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Gritchie4's 5.5 gal. Pico


gritchie4

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Updated FTS 11-8-11... Everything is now in the 5.5 gallon tank.

IMAG1569.jpg

Hey everyone. Well after what seems like an eternity of researching and wanting a saltwater tank, i have finally took the plunge. About a year ago I bought a 40 gallon tank and had it drilled with a corner overflow. Then money became an issue so it sits empty. So I decided to go smaller and I ordered a jbj picotope from Dr. Foster and Smith in the beginning of February. I set it up this past Saturday, 2/19/11. Here is a list of what I have:

 

Equipment:

  • JBJ Picotope 5.5 Gal. Tank
  • BoostLED PAR30 bulb
  • Architect desk lamp
  • Modded AC70 (thanks to el fab's tutorial)
  • Mainland 50w heater
  • Vortech mp10wES
  • Hydor Pico Evolution 180 powerhead
  • Hydor Pico Evolution 300 (with wavemaker attachment)
  • Oceanic Salt
  • Floating Hydrometer (will get a refractometer eventually)
  • ~3lbs of sand ~7lbs of sand
  • ~4lbs of live rock ~7lbs of live rock
  • Lots of distilled water

Coral:

Softies and Polyps:

  • Florida Ricordeas (Various Colors)
  • Armor of God palys
  • Devils Armor Palys
  • Blue Steel Zoas
  • King Midas Zoas
  • Orange Bam Bam zoas
  • Reverse Gorilla Nipple Zoas
  • Green Bay Packer Zoas
  • Tubbs Blue Zoas
  • Cat Eye palys
  • Polds and Ginks palys
  • Magician palys
  • Green Palys
  • Red Mushroom
  • Pom Pom Xenia
  • Green Star Polyps
  • Blue Anthelia
  • Kenya Tree

LPS:

  • Green and Red Favia
  • Dragon Soul Prism Favia
  • Green Hammer
  • Red Acan
  • Orange Acan
  • Peppermint Acan
  • Hollywood Stunner Chalice

SPS:

  • Orange Digitata
  • Idaho Grape Monti Cap
  • Green Milli
  • Rose Milli
  • Tyree Flower Petal Cap
  • Blue Cap
  • Rainbow Monti
  • Green Porcillopora

Inverts:

  • Tons of Feather Dusters
  • 3 Nerite Snails
  • 2 Florida Cerith Snails
  • 2 Dwarf Cerith Snails
  • 2 Nassarius Snails
  • 2 Red-Claw Hermit Crabs
  • 2 Sexy Shrimp
  • 1 Anemone Shrimp
  • Lots of Stomatella Snails
  • 1 Porcelain Crab
  • 1 Pom Pom Crab
  • 2 Green and Pink Maxi Mini Nems

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better get rid of that picotope label befor el fab comes around....

sweet tank though.

 

Lol I was actually going to do that. Thanks for the compliment.

 

Your par30 is 60... Or 80 degrees... It's seem to be high from the tank

 

Its the 60 degree. It is only up that high cause nothing is in it yet and i havent really messed with it. I only turn it on when im taking pictures of the tank. I'll adjust it as soon as i get livestock in there. I got to make some tweeks to the fixture to make sure it cant fall into the tank.

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Thanks... I'm looking for par30 or 38 for my dymax iq3... I don' know whitch to choose...

 

Im no expert on led lighting but from what i read you would probably be fine with the par30 since its such a small tank. Just aks around, im sure someone on here will give you a more accurate answer. HTH.

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Im no expert on led lighting but from what i read you would probably be fine with the par30 since its such a small tank. Just aks around, im sure someone on here will give you a more accurate answer. HTH.

But it also depends on the optics. On a small tank you wouldn't want 40 degree optics because that's too focasued you would want 80 or 60

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Tested the water today. Here are the results:

 

- Ammonia: 0.25

- pH: 8.2

- Nitrite: between 0 and 0.25

- Nitrate: 5.0

- Specific Gravity: 1.025

 

And here are some more pictures:

 

Side View

IMAG0275-1.jpg

 

Side View (2)

IMAG0277.jpg

 

Modded AC70

IMAG0273.jpg

 

Small Rock in middle of tank

IMAG0279.jpg

 

Hope you enjoy.

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Test results from today:

 

- Ammonia: between 0 and 0.25 (hard to tell)

- Nitrate: 0

- Nitrate: 5.0

- pH: 8.2

- Specific Gravity: 1.025

 

No new pics as of yet. Maybe I can take some after the gym.

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So I get home from work and take a look at the tank and I noticed a little more brown coloring on parts of my rock. Hopefully this is the start of the diatom bloom. :happy: ill try and get pics later but I got to get some sleep.

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So i posted some new pics below. I couldnt get the brown on the rocks to show but trust me they are there. I did my tests for today and here are the results:

 

- Ammonia: 0

- pH: 8.2

- Nitrite: 0

- Nitrate: 5.0

- Specific Gravity: 1.025

 

So i will test for the rest of the week and see if the numbers stay where they are and if more algae shows up then CUC will be picked up this weekend. In the meantime what type of CUC should i look for when i go to my LFS. I want majority snails and 1 hermit crab. Any advice will help.

 

And now for pics:

 

Messing with my camera phone settings and kind of got an actinic look

IMAG0301.jpg

 

Small Rock showing off shimmer

IMAG0302.jpg

 

Corner Shot (notice picotope label is off :D )

IMAG0309.jpg

 

Other Corner Shot

IMAG0310.jpg

 

Hope you enjoy!

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Very nice! B) I cant wait till you get some coral in there.

 

Yea tell me about it. But I'm willing to wait. I'm pretty patient but staring at just rocks and sand is starting to drive me crazy.

 

On another note I still need some ideas for a cuc. If anyone has any for this size tank please let me know.

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i have one astrea snail, one blue legged hermit, and a bunch of hitchhikers. i would get 2 snails, 2 hermits. to start. you will eventually get some hitchhikers that will contribute to the cuc.

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Thanks jdl. I just didn't want to get to much and starve them out. Hopefully my lfs has some cuc in stock.

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a pretty good rule of thumb is one snail and one hermit per 3 gallons of seawater. once the bioload increases you might need to add cuc members until you reach a "balance"

 

if you do have cuc members die, dont sweat it. inverts like those can live forever, or die all of the sudden.

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Thanks again for the advice. I know a lot of people don't like hermits case they can kill their snails but I definitely want one just cause of the personality that people say they have.

 

Well got class and then got to get some sleep (i work night) ill bet doing a water test tonight and maybe I can get some.pics of the diatom bloom on my rocks.

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Forgot to add my test results today. I know its not interesting but it helps me keep track.

 

- Ammonia: 0

- pH: 8.2

- Nitrate: 0

- Nitrate: 5.0

 

Hey a FTS even though it looks like the others lol

IMAG0313.jpg

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bwoodward0012

you will probably have to increase your cuc later but for now a couple snails and a hermit should be fine. my dwarf blue legs seem to kill snails less than my other hermits, but i also hear that zebra hermits are great cleaners, eating most anything. Whatever you get, see if you can get a couple of larger empty shells from deceased hermits or snails from your lfs for your hermit to move into as it grows. you can just hide them behind one of the rocks. lookin good though, wish i hadnt gotten rid of my picotope, it was a nice little tank.

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