Fluval Edge 6 gallon with HC Cuba carpet

[FlyingHellFish]

Old Old set up:



Old set up:



Current:






Why Co2 is important
HC Cuba going adapting to underwater conditions:

No Co2, heavy lights, in bad shape:

Semi-recent shot, Co2 added, EI dosing, lighting period cut:



Specs:
Flourite Black
Flourite Flourish, Iron, Excel
NPK in dry fertilizers
1.5 bps Aquatic Life Compact

Going to tear this baby down as it takes A TON of work due to the small opening on top.



The Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides was a hitch hiker that came with my HC Cuba rocks. From the one small stem, it grew into what you see in the picture. It is a beast of a plant and grows way too fast.

[IggyEGuana]

pop the top

[FlyingHellFish]

^ naw, then I just end up with another normal tank.

Here some recent pics:





Oh by the way, it is A TON of work to trim and clean, really not a starter tank. And yes, this was my first tank.

[Vermino]

yeah i just popped my top on the edge.. I don't have ANYTHING like your HC tho. what lighting are you using because my HC starves for light from the OEM

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Dood before i thought HC cuba looked wierd but after seeing your tank i REALLY want some cuba now
Amazing carpet

[tomfromstlouis]

I personally do not think the Edge is meant to be a CO2 injected tank because of the difficulty in servicing the interior. I have mine in a decidedly low tech setup and still hesitate to tackle the minor maintenance and redecorating that comes up, partly because of my tall rock placement.



I think we can also agree that the Edge is a beautiful presentation. I'll never understand why anyone destroys its design integrity. Either work with it as it is or get a different tank. Done right, the Edge overcomes the scattered functional-fishroom-work-in-progress look that surrounds too many tanks., and that is worth some inconvenience.

OP: Your tank is beautiful. I hope you can transfer that look to another tank or make your Edge look as good without the high maintenance regime.

[TexasCichlid]

I cannot imagine the tedium of trimming that HC and the subsequent trimming cleanup in an Edge. Braver man than I.

[FlyingHellFish]

I totally agree, it is getting out of hand since the carpet is spreading to the corners. You would have to drain the water, trim, collect the clippings and do it all over again week after week.

[TexasCichlid]

I switched to a tropica 49 carpet for that very reason. Trimming HC made me bonkers. Not so much the cuttings, but the cleanup of the cuttings. I'd love to try a low light edge.


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[FlyingHellFish]

^ Tank is perfect for low light with the 42 LEDs. The main problem is the hood, which blocks the light to the sides, too late to start over now, got to keep trimming the lawn. Kind of funny when I think of all those times thinking my Dad was crazy, taking such careful care of the front lawn as he did. Now, I'm doing the same but under water, ironic in a Alanis Morrison kind of way.

Hey, check this out, toss some clippings into a tube of dirt and a month later it turned into this:

[FlyingHellFish]

[FlyingHellFish]

I'm getting some weird "clear" leafs on the HC Cuba, not sure if it's damage or growing in that way.

Been trying to cut the carpet to the substrate to prevent further uprooting, it's actually working better than I thought. Not sure how other people grow their carpet so high, I want that effect but have no idea how to do it.

Like other people with EI dosing routine, I'm getting a fair bit of green dust algae. I did the usual thing and remove as much as possible and let it run it's course. It's been over 3 months and I see no improvement. The only thing that works is the blade of a dull razor. In vain, I added more bio-max to try to boost the biology filter.

Argh... I have no idea what I'm doing.

[FlyingHellFish]

I added some stones on top of the carpet on the advice that my tank was missing "something".






I also added these plants in the back, not too sure what kind they are. I loss the bag with the written name on it.

[Soup12]

Originally Posted by FlyingHellFish

What are those clovers? what is diameter on them full grown?

thanks

[FlyingHellFish]

So I got my 5lb Co2 tank refilled today and decide to take this picture. My faithful compact Co2 regulator, nearly one year of service and nothing went wrong. Stable bubble count, stable working pressure and best of all, it's BLUE!

Going to replace the 5 lb with a paintball set up and replace this regulator with a dual stage one.



I also found out that people actually use Co2 to grow *ahem, other types of plants. I thought the Co2 in the air was enough. People actually use Co2 in their *ahem other set up, they ask me a bunch of questions why I had a 5lb tank.

I would have to do a lot of explaining if someone never found the tubs of Dry white powder fertilizers, the API test tubes, the Co2 tank and the plastic container of HC Cuba I grow and the syringes I use to spot treat algae.

"..But Officer... this is all for the fish!..."