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Josh's Dymax IQ3 Pico Reef


BGJ223

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FTS 3/20/2012

 

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Howdy Folks. Lets start this off with a little story, then we will get to the good stuff. So I had a Reef Vase for a little while, but a couple things were bugging the heck out of me, so I had to change. First issue was the sound of the air pump, even though I was using a whisper, I didn't like the hum that I got from it. Second was the very annoying uncontrollable salt creep. Because of the type of vase and lid that I made for it, I could not get the salt creep under control. See, told you it would be a short story. So here we are today.....

For you folks that don't know yet, check out http://www.micro-reefs.com Great items and prices for Pico stuff (that is where I got several of my items from)

 

 

Equipment.

Dymax IQ3 aquarium (1.30 gallons of water after rock/sand and equipment displacement)

Stock pump as secondary recirculating pump

Hydor Pico Evo 180 - Main return pump

Hydor 15watt heater

RKL controller

Nano-Mag cleaner by Two little Fishies

4 LED DIY light fixture. 1 XML 2 Royal Blue 1 Cool White all run at 800ma

 

1lb or so of live Sand

4 lbs of live rock

 

Live Stock

Will be updated later

 

Lets get down to business, the pics

 

Here is the light Fixture (Large Heatsink so I won't need any active cooling)

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The Live Rock Structure

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Modified the false wall for an additional outlet so that I can have more flow. Here are the two pumps mounted.

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Dry placement of Rock and Sand (I made the structure based on measurements I found on line. It was a tight fit)

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Here it all is after water was added and pumps turned on. No sand storm or cloudiness, I would call that a win.

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That is pretty much where we are now. Let me know what you think.

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you will do fine w/o an ATO?

i think this is well planned and looks like a great start.

 

 

Well, that is yet to be seen. I have a lid over the main display area, so I hope that will cut down on the evaporation considerably. I will know after this week how important an ATO will be.

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the all one piece rock structure is a great idea.

 

it allows you to lift it out occasionally to siphon under it or do external treatments for pests where the inner environment won't be affected. a removable reef structure is highly preferably to one that is left alone and never cleaned under. you can cover that scape in frags and hide the seams etc. if it were mine Id start c balance dosing, you w get first purple coralline spot about December if you seed the tank with actual coralline or coralline rock and by March if you go completely dry cycle start, I couldn't tell if that rock was cured or not in a LFS tank.

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the all one piece rock structure is a great idea.

 

it allows you to lift it out occasionally to siphon under it or do external treatments for pests where the inner environment won't be affected. a removable reef structure is highly preferably to one that is left alone and never cleaned under. you can cover that scape in frags and hide the seams etc. if it were mine Id start c balance dosing, you w get first purple coralline spot about December if you seed the tank with actual coralline or coralline rock and by March if you go completely dry cycle start, I couldn't tell if that rock was cured or not in a LFS tank.

 

Well the rock already has coraline on it, and I added a small rock in there that has several shades of coraline, I am hoping I get more than just purple in this tank. C-Balance is already on the menu for this tank, along with the ESV B-Ionic salt mix.

 

 

 

nice work! ill be following along as i just got my iq3 in the mail today ;)

 

 

Post a link to your thread when you get started. I want to see how you do yours.

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I just did my first water change LOL.

 

I was attaching my Grandis Paly to a Rock and my big hand displace a lot of water.

 

Happens to me all the time.

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onto the counter/floor? :lol:

 

That is exactly where the water went. First counter. Then floor.

 

Happens to me all the time.

 

How is your IQ3 doing? I have not seen any updates lately.

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just in case, the best pico positioning tools Ive seen can be ordered from dallas bonsai.com

 

I'll take the 11 inch tweezers and surgical scalpels for fifty alex.

B

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just in case, the best pico positioning tools Ive seen can be ordered from dallas bonsai.com

 

I'll take the 11 inch tweezers and surgical scalpels for fifty alex.

B

Do you have a link to their site? Bonsai.com is a software company. lol

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I think my best buy of everything for my picos was the long tweezers. Before that I tried using these huge kitchen tongs, haha ... did not usually end well.

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I managed to find some long tweezers locally today, and I don't know why I didnt buy these earlier. It was so much easier attaching frags.

 

I grabbed some Zoas, GSP, and a small Echinopora (sp) frag. Will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

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Let there be frags.

 

FTS

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Echino, Grandi Paly, and Hermit

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Zoas

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Zoas

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I also got some GSP, but they haven't opened yet.

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great additions, especially those hardy zoas. they are green dragon eyes on the left and eagle eyes on the right. those are some of the fastest growers :)

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great additions, especially those hardy zoas. they are green dragon eyes on the left and eagle eyes on the right. those are some of the fastest growers :)

 

Thanks for the Zoa names. I am way to lazy to try and figure out the names of My zoas. If I like it, I buy it, name has never come in to play. But these little gems were only $5 each

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i dislike names as well, i just call them by their color. however having come across the more common names so many times, i actually remember a few now.

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i dislike names as well, i just call them by their color. however having come across the more common names so many times, i actually remember a few now.

 

I usually name all of mine. I call them all "The Pretty One" That way they all feel special.

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New additions. I was out looking for a pump to replace my evo pico 180 and came across so frags that I could not say no to.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just thought I would share a quick FTS

 

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The sand has been piled to the back thanks to the pistol shrimp. Also I have a Yasha Goby in there (not a big fan). The goby is a big time jumper I have picked him up from my counter 4 times now. He jumps pretty much every time my tweezers hit the water. Also, he is no where near as exciting as I hoped he would be. And lastly, the little bugger bites me when I rescue him from the counter.

 

As you can see just under the orange monti there is a white spot where the green monti was. He did not like that location obviously. The tiny piece that I placed lower in the tank bleached out where direct light was hitting it but the shaded area is doing well. Hopefully that piece makes it. The other 2 SPS I added at the same time lost some color shortly after I added them, but they are coming back quite nicely. The all purple one is coming back purple with green tips.

 

Lastly, I added 4 moonlights. Overkill? you bet ya, but I am loving it. I run them 2 hours before and after main lights. So it is pretty much just running actinics.

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Another FTS for everyone to enjoy

 

Added a few things. I forgot my DSLR at the folks house, so you will have to settle with a Cell picture for now.

 

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I was out looking for a pump to replace my evo pico 180

What don't you like about the 180?

 

FYI I plan to eventually replace the MiniJet 404 in my IQ3 with a Tunze Universal Mini pump. The 404 is just too strong for my softies and without the cover, it's hard to throttle it back.

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