My first pico! Dymax IQ3 now 5 YEARS OLD!

[.Newman.]

very fun idea!

 

never had a FW tank? you are missing out on a lot, especially on planted tanks.

[andrewkw]

very fun idea!

 

never had a FW tank? you are missing out on a lot, especially on planted tanks.

 

I don't really have interest in it. Seems like as much work as a reef with less reward. I'd do a marine planted tank first.

[.Newman.]

same work and same kind of reward for me

in comparison a marine planted tank just doesnt allow for as much creativity as FW plants do IMO. But as you can tell i am interested in FW planted and reef most of all, so i am biased on those haha.

[ElvisLau]

I don't really have interest in it. Seems like as much work as a reef with less reward. I'd do a marine planted tank first.

hi andrekw,

Could u tell me where did u get the extra led light for the IQ3? Also did u order the frags online or somewhere else? thx a lot!!

[Han$en]

Finally I picked this guy up too. While he's tiny he won't be going in the pico. I have a 90 gallon for him

 

 

Which species does this little guy belong to? Damn he's cute! Any new pic's?

[Mr. Microscope]

Finally I picked this guy up too. While he's tiny he won't be going in the pico. I have a 90 gallon for him

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXO2hsv2SlE...feature=related

 

?? Please elaborate on type and care. How big is it?

[MrCoffee]

Mr. Microscope, look at this topic: CLICK

 

btw, beautiful octopus and amazing tank!

[andrewkw]

hi andrekw,

Could u tell me where did u get the extra led light for the IQ3? Also did u order the frags online or somewhere else? thx a lot!!

 

 

I bought the extra lights at big al's locally, same place as I got the tank.

 

Actually I just bought a 3rd one today. I traded some cheato I was going to throw out and got 20$ credit so the 3rd one cost me just 9.99. I am noticing the new one seems MUCH brighter then the older ones. I'm wondering if they are dimming out or what. I'm going to clean them maybe they have some salt on them.

 

All the frags from this tank came from my own frag tank. They are frags from corals I already had.

[andrewkw]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXO2hsv2SlE...feature=related

 

?? Please elaborate on type and care. How big is it?

 

 

He is an Octopus Briareus. Currently his mantle is probably about 2" I have no idea how long his armspan is maybe 2 feet across. If he streched arm to arm.

 

As long as you feed them they take care of themselves. I feed him live fiddler crabs as sometimes uncooked table shrimp off a stick.

 

He spends 99% of his time inside the live rock, he can fit inside holes not even as wide as a pen. I've actually only seen him swim across the tank once. Eventually he should become more bold. He's still very young. This species lifespan is 1.5- 2 years so I should have him for another year. Much longer lifespans then cuttlefish which is what I used to keep.

 

Now back to the pico.

 

A couple of things. The tank suffered its first setback. That stupid hydor heater heated the tank to 86,87. corals were stressed but I didn't lose any. I lost one of the sexy shrimp and the goby. I'm not sure but the goby wedged himself into the rock. Maybe he got stuck and died, or maybe he died and got stuck. This was the same time as the heater.

 

The sexy shrimp are more of a pain then they are worth. They are constantly eating corals. You HAVE to feed them which sucks in such a small tank they are real bioload hogs. I feed them brine or cyclopeeze every other day. The goby I only needed to feed every 3 days as he also hunted copepods and whatever else is in the tank. The sexy shrimp are too slow to hunt little critters are seem to prefer zoo polyps and xennia polyps.

 

The purple xenia is basically polypless. The regular still seems fine. I gave to clean the acrylic before I take more pics but it looks more or less the same as before.

[wesleyuk]

hi

 

lovely little tank!

 

is that same tank on the ebay ? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acrylic-Nano-Cube-Aq...=item483bf14517

 

but if you look the video, the lighting is blue-ish, different lighting? or even is it suitable for marine?

 

cheers

[sushi_defender]

hi

 

lovely little tank!

 

is that same tank on the ebay ? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acrylic-Nano-Cube-Aq...=item483bf14517

 

but if you look the video, the lighting is blue-ish, different lighting? or even is it suitable for marine?

 

cheers

 

I have an IQ3 and that looks pretty spot on to me.

[andrewkw]

New pics. No FTS yet.

 

 

I added a mini carpet.

 

I cleared the perfect space and he's already headed towards the back. Given the really low lighting I figured up near the top would be perfect. We'll see where he ends up.

 

Also added a porcelain crab. Unlike the carpet he's staying put, eating pods off the acrylic I think...

 

 

 

If the lights I have turn out not to be enough for the carpet I will get a par 30 bub which I'm probably going to do either way. These dymax lights are dying already less then 6 months in. 50 000 hours was the biggest lie ever. Not even 5000. Also I'd like some more blue in the tank.

 

Coraline was growing and was a real pain to scrape off, when using the scraper which barely fits in I ended up moving the tank on my desk lol. I really gotta remember to use the mag float daily as soon as it accumulates it's possible to get off.

[andrewkw]

I think the carpet was a bad idea. If it was smaller it would be fine, but today less then 12hrs in the tank the thing is 3x bigger then when i put it in!

 

The sexy shrimp seem to like it though..

[henZa]

Where did the carpet nem end up settling?

Looking good; but FTS soon? I love porcelain crabs, but never seem to see them around here in Melbourne, Aus..

[.Newman.]

3 times bigger? nice it sounds like it happy where it is and its fully expanded there too

[andrewkw]

3 times bigger? nice it sounds like it happy where it is and its fully expanded there too

Yeah, I think it was just baking under the MH in the store. I picked the smallest one not for colour but size. Still it's cool. I think it's happy where it is.

 

here are the new pics. How are you guys cleaning your picos walls? I had a hell of a time scraping coraline and algae off today, had to take it super slow but got a lot of it off. The corners are rounded so those are impossible.

 

I forgot to mention earlier I moved the tank. I got a new desk, so it's on the new desk. The desk is glass and I love the reflection of the tank on the desk. It looks like there is water on the desk with the current flowing.

 

- that's the reflection

 

 

 

The carpet is covering about half of my gsp which is a shame as it's the one coral really thriving, but it will be fine, lots of it is still showing and it will continue to grow. I even added a tiny piece to the other side so they can meet up and cover the back in another 6 months.

 

 

 

When I finally get around to switching lights I may have to move the chalices down, for now they are doing great right at the top.

 

 

[yoshii]

Wow, your tank looks great! that maxi mini looks huge in there lol

[.Newman.]

it looks perfect in there actually

it might sting w/e corals it touches into submission so be ware.

 

I use a toothbrush and a magnet algae scraper thing. toothbrush if for tougher algae.

[henZa]

+1 on the toothbrush. I just use that on a weekly basis and it is working well.

 

Wow that carpet is as big as my hammer! ;-)

[andrewkw]

Toothbrush worked great, thanks guys!

 

The carpet is still huge but has settled in. Hasn't moved since it found its spot. I've been feeding it bits of shrimp and mysis. The sexy shrimp eat mysis too and they're about the same size lol.

 

So today I bought a colony of Duncan's. I wasn't going to frag it right away but it opened up right away. I figured what the hell I'm just going to chop 2 heads. Took out the band saw and got a couple off for the pico. Nice clean cuts as always.

 

Much to my surprise 20 minutes later they are already opening

 

 

The coral only landed yesterday, I bought it today. Just goes to show you how hardy Duncans are. If they fully open tomorrow I'll take another fts otherwise Monday.

[.Newman.]

never was a fan of duncans. yours look nice tho.

do the sexy shrimp eat off the carpet nem?

[andrewkw]

never was a fan of duncans. yours look nice tho.

do the sexy shrimp eat off the carpet nem?

 

I used to have a lot when they first starting coming in a few years ago. They never seem to be as big anymore polyp size wise. While they grow pretty quick the skeleton never grows much and they are all bunched together rather then branched.

 

Yes they do. I believe these mini carpets are actually their natural host anemones in the wild.

[.Newman.]

i thought so too. simply cant wait to get me a maxi mini nem and 3 shrimp feeding them is going to be so easy.

[skippsterr]

i thought so too. simply cant wait to get me a maxi mini nem and 3 shrimp feeding them is going to be so easy.

Is your flow working ok now with the extra hole? Can you take a picture of it? I am about to setup mine (coming in 2 day . Lots of great info, and its amazing when you put the bill in front for scale. Makes you think its a 20 or 30g tank.

 

With everything you have in there, do you think you would benefit from a protein skimmer, or just water changes are all good? Are you dosing with calcium, kh buffer, and or mag? I have done salt fish, and some anenomes but no hard or soft corals. I am a bit bummed about the lights. Are you planning on changing them out?

 

Nice job; thanks for keeping us posted...

[andrewkw]

If you look through the pics you can see the hole. I will take another one later today but really it's just a crude hole. It's not by any means perfect and I drilled the hole while the tank was live so it made it even harder.

 

As long as you can get a hole big enough for the flow to go through it will work fine.

 

If they made a micro external skimmer I'd run it on this tank, the smallest external skimmers have about the same water volume as this tank so that ends that idea. I certainly think almost any tank would benefit from skimming it's just I don't know of any viable options for this tank.

 

I've never dosed anything, nor have I tested other then for nitrates once or twice just to be sure. I use coralife salt and the calcium is in the 500+ range. I probably should check the alkalinity but water changes seem to be working fine.

 

I want to get a par 30 light and probably will in the new year. I could add another mangrove or 2, or maybe add a tiny hob skimmer but not really a big fan of those tiny skimmers so it will probably remain skimmerless.

 

one thing I do want to add is an ato.