agetupkiddan Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Heya, So this is my 2nd Pico attempt.. my last had to end early as a job opportunity on the other side of the country popped up! So now i'm back home, and in school for the next couple years, hence...my little project. So Specs so far. Filter/Circulation - AC 20 (liverock + heater in filter section) Substrate - CaribSea live sand 3 lbs Live rock split between Front and AC. 25w, Hagen elite The lighting i have right now is temporary.. its 2 10w Screw-in CFs i had from previous tanks. I mainly put it on so i could arrange rock today and take pics... Excuse the dirty glass please. I've found what seems to be a feather duster (correct me if i'm wrong) .. and this thing.. whose name elludes me at the moment (i know, i know) Anyway, everything started today... I intend on updating this regularly.. Now my only question at this point is, CYCLING.. Lights on.. or Off?? I know this is somewhat debatable, but i'm wondering if NO LIGHT = Death to all hitchhikers? or will they most likely die anyway during the cycle?? Cheeers! -Daniel Link to comment
auggievf Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I've always read and been told that you want to keep the light to a minimum during the cycle. You dont have anything in there that can take care of the algae that can form from the lighting.... Just what I've beent old in my VERY limited experience. Good luck! Looks good so far I've been considering setting up a 2 gal at work so I'll be following your progress ;-) Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Thanks for the input! I'm leaning towards that side of things on the basis of what i've read too... I am turning on the lights to look at things every now and then... Saltwater tanks are definetly more interesting to watch cycle than freshwater! Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 So i bought a new light, (18w coralife 9 inch one).. mounted it using a plate of glass and some steel Ikea shelving brackets. very pleased with the results... all quiet on the cycle front... i know that my water level is low... i need to purchase some water tomorrow... Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 1, 2008 Author Share Posted March 1, 2008 Sooo, not too much discussion here, however, i'll keep on updating... I changed the rockscape of the tank, got rid of a piece and added a "gold" nugget live rock to the right side. (I'm calling it a gold nugget, because.. well.. just look at it...) Since then, my levels all evened out to 0, (after my 1st cycle + mini cycle from the new rock)... i've been battling some stupid Apista's with joe's juice... i keep finding new ones, they're not multiplying like crazy, but emerging none-the-less.. oh well.. Today i added a blue leg hermit, and 2 Nassarius snails... Blue leg Hermit Crab: Full Tank: cheers! Link to comment
JonathanS Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Sooo, not too much discussion here, however, i'll keep on updating...I changed the rockscape of the tank, got rid of a piece and added a "gold" nugget live rock to the right side. (I'm calling it a gold nugget, because.. well.. just look at it...) Since then, my levels all evened out to 0, (after my 1st cycle + mini cycle from the new rock)... i've been battling some stupid Apista's with joe's juice... i keep finding new ones, they're not multiplying like crazy, but emerging none-the-less.. oh well.. Today i added a blue leg hermit, and 2 Nassarius snails... Blue leg Hermit Crab: Full Tank: cheers! nice, and how do you find the coralife mini compact to be? Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 2, 2008 Author Share Posted March 2, 2008 pretty decent.. from my last experience with picos, i went through the whole DIY stream... never quite got a clean enough look i was happy with... this works well and was a good price... 18 w over a 2 gal... maybe some of the more experienced ones here can comment on that.. I'm assuming it'll do the job for some soft corals.. ? Link to comment
JonathanS Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 pretty decent.. from my last experience with picos, i went through the whole DIY stream... never quite got a clean enough look i was happy with... this works well and was a good price... 18 w over a 2 gal... maybe some of the more experienced ones here can comment on that.. I'm assuming it'll do the job for some soft corals.. ? it definetly will but did it grow that purple coraline itself? Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 2, 2008 Author Share Posted March 2, 2008 hmmm good question actually.. i looked back at my earlier pics to guage this.. its has spread some so ya, i would assume so... the rock had some colour on it when i bought it.. the light spectrum makes it pop more now.. but i believe it is contributing to the growth. Link to comment
JonathanS Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 hmmm good question actually.. i looked back at my earlier pics to guage this.. its has spread some so ya, i would assume so... the rock had some colour on it when i bought it.. the light spectrum makes it pop more now.. but i believe it is contributing to the growth. i might just buy one of those, thanks. What type of filtering do you use? Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 an AC20 which houses some live rock rubble and my heater Link to comment
JonathanS Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 an AC20 which houses some live rock rubble and my heater how do find it to be? Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 does what its supposed to.. its quiet too and fits my heater.. all good things Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 ***Updates*** So since this is the closest thing to a "blog" that i have, i thought i'd do an update... Tanks been running well, CUC is doing its job. A little bit of a bubble Algae problem turning up, but ive been removing them as best as i can. Coraline algae is spreading nicely, starting on the back tank wall.. and filter outake... not much else to report i guess! Since things have been going well for more than a month, (levels being constant and such) I will be adding some Polyps this week i think. Other than that, i've started a mod using 2 AQ20's, i'm waiting for the silicone to dry, and if it works as hoped, will be in use sometime next week. __________________________ Tank shots Cheers Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 haha thanks! ya i know theres not much else in there than rock, i guess i'm really taking my time with this one! Link to comment
irishtexan Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 LOL. I dont think she meant it sarcastically. The rock is really pretty with all the purple coraline. Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 Hahaha, yeah i didn't really think she did, but i took a step back and thought to myself, "wow this hobby is weird when i begin to marvel at rocks in water.." but anyway, i am happy with the rock! So big Update today! ******************** Went to my LFS, one of the staff there was nice enough to understand that i have a pico, and their "medium sized" rocks with polyps, are more than i need. (especially for $50)... so i picked up a smaller sized one, for half price, and he dug around the mushroom display, and picked out some loose ones for me for 1$ each...(which i thought was quite fair)... seems i got about 6 for $5, a few shrooms and a couple ricordia type... Polyps have opened up a bit, shrooms have started to attatch, so i thought i'd Up some pics! Full Tank Polyps So, needless to say... an exciting day for me! Cheers! Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 30, 2008 Share Posted March 30, 2008 I swear I wasn't being sarcastic, the coralline is pretty. Love the zoas! Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted March 30, 2008 Author Share Posted March 30, 2008 haha thanks! p.s. i checked out your photo site, Amaaazing! i really like your misc. section! i love checking out people's photo sites, so many talented people out there! this is mine, which i just started, however am very slow to finish uploading pictures, (this hobby is taking quite a bit of my time lately!) http://www.uber.com/danieldc cheers! Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Thank you! Your photography is wonderful as well. I loved the city street shots. Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 *** Quick Update /Question **** So the mushrooms/Zoas are doing wonderfully.. opened up large, and just about all my polyps have opened up (there were some late bloomers)... Question though... i had a bit of an Apistasia problem, that i had been controlling with Joe's Juice... The rock with the mushrooms had a couple small ones i hadn't got around to blasting yet.. BUT i noticed that my mushrooms as they spread a bit, melted the Apista's themselves...??? is this normal coral warfare?? i at first thought the Apista's just retracted, but i saw one with the ends all melty, much like when i squirt them with joes juice... and now they are all gone from my mushroom rock... Do mushrooms kill Apistas? I hope they do, i hate the buggers... anyway, so thats my question... I also added a branchin monti to my tank today... will post pics later tonite! -cheers Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 hmmm, so no answers eh? well, anyways, i'll just do a tank update with my new branching monti... Changed mushrooms around a bit, they seem happier.. noticed that one either split already, or was attatched to a teenie piece of rumble that came in my mushroom bag from the LFS.. so now i have 8 shrooms... -Cheers as always! Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Corals will engage in "chemical warfare" pretty frequently, although I haven't known shrooms to be particularly powerful in that regard. The tank looks great! Link to comment
agetupkiddan Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 ya, i didn't really come across anything in my research about shrooms doing much of anything to anything else in the tank... well, either way, as long as i see less apistas the better... thanks for the compliment! i must say, this has probably been the best forum i've found on the net, active/helpful members and the specific "nano"-centric format, is right up my ally.. Link to comment
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