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PicO II Build (Brevotium Reef)


beprimeaux

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Hey everybody, so this is my first time writing a build topic so any tips would be appreciated! Anyway, I recently upgraded to an Innovative Marine Nuvo 24, made a custom stand and everything, well less than a month later, I wake up at 3:00 AM to the sound of water splashing on my floors. So I was forced to put all my livestock from my Nuvo 24 to my Nuvo 16, with the MP10's in the same spots as the Nuvo 24, and it too cracked in the same spot. So once again, I had to move my livestock, this time to a BioCube 8. So after the first incident of the Nuvo 24 cracking, I went straight to PicOAquariums and ordered a PicO II after hearing great things about their aquariums.

Frustrated, I contacted Innovative Marine and told them what happened. Stephen, Head of Sales and Marketing was extremely nice and responsive, sent me out a Nuvo 24 and a Nuvo 16. However, I sold them both because I just lost all the confidence in setting up a Nuvo aquarium after two cracking and losing livestock.

I talked to my LFS and they said that all of their customers who had cracked Nuvo 24's had one thing in common: At least one MP10. I had two MP10w ES' on mine running Reef Crest mode at 40/50% power in anti-sync master/slave mode on both the Nuvo 24 and the Nuvo 16.

I'm currently replacing all of my floors so that should be done in a few weeks. My new carpet is finally installed and I even painted my room a light blue/green color to make me feel like I'm at the beach! :lol:

My reef will be named Brevotium Reef (Pronounced BREH VOTE EE UM). It's a pseudo word of the two Latin words "Brevis" and "Otium". Brevis means "small" and otium means "peace". My aquascape will be minimal and will resemble a bonsai tree.

Also, I was considering black sand for this aquarium, does anybody know of any cons to using black sand? Maybe even some pros?

Current Equipment:

  • (2) MP10w ES'
  • Tunze Nano Osmolator
  • AquaIllumination Nano
  • AquaIllumination Controller
  • PicO EA Mount
  • Aqueon Heater
  • Coralife digital thermometer
  • Green Killing Machine UV Sterilizer

Future Equipment:

  • Maybe a Neptune System Controller

Current Coral:

  • Superman Montipora (Lost due to stress in tank crash)
  • GSP
  • Torch Coral (Lost due to stress in tank crash)
  • Ricordia Mushrooms (Lost due to stress in tank crash)
  • Rhodactis Mushroom (Lost due to stress in tank crash)
  • Favia (2)
  • Green Branching Hammer Coral
  • Bicolor Purple/Green Branching Hammer Coral
  • Four Zoanthid Colonies (Don't Know The Names)
  • Green Birdsnest
  • Two Brain Corals
  • Chalice

Current Livestock (Fish, Invertebrates, Etc):

  • Black and White Oscellaris Clownfish
  • Snowflake Clownfish
  • Canary Blenny
  • Ultra Blue Maxima Clam
  • Deresa Clam

Future Stock:

  • Leptastrea Maybe
  • Bright Zoanthids

Any thoughts, suggestions?

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Damn that sucks man i just had that happen with a nano cube but luckily i saw it happen so i was able to put buckets to catch the water, anyways i like the black sand look dont know of any pros or cons though was thinking of switching mine out, looks like a cool set up.

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Solarflare8806

Good luck, sorry to hear about your floors.

 

Personally I would not use black sand... It gives an interesting contrast to the reef but not something I like. Also, using white sand will help with lighting because your light will reflect off of it. Not sure by what magnitude this is beneficial... I would Google some aquariums that have black sand and see if you like the look.

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So this will be my aquascape. I'm going for simple and elegant. The purple rock further back is where I'll be putting my GSP that's in my backup tank and the rock towards the front is where I'm going to glue my leather coral, which is also in my backup tank, any thoughts?

 

http://m1314.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/beprimeaux/755F5623-E333-43E4-945D-2686C91233F4-11911-0000041F7B572460_zpsa1e898d1.jpg.html?o=0

 

Your going to be pretty limited on skimmers, honestly though you don't even need one. Water changes and good husbandry will be much more effective.
Yeah I'm pretty diligent on water changes. I'm thinking maybe a 2-3 gallon water change every weekend.
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So this will be my aquascape. I'm going for simple and elegant. The purple rock further back is where I'll be putting my GSP that's in my backup tank and the rock towards the front is where I'm going to glue my leather coral, which is also in my backup tank, any thoughts?

 

http://m1314.photobucket.com/albumview/albums/beprimeaux/755F5623-E333-43E4-945D-2686C91233F4-11911-0000041F7B572460_zpsa1e898d1.jpg.html?o=0

 

Yeah I'm pretty diligent on water changes. I'm thinking maybe a 2-3 gallon water change every weekend.

Aquascape looks good!

 

Yeah if your doing weekly 25% or so, a skimmer isn't really necessary at all. I don't remember, what are the dimensions of the chambers in the back of the II?

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Thanks man! And the dimensions are 3.5 inches deep x 15 inches tall but I don't know the individual chamber dimensions in the back. That's the total of the whole filtration chamber.

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Oh, and is there an easier way to post pictures? The ones on Photobucket really aren't that high quality. Also, how do I set a picture as my signature?

 

Damn that sucks man i just had that happen with a nano cube but luckily i saw it happen so i was able to put buckets to catch the water, anyways i like the black sand look dont know of any pros or cons though was thinking of switching mine out, looks like a cool set up.

 

Yeah I'm happy I was there to catch most of the water, but I'm having to replace all of my floors. It sucks because I have to wait for the guy to come do it since he will do it for free. But hey, more money for equipment! Lol.

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Oh, and is there an easier way to post pictures? The ones on Photobucket really aren't that high quality. Also, how do I set a picture as my signature?

 

 

 

Yeah I'm happy I was there to catch most of the water, but I'm having to replace all of my floors. It sucks because I have to wait for the guy to come do it since he will do it for free. But hey, more money for equipment! Lol.

I just use any page that uploads pictures like imageshack or postimage to set up a pic in ur signature just go to My Settings signature upload a pic and get the direct link then just add it using the Image option or you can create a banner or something

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I've got a pcio 2 S that I plan on running a tunze 9001 in when I get the extra spending money. It fits perfectly in the far left chamber and works well with the water height. Food for thought.

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I've got a pcio 2 S that I plan on running a tunze 9001 in when I get the extra spending money. It fits perfectly in the far left chamber and works well with the water height. Food for thought.

Will it fit in mine? Mine isn't the shallow model, it's the regular PicO II

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I believe it will still fit, pico aquariums has a good diagram on the size of it. You may need to change the cup out for a StevieT's cup, which are rectangular.

http://www.picoaquariums.com/skimmers/24-tunze-nano-doc-protein-skimmer-9002.html'>http://www.picoaquariums.com/skimmers/24-tunze-nano-doc-protein-skimmer-9002.html

 

Sweet, I ordered the AI Nano and the EA mount. I'm pretty eager to get this tank set up. I'm still waiting on my carpet to be installed. It should be installed on the 27th or three days after. I'm stoked.

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So here are some updates:

 

THE BAD:

If you guys recall, I said that I had everything from my Nuvo 24 in my backup Nuvo 16, well, the freaking Nuvo 16 cracked... :angry: I'm beyond aggravated with Innovative Marine and their tanks. So NOW everything is in my BioCube 8. I've already lost my torch coral and my goniopora. I guess they couldn't handle the stress. Ugh.

 

THE GOOD:

My carpet will be installed Wednesday! I'm stoked!

 

NEW EQUIPMENT:

I ordered the AquaIllumination Nano and I also ordered the PicO EA Light Mount System!

 

I'll be taking pictures of everything so don't worry. I still have a lot to learn but I feel as though I'm off to a pretty good start! Any questions, comments, suggestions, feel free to ask!

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My aquarium shipped out today! Woo! I received my AI Nano and man, this thing is bright! I also ordered the AI controller and the EA Mount that PicO Aquariums sells on their website. All the pictures will go up on the day that the aquarium is set up!

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So my PicO II came in and it's so gorgeous! The thing that first catches my eye is how simple it looks even with all of my equipment installed on it. Here are some pictures of it. I'll upload better pictures when I get home

http://imageshack.us/photo/photo/547/vcem.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/4084/s2tf.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img46/4877/v40b.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img41/5381/e0su.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img809/778/edoh.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

No love? :unsure: Alright, I guess... Well, here's some updates to the aquarium:

 

I added two clownfish, one snowflake clown and one black and white clown. They get along well and sometimes do the jitterbug! (Mating dance)

oulx.jpgeceu.jpg4ts7.jpgudcr.jpgka8r.jpgfwmy.jpg

I added the Cad Lights NR-1 media reactor and I'm running GFO in it!

I added two favias, pink stylophora, two headed hammer, and a derasa clam! I keep my lights at 60% white, 50% Royal Blue and 50% Blue.

 

ixtv.jpg

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