My planted Fluval Edge 46L -first small tank :)

[David P.]

Hi everyone,

After more then a decade away from Aquariums... i'm back to that wonderfull hobby! :P

I selected the Fluval Edge despite many con's (low light, low footprint, low surface for air-water contact). For this project i had only a small space in my living room (i'm saving more space for a larger project this summer ). My wife wanted something nice looking, and for the kids i believed it could be a nice starter for them.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

1: Tank cycling
After a lot of reading, I choose to go with the planted with fish cycling. I had the opportunity to boost the bacteria in the tank with a sponge (in the filter) from a friend's tank, also the drift wood was also in an aquarium. It's been running for 2 weeks now. I added 3 Tetra Serpae at day 2, all 3 are very active.

All water parameters are ok, (NH3 =0, No2=0 and NO3=7, ph=6.5 -7), temp is 24-25oC. Tested daily in case of a peak in NH3.

I was planning on daily water change... but no need until now. i do 15% water change every other day just in case.

At first i was not sure with that approach, i always did the No-fish/no plant tank cycling over 3 to 6 weeks. Up to now, finger cross, every thing seems to go well. I'm starting to see brown algae, but nothing out of the ordinary for a newly started tank.

2: Plants / CO2 / Lightning
No CO2, only flourish excel.
I plan to stick with actual lightning, unless i see it's way to low, i've seen some cool set ups with LED on the top of the tank on the edge.
For the plants, low to mid light requirements.I'm sitll looking for a nice looking 'carpet' for the front.
Rescaping tomorrow to move the drift wood more to the left and move the plant in the left corner in another location.

3: Fish / Invertebrates
I don't want an overcrowded tank.
As mentionned i have 3 Tetra Serpae, they wont stay in that tank to long, not enought space in the long run for 8-10 of them they are for my other project.i basicaly used them to help cycling the tank.
My plan is:
Cleaning Crew: Red cherry shrimp and Otto.
Question: How many of each can i keep in the tank ?? i was thinking of 10-20 RCS to start. 2 Otto to be added in a month or so, when i'm sure everything is settle in the tank.
I never had those before.
'Main Fish':
Because it's mainly a tank for the kids to interest them in that Hobby, i wanted some active fish. I have some experience with many varieties of Tetra, but not sure i want this in that tank.
- Guppy (nice looking, active, easy to breed... could be nice for the kids). I would start with 1 male / 3 female. Then maintain 8 guppys later on if i get babies.
- Rasbora Galaxy (realy nice looking), not sure if i have enough space for an entire school of them 10+ individuals.
Questions: Any suggestions for fishs based on your experience with small tanks ?? the smallest tank i had was à 40gal and i did not bother with the room available, i usually had heavily planted tank with 1-2 species + cory + pleco.
I knew from the start that my options would be limited with that tank.

Any feed back on my tank is also appreciated!!

ciao
Dave

[David P.]

Hi,
ok... none of you have reply ... but still... i wanted to give an update, because i tried a fish-in cycle, something i never did!!

we are at week 4 now.
As mentionned i added 3 Tetra Serpae day 2 to help with cycling.
I added 10 red cherry shrimp ~10days after start up, i had some algae, but they kept it under control. i love watching them at work
Then i added 12 Green neon tetras, meaning around ~3weeks from startup.

I will transfert the 3 Serpae ASAP to my other projet in a few weeks to keep only the Green neons and Shrimps.

Honnestly... i never believed that cycling was doable so quickly!! I had no lost in 4 weeks. My parameters seem well under control. i'm watching closely everything just in case

I'm still monitoring water daily.
For the first 3 weeks i was doing water change every other day, 10-20%. I never had any ammonia detected. I'm more cautious since i added the neon last week...

[beginner]

tank looks nice, i would keep monitoring the parameters esp if you are going to stop the every other day WC

[David P.]

here's an updated picture! Green neon tetras seems sick on that picture ... but they are green ... i swear!!!


Uploaded with ImageShack.us