My first 3g Picotope

[pj86]

Thanks Newman. I have one nassarius snail also. I hope in the near future to reduce the amount of astrea snails but currently and temporarily I need them. The reasoning behind the quantity of snails is the feeding and dosing of the tank. This leads to algae growth which in turn can cause shading of some of my photosynthetic corals. The snails keep the algae in check (have only needed to wipe the front glass once so far), and also create detritus that can be a little bit easier to syphon out and helps my copepods, amphipods population remain high.

One way of overcoming the need of so many snails would be taking away all the dosing, but that would cause me to lose my feather dusters, part of my sun coral, and greatly affect the sarco. A second remedy would be to set up a algae turf scrubber in a separate compartment so it can compete for the nutrients. Now the feather duster is a aggressive feeder (compared to other filter feeders) and can take a range of food particles, the sarco is more delicate and can only take very small food and is a slow feeder, the sun coral lets just say it is a pig.

I know that algae will always be present they way I'm running my current tank. Many people think algae is the devil but I disagree under certain circumstances. If kept under control it will help keep a more stable tank.

[Bill Nye]

Nice tank. I really like the natural look you have going. I have the exact opposite problem in my tank...maybe you can send me a couple snails to replace the ones my hermit keeps assassinating.

[.Newman.]

hey as long as it works in your pico. by the pics it looks like it has been working

[pj86]

What else should I add? I was thinking 2 bright color yumas or ric on the ric/yuma side of the rocks. I might get a few blasto's soon. Maybe a green nepthea. A coco worm? Any suggestions?

[evanski]

Nice...lots going on with good variety.

[Mojorizn]

Nice tank. I don't even see an algae problem.

 

Looks GREAT!!

 

Maybe swap the two front pieces for a Ric garden...?

[el fabuloso]

I have to say, I really love the way this tank is coming together. It's help inspire me to save my pico and go back to basics. Good job.

[pj86]

Thanks evanski and Mojorizn. Yea maybe I will substitute those pieces of rocks. Definitely will color it up a bit.

 

I have to say, I really love the way this tank is coming together. It's help inspire me to save my pico and go back to basics. Good job.

Thanks el fab, it is a honor. This tank wouldn't have been possible without your thread, I'm glad your continuing and leading the way on how to maintain a long lived pico. I will certainly be keeping up with the full resurrection of your tank.

 

Some photos of the spotlight coral of my tank (fully trained to remain open 2 hours before lights out)

[Mitch619]

Hey PJ, how do you keep the surface of water clear of oils? do you do anything?

[pj86]

Hey PJ, how do you keep the surface of water clear of oils? do you do anything?

 

The AC70 is at full power and causes lots of water movement on the surface. Also, I try to minimize oil by not feeding to much frozen food inside the tank. So the sun coral gets fed outside in a small bowl and then put back (impossible to feed the sun coral the quantity of food it requires in a picotope without a powerful skimmer). The other corals get maybe a piece or two of mysis and some cyclopeeze.

[pj86]

Did a few rearrangements and got a coco worm and some nice priced corals. The rearrangement of some rocks did cause some corals to get upset, specially my polyps in the front, its still kinda upset. My sun coral decided to do a mass growth and added a good amount of heads and tissue. I'm still struggling with parts of the sarco, I might increase my dosing. Everything seems to be stable. Photos to come soon.

[everl0ng]

great job with your sun coral, and the tank as a whole. it's full of color and diversity for a small tank!

[pj86]

Thanks everl0ng.

I gotta stop adding and changing things. Corals are kinda upset but parameters are great. Here are some photos with my upset corals,

 

FTS

FTSs just dont capture the depth of the tank, here is a better shot.

[forrestp38829]

Great tank man.

 

I did not see what mechanism you were using to do the 24hr dosing of food.

 

How are you doing that?

[pj86]

Great tank man.

 

I did not see what mechanism you were using to do the 24hr dosing of food.

 

How are you doing that?

 

Thanks forrest38829. It is pretty much the ATO machine. My ATO goes through 16 ounces of water about every 12 hours. So I just add new ATO water with the amount of food I want every 12 hours. Very simple approach, but of course daily maintenance. Also, the shorter the intervals of course the better, because the food will be more alive and fresh. But so far 12 hours seem to be doing the trick.

[forrestp38829]

Thanks forrest38829. It is pretty much the ATO machine. My ATO goes through 16 ounces of water about every 12 hours. So I just add new ATO water with the amount of food I want every 12 hours. Very simple approach, but of course daily maintenance. Also, the shorter the intervals of course the better, because the food will be more alive and fresh. But so far 12 hours seem to be doing the trick.

 

 

Very nice. Good thinking.

[pj86]

Wow, just came back from LFS empty handed, that is a first.

[.Newman.]

when was this tank started with all these corals and stuff? it all looks too clean to be an old setup lol, just look at that squeaky clean white sand

[pj86]

when was this tank started with all these corals and stuff? it all looks too clean to be an old setup lol, just look at that squeaky clean white sand

 

It was started Oct 9, so indeed it is new. That patch of sand gets shifted by the water flow constantly and is the only part that is "Mr. Clean" shining white, . I hope it remains that way. I might add a fungia or brain, something bright to contrast against that white.

[.Newman.]

wow you did all this in under two months? I hope you dont have many problems because it sounds like you stocked a bit fast

[pj86]

Newman, so far it has been very smooth and hope it remains that way. I have tapered down the coral buying and plan to let the tank settle till the end of christmas...lol. One of the reasons that it has gone pretty smooth is that there is probably more rock and live sand in my tank than there is water + corals by volume. I think it has about 8-9 lbs of live rock and about 5-6 lbs of live sand. Also, daily water changes has made it extremely stable. I hope to taper down the water changes. Everything seems to be growing quite well also, even the Sarconephthya is making some progress.

[pj86]

To construct DIY LED this christmas or not to construct DIY LED...hmmm

[evanski]

To construct DIY LED this christmas or not to construct DIY LED...hmmm

Construct LED this Christmas...

[Bill Nye]

Construct LED this Christmas...

 

+1

 

You can make a pico led set up so cheaply theres no reason not to. Im thinking of building one for my 5.5 instead of buying a new bulb for my MH.

[sandcruiser]

subscribed.

 

the tank looks great

I'll be curious to see how you deal with algae on the glass moving forward-- looks like you would have to pull rocks/coral out to get to it.

 

I'm planning to step up to a larger tank just so that I can enforce a 2-inch "no critter zone" in which I can easily reach the three visible walls.

 

and...

 

do the LED build.

share the results!

 

I've got the bits to put 4x1W led over my 3g, but have procrastinated until I move into my newer tank.

No sense in putting in the effort just to re-do it in a month or two when I get my 15g.