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Newman's Picotope


.Newman.

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Mr. Microscope

Tank is looking great! Nice touch with the leather in the middle. Good luck dealing with the heat. I hope you can keep it cool.

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maybe you could try a couple of computer fans and see if you could rig it so they are blowing across the top of the water or have one blowing over the light and another blowing over the water. just an idea.

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LOL I do not own any computer fans. I'll try a regular room fan when outside temps get hot again.

 

Not much has changed...

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you can get cheap computer fans at best buy or walmart even. they pretty cheap and you could probably rig it right onto your light or whatnot. i think any type of fan would definitely help though.

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eventually I may look into LEDs but I cannot afford any right now...

I was thinking of keeping away from the par38 and more towards this:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=176628&hl=

I don't think Evil is selling those anymore but you might be able to find one used? As for the fan, any fan directed at the surface of the water will cause evaporation which shouldn't be a problem with your ato and will cool your tank down significantly. When I had my 120 setup with halides it was almost impossible to keep the tank cool until I place a small turbine fan blowing straight down on my sump. My tank never got over 82 even when it was in the 90's!

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good to know my dreams are crushed >_< Evil needs to make a few of those again cuz I really liked that light. I do not even know how to mount the par38, and I would rather like an LED assembly that allowed me to adjust the white and blue balance manually :( In other words I was a light that can turn on just the actinics, cuz my current light cannot do that..

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yeah some of those fans could be easily 5.00 haha. not to beat a dead horse or anything i know around here they are 5.00 and less sometimes.

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good to know my dreams are crushed >_< Evil needs to make a few of those again cuz I really liked that light. I do not even know how to mount the par38, and I would rather like an LED assembly that allowed me to adjust the white and blue balance manually :( In other words I was a light that can turn on just the actinics, cuz my current light cannot do that..

 

If you dont end up getting a new fixture soon, I am probaly going to modify the wiring in the coralife to two switches one for each lamp. I will try to post a how to after I am done, I will snap some pics while im working on it to.

 

For fans if you want silence i recommend panasonic panaflow's they are very SILENT and move alot of air.

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thank you for the info, good luck!

 

I switched the blue zoa colony from the bottom right with the green zoa colony up next to the finger leather becuase the green zoa colony was getting shadowed badly on the left side and that side closed up and developed zoa pox >_<

 

I gave that colony an iodine dip because I do not have Furan 2. If this does not help, then I may need to order a bottle of Furan2 online >_<

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thank you for the info, good luck!

 

I switched the blue zoa colony from the bottom right with the green zoa colony up next to the finger leather becuase the green zoa colony was getting shadowed badly on the left side and that side closed up and developed zoa pox >_<

 

I gave that colony an iodine dip because I do not have Furan 2. If this does not help, then I may need to order a bottle of Furan2 online >_<

 

 

Hi! Great set-up. I do have a question, we have almost identical set-up so I thought I would ask you this: how did you make the coralife (12 inch) sit on top w/o the AC70 getting in the way? I have the AC70, coralife, and the mounting legs and either they are too long and wont sit on the JBJ Pico or even after some cutting part of the legs, part of the light fixture sits on the AC70. So, what I did was just to glue the fixture on top of the legs after I cut the arch part. It gave me 1/2 inch clearance but it does not look as neat as how you did it with the coralife.

 

If you have a picture of how you did it, I would appreciate it because it will help a lot. Thank you.

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lol my fixture does rest completely on the AC 70 in the back. in other words I only use the two legs up front, and the back is resting on the AC70.

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lol my fixture does rest completely on the AC 70 in the back. in other words I only use the two legs up front, and the back is resting on the AC70.

 

 

Thanks for the info. I almost did it that way too but with 2 younger kids running around my place, I was kindah worried that they might accidentally knock the fixture off. I am looking into the CURRENT USA fixture that might actually fit and it also serves as a base for further mods like LEDs. When we started (my daughter and me) the thread and the pico project we'd like to keep the price to a minimum so I will look into getting some LED's that can be retrofitted in the coralife. (sometime down the road) Thanks again.

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OK, so I got my magnesium test kit yesterday and tested my water. the test read 1580ppm magnesium which is quite high and idk why it would be like that (maybe cuz I mix more salt per gallon to get 1.025 salinity?) but anyway that does not explain why my Bryopsis algae is still flourishing on that Porites rock.

 

So yesterday I also dosed some Kent Magnesium supplement, enough to try and bring the level to 1650ppm. I used a dosing calculator...well today I tested the water and my level is at 1700ppm which should be lethal to the bryopsis. There is not change to the algae that I can note. It has only been one day of treatment so far, so we will see what happens...The Porites colony is growing fast, so it would be a shame if it all died off or got choked by the bryopsis (atm it looks like the colony is actually killing the bryopsis by encrusting on the algae's base.)

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Hi Newman:

Really like your tank. I am new to this reef stuff, and I have a question for you, since I noticed you have corals near the top of the water line. When you do a water change, do those corals near the top get exposed to air? And if so for how long. I am considering a similar tank, but would like to know more about the water change process.

 

If you don't mind that is.

 

Thanks,

Friar

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I will tell you as far as I know, and I do not know if air exposure is lethal to the finger leather but I do know that the zoas are absolutely fine since they experience air exposure in nature.

 

I change out roughly 50% of the water each week (not this week though cuz I am treating the tank with Magnesium to kill bryopsis.) and during the water change the zoas and that leather coral up to do get exposed. The water change process is really quick so they barely get out of the water for 1 min. I make sure to cover them up quickly, within 3 mins at most.

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Thanks!

Cool looking tank!

Friar

 

I will tell you as far as I know, and I do not know if air exposure is lethal to the finger leather but I do know that the zoas are absolutely fine since they experience air exposure in nature.

 

I change out roughly 50% of the water each week (not this week though cuz I am treating the tank with Magnesium to kill bryopsis.) and during the water change the zoas and that leather coral up to do get exposed. The water change process is really quick so they barely get out of the water for 1 min. I make sure to cover them up quickly, withing 3 mins at most.

 

Hi Newman:

How do you change the water out so quickly?

Thanks,

Friar

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I have the new water prepared in the bucket standing next to the tank then I scoop the old water out quickly using a measuring cup. then refill the tank with the cup....its rather fast...

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I have the new water prepared in the bucket standing next to the tank then I scoop the old water out quickly using a measuring cup. then refill the tank with the cup....its rather fast...

Ok! Thanks Newman I will be reading this thread.

 

Friar

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^Probably one of the greatest things about having a pico, is doing water changes with a cup.

 

Takes me about 10min tops if I already have it mixed.

 

Newman, what kind of salt are you using and have you figured out how many cup(s) it takes to get 1gal at 1.025?

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I am using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for now. I use just slightly more than 1/2 cup per gallon of DI water.

 

In reality my water change obviously does take longer than 1-3 min if I am rinsing the Chaeto in old tank water... but the point is that the corals are not exposed for more than 1-3 min.

 

Now if only this Bryopsis would die...My Astrea snail has been on that rock, amidst the bryopsis for two days now... I hope its eating it :D

 

The baby ceriths are growing well! some are black just like the parent and some actually have a more carribean cerith snail coloring- the red/brown with white.

The green finger leather has visibly grown and should soon reach the surface of the water.

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