HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Yep, i told you guys i was getting one. found it on craigslist for 60 bucks. came with an 18 watt current USA with moonlight. The guy also gave me 2 different HOBs a nimble magfloat and a bag of Purigen!. im gonna turn the small AQuaClear into a fuge and the other one im gonna use for chemical filtration. Picked up 7 or so lbs of rock and some live sand today. im planning on keeping it as a softy tank with a more exotic goby or goby/pistol pair. wish me luck guys and if you have any comments/advice let me know! this is a step down in size from my BC29 heres the setup pics Link to comment
Jacobnano Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Are you planning on upgrading to the 2x18w light later on? I would recommend and aquaclear 70 as a hang on back (HOB) filter for your tank. I have one and it is just amazing, having the chaeto grow in there really reduces the nutrients and the filter itself creates almost all the flow you need. Good luck with the tank! Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 ya mine isnt an AC70 its small, but i think itll work for a fuge. what do you think? i wanna custom mod a bank of LEDs into the one i have and have LEDs + the 18 watt Link to comment
Jacobnano Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Anything will work for a fuge I suppose but the thing about the aquaclears is that it has a very large volume, which is always good to add on a pico tank. For the LEDs I assume you have seen Evil's threads? You should talk to him about DIY LEDs. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 ive been chatting with him all day haha. im gonna need his help. i figure if i do half the amount of LEDs as a full LED setup and the 18w itll be a nice mix. well see Link to comment
Jacobnano Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Cool, he is the LED master lol. That will give you plenty of options, maybe even SPS. You should post some more pics when the tank clears up. I wanna see your rockscape Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 absolutely will! Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 my first hitchhiker! litle clearer so you can get an idea of the scape i threw together Link to comment
Jacobnano Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Nice little collonista snail! Also, its still kinda hard to see the scape lol Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 tomorrow itll be clear im sure. i tried to hide the dual HOBs hoses behind rocks and i think i did a good job. man picos have such a small volume....if i stick my hand in there it splashes over O.O Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 i dont think ive seen anyone else use a dual HOB setup like what im attempting. the reason im going this route is for this simple purpose. im going to run my carbon/chem filtration in one, and have a fuge/bio filtration in my other HOB. that way when/if i get pods, brittles, etc they wont get stck in my carbon bag and die like in a single large HOB setup. is there any reason people havent done this? ill let you know how it works for me. Link to comment
lajz9 Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 i dont think ive seen anyone else use a dual HOB setup like what im attempting. the reason im going this route is for this simple purpose. im going to run my carbon/chem filtration in one, and have a fuge/bio filtration in my other HOB. that way when/if i get pods, brittles, etc they wont get stck in my carbon bag and die like in a single large HOB setup. is there any reason people havent done this? ill let you know how it works for me. People do this all the time. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 okay, i apparently just havent seen it. i usually just see one very large HOB Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Very nice! You definitely got a good deal on that setup. I don't see why two HOB filters wouldn't work as an alternative to the usual AC70 fuge setup. How much live rock do you have in it? It's hard to make out from the cloudiness but I like the rock work so far. Awesome job and welcome to the club. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 well i bought 5 lbs from an LFS. and then my friend left me a present of 5 MORE lbs. so i think i have around 7-8 in the pico and i put the rest into my biocube (cant let 7 dollar rock go in the trash!) hopefully itll be clear tomorrow so you can see the scape. I kinda just thru it all in and arranged it slightly. I always carry my LR in a cooler with water so i minimize die off. so i put it in there with about 4 minutes of it being out of water. im thinking now that im gonna use the larger HOB for my fuge because chaeto grows, and i can put a smallc arbon bag/purigen in the smaller pico fuge. tomorrow will have updated pics! Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 now that im sitting here thinking. this tank is in a "hotter" room in my upstairs theatre room. how much evap should i be expecting? daily top offs? im not used to such a small volume of water compared to my bc29 which needs top offs every 3-4 days Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Manual top-offs are a pain and gets old fast. Get yourself a good ATO and you're set. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 is it a daily occurrence? ill have to look an ATO up. any suggestions? Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I was doing manual top-offs for a whole year before finally getting myself a good ATO. WTF was I thinking? I used to top-off twice a day, once in the morning and again at night. Evaporation rate varied but I remember losing at least two cups during the summer but that was also before the LED upgrade and my tank would get really hot. I find that most ATO systems are a little complicated which is why it took me so long to implement one. I came up with a simplified system but it's not perfect and still needs to be streamlined which is why I haven't really shared the details with everyone but I'll be glad to PM it over to you. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 please do. i just checked my tank out now that its clear. I had forgotten how obsessive i get over aquascapes. and a pico doesnt leave much room for imagination. I have a great purple tonga branch as the backbone, but i may need to ditch it. i have some rocks that are VERY high in the water column. i guess that may be handy when i start to upgrade things and want SPS. youll all see what im taling about tomorrow afternoon. i have class 9-4 i should probly topoff before i go huh Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Precisely. Because picos are so small it really requires you to be super meticulous with the aquascape. You don't have the luxury of throwing in random things like you do in a larger tank. Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 i need to get a different heater. this one stays on too long. it was at 83 when i woke up this morning so i pulled it out for now Link to comment
HeyLookItsCaps Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 What do you guys think of the scape......too much rock? Too cluttered? Gimme your opinions! I hate new tank scaping now! Ahhhhh Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I like it a lot! Definitely has some interesting structures and I love all the nooks and crannies. Link to comment
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