Hi, so i'm new to saltwater tanks and I thought it would be best for me to start a thread to track my progress. I've read a couple people's "journal" threads and I thought: wow what a really great idea.. so i'm following their example Hopefully if I make mistakes, the experiences of others on this forum will help me out!

OK, so I started with a 3 gallon jbj picotope. 6ish pounds live rock, 6ish pounds live sand, 9watt blue and white compact light that came with the tank kit and I bought an aquaclear 50 to mod into a small fuge. My sand came from my lfs' established reef tanks, and my rock from their rock selection. I'm hopeing that the nicely established and clean live sand will help my tank start up more smoothly, but this is much debated..

This is a long shot of my set up about 30 minutes after I got everything going:


Close up of the tank after I started it:


I found hitchhikers!!! I was pretty excited about it, actually. I have about four known brittle starfish. I really like watching them inch across my tank.. I also have some fan worms as well. I'm not too worried about any of these guys because they may provide nice scavanger-ing for my tank in the future.


Finally, all the sand settled and my tank looks pretty good. I know I made a noob mistake of chooseing a main live rock that was too large, and it will not able me to do THAT much rearranging with corals later, but I like the shape anyhow.



As for my fuge, i'm still debating how much I want to mod it. right now, since I only have rock, sand and few other guys, I just took the bio sponge from my ac50 pack and stuck it in there so the water has to flow through it, but i'm not sure whether or not I want to take apart the basket and glue it in there to maintain the chaeto i'm going to be putting in there in the future. Or if I just go silly nilly and not compartmentalize any of the filter (it is much smaller than the ac70). I'm having trouble deciding if it would be worth it. Maybe some of you will give me some input

Other than that, i'm going to stick with my 9watt that came with the tank kit because I probably won't get corals for a little while, and when I do, they will be softies anyhow. Plus the tank isn't that deep and I could put some up higher on my rock.

Any input would be great! thanks everyone!

Good start. What do you plan on stocking?

Looks like you're off to a good start, one thing you might want to do is move the small piece rock that's on the right side of the tank so it's not touching the glass.

So far, I plan on going to the lfs on tuesday and getting a CUC. I would love some sexy shrimp! they are entertaining to say the least. I would love to house soft corals in here, I love mushrooms and polys. Also, there's a coral that I can't remember the name of, but it's pink, has a long "stem" and fanned top that open and closes in the filter flow. I think a friend at the lfs is going to give me a frag of his that he has in his tank. I made friends there

Also, I might get a small goby or two in the end, depending on my bioload. the greenbanded ones are cute. I would love to have a damsel, but I think my tank is too small and I would have to sell it back when it got bigger. My lfs has baby black and white striped ones that are fun to watch.




oo is that a problem that it's touching the glass? I was unsure where to put it because of it's off shape.. I was thinking of wedgeing amother piece of rock behind it, then leaning it against that rock..?

Just makes it harder to clean the glass, it doesn't matter. Although it does look nice when a tank has openings around the side of the rock, so it's not all closed in.

So far so good eh? Your LR placement is pretty awesome- looks like you have lots of room for softies!! I just modded a AC70 for my fuge and it is working pretty well... I know the 50 is smaller but it may save you a lot of headache to go ahead and mod it- i found that once mine was done I had more than enough room for a small sheet of filter media- the size of a medium whisper biobag- so you should still have room for some floss or a similar sized piece of foam even in the smaller model... looks good so far- I can't wait to see where it goes from here!

that's a good point. I do like the space around it, but cleaning would be easier if I moved it. I'm unsure of my set up atm, because it has an odd symmetry.. I guess i'll have to figure out the mechanics when I get some corals.

Thanks! I may end up cutting up the basket and modding it, it would probably be easier to maintain. Yeah, i know what bag you're thinking of, and I need to pick one up at the store when I go. The sponge I have now was just a temporary measure until I get the filter media. I think the size of my ac50 should hold some modded chemipure, filter media, my heater(i have a small hydor mini heater, but I don't really need it because the lamp keeps my tank at 77F pretty much. I just turn it on in the morning because the temp is around 75 because I turned the lights off at night, obviously), live rubble and chaeto. If the filter media doesn't fit in the end, I could always just mod that too

I thought this was funny: My starfish, whom i've named Henry, has been sticking his limbs out the small individual holes in that LR...

hehe the secret to keeping any kind of nano reef seems to be MOD EVERYTHING!!

That definitely seems to be a major theme amongst pico reefers hehehe

You are off to a sweet start! I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

Looks good so far!

the "pink coral" you are talking about is xenia.

thanks! that sounds familiar now I hope it grows well in my tank when I get it tomorrow, hopefully. It would be my first coral!!

Today found some unknown creature in my tank. It's white/clear and has many arms that stick out at one angle. Actually it looks like a spider... and it moves very slowly up and down my LR.. Can anybody define what it is by my loose description? Thanks

OK, I have some pictures of the unknown creature. It's very small, so it was difficult getting a good shot of it.



edit, new pic


hopefully these help

OK, so I put the pictures up in the identification forum [duh] and stevieT said that they were either aiptasia or baby dolphins

So I researched it more and he was right, it is a glass anenome(aiptasia), thanks stevieT!

I think i'm going to get a hairy hermet crab and peppermint shrimp tomorrow, as well as a few snails. I've read sites that say they help eat them. I suppose if they don't, then i'll have to tackle it with tweezers or something. Poor glass anenome.

So the peppermint shrimp I bought yesterday ate the aiptasia within two hours of it being acclimated to my tank! I'm sure that if I had any more aiptasia that wasn't visible, it's gone. Yay for peppermint shrimp!! Now i have to run to the fish store today and get some pellets to feed it, that way, when I do get corals, it won't feel inclined to munch on them out of hunger... It totally munched on my feather duster hitchikers too .. sigh, ah well.

Other than the shrimp, I'm thinking of naming him peppy because it's SOO original lols, I bought two tricolor hermet crabs and two snails. I'm actually unsure of what kind of snail they are, but I know they aren't narcissus.. I'll ask my lfs today.. They only had one kind anyway this week. I really wanted to get some sexy shrimp because they're all the rage these days but they didn't have any.. maybe i'll put in an order for some. I'll have to research to make sure they get along with peppermint shrimp though.

My fuge is up and running to my specs now. I have live rock rubble and chaeto in there as well as some filter floss. All I need now is some chemipure maybe. Also a submersible light.. but i'm not sure what kind to get.. i'll have to look into it more. Anyway, that's the game plan for today, though I would really love to buy my light upgrade... my lfs has some that would totally work 12 inch 18w for around 40$, though I would have to buy the little feet to keep it elevated seperately for 15$! ouch. I think i'm going to order one offline... even with shipping, i'd probably get a better deal..

which reminds me, since this is a journal, i want to keep a tally of the cost that's gone into this tank:
3g jbj picotope- 50$ with shipping
7lbs LR & 6lbs LS- 70$
saltwater-4$
Aquaclear 50- 45$
thermometer- 12$
stealth heater-15$
hydrometer-free
2gallons ro water- 50 cents
CUC, chaeto, LR rubble, and filter floss- 30$

total= 226.50

Not bad! Now I should upgrade my light which will cost me around 50$ more, and I haven't bought any corals yet (though I plan to buy the really small baby frags for 2.99 a frag, I don't mind waiting for them to grow)

According to my tank setup, you could pretty much start up a pico tank with little to no "freebies" for around 250-275$. I'm sure smaller picos would require maybe a little less than that too. I believe the 1.5g betta cube is 25$ at petsmart.. plus less CUC, rock, sand, water, etc..

Yesterday I noticed that one of my hermit crabs hadn't moved a lot, and today I found him dead... Also, my other crab/shrimp sort of snacked on him as well. This is very sad. I'm really unsure of what went wrong, because before I added my CUC I made sure my levels were correct and my tank was running and cycleing properly. Also, I acclimated him right as well... No idea.

I totally wasn't suspecting any casualties either.. sigh..

edit* right after I posted this, I looked in my tank and the dead, upside down crab is moving.............. but one of his arms was clearly torn off by another animal........... i have no idea how to rectify this situation. I feel REALLY bad that it might be suffering...?

My crab seems better today, he's not upside down anymore.. good sign? he might make it after all. He looks like he's eating the stuff in the sand as well..

I'm going to shop around for a api test kit today. I've been testing my water at my lfs, but I feel it's better to be able to do tests as often as I want. also, I would like to get the current usa dual satellite 12 inch 2x18watt fixture, but a lot of the good deals online are out of stock.

Everything is looking pretty good- crabs fight, just their nature. They will sort it out one way or another- just let nature take its course.

Updated pics?

Oh, I wonder if that's what happened..? Thanks for the advice!

here are some pics:


almost complete fuge


starfish checking out the fuge:


snail


my pep shrimp, he likes hanging out under that rock


the injured crab, can't get a really good shot of him though


alright, that's the update I found someone on craigs list who's selling a bunch of nice corals, so I emailed them about it. If my tank's water tests come back good in a week or so, I might be able to add some coral. They had a 40g breeder tank. It had some awesome hot pink mushrooms that I would LOVE to have.

I like it!

Thanks!!

Sounds good- looks good too- just take your time!!

Good Luck!

Great pics!

How long has this tank been up and running?

That's a sweet looking tank! I love the live rock you got in there.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Yankeepete- My tank has been up and running since around jan 24th or so I've had no serious crashes or problems of any sort, which is really really nice.

Though, my Hermit crab started to molt last night, it came out of its shell and was doin' its thing. However, this morning, he doesn't look so alive.. I know they are vulnerable during the molting process.. I think my other crab took advantage of this.. I guess nature is nature..

SO anyway, i've been spot feeding my pep shrimp because I believe that if he is happy and well fed, if will lower the chance of him munching on my future corals, and it is possibly one of the most entertaining things in a salt tank for me right now. I wish I could get a good picture of it grabbing the food from my hand

I checked my water levels yesterday and they were 0 down the board. YAY! sg is 1.025ish, and i'm getting great flow throughout my tank with the modded ac50. Things are looking pretty awesome with the exception of my hermit of course. Since everything is going so well, and i'm not trying to jinx myself, but i'm going to pick up some of those hot pick shrooms and maybe a couple other frags. if they start to look like they are struggleing in my tank, i'm going to take them to my lfs, where the top saltwater guy there said that they can house them in the back for me until my tank evens out. And I know i'm a couple days early for adding corals, because it's only been around a week since i've added my cuc, but i'm going to do it anyway, especially since my tank has been cycleing well this whole time. Anyway, i'll add pics later today!

sounds like your off to a great start! the tank looks like itll be awsome! oh, and those snails are astrea (star) snails. make sure they dont flip over, they cant right themselves. they are great algae eaters though.

thanks for the heads up!

Thank looks good!

How many pounds of rocks do you have in there right now?

Around six, I made the noob mistake of buying too much rock without thinking about getting coral rocks and larger frags.. oops. I also have six lbs LS. I could always remove some if I need room, or break up the red LR, though I would be sad about that cause it has such a nice donut shape

I got some corals now!! yay! here are some pics:

oh, this is my pep shrimp, i've been trying to get a good pic of him, but he's fast, so it's difficult.


full tank shot


hot pink shroom! it's still a little POed though...


blue ric, not Poed at all!


WAAAAY POed kenya tree....... i'm having trouble keeping it in one place because I can't decide where I want it..


purple-blue shroom, sort of POed


green and yellow hairy shroom, it should brighten up soon.


Anyway, that's my coral additions for awhile. I'm pretty happy with them and I really hope they grow, especially the hot pink shroom. I think the next coral I should get should be green or more blue, I need some green in my tank now. I'll probably get some polyps that are green next. Please make any suggestions as to placement of my corals, I think I like where I stuck them, but i'll always take advice! thanks!

Hi all! so this morning, my corals look pretty good. My kenya tree is finally a little less mad at me, but only a little.

I need to adjust the rubber band a tinsy bit, but I finally got him in a place I like:


I need to pick up some of that aquarium glue though, because my hot pink shroom isn't staying put very well, and it has some rubble attached underneath it where I could easily apply some glue. Right now i'm useing a little net/mesh for flowers that holds tulips together the shroom can move and whatnot, but it can't float away.

Nice first corals! You've got a good selection there especially the hot pink shroom.

I like your placement too and I can just see it coming together. If you want something green you can always get GSP as long as you're careful with where you place it and blue cloves are good for adding some blue. One thing I would advise is to keep the mushrooms low and to keep them at around the same level. Not necessarily all in the same spot just at the same level so that when they take over (which they will) they fill in the same strata. Also because they're low light corals you wouldn't want them taking up prime real estate on the top that you might want to save for some nice LPS corals later on.

By the way I love the big doughnut-shaped rock! You could do stuff with that nice little cave in the middle.

Thanks!!! I think the pink shroom is splitting already actually.. thanks for the good advice! It's funny how my shrooms are already kept lower than anything else and I didn't even realize that they needed lower light. Good suggestions on some other colorful corals! i'll have to look into that in a month probably. I want to establish my tank a little more, especially since I added these corals a tad too soon. But everything seems fine so far, and the corals I got are pretty hardy as well I think. What ideas do you have for my rock cave?

Just as an update, my green hairy mushroom looks likes he's thinking about splitting as well and my kenya tree is slowly coming out!! yay! Overall, i'm just really pleased that everything's going well so far! *knock on wood*

Ok, just an update:

So far, my Kenya tree has grown a good 2 inches, or at least, extended. It was fully opened and everything. It also attached itself to my rock. Today, I took the rubberband off of it, and it got POed at me. Though I did accidently twanged it.. slippery rock So now it's taking its time reopening heh. My pink shroom still hasn't attached, so i'll have to get some glue after all. My lfs didn't have any when I went to get some, though one of the employees said I could just get superglue that's gel and it would work as well. Is this a good/bad idea? Also, my snails keep knocking my ric rock off the top of my donut rock and I have to retrieve it everyday.. Going to have to glue that down as well.

I would really like to get another shrimp. I have one pep shrimp, anyone know of a good partner for them? My lfs doesn't usually have sexies, even though I wanted some, but they don't make really really great companions to peppermint shrimp anyway because they are smaller and get beat on. Anyway, any advice on a companion for my pep shrimp would be appreciated.

I think i'm going to get another crab. I miss having two. Though I don't want another hermit because i'm afraid my current hermit will eat him again.. However, I'm not sure if my tank has enough food for an emrald. My tank is virtually spotless.. Those astrea snails are ridiculous. Plus I have a few baby snails, stomatella and a white round one that's too small to identify; As well as my 6-7 brittle starfish. As it is, I spot feed my shrimp every day or so, a small pellet. he's so cute when he grabs it out of my fingers. And yet, he still goes around the sand picking at it for snacks! the little piggy!

That's about it, i'll take any advice/comments!

here's a pic of the tree when it was pretty open




It was about two inches taller than this even before I twanged it. Wish I took a picture before I removed the rubberband.

The doughnut shaped rock is aquacultured, petco sells those same exact shapes.

That's interesting. I totally bought mine at my lfs... If it was aquacultured, is that bad? It was in the tank with the rest of the LR, but it does look different than my other LR... Not sure if I fully like it, but my starfish and shrimp do, so i'm sticking with it most likely.

If I were you I would definitely save that rock cave for a nice centerpiece. Maybe a nice LPS down the line? Like maybe a small Euphyllia (frogspawn or hammer) or sun corals if you're up to the challenge. Take your time and look around, you'll eventually find something that's perfect for that spot.


Yes, good old regular superglue will work perfectly. Just make sure it's cyanoacrylate.


Peppermint shrimps and sexy shrimps should get along peacefully. My shrimps get along fine but I do have a love-hate relationship with my peppermint shrimp. I love him because he kills my aiptasia and adds interest and diversity to my tank. I hate him because he can be pushy and grabby and will steal food from corals.


My emerald crab is efficient at eating bubble and hair algae. But again, there's that same love-hate relationship I have with the peppermint shrimp. All crabs are opportunistic omnivores and will pick on your corals if they don't get enough food. So if you don't have enough algae in your tank, be sure to target feed regularly so they don't bother your corals.

Yeah, an LSP, I can see where you're going with that, el fab. Thanks for the advice! My lfs actually has some really nice stuff in their tanks in the back that I got a preview of today. Also, I made some deals with the guy to trade some of my coral for his coral when mine grows and splits. My pink shroom still hasn't attached itself yet, but its really not attached to rubble, so i'm going to keep the mesh over it until it does. That way I don't have to try and glue a slimy thing to a rough thing. Just doesn't seem like it would work out to well.

The lfs had some really nice green corals. I really liked the hard corals they had but I need to wait a few more weeks and get my new light before I do any of that. Future plans: green star polyp. Maybe a green monti or acropora. Their neon green monti is VERY nice, but i'm not sure if they could fragment it. Or if I could even afford a piece

They also had some sexies for $9 each, and i'm thinking about it

Anyway, that's about it so far, slow going, but worth it.

I would definitely hold out for a while before you get acropora, and wait for the new light for both of the stonies you mentioned

I wish my LFS sold neon green montis... is it plating?

(P.S., do alot more chemistry research e.g Ca, alk, etc before you hit the SPS rack)

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely research before I add. Besides, i'm going to be waiting a while probably. I want to establish my tank with the new light and take care of the softies I want first I'm getting the new light next week. current usa satellite dual 2x18watt.

The neon green monti they had wasn't plating, but it was sooo vibrant. It looked radioactive . The others they had were plating. I'm not that familiar with plating (the process, if all montis do it), I just know what it looks like.

Montiporas are one thing but Acroporas are a whole other ballgame altogether and require stricter parameters than montis. I'm not saying you can't do it all but you'll really need to prepare your tank for it. Also keep in mind that lighting makes a huge difference in coloration so that vibrant metallic green SPS will look different under different lighting conditions. I've seen it happen with a couple of my corals although I'm still surprise at how well my orange monti cap has held up its color under my PC lighting.


That's a really good price! You should jump on that once your tank is ready.

Yeah, they have theirs under a huge T5 light. It might be sold by the time i'm ready for it anyway, so i'm not that eager. I'm just trying to plan ahead and figure out what will look good in my tank. So far my corals look good, but I really need some green and orange in there, maybe some yellow. We'll see what I can find in a couple weeks

Oh, I really do want to get those sexies

Wow... that's a great deal on Sexy Shrimp.
I hope they're still there for you!

When I went back, I didn't see them in the tank Someone either moved them, or bought them. Ah well. I'll just wait for them to order more...

I talked to a new lfs lady today. She told me to get rid of my pep shrimp I really like him though, and he hasn't picked on my ric yet... I'm going to keep him I think. Oh also, I was looking into what fish I want. and I either want a small clown goby and a small other type of goby. Or some sort of baby damsel. I would LOVE to have a purple firefish, but i've heard that they're major jumpers and my tank doesn't have a lid yet.

I got some new coral today, some zoas. Green with green in the center and green/red/organgy ones. Hopefully they'll open soon and i'll get a shot of them with my camera.

Oooooh! The new zoas sound sweet!!!