Here we go folks! let the Games begin!

MinibowMatt's Stock 2.5

Equipment:

AGA 2.5G
Penguin Mini HOB
Tronic 50W heater
20W Corallife Screw-In 50/50 PC
Custom Cherry Canopy


Probable Coral Stocking

LPS
Green/Pink Hammer

SPS
Green Montipora Digitata
Purple W/ Green Polyp Montipora Capricornus

Softies
Leather
Green Kenya Tree
Xenia Elongata-- maybe
Multiple Zoanthids-- colros yet to be determined!
GSP

And whatever else I want!

Sounds good to me.

Here we go!

10/15/05

Hey Matt, I am just tagging along to watch your progress.

thanx Adam. I hope i can compete!

First FTS. Taken 9:25am on 10/16/05.


Current corals in tank:

Hammer
Leather
GSP
Glove Polyps
Xenia
Encrusting Gorg
Green Kenya Tree
Green Digi
Zoos and more Zoos
Green Hairy Shroom

BTW.. nothing is placed, just kinda tossed in! so I know it's messy!

lol, before I read your last sentence, "BTW.. nothing is placed, just kinda tossed in! so I know it's messy!", I was thinking, "Is this his Idea of winning the contest?". LOL

Im not worrying about placement until the corals are more happy in the new tank...lol
Plus i want to add some more things, once I have figured out everything, then i will aquascape!

Well today I got some new equipment. I switched out my Tronic heater-- took up too much space, and picked up a Hydor Mini heater. I also switched out my Penguin HOB for the Hydor Pico pump (103 GPH) ... I really saved a bunch of space inside the tank with these two upgrades. Now I think I can compete!
So I re-aquascaped, and glued in frags.. I will post a pic tomorrow after the dust settles again.

is that the mat heater? skyslade, posted it in rdo's nano forum (if it's the same thing). looked very interesting, small and simple, no breakable parts.

i'm concerned about the lack of control tho, no temperature controller/thermostat. it's just supposed to keep the tank a degree or two above ambient(?), which might not be good enough for me anyways.

but i'm curious about it's reliability and such. i'm hoping they come out with a controller soon.

nice little start..... wish i had the resources to enter! keep up the good work, cant wait for the pics to come

Updated FTS?

Im working on a FTS. I stirred up the sand a lot yesterday, and today its settled, but I had to blow it off all the corals and LR, so its up agian. Im running a powerfilter to suck out all the suspended dust. when it clears tonight, i should get a decent shot.

The heater is the small mat heater (on RDO) My temp has stayed steady all day at around 76. That should be ok for my softies, they dont seem to mind today. It has stayed that temp all day and night yesterday and today. The room isnt heated either, so temps last night went into the 60's and the tank was 74 this morning... Im going to watch it as the tamps drop here in Philly this week. I may have to go back to the tronic...

here are some pics. Sorry the tank was still a little dusty!
FTS

New Protos and Fire&Ice Frag

Green Hammer

another FTS

New FTS 11/1/05

looking good matt!

Wow looks awesome! I still dont have my live rock...

DAMN, I'm gonna have to kick it into gear

FTS looks awesome.

Wow, looking great!

I still don't have any water in mine, nor have the lights/filter arrived yet. I sure hope thay arrive today.

Best regards

Ann

Thanx you all! Your making me feel like I actually have a chance in this competition!

pshh, chance? at the moment you seem to have it in the bag, but the contest is young and I'm gunnin for ya.

here are a few new pics:

what are pictures 3 and 5?
thanks tk.
pics are great, tank looks great, good luck in the contest.

#3 is a green monti that is brown right now. It is encrusting and branching, but it isnt coloring up under my 20W screw in.. I am probably switching that out for either the 2x9 or a single 18W-- Hopefully that will remedy the coloring problem.
#5 is a tiny 1/4" blueberry ric. It was just a tiny piece of the foot ithat was stuck to some rubble after i cut the main ric off. it grew a new head within 3 days...

Im not 100% sure yet, ut I think my 2.5g has sprung a leak. I have lost about 1/2" of SW in the last 9 hours. It may have been draining through Capillary action with my heater cord. I am going to watch it for the next few hours. If my tank is leaking, do I have to drop out of the contest, or can I buy a new tank and switch everything over?

According to the rules, drop out

If you find the leak and it isn't too serious, I would go down and buy some marine grade epoxy and patch the hole. It may not be preatty, but at least you won't have to drop out.

Oh no! I hope that your tank hasn't really sprung a leak.

Fingers crossed that whatever it is you can fix it.

Best regards

Ann

thanx. I have lost anoth 1/8" of SW since 5pm yesterday. I am going to re-fill this morning and see what its like by the time i get home from work.

Updates on the possible leak?

This may seem like a dumb question, but are you sure it just isn't evaporation? I'd hate for it to really be a leak, but unless there's water around the tank and salt creep, maybe it's just evap

Btw, those dark purple/red zoos with the yellow center are faboo.

Yeah its a slow leak... About 3/8" of SW over the last 24 hrs. It is losing water from the rear left corner I think. The black trim on the bottom of the tank gets full of water, then it overflows to the table. I am going to try and seal it from the outside.. I dont know if it will work.

Oh no! Really sorry the hear that.

I hope that you manage to seal it up. If it's a slow leak popping a blob of silicone over it should do the job.

Best regards

Ann

I think you should be able to replace your tank. Post up to Gilman, and have him put up a vote. I would think most ppl will allow that.

-Mike

yeah, i don't think the cut-off date is in effect yet. maybe it is. check with gil.

i think he did mention something like this (i.e. re-starting a setup, tank leaks or cracks-see nanocubes) but more as concerns about people cheating.

although, imo i think it's more of a disadvantage than an advantage to be forced to re-start a system as the days roll by. if it were up to me, i'd let you do it (you'll probably need photographic proof for the naysayers though).

Well I sealed up all the corners with Silicone on the outside yesterday. It seems to have contained the leak so far. We will see what happens.

If it does continue leaking I think I will drop out. I am not happy with my lighting in this tank, and I think the corals would enjoy more. So if it leaks, I will redo the tank and add more lighting. But as I said, it does appear to have stopped so I am still in it!

OFFICIAL PICO CONTEST NEWS

New Task... Read about it here...
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75620

YOU MUST COMPLETE THE TASK!

well the tank is not leaking anymore. It was a problem with my tight fitting lid. It was sucking water out from the HOB spillway via capillary action.. weird huh!
I have not touched the tank in three weeks. Its growing in nicely, i need to scrape the glass and then i will post pics.

Well, I am sorry to say that one month after I thought the tank stopped leaking, It is leaking again. Badly this time. I will be purchasing a new tank today and transfer everything over. I may just throw it all in a 10G I have and throw a 175 over it. Its too bad, things were doing good if you wiped away the ###### to see into the tank...

sorry to hear that, matt. was it the silicone seal or glass crack?

maybe you can still take a last breath pic and use that for consideration. not sure if the judges would consider it but at least you would have that to show as your final pics.

thanx tinyreef. I will snap some pics. I am trying to get a 10g up and running, so I have just been topping off as neessary, so it isnt dismantled yet..i will post a pic..

That's a shame. Have you located exactly where the leak is coming from this time? What about trying a dab of silicone sealant to try and fix it? It's worked for me in the past.

Best regards

Ann

Ann, I did find it, and I have tried the silicone, but it wont hold...

How frustrating! Is the tank under some sort of guarantee? I would hope so, it's not been running that long.

Oh well get some pictures up of how it looks now and hopefully they can be used at the end of the competition.

Best regards

Ann

the tank is like 8 years old. I almost expected it to leak...

Ahh, that's not good news. I know that they say tanks have a lifespan of around 8 years but it's still a shock to hear of one actually failing. If my big tank fails......?, shudder it doesn't bear thinking about.

Have you stripped this pico down yet?

Best regards

Ann