danimal1211 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Hey all, I set my tank up this weekend and wanted to post some pics. I posted a build thread over at reefcentral as well. The Tank is a CPR 6 gallon came stock with a Rio90 and 2x13w PC fixture. I was originally going to swap out the pump but decided instead to drill a second hole and put on another Rio 90. With these two pumps that puts me around 26 times per hour turnover rate. Right now I'm only planning on keeping some zoos and a couple other softies so for now I'm gonna stick with the stock light but swapped the bulbs for coralife 50/50's. I also built a make shift media rack in the back for chemical media. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone was running an ATO on a pico, I know it sounds like overkill for such a small system, but everyone takes time off here and there. I meant time off as in vacation time, not tank neglect oops Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Welcome to nano-reef, the tank looks awesome. Good work. An ATO on the pico is a great idea, Im currently working on one for my 5.5. Im excited to see this tank as it matures. Good luck Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Thanks Gerber, normal ATO's like the JBJ that use a regular aquarium water pump seem like they wouldn't be able to turn on/shut off quick enough to keep stable salinity on a pico, I'm more than willing to be proven wrong on that though. I'd rather not do a gravity fed thing for aesthetic reasons unless it was only for temp usage while away from home. So feel free to post any ideas about the ATO or any comments/critiques on my tank as it moves along. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Anyways, few more details about the tank, I put 7lbs of live rock in and 5lbs of aragonite seeded with a cup of sand from the LFS, the rock isn't spectacular, but there was a little bit of coralline on a couple of the pieces. I was originally gonna keep a small mantis shrimp (O. wennerae), but changed my mind. One of the good LFS's here has a 12g biocube display and they're keeping a little goby called high finned red banded goby, it only gets to about 2" according to them so I told them to let me know the next time one comes in. I just looked it up and it seems to be about right. Other than that I'm gonna put in a couple sexies and a CUC. Corals will be mostly Zoo's and Paly's maybe some pom pom and clove polyps as well. Link to comment
Aeridne Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I like your rock in the center like that. It will look cool once you get corals all over it. You could also put some gsp on the sandbed, if you wanted. I think you could get two of those gobys, you have a good amount of room. Link to comment
FallenMonkey Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I like your rock in the center like that. It will look cool once you get corals all over it. You could also put some gsp on the sandbed, if you wanted. I think you could get two of those gobys, you have a good amount of room. Yea, you can get 2 of those or 1 and a clown goby. You also might want to try and pair the hi fin red banded goby with a little candy cane pistol shrimp. Just noticed it an open top, be careful with the hi fin goby since they're known to jump. Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 I have a green banded body and I highly recommend one. Link to comment
PSYS Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Looks like a nice project in the works!! Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Thanks to all that commented, I know goby's are jumpers thats been running through my mind for a while but there aren't too many fish out there I can keep in such a small tank. The tank originally came with an acrylic lid, but I didn't like the way it looked. The only problem was the legs on the light fixture didn't quite expand wide enough to go over the tank edges, so I cut two 1"x5" pieces of acrylic out of the lid and superglued to the inside of either side of the tank. The outside edges of the legs actually rest on the sides of the aquarium and the acrylic I put on there keeps it from falling off the edge. You can't see the rails in the pictures because I cut them short enough for the light to cover them up. this pick you can see the light resting on the edges Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I tested the water this morning, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5, PH 8.2 (API saltwater tests). I'm gonna test again on Friday to see where I'm at, I'm in no hurry, my CUC will be my first addition as soon as the diatoms show up. Anyways heres a pic with the lights on, sorry for the dirty glass, umm errr acrylic My camera is old and really sucks. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 well not much has changed in the past couple days. I did put a hydor flo on one of the return pumps and it seems to work pretty good. I have noticed the majority of my evaporation happens at night. I haven't measured how much I'm losing per day, but this morning I put about 8oz. of top off water in there and it was about the same yesterday morning. I usually top it off here and there throughout the day as well, not nearly as much though. I really do want to set up an ATO now, and would like recommendations on one that seems to work on such small tanks. Link to comment
RLC Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 That tank is looking sweet already. We will be tagging along. Link to comment
AquaStud Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Looking good.. Cant wait to see those rocks covered in corals Link to comment
Reef Lobster Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Looking good! Can't wait to see those sexies in there Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 so its been a week now up and running, params are all normal : ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5 ph 8.0-8.2 temp 80.2-80.9. I'm mixing a gallon for my first water change, let it warm up, put a powerhead in to stir it up, check salinity... 1.040 I used a full cup instead of a half cup. So I dumped half and filled with plain water let it stir and actually hit it right on the nose 1.025 the first time. I'm letting it stir for a little while longer before I change it out. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 That's some salty water! Looking forward to livestock pics. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 4, 2009 Author Share Posted April 4, 2009 I don't think I'm getting enough flow around the tank. Since it's basically a cube and the rock is in the center, everything moves in a circular pattern, which is nice and the hydor flo seems to make it a little more random. The flo decreases the output of the pump a bit and I'm beginning to feel that turnover rate isn't always the best way to measure flow as I'm getting 15 to 20x perhr. I think here in the next week I'm gonna upgrade one of the pumps to a rio 180s (120gph). That would give me right around 180 to 200gph, depending on the flo. Those are about the biggest pumps I can fit in the back compartment. Other than that everything is looking pretty good. I'm really surprised how stable the temp has been it only varies about 7/10ths of a degree all day lights or no lights. I keep my apartment temp around 72 year round and I'm using a 75w heater. Water params are still the same, since I'm consistently registering nitrates but no ammonia or nitrite, I'm pretty sure I had a very mild mini cycle that the test kits couldn't detect. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 So saturday, I put three red legged hermits in and they seemed to be doing fine. I threw some pellet food in there a couple days and they seemed to enjoy it. Today I came home, looked around the tank and saw to my dismay, one of the hermits had been shell jacked by one of the others. His carcass was lying on the sandbed. I had planned on trying to find some extra shells to prevent this type of thing, I just didn't think it would happen that quick. Parameters are still good, I put the hermits in there more to see if I would have any kind of spike in ammonia but none. Link to comment
Jamo Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 So saturday, I put three red legged hermits in and they seemed to be doing fine. I threw some pellet food in there a couple days and they seemed to enjoy it. Today I came home, looked around the tank and saw to my dismay, one of the hermits had been shell jacked by one of the others. His carcass was lying on the sandbed. I had planned on trying to find some extra shells to prevent this type of thing, I just didn't think it would happen that quick. Parameters are still good, I put the hermits in there more to see if I would have any kind of spike in ammonia but none. I personally wouldn't feed hermits if you have some macro algae in the tank they will be fine. Encouraging them to eat and fatten up will mean they will fight for larger shells. My skeleton hermits fight all the time but it only takes the halloween or tricolor to walk near them and they just go back to eating, i'm not sure if they are affraid of the halloween and tricolor or whether they are in awe of their shells and embarrassed of their own. Get some shells from your lfs, they may give you a hand full if you brought your crabs from their, or get a few large snails and let the crabs get on with it. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 I went back to the LFS last night and got some extra shells, you're right they gave them for free. The empty shell discarded by the culpret is sitting right in the front of the tank on the sand bed. I haven't had any algae blooms yet so thats why I've been feeding them, and they've been going nuts for the pellets. As soon as I drop them in they run from wherever they're at to pick them off the sand bed and they leave nothing behind. So far everything else is running real smooth, I started the tank with Instant Oceans salt which I know is lacking in Calcium and low in Alk. I bought a 25g box, when its out I'm gonna switch to DD's H20, but for the time being, I'm gonna slowly start bringing my Cal. levels up with each water change over the next few weeks, then when the params get closer to normal levels, raise the whole tank up as well. Link to comment
Jamo Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 I went back to the LFS last night and got some extra shells, you're right they gave them for free. The empty shell discarded by the culpret is sitting right in the front of the tank on the sand bed. I haven't had any algae blooms yet so thats why I've been feeding them, and they've been going nuts for the pellets. As soon as I drop them in they run from wherever they're at to pick them off the sand bed and they leave nothing behind. So far everything else is running real smooth, I started the tank with Instant Oceans salt which I know is lacking in Calcium and low in Alk. I bought a 25g box, when its out I'm gonna switch to DD's H20, but for the time being, I'm gonna slowly start bringing my Cal. levels up with each water change over the next few weeks, then when the params get closer to normal levels, raise the whole tank up as well. Ca isn't an issue when your not having any hard corals in the tank. I wouldn't worry about them for now to be honest. I've just got a few softies in my tank for now, seeing how they go for a few months, i think i've had the corals in my tank for a month and a week or something like that. I think my mushroom is currently splitting. Just looking on the net for pics now. Link to comment
danimal1211 Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 Well good luck with it hope you get a baby shroom soon! I'm planning on upgrading to an LED light system over the next couple months as well as upgrading my current pumps, so I may start keeping some hard corals down the road. My first tank was FOWLR so I don't really have any experience maintaining Ca/Alk levels. I want to get used to it with the learning curve of not having a high demand for it at first. Link to comment
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