[bereninga]

I've never had a tank journal and it's probably best to start documenting and getting some ideas since I'm a bit rusty.

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CURRENT SETUP (11/19/2015)

Tank
6g Fluval Edge

Lighting
Fluval Edge 12g LED light
16" Finnex Planted+ w/ 2.5 risers and painters tape to reduce light

Filter
Eheim 2213
Glass inflow and outflow lily pipes
Koralia Nano 240

Heater
Hydor ETH 200 In-Line Heater
Finnex Max-300 Digital Aquarium Heater Controller

Fauna
Assassin snail and some other snails

Flora
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Blyxa japonica
Eleocharis "Belem"
Hygrophila araguaia
Rotala macrandra
Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'

Substrate
Flourite and gravel mix

Hardscape
Ohko stones (dragon stone)

Ferts
EI of
Macro solution: 5mL mix of KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4
Micro: 1.5 mL Flourish comprehensive + 1.5 mL Flourish iron
Excel 3 mL every day

CO2
5# tank
GLA PRO-1 CO2 Regulator
ADA Pollen Glass Large 20

PREVIOUS SETUP (11/19/2015)

Tank
6g Fluval Edge

Lighting
Fluval Edge 12g LED light
16" Finnex Planted+ w/ 2.5 risers and painters tape to reduce light

Filter
Eheim 2213
Glass inflow and outflow lily pipes
Koralia Nano 240

Heater
Hydor ETH 200 In-Line Heater
Finnex Max-300 Digital Aquarium Heater Controller

Fauna
3 Assassin snails and some other snails

Flora
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Blyxa japonica
Bolbitis heudelotii
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Eleocharis "Belem"
Hygrophila araguaia
Microsorum pteropus
Rotala macrandra
Rotala rotundifolia
Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'

Substrate
Flourite and gravel mix

Hardscape
3 Pagoda stones

Ferts
EI of
Macro: 5mL mix of KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4
Micro: 3mL Flourish comprehensive + 1mL Flourish iron
Excel 2 mL every day or every other day

CO2
5# tank
GLA PRO-1 CO2 Regulator
ADA Pollen Glass Large 20

PREVIOUS SETUP (10/22/2015)

Tank
6g Fluval Edge

Lighting
Fluval Edge 12g LED light
16" Finnex Planted+

Filter
Eheim 2213
Glass inflow and outflow lily pipes
Koralia Nano 240

Heater
Hydor ETH 200 In-Line Heater
Finnex Max-300 Digital Aquarium Heater Controller

Fauna
2 Assassin snails and some other snails

Flora
Dwarf Hairgrass Belem
Blyxa japonica
Microsorum pteropus
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Bolbitis heudelotii
Rotala Rotundifolia
Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'

Substrate
Flourite and gravel mix

Hardscape
3 Pagoda stones

Ferts
EI of
Macro: 5mL mix of KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4
Micro: 3mL Flourish comprehensive + 1mL Flourish iron
Excel 2 mL every day or every other day

CO2
5# tank
GLA PRO-1 CO2 Regulator
ADA Pollen Glass Large 20

PREVIOUS SETUP (9/2/2015)

Tank
6g Fluval Edge

Lighting
Fluval Edge 12g LED light

Filter
Eheim 2213

Heater
Finnex Hang-On Electronic Controller Aquarium Heater, Titanium Tube

Fauna
2 Harlequin rasboras

Flora
Mixed mosses (Java moss, Xmas moss I think)
Blyxa japonica

Substrate
Flourite and gravel mix

Hardscape
3 Pagoda stones

Ferts
EI of
Macro mix of KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4
Flourish comprehensive + Flourish iron
Excel 1 mL every day or every other day

====

[STRIKE]FUTURE PLANS

1. Upgrade lighting I currently am in the middle of making a DIY LED light fixture, but due to my inexperience w/ electronics I'm having a lot of trouble setting it up. I will probably end up getting a 16" Finnex Planted+ and call it a day. I've spent too much time trying to get the DIY LEDs to work and it's starting to get more expensive as LED systems are getting cheaper. I may try one more thing before giving up.
2. Get more plants I need to stock up more heavily as I currently only have mosses and 3 blyxa, which aren't super fast growers. I'd like to add some HM and dwarf hairgrass. I can't get to this step until I figure out the lights first though because enough light is probably the most important part and the Fluval 12g LED is only in the middle of the tank.
3. Get more small hardscape I have the major hardscape pieces, but I'd like more pieces that are smaller to get an aquascape I'm happy with.
4. Make sure fertilizing schedule is balanced I need to test the water enough to see if the levels are optimal.
5. Add pressurized CO2 if necessary This tank is pretty small, so I may end up sticking w/ using Excel for the carbon needs of the plants. Not sure if pressurized CO2 is better than Excel for plants. I have all of the equipment to set up a pressurized CO2 system, I just need a refill of the CO2 tank. I may be just looking for some more tinkering w/ this step though. Probably overkill.

[/STRIKE]

 

[Robert in Sac Area]

I had an edge 6g that I did in an iwagumi with hc only. I used the included filter that I had to maintain every week and the standard light plus two high output desk lamps. It was amazing. Good luck with yours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bereninga]

I had an edge 6g that I did in an iwagumi with hc only. I used the included filter that I had to maintain every week and the standard light plus two high output desk lamps. It was amazing. Good luck with yours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I love the tank but it's rly difficult to keep clean since the top is so narrow. Light upgrade was needed!

====

I got the Finnex Planted+ and now I realize how little light the Fluval provides.

I can't use it yet since I just started a blackout today. I've been battling BGA for a long time now and a blackout is something I've never tried before to get rid of it. Hopefully it's successful and I can start fresh. I cleaned the filter and vacuumed and cleaned the glass and plants as best I could. On moss it's really difficult to deal with cyanobacteria. I also did a water change as well.

After the blackout I can clean the tank (again) and hopefully start to get more plants if the cyano is gone. I have a feeling the moss will not make it since it wasn't in great shape today pre-blackout. So sad. But with endings, there will be new beginnings.

 

[bereninga]

I uncovered my tank late last night. So far, I'd say that nearly all of the cyano is gone. Admittedly, there are still very small remnants left, but I will be planting a lot of plants today and tomorrow. I think they should outcompete the cyano and I also adjusted the time of the lights to 6 hours (previously 8) and they're on during the day vs mid-day to evening.

Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' and Eleocharis Belem will be planted tonight as they came in this morning. Blyxa comes in tomorrow. Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' is a lot bigger than expected as I've had HC before, but it's less demanding which is great.

 

[bereninga]

After hours of planting, finally done!

I have more blyxa japonica left that simply has no room in this tank.

 

[bereninga]

1. Upgrade lighting I gave up on the DIY LED light and got a Finnex Planted+. It looks great! I wish it had a separate plug for the moonlights though instead of a light switch.
2. Get more plants I got a lot of plants now:
   Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'
   Eleocharis belem
   Blyxa japonica (these are kind of melting right now. I'm wondering if they're just acclimating to the new tank)
   Rotala rotundifolia
   I'd like to add more red accents like AR 'mini', but I'll wait until everything fills in before deciding on this accent plant.
3. Get more small hardscape Once again, I will wait until the plants fill in / acclimate before adding more hardscape. This is kind of a big change and is not very urgent.
4. Make sure fertilizing schedule is balanced I made a macro mix and dose 5 mL M/W/F, and dose 3 mL Flourish comprehensive and 1 mL Seache Iron T/Th. I dose 1 mL Excel every day.
5. Add pressurized CO2 if necessary I'm dosing w/ Excel for now. I will look into CO2 later on, but this isn't urgent and is on the backburner for now.

I'd like to add an inline heater since this tank is so small and the heater takes up a lot of valuable space. I may get the Hydor 200-watt ETH w/ a temp controller. Not sure which controller. The good thing is that I can use this heater once I upgrade to a larger (maybe 50-gallon again) tank in the future.

 

[Tihsho]

How open do you have the ball valve on the output of the filter? Any chance you could post up a video of the water flow? I just ordered a 2213 and I'm curious on how strong the flow is going to be on such a tiny tank.

 

[Tihsho]

@bereninga any updates?

 

[end3r.P]

Subscribed... I'm getting a 6g Edge at some point soon, and I'll also run it with a 12g light and ferts + Excel (probably in Aquasoil), so I'm very curious to see what grows well in this. (I'd love to do a carpet, but don't know if I can keep one going with that setup.)

 

[bereninga]

@Tihsho Thanks for reminding me! I'll get the video later tonight when I get home.

Update:
Plants have been doing ok so far, but the Blyxa is melting and getting very thready (is that a word?). I'm wondering if they're not getting enough light. I also inserted three root tabs in the tank to help.

I also received some Rotala rotundifolia from a friend. I somehow found room in the tank, but it's really fully stocked right now.

I also started using the Finnex Planted+ nearly 2 weeks ago. Cyanobacteria is coming back, so not sure what to do. I've been treating w/ H2O2, but there's just too much light. However, the cyano got a lot worse since I was away from Sat-Wed and no excel was being added. I have to do some damage control soon as I'm getting a lot of organic build up. I think I need more flow as the Rio 50 doesn't seem strong enough.

Last night, I installed the lily pipes, Hydor ETH 200w inline heater and the Finnex Max-300 Heater Controller. I left the mercury thermometer inside to see how accurate the controller was and it's spot on, so I'm happy with that.

I think the flow from the 2213 is actually slightly less now w/ the combination of the inline heater reducing it, and the lily pipe. Because of the opening of the Edge, the lily pipe directs the flow of the water closer to the surface vs down towards the bottom front when I had just the outflow pipe pointing towards.

Anyway, my next steps would be to try to get a handle on the cyano. I'm suspecting there's not enough flow and nitrates are not high enough since I didn't dose for a few days. Most of the cyano has been lingering on the moss vs other plants. I may just remove the moss entirely. Plus, the melting blyxa is also probably adding to the excess organic waste, so I might pull out or relocate the ones that are really struggling.

I also can contemplating on getting some Seachem Purigen but I'm wondering if that negatively affect nitrates since I already have very low levels. I'm interested in trying out the product to see if there's a difference in water clarity as nearly all users claim.

I guess one bright side of the journey is that I have a lot of plants that I've wanted. Growth has been somewhat slow though.

 

[bereninga]

Subscribed... I'm getting a 6g Edge at some point soon, and I'll also run it with a 12g light and ferts + Excel (probably in Aquasoil), so I'm very curious to see what grows well in this. (I'd love to do a carpet, but don't know if I can keep one going with that setup.)

With the 12g light on the 6g, I felt like it was still hard to grow anything other than mosses and low-light plants in the center. There are other lighting solutions out there to remedy the lighting issue, although it'll negate the minimalistic look of the Edge.

 

[end3r.P]

With the 12g light on the 6g, I felt like it was still hard to grow anything other than mosses and low-light plants in the center. There are other lighting solutions out there to remedy the lighting issue, although it'll negate the minimalistic look of the Edge.

Hm. Okay. I'll have to skip the carpet then. Maybe dragon stone and a ton of Anubias nana petite and/or buces...

 

[cosmic_shaman]

Subscribed! I just saw the Fluval Edge on Amazon while I was endlessly scrolling earlier; it's a beauty.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of this tank as it progresses. I'm new to this and find it really fun and totally fascinating.

 

[bereninga]

Fluval Edge 6g

@Tihsho here's a quick video I did to show the flow of my tank from the Eheim 2213. Most of it is actually from the powerhead (rear right of the tank), not the outflow of the filter via lily pipe (middle facing towards camera). Sorry, it's just an iPhone video and done quickly without much verbal explanation. The valves are wide open.

Also just realized that I forgot to take out the mercury thermometer and magfloat. Oh well. Hahah

https://vimeo.com/141237595

 

[TheAnswerIs42]

nice tank. I like your setup. do you dose with co2?

 

[bereninga]

nice tank. I like your setup. do you dose with co2?

Not at the moment, which is probably attributing to my algae issues. I does Excel daily for now but want to move to CO2 as soon as I can get my tank refilled. I have a Milwaukee regulator but may invest in another one that doesn't have end-of-tank dumps.

 

[bereninga]

Update:

Lost my only two fish today. I turned the powerhead off last night because I thought they might've been getting too much flow from it, but I forgot that it was helping w/ the surface agitation, which is very little since the top of the Fluval Edge is so small. I turned the powerhead back on this morning to get more agitation and did my regular morning fert dose. I dosed Flourish comp, iron and Excel. When I dosed the Excel though, I think I should've diluted it or dosed near the filter intake because I dosed by the outflow not realizing that the fish were right under it, and they probably got sprayed. Not sure if 1 mL is that bad, but it wasn't diluted. Yeah, never dosing Excel or ferts near the outflow ever again.

Later in the morning, they were swimming around weirdly and then kicked the bucket. I think what I should've done in the morning off the bat is do a small water change to get more oxygen into the tank. Poor judgement on my part.

I've had these two fish for a really long time (2-3 years at least) and for the past couple of days, they weren't eating. The issues coincided w/ a change to lily pipes and light schedule change I did Monday. I'm thinking that I should get an air pump to help oxygenate the tank since the water surface is so small. I assumed that the plants would create enough, but apparently not. The light schedule change also probably stressed them.

It's a sad morning. RIP Hans and Franz. Here's the last video I took of them.

https://vimeo.com/141237595

 

[Tihsho]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish.

As I know you're going through the inline journey that I am, you might want to consider an inline atomizer connected to an air pump. Have it kick on at night to add extra aeration without having an air stone splashing a ton of water in the tank.

 

[bereninga]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish.

As I know you're going through the inline journey that I am, you might want to consider an inline atomizer connected to an air pump. Have it kick on at night to add extra aeration without having an air stone splashing a ton of water in the tank.

Thank you, @Tihsho.

I have an extra glass diffuser laying around, so I might go that route as I've been spending a lot lately on the tank. Glass diffuser isn't as ugly as the heater I had.

However, do you have any recommendations for an inline atomizer or where to get one? Thanks! I may get one in the future. Once I get my CO2 set up, it would be weird to have two diffusers in the tank.

 

[Tihsho]

I'm actually going to do some experimentation in my tank when it comes to inline diffusers. My first attempt will be with with GLA's Atomic Inline Diffuser. Once I get that going I'm going to see if I can keep the tank consistent with it until I get my automation project rolling to measure CO2, O2, pH, and TDS. Once I do that I can get some actual data to show what diffusers are worth it, well for nano's at least. In the long run I'd like to get the Cal Aqua Inline 13mm diffuser.