# My Planted Fluval Edge UPDATED: 2/22/11



## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

looks neat! Im not sure about your lighting issue. The lights arent that far from the base of the tank so you also got to concider that with light intensity.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

yes 5 days and you already got fish? how did you cycle the tank?
Also make sure that blue tape on the PC mod is electrical tape. Just in case there is an electrical joint there.

Foreground can be created with moss (java) tied to flat slate rocks placed flat. this will create a rock floor which with time will grow to a moss floor. For this low lighting is good.
Generally DIY CO2 will help your setup no matter what lighting you have, and will help against algae in low light.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

Newman,
I cycled the tank by filling the tank up halfway with water from my well established tank, plus the driftwood came from that tank as well so theres plenty of good bacteria for a quick start. And i thoroughly tested the water every day to make sure all the levels were in check before adding the fish in on the 4th day.

as for the moss, ive never been a fan of java moss. I had it before in my 46g tank and it was just a mess. I was thinking of something along the lines of baby tears but not necessarily baby tears.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

baby tears need high light to carpet. java moss isnt messy if you grow it right. if you dont like java moss christmas moss is much more good looking.
the water transplant did little to help you cycle, i'm sure you expected me to mention that, but the DW may have helped a bit. keep testing though and do a WC when necessary.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

I have actually never seen christmas moss in real life, none of the LFS by me stock it. If all else fails i might have to give it a shot. I really like the look of a small plant rather than a moss but im willing to compromise if necessary. If i stick with the high wpg then how much CO2 injection would i need to put in plants like baby tears?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

will need DIY CO2 plus a tad of excel (be careful you can overdose this). be very diligent with keeping up your DIY reactor always running and replacing it with new mixtures. otherwise if you get lazy like i once did, your HC will be mauled by all the different species of algae in the world...

For a fluval edge one 2ltr reactor bottle is good. figure out a way to diffuse the CO2 into your tank, you can either do a nano glass diffuser and hide it or just point the airline tubing with CO2 at the HOB intake. impeller will chop up the bubbles and diffuse well into the tank, just make sure there isn't too much surface agitation because it will defeat the purpose is there is.

The wpg should be like 3.5-4+ pointing mostly at the HC spot where you want it to grow otherwise if the majority of the light is missing the HC, the wpg rating is misleading. since it would be receiving less intense light. Also i recommend an amano shrimp to keep the HC clean.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

I will get started on a DIY CO2 reactor this weekend. How much excel do you suggest? I've been doing a daily dose according to the directions on the bottle. Should i take it down to every other day?

I also wanted to get some RCS, will they do the same job as amanos?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

not really, the amanos are much better than Cherries for the purpose. i recommened just one so that leaves room for cherries still.

daily excel is a bit excessive, though i suppose your could keep it up until you get the CO2 running. then either weekly is fine or none at all. just dose less frequently if you see any melting in your plants.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

jaggedfury has a paintpall co2 unit, I never want to go back to DIY co2. To much time and inconsistencies

cool tank.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

accordztech said:


> jaggedfury has a paintpall co2 unit, I never want to go back to DIY co2. To much time and inconsistencies
> 
> cool tank.


How much do you think the paintball setup would cost? I might upgrade the yeast reactor later if the cost isnt too much.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I forgot his price, but its around 35 plus the bottle.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

accordztech said:


> I forgot his price, but its around 35 plus the bottle.


thanks accordz, im just gonna save up around 60 bucks for this so i can buy later, but for now ill do DIY. 

does anyone know of a cheap small bubble counter? i saw some DIY versions but they are all so big...


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Fluvial I think makes one and its around 5 bucks. Usually if you see their co2 setups you will find them next to them. If not those small bottles of water would work. Drill in 2 small holes put 2 hoses in it seal it and your done. 

I seen people use the smaller seringe for a inline counter also.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

why not just count the bubbles lol? then test your parameters to make sure XO2 levels arent dangerous. though one reactor is unlikely to cause any problems.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

I actually went ahead and bought the parts for a paintball setup since i want to start off right, i got a on off from ebay, a bottle from amazon and ill get the needle valve from home depot after i get the stuff in the mail. what do you guys recommend for a method of diffusion so i can order that too and i can get it up and running by sometime next week.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

I mentioned two ways of diffusing in the Edge a few posts back...


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

thanks newman, i bought a nano diffuser from my LFS but is it possible to do both ways? i.e put the nano diffuser under the HOB intake so the bubbles from the diffuser go up into the HOB. 

I got one of these:









I dont get the point of the spiral though, is the inside supposed to be filled with water?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

xD yes i dont get the spiral either cuz the inside is likely air, and the glass spiral cant be penetrated y water even if there was water inside...

yes its possible to do that, just put the diffuser as low as it can go next to the gravel and point it at the intake. if at all possible try to hide the whole contraption with the scape.


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

We might have a problem here... U guess my diffusers doing way too good of a job. I check my pH and kH this morning after setting up my DIY co2 and the pH was 6.4 which is down from 7.6 last night and kH was 125.3 and I compared on a chart and the CO2 was estimated to be 83ppm, it used to be about 4ppm. Isnt that way to high? I put in a airline tubing valve and lowered the co2 rate down to about 5 bpm and I'm scared that the yeast reactor might explode or something. Before I lowered it, it was doing about 1bps. All the bubbles are getting stuck under the top glass so it's turned the whole tank into a reactor. What do I do?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

well you can try putting a gang valve to split the flow of CO2 and slow the input into the tank. yes you'll waste some CO2 but its better than nuking your tank... you want 25ppm CO2, no more.

put the diffuser under the HOB intake and raise the water level almost to the rim, but not enough to splash...


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

Wow... I just took off the tubing to add the gang valve and the co2 bottle exploded like a soda bottle that's been shaken. It spewed the yeast concoction everywhere... What a mess to clean up.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

x_x

sorry, you just have to be careful. did you make the mixture correctly? didnt overdose on any ingredient? because I've never had that happen to any of mine back when i was doing DIY CO2...
It's kinda my fault i suppose, but dont give up on the CO2 yet, i'm sure you can do it right...


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

I think the reason was that I had a valve in there and I reduced the rate and it built up pressure inside the bottle and that came back to bite me when pulled off the tubing. 

Thankfully the DIY set up is only temporary until I get my parts for a paintball setup. Hopefully all the parts will be in by the weekend. 

Btw I moved the diffuser under the intake so theres not much co2 pushed back into the tank by the outflow and I added a gang valve to reduce some of the pressure. Also I just checked the co2 again and it's about 33 ppm ill check again later tonight so far this setup seems to be working.


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

good luck


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

Update: 

Here's my tank as of now. I added some HC, HG, and red ludwigia. Also i finally got my RCS! 

Needs a few more plants to replace the mundane ones in front of the ludwigia and the crypt.

Do you guys have any suggestions for cool/interesting/rare plants that stay relatively short?


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

Update: 
I had a bit of trouble with the CO2 set up and ended up nuking my tank...  then afterwards i got a problem with a huge algae bloom, which I have been dealing with since. 

Got most of the stuff sorted out, the tank has been mostly empty except for a couple RCS. I also changed out the driftwood for some rocks and removed the most of the crypts because they started to melt.

what do you think?


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## Newman (Jul 3, 2010)

its evident that the CO2 is doing good for the [plants. are you still running it?
also try to slope your scape more, linear ground scapes are meh lol.


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## sundragon (Jan 10, 2011)

*substrate*

Tank looks beautiful! What's the substrate?


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

I wanted to make a higher steep but I ran out of substrate so i just gave up lol... Im probably going to add more pretty soon.

sundragon, the substrate is black sand.


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## JACimages (Jan 4, 2011)

haha this is so funny. you are my Edge twin. i did the co2 and nuked it. arnt you on So Cal Scapers too. cause you live live where i used to?


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## boredouttahell (Jun 29, 2008)

JACimages said:


> haha this is so funny. you are my Edge twin. i did the co2 and nuked it. arnt you on So Cal Scapers too. cause you live live where i used to?


Lol yea i remember you from scape, It sucks that you nuked your tank too... I think edges are prone to nuking because theres not much surface motion to dissipate the excess CO2.


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## JACimages (Jan 4, 2011)

ya thats why i just sold it. lol it was going so well. than i started getting hair algae on my java moss


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