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Nick's Pico 4


nlm2889

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Equipment list:

 

Innovative Marine PIco 4

Hydor Pico Evolution 1200 (300GPH, but tuned down to ~250GPH)

Aqueon 10W heater (too strong..)

Chinese PAR30 with 2 RB, 2WW and 1 UV Epistar 1W LEDS Nanobox Mini Tide with V2 array

 

Livestock list:

 

E. evelynae :( RIP Steve :(

M. capricornis

M. spongodes

M. digitata

Caulastrea sp.

D. axifuga

Various Zoanthids/Palythoas

 

3 hermit crabs

2 N. vibex

Various Cerith/dwarf Cerith snails

 

I've been a big fan of the IM Pico 4 tanks since they came out, and I finally broke down and bought one at the beginning of August. I planned it out for about a month, and decided exactly how I wanted the rock to look (well, given the supply I had) and picked specific coral plots.

 

20919631421_ee4decce05_c.jpg

 

This was shortly after I set it up. The rock was dry originally, but for the month while I was planning I had it sitting in a canister filter connected to my established tank.

 

I had originally purchased an 8W Skkye light from a fellow reefer, and it worked really well for the tank, until it melted....

 

20725553719_844ec1a119_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

20291290813_3305b4690c_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

At this point, I decided to order some PAR30 bulbs from eBay, and a gooseneck. The Skkye fixture was 8W, but with 6 1W LEDs, so I figured a PAR30 with 2 royal blue, 2 warm white and a single UV LED would provide enough PAR to grow what I wanted. I will say, the Skkye light had much better spread. So much better, I've considered seeing if I could wire some different CREE LEDs, but I'd have to figure out the heat issue...anyway..

 

20912313925_4eb25d87e0_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

Then, I added more coral!

 

21165321443_e10b315d91_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

I received my PAR30 bulbs and the gooseneck, however I failed to see the bulbs came with 60 degree optics....

 

21774639142_1c6e999cec_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

Thankfully, it was a piece of cake to remove the lense!

 

I decided to get a wee Sharknose goby, and although he was in quarantine for two weeks, he finally started eating .5mm NLS pellets!

 

21795805081_965d18c29f_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

21165307313_e2470ecb7d_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

This was taken last night, when he finally started eating pellets.

 

I fed him and the other corals at ~8:30pm last night, and after watching the lunar eclipse, as I walked to his tank I found him...

 

....under my foot. He had apparently jumped out, and I stepped on him. :(

 

I'm not sure if I'll get another cleaner goby, or if maybe I'll get a peppermint shrimp. I think the most frustrating part is that the tank comes with a great glass top that I wasn't in the habit of using and now it cost this fish his life.

 

Sorry, kind of a depressing start to a thread, huh?

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Great start and original post. Why not start using the top and get another goby? He looked really cool.

 

Thanks! I think I'll get another goby here soon. I was bummed because that night was the first time he had readily accepted pellets...oh well....

 

In other news, I just purchased a used Nanobox fixture! When it gets here, and I get it tuned in, I'll post some pictures.

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  • 9 months later...

23149898725_93b5c95ac0_c.jpg

 

11/18/15


22755740167_dcc467ffc9_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

11/20/15


27520716863_5357b1b043_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

4/7/16


28057762881_163ede81c0_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr


28101734926_d4ee4bc239_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

4/25/16


27537260462_fd81734b10_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr


27563347991_c998139da1_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

5/11/16


27636645235_df0c3e0835_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

Flooded the tank with kalkwasser :( lost the birdsnest, the acro, and the monti frag on the sandbed.


27603197706_7f4b4018b7_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr


28008406642_4e58e3f700_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr


27830793430_eceb4c14a3_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

6/23/16


28033655541_2e461995f1_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

Finally! 7/5/16

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Corals are really thriving. The Nanobox fixture is PERFECT too! It's difficult to tell, but the M. digitata is branching out quite a bit, which is great because I've had the frag for nearly 5 years!

 

My next step will be to clean up the sandbed, move some of the zoas on the lower right to the rocks near the top and make some frags. Ideally, I'd like to have zoas growing on the rocks towards the base as well as the top. I would really love to get an A. millepora frag, but I don't think there's enough space. If I decide to move this to my (now empty) 10g Fusion then I will, but it'll all depend on how I keep up with it.

 

There aren't any fish currently and I'm kind of enjoying it. It's very low maintenance. I change 1 gallon a week, which is about half of the water volume. It's a piece of cake. There are 2 hermit crabs, and TONS of pods, brittle stars and worms.

 

This is the kind of pico I envisioned when I started this tank, so it's really neat to make progress! :)

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Yesterday I finally tried mounting my growing zoanthid frags. Working with such a small core rock structure made it difficult to really mount the frags effectively. This resulted in some gaps between a couple of pieces, but nothing too terrible or awkward.

 

Here's a couple of finished shots:

 

27670270324_45a7c5141e_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

27670696643_11bbf9e7da_c.jpgUntitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr

 

In this last one you can sort of see the frag that I mounted on the back side. I think down the road I'd like to transplant this rock into a larger tank to allow more growth. I'm hoping by that time these frags will be overgrown on to the rockwork.

 

On the left side you can see my really neat yellow/green zoas. Let me tell you, they have really taken off!!

 

Also, I found an aiptasia on one frag about a month ago. Since then, I've found 3 more that I've had to deal with and again found a small aiptasia last night...here's to hoping I'm keeping it under control enough!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found two different chiton types on the bottom of a frag last week. I almost didn't notice the second chiton!

 

28442028776_398333793e_c.jpg

 

Here's a current FTS, and a picture of one of the sides. I really need to get in there and scrape the glass in the corners. I'll be moving this tank to my girlfriend's parents house this week; I'm moving to Parker, CO as soon as I find a job, and will have to be out of my apartment by the 29th. It'll be an interesting few weeks!

 

28396271241_8ccc500e2d_c.jpg

 

27858901673_614f5d16c4_c.jpg

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I noticed today that the small handful of polyps left on the Acropora frag are starting to encrust and grow! I'm sure it'll continue to be slow growing, but I'm excited to see it change! I'm not sure where I'd put it though...!

 

In other news, I found two more aiptasia....so now I debate whether to get a peppermint shrimp. There's no surefire way to get one that eats aiptasia, and if I get one and it doesn't then I can't really continue to purchase more. I'll probably try to manually kill them again. I'm moving this week, first to my girlfriend's parent's house, then (as soon as I get a job) to Parker, Colorado! My girlfriend is already there, and we found a really neat apartment, so I'm getting very antsy. I'm hoping the tank will do fine being moved twice in such a short time frame. Updates to come!

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I successfully moved the tank to my girlfriend's parent's house yesterday. I'll see if I can snap a picture for my weekly update. Some things shifted a little during the move, but I'm confident it'll be fine. Pictures to come! Thanks for reading :)

 

-Nick

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I found the reason why I keep finding small aiptasia!

 

28044698844_3062eddc0b_c.jpgUntitled

 

This guy was in my overflow!


I'll be poking it with some kalkwasser in the next couple of days, preferably when I do my water change..

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  • 2 weeks later...

I took care of the large aiptasia! I don't have a weekly picture, primarily because I just did a water change yesterday. I'd like to start dosing magnesium consistently. I'm not sure how frequently, especially since I'm *supposed* to change water every week. I do know that my corals benefit from supplementation as far as I've seen. I need to do more research before I make the plunge...

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