thesmallerthebetter Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 So, ive been on a bit of a hiatus from the hobby lately, having taken a position as curator of the local public aquarium about a year ago now. I have been constantly collecting (permitted in Hawaii, California, and working on papers for Aussie in feb.) and maintaining the species ive wanted a chance to see, let alone have in captivity all my life. Not to mention running the lab portion of an aquarium related class in my office 3 times a week each semester. All that doesn't leave much time for reefing, but i can never help myself from picking up a few interesting critters on each trip that are a bit small for the main system at work. i saved them all though and about 3 months ago i put together a little display for tradeshows (fund raising events) like reefapalooza here in OC and MAX this coming semester. its finally coming together and i figured it would be appreciated here on the board! I built a little chiller out of an old ice probe i had laying around at work and a PVC T joint. a small PC Chilling Pump pumps water from the tank through the canister that contains the Ice probe and back to the main tank. No filtration, no skimming, nada. just relying on the rocks and critters to handle that crap for me. the whole tank and chilling unit is mounted to a plastic sheet for transport as a whole unit. most of the stock comes from the coast of California, from as far north as Monterrey and as far south as Baja at one of two depths, either, the first 15 feet (im an accomplished freediver but a case of TMJ keeps me from going much deeper anymore) or 300+ feet (the depth most of my traps and trawls are set when i collect). So thats enough jabber, i uploaded pics. 1.21 Gallon Pacific Coast Biotope: Equipment: 1.21 Gallon Tank Chilling/Filtration: DIY Iceprobe Inline Chilling Unit Lighting: Wave Point LED (just for viewing, PAR is crap with it) Feeding: Frozen Feed Cubes (added twice daily) Mysis (when i get the chance) Stock: Decorative Inverts: Elbow Crab CUC: Limpets Chitons Margarita Snails Nems: Pink Strawberry Anenomes Orange Strawberry Anenomes White Plumose Anenomes Green Tidepool Anenome (Urtina sp.) Sessile Inverts: Brown Cup Coral Red and Gold Gorgonian Yellow Black Coral Orange Sheet Tunicate White Sheet Tunicate and some bonus microscope shots of the baby octopus were raising at work....or trying to rather Eggs: Paralarval Juvenile: Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 No water movement? Oh, What happened to that DIY Vortech you made? Link to comment
Spencer7 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 wow, cool nems and gorgonia is the chiller really necessary? Also, i know that light (funny story) and i agree, it's total #### good luck, u sound pretty skilled Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 wow, cool nems and gorgonia is the chiller really necessary? Also, i know that light (funny story) and i agree, it's total #### good luck, u sound pretty skilled Yeah this isn't his first time. He's been here for a while. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 its very nice good buddy I havent seen many of those tank inhabitants before Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 No water movement? Oh, What happened to that DIY Vortech you made? Water movement is acheived with the little PC water cooling pump. it pushes a considerable abount of water through the loop. enough to keep the gorgonians and black coral clean. wow, cool nems and gorgonia is the chiller really necessary? Also, i know that light (funny story) and i agree, it's total #### good luck, u sound pretty skilled the light is great for viewing light and keeping the algae from growing in the high nutrient system. its just not good for growing anything that needs it haha. everything in here is Non-photosynthetic (with the exception of the tidepool nem who is marginally light loving). chiller keeps the tank at 60 degrees, which is maybe even a tad too warm. most of this stuff came from the deepest parts of the ocean i can reach with a net. its 40 degrees down there sometimes haha. its very nice good buddy I havent seen many of those tank inhabitants before nice of you to drop by i hadnt seen many of them myself until i got caught up in the whole collecting thing, most of them are from 300 feet deep or more (the elbow crab came up in a trawl at 800') the brown cup coral was stuck in the lead line on that same pull, total accident and incredible that it lived haha. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Crazy cool. You're back! Pismo has been missing you! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 You're back! Pismo has been missing you! I just peeked in for a minute. I got a Happy New Year email from Alf Jacob Nilsen which gave me Reefing Warm Fuzzies and prompted me to stop by here. I mean really, who can you share that kind of thing with, except for other Reefers? Sorry to divert from the thread (which really is way cool). Carry on. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I just peeked in for a minute. I got a Happy New Year email from Alf Jacob Nilsen which gave me Reefing Warm Fuzzies and prompted me to stop by here. I mean really, who can you share that kind of thing with, except for other Reefers? Sorry to divert from the thread (which really is way cool). Carry on. YGPM. Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 What fish is this? I didnt see it listed in the tank description. Kinda looks like a clingfish? Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 What fish is this? I didnt see it listed in the tank description. Kinda looks like a clingfish? you didnt see it listed cuz i forgot to list it haha. as far as i know its a VERY juvenile Pacific Staghorn Sculpin (Leptocottus armatus). there are around 5 of them in the tank (theyre all less than 1/8" long). they were incidentally caught in a beach seine of Huntington Harbor about 3 months back. i see one every few weeks in the tank, fairly cryptic haha Link to comment
castiel Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Really look forward to seeing updates on this tank. Any of your other tiny picos still running? Link to comment
jbowser Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 This looks really promising! I want to do something similar, so I'm interested in some more specs about the tank and the chiller pump setup. Some detail pics would be awesome! Following this for sure Jbowser Link to comment
.Newman. Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Great stuff thesmallerthebetter. The moment you mentioned elbow crab, i was interested. i know what those look like and i think they look very unique. This tank shows a great method for creating a coldwater pico. i have the iceprobes myself, and i never even thought about using one to make a coldwater tank haha. that design in the back is clever. idk about having that many fish in the tank but its obvious to me that you take them out when they get to a certain size. The display looks extremely well done and natural - i believe it catches the essence of the Pacific deeper water environment well. What better way to make up a display than to first see what the natural environment looks like in first person right? (i'm assuming you spent a bit of your time diving and not just trolling from a boat). nice occupation too lol. does it take up most of your time/is your only job right now? Link to comment
AquaticEngineer Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I had some larger staghorns at one point and had to get rid of them. One of them developed a taste for catalina gobies, so my green anemones developed a taste for staghorn sculpins ) Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Really look forward to seeing updates on this tank. Any of your other tiny picos still running? most of the stock from them resides in the tanks at work now, the "nor-tech" diy sits in a drawer in my desk waiting to be revived haha. This looks really promising!I want to do something similar, so I'm interested in some more specs about the tank and the chiller pump setup. Some detail pics would be awesome! Following this for sure Jbowser not much in the way of details to be had. haha but ill try and explain the ice probe is just the standard unit plus the fan, i have the fine wired to run constantly to keep the heat sink cold as the chiller works pretty hard on this tank. the ice probe is screwed into a PVC three way with both other ends closed and drilled to have two pipe nipples for the intake and output. the chilling unit is screwed to the plastic board with conduit strap and rubber spacers and a small PC cooling pump moves water through the closed loop... did that make sense? Great stuff thesmallerthebetter.The moment you mentioned elbow crab, i was interested. i know what those look like and i think they look very unique. This tank shows a great method for creating a coldwater pico. i have the iceprobes myself, and i never even thought about using one to make a coldwater tank haha. that design in the back is clever. idk about having that many fish in the tank but its obvious to me that you take them out when they get to a certain size. The display looks extremely well done and natural - i believe it catches the essence of the Pacific deeper water environment well. What better way to make up a display than to first see what the natural environment looks like in first person right? (i'm assuming you spent a bit of your time diving and not just trolling from a boat). nice occupation too lol. does it take up most of your time/is your only job right now? i love the elbow crab! as a kid one washed up on the beach here (dead) locally and i never cud id it as a kid until i got into school but i saved the carcass in a shadow box and then on one of the trawls it came up and i was so excited to finally see one alive! now he sits on my desk the fish are temporary (not listed on the stocking list even) cuz they mostly dont last very long in this tank (either growing up or the crab makes a meal out of them, theyre that tiny) i did indeed spend time as a diver, never scuba, but freediving black coral in hawaii (blame it for my TMJ) and then a bit in cali for collecting purposes (and a wee bit of spearing haha). running the aquarium is my only job at the moment, but i do some side work for other institutions (collecting, consulting etc.) its a good way to spend time while working towards my masters haha. I had some larger staghorns at one point and had to get rid of them. One of them developed a taste for catalina gobies, so my green anemones developed a taste for staghorn sculpins ) i love the staghorns! did you know they do VERY well in pure freshwater as well? ive dripped them down to pure fresh in the past as a demo on estuarine life and kept a pair of 6"ers for a few months in pure freshwater before ultimately returning them to their display tank. they can be mean to a pack of guppies haha. i need to get a few catalina gobies for this tank.....time to design a fish trap to set on the rocks at catalina haha Link to comment
jbowser Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Thanks for the explanation! I'm just curious about the pump, I'm thinking about something similar, but I can't really find any small external pumps (I do not want to mess with overflows or siphons...). Definitely keep us updated on the progress of this tank! Jbowser Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Thanks for the explanation! I'm just curious about the pump, I'm thinking about something similar, but I can't really find any small external pumps (I do not want to mess with overflows or siphons...). Definitely keep us updated on the progress of this tank! Jbowser http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8L-12V-CPU-Cooli...=item5190d1a9cc thats the pump i use should save you some leg work! Link to comment
jbowser Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-8L-12V-CPU-Cooli...=item5190d1a9cc thats the pump i use should save you some leg work! Thanks! Although shipping makes that little pump too expensive.... I'm probably going to use a maxijet mj 250 but I have no idea how big that pump is... Jbowser Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thanks! Although shipping makes that little pump to expensive.... I'm probably going to use a maxijet mj 250 but I have no idea how big that pump is... Jbowser the maxijjet is a little bigger than the pump i showed you, and i would have went that route but it would have been WAYYYY too much flow for my little box haha. that pump i linked puts out like 1-3lph and thats just a hair past a sandstorm in my tank haha. perfect for the gorgs and nems tho Link to comment
jbowser Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I'm not sure how I want to setup the tank yet, but I was wondering how you think no chemical filtration will work out for you? do you rely on large WC and the LR and CUC? Jbowser Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 I'm not sure how I want to setup the tank yet, but I was wondering how you think no chemical filtration will work out for you? do you rely on large WC and the LR and CUC? Jbowser anyone who has followed my threads in the past knows i make little to no consideration for filtration aside from the natural when doing tanks around 1g and less. our tanks are diverse little ecosystems and all the biological factors at play, coupled with strategic water changes makes for a successful system with water movement and lighting alone. now, since this tank is a 100% non-photosynthetic system i play the game a little different. i feed this tank CRAZY heavily for its tiny volume. its just over a single gallon and it gets the following feeding regime: Day1: 1/2 mysis cube (spot fed to nems and cup coral, juices squirted over gorgs and black coral) Day 2: 1-2 of my special frozen food mixes i use for NPS (its basically 1/2 concentrated rotifers 1/2 algea soup + vitachem) this stuff leaves the water MURKY but it clears up after a few hours which makes me think its being mostly all taken up by the critters, and even if its not all being taken up its still keeping the NPS happy and open 90% of the time. Day 3: 1/2 mysis cube again Day 4: 1 smaller cube of frozen feed by the end of the 4th day the tank is clear but if you view it from the side through the water column with a white backround there is a slight green tint to the water. if this was an SPS reef itd be a nightmare to have that many nutrients in the water column. but these cold NPS corals LOVE that. they go ape $#!+ over it. i have found that if i do a large(50% or greater) change after a 4 day feed cycle on this tank all is well when it comes to water quality. but mind you, i stopped using test kits on NPS tanks after my first constant dosed system, the readings mean completeley different things in NPS reefkeeping than in other forms of aquaria. i expect HUGE levels of phosphates and nitrates in these tanks, its part of the territory with intense feeding. but as you can see, i never have a spec of nuisance algea with only a single margarita snail in the system. in fact, when i was running 2x 9w PC bulbs over this tank in its infancy i had a hard time growing some coraline macros ive come to realize in my time as a hobbiest and as a professional aquarist that many things in this hobby are relative. water quality is one of those things. when it comes to dumping 2% of your tank volume in food into the system daily to try and keep corals and other NPS organisms from the depths of the pacific, attempting zeroed parameters is impossible, but the organisms thrive and reproduce in the system regardless of the "nasty" water. i choose to do what works and ignore the test kits (the ones at work are sooooo freaking dusty my students are scared to touch them) i know that was a long winded answer, but i hope it helped. Link to comment
jbowser Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Thanks for the elaborate answer! This topic and the ecology topic got me thinking about a small semi closed system. Probably first tropical unless I can localy source some cw critters. For now I will just have to wait for some parts I ordered. Good luck with this tank and be sure to keep us updated! Jbowser Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Any updates? I've marketed a really nice 2 gallon 54 F degree Temperate pico... I have it on my site and on my thread... MG Link to comment
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