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Mr. Microscope's JBJ Picotope

Mr. Microscope

By Mr. Microscope,
in Pico Reef Journals

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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so how are the corals doing?

Thanks for asking. Well, aside from my Lunar Eclips (which never closed), all of my zoas/palys are still closed. GSP is still hiding. The toadstool is actually starting to look a little better though :) . It's pretty barren in there right now, but if this hobby has taught me anything, it's that patience pays off. I'm just going to continue with the small daily water changes, and hopefully replace the Chemi-Pure tomorrow.

 

I'm also thinking about replacing the heater. My Hydor Theo 25 Watt has been slowly getting hotter and hotter. It's about 81 in there right now. I'd like to bring that down to a steady 79, but my heater is set as low as it can go (lame!). Also, I think my new pump arrived today. I'll bring it in tomorrow. I imagine making my tank less of a vortex will help matters along as well.

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everl0ng

everl0ng

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if you have the funds, maybe you ought to check into a controller? i just got my rkl last night, and before that my heater would jump from 79-84. i wasn't confortable with such drastic swings in a small tank so i hooked it up. i have it set to heat when below 80.0*, and stop when above 80.0*. i checked the high and low today and the high was 80.1* while the low was 79.9*. i don't even have a fan hooked up yet, but i probably won't need it until summer again. i couldn't be happier with my purchase. a VERY nice peace of mind for $99!

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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if you have the funds, maybe you ought to check into a controller? i just got my rkl last night, and before that my heater would jump from 79-84. i wasn't confortable with such drastic swings in a small tank so i hooked it up. i have it set to heat when below 80.0*, and stop when above 80.0*. i checked the high and low today and the high was 80.1* while the low was 79.9*. i don't even have a fan hooked up yet, but i probably won't need it until summer again. i couldn't be happier with my purchase. a VERY nice peace of mind for $99!

 

 

Cool! That's a pretty tight gap. I was thinking about the RKL, but funds are an issue right now.

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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I have Lunar's as well...just added last week. Love 'em!

Right?! Killer Paly! Mine look very similar to yours. Jet black in the center with NEON orange skirt.

 

yeah, i was absolutely ecstatic to see it that tight! Christmas is coming up ;)

:) Yup. I already asked my wife for some LEDs as my, "big gift" this year. She's like, "you want me to spend $80 on 10 little things the size of a dime?"

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evanski

evanski

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:) Yup. I already asked my wife for some LEDs as my, "big gift" this year. She's like, "you want me to spend $80 on 10 little things the size of a dime?"

 

Tell her...nope! The big cost is in the dimmable drivers! They are more like the size of a pack of cards! :lol:

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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it's kind of like the song 'parents just don't understand' except it's always 'the wife just doesn't understand' haha.

:lol: !

 

Tell her...nope! The big cost is in the dimmable drivers! They are more like the size of a pack of cards! :lol:

Yeah, I gotta get those too. I'm figuring I'll just get my light a little bit at a time. With the 9 or so that I asked for (if I get them), I'll build a small light to practice before I get the rest of the supplies to build the big one. Good thing they last so long.

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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Update:

 

This morning was a big maintenance day. For starters, I completely cleaned out my AC70 fuge and rebuilt it a little. The area with the chaeto in it is significantly bigger now. The heater also has it's own compartment. Finally, I added on the Picotope stock pump onto the side of the AC70. It is dedicated exclusively to running the Chemi-Pure Elite (which I also replaced today). I really had to jam the bag in there, but it seems to be working. All in all, I think this should speed up my recovery.

NewEquipment20101202.jpg

I made some major changes today as well. For starters, I changed out the Koralia Nano for the Pico Evo 180 pump. You can read about it in the link of my previous post. I also swapped out my Hydor Theo 25 Watt heater for the Marineland Stealth Pro 25 Watt heater. As I stated before, you Hydor heater had been slowly creeping up in temp on me. I've been monitoring the Stealth for a couple hours now and it seems to be holding steady.

 

 

Finally, I replaced the Cerith that I lost the other day with another.....and I found this guy too. :)

InvaderZim.jpg

Here's a fun little movie:

th_InvaderZim20101202.jpg

I asked the guy at the LFS what kind of hermit crab it was and he said that it was a hitchhiker with their last shipment of ceriths. The crab is really little and I thought he was cute and entirely unique. I'll try to post a ID once I figure it out. You can see in this pic that he is next to the shell of my old Scarlet Hermit Crab. To scale, he's about half the size of the scarlet. It is also an extremely active crab, picking at the substrate and eating away at stuff. I saw him scuttle from one end of the tank to the other within a few seconds earlier. I'm hoping he won't disturb the frags too much, but at this point I'm just happy to have something moving in there. He's very aggressive towards me if I come neat him with a probe or anything. When I was trying to put him into the tank after acclimation, he was attacking my tweezers. Because of his size, uniqueness, and ferociousness I decided to name him Zim (after the invader).

InvaderZimWthoutStripes.gif

 

Edit: ID

Possibly Clibanarius sp,

Clibanarius%20sp2.jpeg

Maybe Pagurus kulkarnii?

Pagurus%20kulkarnii.jpeg

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Mr. Microscope

Mr. Microscope

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The cemipure , did you take some out for later use and reseal with a new zip tie or use the whole bag?

 

I always just use the whole bag. I figure for three months, what the heck.

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.Newman.

.Newman.

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I also use the whole bag. smallest bag size helps and fits into the AC70.

 

watch that hermit very carefully for any signs of eating your coral. for w/e reason i would trust your other hermits more than this one.

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Bobba

Bobba

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Mr. Microscope,

I have been following your progress as inspiration for my own Picotope. I just upgraded to a Par30 (3B/2W) and I real like the overall color and shimmer. Just curious about applying tape over one of the white LED's. They seem awfully hot and was wondering if it would melt the tape. Your experience?

Thanks

Bobba

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