My first pico! Dymax IQ3 now 5 YEARS OLD!

[andrewkw]

If he gets caught its his own fault. When I first put him in he landed on a duncan which I was convinced was going to eat him but he swam off.

[mallek]

well thats good he didnt land on a nem!

[Cameron6796]

Where did you get this fish I stayed up till like 4 am before an early morning trip to the public aquarium researching it and found now where. Do you mind telling me how much you paid for it

[andrewkw]

I got him at big als of all places not the usual rare fish store but sometimes they surprise. Even my splendid garden eel came from there I haven't seen any for sale elsewhere although the common ones are available other places from time to time.

 

He was 119 but 25% off.

[--Mark--]

My yasha got eaten by my mini maxi . Great looking tank and fish! It's amazing what you can do with a small tank.

[andrewkw]

The leaves on my magrove are all falling off

This has happened before, as it is a 4-5 year old mangrove that now just has 5 leaves. 3 more are turning yellow and will likely fall off. Unsure why. I do put water on the leaves semi frequently and while it doesn't have a direct light source over it, it does get plenty of sunlight from the window behind the tank, the blinds are always partially open.

Besides alk swings water chemistry is pretty stable. I could run through all the tests, but it will be faster to just change out 75% or more of the water

[.Newman.]

my guess would be that it needs good sunlight, and a substrate that has NPK and essential micronutrients. treating it like a plant might make it grow better.

 

older leaves falling off can mean that there is some nutrient deficiency and the plant is sending any available nutrients from the old leaves into the new growth, in turn shedding old leaves because there is not enough to support them. That is how most plants react. i do not know for sure if mangroves are different.

[Cameron6796]

Update

[Cameron6796]

I just noticed your in ontario... Somewhere near toronto i assume as in the gallery you commented big als missisauga

 

[andrewkw]

Not too much to update. It's a tiny 2 gallon approaching 4 years I can't just throw new corals in every week

I saw the goby again in the front of the tank, just the second time other then when I first put him in. He was gone as soon as he saw me. He's getting better at hiding not worse, however if I get a flashlight I can usually find him. He won't even come out during feedings. He will wait for some cyclopeeze to head to the back where he hangs out. There seems to be slightly less pods in the tank so he may be eating those too, but there are still some. I'm currently feeding him every 2-4 days.

The purple xenia is starting to grow over the gsp if you can believe that. I'm just going to pull it off though. I'm also debating trying to get chalice in the front off the acrylic. I mean it's cool its like 4x bigger then it was 3 years ago but all I see is the back of it. Also if I take out the little GSP mound in the front I could potentially add a new coral or 2 or 3. Just thinking about it for now. The mangrove is down to 2 leaves, but like I said earlier this has happened before. I fully expect them to grow back.

As for my location I am in Mississauga, nice to have millions of shops near by, but there's really not much more I can add to this tank. My other tanks. They have tons of room...

[Swing2Harmony]

Mississauga is the city you want to live in if you're into reef keeping, but for your other hobby it has so much light pollution so it's terrible for astrophotography, unless you're into narrow band.

[andrewkw]

Mississauga is the city you want to live in if you're into reef keeping, but for your other hobby it has so much light pollution so it's terrible for astrophotography, unless you're into narrow band.

Yeah.. Can't win. Although I am thinking more and more about moving up North. Get away from the light pollution. I don't really need to hit the reef shops every single weekend.

 

Are you an astrophotographer as well? I don't really do narrowband other then near IR and basically focus entirely on planetary imaging from my home, but my parents live up north and I do my deep sky imaging there.

 

 

[Cameron6796]

Ooooh like manitoulin my parents own an island up there

[Swing2Harmony]

 

Yeah.. Can't win. Although I am thinking more and more about moving up North. Get away from the light pollution. I don't really need to hit the reef shops every single weekend.

Are you an astrophotographer as well? I don't really do narrowband other then near IR and basically focus entirely on planetary imaging from my home, but my parents live up north and I do my deep sky imaging there.

 

Fantastic work man! Your pico reef and your pictures of Mars are equally impressive. Most don't realize the amount of work and luck involved in producing sharp images of Mars like the one you've posted.

 

I haven't actually tried any serious astrophotography yet, just waiting for quality budget mounts and guide cams to hit the market in the next a few years so I can get some DSO action from my backyard.

 

Definitely move up North when you can. I moved just to the edge of "red zone" last summer and the sky is a lot more wonderful. I feel bad for you, because sky glow in Mississauga is just plain nasty, but you're lucky your parents live under darker skies and you can visit them.

 

I have a lot more reef plans and once those are out of the way I will look into a mount and filters to do some narrow band from my backyard. I know it can be a very frustrating hobby, so better save for good equipment and at the same time hope for innovation to do its thing and prices to come down a bit. We have too many cloudy nights here in GTA, you don't know how bad it is until you buy a telescope, so I think I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of the reef hobby for the time being. :-)

 

 

 

 

[andrewkw]

Ooooh like manitoulin my parents own an island up there

 

Actually close. St. Joesph Island. Grey zone as far as light pollution. They live on the far side of the Island where there is nothing.

 

with just a tripod and fisheye lens

 

 

in a few short hours with my 66mm refractor

 

 

 

 

The pico will be easy to move. I will just put the whole tank in a bucket and fill it with water. My garden eels not so much...

[andrewkw]

I thought for sure I lost the goby. I never see him he never comes out to eat even just waits in the back for the food to come to him. I do a 70% water change, Search the tank with a flashlight and FINALLY spot him It's been 6 weeks and I don't think I've seen him for 6 seconds.

Also I am thinking about trying to scrape the chalice off the front. Am I going to end up with a million tiny pieces or do you think its possible to get it off in a couple of pieces?

[JR!]

might be really tuff to get it off

[andrewkw]

Went looking for something small enough to add to the pico today, couldn't find anything. I think I will just frag some zoas from another tank and find a way to add them if and when I do make some changes.

I did pick up this today, won't fit in the pico and would almost certainly cause water quality issues, but haven't seen any rhizos in a long tie

 

 

 

The price has sure come down on these guys...

[markalot]

Awesome to hear this tank is still running!

 

I had a Rusty Goby in my 40, only saw him during feeding, and just a orange flash. He may still be alive, but I haven't seen him in weeks.

[xavier1]

Rhizo is awesome! Mind if I ask what it cost? I would love to get one

[andrewkw]

$100. Way less then the old days. You don't want to know how much I paid for them many years ago...

[andrewkw]

One day later :

 

[JR!]

fat and happy.

just like it should be.

[xavier1]

Wow! Excellent price! I remember someone offering me one for 550 and I almost shat myself

[andrewkw]

Some updates. Less then 2 months until the tank is 4 years old! Very excited for this day.

 

I added a few new corals. Problem is when I add corals is during a water change and It looks like I have more room then I really do. I put a zoo frag on the back wall where there was a patch of black only to realize for most of the day its covered by the mini carpet.

 

I also added a small hammer frag and a blue zoo towards the bottom. The hammer looks great, but the blue zoo not so much. To be honest I was growing out the frag from a colony in my main tank and planning on adding it when the tank turned 4 but decided to put it in now. You can still see the plug which isn't too big of a deal but the par30 doesn't seem bright enough to show the colours of this zoo at least at the bottom of the tank. Here it is in my display under a Kessil 360w

 

 

in pico

 

 

At least the hammer looks good I was able to glue it in good too.

 

 

Back Acans are hard to see :

 

 

Full tank shot taken in mid day sun. Love the colour this produces.

 

 

At this image size the tank is pretty much to scale

I was going to to take more GSP off the front but I left it. I like how its growing over the front from one side and the chalice on the bottom is from the other. Eventually I may try and scrape the chalice off but scared to do so. The gsp is easy. Of course at the current growth rate in another 4 or 5 years a big part of the front will be obstructed and within 20 the entire front could be covered.

Finally I never ever ever ever ever see that goby. Once every 10 days or so I see a flash of white move when I approach the tank. After I do a water change if I look hard at the back I can find him. He is alive, but will not show himself at all. Even feeding doesn't entice him. He is obviously eating but waits for the food to reach the secret areas he hangs out in.