I debated whether or not to feature this on Zen, but I’m so into it right now I can’t help it!
I’ve been missing not having an aquarium in the house. I’m especially missing my old 6ft marine tank which was a work of art. I only let that tank go as I just didn’t have enough time to maintain and enjoy it when I started Zen in 2011.
My old 6ft tank.
It was largely automated and had all sorts of crazy dosing systems, even then it was still high maintenance.
In June I bought a Fluval Edge from Aquaristic in Beaconsfield (awesome shop and great guys!). A modern looking all-in-one style tank which is in a market of it’s own as it lets you fill water all the way to the top of the tank, thus giving you another “face” on the tank which allows you to view the fishies from above.
This tank is NOT designed to be a marine saltwater tank, but hey a civic isn’t designed to do 9’s down the quarter mile either. IE: I like to make ordinary things special as it’s way more challenging than buying something already “done”.
The contents of the Fluval Edge 2.
The tank in situ.
The tank wet with some dead rock which I’ver aquascaped to be top heavy (like a bonsai tree!).
The first thing I had to upgrade in order to keep corals was the stock lighting. I found an American company on eBay who custom make a powerful LED light unit specifically for the Edge.
I opted for the controller too, which you can program via your PC. I’ve set it to turn on at 1pm with only one light, ramp up during the day and end at 11PM with just one blue moonlight. From sunrise to sunset, it’s pretty awesome.
I also found inTank, these guys are based in the US and are making awesome filter media baskets for various popular filters out there. Their media basket on the left, the flimsy stock basket on the right.
Apart from light, you need flow in a marine tank and I went all out and bought the best you can get. A VorTech MP10. Check out the design of this thing! The motor sits on the outside of the tank and the fan is on the inside. A magnet holds it together on your glass, and the motor drives the fan through your glass (you can place it anywhere on your tank). GENIUS!
This is the controller. It’s so powerful I am only running it at 30% in my little tank.
A full tank shot from the 20th of July. More and more corals, still no fish!
A view from the top down.
Last week I bought these guys. These guys are not your usual clown fish. They’re designer clownfish, specifically DaVinci Clownfish which were aqua-cultured in the US. Their body colour is similar to the standard clownfish, but the stripes are very different. I could have bought them direct from the US, but that would have cost a lot more and hoping that they arrive alive would have been super stressful.
These guys came from Queensland, even then I was freaking out about whether they would get to me alive, or not. The fish came pretty much dead in VERY cold bags. Amazingly though both made it! I heard clownfish were tough, but holy shit they’re tough!
So that’s how it’s all looking at the moment. I’m currently obsessing about the aquarium hobby again, it’s the same exact situation I find myself in when I’m building a bike, or a car; I do a shitload of research. I think about it when I put my head on the pillow before bed and also first thing in the morning when I wake. My bank account is going into the red too, but you know, it’s all in the build! More updates soon!
PS: You can view much more details aquarium updates on my personal blog: http://www.justinfox.com.au
PPS: Chances are there are quite a few of you who are into aquariums too (as well as cars, bikes and everything else Zen!), please share shots of your tanks in the comments below! Would love to see what you’ve got!