El Fab's Pico Reef: 2007–2010

[skimlessinseattle]

Wow red slime. Given the recent history of the tank, I think it's time to throw in the towel on this one. The tank had its heyday. Time to let it go.

[hayseed777]

Transfer the survivors and bring the Sexy back in a whole new incarnation. You are the Pico King...can't be a king without a kingdom.

[plantman1028]

Poor Old Yeller....Save what you can and start fresh.The clam looks great and you could bring the rics back. Sorry, I found it easier to restart than to revive. Cyano sucks and your sand bed prob has a ton of nutrients in it. Not to mention, its only 3 gals.

[~LadyBug~]

KEEP IT!!! I studied this thread like a textbook[notebook and all ] before I set up my 2.5 last Dec...I'd be really sad it this tank died

[Lawnman]

Locked loaded and ready to fire.

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

ditch the sand bed, spray/scrub/scrape off the rocks and get back to the whole sps pico thing.

 

i can probably count on one hand the folks that have a reef pico older than 2 years.

 

sure you could quit....but then all those that say that picos are not long lived would be right.and i would love to be right...

 

not gonna let them win are you?

[Arkayology]

The Fab pico must live on

[Saiyaness]

Agreed. You made the pico awesome and gave us mere mortals something to strive for - and in bigger tanks!

 

It is hard to put your love into two marine tanks though - especially when you mentioned how much happier your corals are in your Max.

 

So...keep the fans happy or is it a moral dilemma?

 

Make it a Mantis or Triffid Paradise. The best Triffid Tank on N-R

[sponginator]

if you go for triffids, keep the electric fences up and running all the time... lol

[n0rk]

If you do keep it up fab, take stock of what the failings were that allowed it to happen. We know it was the move, but an SPS pico is always on a knife's edge anyway. This system's always been pretty damn spot on, but there's always room for improvement

[knoxvegas]

I'm torn. I love a comeback, but 'old tank syndrome' seemingly takes 'em out. Not voting. I've followed from the beginning, and will wait.....

[animalmaster6]

Keep it up!

[Trogdor447]

dude joo got it mang!!! You can revive this beast, it is a calling for you to make it better then last time

[Sexy Shrimp]

Oh no - I loved your tank You have had the same problem as me - 3 years down the road, house move and everything dies

 

I'm currently restocking - may have a change in the aquascape...

 

It's harder to rescue than to start fresh

[Needreefunds]

Can ya feel the love Fab??

 

This tank is famous- legendary.

 

I'd love to see you restart this- c'mon ya know you want to.

 

Transfer the survivors to the max- scrub her out and start fresh.

 

Ok, perhaps it's my own selfish desire to see you do this again, but it would really be great to follow along while you recreate this awesome mixed Pico reef.

[Wiilio]

Saaaaaaaaaadness This is awful...

 

I'd say save what you can from this tank (fish, corals, etc), then either buy new rock/sand or kill everything on your current ones (letting them dry out, baking them, whatever). Then put everything back in, let it cycle again, and keep it going.

 

This is all provided you have a cycled tank to transfer everything to for awhile. Do you still have the RSM?

[fallenlordz]

oh no - the tank is going

 

this tank got me started into saltwater

[Daleo]

I say tear it down or start from ground zero. However, if you're not going to have the time to keep up with it then why waste the money to keep it up for other people when you're not going to enjoy it?

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

This tank is famous- legendary.

[el fabuloso]

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

+1,000,000

Don't just let it die. cyano is nothing, dont let something that silly take it down.

Why is the SPS pico idea not working out? (besides there being soft corals in the tank)

The SPS pico idea didn't work mostly because the transition took place right around the time I lost my job so it greatly affected my ability to acquire frags. Then when I was finally able to get some frags, the tank was plagued with flatworms. They normally come and go but these ones stuck around for a while so I was compelled to use FWE. Maybe I didn't use the product correctly because all the SPS frags bleached out after using it and only four survived from that point on.

 

So if I'm to revive this tank, I'll have to take it back to basics. This tank did really well as a mixed reef and like animalmaster said, I might be better off concentrating on keeping SPS in the Max instead of in this one.

 

Cyano sucks and your sand bed prob has a ton of nutrients in it. Not to mention, its only 3 gals.

I'm sure all the digging my pistol shrimp has been doing isn't helping.

 

i can probably count on one hand the folks that have a reef pico older than 2 years.

 

sure you could quit....but then all those that say that picos are not long lived would be right.and i would love to be right...

 

not gonna let them win are you?

That's also what I'm thinking. If it still has a fighting chance, why not give it another chance? When I started this thank three years ago I was told I couldn't do a lot of things and I proved them wrong. I would hate to prove people right for the first time.

 

This is all provided you have a cycled tank to transfer everything to for awhile. Do you still have the RSM?

Yes, that's the alternative plan. Consolidating everything over to the Max and tearing down this one for good. It seems only natural considering 99% of the corals in the Max all came from this tank. It's hard to imagine a 3 gallon tank raising enough corals to fill a 34g RSM.

 

I say tear it down or start from ground zero. However, if you're not going to have the time to keep up with it then why waste the money to keep it up for other people when you're not going to enjoy it?

It's not really so much about time. I don't have any more or less time than I did before. But the tank is definitely showing its age.

 

Make it a Mantis or Triffid Paradise. The best Triffid Tank on N-R

[thre3leven]

As many others on here, your tank was my inspiration. Keep it going man.

[animalmaster6]

So if I'm to revive this tank, I'll have to take it back to basics. This tank did really well as a mixed reef and like animalmaster said, I might be better off concentrating on keeping SPS in the Max instead of in this one.

Do it!!

[Aquanist]

No way this tank is going to be taken down. This pico was the main reason for me to explore the salty side of life!

[Lukicloe]

Like so many others, your little tank was an inspiration to me. I setup my pico following your guide. After reading all of the posts the past few days, I wanted to share a bit of my thoughts and my own experience.

 

My little 4.5 gal is much younger than yours- one year, but I went through a similar decision about six weeks ago. This past summer I set up a 40 breeder with a 29gal display macro refugium. It was an upgrade for my two 7 gals. Then, I began to move the corals and fish (two masked gobies) from my pico to the new tanks. I kept telling myself it would be so much simpler to consolidate. Plus, my emerald crab died in my pico and it started something of a crash. After many water changes to save the remaining inhabitants, things stabilized but I was discouraged. Taking down the pico just seemed like the thing to do.

 

Then, when all that was left in my pico to move to the 40 were a handful of corals and the two remaining sexy shrimp, I "found" my pom pom crab. I hadn't seen her since last April or May. I sat in front of the tank and watched her for the longest time. And then, of course, I wasn't taking down the pico after all.

 

I wish I were eloquent but I am not. Pico tanks are not the same as nanos. And while I love the 40b and the macro tank, the truth is picos are showcases for the tiny life that inhabit our tanks. Life we don't always remember to observe when looking at a larger tank.

 

I spent almost an hour on Friday scouring the bottom of the display tanks at a local LFS for tiny frags. I found a tiny piece of anthelia on a nickle sized rock, one single clove polyp, and a piece of something that might be a different color of anthelia but is probably a tiny kenya tree- it's about the size of two pinheads. Of course they were all for the pico. I did a water change this morning and then sat and watched a tiny brittle star carefully check out the the new anthelia "rock" before deciding it was the perfect place for a new home.

 

You have the knowledge necessary to turn your pico into anything you want or nothing at all. I do hope you choose to keep it going. And regardless of your decision, thank you for the time and effort you put into sharing your pico with the rest of us.

 

Raelin

[kevantheman35]

i dont think theres any argument that it was once the greatest pico ever created. I say get it back to where it belongs