Freshwater Pico Help

[forrestp38829]

 

 

First off - love your tank. That is what she is going for!

 

How often do you dose? Daily?

 

So you have 3 fish in total? How often do you feed? Can you leave for a vacation and they are ok or no? I want fish, but Sarah is always so nervous when we leave for vacation about feeding them. Our reefs run full Apex systems and we also have a good friend who comes by to feed so that is always an option. I remember as a kid though my fish could go weeks without feeding lol.

 

Thank you all for the advice!!!

The badis is kind of a jerk. Everyone says that they will take flake and freeze dried food, but he has snubbed his nose at everything except live brine. So, I culture those and feed him every 2days. It doesn' take much. I seeded the tank with freshwater amphipods and I catch him picking the smaller ones off once in a while. I feel he would be just fine for a week. As for the cory and oto, there is more than enough algae and shrimp waste to keep them fed. I will throw them an algae wafer every couple weeks, but they don't even seem to notice it. The shrimp get fed minimally as well. Maybe once a week, if that. It is a lot like a reef tank, I set it up so that each critter has a job to do. I haven't cleaned the glass in months. The fish and snails keep it nice and clean. I will dose a ml or two of excel every day if i remember. It's really more like every two days.

[NYfishies]

The badis is kind of a jerk. Everyone says that they will take flake and freeze dried food, but he has snubbed his nose at everything except live brine. So, I culture those and feed him every 2days. It doesn' take much. I seeded the tank with freshwater amphipods and I catch him picking the smaller ones off once in a while. I feel he would be just fine for a week. As for the cory and oto, there is more than enough algae and shrimp waste to keep them fed. I will throw them an algae wafer every couple weeks, but they don't even seem to notice it. The shrimp get fed minimally as well. Maybe once a week, if that. It is a lot like a reef tank, I set it up so that each critter has a job to do. I haven't cleaned the glass in months. The fish and snails keep it nice and clean. I will dose a ml or two of excel every day if i remember. It's really more like every two days.

 

This is exactly what I think we are looking for. The fact that you mention the low maintenance on the glass is awesome. I find myself cleaning glass every few days on the reefs.

 

Are there a lot of option for small fish like you have or is it quite limited?

[gkarris]

 

This is exactly what I think we are looking for. The fact that you mention the low maintenance on the glass is awesome. I find myself cleaning glass every few days on the reefs.

 

Are there a lot of option for small fish like you have or is it quite limited?

 

I have snails cleaning my Paludarium and SW Jars so I've never had to clean the glass as well.

 

Lots of options for small fish. Since I don't use a heater, I have ones that can tolerate lower temps.

[smiz]

So glad I found this! I will actually be building my custom acrylic tank hopefully this week and it is almost exactly your size! Thanks for getting the answers to my questions before hand! lol

[NYfishies]

So glad I found this! I will actually be building my custom acrylic tank hopefully this week and it is almost exactly your size! Thanks for getting the answers to my questions before hand! lol

 

It looks like the final dimensions will be 16" x 9.5" tall x 8.5" wide. The AIO chamber will be 3.75" wide. That makes the total system 5 gallons and the display 3.8 gallons if the tank is filled 1" from the top. The AIO chamber will be split in 3 with 2 removable racks and a cover to conceal all the equipment. We will run Filter Floss and Purigen in the first section, a bag of ceramic rings in the 2nd section and the pump/heater in 3rd section.

 

I am going to speak with Dave to see if I can get some red spectrum in the Nano Box Beam. I would like to go with this light because of how small it is - the issue is in order to control the Bluefish is another $100 making the light combo more expensive than the tank itself. I want the ability to dim.

[smiz]

Yeah, I hear you im also looking to get that same light! Are you going the DIY way with the tank? or buying a standard one?

[DurocShark]

I ran a 6 gallon planted tank for years. I jammed DIY fluorescents into the lid to get enough light. DIY CO2 (juice bottle, air line, air stone, yeast, sugar, water). For critters I originally had amano shrimp, then got bored with them and added ADF's and a betta. Much more fun to watch. Oddly, when I added them, the shrimp all disappeared. ROFL!

 

With enough CO2 and light, there was never any algae. I rarely even had to wipe the glass. It was glorious.

This pic was taken in that tank when it was still just a couple months old:

 

 

Sadly, I never took any pics of it fully stocked.

[NYfishies]

Yeah, I hear you im also looking to get that same light! Are you going the DIY way with the tank? or buying a standard one?

 

I am going to have it done by Oceanbox so fully custom. I see you are making a tank now too which is cool! I still need to get you to build me a lid for my Zoa garden.

 

I ran a 6 gallon planted tank for years. I jammed DIY fluorescents into the lid to get enough light. DIY CO2 (juice bottle, air line, air stone, yeast, sugar, water). For critters I originally had amano shrimp, then got bored with them and added ADF's and a betta. Much more fun to watch. Oddly, when I added them, the shrimp all disappeared. ROFL!

 

With enough CO2 and light, there was never any algae. I rarely even had to wipe the glass. It was glorious.

This pic was taken in that tank when it was still just a couple months old:

 

 

Sadly, I never took any pics of it fully stocked.

 

I read that the yeast/sugar route was inconsistent and it also smells? Any comments?

[DurocShark]

Of course it smells. It smells like stale beer. But only when you wash the bottle out. You can't smell it when it's running.

 

As for inconsistent, true. It peaks a few days after you start the batch, and tapers off over the next week. When I cared, I was rotating two bottles so there was one peaking as the other bottomed out.

 

Then I realized it didn't much matter. The plants were happy to use whatever I put in. There may be issues with critters and varying CO2 levels, but the plants don't care. My shrimp didn't care, and the frogs and betta are air breathers, so they didn't care either.

[NYfishies]

Hi all,

 

Well after months in the making we are making some real progress!

 

We went, as mentioned, with a custom job done fantastically by OceanBox Designs (http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/366876-designers-radioactive-rimless-55g-long-aio-tank/). Here are some pictures of where it will go although I just tossed it there and still need to organize cables and such, but you get the idea. The stand is from Petco. I freaking love this setup right now.

 

So far I have bought:

OceanBox Designer's Radioactive Rimless 5.5G Long AIO Tank

Petco Newport Wooden Tank Stand, 20 Gallons

Nano Box Mine Flare w/ Bluefish

Neo-Therm 25W Heater

Eheim Compact Pump (300 GPH)

Digital Thermometer

2 x Aqua Soil - Amazonia (3 liters)

Power Sand Special-S (2 liters)

La Plata Sand (2kg)

Yamaya Stone (5 lbs)

API Master Test Kit

Fluval Pre-Filter Media - 750 grams/26.45 ounces

Seachem Purigen 100 ml

SubstrateSource 12-Inch Stainless Steel Aquarium Aquascaping Kit 5-Tools

Seachem Prime

Still need to pick up some driftwood to complete the hard-scape. Other than that we are pretty much good to go on beginning the cycle once the substrate arrives.

I appreciate everybodies input thus far to make this happen! I am trying to get my girlfriend to start a tank thread, but if she doesn't I will!