My 4 Gal of Pacific Ocean

[nemonlizzy]

So I just started into the pico world not but 2 months ago. Some may recognize my earlier post of what I wanted in a pico and what I had. Here is a recap and this will be my pico thread.

 

Livestock:

POSSIBLE Future Clown Goby

Assorted types of Zoas

Assorted rare mushrooms

Birdnest SPS

Possible torch coral

 

Equipment:

4 Gal Eco Pico

Jebao 80GPH Submersible Pump with Filter Attachment

Aquarium 360 deg spin stream return (http://www.ebay.com/itm/310991777411)

Hydor 25Watt Heater (on its way)

Custom Designed and Built LED Unit 4 Cree XP-G2 CW and 4 Phillips Royal Blue (ramp up ramp down)

 

Filtration:

4-5 lbs of (soon to be) Live Rock

1.5" of LS in the bottom

ChemiPure Elite in the filtration pack of the Jebao

 

I started out with a trade at my LFS (Aquarium, Pump and Sand) for a little PearlBerry Acro SPS Frag I was growing out.

 

 

The base rock I had lying around (did my first molding job sticking the rocks together), and gave it some time for the params to level out.

 

 

1 Month in, after things settled I added a porcelain crab and a neat little frag I found at my LFS. Still deciding what type of mushrooms are on the rock. They are now enjoying the lighting I finished up and installed a week ago.

 

Had been looking for a heater for a while, just now found one I liked and ordered it. Haven't had an initial algae bloom yet, but I think that can be attributed to the lack of LR seeding. I'm also not adding nutrients to the tank, top off water every now and again.

[SgtBhaji]

Looks great!

 

What did you use to build the light fixture? I'm looking to change the light on my 4g.

[brandon429]

Looks excellent

 

By all means disallow an initial algae bloom

[nemonlizzy]

The algae bloom has come, I will post pics later. Dagnabbit.

 

I used a 6 x 10 inch rapid led heat sink and one eln 48 60p driver feeding 2 ldd 1000hw drivers each ldd going to 4 leds. 4 cree xpg2 cool white and 4 Phillips royal blues. All being controlled by an arduino fade in and out.

 

It's so relaxing to wake up looking into a tranquil blue piece of paradise.

 

I'm waiting on my aquarium spin stream to come in. That should help with the surface film and ive already installed hydor 25 watt heater and the chemi pure elite.

 

I have tons of extra room on each channel of ldd drivers so I'm thinking about adding one or two warm whites to balance the color on channel 1 and then adding lime, cyan, or blue onto channel two for balancing the royal blues.

[dpoltsdsu]

I think that aquascape looks great for that small of a tank. I would advise against a torch coral in that tank though. They can send out sweeper tentacles that will sting other corals in the vicinity.

[nemonlizzy]

Excellent point on the torch, will consider this. So far I have some yumas, 3 different colored zoas (nothing special) and the birds nest. The porcelain crab seems to be doing quite well. I have about 3 tablespoons chemipure elite in the filter just in case the crab decides to kick the bucket randomly.

 

The 3 snails are cleaning up the mess of the algae quite well. I need to get a nice dslr to take better pics.

[dpoltsdsu]

The yumas and zoas will look good. The sps may be a bit rough to keep in a pico but if you pulled it off it would look really cool. Clown Gobies often nest and pick at sps colonies though so if you do keep the birdsnest I would consider another fish. Looks good!

[nemonlizzy]

Thanks, there's already an sps in there so the clown is out now. Wouldn't have known less you said something. One thing I'm really looking forward to in a Pico is the ability to retrieve any accident you place in there. I've torn so many large tanks apart trying to catch one fish, this Pico will be a breeze in that respect!

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Is this a cold water system?

[nemonlizzy]

It is not, why? Haven't done much research into those. Any cool inhabitants you can have in those?

 

I just realized a few days ago that my filtration system wasn't going to cut the butter so Im improvising. I've purchased 1/8" this acrylic off eBay and I'm going to heat it and bend it into a nice little 4" wide 3" deep 6"tall overflow. Drill a 1/2" hole in the acrylic for the jebao pump to return, and shove my heater in there along with the chemipure elite. This should solve my current lack of flow problem. Any suggestions or other ideas?

 

Are porcelain crabs naturally skiddish?

[nemonlizzy]

Well just an update on the tank, the porcelain crab passed. Poor little guy, I think my water was too clean for his filtration abilities to gather much food from. That's all speculation of course.

 

I have added another method of filtration and am using the Jebao pump solely for water movement now. My cheap eBay 360 spin stream bit the dust after a few snails tried to climb aboard and broke the gears... mischievous little suckers. However I have no lack of water movement now. Am still using the Chemi-Pure elite, just in the Aqua Clear this time. It's an AC 20 for anyone interested. Plenty of room and very quiet.

 

Added an Orange Leptastrea coral to the top of the LR right where the flow is the highest in the tank. I added some nice King Midas zoas, some blue zoanthids (don't know their exact name), and the bam bam has two polyps now! I have notice minor growth on the Pocillopora as well.

 

 

 

I just started dosing Reef Foundation A, B, and C. My levels are A TON better now. Way better than any water change would have offered.

 

For those not following along with my other threads. I've caught some of the copepods red handed eating one of my green zoas. The zoas is almost completely dead, however they haven't moved on to any others. I added a peppermint shrimp to combat the pod population. I have counted at least three different species. TONS of them too.

 

 

SIDE NOTE: What was a mini jellyfish doing in my tank? How in the heck did it get there?!?!? I played with it for about 10 mins one day. Poke him and he jumps around the tank lol.