Chris Wright
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- Nov 18, 2009
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Below are some personal observations that people who are contemplating buying a Fluval Edge tank might like to know. These are excellent tanks but "different" to your normal tank in the following respects:
1. Seems obvious, (but it can be a bit irritating at first), that to do any work in the tank like cleaning, planting or even retrieving an escaped algae magnet, you will always need to drain off some water with a syphon, or the water will overflow the "Neck" of the tank as you put a hand in. It's therefore best to plan any work to coincide with a partial water change. The Fluval Edge planting tool may be useful to tend to plants without needing to stick a complete hand in, but I haven't tried one yet.
2. The filter pump is great but does tend to suck in any particles of plant or sand if you stir these up while it's running, so arrange your electrics to allow this to be switched off independently. The pump is easily removed and cleaned following the instructions provided, but of course it means draining the filter to remove it, so the media basket needs to be put into the tank while you do it, to preserve the bacteria.
3. The Prefilter Foam that can save the above from happening tends to get a bit baggy and slide down the intake tube to rest on the gravel. A rubber band wrapped around the bare tube first gives it something to grip on.
4. The filter is noisy when it's little plastic cover is on. Several threads on the Forum have suggested leaving the filter cover off and I've found there are no downsides to this and it cuts the noise to a whisper.
5. When the lights are off at night, you get some condensation inside the top cover and a little wet line around it where it meets the top glass. (Leaving the filter cover off doesn't make this any worse). It dries up when the lights are on, but you'll need to add a cupful of water every couple of days.
6. You get lots of little bubbles forming under the top glass at first, but these diminish as the tank settles down and it helps greatly to keep the water level halfway up the plastic "Neck". Bubbles can be swept into the neck with the Fluval Edge Algae Magnet cleaner, which is a good pointed design to get into the corners and has the advantage of a thread attached so that if it gets detached from the outside magnet it can be retrieved. (Otherwise you'd have to drain some water off to get a hand in to retrieve it).
7. It helps to have the rear of the tank raised by about 1mm so bubbles sit at the back where they are more easily swept out.
8. When doing partial water changes, you can remove about 15% without turning off the filter, the pump will lift the water from about 4cm down without a problem. But turning it off, immediately drains the water out of the filter via the intake acting as a syphon. so unclip the intake tube and pour some tank water back into the filter to stop the media getting dried out.
I hope these notes are of use to prospective purchasers.
1. Seems obvious, (but it can be a bit irritating at first), that to do any work in the tank like cleaning, planting or even retrieving an escaped algae magnet, you will always need to drain off some water with a syphon, or the water will overflow the "Neck" of the tank as you put a hand in. It's therefore best to plan any work to coincide with a partial water change. The Fluval Edge planting tool may be useful to tend to plants without needing to stick a complete hand in, but I haven't tried one yet.
2. The filter pump is great but does tend to suck in any particles of plant or sand if you stir these up while it's running, so arrange your electrics to allow this to be switched off independently. The pump is easily removed and cleaned following the instructions provided, but of course it means draining the filter to remove it, so the media basket needs to be put into the tank while you do it, to preserve the bacteria.
3. The Prefilter Foam that can save the above from happening tends to get a bit baggy and slide down the intake tube to rest on the gravel. A rubber band wrapped around the bare tube first gives it something to grip on.
4. The filter is noisy when it's little plastic cover is on. Several threads on the Forum have suggested leaving the filter cover off and I've found there are no downsides to this and it cuts the noise to a whisper.
5. When the lights are off at night, you get some condensation inside the top cover and a little wet line around it where it meets the top glass. (Leaving the filter cover off doesn't make this any worse). It dries up when the lights are on, but you'll need to add a cupful of water every couple of days.
6. You get lots of little bubbles forming under the top glass at first, but these diminish as the tank settles down and it helps greatly to keep the water level halfway up the plastic "Neck". Bubbles can be swept into the neck with the Fluval Edge Algae Magnet cleaner, which is a good pointed design to get into the corners and has the advantage of a thread attached so that if it gets detached from the outside magnet it can be retrieved. (Otherwise you'd have to drain some water off to get a hand in to retrieve it).
7. It helps to have the rear of the tank raised by about 1mm so bubbles sit at the back where they are more easily swept out.
8. When doing partial water changes, you can remove about 15% without turning off the filter, the pump will lift the water from about 4cm down without a problem. But turning it off, immediately drains the water out of the filter via the intake acting as a syphon. so unclip the intake tube and pour some tank water back into the filter to stop the media getting dried out.
I hope these notes are of use to prospective purchasers.
These are fab looking tanks, I think when everyone has tired of them and they're all over eBay, I may get one 
