Oceans upgrade. Now 5 gallon reef.

[constantocean]

Well, I've been reading these forums for quite a while, but have never really had any need to post to them. But i decided...what the heck? why not jump on the bandwagon? So, I bring you, the progress of my 3G pictope. I am no new aquarist, I have a 12G biocube with HQI currently running (actually my sisters boyfriends tank). And in the past I have had a 30g nano reef, a 75 reef, a 10 reef and 55 FOWLR.

 

HERE IT IS:

I got the 3G tom deco kit for christmas.

 

here is the box:

 

 

its a tom deco 3 gallon reef kit. 80gph filter and 18 watt clamp on PC light fixture.

sorry, I don't have pics of it fresh out of the box, but i used some live sand from my other reef and some friends tanks to cycle it, as well as some live rock and microvert. For such a small tank with all that life in it, the cycle essentially completed in 3 days, altho just for safety precautions I'm going to wait a few more days before making any changes.

 

Here's the full set up:

 

 

At 80gph full force, the filter turns my tank over about 26 times an hour. But theres little room inside to take care of any filter media additions, no room for live rock rubble, algae, media bag, anything, so I believe I'll be purchasing a larger filter, probably an aqua clear 70, to turn into a refugium.

 

this is the filter at work:

 

 

The 18watt Power compact fluorescent lamp fixture provides enough light for basically any type of coral I wish to put into the tank, but it's got a weak clamp that I'm really scared of breaking, I think I'll probably keep it for now, but the second it shows signs of breaking or sinking towards the tank, I'm going to replace it with a Current USA PC 12" 18watt fixture which I'll probably order from bigalsonline for $39.99 plus shipping. It also includes a moonlight, which is an unbeatable deal.

 

Here is the stock lighting:

 

 

Ignore the big bulky heater suctioned on the back, I'll probably get rid of that as soon as I can, Once i get a bigger filter it will go inside the filter, altho I was told by the guys at the LFS that I should be okay without a heater since in a tank that small the motors in the filter and the lights should keep the tank at a steady temperature with no problems.

 

Anyways, there's 2 pieces of live rock in the tank, I got one new one today, The other had been in there for a few days. The one piece of live rock has lots of coralline algae, and an aptasia. The other is covered in red sponges, I also have 6 nano size starfish that you can see on the rocks. I think these two pieces of rock should be enough to form a base to place the coral on, since anymore rocks will most likely send the corals above the water level.

 

Anyway, here are the rocks:

 

rock 1 with aptasia ^^^^

rock 2 with sponges:

 

here's a close up of the aptasia, he's pretty big since i never killed him off while he was living in my 12g reef:

 

here is a full tank view from a few feet back, looking nice under my little tiny model ships:

 

look how gross my filter catridge sponge already is after a few days of filtering out the rubble from the sand being poured in, i'll probably give it a good cleaning in a few days, I just don't want to disturb any beneficial bacteria right now:

 

Well, that's all there is for now. If you're wondering, the tank is too small for a fish. It's just going to be coral and a whole bunch of those nano stars ( I know many people consider them pests, but I've never had trouble with them and I think they're a great addition to a small tank), and probably a harlequin shrimp. I will post pics as soon as I have stuff updated. Let me know what you think! and what you guys have done with your picos. thanks!

[dtfleming]

Sexy shrimp would be cool, I would upgrade the lighting to an 18W fixture, satellite or aqualight.

[Daemonfly]

Doesn't quite look like aiptasia, at least not the ones I've seen. Mojano type, perhaps.

[constantocean]

Sexy shrimp would be cool, I would upgrade the lighting to an 18W fixture, satellite or aqualight.

 

It came with an 18watt fixture. The strange thing is I think the bulb is permanently mounted which means after a few months I'd have to get a new fixture anyway. So I might as well do it now! I will probably purchase a new filter and light at the same time.

[constantocean]

Doesn't quite look like aiptasia, at least not the ones I've seen. Mojano type, perhaps.

It's entirely possible it's not an aptasia i suppose. When he first appeared he looked exactly like one, but after my sister's boyfriend giving him target feedings of microvert in the 12g, he chunked up a bit.

[constantocean]

just a small update to anyone who happens to be reading this, i found two small flat worms suckling to my tank walls this morning. As well as an uncountable number of some type of copepods. Looks like things are off to a nice healthy start. I'll post a pic later of the 12G reef for all to see.

[TheChosenReefer]

Nice tank. I am about to go to the store and get some LR and salt mix and I will post pics of mine to

[constantocean]

Nice tank. I am about to go to the store and get some LR and salt mix and I will post pics of mine to

 

can't wait to see!

[TheChosenReefer]

If you haven't checked it out yet constantocean here is the link tell me what you think of mine. Also is there any diff in setting up your filter on the side or on the back I see it both ways?

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=140899

[constantocean]

well i took about 90 pictures today, but i'll spare you the step by steps that happened throughout the day, since it was fairly eventful if you go picture by picture.

and also since photobucket thinks its pretty funny to give me trouble right now.

Also, I've noticed lots of people are looking at this, and not sending me any feedback, I need your help to make this tank as beautiful as possible! So please, if you're taking the time to follow along, take the time to drop a comment.

 

I call this:

PICO, THE DAWN

 

I Started the day by adding a few pieces of base rock I had lying around from my old 30 gallon tank:

 

 

Then I decided something really needed to be done about that heater. so whala, heater be gone!:

 

I later decided to add in some rubble rock pieces to close in some gaps (at least until the tank starts getting fuller) that I took out of the fuge in the 12G and gave a little swish in some clean saltwater.:

 

Well, as I said last time, I was considering in investing in a larger filter, but, for now I think I'll see what I can do with the stock filter, so I bring you this, the "did he seriously just try to turn that tiny thing into a regium?" picture:

 

I also picked up a few green starburst polyps today at the LFS, and a small green mushroom that I couldn't leave because the colors were stunning (3rd day in a row there, I think I'm starting to scare the employees:

 

Oh did I forget to mention, I got a red leg hermit crab that has a frag of Kenya Tree growing on its shell, awesome right? That's him in the bottom left, coral still hasn't opened back up, I suspect it probably wont til sometime tomorrow.

Check out the coralline on this one piece of rubble:

 

I guess that's it as far as the pico goes for now, I found a guy on craigslist who says he has a bunch of frags of rics and assorted polyps that he's letting go for about $8 a frag. He's about an hour away from home, so I'll be taking a trip down there probably sometime next weekend to pic some things up.

 

As I mentioned, I have a 12G currently running as well, so here's a quick pic of that, yeah...i know the tank needs some serious aquascaping...I didn't do it:

 

Here are some pics of the sand sifting starfish and peppermint shrimp:

 

 

 

If you're wondering the starfish and the shrimp are in the 12G.

 

I went to two of the LFS' today. At one there was an ocellaris clownfish no bigger than my thumbnail that I was tempted to buy for my picotope. But i figured at that size either 1. he'd die from being so small and fragile or 2. He'd live, outgrow my tank, and then die. So I had to fight the temptation to buy him, wish I could have gotten a pic tho, absolutely adorable. That is all for my updates at the moment. What do you think of the progress?

 

Only current plans:

Rescape the rocks

paint the back black

go see that guy on craigslist stuff and stock stock stock

still planning on going with harlequins unless I hear a suggestion I like better.

[TheChosenReefer]

Maybe in your 12g you mgiht want to put in a frogspawn I think that is what they are called. So how many pounds of LR do you have in your deco

[constantocean]

Maybe in your 12g you mgiht want to put in a frogspawn I think that is what they are called. So how many pounds of LR do you have in your deco

 

as of the end of today, I have about 4 lbs of rock. I was going to stay with 3, but then I got a really nice free piece, so....it's either take something out. or just leave it as is. I'm not sure how I'm going to go yet.

[TheChosenReefer]

Oh ok Ya thank you for advice. So now it seems we are deco buds lol. I like the little tank. I am thinking of building a box to go around it to cover everything up just a idea right now. but nice tank. What is that dark color rock called? Might see if my LFS has it.

[constantocean]

Oh ok Ya thank you for advice. So now it seems we are deco buds lol. I like the little tank. I am thinking of building a box to go around it to cover everything up just a idea right now. but nice tank. What is that dark color rock called? Might see if my LFS has it.

 

It's just fiji that had been sitting in a tank at my LFS for years. Had lots of time to get full of goodies. The guys at the LFS know my face, so sometimes they'll sell me stuff they don't sell to other customers. Such as that beautiful rock. deco buds, sounds fun!

[TheChosenReefer]

Ya I think I might go work at my LFS I am 16 hopefully they will hire me I know alot about fresh not so mush salt. but anyways my LR came with something white on the rock not sure what it is. But I got it for 8.00 a pound no taxes. there were selling other rocks for 45.00 a pound but they were full of awesome corals. Ya now I am a VIP there so like a biocube cost $219 I think wiht my VIP I get it for 159 that is 8g. Then on bithday I get a 20% discount so you bet your butt I will be there with all my B-day money lol.

[constantocean]

Ya I think I might go work at my LFS I am 16 hopefully they will hire me I know alot about fresh not so mush salt. but anyways my LR came with something white on the rock not sure what it is. But I got it for 8.00 a pound no taxes. there were selling other rocks for 45.00 a pound but they were full of awesome corals. Ya now I am a VIP there so like a biocube cost $219 I think wiht my VIP I get it for 159 that is 8g. Then on bithday I get a 20% discount so you bet your butt I will be there with all my B-day money lol.

 

haha awesome. i'm only 21. so not much of a big difference. I started taking care of tanks when I was 18. I work in a petstore right now but we don't have a saltwater section only fresh and our fish are ugly. I do get a 35% discount tho and we have some saltwater supplies. We also have another store about a half hour away that has saltwater livestock. I have never taken the trip to check it out tho, seeing what my store offers I couldn't imagine it would be too worth the drive.

[TheChosenReefer]

We have a two LFS one sells everything fomr pond fish to tanks to any thing you really need (except for my freaking LED light lol) the one that sells just SW sells somethings I don't know how it is really still open considering the only tank that looks good is the frag tank. We walked in there and there were like 6 fish dead some were tangs and clowns and gobys.

[constantocean]

We have a two LFS one sells everything fomr pond fish to tanks to any thing you really need (except for my freaking LED light lol) the one that sells just SW sells somethings I don't know how it is really still open considering the only tank that looks good is the frag tank. We walked in there and there were like 6 fish dead some were tangs and clowns and gobys.

 

haha wow thats horrible.

its my goal to someday open an LFS of my own.

That's why I'm currently working at the pestore where I work, just to get some petstore management experience. But when I open mine I plan on having everything from freshwater to saltwater to supplies and tanks right down to rentals for UV sterilizers and diatom filters, and other such things people will probably only need for a day or two.

I was also majoring in marine biology, but I gave that up after 2 years of not learning anything I didnt already know.

[TheChosenReefer]

LOL. Ya man I am wanting to own my own LFS to. My mom thinks I am crazy. My dad is like well if you do, I know you will pay me like 30 bucks an hour LOL I said yap you will work like 3 hours a week. Ya my brother today goes Will if you knew as much about english as you do SW and FW you might pass with an A

[constantocean]

LOL. Ya man I am wanting to own my own LFS to. My mom thinks I am crazy. My dad is like well if you do I know you will pay me like 30 bucks an hour LOL I said yap you will work like 3 hours then a week. Ya my brother today goes Will if you knew as much about english as you do SW and FW you might pass with an A

 

hahahaha that's great. luckily for me I didn't get into keeping tanks til after highschool, otherwise I probably never would have passed. The benefit in my situation is that my sister and her boyfriend both got into keeping reefs from seeing mine in the past. And they're both 27 and interested in opening a store too, first they want to get their own place. but once they get that out of the way, they say they might start looking into business loans. Hopefully things turn out!

[TheChosenReefer]

Well I think I sent you a friend request. I better get to bed lol got to be at work at 6AM looked at the clock and it is 2:00. All this reef talk makes time fly.

[constantocean]

Well I think I sent you a friend request. I better get to bed lol got to be at work at 6AM looked at the clock and it is 2:00. All this reef talk makes time fly.

friended. and my first official friend on nano-reef.com

looking forward to each others progress!

[TheChosenReefer]

Same here well cya man.

[mp216]

here's a close up of the aptasia, he's pretty big since i never killed him off while he was living in my 12g reef:

 

Cool set up! I too am also a lurker/reader and looking at your pics reminded me of a thread...

 

strange 6 and 7 armed Starfish breeding like crazy

 

Again, I am no expert, but you might want to read up... that little star fish you have there may or may not be trouble. From what I understand the uneven armed starfish are coral predators Starfish aside, I think your tank looks great, I love these little pico's and I cant wait to see how it looks all stocked up

 

-Matt

[Thristan]

I wouldn't worry too much about that little star fish. I have hundreds of them in my 33 long and 5.5 nano and they just clean the walls and sand that's it.