mich1402 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Hi guys my first post here. Decide to start a thread to document my first pico ever as i have always kept fowlr tanks and they are always more than 55g. Been wanting to try a pico but always felt it was too much maintenance. By chance one night recently, I went on nano reef and saw dafil's ntotm thread. Next thing I knew I was at my lfs at 3am the same night(we have a 24hr lfs here) to get all the equipments and start it there and then. Maybe a part of me knew if I slept it off, I would not start this pico at all. Tank : 20cm x 20cm x 25cm Filtration : China Brand HOB Wavemaker : Hydor Koralia Nano Fan : Dymax W-4 Vortex W-5 Lights : 36W Par38 ATO : JBJ ATO Salt Mix : SKIMZ PUR Reef Salt 1 Nov 2014 7 Nov 2014 18 Nov 2014 12 Dec before the crash 31 Dec And thats it. Im trying to keep it simple and pocket friendly at this point of time. Have yet to get the lights. May the odds be ever in my favour. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Looks good Thanks I just realised my images are small in the prev post and looks like crap. So heres a slightly better one. Hoping to keep a few spses on the left and rear right rocks and a frag of zoa on the small rock at the front right. Not exactly a coral guy but ill try. Link to comment
cju84 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Welcome to NR - keep posting pics! Link to comment
acrab78 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 24 hour LFS... sounds like an impulse buy waiting to happen... niiice Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 Welcome to NR - keep posting pics!Thanks! Will post more pics when I can. 24 hour LFS... sounds like an impulse buy waiting to happen... niiiceLol. I kinda think that has already happened. Fortunately the store is more freshwater and equips than marine. Link to comment
erinwillett Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Did you epoxy the rock? Also, 24hr fish store?! I'd be in trouble. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Couldn't resist changing things up thus this is the new and final (I hope) aquascape.am using my phone cam so apologies if the pics are blurry or im too heavy handed in touching them up lol. Close up of the rock formation : Just checked ammonia, hovering at about 2-3ppm. looks like it will be awhile before I get to add anything in. which gives me time to think of possible livestocks id like to see in the tank.Not a coral guy so my list is pretty much generic ;GSPsZoasSome DigisSome MontisORA Pink LemonadeRR Wolverine,RR Green Eye Purple Dragon?the last 3 corals is up for consideration, if the digis and montis which I gather are beginner level spses can survive and thrive, then ill see from there. but judging from the amount of stuff I wana put in, even if they thrive, i would have ran out of space haha.For fishes this is where I am more excited since I like em' more but due to the size of this pico, many options are automatically striked off. ill have to choose one from the following list :1. Whitecap Goby paired with a pistol shrimp2. Griessingeri Goby also paired with a pistol3. Trimma Tevegae x2-34. Ruby Red Dragonet1, 2 and 4 are readily available here.Did a little reading up on their care and option 2 & 4 may be alittle difficult to their penchant to prefer pods and griessingeri gobies are reportedly shy little ba***ds. I am slowly realising im answering my own answer to these options, Whitecap Goby it is then! Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 Did you epoxy the rock? Also, 24hr fish store?! I'd be in trouble. Nope I didnt, just the old stack em' up routine. Thanks for dropping by Link to comment
erinwillett Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Nope I didnt, just the old stack em' up routine. Thanks for dropping by I did that too, now I'm kicking myself. My giant turbo snail LOVES knocking over one of my rocks. And I'm guilty of moving this aroung during water changes as well. Now I wish I used a more permanent method. I'm a big noob so, just my two cents. Link to comment
cju84 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 I also made the mistake of stacking everything and my hermits would knock them over. Honestly, just taking the rocks out of the water, using a combo of super glue GEL and epoxy is so easy. They harden/set in the water as well. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 so I cracked and went to get a small piece of LR. so much for not wanting to put my hands in the tank till its done cycling and so muxh for wanting to use dry rocks to cycle. but.... I love it. full of coralline and a nice way to seed the other rocks of all kinds of organisms. except those pictured below, I guess. the lfs I got it from has tons and tons of thick coralline covered rocks. wished I could take all of em. price wise about 1kg of rock = $12 for u guys in the states. or 1 pound to roughly $5.40. DO YOU EVEN LIFT?!! COME AT ME BRO! U GONA GET REKT! Link to comment
cju84 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Nice!! I like how you converted the $12 for us US folks, but you didn't convert kg to lbs. I'll assume it's a good deal though! Link to comment
aquariumlover10 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I think that's a gorilla crab, but the claws don't match and its talled and rounder. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 14, 2014 Author Share Posted November 14, 2014 Nice!! I like how you converted the $12 for us US folks, but you didn't convert kg to lbs. I'll assume it's a good deal though! I did!!! 1lb to $5.40! I think that's a gorilla crab, but the claws don't match and its talled and rounder. im not too sure either. I dipped the rock momentarily in hypersalinity water and out it went. Link to comment
cju84 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 I did!!! 1lb to $5.40! im not too sure either. I dipped the rock momentarily in hypersalinity water and out it went. I need more coffee Link to comment
aquariumlover10 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Humm, maybe its some type of sponge crab, because I think they have those big round claws and are hairy, also I wouldn't get rid of him just yet, because the claws are rounded it could be a good crab, moat non reef safe crabs have pointed claws. Any picsfrom in water? Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 Humm, maybe its some type of sponge crab, because I think they have those big round claws and are hairy, also I wouldn't get rid of him just yet, because the claws are rounded it could be a good crab, moat non reef safe crabs have pointed claws. Any picsfrom in water? yeah it could be a sponge crab since there are a couple of sponge hitchhikers on the LR. but I got rid of it on the safe side. thanks for the explanation tho. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 I just realized ive got the tank dimensions wrong. its a 20cmx20cmx25cm, 10 liters actually. or 2.6 gallons. so thats that. in other news, my ammonia levels has been hovering at about 4-8ppm consistently for the past two weeks. its funny cause nitrite spiked and now its zero. nitrate spiked to about 40 and now its 10ppm. im guessing theres something off with the ammonia test kit. ive not added anything like prime or any reducer to mess up the reading. guess I got to try another test kit to be sure. look at that green. its like the last number of green i must add. Any ideas as to why its happening? could it be legitimately possible that my ammonia is really way off. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 So I did a terrible noobish mistake which was to actually add the cured LR to my tank in the middle of cycling.The ammonia in the tank actually caused quite a massive die off which spiked my ammonia beyond what the test kit could read.read somewhere too high of an ammonia level would actually inhibit the cycling process thus did a couple of water changes and now ammonia is sitting pretty at 2ppm. Stupid stupid mistake to be honest.I went to my local lfses a few days back to get a bigger HOB, around the size of the AC-50 since it isnt sold here. Also got a sleeker looking fan compared to the ugly,computer fan I was using. Anyways, here's a few pics of the LFSes on this side of the world.We've got about 10 places here that deals with marine livestocks. 5 are farms, or wholesalers for a better word and the rest are your typical brick and mortar shops. All this in an area of about 250 square miles. Thats about 1/4 the size of Rhode Island to give you guys a perspective.Here's the two that I had time to drop by, sorry for the crappy pics as I was in a hurry.First Farm - run by a friendly old couple, I highly suspect they do this just to pass time. Second Farm which is right behind the first one - run by a pair of brothers. their space is much bigger many many clown gobies a few borbs was available the day I went, very tempting to get them for my fowlr anyways, was tempted to drop by another LFS which sells exclusively corals just to see how Dr Tim is in person since he is in town today. Yeah its the Dr Tim's One and Only. but my bed needed me more. :D Link to comment
jonnydelane Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 I'm surprised more people have not made tanks the size of ours, you should post a pic of your fowlr Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 27, 2014 Author Share Posted November 27, 2014 So a new package just came today while I was at work : Well packaged I went full on hulk mode trying to tear this out till I remembered there is a common household contraption called a scissors. lights are 10k-ish considering its 8white4blues. quite expected that. but for 17 bucks im happy with it. lets see if its able to support corals. Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Only $17 for that light!?!? That's quite a good deal as it definitely looks like its got some good brightness to it. Link to comment
mich1402 Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 Only $17 for that light!?!? That's quite a good deal as it definitely looks like its got some good brightness to it.indeed it is, $16.90 to be exact. the only other details I have of the par 38 is that its 36W and the leds are bridgelux. I tried telling the seller I wanted to change the two of the cool whites to warm and perhaps royal blue. the reply was a simple legendary, "NO. 8 WHITE 4 BLUE". I'm surprised more people have not made tanks the size of ours, you should post a pic of your fowlroh well, ppl with good taste are few and far between haha. Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 indeed it is, $16.90 to be exact. the only other details I have of the par 38 is that its 36W and the leds are bridgelux. I tried telling the seller I wanted to change the two of the cool whites to warm and perhaps royal blue. the reply was a simple legendary, "NO. 8 WHITE 4 BLUE". Still has good color. You may want to get a dimmer if it's possible with that light. Link to comment
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