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Oceans upgrade. Now 5 gallon reef.


constantocean

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constantocean
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 crazyAgain, 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 :huh: 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
mixed feelings now.i love those little guys, i wanted to buy a few more cus the LFS sells them for $1 a piece. but if they're going to start eating all my good stuff I guess they'll have to go.luckily, I read in that thread you sent me, that harlequin shrimp will eat them.and my livestock plans consist of two harlequins, so I guess the problem will take care of itself.
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. :)
It seems as tho everybody has mixed opinions on them. Everybody says they'll more or less be harmless but will eat my coralline and corals, just not in amounts great enough to realize. But, like I told the last person. My plans for the tank include two harlequin shrimp, and according to the thread they sent me, the harlequins will eat them. I'm just thinking........its a nano reef......I want to keep everything nano. Maybe some nano brittle stars would be nice if I can get my hands on them, haven't seen em in a while, used to have lots of 50 of them on ebay. :huh: what to do what to do
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constantocean

Today I went to home depot and purchased some junk pine wood to form myself a little hood. Keep in mind I dont have a table saw, so straight cuts are rather difficult. I did the best I could. I had originally planned on including hinges for easy access and bulb changes, etc. However, they just weren't working out for me, so, I had no choice but to make a box hood that I'll just have to take off when I need access to the tank. I also cut the top too short, so the bottom is a little wider than the top piece. I'll finish fully assembling it when the paint dries, and post the pics then. Also, I painted the back black today, also a fairly difficult task seeing as how the tank is already set up and placed.

 

EDIT:

My drill is broken. I had a power surge a few weeks ago when my heat was broken and we were using portable heaters to keep warm. Someone turned on the blowdryer and it killed the drill charger and battery that were plugged into an outlet down the hall. That leaves me with no way to secure the light fixture into the hood. ####! I grabbed some expanding foam glue for filling in cracks/holes in doors and walls. That stuff sticks like a mother so I figured it would do the job. Unfortunately it takes a while to dry. Until it does I'll keep the old hood from the cube on the shelf above the tank. My cell phone also broke yesterday, why does everything keep breaking? :(

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constantocean

Okay, here it is:

It's been a long day for both me and my tank, but everything is finished.

Here it goes:

 

First I decided to paint the back of the tank black, so lets tape everything off:

100_2281.jpg

 

and paint:

100_2284.jpg

 

before we put another coat on there, lets start the hood construction:

100_2282.jpg

 

100_2286.jpg

 

And of course a nice coat of paint for the hood:

100_2291.jpg

 

While I'm in the middle of this, look who decided to come out and say hi, What type of frag is that on his shell? It's kind of small to tell, I thought it was kenya tree or clove, but now I can't really tell:

100_2288.jpg

 

Paint's dry on the back of the tank and so is the second layer! Let's see how it looks!

100_2283.jpg

SUCCESS!

 

So My drill broke, and I had to think on my feet how I was going to mount that bulb into my tank, how about some foam insulator? that stuffs pretty sticky....

100_2292.jpg

 

Did I mention that i take a reef with me everywhere I go?

100_2293.jpg

That's my REAL work in progress. Up to almost a grand in ink already, and still nowhere near finished, damm..... one day.

 

Anyway! The hood is done! Yay! Let's check it out:

100_2302.jpg

Wow, what an improvement! Well, I couldn't be happier. What does everyone else think?

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constantocean
Love it what a kool way to put the lights on cant wait to build mine.

 

Here's my problem with the pico, I don't know if you've noticed it on your tank or not yet....

The bulb isn't replaceable, when you replace the bulb you have to replace the whole cover that goes over it and everything, I guess they figured for how cheap of a fixture it is, and that most people would just mod it anyway, it wasn't worth them making the bulb replaceable, so that UNFORTUNATELY is going to be a temporary hood, because once I need a bulb change, I need a whole new hood. Sucks right? But it'll do for now.

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TheChosenReefer

I say the bulb will last awhile unless the ballest go out. Ya i was thinking some coral life lights they had a 18 watt one same one and i am putting some blue LEDS for at nightHas your tank already cycled or can you put snails and stuff in while it is cycling

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constantocean
I say the bulb will last awhile unless the ballest go out. Ya i was thinking some coral life lights they had a 18 watt one same one and i am putting some blue LEDS for at nightHas your tank already cycled or can you put snails and stuff in while it is cycling

 

My tank already cycled. It took almost no time at all using live rock, live sand, and microvert invertabrate feeding food. Plus i used real ocean water. And yeah, you put in crabs and snails during a cycle, they'll usually make it thro, altho typically people STRONGLY advice against using livestock to help a cycle, but I guess that's more of a moral issue. The best way to go is just live rock and sand, and wait it out, If you really want the cycle to move along, try dropping in some food.

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constantocean

on the livestock front, I think i've decided to go with either a:

a.) clown trigger

b.) blue whale

or

c.)white tip reef shark

 

no, seriously tho, I'm still looking for some good harlequin shrimp. I can't seem to locate them anywhere at the moment (what is this the off season???). One LFS had a mated pair for $200, but honestly now, for a pair of mated shrimp?! I've seen mated percs sell for less then half that price. omgomgomg

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TheChosenReefer

Oh so you went to the ocean and get your water. I am nto sure about SW but to help out with the cycle process with my fresh I always put a goldfish and a real plant in there and it cycles in 2 days. I would put some food but no food for them my cat got into it. I walk into the kitchen and she was just pigging out on it.

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constantocean
Oh so you went to the ocean and get your water. I am nto sure about SW but to help out with the cycle process with my fresh I always put a goldfish and a real plant in there and it cycles in 2 days. I would put some food but no food for them my cat got into it. I walk into the kitchen and she was just pigging out on it.

 

hahahahahahaha, your cat is nuts. first drinking your tank water and now this. and no i didn't go to the ocean lol. altho i am like a half hour from it. I went to petco and bought the giant 5gallon boxes of real ocean water they sell. It's like $12.50 a box with the tax and by the time you mix your own saltwater, it comes out being only SLIGHTLY more expensive than mixing your own, and Its al-natural. Plus, people who use it say their fish and inverts do a LOT better in it than stuff you mix.

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constantocean

okay, i was GOING to post this just to screw with people and get some posts on here. but i know too many people will freak. so i'll admit before posting....i shopped this. they do look cute in my tank tho.

shoppedclowns.jpg

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constantocean
This looks like a nice little pico. I like the hood. I'm tagging along.

 

Awesome. Glad to have another person on for the ride. Just getting started, lots more to come!

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constantocean

On Friday I believe I'm taking a trip to an independent seller, guys selling frags out of his tanks at home. Planning on picking up some rics, zoos, and shrooms, money provided (Still missing a $200 paycheck :blink: )

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constantocean
:ninja: w00t send me some lol :bowdown:

 

you should seriously look into joining a local reef club, or searching craigslist in your area. there's lots of great deals out there.

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constantocean
We have one but they are like all 30 I am 16. Plus I sent a application for them and they haven't accepted me

 

our local reef club is the same way. everyones like 30. that's why my sisters boyfriend is applying for the family membership (he's 27). you get 2 accounts that way, one for him, one for me. since i doubt they will readily accept a 21 year old.

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TheChosenReefer

Ya you figure they would accept anyone interested in the hobby teach them the ways. LOL I could just pop in on one of there meeting lol :ninja:

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constantocean

MINI UPDATE:

 

today was aquascape day in my house I guess.

The 12G got a new scape (looks nicer than before, just slightly empty)

 

and of course so did my pico, since my pico is my baby:

 

Here is a FTS of the new scape (I basically just took out the front part of the reef, since it was dead rock anyway):

100_2320.jpg

 

Here is how it looks from the side, much more open and leaves room for future frag rocks:

100_2321.jpg

 

I had lost a piece of mushroom coral that seemed as tho I would never see it again, it dropped into a crevice in a rock and was pretty far in there (I did not glue the frag to the rock, simply placed it into a crevice) but BEHOLD today it came about during the aquascape, still alive and looking good, just proof that shrooms really are the heartiest corals:

100_2317.jpg

 

my two shrooms together:

100_2318.jpg

 

I also got some starburst polyps in there now, superglued em onto a piece of dead base rock:

100_2313.jpg

 

There is also a frag of candy cane, its not fully opened in this shot, kind of looks shriveled (as I had just moved it around and it was not very happy):

100_2316.jpg

 

and of course, no tank update is complete without a picture of my favorite piece, my walking frag! This seems to be his corner, he really likes it here:

100_2314.jpg

 

New stuff sooner hopefully than later, lack of funding may push things back a bit.

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Scott Riemer

Keep an eye on that GSP, it can take over a 3 gallon in no time. What are you going to do about that curly-cue anemone?

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constantocean
Keep an eye on that GSP, it can take over a 3 gallon in no time. What are you going to do about that curly-cue anemone?

 

I'm taking him to the LFS to trade him in for a different piece of cured rock. I'm hoping that with such a nice piece of rock they wont have a problem trading me one equally as nice from one of their displays.

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