Yoshii's 3 Gallon Pico Reef

[yoshii]

Oh my, I'm so sorry lol This thread is way too long and is filled with way too many ridiculous posts from 17 year old me!

 

It did look pretty for a while, then it went back to ugly lol

Here's what I added today:
-Yellow Tip Torch

-Green Bubble Anemone

-St. Thomas Mushroom (no, it's not one of those awesome red ones)

-Tiny Orange Acan

-Tiny Green/Orange Chalice frag

-Asst. tiny zoas pieces, tiny sps pieces light blue acro, green poccy, orange monti digi

I like picking up tiny broken pieces off the bottom of the LFS coral tanks and seeing if I can do anything with them

-Peppermint Shrimp, my damsel doesn't want to share his cave with it, but the shrimp is bigger than him so his efforts to chase the shrimp away don't do anything

[Sunstar]

Looks like we wree both out frag shopping today. I got zoas and a kenya tree.

 

Edit: how big would the bubble nem grow, I was eyeballing one today.

[yoshii]

I used to have a super bright green kenya tree in this tank, I'm thinking about getting another one but they're hard to find

 

Bubble anemones actually get quite large, maybe like a foot in diameter or larger! Mine is small (for now) and I can move it to my larger tanks anytime. I would get pics but it decided it wanted to chill in between the two rocks and I can't get a decent pic

 

I forgot the get frag glue today, but hopefully tomorrow I'll remember and glue all my little zoa frags onto 1 rock

[yoshii]

I got frag glue, and then left it at work oops

 

My LFS got in some bigger rics, I want to grab some orange and green ones

1-2 other little corals too, probably some Rastas and whatever else catches my eye

[yoshii]

My haul from today

 

Got some stuff for each of my tanks

Here's what when in this tank (just finished gluing)

-Ultra Orange Mushroom

-Red Hornets

-Rastas

-Orange Rics

-Green rics

-Lavender Lace Duncan

-Green Hammer

-3D Mummy Eye Chalice (according to my friend)

 

The GBTA moved the front more, and I had to move the torch a bit

I also scraped off the GSP that was growing on the front

Corals are all half closed so I'll get pics later if they open before the lights go off

[yoshii]

I have (cell phone) pics which actually didn't come out too bad, I need to post them!
First week back at school, so I'll try to quickly upload the pics after I finish studying for a quiz tomorrow

All the new corals and nem are still settling in, I still haven't glued down my new hammer cause I ran out of glue, but everyone else seems to be fine

My goal is to do a 100% water change every week...we'll see how that goes with when school starts getting crazier

[friar1]

HI Yoshii, GLad to see your tank is still hanging in there! I moved to a house, so I moved all my stuff to a 20 Gallon. Congrats on going to University! And moar picccsss!

[yoshii]

Hi Friar! Congrats on the house and upgrade! I'll have to check out your new thread

Pics will be posted today! I promise this time lol

[yoshii]

My phone is taking forever to upload the rest of the pics to photobucket, and my laptop is about to die so I'll post the rest later

 

These were taken after I moved some stuff around so they're kinda half-inflated

 

 

 

 

The nem isn't bleached, it just looks like it in pics It's green IRL

[Euphyllia]

Pretty BTA *o*

[yoshii]

Euphy! I didn't know you still came on here! Don't have any tanks atm right?

 

 

I finally got the rest of the pics to upload, yay!

 

I put 1 group on the sand, and one on the top rock, I'll see which spot they like better

 

 

 

This is a tiny frag that came off a cool chalice and fell in the sand for a while, now it's growing back

 

 

And here's the Betta that's in the tank behind this tank (you can see it in the bg of the FTS)

Those "scratches" are on the glass, not the fish
I used flash for this pic, so that's not what the blue really looks like, it's more cyan IRL

[Sunstar]

I lost two of my zoas, and then had a massive bryopsis invasion. I suppose I should not say I lost one of hte zoas as it is still there, but not doing well. I really would like a bubble-tip. I suppose I should look into setting up a good tank for such things. I do have a 30 gallon in the locker room that is plumbed.....

[~LadyBug~]

Hey Yosh. Look at us, all grown up

I'm being bad and poking around because I went to SeaWorld last week and now I miss my tanks(I wasn't THAT stupid, I've still got a FW planted, just nothing salty :/)

That gbta is adorable!

[yoshii]

I lost two of my zoas, and then had a massive bryopsis invasion. I suppose I should not say I lost one of hte zoas as it is still there, but not doing well. I really would like a bubble-tip. I suppose I should look into setting up a good tank for such things. I do have a 30 gallon in the locker room that is plumbed.....

Bryopsis can be annoying, but it can be eradicated!

 

Ooh that's begging to be a clown/nem tank!

 

 

Hey Yosh. Look at us, all grown up

I'm being bad and poking around because I went to SeaWorld last week and now I miss my tanks(I wasn't THAT stupid, I've still got a FW planted, just nothing salty :/)

That gbta is adorable!

Hi Anna! I'm glad to see you're still on here

Haha yeah it's kinda weird that I joined this website when I was 16 and now I'm going to be 21 in a few weeks!

 

Awww, that doesn't give you the inspiration/motivation to set up salt again? (Do it! do it!)

Thanks, I'm really liking the nem. I've never actually kept one in one of my personal aquariums before, but so far it seems happy with me

[Sunstar]

Bryopsis can be annoying, but it can be eradicated!

 

Ooh that's begging to be a clown/nem tank!

Yeah, Its just a lot of stuff I need to learn about as I wnat a sump. With a large refugium, skimmer and I am unsure how to go about the sump building. So much info and so confusing. I fell in love iwth a pretty set of Lights - that can do lightning. So the only way I can do it is buy the parts over a few years.

[Euphyllia]

Euphy! I didn't know you still came on here! Don't have any tanks atm right?

 

I have three but they're freshwater and hella ugly. It's just guppies. I have a 10 gallon full of a ton of glass-bellied guppies, a 5 gallon with some albino red lace snakeskin guppies, and in my 29 gallon I have tiger endlers.

 

Gotta get rid of them all eventually because college... I'm way too busy for tanks and I tend to kill everything living that had a brain. I can keep plants alive somehow. I come on here sometimes when I'm bored but I'm always on Facebook lol. This hobby is way too expensive for me, I'm trying to save up my money and maybe get a job so I can spend a few summers in German/Netherlands/Sweden.

[yoshii]

Yeah, Its just a lot of stuff I need to learn about as I wnat a sump. With a large refugium, skimmer and I am unsure how to go about the sump building. So much info and so confusing. I fell in love iwth a pretty set of Lights - that can do lightning. So the only way I can do it is buy the parts over a few years.

I remember when I was researching sumps I looked at Melev's Reef sumps, helped me out a lot

http://www.melevsreef.com/taxonomy/term/142(This may not be the right page, I just did a quick Google search)

 

 

I have three but they're freshwater and hella ugly. It's just guppies. I have a 10 gallon full of a ton of glass-bellied guppies, a 5 gallon with some albino red lace snakeskin guppies, and in my 29 gallon I have tiger endlers.

 

Gotta get rid of them all eventually because college... I'm way too busy for tanks and I tend to kill everything living that had a brain. I can keep plants alive somehow. I come on here sometimes when I'm bored but I'm always on Facebook lol. This hobby is way too expensive for me, I'm trying to save up my money and maybe get a job so I can spend a few summers in German/Netherlands/Sweden.

You're a senior in HS rn, right? Decided on a college yet?

It is expensive...I'm just lucky I work at a fish store so I don't have to pay full price

maybe do something for a year aboard or an internship or something

 

 

Ok, back to tank-related things!

I was talking with a friend today who I'm trying to convince to set up a 4g CAD mini series (that he got for free) and it really got me thinking, Hey, I want a glass tank too! Or something that doesn't have scratches everywhere

 

So, should I go for a new tank? I'd stay 3-4g, I don't want to go "upgrade" I just want to have a tank that's not cheap plastic with a million scratches

If I were to get a new tank, it'd be an AIO, like Micro-Reefs or CAD (can't think of other places that have pico AIOs...)

But then again I'm a broke college student so buying textbooks comes before buying a new tank

 

What do you guys think?

[Felicia]

It was nice to see you today! Glad to see you on NR too! Stunning new corals! Is the lavender lace duncan the same one that Atlantis sold back in the day? I got a lavender lace duncan from Atlantis back when I had my 10 gallon. Its the one that's grown into the full colony is my current tank. Luckily I didn't lose it in one of the crashes. Its one of my favorite corals, so nice pick up.

 

Since you're wanting to upgrade to something glass, why don't you pick up an inexpensive, small glass tank somewhere and then add the black acrylic partition and chambers to make it an AIO. For something that small, that acrylic wouldn't be that much and some of the local stores have super cute small glass tanks for betta's and stuff. I picked up a glass 4 gallon rimless with curved front glass so there are no front seams for my betta locally. Something like that with an added AIO chamber would be nice!

Oh, and I LOVE that photo of the betta! I need to get you to come photograph mine for me. They're such gorgeous fish, but I can never get a decent photo of mine.

[Euphyllia]

You're a senior in HS rn, right? Decided on a college yet?

It is expensive...I'm just lucky I work at a fish store so I don't have to pay full price

maybe do something for a year aboard or an internship or something

 

Yes I am, and I haven't decided yet. I applied to two early action and was admitted to both, one of them was my first choice and one of them was my worst case scenario backup... However the backup offered me a TON of money for merit scholarship, so I'd only really be paying for 3 years of tuition. It's very likely I'll end up going there unless I get better financial aid elsewhere. It's not a bad school, but my SAT score is 300 points higher than their admitted average and my overall GPA is about .5 higher than the average admitted. My SAT and GPA aren't really even that fantastic.

 

I do want to study abroad but I'll have to figure it all out. I want a major that will allow me to have a job anywhere in the world. I'm thinking about either International Business or Nursing. I feel like life would bring me a lot more happiness and joy by living in many different countries to learn their languages and ways of life, rather than staying in the USA and trying to get a 6 figure salary from stressful work. So depending on my major I may or may not study abroad, because I don't think nursing students can study abroad, but International Business students must study abroad. I'd find nursing way more fun than sitting at a computer doing numbers all day, so it's a trade off I guess.

 

But when I figure out where I'm going I'll definitely post it on Facebook. XD

[Euphyllia]

Ok, back to tank-related things!

I was talking with a friend today who I'm trying to convince to set up a 4g CAD mini series (that he got for free) and it really got me thinking, Hey, I want a glass tank too! Or something that doesn't have scratches everywhere

 

So, should I go for a new tank? I'd stay 3-4g, I don't want to go "upgrade" I just want to have a tank that's not cheap plastic with a million scratches

If I were to get a new tank, it'd be an AIO, like Micro-Reefs or CAD (can't think of other places that have pico AIOs...)

But then again I'm a broke college student so buying textbooks comes before buying a new tank

 

Why not use the same money to improve your current tanks? Looking back at my experience in the hobby, I wish I would have focused on one main tank rather than 3 small-medium ones. Just too much work to take care of so many every day. If you had one filled with lots of nice colorful corals and cool fish, that would be best IMO.

[yoshii]

It was nice to see you today! Glad to see you on NR too! Stunning new corals! Is the lavender lace duncan the same one that Atlantis sold back in the day? I got a lavender lace duncan from Atlantis back when I had my 10 gallon. Its the one that's grown into the full colony is my current tank. Luckily I didn't lose it in one of the crashes. Its one of my favorite corals, so nice pick up.

 

Since you're wanting to upgrade to something glass, why don't you pick up an inexpensive, small glass tank somewhere and then add the black acrylic partition and chambers to make it an AIO. For something that small, that acrylic wouldn't be that much and some of the local stores have super cute small glass tanks for betta's and stuff. I picked up a glass 4 gallon rimless with curved front glass so there are no front seams for my betta locally. Something like that with an added AIO chamber would be nice!

Oh, and I LOVE that photo of the betta! I need to get you to come photograph mine for me. They're such gorgeous fish, but I can never get a decent photo of mine.

It was nice to see you too! Sorry again about the anthias

Actually it's not, all the new corals were from Baja Reef. I think the only Duncan ATL has now is that crazy bright green one (I forgot the name) Both duncans are awesome, I saw a pic of your colony, that is crazy huge!! That would fill this whole tank haha!

 

Ooh, I didn't think of that! That's a good idea! I was looking at some nice glass picos last night wishing they were AIO lol

Although isn't there an issue gluing acrylic to glass? Well I guess in a tank this size it wouldn't really matter, there wouldn't be a ton of pressure on it or anything

Hmm maybe I could ask Mike from Micro-Reefs to cut the acrylic with the overflow slits and all that fancy stuff

 

Thank you! It took quite a few shots to get at an angle where he was illuminated but the background was black. I'm such a sucker for black backgrounds, almost all of my favorite shots of fish are on a black background, like my cover photo on fb! (idk if you've seen it, it's a male squarespot anthias)

Unfortunately since I used just the on-body flash, his reflective blue looks more cyan in the pic than it does irl

 

 

Yes I am, and I haven't decided yet. I applied to two early action and was admitted to both, one of them was my first choice and one of them was my worst case scenario backup... However the backup offered me a TON of money for merit scholarship, so I'd only really be paying for 3 years of tuition. It's very likely I'll end up going there unless I get better financial aid elsewhere. It's not a bad school, but my SAT score is 300 points higher than their admitted average and my overall GPA is about .5 higher than the average admitted. My SAT and GPA aren't really even that fantastic.

 

I do want to study abroad but I'll have to figure it all out. I want a major that will allow me to have a job anywhere in the world. I'm thinking about either International Business or Nursing. I feel like life would bring me a lot more happiness and joy by living in many different countries to learn their languages and ways of life, rather than staying in the USA and trying to get a 6 figure salary from stressful work. So depending on my major I may or may not study abroad, because I don't think nursing students can study abroad, but International Business students must study abroad. I'd find nursing way more fun than sitting at a computer doing numbers all day, so it's a trade off I guess.

 

But when I figure out where I'm going I'll definitely post it on Facebook. XD

Hmm, yeah financial aid is always a big factor. I think you have to ask yourself if you'd be happy going to that school and getting a degree from there. Would you regret it in the future?

 

You still have some time to figure that out

 

 

Why not use the same money to improve your current tanks? Looking back at my experience in the hobby, I wish I would have focused on one main tank rather than 3 small-medium ones. Just too much work to take care of so many every day. If you had one filled with lots of nice colorful corals and cool fish, that would be best IMO.

I'm actually happy with my other tanks, I don't really have anything to upgrade. They're glass, the lighting is fine, as is the filtration, so I don't really have anything to add/upgrade. Plus I won't be keeping those tanks for much longer

That's why now I'm focusing more on this little tank, since I'm going to be keeping it after I transfer/move.

[yoshii]

Found the anthias pic

[Felicia]

It was nice to see you too! Sorry again about the anthias

Actually it's not, all the new corals were from Baja Reef. I think the only Duncan ATL has now is that crazy bright green one (I forgot the name) Both duncans are awesome, I saw a pic of your colony, that is crazy huge!! That would fill this whole tank haha!

No worries about the anthias. That stuff happens! Part of the hobby unfortunately. I'm sure we can manage to find some new ones since dispar anthias are pretty common.

 

Well it looks just like the one I have, so that's a great find. I keep thinking I need to frag my duncan colony at some point, but it grows really dense like an acan, so it would be hard to frag without a band saw. Also, it grows in a circle, so I feel like it would ruin the look to take chunks out of it. It just takes up a lot of real estate in my tank, haha.

 

 

 

Ooh, I didn't think of that! That's a good idea! I was looking at some nice glass picos last night wishing they were AIO lol

Although isn't there an issue gluing acrylic to glass? Well I guess in a tank this size it wouldn't really matter, there wouldn't be a ton of pressure on it or anything

Hmm maybe I could ask Mike from Micro-Reefs to cut the acrylic with the overflow slits and all that fancy stuff

Acrylic doesn't stick to glass all that well, but you can get it sealed well enough for an AIO chamber without issues. There isn't enough pressure like you said to be an issue. My 30 gallon seahorse tank was glass and I added a black acrylic partition to make it an AIO. I just used silicone on mine and I never had any issues with it not staying bonded to the glass. Also a lot of the overflow boxes are acrylic siliconed to glass, so its pretty common. When I made my seahorse tank into an AIO, I got the acrylic pieces cut at TAP plastics and then bonded them together and siliconed them into the tank myself. Mike does awesome custom work though, and for a small tank I doubt it would be very expensive. I bet he'd make you something you could just drop into the tank and silicone in place.

 

 

 

Thank you! It took quite a few shots to get at an angle where he was illuminated but the background was black. I'm such a sucker for black backgrounds, almost all of my favorite shots of fish are on a black background, like my cover photo on fb! (idk if you've seen it, it's a male squarespot anthias)

Unfortunately since I used just the on-body flash, his reflective blue looks more cyan in the pic than it does irl

I love all the photos you do where its either a solid black background or a solid white background. Those are just stunning. I have seen that shot on your Facebook and its stunning! I need to get more into photography. I'd love to learn to take better photos. Yours always impress me. You take all the livestock shots for Baja right? Always makes me want to go buy fish, haha!

Found the anthias pic

Just wow! You are WAY too good at photographing fish. I need to hire you to come take photos like this of my fish.

[yoshii]

No worries about the anthias. That stuff happens! Part of the hobby unfortunately. I'm sure we can manage to find some new ones since dispar anthias are pretty common.

 

Well it looks just like the one I have, so that's a great find. I keep thinking I need to frag my duncan colony at some point, but it grows really dense like an acan, so it would be hard to frag without a band saw. Also, it grows in a circle, so I feel like it would ruin the look to take chunks out of it. It just takes up a lot of real estate in my tank, haha.

 

Acrylic doesn't stick to glass all that well, but you can get it sealed well enough for an AIO chamber without issues. There isn't enough pressure like you said to be an issue. My 30 gallon seahorse tank was glass and I added a black acrylic partition to make it an AIO. I just used silicone on mine and I never had any issues with it not staying bonded to the glass. Also a lot of the overflow boxes are acrylic siliconed to glass, so its pretty common. When I made my seahorse tank into an AIO, I got the acrylic pieces cut at TAP plastics and then bonded them together and siliconed them into the tank myself. Mike does awesome custom work though, and for a small tank I doubt it would be very expensive. I bet he'd make you something you could just drop into the tank and silicone in place.

 

I love all the photos you do where its either a solid black background or a solid white background. Those are just stunning. I have seen that shot on your Facebook and its stunning! I need to get more into photography. I'd love to learn to take better photos. Yours always impress me. You take all the livestock shots for Baja right? Always makes me want to go buy fish, haha!

Just wow! You are WAY too good at photographing fish. I need to hire you to come take photos like this of my fish.

I think you could do it with a dremel, but yeah, it wouldn't look the same
Maybe if you just cut it in half (if you want to cut it that much) it would be smaller, but still look nice

Hmm I think I could go either way, we'll see But I'm think I'm going to go that route

Now, which tank? I was looking at the Mr. Aqua 3g, but I also came across this Marineland AIO 3g apparently it actually has nice build quality and comes with a glass lid

Haha thank you! It's because I have too much practice! I want to do more with white backgrounds, but it's harder cause we don't have any tanks with a white background
All the white backgrounds have been with a white bucket lol!

A few years ago I read a "tip" to never use flash when photographing fish/your aquarium, so I didn't and it was really difficult to get good pics of fish that moved quickly or "wiggly" clownfish. Then one day I photographed my anthias in QT with flash discovered that that "tip" was terrible! Ok, for corals, you don't want to use flash, but flash is the best when it comes to fish.
Probably the only drawback is if you're only using front flash and in the background is a coral or something that won't look as good.

But I still love flash because 1) freezes the fish's movement completely and 2) it makes all the little details on the fish visible that wouldn't be seen with lower lighting
For example, here's a pic of a Green Mandarin from nanoreefnate's tank, with only on-body flash. That War Favities looks kinda ugly!

And here's a pic of his Helfrechi's Firefish, in the same tank, but without any flash. You can see it's less yellow, but there's not as much detail, because I had to try to get as much light as possible and shrink my depth of field. With flash I usually set my camera to f/9-10+. And although I lessened it some in post-processing, there's also more noise.

Oops sorry this turned into a fish photography lesson! But I hope it helped at least

 

[Sunstar]

I want a mandarin. I really do, but I need to have a good source of those little bugglies. I suppose a pile of rubble in a corner would be good for that? I am not considering it now, that would be foolish as I do not have a supply of the bugglies.