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new-b-reefers LED picotope (pic heavy!)


new-b-reefer

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-Newman-

i had those green shrooms for about a year before they started multiplying. started with 2 and now i have lost count, some spread on the rocks when the frag was in my nano cube too. give them some more time maybe. i had almost lost hope till they just started going crazy lol

 

-8r4nd0n-

thanks for the compliment and good luck with your new pico. hope to see a thread soon :)

 

-DaneMarx-

yes, there seems to be plenty of light for the frog spawn/hammer. it has kept the same green color it had when it was in my nc28 reef and is always extended and waving around. doing very well :)

 

woot! got my new skimmer for my 20 gallon long reef. an aquac nano remora with maxijet 900 pump :)

so i took the rio nano skimmer i had on there, tuned it down and put it on the back of the picotope :D

no micro bubbles and a slow dry foam in the collection cup. we will see how this goes. i will keep you all updated :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
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a quick update. things are going well with the pico. the shrooms are spreading like wild fire. sweet! i did away with the rio nano skimmer that i had on there, kept having to adjust it and it stopped skimming and would lose its siphon. so back to the pico filter with my diy surface skimmer.

and i caught a whelk down at the jeti area at the beach and added it in the pico. this one looks and exibits the same exact behaviors as a nassarius snail. he is just a bit bigger. had it a couple days now and is doing well and "knock on wood" hasnt been an issue or a problem with the other tank mates. here are some pictures along with a pic of a coquina clam i brought home. there were other coquina clams but i brought them as treats for my valentini puffer in my 20 long reef ;)

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quick pic update

a few new shots

120 day old picotope :)

(and the whelk snail i caught from the previous post was returned to his home near the jetti. right where i found it)

here are the new pics :)

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tank looks good and rock looks clean. well done :)

 

Thanks. My astraea and hermit are hard workers along with all the help from all the mini stars and little snails that come out at night :) oh and the nassarius snail helps with the sand. All together they are the definition of OCD, clean freak. Lol

I guess the weekly water changes helps too ;)

Thanks for the compliment :)

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i am just comparing cleaning crews. my clean rock is mostly due to my emerald crab, but at the cost of trimmed corals and tumbling frags >_>

looks like you have a well balanced cleaning crew :)

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i am just comparing cleaning crews. my clean rock is mostly due to my emerald crab, but at the cost of trimmed corals and tumbling frags >_>

looks like you have a well balanced cleaning crew :)

 

Thanks. I had a emerald crab at one point but he died. I think he starved. Since then I have stuck with the astraea, hermit, and nassarius for a while and it seems to be a perfect balance :)

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starved? its pretty hard to starve those. I think mine lasted 4 weeks recently with just about no feeding(i went on vacation for August)...

But I generally feed him 3 times a week with some dried algae sheets.

 

if you ever fear that you CUC members (like hermits who eat algae) have nothing to eat in your tank, then make sure you feed them with dried algae sheets...

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starved? its pretty hard to starve those. I think mine lasted 4 weeks recently with just about no feeding(i went on vacation for August)...

But I generally feed him 3 times a week with some dried algae sheets.

 

if you ever fear that you CUC members (like hermits who eat algae) have nothing to eat in your tank, then make sure you feed them with dried algae sheets...

 

Ah nice. Thanks for the tip. I give my turbo snail in my 20 long algea sheets once in a while. I guess I could do that once in a while for the pico to. The seem to be doing quite well knock on wood but I am sure they would appreciate the lil treat ;)

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new-b-reefer

picture update!

day 128

things are going well :)

the mushrooms are extending like crazy and spreading :D

i modified my surface skimmer. rather tan just drilled holes in the pvc, i took a nex piec and a fitting at the top with slots cut about 3/4" down :) surface stays crystal clear:)

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Mr. Microscope

Woh! Those mushrooms are stretching like crazy! Looks kinda cool. It's neat that your fish can swim under them. Forgive me if you already posted this, but are you planning to upgrade your lighting? How is your fish doing BTW? What's your feeding schedule like and how much do you feed? Also, what are those 5 red things at the bottom front of the tank?

 

Finally, git that picotope sticker off-a-thar! :)

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new-b-reefer
Woh! Those mushrooms are stretching like crazy! Looks kinda cool. It's neat that your fish can swim under them. Forgive me if you already posted this, but are you planning to upgrade your lighting? How is your fish doing BTW? What's your feeding schedule like and how much do you feed? Also, what are those 5 red things at the bottom front of the tank?

 

Finally, git that picotope sticker off-a-thar! :)

 

Lol, thanks for the compliment and the lil kick, I will get that sticker off asap. I mean to do it but wverytime I go to the tank I forget it is there. To busy watching the damsel dart in and out of the shrooms :)

The damsel is doing very well. Very active and healthy bright vibrant blue. I feed once a day. I drop maybe 5 or 6 little pellets in there and I alternate with frozen mysis shrimp. Just a few of those at a time to. That way there is not a bunch of extra food floating around. He checks everywhere for any bit he may have missed and if he can't find it, the nassarius snail and hermit sniff it out :)

Those 5 redish spots are a little algae that is between the sand and the glass. When I glean the glass it wipes right off.

I was originally planning on sticking with the factory light and keeping low light corals as I am now but the thought of an upgrade has crossed my mind from time to time. I have one of those macro glo refugium lights, the 25 watt one and was contemplating getting a 20watt coralife mini 50/50 cf and replacing the macro glo 6400k bulb with it. That would throw double the light above the tank :) what do you think?

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new-b-reefer
I would love to get one of those PAR 38 leds like what you have over your pico :)

 

ok so did a little work on the pico yesterday, i finally removed the picotope sticker and i painted the back glass black, (one the outside of course). i took out all the rock and corals along with the fish and put them in a bucket, masked off the tank and sealed the top with plastic wrap and alot of tape, painted the outside back glasswith fast drying paint, let it sit and dry and then put the tank back together and rescaped it. i like how the scape came out too. i had always meant to paint the rear glass black as i do with all my tanks but when i first got the pico i was too excited to set it up, so the paint waited till now. lol. anyway, i will post pictures later today :D

 

looks so much better with a black background. now all the colors will really pop :)

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finally upgraded my lighting a lil bit. i took my macro glo clamp on lamp, bought a 20 watt 50/50 screw in compact fluorescent in it and it is looking awesome. way brighter and the corals already seem to be pleased with it. the color over all looks better too. here are pics

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  • 2 weeks later...

yes, maybe figi leather or some yellow zoa/polyps. yellow polyps are easy to get and grow but i dont think you'd get the bright yellow youre looking for from them, although they would certainly be a cool coral to add :)

maybe yellow xenia :0

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yes, maybe figi leather or some yellow zoa/polyps. yellow polyps are easy to get and grow but i dont think you'd get the bright yellow youre looking for from them, although they would certainly be a cool coral to add :)

maybe yellow xenia :0

 

yeah, my lfs almost always has the yellow zoas fragged and ready :) i would love to have some xenia. xenia takes over pretty quick though doesnt it. it would make it look like a much more dense reef :) either way i think its about time to do some frag shopping. my lfs always has some good stuff in their $5 and $10 frag selection. thats how all my corals started. even in my nano cube, they all started as 5-10 dollar frags. its cool to look at the pictures of the day i brought them home and compare them to how they look now :)

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