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Fluval Edge with 15 Gallon sump
I recently aquired a pewter colored 7 Gallon Fluval Edge Nano from a friend (for free...yay!). I decided to go for a nano setup since my 155 build is going terribly slow. I've also decided to go with LED's for lighting, and a 15 Gallon (water volume, not dimensions) 20" X 16" X 15" sump. So that will put the total water volume at roughly 22 gallons. I think it will make for a more stable evironment for the edge.
I'm also toying with the idea of doing a suspended fuge above the sump that would be either drain line or pump fed. More on that one when it's all set up and I see how much room I have to play with inside the stand. Here is the tank as it came to me: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00205.jpg Current equipment that I have lying around - 150W Jager heater Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer 20 X 16 X 15 glass sump TLF 150 phosban reactor for Chemi-pure elite Tunze ATO 2 Koralia Nano powerheads (upgrading to Vortec MP10 asap) Oceanic BioCube 29 stock return pump Oddysea 150W 14 Halide with 2 X 24W actinic T5 Pendant (until LED's arrive) When LED's arrive it will be 6 cree royal blues and 6 cree cool white with dimmable drivers. I'm ordering from Rapid LED, so from what I heard everything should go well. Stock - Not sure! pom poms, porcelains, sexy shrimp? shrimp/goby combo? pair of misbar clowns? Buncha florida and yuma rics, birdsnest SPS, torch and frog spawn for sure... and whatever else comes along. |
Step One - making the stand the overflow box.
Remove the rear filter cover portion of the tanks stand and remove the backing. Cut a piece of acrylic to fit the bottom. There is a bunch of slats that sit inside the cover, I used the second from bottom to rest the acrylic on.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1209-00177.jpg |
Step Two - Trim top edge down.
The small cover that sits against the glass of the aquarium is too tall for the overflow section. I trimmed it down to the edge where the plastic lip of the aquarium meets the glass.
Trim area http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1208-00170.jpg Cover back together http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1209-00178.jpg |
Step Three - Cut holes for bulkheads
I decided to go with 1" for the drain, 3/4" for the emergency, and 1/2" for the return... why??? Because thats what I had laying around for bulkheads and plumbing! haha.
Here are the holes drilled in the acrylic http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00193.jpg Test fit inside the overflow again - http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00195.jpg Bulkheads in for test fit http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00192.jpg |
HAHA neat this will be a cool build for sure
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Step 4 - Make it water tight
So, the next thing to do it make the rear overflow section water tight. I used some crazy acrylic glue to seal all the parts together, and after for safety I also siliconed the entire inner perimeter.
(warning... don't open the can and stick your nose in to see what it smells like....burnt my lungs in a bad way) http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00196.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00199.jpg Acrylic weld is seen here - http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00200.jpg And now all together with the silicone in place http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00201.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00203.jpg And bulkheads installed http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1220-00209.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1220-00210.jpg |
Step Five - Modify drain from tank
Luckily, the top edge of the tank is plastic, making it easily modifiable. Since I did not want to glue/silicone the stand/cover and the tank together to allow water to flow directly into the back chamber, I decided to go with this:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0104-00260.jpg Now, water will flow over the crack between the tank and stand, without worrying about leakage. I can also direct flow to add a layer of floss to pre-filter the water going into the drain. I don't have to worry about overflowing the overflow box with the emergency drain either. Few more pictures http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0104-00258.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0104-00262.jpg I have yet to decide how I want to do the tank side overflow. I'm going to either drill a bunch of holes, dremel slats (comb style) or cut it out completely and silicone some egg crate in there. |
super cool.
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Step 6 - Overflow plumbing
First, you have to cut out the bottom of the stand to allow the plumbing to go through. I kinda hacked it with a dremel, but no one will see it anyways.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1216-00202.jpg Then did up the drain, emergency and return line plumbing http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0220-00415.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0220-00416.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0220-00414.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0221-00418.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0221-00419.jpg Also did up a little egg crate rack for some filter floss. The design of the stand on the Fluval Edge is awesome, because it already has little ledges inside the overflow section. So the egg crate just lies on top: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0221-00421.jpg As it sits today: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0221-00420.jpg |
Water testing
Had to do a water test again after I got all the plmbing for the overflow in place:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0220-00417.jpg All is good, and no leaks as of yet! Now.. onto the stand. I will be starting that tonight. I seem to remember seeing a stand calculator that you plugged dimensions into, and it gave you all the list of lumber that you needed... anyone remember seeing anything like this... or am I just whacko? :twised: |
Very VERY COOL! Tagging along.
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So I have lots to update!
Stand is built, tank is all plumbed and in place, and I went and got some temporary LED's until my CREE's arrive. Stand under construction: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0308-00460.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0308-00462.jpg Stand framing complete: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0308-00468.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0308-00470.jpg Then I painted the inside white and the outside black http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0309-00474.jpg Tank and sump in place http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00481.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00488.jpg Door painted and put on (used velcro) http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00483.jpg |
Overflow cut into tank. 1/2" loc line return in place
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00478.jpg Plumbing from bottom http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00496.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00495.jpg Water testing... Nice even flow from the overflow. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00494.jpg And how I drained the sump! lol http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00497.jpg |
So for the lights, I went to ikea and picked up some LED lights to use until my CREE's arrive.
I have ordered another tank topper so that I can lengthen the top canopy. I will fuse the teo together and make a longer one. Right now, I have cut the rear off the current one, and here I will show you where the lengthened hood will stay. Original Location: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00485.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00484.jpg And this is where it will sit when the two are fused together: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0310-00487.jpg Attached the LED's to egg crate and siliconed it into the canopy: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00489.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00492.jpg Blue only Lights on: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00493.jpg 50/50 white and blue: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00491.jpg |
Looking good man. You think the lights are gonna be enough coverage?
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Well those lights are very temporary. I think they are about 3W each LED stick, so at 8 of them, it's only 24W of crappy LED's lol. I highly doubt those would even grow corals, but who knows.
As far as the spread of lights, since that photo, I tilted two of them to shine towards the ends of the aquarium. But coverage should be good, it's stupid bright. I have ordered 12 3W CREE LED's - 6 RB and 6CW. couple of drivers, heat sinks and 80 degree optics, so that should do the trick for sure. |
use reflextive tape within th hood area it should add more reflection i have thought of doing this for my niece i ike what youve done great work
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Very cool build...what is the livestock side of things going to look like?
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Fish/Inverts: 2 Picasso Clowns or 2 Purple firefish (undecided) Shrimp/Goby pair 2 Sexy shrimp Emerald Crab White Porcelain crab Some tiny little hermits 5 astrea snails Corals: Mainly LPS and softies, but when the good LED's come in, I will try some SPS: Pink/Purple Birdsnest SPS Couple colors of Monti's SPS Hammer coral Torch Coral Mushrooms Florida Ric garden Zoa Garden One or two small clams as well. |
wow, should become a very nice nano :) Of course the water volume will allow you to do more...hmmm now you have me thinking of adding a sump to my 10 gallon, damn you! haha
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Haha, yeah I wanted a nice fully stocked nano with very little equipment visable in the main display, so sump was the only option. I have also always wanted a Fluval Edge because of their unique design. Just never felt like forking out the money to get one, so now that I picked one up for free, i'll spend the time and money on it. |
This is very cool. Tagging along.
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tagging along too. Awesome setup.. You just made up my mind on what to build.. Very interested in how the water will overflow out of the tank.... Can't wait new pics ..
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I'm likin' this build too.
If you get tired of the velcro, you could use counter sunk magnets |
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http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0311-00494.jpg Quote:
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I knew it a seen that a REAL BEER LUCKY OH YA
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Hahaha, YUP! Love the good old Lucky lager. |
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Talk to Grizz about where to get them and how he attached his magnets to the doors as I've never done it |
Any updates on this bad boy?
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Yup! got everything in place and set up. Got some of the rock out of my other tank, but I have to 'downsize' a lot of the rock to be able to fit in the hole at the top. So I have some chizzling to do! But there is some rock in there, a lot of sump rock/rock rubble in there, basically filled the whole sump. Bought a little blue devil damsel who is hilarious... he loves the powerhead. Play's in it all day. Also - Found a good light color combo Added Snails and hermits from other tank Added Koralia Nano Powerhead Added Fluval heater Added Tunze Osmolator ATO Added Blue Devil Damsel Added floss rack and floss Still to do: Clean up all the wiring Velcro the Tunze ATO controller to stand Velcro the LED color contorllers to stand Chizzle my nice display rock to get smaller pieces into edge (add more rock) Add Protein skimmer Add TLF 150 Reactor with Chemi-Pure Elite. This is the sump about an hour in, I will get a better pic soon. There is a tonne more rock in there now, and a different heater, ato, etc etc. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0316-00503.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0317-00509.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0317-00510.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0318-00511.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0318-00512.jpg http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0318-00513.jpg Top down look http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0318-00514.jpg LED through top screen http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0318-00515.jpg |
Sump as it sits now, ATO controller in place.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00001.jpg Rock in sump http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00002.jpg Nice rock from my other tank. Covered in Coraline http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00003.jpg Crab hitchin' a ride on a snail http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0319-00004.jpg |
Looking good! What skimmer are you going to use? I just do 10-15% changes every 2 weeks in my 10 gallon and that seems to work out just fine, but then again I don't have the livestock list that you will. Nice work, looks great.
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Looks good so far... Too good lol
Love the rocks and I have to ask, how do you get that nice purple coralline on them? |
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My perfect skimmer for this setup because of the simplicity of design, use, and it's compact size, would be the Tunze 9002. I've had 3 of these skimmers in the past on various sized tanks and they are fantastic. It'll fit perfectly with the magnet mount on the back side of the sump right in front of the overflow drain. So thats what i'm looking for. I just hate buying things at new prices lol. So i'm waiting for one to come about used. |
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Just start with a good piece of quality live rock with lots of coraline on it already. Put it in the tank with the other rocks, and make sure that your calcium and mag are always in check. I found that the best way for coraline to thrive. My other display is pure purple, and I just started with one pure-coraline covered piece of rock. It spreads on it's own. Many people have tried stuff like "purple up" and personally, it has done nothing for me. I tried it for almost a full year of dosing on an old tank, and had maybe a couple tiny little patches of coraline. I also keep calcium high in that tank because it's got a bunch of clams in it. |
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In my other tank I keep it around 450 ppm. I have a measured dosage of calcium that goes in my auto top off bucket, so I mix 5 gallons at a time. Keeps it very consistant. I just use seachem advantage calcium/mag suppliment. Also helps to have strong lighting. I have a 14K phoenix 150W metal halide right over top of it with 2 actinic t5's on a small tank. In the edge, I don't think I will need to keep the calcium that high. I will aim for around 380-400 ppm for this tank as it will have some LPS, a small clam,and some easy SPS. |
wow dude, coming along nicely. you should market mod to the tank and sell it, I'll buy one for sure.
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I just love that coraline :) let me know if you would like to sell some rock :) Ofcourse my test kit shows my Ca being extremely high 540+ which is most likely way off. I hate the fact that I spent almost 100$ on API kits to get false results. I have a few large rocks with a nice coraline on them but they are pure white (very few purple spots on some of my other rocks) and now HA is trying to take my coraline over... this is a battle i must win. |
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