monkeytrumpets Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Unfortunately, in moving from the apartment to our house, a series of unfortunate events caused the Apartment Pico to crash. I tried to save as much as I could, but ended up dismantling the tank. RIP little tank, it was a heck of a ride.    Updated (and final 😞 ) FTS 05May2012  After several months of planning, I'm taking the plunge and starting a pico. The pico sits between my kitchen and living room, so I'm going to have some unique challenges making it look good from 3 sides. It has been set up for the last 3 days to make sure everything was leak free, and I added 4.5lbs of LR I picked up this afternoon. Time to play the waiting game, and let the cycle run its course! The plan is for this to be coral and invert only at this point to keep the bioload relatively low.  Equipment List Tank: 3 gallon JBJ picotope Light: BoostLED PAR30 Reef Lamp (3RB, 1CW, 1NW) Heater: Hydor Theo 50 watt Filter: Modded AC50 Fuge Light: Stock JBJ fixture Fuge Light: PicO Aquariums LED refugium light ATO: Aquahub DIY kit ATO: SpectraPure UPLC II  Livestock Astrea snails  Coral Acans Acro Blastos Favia Florida Ricordea GSP Palys Toadstool Leather Zoas   The obligatory photos Front  Side  Back (kitchen side) Link to comment
JR! Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 looks awesome man. just how i wanted to do mine Link to comment
MetaTank Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Nice, that light looks good on your rocks...you keeping the bottom bare like that? I have 2 JBJ picotopes, they're sweet little aquariums. Except now I have 2 stock picotope lights and filters that I wanna do something with...haha Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 looks awesome man. just how i wanted to do mine  Thanks! I'm really excited about it!  Nice, that light looks good on your rocks...you keeping the bottom bare like that?  Thanks Meta! Yeah, I'm planning on keeping it bare bottom. I haven't figured out what to do with the stock filter either. I'm using the stock light on my AC50 to grow chaeto once the cycle finishes up.  I need to figure out an ATO for this tank. Even with LEDs I think evaporation is going to be a big issue. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 very nice! do some black sand like me. it is much bettter. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 try a hamster bottle ato. that is what i am doing on my picotope. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 very nice! do some black sand like me. it is much bettter. Thanks for the compliment! I'm going to stick with bare bottom. It will eventually be covered by coral anyway, and I like being able to easily see where detritus is building up.  I ended up ordering a DIY kit from aquahub for my ATO. It will give me some peace of mind to be able to leave for a few days, and not have to leave top offs to an aquarium sitter.  Looking at my water parameters, the cycle is in full swing. I'm hoping since it was so well cured, that it will be a short one. Nothing left to do but wait...  I'm very fortunate to have an understanding girlfriend who doesn't mind my saltwater obsession. Understandably, she does give me a hard time about it from time to time. I was showing her how to test water parameters, and was talking about the chemistry of the tests. She rolled her eyes and said "How is it chemistry if you're just adding food coloring to little tubes of water?" Touché, my dear, touché... Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 It's been long enough since I set up a reef tank, that I forgot how painful waiting on the cycle to finish can be. Ammonia levels are holding steady, and no nitrite spike yet. I've got a little bit of detritus starting to settle out, but somehow I've lost my turkey baster. I must have put it in a very safe place... Â I'm thrilled with the light I'm using for this tank. I'm only running it for about 10 minutes a day while I test parameters, but I can't get over the color, and just how bright it is. While I'm talking about my light, I should mention how great BoostLED's customer service is. They accidentally shipped me the wrong lamp initially, but with one quick email to customer service, they had the correct one in the mail the same day. Even with the mix up, I had the correct light in my hands less than 5 days after I ordered it. Â Sorry, I know this was scatterbrained, but it's been that kind of Monday. Link to comment
JR! Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 It's been long enough since I set up a reef tank, that I forgot how painful waiting on the cycle to finish can be. Ammonia levels are holding steady, and no nitrite spike yet. I've got a little bit of detritus starting to settle out, but somehow I've lost my turkey baster. I must have put it in a very safe place... I'm thrilled with the light I'm using for this tank. I'm only running it for about 10 minutes a day while I test parameters, but I can't get over the color, and just how bright it is. While I'm talking about my light, I should mention how great BoostLED's customer service is. They accidentally shipped me the wrong lamp initially, but with one quick email to customer service, they had the correct one in the mail the same day. Even with the mix up, I had the correct light in my hands less than 5 days after I ordered it.  Sorry, I know this was scatterbrained, but it's been that kind of Monday. sounds good. cant wait to see how this tanks plays out. really making me want to pick one up Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 My ATO kit got here today, so I spent the better part of the evening wiring and testing. I managed a nice finger cut, reminding me once more that I really shouldn't be trusted with razor blades. The aquahub kit was pretty straightforward, though I had to fight with the holder-whatsis to get it to hold the float at the right level. For better or worse, I only wired in one of the float switches. Having never set up an ATO before, I don't know if I have committed a cardinal sin or not. Am I boned? Â "Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee." Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 The cycle continues... Â The first pod showed up yesterday, so that was a small excitement. I'm starting to get some growth on the glass, and it reminded me that my mag float is WAY too big for this little tank. I've ordered a nimble nano to solve that problem. Â I'm very pleased with my ATO. It is nice to know I can go home for the weekend without worrying too much about the tank. Link to comment
GioReef Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Nice pico! Will follow this one for sure. I have an Aquahub ATO also.. it is great, but like you, I couldn't figure out how to get that holder in the exact spot I wanted the switch to activate. haha i ended up bending it and then just duct taping it to the back of my tank. That way I got the level right where I wanted it. Maybe try that? Link to comment
Thornchase Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Can't wait to see this! i want to build a pico and make it a zoa garden! Link to comment
BoostLED Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Sweet tank! Subscribed! WOHOO! Link to comment
Fluffeh Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I think pico aquariums is making an ATO that is held by a magnet Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thanks GioReef, Thornchase, and BoostLED! Â I have an Aquahub ATO also.. it is great, but like you, I couldn't figure out how to get that holder in the exact spot I wanted the switch to activate. haha i ended up bending it and then just duct taping it to the back of my tank. That way I got the level right where I wanted it. Maybe try that? I thought about duct taping the holder to the back of the tank, but I was able to MacGyver something together. I carved up part of the plastic cap that came over the plug on my GFCI extension cord. When I wedged it under the bend in the holder, it raised the float switch to the height I wanted. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Ammonia and nitrite are both holding steady at 0.25 today. Slow and steady wins the race I suppose.  I got my nimble nano in the mail on Thursday, and I'm thrilled with it. It is the perfect size for a pico.  Unboxing  On the pico  As thin as it is, I am tempted to pick up another nimble nano, and then epoxy the float switch for the ATO to it. Then it would be infinitely adjustable, with much less swearing than adjusting the float switch usually requires. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Cycle is finally done! Dropping by the LFS on my way home from work to pick up some chaeto for the fuge, and a few snails for the display. I mixed up saltwater last night, and it should be up to temp for a water change when I get home. While I've got some of the water out of the tank, I'm going to epoxy a couple of the looser rocks together with a bit of aquastik. I doubt they would fall, but a little added peace of mind never hurts. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Do you plan on any fish or inverts? You need to post pictures also. Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Careful, magnets mess up floats unless you have proper shielding. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Woo! Page 2! Â Do you plan on any fish or inverts? You need to post pictures also. This will be inverts only. I'm going to do my best to keep the bioload as low as I can. I'm debating on a couple of pom pom crabs. I'll put new pics up soon. Â Careful, magnets mess up floats unless you have proper shielding. Good call. I was banking on using some sort of spacer to keep the float far enough away from the magnets to prevent problems, but my current set up is working like a champ. If it ain't broke... Â I was sorely tempted to pick up a couple of coral frags while I was at the LFS, but I managed to make it out with 4 astrea snails and a huge ball of chaeto. I've temporarily got part of the chaeto ball in the display while I run the big bag of carbon that came with the AC50. I plan to swap it out for a smaller bag of media this weekend, and then I can get the chaeto out of the display. Â Secured the loose pieces of LR, and changed my scape a bit to allow for more flat places to add coral. Did a big water change, and now it's time to stay out of the tank, to let it do its thing. Once the water clears, I'll add some updated pics of the scape. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I added my first few frags this weekend. I picked up some small acan, blaso, and zoa frags at the LFS. After watching all of the pests fall off the frags when I did a dip in Revive, I will ALWAYS dip new corals... Unfortunately, the blasto frag still brought in a small aiptasia, but a quick squirt of Joes Juice made short work of it. I have a shipment of Florida ricordea leaving Sea Life Inc. tomorrow, and will be adding them to the tank on Wednesday. As promised, here are new pics. I need to play with my camera settings a bit more, as the blastos and the zoas appear less green and more brown in the photos than they actually are. The second pic of the zoas is closer, but is a bit too blue. Â FTS Â Â Â Â Â Â Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Those dont look like blastos to me. They look like some acans. Sweet tank btw Link to comment
JR! Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Those dont look like blastos to me. They look like some acans. Sweet tank btw same here. Link to comment
monkeytrumpets Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Those dont look like blastos to me. They look like some acans. Sweet tank btw  Thanks for the compliment, and thanks to jgpicodope009 and jrmiller for the accurate ID. I knew it was in the Mussid family, and the guy at the LFS kept calling them blastos, so I took his word for it. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.