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Picotope craziness!


Pilg0re

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Alright, so now that my college tank has been up and running I'd figure I'd replace all the intro babble with tank specs and just a general description of my tank.

 

Equipment

Tank- JBJ Picotope

Filter- AC50

Powerhead- K-nano 425

Reactors- DIY bubble canister reactors

Heater- Marineland Stealth pro heater 50W

Controller- Reefkeeper Lite with ALC

Light- DIY LED fixture 4 Blue crees, 4 CW Crees, 2 nanotuners TV LEDS

 

Stocking:

Fish- NO FISH EVER!

Coral- Mixed reef, from acans to zoas.

Inverts- 2 Cerith snails and some Stomatellas, Maybe a porcelain crab in the future.

 

Current FTS:

DSC02339.JPG

 

As always, feedback and suggestions are welcome!

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Mr. Microscope

Hello PilgOre! Welcome to the pico community. Sounds like a good plan. The smaller K-nano would probably be better, but you might hear otherwise from someone else. That second light looks cool. I'd go for one 10KK or 6500K and two actinic 420 nm bulbs. Also, there's one bulb out there with some red in it (looks like a 50/50, but one side is red instead of blue). I've seen great color results with that bulb added in with some actinics and 10KKs. If, however you take what you'd spend on this light, and wait a little longer and save up for LEDs, you won't regret it.

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Yeah, I've seen different opinions about how much flow to use and really, if I find the 425 too much I'd be more than happy to put it in my 10g :P .

 

As for the lighting I'm really leaning toward the led route and I'm familiar with soldering and all that it just sill seems daunting to me.

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IMO, if you want a simple and easy tank to keep in college, I would just run the whole thing stock and keep mushrooms and zoas. maybe GSP or something like that. you can create a tank that looks much better than some you can see on this forum with just being simple.

This will also make the whole thing more affordable. I would send most of my funds, if i were you, to larger tank projects, not a temporary pico (as with all small tanks you will probably get bored of it after a year or two).

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IMO, if you want a simple and easy tank to keep in college, I would just run the whole thing stock and keep mushrooms and zoas. maybe GSP or something like that. you can create a tank that looks much better than some you can see on this forum with just being simple.

This will also make the whole thing more affordable. I would send most of my funds, if i were you, to larger tank projects, not a temporary pico (as with all small tanks you will probably get bored of it after a year or two).

 

Thanks for the input and I can totally understand where you're coming from. But on the other hand, I don't really see this as a temporary pico, just a portable one.

 

Zoas are definitely on my list, and LPS (chalices and acans) are too as well as the easier SPS(if I decide to go with the LEDS because I have a ton of green slimer growing at home.) For some reason mushrooms don't do too much for me, and as for gsp. I'd rather not even deal with those invasive beasts. I'm toying around with the idea of creating a zoa "carpet"

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I am trying the do the zoa carpet as well in my pico lol!

and idk why and maybe its just my case, but GSP hates LEDs. it simply wont spread and even dies back sometimes when everything else seems so happy. not an invasive coral IMO in pico conditions.

 

 

Not temporary? I would still go with stock equipment just to challenge myself :D (if i had to start over with my picotope, that is one thing that I would do)

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Hmm, good idea.

 

This hobby has a love/hate relationship with my wallet!

Same with my girlfriend lol

 

She hates when I set up my tanks, because it costs so much, but then sometimes I find her staring at it more than I do.

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lol all the more to be happy about going with just the stock equipment. Though it will be hard getting a thermometer in the tank w/o taking up much space (i guess you'll want a digital one then).

I feel confident in saying that zoas, mushrooms, GSP, xenia, anthelia and most cloves, along with LPS like acan and Blasto will be sustainable under the stock lighting.

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Good to know!

 

Haha I feel like we're swapping information by experience with your pico and my 10g.

 

What's your WC schedule like on your pico?

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It used to be 1 gal water changed out, once a week. Since I will give dosing a try, now I'll be changing out 2 gallons of water out once a week. Due to the sand and rock amount in my tank, the total water volume (despite the AC70 fuge) is just a little over 2 gallons.

 

I do not want to pressure you too much into running with stock equipment, It was only a suggestion. after all it is your canvas for some reefing art, not mine :P

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Right, as with any tank, the slower you go, the better. Judging by your 10 gal, you seem to know exactly what to do and when.

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Also, in your experience do you think it's worth it to buy one of those acrylic tops that are seen floating around in the classifieds section?

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acrylic tops? any top is useful to cut down on evaporation, so yes, but I'd go for a custom cut class one sicne acrylic may warp (or am i thinking of plexiglass here?) anyway get whichever one is cheapest for you. top is a nice thing to have on a pico.

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A top is almost a requirement on these small tanks because of evaporation (especially in winter), and an acrylic works without warping if you go with Lexan - I got my sheet of it at Home Depot (~$10), cut it to fit, have had zero issues with it since, and I only top off manualy about twice a week. There is currently someone in the Hardware Sale forums offering acrylic lids for $30 shipped, which isn't bad really.

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UPDATE!!!

 

It came in the mail today!!

DSC01975.jpg

 

Still waiting for all the goodies to come in the mail including some BRS dry rock!

 

But for now, it's leak tested and ready to go!

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good to see its not cracked or anything!

when i ordered my picotope, the first one they sent me was shattered, so i had to send it back >_<

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Looks good so far two big suggestions for the JBJ

 

Paint the back glass panel black looks better and hides equipment and cords.

 

Upgrade the filter to a AC 50 or AC 70

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On my to-do list!

 

I just bought the standard black background paper for aquariums and it seems to work just fine.

 

Well here it is finally has water in it!

 

I bought some dry rock from reef cleaners and bought a few pieces of LR from my LFS (I'm going to take them out once it's cycled)

 

Here are some pics!

DSC01997.jpg

 

DSC01995.jpg

 

Oh yeah, I'm still playing with the scape so bare with me.

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