Mame's 3g pico

[MameJenny]

 

I started this little reef in August after seeing some of the wonderful picos on this site. It's a glass 3g JBJ Picotope. My current goal is to turn it into a tiny mixed reef, with various inverts and maybe a neon goby.

 

UPDATED LIVESTOCK/EQUIPMENT LIST - 11/25

Equipment List:

-25w Hydor Theo Heater

-Modified AquaClear 70 filter, connected to Top Fin 10 filter and Hydor Pico Evolution pump

-Odyssea 24w PC light

-DIY protein skimmer

 

Livestock List -updated 12/27

 

Inverts

-3 Nerite Snails

-2 Nassarius Snails

-2 Astrea Snails

-1 Scarlet Hermit

-1 Blue legged hermit

-3 Sexy Shrimp

-2 Emerald Crabs

-Cerith snails

-Rock flower anemone

 

Soft Coral

-Orange Mushroom

-Red Mushroom

-Blue Ricordea Mushroom

-Green Ricordea Mushroom

-Orange Ricordea Mushroom

-Green Star Polyps

-Blue Snowflake Polyps

-Purple Gorgonian

 

LPS & SPS

-Whisker Coral

-Orange Sun Coral

-Green Candy Cane

[mastahluong]

Get rid of the air pump and stones! Your SPS are going to want better lighting than those PC's.

[iball1804]

That air pump (if you haven't already noticed) will create so much salt creep.

 

The popping bubbles spray up a little water, and when evaporated, leaves behind the sat inside. It's a vicious cycle.

[MameJenny]

Here's a couple of pictures from when I was setting it up.

 

Tap water testing the tank:

 

Cycling:

 

Dewfish the damsel (died from marine velvet, unfortunately):

 

Montipora digitata, montipora cap and sexy shrimp:

 

Blurry photo of sexy shrimp and caulerpa:

 

AquaClear 'fuge with stock 9w Picotope light:

 

Feel free to comment!

[MameJenny]

That air pump (if you haven't already noticed) will create so much salt creep.

 

The popping bubbles spray up a little water, and when evaporated, leaves behind the sat inside. It's a vicious cycle.

 

Yeah, it does create some salt creep. It's no problem, though; I just wipe it off when I do water changes.

 

The SPS seem to be fine with the light so far. It provides about 8 watts per gallon of light, which IMO is more than enough for a pico.

[.Newman.]

i agree the SPS kinda look like they are keeping color and are starting to grow well. so the current light should do for a while.

 

just use the stock filter, you'll be fine w/o the airstone?

 

are you feeding that NPS well? it's not an autotroph, its completely heterotrophic.

[castiel]

Don't listen to the naysayers about the air stones, Builder Anthony maintains a very awesome pico with air stone in the middle. And I have read some say it is good for SPS to have the air in there ...

 

Nice tank, keep the updates up!

[Kazooie]

Remember his vase is covered though, and this is not. All the salt creep in this one will fall out or get wiped away, while BA's probably get's pushed back into the vase.

[MameJenny]

I don't completely understand why so many people dislike the air stones. Besides the salt creep, is there something I should be concerned about? I do water changes 1-2 times per week and top off with RO/DI every morning, so I'm not having any trouble with keeping the salinity stable.

 

Yes, I'm feeding the sun coral well. I know that it's NPS, and I researched how to care for it before I bought it. I've been feeding it soaked shrimp and crumbled fish flakes, and it seems to be doing very well.

 

And yep, the SPS are showing some new growth. The montipora digitata has turned light brown around its base, but I think that's because I just got it recently. It has a few new branches forming,so I'm not concerned. The monti cap and birdsnest have also colored up and are showing good polyp extension. They're actually doing much better than two of the zoanthid frags that I bought at the same time.

 

And it would be tough for me to only use the stock filter; the motor broke a few days after I got the tank.

[MGDMIRAGE]

None of the SPS you have require anything more than what you have, and your airstone is fine long as you keep up with the salt creep and display's salinity remains stable. Most reefs are very shallow and can be turbulent and full of micro bubbles so you are fine. Montis for sure can be grown under PCs indefinitely, birdsnest I don't doubt either as they are like a weed once they start growing. Mine grow just as well at the bottom of my tank as the top.

[MameJenny]

Thought I'd share a couple of new photos of the tank. I've had a bit of an algae outbreak lately, but most of it died suddenly over the last few days, so the tank finally looks nice enough to take pictures of.

 

FTS:

 

The three SPS, which have grown quite a bit:

 

Radioactive zoanthid colony. This colony had about 25 polyps when I got it, but it was damaged during shipping and lost about 20 polyps to some sort of (bacterial?) infection. I thought I was going to lose all of them, but several polyps were unaffected and seem to be doing great.

 

Fat and happy sun coral and brown paly colony:

 

Snowflake clove polyps, which came with a free encrusting sponge:

 

Here's a nassarius snail. These guys are great sand sifters, but they crawl up on the rocks and fall on (and damage) coral when they smell food.

 

Thanks for looking!

[gupebreedr]

Mame,

 

Could you please add some pic's of your AC filter/fuge setup. Is your top fin filter hooked to the fuge????

 

Thanks much,

Rob

[MameJenny]

Mame,

 

Could you please add some pic's of your AC filter/fuge setup. Is your top fin filter hooked to the fuge????

 

Thanks much,

Rob

 

I believe there's a pic a few posts up. Yes, the Top Fin filter is connected to the Aquaclear 70, since the AC70's motor broke a day after I got it. There is filter floss in the Top Fin filter and carbon, macroalgae and a DIY protein skimmer (not shown in pic) in the AC70. At some point, I'm going to have to get a new motor and impeller for the AC70...I don't really like the Top Fin Filter. I believe it's more of a 30-50 gph filter than the advertised 100gph.

[MameJenny]

Just thought I'd give a quick update. The tank is doing well. I didn't realize just how much the SPS have grown until I looked at the old photos. The monti cap has at least doubled in size and has great polyp extension. The pink birdsnest has colored up well and has grown about 3/4 inch on all of its tips, and has also sprouted about 5 new branches. The branching monti browned out a bit for unknown reasons, but it's also had about 1 inch of growth and has lots of new branches. The softies and LPS are also doing well - in fact, my sun coral spawned recently.

 

The only problem I've had is that some of the zoas aren't opening all the way. All of my water parameters are good and there's no sign of pests, so I'm pretty sure it's because of the giant amphipods I've found in my tank. I'm hoping that once I add a fish, their population will go down a bit.

[zacheyp]

what fish are you looking to add?

[MameJenny]

A neon goby, possibly a pair.

[MameJenny]

A lot has changed in the pico in the last few weeks. Things started going wrong when I added some dry rock straight to the tank...bad choice. The rock leeched something into the tank, and I had a diatom outbreak followed by a bubble algae, cyanobacteria and green film algae outbreak. Whatever it was that the rock introduced, it didn't show on my test kits. By the time I realized what was happening, I had lost my green montipora, my pink birdsnest, most of my blue clove polyps, three snails, and most of my radioactive green zoas. Eventually, I also almost lost my red monti cap, all of the other zoanthids and my sun coral (which still haven't entirely recovered). It didn't help that I had a heater malfunction and a unexplained alk. drop while all that was happening.

 

I'm still battling the cyano and the bubble algae, despite seemingly perfect water chemistry, although I think they're finally disappearing. (Knock on wood!) I just did about an 80% water change and a 2-day blackout recently, so I'm really hoping that they're on the way out.

 

In happier news, I got a yasha haze goby, two emerald crabs, several zoas and ricordeas and a rock anemone. I also got a candy cane pistol shrimp online (my LFS didn't have any), but he was DOA. The yasha goby took care of my zoa-eating pod problem, so I'm glad that I got him...I just wish I had gotten a shrimp at the same time.

 

My phone isn't working at the moment or I'd have a few photos. I'm going to borrow a family member's camera in a little while so that I can take a few photos of my other tank for the Walmart pico contest, so I'll snap a few of the Picotope as well.

[thadscottmoore]

I wouldnt add anything until I got the problem caused by the new rock dealt with. sounds like your tank is going through another cycle with the new rock added. I would slow things down and deal with the problem at hand- and then slowly start adding bioload... seems like your adding a lot to a system that is currently on the fritz with algae blooms.... what test kit are you using to test your water?

[MameJenny]

I don't think the tank went through a cycle. I wasn't ever able to detect any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates while the tank was having trouble. I'm using API test kits. The only algae I really still have is a 2" patch of cyano in a low flow area and a little bit of bubble algae in places I can't reach. I'm hoping that between the large water changes I've been doing and the addition of the emerald crabs, the algae will be gone soon.

[thadscottmoore]

I don't think the tank went through a cycle. I wasn't ever able to detect any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates while the tank was having trouble. I'm using API test kits. The only algae I really still have is a 2" patch of cyano in a low flow area and a little bit of bubble algae in places I can't reach. I'm hoping that between the large water changes I've been doing and the addition of the emerald crabs, the algae will be gone soon.

 

 

sounds like a plan! hope it all works out for you! your tank was lookins awesome!

[MameJenny]

Thought I'd give an update on this tank. I thought things were looking up for this tank, but then I suddenly (as in, a 12 hour period) lost all of my zoanthids and a few other corals to what looked like some kind of bacterial infection. I even lost my old brown paly colony.

 

Looking at the old photos of this tank makes me sad...the tank looks so empty now. I still have a few corals, but I'm really on the fence on what to do with this tank. I could restart the tank and start with all mushroom corals and LPS, or I could shut down the tank and hope to make a small portion of my money back selling the parts. Currently I'm not getting nearly as much enjoyment out of this tank as I am from my 2g betta tank, so that could be a sign. I'll post a few photos in a minute and let you decide.

[MameJenny]

[Evanski9]

Well the problem is you were not listening to the advice. You added too much to fast. It's 3g it can swing crazy in no time. The diatoms werea sign of a cycle. 2 emeralds in a 3g is bad. The air stone caused micro bubbles and agitate them. I would restart and take it slow. You have the right idea and it looked good but it looks to me as you went to fast and crashed the tank......the tank has potential.

[MameJenny]

Well the problem is you were not listening to the advice. You added too much to fast. It's 3g it can swing crazy in no time. The diatoms werea sign of a cycle. 2 emeralds in a 3g is bad. The air stone caused micro bubbles and agitate them. I would restart and take it slow. You have the right idea and it looked good but it looks to me as you went to fast and crashed the tank......the tank has potential.

 

I took out the air stone months ago. Also, keep in mind, the tank has been up for over 4 months. I think the diatoms were caused by the new rock...they went away shortly after I took it out.

[Evanski9]

Brother 4 months is young it takes months for it to get its grove and help run itself.... I hope you dont give up. I'd restart. How is it sitting now?