Cptbjorn's 3g DIY Pico Cube

[cptbjorn]

Well I have been having some problems with my calcium and alk (my first calcium test was over 800 ) which at least at the beginning were because of the DIY rocks, mostly due to the rocks leeching calcium at first. I just got a magnesium test kit and it is no wonder I've still been having problems, my magnesium is under 1000...

 

I'm going to do one gallon water changes every couple days for the next week or so and then slowly dose it up to 1350-1400 if it isn't there already. Should make my alk and calcium much more manageable and I think I have all the parts now for auto dosing so I should have that running too within the next month or two

[plantarms]

your pico is looking great, nice corals! nice build on the diy pump, man can you imagine if a shrimp went to close to that thing on full power?!

[cptbjorn]

Thanks

 

It is alright in this tank with nothing but snails and a lone blue hermit, but I would actually love to see the cleaner shrimp in my picotope run through the pump a time or two and watch my corals grab the pieces (why isn't there a devil smiley?) That coral food stealing bastage is going to meet my mantis one day lol.

 

But yes I get your point and the next couple I make for amnesiak and my other tanks will have guards for sure.

[AkOndray]

So I've been reading all the pico threads recently and I actually just ordered my first JBJ picotope earlier tonight. I came back on here and stumbled on your thread (I hadn't seen it before somehow.) After an hour of reading through your thread (I got side tracked a lot and had to check out all the websites you mentioned) I feel as though my brain has melted slightly due to the pure awesomeness that is technology, coral farm, and pico reef all morphed into one.

 

I will definitely be following this thread closer than any of the other threads I've read, and in fact this is the first thread I've actually posted on.

 

I do have a few questions though. But I'll PM them to you so you don't have a page of text to look at the next time you check your thread.

Thanks for the brain melting

-Ashton

[cptbjorn]

Thanks, I'm big on the DIY stuff. As soon as I run out of stuff to add I'll probably lose interest and upgrade to a new tank and start over lol. That won't happen any time soon though, I've got plenty of stuff left to do.

 

 

Went to Seattle Aqua Farm today, it is just a couple miles from my house and it turns out the guy went to the same middle school as I did (but I'm 4 years older)

 

Picked up some nice acans and a blue tort

 

The acans won't fit in this tank right now though and the blue tort has red bugs so I've got nothing to show for it. The tort is in my 13g until I pick up some Coral Revive, it had a very cool blue/green iridescence though and I was stoked about it until I looked close and saw the red dots It was in the tank for like 20 minutes too, I'm really hoping none of them decided to relocate... At least my acros aren't glued down I guess.

[amnesiak]

I've been wondering where Seattle Aqua Farm was. I went to Red Sea today and got a very nice $10 birds nest frag, and he talked to me for a while about the importance of dipping my stuff (he rec'd API melafix i think) no matter where I got it from. I basically told him 'well, I think my display is pretty damn dirty with random stuff, but maybe in six months...' and I thought about your display and how pest-free it was. Kind of ironic. I hope they didnt get in your display.

 

Where are they exactly, in covington? auburn?

 

Also, he mentioned that a daily or weekly iodine bath for my sick sun coral would help, I'd never heard of that for helping out stony corals. imma try it i think.

[cptbjorn]

It is right by Lake Meridian park, it is pretty small right now with only two main tanks but he is putting in a big 230 gallon 4' octagon frag tank right now with plans for more. He had some nice acan frags today, most were a half dozen big heads or more for 25 bucks. I went with my sister's fiance and overall I was impressed with what we got for what we paid.

 

I've actually had zoa nudibranches, aiptasia (several times), a eunice worm, photosynthetic flatworms and now red bugs and probably at least one more "pest" I'm forgetting, I've just been lucky and noticed them all early in this tank. It got pretty bad with the nudibranches in my picotope though, those things are such a PITA when they start laying eggs. When I get new zoas/palys now I get some RO up to temp and go straight from bag->RO for 5 minutes->tank, everything else I just put straight in though.

 

Iodine dips are good, I've done them a couple times when corals have stung each other and it seems to help.

[cptbjorn]

Red bugs on my bonsai now...

 

brb getting ReVive

[amnesiak]

Good luck, let me know if that does the trick (and where you found it) - I might get some to help the sun coral.

[cptbjorn]

I got some ReVive from Barrier Reef and dipped all my acros. I did 2.5ml in 250ml of tank water (just over one cup) for 5 minutes while agitating with a turkey baster.

 

After removing the frags there were a bunch of pods left in the dipping container and they all appeared to be dying, they seemed immobilized and were mostly kicking around on their backs from what I could see (I need new glasses)

 

All of the red bugs and isopods were dead within 10 minutes of frag removal (15 minutes total exposure to the ReVive) and some of the copepods and amphipods are still kicking at the 30 minute mark.

 

It appears that a few of the red bugs survived, I'm going to wait a day or two to see how the acros react and probably dip for the full 15 minutes it took for the solution to kill all of the red bugs. From what I can tell the corals were not phased at all by the dipping and they are opening up again like nothing happened.

 

ReVive seems promising and if it indeed kills all the red bugs I'll probably start dipping all new corals I get with it. The bottle I got was 14.99 for 500ml which if I use the same amount is 200 uses so it is dirt cheap if it works

[badfish816]

nice

[cptbjorn]

I'm not seeing any red bugs today

 

I'm doing another 10 minute dip later just in case but I'm pretty sure it worked and most of the ones I was seeing still attached after the dip were mortally wounded.

 

I got a new controller firmware from amnesiak last night and now I'm rocking a pseudo random pump setting. The blue xenia is standing up straight for the first time ever because there isn't really a prevailing flow pushing it one direction anymore, just random flow keeping it moving. The shimmer is crazy now too, not only is it blue and white from the LEDs but it pulses in and out randomly.

 

Also FTS, I made a new pump wet side and tweaked a couple things to make it as small as possible and it is probably the final version for this tank. Yes, I will probably get a regular black rubber O ring on it once the novelty of the red/blue silicone and fluorosilicone wears off. My new acro fell back a bit and is shaded now but it is in the upper right by the birdsnest. The birdsnest is looking a TON better now that my magnesium is in line btw

 

[cptbjorn]

Just did a second revive dip for 10 minutes on all my acros and no red bugs were visible before the dip and none came off during or after. I think I'm cured

 

Also after my reading I now want an acro crab pretty bad once my frags grow out a bit, I'm going to keep an eye out for one.

[pschmitz]

I think I'm cured

 

Famous last words!

Heres hopin', though!

[cptbjorn]

Still no red bugs But also still no polyps out of the new acro, it looks alright though so I dunno. Just needs more time I think.

 

I finally got my magnesium in line, I can't believe how much epsom salt it took to take my Mg from ~1000 to ~1400; almost 50 grams of the stuff. It is only ~10% Mg by weight but it is still weird to think that much stuff was "missing" from my water and the corals were still mostly happy. I think this was what was holding back my coralline growth too, I'm getting spots all over the place now. I have some wicked plating/capping coralline in my 13g that I'm going to introduce too.

 

My blue xenia (cespitularia) seems to like the new flow so much that it is fragging itself You can see the "bud" starting to form on my FTS from 3 days ago, it was about the size of a BB but now it is a half inch long with 8 or 10 polyps forming on it. I moved a piece of rubble underneath it and it attached within an hour or two and now appears to be starting to sever itself from the parent. It is cool to watch and it is by far the fastest I've seen a coral grow. It is hard to get good pics of this stuff but here's one that didn't turn out too bad:

 

[Weetabix7]

It'll start growing fast for you now, glad it's settled in and gotten "happy".

[cptbjorn]

Awesome, I have several other tanks I want the xenia in so if it keeps fragging itself I will not complain

 

Well the tank and I are both celebrating birthdays today, the tank is 1/2 and I am in the mid 20s somewhere I think. Figured I'd take some pics and also I'm thinking about maybe getting a new addition(s).

 

I've had the new frags for a couple weeks now and the two chalices in the front have grown 1/16" or so around the edges I thought they were supposed to be slow growers but they gobble up little mysis pieces readily and are probably the fastest growing LPS I've got. I've also soaked freeze dried daphnia in double strength saltwater (to make them sink better) with some zoecon and they eat that like crazy too.

 

 

I haven't taken many pics from the top because I rarely look at it that way but now with the feeding mode on my pump (button press turns it off for a couple minutes) I've been doing it more often. It is crazy how different some of the stuff looks and I think the colors show up more true when I take pics this way:

 

 

And a fts. I've done some research and have found out that the browning of the appleberry is common with shipping and it stays that way for several-many months before coming back. Also starting to see polyps on the new acro, I think he said it was a blue tort but it is looking very green now, I dunno.

 

[amnesiak]

Well the tank and I are both celebrating birthdays today, the tank is 1/2 and I am in the mid 20s somewhere I think. Figured I'd take some pics and also I'm thinking about maybe getting a new addition(s).

 

Crap, dude, I had no idea, I would have taken you out for a beer or something. Happy birthday.

[cptbjorn]

Thanks, I actually didn't even remember until after you left lol. Birthdays suck after 21 because you just get older you don't gain new abilities. I guess at 25 I get cheaper car insurance and at 35 I can be president. Lame IMO.

[badfish816]

tank is looking great. is the pump still workin good for ya? happy birthday btw.

[cptbjorn]

Thank you

 

Pump is still going great, I have it set just about as low as it can go now without losing the variable speed. I had it set higher at first and I was gradually getting less and less polyp extension so I backed it off and things are getting happier again.

 

I got a second pump built and tested this weekend btw (and passed it off to its new owner today) and most of a third one as well. It ran plenty well in my 13g for a day or so there, full power was too much for even that tank. Number 3 will be the last one though and then we start pump 2.0

[SaltineSage]

Thanks, I actually didn't even remember until after you left lol. Birthdays suck after 21 because you just get older you don't gain new abilities. I guess at 25 I get cheaper car insurance and at 35 I can be president. Lame IMO.

 

1) Birthday's suck after 25. At 25 you can rent a car without extra insurance. That is our culture's ascension to adulthood.

 

2) Here I thought I was having a brilliant stroke of awesome when I pretty much had the same idea as your setup last night- save for the autotop off, that is flipp'n sweet. I'll be following your thread like crazy, and once I get my BC29 running and my girlfriend lets me buy more toys... I'll be doing my own cptbjorn Pico DIY Expect to get many emails from me begging for help

[cptbjorn]

Cool saltinesage, good to hear. I'm pretty happy with most of my whole setup, definitely do a 10" cube though lol. Another 1/2" of sandbed on each side and 1 more inch in the front would be real nice about now

 

I went to Barrier Reef Aquariums today and nabbed 5 sexy shrimp I've had a single one in my picotope for a bit now and was thinking about ordering 5-9 more online because I had assumed I'd be paying 20-25 each to get them at a LFS. I was wrong though, the sign said 11.99 and I counted 5 in the store so I had them bagged and the co-owner ended up giving them to me for 60 with tax included

 

I'm putting 3 into this pico, will have pics later once they are in the tank.

[amnesiak]

I went to Barrier Reef Aquariums today and nabbed 5 sexy shrimp

Jerk.

[cptbjorn]

Haha I bought them out and they said they'll never order more EVER AGAIN

 

Not sure what difference it makes but between my two tanks with 3 sexies each I have them from 3 different shipments/sources so they probably aren't all siblings and might start spawning at some point? Can I get a firmware to PWM some Barry White into my pump please amnesiak?

 

I need to scrape some coralline but here's the sexies before they dispersed. Also probably the first good pic I've gotten of my purple death palys, they have grown and purpled up nicely and there are now babies forming, it seems they are alright with the indirect LED lighting.

 

 

And some of the new heads forming on the green paly are showing signs of being hybridized with something purple, I'm not sure if the frag was cut from a colony of both green and purple palys? It is a couple inches away from the PD frag and I had assumed they had to be touching to get hybrids? Random genetic mutation maybe? Zoa cancer?