Turtle's Pico 2.5

[Turtle77]

Ok here is my attempt for the Pico Methodology.

Its a 2.5 gallon. I have a HOB Topfin 10 with filter media

with a Coraline light that has 9w Actinic and 9w 10000k

One moonlight Led

around 2lbs LR

about a 2inch LS bed

 

4 very small snails

One crab

One Emerald Crab small

1 brittle star that I know of

 

Blue Clove Polyps

 

2 Different kinds of Mushrooms - I dont know proper names

Green Stripped

Green bumpy

 

8 Different Kinds of Zoas - again I dont know all names

Eagle Eyes

Armor of God

Large Brown

Brown with light brown centers

Tan with green centers

Orange Brownish

Green

Brown with Green centers

 

I just started and already have aiptasia from bringing a rock over from another tank. gonna be a long fight

 

Here is my beginning pic, I almost forgot my coffee cup before I got all the water and sand in.

 

Sand in, I put too much in at first and had to take some out.

 

Left Side - everything in and starting to settle but everthing not open yet

 

Right Side

 

FTS everything starting to settle, this is one hour after putting it all in.

 

Another

 

and one last one for the night.

 

Everything has not opened up yet and one of the bulbs, the actinic, shot on my colaline fixture and wont be in until wednesday. Hopefully things will start looking better by then.

This is my first one so suggestions and comments welcome. thanks

 

Turtle

[AkOndray]

Lookin great man. I've always been a fan of the simple look that comes with the AGA's. I have a 5.5g now that looks a lot like yours. Those mushrooms are going to grow in nicely I bet.

 

Make sure to put up new pics when your actinic bulb comes in, as I'm sure it will look a whole lot better with that installed.

[Amphitrite]

I have a NC6 at school (my first pico and SW) which I set up in January. I had a couple of small aiptasia and dropped in a baby peppermint shrimp. He took care of the problem in no time. I understand there are mixed feelings about them though. Welcome to the contest and I look forward to watching your tank progress!

[hahaximmaxfish]

I'm starting a 2.5g soon and I hope your tank turns it great! I'll be watching!

[c_k_kuehne]

Nice start Turtle -- glad you made it over here and got entered in the contest

 

Now maybe we can get moto and shyla to enter.

[porksoda]

Nice pico! When I start mine I hope it looks as good as yours!

[ulver982]

Sweet, it'll look so much better when you get the actinic bulb in there.

[Turtle77]

Thanks a ton everyone!! Yeah I am hoping that once I get that Actinic bulb in there it will perk up a bit. colors are a little drab.

I had a thought today because I have an old ballist and some bulbs from an old 12gallon way back. there is one 24w actinic and one 24w 10000k . If I were to use those would that be too much light? I have been really thinking about them but problem is the little tank is 12 inches long, these bulbs are a tiny bit longer. I am not a very good DIY person but I am willing to try. I want to be able to thave the lights on and still get inside the tank at the same time and right now I can't. I also want to hid my ATO which right now is a big hampster water bottle (no laughing) and its ugly outside the tank.

If I built something to put the lights in I would want it to have a door on the front so i can get my hand in to the tank. Its this way too much stuff for a little pico?

 

I have also been trying to read up on these leds everyone keeps raving about. How much is good for a little pico. I saw a thread here in the pico section wher someone is doing a DIY set and is using like 4 white and 4 blue and doing all the wiring himself. is that too much?

 

I got a thousand questions so here is the first few. haha

 

Turtle

[moto826]

look good turtle

[Shyla8]

I like the tank Turtle and I'll have a hamster bottle too so don't worry

[c_k_kuehne]

If I built something to put the lights in I would want it to have a door on the front so i can get my hand in to the tank. Its this way too much stuff for a little pico?

 

Being a pico it probably is not really practical to have an opening type hood where your lights remain in place while doing maintenance.

 

You could have the hood/hoodtop with the lights attached swing up on a hinge for maintenance. That way you can get your hands in there and you still have decent light to work by.

 

Another option would be to have a hood/light that easily removed but then you loose the light while hands in the tank.

 

Just some thoughts.

[Turtle77]

Here is a little update on my pico. Diseaster. The temp was dropping so low at night that I couldnt get away without a heater. So I added a digital Thermometer and a 25w heater that was supposedly preprogrammed to keep the tank between 78-80 degrees F. Well someone must have been having a bad day in the factory that day becasue after work I checked the tank it was at 89 degrees F !!! Are you kidding!

so I immediately took out the heater.

Now the tanks sand has turned a very rusty brown layer. there are Flatworms crawling all over the glass along with some kind of little bug I cannot tell what it is.And I see very long dark burgandy strings flowing in the current attached to most everything.

So my question is , have I completely fried my pico tank? How can I recover? I really dont want the zoas and other stuff in there to die. This is my first pico and I know they are more sensitive to changes so any advice is welcome.

 

Disappointed :-(

[Mr. Microscope]

Awe man! Sorry to hear all this. I'm not sure what steps you need to take, but I'd put up an emergency post in the beginners thread. There're lots of people on there with lots of knowledge. Keep us posted. I hope everything recovers.

[Fnard]

I know it is probably too late, but major water changes are in order to not only lower temps but get rid of anything bad from the inevitable die off. i would really invest in a controller for your next heater. I am runnin a RKL on my 5.5 and couldnt be happier. $99 is a small investment in something that you already invested a couple hundred into and prolly planning more. Sorry to hear and best of luck to ya.

[c_k_kuehne]

+1 on the RKL. Hook both a heater and a fan and you have a dusl stage controller. Plus timmer for lights and pump control.