5G Sps dominated pico

[FuEl]

I was first inspired by Marcello's pico feautured in glassbox-design.com.

 

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/the-remark...ef-of-marcello/

 

I was lucky to have a tank which I believe could have been the same tank that Marcello used. It also featured the same bowfront.

 

I used 2 x Par 38 spotlights by Evil66 with 40 degree optics.

 

For water movement, I utilized 2xHOB filters, filled with NP biopellets and Biohome. Every month I rinse out the filter media with tank water to remove detritus and to maintain biologicial filtration efficiency. I do not use a sump/refugium. I utilize a simple air-stone skimmer. I am still contemplating about using a chiller, my temperature ranges from 27-29.5. Maintain Ca and kH levels using C-balance, I dose the maximum dosage recommended daily, around 5ml of each part daily. I split this into 2 separate doses.

 

I siphon detritus from the tank bottom each morning and replace about 2 liters of water volume daily.

 

Took some videos.

 

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

[masami93]

looking like you're coming along well. definitly gonna look awesome once its more mature n corals grow out!

[brandon429]

most people won't do daily work even for a tiny pico, so if you are vacuuming daily that's awesome for the life of your reef, see how long you are willing to keep that up. <- not being sarcastic, I mean really try to keep that up for good its better than average care should stop any algae growth as it ages it w also let you stock nicely without waste buildup

[Mr. Microscope]

I really like the look of that tank. Is it really 24 inches long? How tall is it? Are you getting all of your flow out of the two filter on the sides or did I miss the powerhead?

Well done BTW.

[FuEl]

Tank dimension is 24"x8"x9". Yes I am getting all the flow through HOB filters. I could have placed SPS in the center as well but as I am using 40 degree optics, I chose less light demanding corals to be placed there.

 

I don't find the siphoning tiring. I am a firm believer of siphoning and I siphon another 40+ tanks daily. This tank has been running since January this year. I started it with fully cured liverock without fouling organisms and ASW made with distilled water.

 

The tiring part was coming up with a dosage regime and keeping an eye on evaporation levels, which is why my newly mixed seawater is only between 1.020 and 1.021. My daily siphoning and 2L water replacement daily kind of keeps my salinity in check.

 

I have learned a lot from this pico, especially with regards to SPS. Their tolerance to temperature fluctuations has greatly amazed me. For instance, I recently acquired a sunset millepora. I placed frags in my main system maintained with a CR and with temperatures kept between 26-27 degrees celcius. Almost all the frags RTNed, even the frags I passed on to other friends. I placed frags in this pico tank, where temperatures range between 27 and occasionally rise above 29 degrees. You could literally feel the warmth of the water when your hand is in the tank. Weird thing is that those frags did not RTN.

[Sushi]

Looking forward to the project, let's see the tank and equipment!

[ThrivingNanoTang]

Mind sharing the brand of this tank? Looks gorgeous so far, personally not a fan of the barebottom cause i'm too lazy to siphon everyday. :/

[phoenix]

Looks like this could turn into something special,

 

firstly i love that you have a tailspot blenny in there, i have one in my 300 ltr reef and he's a right charactor.

 

secondly do oyu feel like you have a lot of SPS frags crammed into one place? dont get me wrong im far from an exspert and i eventually would like to go down this route if possible, i jsut thought it was interesting,

do you plan to prune/remove some in favor of others once they start to grow larger?

 

Luke

[FuEl]

Looks like this could turn into something special,

 

firstly i love that you have a tailspot blenny in there, i have one in my 300 ltr reef and he's a right charactor.

 

secondly do oyu feel like you have a lot of SPS frags crammed into one place? dont get me wrong im far from an exspert and i eventually would like to go down this route if possible, i jsut thought it was interesting,

do you plan to prune/remove some in favor of others once they start to grow larger?

 

Luke

 

I had limited choice in placement of SPS as my lights are only 40 degree optics and the spread is not enough to cover the middle portion of the tank. I will monitor their growth and make sure I keep them pruned. I might remove certain pieces in future if I do not see them having the potential to color up further. The tailspot blenny is good in eating algae from the glass but I should not have put it in. In this pico tank, it can be quite territorial and has taken a good chunk out of the tail of my bluestripe pipefish.

 

The tank is fed daily with Algamac enriched baby brine shrimp and rotifers. I do not believe in using non-live foods for such a small tank, these will simply leach nutrients. The barebottom helps me in keeping the nutrient levels low as I am able to remove detritus as soon as I see them. If it was a softie tank I would have put black sand.

[phoenix]

you have a pipefish in there too? thats pretty cool, I wouldnt personally put the two in together as like you said the tail spot can be suprisingly teratorial, nor would i get one for the pico, i have one in my 300ltr im happy with one, if i were to get a fish for the pico it would be something different ^^.

 

always wanted a pipe fish mind....

 

cool, sounds like you have a pretty nice set up there then =] and it would be interesting to see how this develops, i think you'd probably end up removing a few species of SPS as they grow, but its it will be a great display once they have grown and "filled out".

[FuEl]

Took some photos. Top down shots.

 

[Dustin11]

That tank is AMAZING!!! i too was really inspired by Marcelo's reef on glassbox, though I didn't do anything about it

I found this thread searching for information on 'NP biopellets'. What made you choose these? How has your experience been with them? Would you recommend them?

[rickjg]

Took some photos. Top down shots.

 

VERY nice selection of frags ...

I look forward to checking back to see how the corals grow and interact with one another.

[randing]

Subscribed. I'm anxious to see how an sps pico works out over time.

[FuEl]

Some growth shots. Montiporas and Seriatoporas seem to do better in my tank, they are more forgiving of my careful neglect.

 

 

 

Favourite pink birdnest, has more than doubled in mass since I got it. Just added a pink Poccillopora for my panda gobies. Time will tell if it can do well.

 

 

A challenge to keep. Hope I will be able to sustain this stunning tunicate. I have a constant supply of Phycopure and Fauna Marin products.

 

[bird]

Nice. Any pics from a distance of the whole tank?

[FuEl]

Long overdue updates. After losing some SPS due to manual dosings (sometimes hard to keep up with hectic schedules), decided to invest in a dosing pump. I removed my skimmer and replaced it with 2 croceas. Also added an additional pc of liverock to handle more sps frags.

 

 

New residents of the pico.

 

 

Some random SPS top down shots. Running Ultralith system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My "protein skimmers". I still continue to feed them phytoplankton due to their small size.

 

[mbarton2010]

awesome

[Reef Casa]

this tank looks RIDICULOUS!! really good job

Thanks for sharing

[brandon429]

so well done I agree you have corals never seen for sale in my area what a rare tank and design skill!

[Chyendra]

Beautiful SPS

 

I'm just wondering what your fish bioload is right now... you had a tailspot blenny at first, with a pipefish... and then some panda gobys and now a dwarf angel? Do you still have all these fish in the 5 gallon? or did you move some of them out into a different tank?

[FuEl]

Beautiful SPS

 

I'm just wondering what your fish bioload is right now... you had a tailspot blenny at first, with a pipefish... and then some panda gobys and now a dwarf angel? Do you still have all these fish in the 5 gallon? or did you move some of them out into a different tank?

 

I moved the tailspot blenny out as it was downright aggressive in a nano tank. For the pipefish, I moved it into my other coral tanks to help eat the mysids there. Now the bioload comes mainly from the argi and a single P. nocturna. I have some E. macrodon, perhaps 4-5 in there. The panda goby went M.I.A even with the poccillopora, they are not exactly the easiest fish to keep. It's just so hard to find the perfect community fish in such a small tank. I do like the mini dartgobies but all they do is jump when the lights go off or when people walk past the tank. Feeding wise no issue as I have enriched bbs every day.

 

I don't worry about water quality much as I do change water on a daily basis, about 20%.

[brandon429]

when you are willing to do that each day the tank can get away with a lot! nice approach, keeping fish in a 5 is tough long term but the lack of algae on the glass and in the cracks of the substrate says the daily changes are working

[weeber]

at is ur p. nocturna like because i have been thinking about getting one for my 12 gallon. also where did u get the tank?

[FuEl]

at is ur p. nocturna like because i have been thinking about getting one for my 12 gallon. also where did u get the tank?

 

My P. nocturna hangs around the middle portion of the tank most of the time, usually below the rocks. Quite peaceful and leaves my urocaridella shrimp alone. The tank I got it from a local LFS. I've been contemplating whether to get the tank redone, with the same dimensions, but out of crystal glass. Not too sure if it will have any difference as the present tank is 4-5mm thick.