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

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.

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: