# Newbie 6-gallon Edge Iwagumi-esque



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

This is my first ever aquarium, and I'm super excited to get it started. 

6-gallon Fluval Edge
Wingo LED light mod
Aquatek pressurized CO2 (will be in HOB)
Archaea mini-aquarium heater (will also be in HOB)
ADA Amazonia Soil, normal type
ADA La Plata Sand
Seiryu stone

I used to have a densely planted terrarium, and that eventually became overgrown. Now I'm trying my hand at aquascaping. I know this set up is not strictly following the principles of iwagumi, but I hope it will be nice once it's all planted. I'll be doing a dry-start of HC in the foreground, and Glosso in the background. 

Don't know what kind of fish I will have, but probably just a small group of zebra danios...but I have a couple of months to decide.

I welcome any comments and suggestions.


----------



## trix25 (Apr 26, 2013)

WESTCOAST!!! 

loving the hard scape also you mentioned you did a wingo led light mod, what exactly is that on the edge?

i am also an edge owner and found out that there are quite a bit of restrictions for the hardscape without limiting your ability to do proper tank maintenance.
only suggestion was to perhaps put a bit more soil?


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

@trix25, thanks for the suggestion for more soil. I actually came back to it after taking the photo and decided that it needed more, so I put an additional layer on there.

The Wingo light mod is a something that you can purchase through a lighting guy who makes modifications specifically for the Fluval Edge aquariums. You can find him if you search for it on Ebay, and I'm sure you can find discussions about him on the forums here. I'm a horrible DIY'er particularly when it comes to wiring and such, so I decided to just go ahead and buy something that someone else had already made. I need enough light to grow high light-loving plants, so I definitely needed to swap out what came standard with the Edge.


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

Received plants in very good condition. So far, so good.


----------



## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

Can you post a pic of the light. I am not sure I know what a Wingo LED light mod
is.


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

It's basically a homemade LED box with reflectors and lenses. I think you can find a picture of it if you search for "Wingo LED Fluval" on Ebay. I bought my unit from him, but not through Ebay. I think there's been mention of his mods elsewhere on this forum.


----------



## CryptKeeper54 (Apr 14, 2012)

Kudos to you for taking on this project. Especially in a fluval edge which is very hard and tricky to maintain IMO. I eventually got frustraed with this tank and broke it down. But I think this would make a great moss/shrimp tank. Goodluck and hope it grows in well.


----------



## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

Good luck. The hardscape looks good, did you buy it locally?


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

@binbin9, I bought the hardscape from a seller on Ebay after not much luck trying to source seiryu stone locally near Seattle. I actually bought way more than I needed, but as it turns out, it was probably good that I had lots to choose from when I was playing around with the layouts. I may swap out some of the more shallow stones in the front when the HC grows in...the stones there now may become invisible altogether when the plants fill out.


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

*Day 4*

Day 4, and the plants seems to be doing really well....no melting at all. I'm astonished, but pleased that I'm seeing new growth. I guess it'll be a while before the roots get established. Meanwhile, I'm excited that I just ordered a glass intake tube from a supplier in Germany. He posted elsewhere on this forum, and that's how I found him. From the pictures of his Fluval Edge, the intake tube almost disappears in the water, which is exactly what I want for my set-up. The perspective point for my tank is between the rocks, down the sand path, and I would rather not have the existing smokey gray intake tube be the focal point. I will post pictures once they arrive.


----------



## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

Sweet, there's a rock place in Kent too that has some pretty cool rocks I did a photo tour of the place the other week.

http://www.wafishbox.com/t7470-my-photo-tour-of-jerry-s-rock-world


----------



## trix25 (Apr 26, 2013)

Great to see progress on this tank. If I may ask how much did it cost for the glass lily pipe? I am interested in it myself.



Icarus5 said:


> Day 4, and the plants seems to be doing really well....no melting at all. I'm astonished, but pleased that I'm seeing new growth. I guess it'll be a while before the roots get established. Meanwhile, I'm excited that I just ordered a glass intake tube from a supplier in Germany. He posted elsewhere on this forum, and that's how I found him. From the pictures of his Fluval Edge, the intake tube almost disappears in the water, which is exactly what I want for my set-up. The perspective point for my tank is between the rocks, down the sand path, and I would rather not have the existing smokey gray intake tube be the focal point. I will post pictures once they arrive.


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

@trix25, I paid 17 euro, which included shipping, for one glass pipe. The user's name on here is Mik, and he mentioned it on page 122 of The Official Edge thread on this forum. I'll post pics and updates when I receive it.


----------



## A.D.D.i.c.t. (Dec 9, 2012)

The layout is beautiful. It will be exciting to see this tank evolve.


----------



## Martino4 (Jun 15, 2013)

A fellow west coaster! Cheers from Vancouver, I like your layout and plant choice so far. Just got myself an edge and have yet to decide what to do with it. Will be stoked to see yours progress


----------



## mot (Sep 17, 2011)

Awesome work. Outstanding for a first scape. You may want to use some of the extra rock to wall the sand/soil border to prevent mixing. Small pebble sized rock will do the trick.


----------



## dacrax07 (Jan 10, 2009)

Nice looking tank! Have you considered adding shrimp? Maybe some rcs?


----------



## Icarus5 (Jan 14, 2013)

*Week 1*

At week 1, plants are doing well. I'm seeing a lot of growth, but there is one small patch of HC that is a bit yellow. Not sure if that means I need to start adding more fertilizer to the misting water. 

I also received the glass intake tube. I was a bit alarmed when I initially retrieved it from my mailbox, because it's just in a standard envelope that looked badly beaten up, and the contents felt like it was just wrapped in one layer of bubble wrap! However, when I opened up the envelope, I realized that the glass tube was slipped into a piece of PVC pipe, then wrapped in bubble wrap...pretty sturdy and ingenious way of shipping it securely. the tube itself looks exactly like a test tube, but clearly he has some machinery to cut the slots that allow it to suck in water. Very clever. Installing was easy, but it cracked the plastic connector a bit. Whereas the original plastic intake tube connects to the other piece from the outside, the glass tube fits inside the connector (if that makes sense). I didn't apply much pressure, but it cracked the adjoining plastic. I don't think this crack will continue up the rest of the plastic, but I may need to order a replacement piece just in case. In the picture, you'll have to look pretty closely to see the small crack in the plastic. Overall, I'm happy with how transparent it looks in the backdrop. It blends in way better than the smokey gray plastic intake tube, and I feel that once I flood it with water, it will be nearly invisible. I'm a little worried that somehow the glass tube will eventually disconnect from the plastic intake and hit the adjacent rock and crack since it's only held in there by pressure. Before I received it, I was thinking that I may get some kind of silicone gasket to make a more secure seal, but now I know that there's not any tolerance in there for anything like that.


----------



## Psittac (Jan 24, 2009)

update!


----------

