fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thanks to fellow forum member weber i scored this sweet little setup for a hundred bucks shipped! Currently setup bare botom w/out sand for cleanliness and ease of maintenance. will see hpw that works out. I cleaned the aquarium up last night and then added some rocks from my established 10 gallon frag tank and a couple misc. frags. Current stocking list: 1 blue leg hermit 1 margarita snail birdsnest frag acropora frag acan frag (added after photos) mushroom zoa rock I am not expecting much, if any of a cycle which is why i added livestock so soon. if things go south for any reason i can quickly move any of this tank's inhabitants into one of my other tanks. definitely the easiest tank setup ever. took less than an hour to unpack the aquarium, clean it, plug everything in, aquascape and add corals. hopefully this quick setup won't do me in, but everything looks good so far. Link to comment
RK_tek Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Looks good. I debated buying this tank myself Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 thanks. definitely was a great deal. gonna try to keep the initial cost of $100 my total budget and just stock it w/frags from my other tanks but i'm sure that will change as soon as i see the next "must have" coral. until then though i'm gonna try to keep it simple and cheap. the big acro had kinda browned out under my halides but looks great and has way more color under the led's, as does the birdsnest. the zoas opened up almost immediately after placing them in the tank. zero acclimation, just a coral dip to rid the rock of pesky pods and such, a quick rinse, and into the tank! Left everything unattended while i was at work and it still looks healthy and just the same as i left it this morning. i hope this is a good sign. i can't thank nano-reef poster weber enough. i paypal'ed him a hundred bucks friday and by wednesday my tank was setup, filled with water and ready to go. super easy and reputable guy to deal with! he shipped it almost immediately and was very communicative and thoughtful throughout the buying and shipping process! Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 well, 2 days in and everything is still doing well. did a small waterchange yesterday and added a couple more frags (some lime green zoas from coral morphologic i was acciedentally shipped for free...score! some bleached out ding dang palys that already look a little better, some pink xoas and a tiny blue ricordea. thinking about breaking my budget rule and splurging on a sweet pico sized scoly i stumbled across. need to talk some sense into myself asap but not sure how likely that is. will try to get some better pics. all i have is the camera on my phone so it's hard to get a good pic w/the led's. Link to comment
AnthonyPf Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I really like the light on that tank. Did he mention where it came from or what brand of light it is? Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 I really like the light on that tank. Did he mention where it came from or what brand of light it is? it originally came w/the orca setup and was made by pico aquariums as well. my uderstanding is that it is no longer available as an option on this tank (but they may be working on a newer upgraded version) it has a really cool built in dimmer that can be adjusted throughout the day depending on the intensity of light you desire at any given moment. it's definitely fun to play with. more pics, but still no good closeups of the zoas i added the acan had been retracting in my 20gal so i put him in here. i think my peppermint shrimp was attacking him/bothering him while feeding. he seems to be puffing up a little more since being put in the tank but is still skeptical of his new environment until the light has been on for a while Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 still trying to get a decent closeup of my zoas w/the iphone. this pic is slightly better but still not that great. they are also just opening up, as the light just came on when i thought to snap this photo. Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 well....i ####ed up my whole "budget idea"...sigh haha. just reaquascaped the bottom and moved some zoas higher up to make room for this fml Link to comment
jdl Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 whoa!!! major upgrade in the livestock, very nice Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 yea, ive been wanting a nice scoly for my main 20gal tank but just haven't felt like dropping the cash. i figure i can keep this little guy in there til he outgrows it then move him to the main display. this ebayer has lots of 99 cent auctions for nice zoas so i plan to bid on a bunch of those to hopefully win and offset the cost of this guy and shipping etc. if i can score a bunch of cheap corals for my frag tank the cost will kinda even itself out. Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 added a larger birdsnest frag and moved my zoa rock to the top to make room for the scoly when it arrives Link to comment
brandon429 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 was curious as to why you removed the pods from the rock Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 was curious as to why you removed the pods from the rock i have had previous problems w/them basically crawling all over my zoas to the point that they stay closed a good portion of the time for prolonged periods and can begin to look rather unhealthy when the pod populations really explode, thus the dip. i'm sure there were plenty of healthy critters on the live rock i used, but i just wanted to rid he zoa rock of some of the pesky, larger , almost bugsize pods that crawl all over and terrorize my zoas. i've had to do the same thing to several frags mounted on live rock in my 10 and 20 gallon. not trying to wipe out pod populations, but just trying to control the pesky ones that think they can live in/crawl all over my corals. fish in my other systems help keep this in check but in a pico i thought i would play it safe. i just figured i would dip EVERY coral going into this tank as to avoid any other kind of contamination in such a small system. is this off base? would you suggest something different? i am open to any criticisms/suggestions and welcome your input. Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 i have had previous problems w/them basically crawling all over my zoas to the point that they stay closed a good portion of the time for prolonged periods and can begin to look rather unhealthy when the pod populations really explode, thus the dip. i'm sure there were plenty of healthy critters on the live rock i used, but i just wanted to rid he zoa rock of some of the pesky, larger , almost bugsize pods that crawl all over and terrorize my zoas. i've had to do the same thing to several frags mounted on live rock in my 10 and 20 gallon. not trying to wipe out pod populations, but just trying to control the pesky ones that think they can live in/crawl all over my corals. fish in my other systems help keep this in check but in a pico i thought i would play it safe. i just figured i would dip EVERY coral going into this tank as to avoid any other kind of contamination in such a small system. is this off base? would you suggest something different? i am open to any criticisms/suggestions and welcome your input. I swear I had the same problem. Pods were so numerous in my 8g cube that zoas were closing because they were getting trampled. Even my GSP closed for a while because of them. Even though you dipped the pods will likely come back, though probably not as heavily as before. Link to comment
jdl Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 a 3 stripe damsel will keep them in check sometimes Link to comment
brandon429 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 your approach sounds fine, good logic. I always wanted pods that numerous and big but my tank won't select for em no matter what I do lol. maybe natural predation via fish otherwise keeps those big gammarus in check its neat that you are having to adjust for that in the pico in order to enjoy your corals. Your reef will not miss them. I don't dip for prevention I just use fire afterwards to burn whatever I dont like. thats an old school way that works for sure and who knows maybe if I dipped stuff I wouldn't spend time burning its just an old habit B Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 New FTS & livestock additions Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 scoly is nice and plump from feeding and relaxed a good bit more than in the previous photo. i removed the pink zoas in the upper right corner and in their place put a nice purple/pink "now n' later" chalice. been getting noticeably more consistent polyp extension and a bit better coloration on my acro & birdsnest the past couple days than i ever got under my 70w sunpod metal halide bulb w/only approximately 3 watts of led's. don't know what to say about that haha. gonna keep an eye on things and hopefully add a couple more sps frags eventually as long as things keep going well in that dept. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 this is interesting because its a direct comparison between mh which is my fav and led/ to me that 70w mh is the corvette of reef lights, spaced up high as needed of course for temp if you can get growth plus extension and low heat it will be a convincing run Im nearly sold on LED's. I might very well switch, to not have my vase cluttered with sidelights would be the best, can't imagine not needing those heavy pc sidelights. In watching my friend PinkDamsel's tank the brightness of the corals remained after several months and they added mass. its been nice to see LED from start to finish that consistently and online I see many tanks over a year old with LED only now, there are some on here. Link to comment
Lawnman Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I agree 1000 percent 70 watt is the vette of reef lights Link to comment
brandon429 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 schwing i got burned with coralife t5 minis Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 schwing i got burned with coralife t5 minis been wondering about those. they look cool and are priced cheap but almost seem to good to be true. i haven't really been able to find any reviews or documentation of many folks using them yet. considered it as a good cheap option when i resuscitate my 2.5 gal eventually but am unsure. what was your experience w/the light? Link to comment
fearofablackmetalplanet Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Updated pics: Updated pics: http://s1116.photobucket.com/albums/k563/f...nt=b81b8a38.jpg Added some chaeto in the back fuge area w/a clip on led light and also a nice size zoa frag and purple/green tipped acro! Link to comment
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