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Surfer D's 5.5g 'I'm topless!'


lnglostsurfer

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lnglostsurfer

Update: After the problems I've had with pests in this tank (evolve 4), I started up a standard 5.5 gallon with the hopes to move things over as they pests are gone. I love the evolve tank but it's just a little small for me, I feel like I will be much more comfortable with the 5.5g. Built my own custom hood as well as soldered together a nice little LED light inside of it. Not necessarily the prettiest tank in town but it works well and I like the color of the lights. Will hopefully be going bigger once we get moved into our new house.

 

 

 

I've been out of the hobby for about 9 months now after breaking down my 10g reef. Spotted this at the store the other day and thought it was a pretty crazy little setup. Originally posted in AIO category but I think it definitely belongs here. So far I've bought the tank, live rock, black sand, and I have a light on the way. I've seen a few other tanks on here with the 9W LED light from aquatraders and it looks like it was made for this tank, so it's on order for $29.99 shipped. It has been setup for about 3 days now, with any luck it will be a quick cycle. I plan on doing mostly zoas and shrooms, with a nice mat of GSP and a few acans. Not sure if I will change up the scape much, I really like it but doesn't seem to leave me much room. 4.2 lbs of liverock in a 3.5-ish gallon display.

 

Any suggestions as to how I should switch up the filtration? I plan on doing weekly water changes with no fish or any livestock other than a very small CUC. Thinking about leaving everything stock but I might run a bag of chemipure and maybe some extra live rock rubble. Though about doing a fuge in the back with a light and chaeto but I think it might be a pain with not much room. Any ideas, just let me know.

 

(Hard to tell in the picture but there is actually kind of an overhang from the top rocks with kind of a shadowed cave in the middle)

FTS (10/31) Happy halloween!!

http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/lnglostsurfer/media/IMG_20131031_122230_131.jpg.html'>IMG_20131031_122230_131.jpg

 

FTS (9/25)

IMG_20130922_165402_115.jpg

FTS (6/2)

IMG_20130604_160846_827.jpg

New FTS (3/23)

IMG_20130323_164006_078.jpg

 

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lnglostsurfer

So I just found 2 very tiny aptasia and one slightly larger one on the live rock tonight before my light went off. I really was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with that but of course I have horrible luck. When I treated them on my 55 gallon reef 5 years ago, I used aptasiaX, but I don't have any available to me now. I've read a few things about using hydrogen peroxide so I thought I'd give it a shot since there's no livestock in my tank yet. I didn't want to use full strength since it's something I've never tried, so I mixed about 50/50 with RO water. Injected a few (maybe 5 mL) into each aptasia and instantly they started to bubble like an open wound. All of them retracted back to almost nothing so I will be curious to see if they die off overnight.

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lnglostsurfer

I actually just used regular aquarium black sand. A friend of mine used it in his 40b and had great luck. Just kept a close eye on pH and kept up with regular water changes. Occasionally used a pH buffer but didn't need to that often. I plan on doing about 25% water changes once a week, if not more since I'm running such a basic filtration setup. It shouldn't be too bad since I'm not planning on having any livestock other than corals.

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lnglostsurfer

Since I don't have any livestock in my tank yet is there something I can do to get rid of these guys easier? Maybe just get a couple peppermint shrimp and let them run their course? Haven't really had to deal with them before so I haven't gotten to experiment with the best ways to get rid of them. I wish I had a syringe to try the boiling water/lemon juice idea. Where can I get a syringe other than from a diabetic or homeless guy in downtown?

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lnglostsurfer

Alright, aptasia gone! (I think/hope). Got the Beamswork light in today, as well as a new digital therm, since my old ones corroded to all hell. It's nice and bright, I got the 9x1W LED fixture but it's a bit spotlight-y and stripey, which I'm a little disappointed in. Hard to adjust the mount but at the same time it seems very stable so it won't be falling in the tank.

 

2013-03-01_14-53-29_322.jpg

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lnglostsurfer

Finished a quick parameter check:

 

pH = 8.2

Ammonia = 0

Nitrite = 0

Nitrate = 5.0 ppm

 

 

So close to being able to add livestock. Might just have to pick up a small clean up crew soon...

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I like the look of these tanks. A local pet store has some on sale, I've been tempted to pick one up.

 

As for the Aiptasia, I used fire to get rid of mine while the tank was still cycling. Cheap and effective. :)

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lnglostsurfer

I ended up boiling some RO water and some lemon juice and dipping the sections of liverock directly into the boiling water for about 10-15 seconds. They literally just fell off the rock. Then I took a Phillips head screwdriver and kind of ground out where they were to make sure there were no particles left. That was 4 days ago and so far so good.

 

As far as livestock goes, I'm planning on keeping this mostly a photosynthetic tank so I won't have to feed very often.

-Zoanthids/palys

-Mushrooms/ricordias/yumas

-GSP

-Possibly Acans

-Possibly Blastos

-Possibly pulsing xenia (don't want it to take over but I love the look)

 

Any other good corals that would only have to be fed about once a week? Really want to keep things as stable as possible and not add any extra food. Love LPS corals but what other ones are there that feed more on the light than Mysis 'n such?



And on a good note, I found an online coral dealer, www.spikescorals.com that will ship to my area for only $15.99!! I think the website says parts of Georgia, south Carolina, north Carolina and Tennessee maybe? Either way, he's got some really cool zoas and ricordias so I may have to make an order soon.

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lnglostsurfer

Another new aquascape....can't seem to be satisfied. Very 3 dimensional with an overhang and cave but hard to tell in the picture. Might try to get some side pictures later

 

2013-03-04_10-58-28_411.jpg

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lnglostsurfer

Just picked up a Hydor Pico Evolution 400 pump. 100 gph. I can't believe how tiny this thing is! Looks like they use the same mounting bracket/suction cup for all of their pumps so unfortunately it was too big to fit in the back but the pump itself is amazing. I can't believe how much more flow there is, I think the stock one is about 50-60 gph so it makes a huge difference. And I found one hiding back behind a koralia pump at the store and they said it was $15. SOLD!!

 

2013-03-04_18-33-24_53.jpg

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lnglostsurfer

Yeah, the pump fits fine, actually almost half the size of the stock pump and I think just a touch quieter too. But it's the bracket it comes with that has the suction cups on it. Guess it's meant to fit up to the biggest pump they have so it's a bit big and bulky for the tiny one. The outlet side of it is a bit bigger than the stock piece of hose but nothing a lighter and some stretching couldn't fix. It's just hanging in place in the back of the tank but it works because it's wedged in with the rubber bottom of the heater so it's not going anywhere. Water level should be able to get pretty low as well without messing up the pump. My next task is to re-configure the filter arrangement. I think I'm just going to run a sponge filter and a bag of chemi-pure rather than the carbon bags it's setup for. Have you kept with the stock filtration so far?

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lnglostsurfer

So my light is still kind of bugging me being somewhat spot-lighty. Has anyone seen or used the 12 watt par38 bulbs on ebay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12X1W-Cool-White-Royal-Blue-Par-38-12W-LED-Light-Lamp-Bulb-for-Aquarium-Showcase-/370767072305?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5653708c31

Actually kind of interested in this. Wouldn't want it for a bigger tank at all but for a 4 gallon it might do quite well. And I could mount it another way as this light seems kind of heavy for the very thin back of my tank. I still don't understand why the back wall would be half as thin as the main acrylic in the tank when that's where the light mounts too...about the only poor design of this tank.

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lnglostsurfer

So I played around with my aquascape again...I really wanted a little more room on the sand for a few special corals I have in mind. Here's what I came up with. I promise it's going to be the last time haha

 

2013-03-05_19-16-14_751.jpg

 

2013-03-05_19-16-31_372.jpg

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lnglostsurfer

So, just a bit of advice that I always used to follow and for some reason didn't....if you buy pre-mixed saltwater from your lfs, ALWAYS check the salinity!!! She said they keep it at 1.024 but I don't know if there was freshwater in the line or not but I just checked it (and my tank) and it was at 1.020. I'm slowly going to be topping off with the 1.020 salinity water until it gets to where I want and then I'll mix some salt to raise my bucket of water up to the right temp. I always had good luck with 1.025 to 1.026 so that's about where I'll keep it. Stupid rookie mistake.....grrrr. Guess I got spoiled by my lfs back in florida that was anal about everything....

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lnglostsurfer

So many pods on the glass!! Can't stop staring....should I go ahead and add a mandarin to help control my pod population before it gets out of control? Haha, I've always wanted one too but that's the downfall of a pico....guess I'll wait until I have the funds to go big again. Maybe after I buy a house and stop living in different apartments every year...

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lnglostsurfer

So I'm looking into cleanup crews....didn't notice too many different types of snails at my lfs so I came across this at reef cleaners as a package for a 2-4 gallon pico.

http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_new.tpl&product_id=207&category_id=20&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

2 Dwarf Ceriths

1 Nassarius

2 Florida Ceriths

3 Small to Medium Nerites

 

Does this seem like an absurd amount of snails for a 4 gallon? I was thinking maybe 2 smaller snails, something that goes through the sandbed a bit too. Any suggestions or comments on cleanup crews??

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xxShaddowxx

I just have 1 nassarius snail in my 4 gallon right now and I really like him. I doubt that will be too much, they will disappear into rocks and stuff periodically

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lnglostsurfer

Looks like my tank has finally finished it's cycle, about to do my first water change. I've noticed a lot of the small starfish roaming around and grazing but I saw another one today that was a little different. At least I'm assuming it's a star, only has 2 1/2 legs kind of...weird little guy. Can't imagine there would be any issues with him though. Trip to the LFS tomorrow for the first additions

2013-03-11_15-25-21_586.jpg

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It's a starfish. Be warned, you will not get 2 dwarf ceriths from Reefcleaners. John can't count, you'll end up with 25-50. :D Cause in his planet that's 2.

 

I used to keep a harlequin shrimp and he ate just those starfish. Great shrimp, but they only eat starfish, so you need a constant supply.

 

L

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great start! im about to get rock in my tank this weekend :D
going to be following this closely since im new to salt :)
keeps us updated :D

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lnglostsurfer

Thanks, I just swung by my lfs today and picked up a few snails and a small mat of gsp. So far the snails have started chomping away and the gsp is peeking its polyps out. Once it opens up I'll definitely get some pictures up on here.

 

On a side note, I ordered a bunch of supplies for messing around with a DIY led setup...going to be awhile before everything comes in though.

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lnglostsurfer

So I have to say, this gsp opened completely after 24 hours, usually takes 2 or 3 days for pieces I've gotten in the past. Also has some of the longest polyps I have ever seen! Longest ones have to be close to 2 inches. Looks really great in the tank, just waiting for it to attach. Really healthy looking and BRIGHT green. I couldn't be happier. Also looks like I have a small mushroom, hopefully purple-ish?, that I just found on my liverock, it has already doubled in size. About 1/4 inch now and getting bigger. Snails are munching away at everything so looks like healthy tank so far.

2013-03-13_18-33-57_680.jpg

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