TSTB's 0.9G SPS Pico "Desktop Reef" *ONE YEAR OLD! WOO!*

[thesmallerthebetter]

So i felt like rebuilding the system i used in the old "Pico Methodology Contest" only a bit bigger, so i went with a "Marina Cubus" i had lying round and with a little bit of fabrication, wiring, and secret sauce came up with this:

Tank Dimensions:

Marina Cubus:
5.9"L x 5.9"W x 5.9"T = 0.9 Gallon
Painted Out Back

Flow:

Mini DIY "Pump" V2.0

Lighting:

7W Cool White LED Pendant
120 Degree Optics
1x UV LED
4x Royal Blue LED
2x Cool White LED

Heating:

Flexwatt Heat Tape + Connectors epoxied to the underside of the tank in the little base
Digital Thermostat


Dosing:

Gravity Fed ATO


Current Stock List:

Softies:

"Utter Chaos" Palys
"Maryjane" Palys
"Gold Maul" Palys
"Valentines Day Massacre" Palys
"Wobbegong" Palys
"Pink Elephant" Palys
"Sunny D" Palys
"Rasta" Zoanthids
"Lakers" Zoanthids
Green Silunaria Leather
Blue Sympodium
Blue Clove Polyps
Green Star Polyps

LPS:

Orange/White Acanthophyllia

Purple/Green Fungia
Orange/Blue Tip Fungia
Red Fungia
Red/Green Micromussa
Purple/Green Micromussa
Rainbow Acanthastrea Lord
Yellow/Purple Acanthastrea Lord
Baby's Breath Favia
Green/Purple Frogspawn
Blue Lithophyllon
Orange Tubastrea
Pink Cladopsammia
Yellow Dendrophyllia

Gold/Blue Chalice

SPS:

Acropora Echinata "Ice Fire"
Acropora Walindii "Red Dragon"
Acropora Granulosa "Neon Green"
Acropora Nasuta "Pink Lemonade"
Monipora Setosa "Mandarin"

Montipora Capricornis "Starburst"

Montipora Capricornis "Chocolate Mint Chip"
Montipora Capricornis "Blue Flower"
Montipora Capricornis "Seasons Greetings"
Montipora Stellata "Tubbs"
Seriatopora Hystrix "Tubbs"
Acropora sp. "Plating Bonsai"

Other:
Grube's Gorgonian

Invertebrates:
Mini Starfish
Mini Cerith Snails

The flow and thermostat are controlled by two external nobs on a wall mounted project box. Hoping to keep a few different varieties of higher end deepwater acros in there, maybe even a couple mini frags of dendros. for now it just has a single polyp of "Lunar Eclipse" zoas.


Stay Tuned:





September 5th 2013 FTS:



September 20th 2013 FTS:


October 16th 2013 FTS:



November 14th 2013 FTS:


December 25th 2013 FTS:



January 25th 2014 FTS:



February 24th 2014 FTS:



March 10th 2014 FTS:



April 12th FTS 2014:

 

May 23rd FTS 2014

 

 

July 3rd 2014 FTS:

 

 

August 14th 2014 FTS:

 

[mgsullivan24]

Very cool! Definitely tagging along

[JoshuA c]

Can you explain your Mini DIY "Pump" V2.0?

[thesmallerthebetter]

Can you explain your Mini DIY "Pump" V2.0?

 

it basically uses a brushless motor mounted (with adhesives, part 1 of the v2.0) outside the tank to turn a propeller mounted to a magnet coated in marine epoxy (part 2 of v2.0) on the inside of the tank, again, mounted with adhesives.

 

my 1/4 gallon sps cube in my sig used the first incarnation of this pump and has pics of the build if you are interested.

 

unfortunately i cant really share more on the matter, but you can certainly play google and find out alot

[JoshuA c]

How's the tank coming along? And how long did you wait from adding water and LR until you added the paly?

[Travis55]

I read through your 1/4 gal. That thing was intense! Were u ever able to build the pumps for the public? Looking forward to how this one turns out!

[thesmallerthebetter]

How's the tank coming along? And how long did you wait from adding water and LR until you added the paly?

 

Its comming along great, ive added a CUC from reefcleaners of a single mini nerite and 4 micro ceriths (under 1/8"

long) , several more palys (pink elephant, V-Day massacres, wobbegong, and one other that i keep forgetting the name of, a 2 polyp frag of a micromussa, and as of yesterday a micro ponape frag from our mother at work. mid week there will be some more goodies going in as well.

 

the rock was 100% dry rock from the rubble pile outside. i cycled with a squirt of mysis and it took a little over a month to level out and now theres algea growth on the rocks and walls as expected. in the comming weeks ill be seeding with coraline scrapings from the display at work and seeing how that works.

 

i belive strongly that the bioload from live rocks (micro fauna that we dont necessarily want) is detrimental to a tiny system like this. I will also do near 100% water changes at least once a week once things get going for real in the tank.....

 

I read through your 1/4 gal. That thing was intense! Were u ever able to build the pumps for the public? Looking forward to how this one turns out!

 

never got anywhere beyong sourcing components from overseas, the biggest obstacle was getting a housing molded that was presentable and serviceable. and finding a motor that was quiet enough for in home use. but that seems to be an issue will all "devices" of this nature, noise complaints.

 

will be updating this week with pics of the new corals, and some more that are on the way from far away places

 

 

stay tuned

[thesmallerthebetter]

UPDATE:

 

Added new stuff, two yumas, another micromussa, small CUC, i think thats it.....check first page for complete stock

 

 

 

 

 

[.Newman.]

expensive looking yumas, nice!

I never had luck growing rics. wouldn't even think of trying a yuma.

i know they're just mushrooms, and a ric florida was my very first coral i kept. ever since it became the very first coral i killed for a mysterious reason, I've stayed away from them (I did have a common blue ric in a 10 gal nano that live a long time until i sold it to someone, but that's still not enough to convince me.)

[thesmallerthebetter]

expensive looking yumas, nice!

I never had luck growing rics. wouldn't even think of trying a yuma.

i know they're just mushrooms, and a ric florida was my very first coral i kept. ever since it became the very first coral i killed for a mysterious reason, I've stayed away from them (I did have a common blue ric in a 10 gal nano that live a long time until i sold it to someone, but that's still not enough to convince me.)

 

they werent that bad, i got them from a mariculture op that charged $30 for the pink and $10 for the rainbow.

 

but yumas are notorious for melting away after a while in captivity. Ive had issues with them before but still cant stay away, ive always loved the neon pinks and rainbows, keeping my eyes peeled for an appropriately sized purple/blue one.

 

hopefully these maricultured specimines will do better for me

[brandon429]

o how I miss these days

 

no scratches

 

all bright corals (I stocked mine w boring ones from the 2000s those yumas not even available here lol)

 

and leds so that one doest have to order old dated powercompacts from hellolights all the time.

 

You have a nice tank Sir

[1.0reef]

UPDATE:

 

Added new stuff, two yumas, another micromussa, small CUC, i think thats it.....check first page for complete stock

 

 

 

 

 

eh

Eh

EH

EH

oh

Oh

OH

SHAZAAM!

http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/a-zbudiereef/media/Peter-Griffin-Football-head-icon_zpsac2bfa38.png.html'>

[Solarflare8806]

I have lost so much sleep trying to design that pump when you did it the first time for the methodology contest lol. Glad to see you're back. Good luck! The pico looks amazing, love the rics

[sillycupid]

Gorgeous tank. What made you decide on the Marina Cube? Convienence or simplicity? I have always seen that tank in Petsmart but never thought to use it.

[thesmallerthebetter]

Gorgeous tank. What made you decide on the Marina Cube? Convienence or simplicity? I have always seen that tank in Petsmart but never thought to use it.

 

I chose the marina for its clean lines and the little "Base" it sits on that allowed me to hide/epoxy the heat tape under the tank. having one "in stock" made the choice easy enough. plus its just under a gallon so i get to slap the "sub-gallon" badge on this project

 

I have lost so much sleep trying to design that pump when you did it the first time for the methodology contest lol. Glad to see you're back. Good luck! The pico looks amazing, love the rics

 

 

thanks its comming along nicely

 

o how I miss these days

 

no scratches

 

all bright corals (I stocked mine w boring ones from the 2000s those yumas not even available here lol)

 

and leds so that one doest have to order old dated powercompacts from hellolights all the time.

 

You have a nice tank Sir

 

thank you sir hopefully i can keep it up for a good long while, it being at work should help keep me focused and if i have to take time off the volunteers/staff are more than capable of making the necessary tweaks to keep 'er goin.

[owlbassboy]

stunning setup! love that little pump!

[thesmallerthebetter]

stunning setup! love that little pump!

 

Thanks, i love it too haha

 

So i have happy, and sad news.....

 

sad news is that as i had feared on of my yumas, the pink one, has melted

 

happy news? the rainbow one threw a tiny little yuma baby!!!!! so hopefully thats a sign that it will stay around a while

 

and because i didnt post a pic of the Ponape frag last update heres a pic, a crappy pic, but a pic dammit

 

http://s635.photobucket.com/user/thesmallerthebetter/media/1G%20SPS%20Pico/photo-3.jpg.html'>

[Nano sapiens]

Pink Yumas are such a tough bunch to keep from melting. Best bet is to find one that has been captive grown.

[thesmallerthebetter]

Pink Yumas are such a tough bunch to keep from melting. Best bet is to find one that has been captive grown.

agreed, this one was a maricultured specimen but i guess it still didnt feel happy about captivity.

 

ill prolly snatch another up soon and try again eventually.

[JoshuA c]

agreed, this one was a maricultured specimen but i guess it still didnt feel happy about captivity.

 

ill prolly snatch another up soon and try again eventually.

Doesn't mariculture means grown in the ocean and aquaculture mean grown in captivity?

[Veng]

Doesn't mariculture means grown in the ocean and aquaculture mean grown in captivity?

They're both technically grown in captivity, one is grown in a farm in the ocean (as opposed to harvested from a reef), while the other is grown in a tank somewhere. Aquaculture tend to be hardier in aquariums, but more expensive.

[thesmallerthebetter]

They're both technically grown in captivity, one is grown in a farm in the ocean (as opposed to harvested from a reef), while the other is grown in a tank somewhere. Aquaculture tend to be hardier in aquariums, but more expensive.

bingo. mariculture tends to be a farm of sorts on a reef capabable plot of leased land but still in the ocean.

 

In other news: expecting a fatty shipment of new goodies tomorrow several new palys and a couple of nice acropora frags

 

stay tuned

[thesmallerthebetter]

Goodies arrived, in excellent shape save some color loss from transport. will be taking better pics in the comming week once they open up all nice. for now just FTS:

 

 

youll notice the new protruding rockwork that is exposed.... its has a little crevice in it as you can kinda see here:

 

 

that little space should wind up being home to this:

 

 

PICKLEWEED! an amazing local halophyte that grows using pure saltwater and unlike mangroves actually stores the salt in its leaves. hope to grow some hydroponically using it for nutrient export on days i cant make it in to do a water change, and to add that modern exposed rockwork look. if it takes off i might add a second exposed branch on the right side between the main rockwork and the rear of the tank and try another local halophyte "Salty Susan".

 

Also modified the ATO to make it a little more reliable. used a magnet mount instead of a clip to help manage salt creep, also made the in tank portion of the hose rigid rather than flexible to assure it sits the exact same way every time its mounted.

 

Stay tuned for better pics and new stuff next week as well!

[fullmonti]

Glad I found your new thread, always a treat to see what your up to.

 

Jim

[Reef_Suds]

Let's see that pickleweed!