Hi Guys, Newbie here, apologies if this is not the right place, please move accordingly.....
So I popped my Aquarium cherry (well technically I've had a goldfish in a bowl and a very low tech tank as a boy) and made a nano setup with a 46L Fluval Edge. I brought this as a distraction from COVID19, to help me, wife and three boys have an escape from your boredom of being on lockdown... that said what was supposed to start as a low budget family hobbie and literally had me jump in both feet and embrace the wonderful world of keeping fish. I aquascapped to best of my ability with rock and plants, on a plant substrate covered by black shrimp gravel. It looked alright for a first attempt
At the beginning I was stupid. I cycled for a week without fish, no real helping of the cycle I.e. add food, put ammonia in etc etc and within a week I was happy and stuck 3 guppies in. Luckly for me these little buggers are hardy and have saved me from myself as I fought to get this tank cycled while keeping these fish alive. My first loss came once I added 5 Fire Red Cherry shrimp two weeks later. 3 died in successive days leaving me heartbroken and feeling stupid, as my wife reiterated above my patience level.
I learned the hard way, but learn I did and I went out and brought a water test kit and waited for the tank to finish its cycle. Three months on I have 5 guppies, 5 corydora habrosus, 8-10 shrimp and a snail. I know many of you will say I'm over-stocked, but this is were hobbie became an obsession, and I started totally modifying what I had. Removing scape to allow corydoras plenty of floor space, making hidy holes for shrimp and adding a floating flame moss island...Everything started being changed for the good of the fish and to allow easy maintenance. But something still wasnt right and this is where the original title of this thread has lead me, and I hope it will help others as it seemed alot of people asked on the web but not a lot of people responded ... Can you upgrade the filter on a Fluval Edge???
I'm lucky, I have the 2nd or 3rd generation of this tank, not the one with the silly arm that comes over with the lights. The lights of mine are built into the hood of the top cover. I spent hours on net searching for an answer, and found myself looking first upgrading the current AC20 with a AC50 impeller. Worked well, but not enough. So then I though surely a AC30 or AC50 would fit? I did the measurements and quickly realised the AC50 would be a push and require modifying but the AC30 would fit. And what if I changed the impeller to the AC50....I would have a hybrid AC30 which would increase flow and help with the extra BIO load my heavily stock tank was producing.
In my view the 46L should come with this Filter as standard, it is much better suited to the deep tank than the AC20. Add the AC50 impeller and you have a perfect filtration system. I literally couldn't be happier. Keeping the contemporary design me and my wife wanted while improving the efficiency. My tank is always clean, my water parameters are spot on and my fish seem healthy and happy. There is one slight alteration you will need to make unfortunately, and that is the light. Once the new filter is in place, the touch switch makes the lid sit out-of-place, so you have to move it completely if you want it to sit flush. I didn't want to void warranty, so just dumped it in the rear box of the unit and fitted a smart plug to manage the light coming on and off. This will limit you to just the day light coming on and off, but I dont use the night light anyway.
I have included some pics of my modifying, hopefully this will help all those seeking an answer to the same issue. You will see I have also extended the intake pipe, which I also recommended for this tank, as the floor to top is quite big for a nano tank
Nathan
So I popped my Aquarium cherry (well technically I've had a goldfish in a bowl and a very low tech tank as a boy) and made a nano setup with a 46L Fluval Edge. I brought this as a distraction from COVID19, to help me, wife and three boys have an escape from your boredom of being on lockdown... that said what was supposed to start as a low budget family hobbie and literally had me jump in both feet and embrace the wonderful world of keeping fish. I aquascapped to best of my ability with rock and plants, on a plant substrate covered by black shrimp gravel. It looked alright for a first attempt
At the beginning I was stupid. I cycled for a week without fish, no real helping of the cycle I.e. add food, put ammonia in etc etc and within a week I was happy and stuck 3 guppies in. Luckly for me these little buggers are hardy and have saved me from myself as I fought to get this tank cycled while keeping these fish alive. My first loss came once I added 5 Fire Red Cherry shrimp two weeks later. 3 died in successive days leaving me heartbroken and feeling stupid, as my wife reiterated above my patience level.
I learned the hard way, but learn I did and I went out and brought a water test kit and waited for the tank to finish its cycle. Three months on I have 5 guppies, 5 corydora habrosus, 8-10 shrimp and a snail. I know many of you will say I'm over-stocked, but this is were hobbie became an obsession, and I started totally modifying what I had. Removing scape to allow corydoras plenty of floor space, making hidy holes for shrimp and adding a floating flame moss island...Everything started being changed for the good of the fish and to allow easy maintenance. But something still wasnt right and this is where the original title of this thread has lead me, and I hope it will help others as it seemed alot of people asked on the web but not a lot of people responded ... Can you upgrade the filter on a Fluval Edge???
I'm lucky, I have the 2nd or 3rd generation of this tank, not the one with the silly arm that comes over with the lights. The lights of mine are built into the hood of the top cover. I spent hours on net searching for an answer, and found myself looking first upgrading the current AC20 with a AC50 impeller. Worked well, but not enough. So then I though surely a AC30 or AC50 would fit? I did the measurements and quickly realised the AC50 would be a push and require modifying but the AC30 would fit. And what if I changed the impeller to the AC50....I would have a hybrid AC30 which would increase flow and help with the extra BIO load my heavily stock tank was producing.
In my view the 46L should come with this Filter as standard, it is much better suited to the deep tank than the AC20. Add the AC50 impeller and you have a perfect filtration system. I literally couldn't be happier. Keeping the contemporary design me and my wife wanted while improving the efficiency. My tank is always clean, my water parameters are spot on and my fish seem healthy and happy. There is one slight alteration you will need to make unfortunately, and that is the light. Once the new filter is in place, the touch switch makes the lid sit out-of-place, so you have to move it completely if you want it to sit flush. I didn't want to void warranty, so just dumped it in the rear box of the unit and fitted a smart plug to manage the light coming on and off. This will limit you to just the day light coming on and off, but I dont use the night light anyway.
I have included some pics of my modifying, hopefully this will help all those seeking an answer to the same issue. You will see I have also extended the intake pipe, which I also recommended for this tank, as the floor to top is quite big for a nano tank
Nathan
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