picod's Fluval Edge reefing journey!

[picod]

As an avid gardener, the fall and winter months make me sad. I sit in my home office each day and stare out the window, yearning for spring, and all of the beauty my gardens have to offer. If only I could bring another type of living beauty inside, and sit it in my desk only two feet away from me...
And this begins the story of how my six gallon Fluval Edge was destined to become a pico reef. Like every hobby I've ever had, I dove head first into reefing. Since January 11th, 2010, not a day has passed that I have not been anxious to learn more about reefing. While on a cruise in February, I missed my cycling tank so much that I got my scuba certification just so that I could see the bottom of the sea! I waited very patiently while my tank cycled, but it felt like forever. And now, three and a half months later, beauty sits only a few feet away:

My equipment/maintenance:
6 gallon Fluval Edge with Aquaclear 20 hob filter which houses Chemi-pure Elite or Pura Pad, and a Rena 50 watt heater. There is 7-8lbs of LR and a Koralia Nano powerhead.
I do a 1.25 gallon (20%) water change using Nutri-seawater, and check water parameters weekly with both the API Saltwater and Reef Master test kits, and a RFS-10ATC refractometer. My top off is with RO water as needed. I dose ESV B-Ionic once a week and Special Blend every other week. I feed the tank Rods original every three days, and target feed my YCG and two shrimp each day with the gel form of Cyclp-eeze.
Lighting:
Herein lies the biggest challenge with this tank. The stock lighting is a joke- just plain awful. At this point, I have invested $313 in lighting, but thankfully, I'm finally content with my choices. I changed out the stock sockets and replaced the two cheesy MR11 halogen bulbs with two MR16 3X1 Cree leds in the stock housing. I have also added two Par38 20,000k (each have 2 cool white and 3 royal blue with 80 degree optic) lamps in swing arm fixtures which I mounted to my desk behind the tank. http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?products_id=623

My corals:
My current collection of corals includes: Frogspawn, 2 Orange Ricordeas, Candycane, Yuma, Favia, four different Zoas, one Paly, Clove Polyps, Pipe Organ, Duncan, Pulsing Xenia, Pocillopora, Sinularia, and GSP.
Some pics I thought were neat:

My livestock:
My livestock consists of: two Nerites, two Ceriths, two Nassarius, two Scarlet Reef hermit crabs, a Bali Feather Duster, a Skunk Cleaner shrimp a Sexy shrimp, and my cute little buddy, Charlie, a Yellow Clown Goby. Of course I have the usual hitchhikers: Brittle Stars (white and dark), Stomatellas, Colonista snails, Asterina Stars, Copepods, Amphipods (or as I call them, "creepy-pods"), Bistle worms, Spirorbis, various Feather Duster worms, Limpets, and Sponges.
Charlie lounging on a Nerite:

This little feather duster suddenly popped up, and had eggs twice in one week:

Twinkle, twinkle, Asterina star! Yes, cheesy I know.

Very entertaining character:

Love these guys:

My experience so far:
I have met so many nice people in this hobby and have so much respect to those who have invested their time to answer my questions and offer advice. Thank you to those folks! As far as learning, this site has been a tremendous resource. I am pretty certain that in this hobby, you will never stop learning, and I am very enthusiastic about this! Oh, and I can't wait till the next swap!
My future plans:
Well to be honest, this tank is pretty, but NOT user friendly. I have been putting a lot of thought into a shallow rimless aquarium, maybe 12 gallons or so. LOL, it just has to fit on my desk, bc, I don't think I can function during my work day without it nearby!
Your feedback and constructive criticism greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading!
danielle

 

[James]

looks great. I love how everything in it is so little

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Danielle. I guess this could be considered a glorious day. You finally posted your tank thread. Been hearing about this tiny piece of the reef for months now. Truthfully, I've been questioning its existence. lol

All kidding aside, it looks really nice. I also like the way everything is so miniaturized. Great job. Keeping a tiny system like that is definitely more difficult and challenging than keeping a large system. Kudos.

A Naso Tang would look sweet in there, along with a nice Grouper.

Keep up the great work.

Talk again soon,

Russ

 

[MO~IDOL]

Danielle your tank are very pretty very clean and love the rock work keep up with the good work. question how do u keep the temp? chiller or room AC?

very nice picture many many frames here......vvvvvvv

very sexy what is it hosting?....I own 2 few years back lost them after I sold my blue carpet anemone.
Very entertaining character:

 

[dubs]

very nice little tank the coral placement is really nice and nice pics

 

[Lenny718]

Beautiful little tank you have

 

[aznt1217]

Danielle,

The tank has come a long way! It sucks that the equipment costs like 4x more than the tank itself LOL.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Nice Job!

 

[tentacles]

I love it! I was eyeing up the same system the other day because it's so small and sleek, but you're definitely right about the lighting. Are you having heat issues with the glass top?

 

[picod]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your compliments!
Mo~Idol: Sexy seems to be most fond of my Pulsing Xenia.
As far as a chiller, I have a supply of RO ice cubes in my freezer that I figured I would add to the hob filter if absolutely necessary. I'm not too worried as I keep my house pretty cool in the summer time.
Tentacles: Thankfully, the LED's don't seem to give off too much heat, and I guess being 7 inches from the top helps the circulation. Also being right by a window, and the use of the ceiling fan, keeps the air circulating.

 

[Chraddam]

Great job Picod I have been scoping those little tanks every time I go into a pet store...so now you have a tank for the kitties to watch!!!

 

[cowfish]

Beautful set-up!!!

Just an FYI - I believe that the clown goby is an obligate coral "eater" and needs to be with SPS for long term success. Have you seen him eat?

 

[richardhmc]

Very nice setup! Does the water evaporate as usual or is it slowed down since it is covered?

 

[picod]

LOL. thanks, jeff. just remember, my kitties are blind... and the little ones have their eyes closed when they get here, so there's not much of a window for any of them to be watching the tank, lol!!!
cowfish: when i first put the Pocillopora in the tank, I thought it wasn't doing well bc of something I was doing wrong, BUT then I saw Charlie pickin off polyps!! I have since moved it to a place he doesn't seem to care for, and he has left it alone since.
richardhmc: the water evaporates as usual, and I usually top off every other day, so a gallon of RO water lasts 2-3 weeks. Going to either buy my own ro/di unit, or try to buy water from an SI MR member so I don't have to give my $2/month business to "that" LFS anymore, lol!

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Awesome job on the tank Danielle- congrats. Lookin great! best of luck with it.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

very very nice looking seup =]

 

[Awibrandy]

Danielle, your tank is beautiful!!!!! But your tank thread is absolutely marvelous. A pleasure to read!! I trully enjoyed reading your descriptions.

 

[Bob 1000]

I saw this tank in animal pantry in jersey and will be building a slightly larger version.. How do you like it?? I 'll give you 2 gallons of ro a month.. I usually make about 1000 gallons a months,,lol..

 

[picod]

Jimmy and TRIGGERMAN: Thank you for the compliments!
Awilda: OMG! Your compliments put such a smile on my face! Thank you so much!
Bob 1000: I have to be honest, this tank is very very difficult to maneuver in and I have little girly arms, lol. I VERY strategically placed my rockwork in order to have access to the entire tank, but I still kinda have to contort myself to get into certain places to clean without disrupting the rock/coral. I think a bigger version would be better as long as the opening is bigger as well. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! oh-and thanks for the ro water offer, lol. I appreciate that!

 

[picod]

Seven months into reefing...

Well today is the seven month anniversary of my little reef tank!

Sadly, very sadly actually, I lost my Yellow Clown Goby Charlie who was very dear to me. I believe he was fatally wounded in a scuffle with my Cleaner Shrimp. I have witnessed him being a bully on more then one occasion, and I have reason to believe he is responsible for Charlie's demise. As my water parameters have been regularly stable, and my corals are flourishing with new growth and by size, I do not believe that Charlie was affected by something in the tank.
New Corals:
Since my last update, I have added several new corals. From Tina (Wet thumb frags) I have two new beautiful Ricordeas, and a Sun Coral. I briefly had a cool Red People Eeater Paly as well, but an unfortunate, yet educational IC Gel incident put a sad end to his existence. Thanks to the generosity of Kenny(Petshopboy) and Richie(Rkaragozler) I also have added a Hammer Coral, Monti Cap and Toadstool,.
New Livestock:
Thanks to the reefcleaners.org group buy organized by Rich(Richardhmc), I have added two Micro Porcelain Crabs. Kinda bittersweet, but since Charlie has passed, they spend a lot of time crawling on the rockwork and hanging out in public:

New Equipment:
Since I am generally a fan of overkill, and I couldn't pass up a clearance sale, I added a Votech MP10 to my six gallon tank. Do I love it? Hell yes! And I'd recommend it to everyone. Thanks again Russ for walking me through my sanity check phone call!

I'll be heading over to some New Jersey LFS's on Sunday with some of the MR guys thanks Eric!( Bigyankfan). Looking to add a small Bubble Coral and maybe a Dendro.. Would like to have a fish at some point, but I know he'll never compare to my Charlie RIP buddy.