Fluval Edge 6 Gallon

[jcheek2010]

Hello Everyone!

I recently acquired a Fluval Edge and had a few concerns about it.

Currently I have:
10 pounds of live rock
3 pounds of crushed coral for sand bed
Fluval Marine and Reef LED lighting
Stock Filter
Heater
Power Head

Livestock:
2 Turbo Snails
2 Firefish
Gold Coral Banded Shrimp
Frogspawn
Starburst Polyp

I had a problem with some Bryopsis algae a week ago but my LFS guy gave me 10 pounds of free rock and told me to just throw out what I had since Bryopsis is difficult to get rid of. He also instructed me for the next month to dose my aquarium twice a week with bacteria and then after switch to once a week. He strongly discouraged me to do water changes weekly saying I was removing the beneficial bacteria from the aquarium. I have not done a water change in 2 weeks and my nitrates are threw the roof. Is it really that bad to do water changes so frequently if I'm dosing the bacteria like he said? Also should I start to invest in creating some sort of refugium/sump situation? If I understand correctly this will help with nitrates? I am willing to add one but I am completely lost in how to start and what is required. Any and all suggestions, criticism are more than welcome. I am willing to make any changes to this tank/livestock to keep it up and running. Thanks!

[jcheek2010]

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[fishhuman]

The lfs guy is full of BS, if you have a fully cycled tank do your water changes the bacteria live in the rock not the water much. If he gave u free rock then it probably has something wrong with it look for aptasia anemones on it, it might also be dead rock instead of live. Bacteria dosing is basically useless so I would stop. Do you know if the lights u have are strong enough for coral? Your tank is pretty tiny for fish, and many hobbiests would argue it is to small for fish altogether. I would say it is large enough for ONE firefish, and unless you bought them as a mated pair unless you remove one they will kill each other. They are very aggresive to one another. If I were you I would invest in a larger tank 20+ gallons, because suprisingly bigger tanks are much easier to take care of. Good luck

[edinphilly]

Since you don't know what level of bacteria colony is on the new live rock I personally would keep dosing small amounts of the bacteria to help grow the colony.

You're going to go through phases of algae in the first six months. Don't go crazy over it.

Now sure what the stock filter is like but if there is a place for you to add a small bag of Chemipure Elite it will do wonders in a nano to help keep nitrate and phosphate in check.

Small regular water changes are good. Not only are you removing a small amount of the "bad" stuff you are also adding the good stuff that's in salt mix which corals need to grow. Calcium, magnesium etc.

[edinphilly]

Also keep an eye on the turbos. They eat a lot. If your tank is too small to sustain and they starve or die for any reason get them out ASAP. A decomposing turbo will cause havoc with your water quality in a six gallon.

[jcheek2010]

Originally Posted by fishhuman

The lfs guy is full of BS, if you have a fully cycled tank do your water changes the bacteria live in the rock not the water much. If he gave u free rock then it probably has something wrong with it look for aptasia anemones on it, it might also be dead rock instead of live. Bacteria dosing is basically useless so I would stop. Do you know if the lights u have are strong enough for coral? Your tank is pretty tiny for fish, and many hobbiests would argue it is to small for fish altogether. I would say it is large enough for ONE firefish, and unless you bought them as a mated pair unless you remove one they will kill each other. They are very aggresive to one another. If I were you I would invest in a larger tank 20+ gallons, because suprisingly bigger tanks are much easier to take care of. Good luck

I would be completely okay with removing them. I even asked before I got them if I should have fish at all and he recommended the firefish. I watched him get the rock out and it didn't seem like he was picking specific ones. It doesn't seem to have any aiptasia anemones on it as far as I can see. If I remove the fish would that help with my Nitrate problem? Do reef tanks need fish to survive?

[jcheek2010]

The lfs guy also told me to keep my lights on this schedule:

3 hours blue
4 hours white
3 hours blue

Does this sound normal?

[Teenreefer15]

I would not listen to him. If your willing to buy a fuge just buy a new tank altogether. Buy a 20 gallon long and use the rock he gave you. I'd recommend you add more. Also crushed coral is just a nitrate sink. I would go with some live sand and for the fire fish, I would take one out before they kill each other.

[fishhuman]

Don't trust the lfs guy