Fluval Edge 46l Journal

I have now set up my edge without too many problems (save for the heater and a couple of incovenient little things which i'll mention below as tips for others just embarking on this adventure).

The basis set up is as follows:

46l Edge
50w interpret heater (the LFS originally sold me the fluval heater which i took back as it only heated 25l)
Fine sandy type substrate from Pets at Home (4kg I think)
Half tree trunk type driftwood (Plastic) with natural slate rocks (underwtaer cliff effect)
Plastic Plants - for ease of set up (I will introduce some natural plants in due course).
I will be doing a full fishless cycle
Planned stock either: (1) Male Endlers & Guppies (+ shrimp) or (2) Celestial Pearl Danios and Mosquito Rasboras (+shrimp)
... or a mixture (CPD's and Endlers?).

Setting Up

Setting the tank up was ok but not easy due to the small hole but I eventually got there. My tank is on a sideboard too high to reach up and into the tank and reach the bottom standing on the floor so i had to use a chair which didn't make life any easier.

1) A tip for other embarking on this great adventure which I have not seen before (despite reading loads of forums for planning) is to use warm water when first doing the tank. Your perspective is altered by the glass and water so condensation around the outside of the tank is a complete pain when trying to place the decor and plants. The plastic things do tend to move and float when you fill with water so it is quite frustrating having to continually wipe the tank and go round to the front to check placements etc. i.e. I couldn't see what the hell i was doing!

2) The intake pipe doesn't need firm pressure and doesn't click as it says in the manual. This had me confused for a short while.

3) The plug leads for the pump and lights are too short and don't go down to floor level from my cabinet (which is about waist height). I temporarily have an extension lead multi socket dangling in mid air behind my unit until i sort something more permanent. Same with the heater incidentally).

4) The fine sand substrate moves a lot when filling the tank no matter how careful you are.

5) The light is awkward to use I can't work out how to get the white and blue light at the same time although you are supposed to be able to.

6) The pump is a little noisy and there's not a massive difference between max and min flow settings.

7) It looks great and seems to be working properly so far (will try to sort some photo's soon).

Thanks for the update Darbinho.

Looking forward to some pics:-)

I'd keep the CPDs and Rasboras in shoals of at least 6; they're timid and find security in numbers.

I remember the inlet on my 23L Edge clicking into position...maybe clicking' is too strong a word - it frimly seated itself in the U shaped groove IIRC.

I started out with plastic plants in my Edge and, like you suggest, eventually replaced them all with live plants and mosses. Note: the above mentioned fish like good plant cover to hide in.

Yeah, the power leads are a mile too short; Fluval should not skimp on a couple of extra feet of cable. And I imagine they have used the same length of leads on the 23 and 46L Edges...sheesh!

I've never kept Endlers or Guppies but http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?id=139 and http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Poecilia&species=reticulata&id=96 should give some helpful advice. Actually I might get some of them for my Edge when I rehouse my CPDs into the larger tank I'm getting in a couple of weeks.

Regards,

Ricky

PS: I see from elsewhere that Endlers can be jumpers, and that females (if you ever get any) can nip at plants.

Thanks Rick

I'm keener on the CPD & Rasbora combo but the Mrs wants the Guppy/Endlers.
Water quality wise the Guppies & Endlers are probably the better fit.

Out of interest what sort of water do you have for your CPD's. Mine is approx 7.8 -8.0 acidity and 15 Hardness so quite hard. I have heard though that hardness is not that important so long as the rest of the environment is ok. I just want to get a feel as to whether the CPD's will be fine in my water or not. As you can probably tell I have my heart set on the CPD's and hope I can find some locally.

Have delayed Ammonia-ing my tank due to being very busy but will put the first dose in tomorrow. Otherwise everything seems to be running ok so far.

Darbinho,

The water that I have my CPDs in is...

Acidity/Alkalinity = pH 7.6
General hardness = dGH 7.8
Carbonate hardness = dKH 6.7
Temp = 25C
Water changes = 1x bucket (about 10 litre) per week

My pH is towards the higher end of alkalinity, and I think I'd prefer it to be maybe 7.2'ish, but I don't think it's anything to worry about.

I only just bought and used my first hardness liquid test kit. So I'm still trying to get my head round what/if my hardness values mean anything significant. From what I've read so far I think I'm OK but I'm still swotting up on the subject.

Regards,

Ricky

PS: IIRC I've lost two CPDs over the first 9 months; one has some growths on it (as did a couple of Tetras) and one jumped up and lodged itself between the lip and the hood - I didn't spot it till the next day.

Cycling

Ok, so it's day 5 of my cycle. I put the ammonia in on Saturday 3rd. I dosed about 2.6ml. I think that was too much as other calculators suggest it should only have been about 1.9ml.

Needless to say the readings have been high all week. I can't really tell from the chart very well but i'm guessing the last reading taken last night was 4ppm (if i hold the test tube away from the chart) or between 4-8ppm if i press the tube against the card. Obviously the tube contains watered down seethrough green and the colours on the card are solid so its hard to tell.

I will give it until the weekend to see if it drops and do a part water change if it hasn't. And maybe buy a live plant which should have some bacteria on it I guess?

One thought bugging me is that if these bacteria only live in the filter and on decor and not in the water then how are enough going to survive in the air and get into the tank in the first place? I hope I haven't just wasted this week!

Darbinho,

Regarding cycling, bacteria will find it's way into the tank one way or another. But you can boost the numbers by using a product like Nutrafin Cycle, they say. Here's an article I found on bacteria bottles.... http://theaquariumwiki.com/Bacteria_bottles,_do_they_work%3F.

I've used bacteria bottles on my 3 tanks and they were cycled in 4-6 weeks. Whether the bottled bacteria really helped or not, I can't say for sure. But as long as your are adding food (ie ammonia) to the tank the bacteria will multiply. IIRC it takes at least couple of weeks or so before the ammonia and the nitrite starts to be processed in noticable quantities by the bacteria into nitrates.

The bacteria will grow on most things in the tank ie filter (media), plants (real and artificial), substrate, rocks etc. Some folks boost the bacteria presence by taking media (eg part of a filter sponge) from an already cycled mature tank.

You'll also need to put a heater in the tank, set at 25+C to help the bacteria thrive.

Yeah, the colour comparison of card -v- tube isn't perfect by a long shot. If I'm in doubt I do the comparison in natural daylight. I suppose the saving grace is that it's faily easy to spot when the ammonia tube reaches true yellow (ie 0ppm) and the nitrite reaches sky blue (ie 0ppm). The nitrate only needs to be below 40ppm so anything below that (ie reddy orange > yellow) will be OK...but don't ask me to spot the difference between, say, 20ppm and 10ppm ;-)

Regards,

Ricky

PS: I'm getting another tank next week (an 84 litre one) so I'll be spending a week or so trying to figure out the layout of it's aquascape, then adding water and ammonia etc...then 6 weeks or so later add the first one or two fish. It's all done in slow time but that's part of the attraction of fish keeping, I guess.

Thanks,

I have a heater currently set at 30C.

I did a 20 - 25% water change and the ammonia reading now looks about 3ppm (somewhere between 2 and 4 anyway). Nitrite is still zero - I do keep kidding myself I can see a hint of purple but even if there is it no way near the first nitrite reading of 0.25.

I had a pot of 'cycle' which came with the tank and after some research decided it can't hurt even if the jury is out as to whether it works. I added the recommended dose yesterday and will just sit back this week and try to be patient.

Good luck with the new tank.

Cycling Part II[u]

Ok, i'll forget the first week so results since water change are as follows: (will update)

10/3 Ammonia 3-4ppm / Nitrite 0 (Day
11/3 Ammonia 3-4ppm / Nitrite 0 (Day 9)
12/3 Ammonia 3-3.5ppm / Nitrite 0 (Day 10)
13/3 Ammonia 3-3.5ppm / Nitrite 0.1 (I think - hint of purple but not as strong as 0.25) (Day 11)
14/3 Ammonia 3.0 / Nitrite 0.1 (Definitely a bit purple) (Day 12)
15/3 Ammonia 3.0 / Nitrite 0.2 (More Purple! !)
16/3 Ammonia 2.5 / Nitrite 0.3
17/3 Ammonia 2..5 / Nitrite 0.4
18/3 Ammonia 2.0 / Nitrite 2.0 (added 0.5 ml ammonia to raise to 3.5) (added 3 moss balls)
19/3 Ammonia 3.5 - 4.0 (it has gone up?!) / Nitrite 1.0 (it has gone down!?) Worrying developments.
20/3 Ammonia 3.0 - 3.5 / Nitrite 1.0
21/3 Ammonia 3.5 - 4.0 (how?) / Nitrite 1.0 / Nitrate 40 - 50
22/3 No Test
23/3 Ammonia 2.5 / Nitrite 2.0

Plenty of faffing about since the last update but it now finally seems on track.

Currently falling from 3.5ppm Ammonia to between 0.5 - 1.0 every 24 hours. Nitrite was over 5.0 yesterday and even more today so it look as though it is finally approaching the Nitrite spike!

16/4 Ammonia 0.75 / Nitrite 5.0 ++ (Added 1.5 ml Ammonia)
17/4 Ammonia 1.0 / Nitrite 5.0 ++ (Added 0.6 ml Ammonia)
18/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 5.0 ++ (Added 1.6ml Ammonia)
19/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 5.0 ++ (Added 1.9ml Ammonia)
20/4 Ammonia 0.25 / Nitrite 25.0 - 30.0 (Added 1.4 ml Ammonia) (Nitrate 20 - 40)
21/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 5.0 (Added 1.6 Ammonia)
22/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 5.0 (Added 1.6 Ammonia)
23/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 2.5 (Added 1.6 Ammonia)
24/4 Ammonia 0.25 / Nitrite 0.0 (Happy dance) (Added 1.4 ml Ammonia) Nearly there!
24/4 (+12 hrs) Ammonia 0.25 / Nitrite 1.0
25/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 0.0 (Added 1.4 ml Ammonia)
26/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 0.0 (Added 1.4 ml Ammonia)
27/4 Ammonia 0.0 / Nitrite 0.0 (Added 0 Ammonia because....