My first pico! Dymax IQ3 now 5 YEARS OLD!

[andrewkw]

I think the flamming goby is gone. Who knows. I never saw him. Now I NEVER see him. Before it was for 1-2 seconds every 2 weeks. Pod population has been growing but who knows if he was even eating that.

The fact cyclopeeze is no longer available is a real bummer. In all the years of fish keeping I have never fed my fish dry food except for nori. Now for tiny fish there really isn't much of a frozen option. The damsel is eating some crushed pellets. While I never use the dry food I usually keep a bunch on hand for finicky eaters.

I've had various small gobies in the tank and none really lasted super long, and none created much movement. While this damsel if it lives will outgrow the tank, but for now it's nice having an open water swimming fish, and given his size he still has plenty of room to swim and hide. He almost certainly would not have been sold and possibly been eaten as he was in a tank with several dozen other various fish.

[Cameron6796]

That's cool hope he does alright for you he looks really cute and especially tiny xD

[brandon429]

Once I put a redhead goby in my reefbowl and he died a few mos later never saw him. Tank just absorbed him but I never saw any ammonia spike indications from the corals or anything

[andrewkw]

Once I put a redhead goby in my reefbowl and he died a few mos later never saw him. Tank just absorbed him but I never saw any ammonia spike indications from the corals or anything

 

Of the 4 or so gobies I put in here I think one jumped the rest vanished. No spike for something that small. The flamming prawn was like the size of ONE pe mysis.

 

Even the pom pom crab who also always hid I never found the shell or anything just vanished although if I took everything completely out that might still be there.

 

I have no idea if this damsel is going to make it or fast it will grow. I may increase water changes but so far LPS like the tank is actually getting a bit of food as they seem a little more puffy,

[andrewkw]

Well I think I found out what's been happening to my fish.

The mini carpet anemone ate them!

 

The damsel is gone and there's no way he would be eaten by the tiny amount of micro fauna so quickly. Not the big purple one featured in the tank, but the small blue one that is roughly the size of a quarter most of the time and way in the back. It's still in the back but BIG and puffy.

[aviator300]

 

 

The fixture cost $7 and it's a walmart desk lamp. I removed the bell, and attached the lamp base to cdr spindles with rubber bands to get it higher. Even still it is only about 4" above the water.

You know, I saw Robert De Niro on a talk show telling people who asked him questions to "Go read my book" he was plugging, it's all in my book. Hahaha. So fame comes with tons of questions and here's another one......What do you use to clean the outside acrylic on your tank? I have a Dymax IQ3 on order and was trying to figure out what to use to clean acrylic. Thanks.

[tylernt]

I have a Dymax IQ3 on order and was trying to figure out what to use to clean acrylic. Thanks.

I use the Nano-Mag with a little square of felt/flannel stuck to the velcro. It cuts down on scratches. Used daily, I only have to resort to the velcro directly every few weeks (stuff builds up in the corners).

[andrewkw]

The outside I use a wet paper towel followed by a dry.

The inside I usually use a credit card, but I also use the nano mag every couple of days. Despite being acrylic safe it does cause some scratching. This tank itself is actually in bad shape. It is what it is. What's inside is what counts. I actually just tried to clean the front as best I could. It's really really difficult because there is no room at all to stick anything but the nano mag in, and it's just not that good for really tough algae. Probably daily use would help but then more scratches.

 

Here are some new pics I have made some changes.

I carefully scratched the chalice off the acrylic. This is similar to the square Japanese watermelon effect. I moved some things around. One of the chalices got too close to an acan and took some of it out. The second biggest one will probably have to be moved down to the bottom within 6 months as I don't think I want it encrusting on the rock. However I have that tiny fungia on the bottom not sure where he can go. There really isn't much room to add stuff. I'm thinking a dendro head in one of the dark corners. Decided to try another SPS a $5 green mili which the gsp will swallow up eventually but looks cool for now.

I am really glad I reversed the chalice looking at the front is so much nicer than the underside.

 

 

 

The one on the right has nowhere to grow.

 

 

A slower growing softie would be nice to squeeze in maybe a gorgonian or just a thinly sliced colt or other leather. Since the anemones ate my fish I'm not going to try another. I am in no rush to make anymore changes as things have already changed enough for now. Still enjoying the tank and hope to for many many more years.

[aviator300]

Thanks for the reply. I want to just take a minute and give my take on "why picos die". I agree with you Andrew that "sandbeds are death to picos" but IMO picos die from LACK OF INTEREST, plain and simple. For example. A few pico threads that i've followed show a healthy pico for 1 or 2 years and then (as everyone puts it) they just die for whatever reason. They usually face some kind of a problem that the owner doesn't solve. (either from losing interest or just calling it an unsolvable problem and giving up. I don't know, maybe if i fought problems over 2 or 3 years i'd lose interest too..But then there's Andrew who analyzes every challenge that comes up and thinks out of the box. I guess there's a lot of pico owners that are good at problem solving but you keep doing it over and over and over, year after year. There's no reason a pico can't go on for 5, 10, 20 years, just keep replacing and updating equipt, livestock, etc and unless the glass breaks, it will last as long as you want it to.

This subject makes me think of my daughter Tami who we gave a small houseplant to when she was 6yrs old. That plant was given to me by my mother who bought it at a grade school plant sale when i was a kid and has now lived in 3 states and been repotted many times and now sits on Tamis kitchen counter 57 years later.

[andrewkw]

If you're bored of your pico you're bored of reefing.

I have lots of other tanks but the pico is the one I am truly happy with. Why? Well it's easy to fill. Easy to see 1 polyp become 2 ect. Having LPS encrust on the acrylic even though it looked kinda silly was very cool. There's a problem? 100% water change done in 15 minutes or less and any spills can be wiped up by 1-2 paper towels.

 

Seriously I could ignore this tank other then water changes and I'd need to spend 15 minutes a week on it at a cost of a few dollars. I already have to mix salt for other tanks so I just take 1 gallon of that and use it for the water change. If I could only have one tank it would not be a pico but as long as I have at least one other tank I will have a pico.

[tylernt]

Seriously I could ignore this tank other then water changes and I'd need to spend 15 minutes a week on it at a cost of a few dollars.

 

Can confirm.

[jbb]

This tank never ceases to amaze me .

 

 

Congrats on the 4yr mark, much respect.

[Anden]

Hi i finaly got my iq3 10weeks ago efter looking at yours for years so i like to say thx for this input and for making me start reefing.

 

I have 5 tanks now but my iq3 is my fav and the one i look at the most.

 

Thx for taking the time to post pic.

[tylernt]

Andrewkw,

 

Does your IQ3 have stress cracks where the left and right sides are attached to the bottom? Lots of vertical cracks have appeared in that area on my IQ3 over the last year, and now one of my front corners (where the acrylic is bent) is producing salt creep... I fear that a liquid leak isn't far behind.

 

I used Krylon Fusion to paint the bottom of my tank black (in case I ever wanted to go bare-bottom). I'm now wondering if there is a chemical incompatibility between the paint and the acrylic that Dymax uses.

[--Mark--]

Sorry about your wee gobies and fish . I know how it feels to have a mini maxi much on an expensive fish .

 

On another note, congrats on reaching 4 years!

[andrewkw]

Inconclusive. There are a few scratches possible cracks but no creep. I will take a photo on the weekend. Next reply is #666 to the thread so make it a good one

 

 

Andrewkw,

 

Does your IQ3 have stress cracks where the left and right sides are attached to the bottom? Lots of vertical cracks have appeared in that area on my IQ3 over the last year, and now one of my front corners (where the acrylic is bent) is producing salt creep... I fear that a liquid leak isn't far behind.

 

I used Krylon Fusion to paint the bottom of my tank black (in case I ever wanted to go bare-bottom). I'm now wondering if there is a chemical incompatibility between the paint and the acrylic that Dymax uses.

[limpert]

I love this tank, constantly changing as corals outgrow each other.. very cool

[andrewkw]

First update in a bit. Everything is still going well the Milli is the only coral that died, I'm not sure if its the huge alk / ca swings or the irritation from the GSP.

I have added some more corals too. A couple just this week and the micros close to a month ago. You will notice some things get rearranged this is because after water changes I knock them over basting the main rock structure to get detritus out. There just isn't enough room in there to glue things properly without getting glue on the corals themselves.

 

These guys have been doing well for some time, and look to be keepers.

 

 

 

There is one local reef shop that is really pushing the limits on how small of a coral you can sell. While this can be annoying to start with these little 1/4" pieces in larger tanks. They really work in the pico tank.

 

 

 

This yuma is roughly the size of a dime but was only $2.50 boxing day.

 

 

The back GSP don't want to be open for full tank shot of course...

 

 

The yellow polyps are starting to become a problem. If you look back I started with just 2 or 3 but now they are everywhere. They seem to grow right over other zoos and palys but I guess I'm stuck with them and in the coming years the tank will be more yellow.

[brandon429]

andrew what are the zoanthids in the dead center under the gsp, are those parazoanthus yellows

[HIppieRose]

Did your coral just hop on the walls or did you glue them on? I want some on mine so I can stop having to clean so much. lol

[andrewkw]

Yes Brandon those are them. I never really noticed but many zoas are gone and these yellow polyps are there. They are on the sides and at the back too.

 

I did glue some corals to the acrylic. The chalice and others encrusted on.

[brandon429]

hey I think those are nps im almost sure

[tibbsy07]

Great looking little pico! So glad to see it's still going strong. Makes me want to set up a new pico, bare bottom, with a skimmer and AC70 fuge.

[brandon429]

agreed

the use of gfo gave flexibility to normal wc requirements here for sure. nice balance.

[andrewkw]

Just looking back in the thread to see when I added these yellow polyps and it looks like they have been in since at least Jan 2011 maybe earlier. I remember gluing 2-3 individually but couldn't find the exact time. I did however find this frag from my colony which sadly is long gone. They aren't that colourful in this pic but nowadays 10+ rasta polyps would pay for everything else in this tank! The colony I bought at the time I thought was expensive for 75$ for maybe 100+ polyps... oh the good old days.

 

 

Today I did manage to remove some of the yellow polyps. What's interesting is I removed old zoa frags that are nothing but yellow polyps. These things certainly are invasive. For whatever reason I kept 2 frags of them and I'll stick them in my frag tank.

 

 

This is not counting the polyps I crushed and threw out.

 

Still a lot left :

 

 

 

Looking back through the thread was fun, seeing all the cool frags I had in here. The fact I've gone through 3 iPhones since I started this tank. Other then the SPS almost all were either removed or killed from chemical warfare with other frags. I don't think I've lost much due to water conditions. At first it was all about jamming in what couldn't or shouldn't be jammed in, but now the tank has a very purple and green theme going, with a few other select colours. Not that there is room for much more but anything added in the future is added with a lot more thought then "lets see what happens". I may be close to pushing this tank as far as it can go, but I have no intentions of stopping it, and look to make future improvements this year both as far as appearance and stability.

 

Finally a friendly reminder of why ALL pico tanks that you plan on keeping must be bare bottom.