Aberrix Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 [ Updated 05/19/09 ] Current FTS Hardware; JBJ 3 Gallon Picotope 36W Dual Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixture Modded AC70 Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth 25w heater Coralife Digital Thermometer Home-made ATO Test/Misc Hardware; Pre-mixed salt water & RO/DI from LFS API Test kit(s); (Ph, Ammonium, Nitrate, Nitrite, Calcium) Ocean Direct Hydrometer (2) 7 gallon jugs (2) 1 gallon jugs LR/LS; 4.85lbs of Live Rock 3.5-4.5lbs of Ocean Direct™ Caribbean Live Sand Livestock; (1) Yellowtail Damsel (2) Zoa frags (2) Mushrooms (1) Hairy Mushroom Invertebrates; (2) Blue-legged hermit crabs (1) Red-legged hermit crab (2) Cerith Snail (2) Astrea Snail Hitchhikers; Asterina Sea Star(s) Bristleworm(s) -------------------------------------- Pre-Build Thread Well, Hello again! My name is Josh and this is my *OFFICIAL* 3 gallon JBJ PIcotope build thread. (see link above for pre-build thread) I finished taping off and spray painting the back of my pico (krylon) blue two nights ago, I really like the way the blue contrasts with coral and what not in other peoples tanks. I basically put the pico in the plastic bag it was originally in, taped it off, then took some small 5 gallon garbage bags and made them into a skirt and taped that off... So I brought in all my gear to the office today and setup my pico this morning. Here is where the pico is now residing (in the red box) Here we go with the tank cleaned up, wiped down and ready to be started Added about 3.5-4.5lbs of Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand. Here is where things start to get hairy... I do have an AC70 that I plan on converting to a fuge. The problem is I didn't realize that the stock light (which I don't have the money to upgrade at this time) doesn't really fit on the tank nicely with the AC70... PSYS suggested I hang the stock light off the side and the AC70 on the back, but I'm a stickler for appearances (keep it clean) and wanted to keep it looking nice (especially since its at work). So, the AC70 will go on in a couple weeks when I have the money to upgrade the lighting. For now I figure the stock filter is fine, I don't plan on stocking it for a week or two anyways... So here is a pic with the tank setup before I started to add water. p.s. I can't wait to hide the heater... ugh. So for the time being I'm buying pre-mixed salt water from my LFS. I got a 7 gallon jug from Fleet Farm, the problem is its hard to be inconspicuous while carrying in a 7 gallon jug into the office... lol, so I tried to be as stealth as possible (since I never really asked anyone if this was 'okay' to have at my desk in the first place) and got 2 nalgene bottles and made 4 trips out to my car and back to get the pico over 2/3rd's full So for now, I'm just sitting around waiting for the water to clear up and warm up... Then I'm headed to my LFS later today hopefully and picking up some of their awesome live rock I'll get some practice taking water readings next week and hopefully the tank wont take more than a week or so to cycle then I can start adding stuff! Link to comment
AquaStud Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Looks good man, very clean. Should be the envy of the office Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Damn my firewall at work!!!! I can't see the pics. I'm sure it looks sweet and I'll check it out again when I get home this evening. Dude, I can't believe you made trips back and forth from your car with a Nalgene bottle. hahaha. But you're right, little difficult to look stealthy with a 7-gal. jug full 'o saltwater under your arm. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Welcome and looks like your tank is going to a great start. yes the blue back ground makes corals pop out more of their colors. Nice office! haha Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Well, things are starting to look better (I'm so impatient, this is killing me!). I cleaned up some of the foam that was at the top, turned on the light (which sure helped the temp!) currently at 78.9F and climing! yay!! Thanks for the comments guys! Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Some filter floss would help clear that water up lickety-split. Link to comment
bruce922 Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Looks good far, keep us posted with new pics! Bruce Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Alright, I just went and picked up 4.85lbs of live rock from my LFS, what I really like about the live rock from this shop is you just pick and choose what they have in their existing display tanks instead of having a holding tank with just a bunch of rock. It was a little more expensive @ $8/lbs but I think it was worth it, it looks better than anything else I've seen at any of the other shops I've visited. Back at my desk, ready to go in! B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L purple coralline algae! I got it all in the tank, although one cool little piece broke in half Of course, I'm gonna re-aquascape when things clear up and I can look at it and think about how I'd like it to be! also, the tank is up to operating temp @ 80F and it's starting to clear up! whoo! Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 Ok, I've already re-done some aquascaping... haha. Things have cleared up a ton also, hooray! I really don't recommend anyone keeping a pico on their desk at work... I haven't gotten much done so far today... first *real* FTS shot... Have a good weekend everyone, I'll make sure to update Monday Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Looks awesome!!! Love the aquascaping... Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Ooohhh! I see a good future with this tank. Those rocks are awesome! Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Man, I bet you're itchin' to get back to your pico tomorrow morning... Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 Man, I bet you're itchin' to get back to your pico tomorrow morning... oh dude! you believe it! I actually stopped by on Saturday to top if off and check everything out I'm gonna build a ATO system this week... Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 oh dude! you believe it! I actually stopped by on Saturday to top if off and check everything out I'm gonna build a ATO system this week... Haha. That's cool you got to stop in and check on it... Link to comment
Miami Reefer Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 aquascaping looks awsome cant wait to see this thing stocked Link to comment
addicted2reefin Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 if i could have a tank at my job i would be psyched to go into work too! Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Took my first readings this morning; Salinity 1.022 pH 8.2 Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate 0ppm Ammonia 0ppm The tank has been up since Friday, those readings seem too good to be true? but the rock was cured and came from live tanks? Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 if i could have a tank at my job i would be psyched to go into work too! *nod* That seems awfully quick. But maybe not...? If the rock was fully cured, perhaps you won't have much of a cycle at all. I'd probably still work on getting your salinity up a bit. But otherwise, things look good. I'd give it a couple more days and check the readings again just to be sure. Any hitchhikers at all that you can see? tiny starfish? copepods? bristle worms? Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 I forgot my camera at home today So here is a crappy cell phone camera pic... There really haven't been any hitch hikers that I've seen which I'm kinda bummed about but... I just looked and I see what I *think* is a tiny star fish, but its jammed in a crack so it only looks like it has 3 legs or something? if it was a tiny star fish I'd be pretty damn pumped about it! Yeah, I'm gonna work on raising the salinity this week and just getting comfortable with water testing... Link to comment
PSYS Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 It wasn't probably 'til a week or two after I added rock that I noticed pods all over the place... give it time. Link to comment
AquaStud Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 yeah...I got all my stuff from established tanks and it took a little more than a week before isaw ditrus starting to form in my tank... Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 that little guy that I thought/think was a star fish... well it's gone from where I saw it... it's so hard trying to get work done with this thing at my desk, I keep trying to find it now Link to comment
Aberrix Posted April 22, 2009 Author Share Posted April 22, 2009 Alright, so I've officially come to the conclusion that my Red Sea hydrometer is junk... I seem to get different readings a lot. Anyways, I took 3 readings very carefully today and came up with this; Salinity: 1.023 I'm not going to play with my salinity anymore until I get a better hydrometer. (I was trying to raise it a little, but will wait) Other readings as follows; Ammonia: 0.25 ppm (seems like this rose just a little, or I'm just color blind *shrugs*) Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 0 ppm geez, this 'waiting game' is too tough for me... Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Try and Instant Ocean hydro. I have two and they are easy to get a consistent reading from. Link to comment
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