GR's 2 Gallon IQ3 Pico Reef - New Pics!

[grmoore]

Full Tank Shot

 

April 22, 2014

 

 

January 1, 2014

 

 

December 24, 2013

 

 

December 15, 2013

 

 

December 8, 2013

 

 

All images are reduced size. Please click on them for the full HD version.

 

Equipment:

• Dymax IQ3 with plastic top
• MJ606 Pump (closed loop)
• Cobalt 25W Neo-Therm Heater
• Cerameco VidaRock
• Nano Mag
• Apex Jr.

Lighting:

• AquaIllumination Nano with DIY mounting solution

Filtration:

• ZooMed 501 Canister Filter with Sponge, Ceramic noodles and Seachem SeaGel (bagged)

Clean Up Crew:

• 4-Dwarf Ceriths
• 1-Florida Cerith
• 1-Mini Brittlestar

Livestock:

• White Encrusting Tunicate

Corals:

• Green Rhodactis
• Yellow and Green Ricordea Florida
• Red Actinodiscus
• Lemon Tree (Stereonepthya sp)
• Orange Zest Ricordea yuma
• Green Button Polyps
• Teal Alveopora
• Purple Polyp Yellow Stylophora
• Blue Purple Fuzzy Mushroom
• ORA Loco Lobo Lobophytum
• Yellow and Green Zoanthids
• Black Cherry Brain
• Pulsing Xenia
• Orange Ricordea Florida

Macro Algae:

• Bornetella oligospora (Sear Fern)
• Red Rose Petal (unidentified species)

Inspired by re-reading andrewkw's Dymax IQ3 thread, I decided to get my IQ3 out of the basement and setup a pico reef.

 

I decided to spend a bit of upfront time designing an easy to maintain system as I really don't want to have to fight with it each time I make changes. I definately wanted to go bare bottom and avoid the accumulation of detritus in the sandbed. Another requirement was the ability to remove the rockwork to add corals so I don't have to struggle in such a cramped space. After finding my last two orders of rock from Reef Cleaners and one from Bulk Reef Supply were so loaded with phosphates that serious algae outbreaks occured, I decided I would never go with natural rock again, and ordered a pico column from Cerameco...

 

 

Four weeks of being told it shipped, it didn't ship, it was being fired in the kiln, it wasn't fired yet, I finally received my rock along with a bunch of extras - an extra pico column, two extra pico barnacles and a really nice arch. For what was lacking in relaying information, the quality is great, it looks pretty natural and is as porous as a sponge. Removing the rock from the tank only drops the water 1/4". I can take the column out, put it in a Ziplock container, do my work and simply replace it and the residual water left in the container. I also added in a 1 inch barnacle that adds a little visual balance to the column.

 

 

For flow, I changed out the stock pump for a MiniJet 606. This pump (and the MJ404 as well) has been discontinued, so I picked up three of them to have spares. I had to remove the front and back plates to fit them in the return chamber. I lengthened the outlet hosing so the pump 'dangles' about a half inch from the bottom of the chamber to allow for the best flow. I cut out some of the teeth from the built in weir to allow for the additional flow from the MJ606. I didn't close off the run-dry hole in the back wall of the tank for two reasons - I like the safety that it provides (albeit minimal), and I also use it to indicated when freshwater needs to be topped off. When water begins to visibly flow through the run-dry hole, the water needs topped off.

 

For filtration, I didn't want to clutter things up with drip trays or filter floss, so I decided to go with a ZooMed 501 external canister filter.

 

 

 

These are superb little filter systems. They are exceptionally well made, and come complete with filtration media, tubing and mounting parts. The only flaw I found was that while they have an advertised rating of 79gph, measuring them with no filter medium shows they are actually 35gph. Still, this is a turnover rate of 17 times per hour for this little tank. I went with their stock, cylindrical sponge for mechanical filtration, ceramic rings for biological and added about 10ml of Seachem SeaGel. The water is as clear as I've ever seen on any tank. I run the inlet into the outlet chamber of the tank, and the outlet of the filter runs directly into the display, pushing water down the back wall. I had to cut a slot in the plastic tank lid to drop the outlet tube into the tank...

 

 

 

With all of the added flow from the filter and the MJ606, I had to remove the rest of the weir teeth and open that area up fully. The water sheets down the wall of the chamber very nicely now...

 

 

For heating, I went with one of the new Colbolt 25W Neo-Therm heaters. They are significantly smaller than the Finnex Titanium heaters I have been using, and I feel much more confident in their ability to hold temperature accurately. It was preset at 78 degrees from the factory, and it was spot on. The heater drops low into the first chamber and leaves plenty of room should I want to add an ATO or other gadget in there in the future.

 

 

I tossed around various lighting options ranging from the IM Skyylight, to PAR30/PAR38, to a Kessil 150, to a custom fixture, but decided on picking up a used AI Nano here on NR. While it's a pretty nice light, and the absolute perfect size for this tank, the mount it comes with is near useless. So, I bought a 1 inch square tube of extruded clear acrylic and 1.25" square clear acrylic pads from USPlastics and fabricated a simple mount for the light. The two cross bars are 7 inches long to fit across the tank, and the squares are glued onto the ends of the tubes to provide stops so the light stays on tank should it get bumped. The cross bars are attached with 3M foam tape strips to the light for simplicity.

 

 

 

I could have gone with no top on the tank to allow more light penetration, but this would also increase the evaporation rate significantly, throwing the salinity out of whack and also screwing with the filtration. Right now, I top off first thing in the morning, when I get home in the afternoon and just before bed at night - about 50ml total each day. I picked up a Nalgene bottle from USPlastics as well to make top off a bit easier than pouring water out of a jug...

 

 

Maintenance consists of siphoning off any detritus and replacing 4 cups of saltwater each Saturday. I've been using Kent Reef Salt Mix in the plastic jugs - I like the high Calcium and Alkalinity of 500ppm/11.4 dKH. Each month I'll rinse out the ceramic rings and sponge in old water, and replace the SeaGel.

 

So far, I've added a couple of Florida Ricordea, a pair of green Rhodactis, a red Actinodiscus that's already dropped a baby 'shroom, and a Lemon Tree coral frag. I picked up a bunch of other coral frags from Black Friday sales, and they're in quarantine for a another week before I gradually move some of them into this one. I'm not going to keep many macroalgae in this tank, but I do have a 'Red Rose Petal' (unidentified species) and a small 1.5 inch rock covered by dozens of Bornetella oligospora sprouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm keeping the CUC to a minimum so I can ensure no dead snails are left to rot. I currently have one Florida Cerith and two Dwarf Ceriths in the tank. I will probably add another Florida Cerith and a couple of other unusual snails from another tank.

[Clarinet_Reefer]

Very nice post. Love the tank and the 'liverock' coloumn. You're getting some very nice colors with the AI Nano too. Looks great and I will be following along to see those new corals.

[grmoore]

Very nice post. Love the tank and the 'liverock' coloumn. You're getting some very nice colors with the AI Nano too. Looks great and I will be following along to see those new corals.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the Nano light, especially on this tank. The lighting is very crisp. If the corals continue to look good in quarantine, I will start moving them into this tank over the weekend.

[mov]

Really looking forward to seeing this one develop! Looking great so far

[Reefkid88]

Oh this is nice !!! This ones going to be fun to watch. Looking good already !!

[grmoore]

I did my weekly 32 ounce (4 cup) water change this weekend. The ZooMed 501 filter body holds 32 ounces without any media, so I drained it, cleaned the filter sponge and ceramic rings in that water and replaced the 10 ml of SeaGel. The remainder of the water change was made up of a couple ounces of water as I siphoned the bottom of the tank (mostly flaking from the VidaRock).

Everything looks to be very happy in the tank, with nice polyp extension on the Lemon Tree (Stereonepthya). I did have some hair algae growing on one of the rubble rock frags, but I brushed that off with a toothbrush (its great being able to take the entire rock out of the tank to work on it). I've gotten exceptional growth from the Bornetella oligospora, with dozens of 1/4 - 3/4 inch plants now.




The only issue I've seen is that the encrusting sponge/tunicate receded just a tad, and I'm not sure why. I'm going to put it in a more shaded area to see if that helps. It could also be that it's not getting the nutrients it was used to getting from my other tank. If I don't see improvement in the next week, I'll take it out and put it back in the other tank.


The corals in the quarantine tank have been doing very well, so I decided to move a few of them over. I'm only going to move a few each week to give the bacterial filter time to adjust. I added an Orange Zest Ricordea yuma, a pair of Green Button Polyps and a nice cluster of Teal Alveopora. I mounted the Alveopora on the 1 inch barnacle rock.









Here is the current FTS...

[Reefkid88]

Looking awesome so far. That Yuma is sexy !!!

[grmoore]

Looking awesome so far. That Yuma is sexy !!!

Thanks. The colors are a lot more vivid than my crappy-cam can pick up.

[grmoore]

Did my weekly water change and moved the Alveopora to the other side of the tank after adjusting the pump outlet to redirect flow. This gave the coral a gentler flow which it seems much happier with. The polyp extension is much better now than it was.



I also added four new corals to the display - an ORA Loco Lobo Lobophytum, a purple polyp yellow Stylophora, a blue purple Fuzzy Mushroom, and a small colony of yellow and green Zoanthids. Here are some pictures of each...

















No issues with the tank thus far. The weekly water changes seem to be doing the trick at keeping the corals happy. Macro algae growth has been good, and I only have a small spot of hair algae coming from a small piece of rubble rock used to mount a frag on. Here is the current FTS...

[grmoore]

No real changes this week. I increased the light intensity a bit too much earlier in the week, and started seeing an increase in film algae on the tank walls, so I backed the light off a bit and added a couple more Dwarf Ceriths to deal with it.

 

I took the ceramic column out and cleaned off a little bit of algae surrounding the corals when I did the water change this morning. I also increased the SeaGel from 10ml to 15ml to see what affect that has on the small bits of algae growing. So far there has been no affect on the macro algaes.

 

The ZooMed 501 filter pulls a lot of crap from the water column - very impressive. It's surprising how much detritus is generated in a small coral only tank, especially one that is never fed. One thing I did notice about the 501 canister filter is that it doesn't take much to stall the impeller. Just a fine coating of residual carbon from the SeaGel is enough to do it. I'm now making it a point to clean the impeller weekly since it only takes a few minutes to do.

 

Next week I will add a few more corals to the mix. I have a nice pink birdsnest and a few more mushroom types that need to be trimmed from their plugs and attached to the ceramic column.

[grmoore]

A New Year brings new pictures! Enjoy!































Here is the current FTS...








I found this little guy attached to a mushroom frag plug. It was shriveled up to just a tiny bit under the 'shroom when I noticed it. I think it is a cauliflower colt coral, but please chime in if you can make a positive ID.

[andrewkw]

Looks great! It looks like you planned out everything. I wish I had thought of some of these things when I first started my IQ3. Hope you maintain the tank for many years to come.

[grmoore]

Looks great! It looks like you planned out everything. I wish I had thought of some of these things when I first started my IQ3. Hope you maintain the tank for many years to come.

Thank you, Andrew. I learned a lot from your trials and tribulations, and tried to make this build as easy to care for as possible.

[markalot]

Wow, looks really good. I have one of the PJReefs vases so I need some Pico skills. Following along to see how this little thing progresses.

[drunkenmonk21]

Looks great GR, that rock looks really good! How hard is it to maintain all your parameters? Looks like it could be a fun project for me to start up lol. I have some extra glass in the garage I could make a 2 or 3 gallon tank.

 

Anyways following along, love the setup and coral selections!!

 

Josh

[grmoore]

Thanks, Josh. I just do a 15% - 25% water change every week, assuring the specific gravity and temperature match pretty closely. I use Kent salt (in the jugs, not the box or bag - more consistent parameters) for its elevated Calcium and Alkalinity. I always turkey baster everything real well before the water change too, to lift all the detritus that forms. Other than that, the ceramic rock and lower light levels don't promote hair algae growth, and I think that is really key in a tiny tank - it eliminates a lot of the potential frustration. I've also got very good flow in the tank, with no dead spots.

[grmoore]

Added several new corals yesterday...

 

Pink Birds Nest

 

 

 

Blue Spot Green Mushroom

 

 

 

Purple Patchwork Mushroom

 

 

 

Black Cherry Brain

 

 

The brain coral polyps only seem to only come out after the lights go out. I've not seen any sweeper tentacles after 3 weeks, so it seems well behaved. I'll be keeping a watchful eye on it though...

[drunkenmonk21]

Nice additions! Glad to hear your tank isnt a warzone lol.

[grmoore]

Nice additions! Glad to hear your tank isnt a warzone lol.

I've been changing the SeaGel every 2 weeks, but I think I'm going to start doing it weekly since I added some more coral types. Everything still looks happy, so there doesn't seem to be much if any chemical warfare going on.

[markalot]

Have you been able to keep alk and calcium stable?

[grmoore]

With weekly water changes on such a small volume of water, I'm not even testing anything but salinity. The high calcium and alkalinity of the Kent salt is more than enough for this tank.

[markalot]

With weekly water changes on such a small volume of water, I'm not even testing anything but salinity. The high calcium and alkalinity of the Kent salt is more than enough for this tank.

 

Ah, of course, another Kent reef salt user. I love the stuff. I mix Seachem Reef Builder with my topoff to keep Alk reasonably in check but I still have to do a little 2 part to keep things table. My concern would be that stylo ... and forgive me if you have more experience, but once they start growing you can almost hear the alk being sucked out of the tank. I've always worried about SPS in a tiny tank, but perhaps there will be no issue.

[grmoore]

I'm pretty confident the regular water changes will keep things in check. I will do periodic checks to make sure however. As you infer, SPS consumption can easily take me by surprise. Better safe than sorry.

[grmoore]

So, my Yuma has been slowly sliding across its rubble rock the last week or so, and tonight I found out why...

 

It's dropping a clone which you can see in the photo.

 

 

 

I've got a few pieces of Bryopsis plumosa to pick off that rubble, but I'll probably suffer doing that in the tank as I don't want to stress the baby Yuma by removing it from the water.

[Clarinet_Reefer]

Sweet. It really is amazing to see life not only surviving but multiplying in such small tanks! You are a wonderful reef-keeper and I really enjoy watching your tank grow. Keep up the good work!