boxboy Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 Stomatellas will breed like crazy. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Stomatellas will breed like crazy. Awesome! Link to comment
GTi Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 I went to a couple of LFS in my area and bought a couple more sexy shrimp, a tiny lettuce nudibranch (actually a sea slug) and 3 polyps of Red Hornet zoas. Everything seems to be settling in nicely and one of the sexys is already hanging out with one of the existing sexys. I suspended the Dragon's Breath and Gracilaria from a piece of fishing line to stop the chestnut turbo from eating it all. I'm not sure what the long term solution is exept keeping them apart. The DB is colouring up nicely with orange tips. There are lots of pods on the glass and running around in the substrate. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Love the tank! Can't wait to see it develop more. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 Love the tank! Can't wait to see it develop more. Thanks! I'm excited to have this as well as the BC29. The BC sits on a table on the other side of the room but this pico is on a table right next to the sofa and you can sit and watch everything close up. That's why I wanted to keep it uncluttered and with clean lines - a bit like some of the freshwater planted tanks. I orderd a pom pom crab at my LFS today - should be in later this week! Link to comment
GTi Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 I called my LFS and the Pom Pom has arrived. I couldn't pick it up today because I was trading a couple of small frags (pink birdsnest, monti cap and small ricordea) for a dwarf BTA and 4 heads of duncans with a local reefer. The piece of LR with the nem on it even had a couple of asterinas on it! The macros have put on noticeable growth and the nudi and sexys are doing fine. Last week I made a small dry rock structure that can be placed against the main rockwork to make a small arch. Even with 5 LED strips I'm not totally happy with the light output so I just ordered 4 3up LEDs (2 royal blue and one neutral white on each star), a Dim4 and a power supply. I'm planning to run 3 stars for daylight and one on low power for moonlighting. Also my ATO arrived yesterday. It has an optical sensor and is quite compact. I need to work out how best to mount the sensor and the water line to not detract from the clean lines of the tank. I'll get some pictures when there is some daylight so everything doesn't come out all super blue. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Nice!! Can't wait for pics! Link to comment
GTi Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 I tried taking a few on the phone and the camera. The phone ones didn't come out well and I haven't uploaded the camera yet. I have been at 4 soccer games today and not had too much time for anything else! The Pom Pom wasn't looking good when I left home. I traded a couple of corals from my BC and also the pistol shrimp because he was making too much mess, even though he was very cool. I picked up a rock with a load of Rastas on it cheaply because they weren't all opening and a jewel damsel. Yesterday I traded a couple of coral frags with a local guy and got a dwarf BTA and 4 heads of Duncan. Link to comment
GTi Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Still haven't got photos but here's an update. Pom Pom died. Jewel ate a Sexy and was trying for more. It was returned to the LFS and replaced with a Green Clown Goby and an Anemone Crab. LFS also has an abundance of Asterinas so they gave me some. All is peaceful again! Unfortunately the Green Lettuce Nudi died this afternoon, too. One minute he was crawling along, next dead. I had heard they are very delicate and not long-lived. Althoug very cool, I don't think I will replace it. Link to comment
GTi Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 I added a few Rastas from the rock I bought and old some, too, nearly making my money back. That makes a nice change! Added 4 polyps of Red Hornet zoas and the clove polyps which looked lost in the Biocube. Even with 5 strips the EcoPico light looked a bit dim. I used the arm and added 4 3-up LED stars (2 royal blue and 1 neutral white per star) and ran 3 as day lighting and one on low power as a moonlight. I used the Dim4 controller which can run 3 LEDs per channel at up to 500mA. It is a bit brighter and much more controllable. I just heard there is an exotic 3-up Star coming soon to ledgroupbuy. I'll be checking that out to help some of my reds and greens pop more. Link to comment
GTi Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 New FTSSexy Shrimp and Anemone Link to comment
GTi Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Ordered one of the exotic 3-up LED stars yesterday and hooked up my autotopoff.com ATO today.I want to keep this tank looking clean and simple and the ATO was a challenge. Traditional float sensors were too big and conspicuous. A lot of searching led to 2 other options - pressure (Avast) and optical (autotopoff). Both companies were great at answering questions. In the end I opted for the optical sensor because I could integrate it more tidily.Currently the sensor is held to the light bracket with a cable tie. I might paint the non-functional parts of the sensor black so it blends in to the bracket better but I am not sure. I think I'll give it a couple of days before I decide. The 1/4" water line is also attached to the light bracket by feeding through an existing slot and using a cable tie to prevent it pulling out. I am sure I can do something neater with this. I did order a bulkhead fitting with the ATO but it is a bit larger than I expected. Painted black to match the bracket, it might work. Link to comment
JUST.REEF Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Looking good so far GTI. Are you using a canister on that tiny tank? If so would you recommend it and why? Link to comment
GTi Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Looking good so far GTI. Are you using a canister on that tiny tank? If so would you recommend it and why? Yes - Eheim 2232. I am not using the biomedia that came with it but I have small bags of carbon, granulated ferrous oxide and purigen in the canister. I like the canister because it allows me to keep the tank uncluttered and also to use an external heater. The water in the canister also adds a little volume to the system but not much. The flow is adjustable using the return ball valve on the canister. The lily pipes keep a clean look although they need cleaning more often than I hoped! I was a bit hesistant to use this as few people use canisters for saltwater but a sump wasn't an option here. So far so good! Link to comment
GTi Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 I took this tank down at the weekend. 2 tanks and the frag tank were taking too much time to maintain. I'm also thinking about putting my frags in my DT to rduce maintenance further. I don't like the look of a lot of frags in the DT so I may not do it. Link to comment
boxboy Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I took this tank down at the weekend. 2 tanks and the frag tank were taking too much time to maintain. I'm also thinking about putting my frags in my DT to rduce maintenance further. I don't like the look of a lot of frags in the DT so I may not do it. Noooooooooo. is sooo nice looking. Link to comment
GTi Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 Thanks. It felt like it was becoming a chore. I may start it up again one day. The Biocube isn't as elegant but everything is thriving and the maintenence needs are fairly light. I'm thinking about combining the best of both tanks to get a rimless, open top 50 gallon or so and transferring the contents of the BC in to that. Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Nice tank you have there. Btw, what happened to your florida rics?? Link to comment
GTi Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 The rics are hanging out in my frag tank for now. I would like to do a ric rock but my BC aquascape isn't conducive to that! Link to comment
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