Peter's petite pair of picos

[castiel]

[castiel]

Let there be life =0)

 

Went to the LFS for a CUC, ended up buying a couple of morph pieces.

Very small piece in mine:

Slightly larger piece in Ang's:

 

One hermit each, one snail each (annoyingly the guy at the store wasn't sure which type of snail these were ...)

Crab

Crab (bottom) snail (top)

 

I also bought a couple of kilos of coral sand to add to mine. I've concluded that bare bottom isn't for me, at teh moment at least.

[lljdma06]

Glad you were able to buy something finally. Man, you struggled with your cycle, very gross things. You'll still have to be on top of the maintenance though. It is a pico thing.

 

llj

[castiel]

Oh for sure, weekly 80% water changes are going to continue to happen and I'll be on top of other maintenance.

 

This morning I spotted the hermit crab on top of the rock ... looked 30 minutes later, and it's molted! Kinda cool, kinda "oh my god is it dead?". At least, I hope it's a molt and not a dead crab =0p

 

I'm also amazed how much the morphs change over time - this morning they were really spread out and overlapping each other, now they are back to how they looked yesterday during the day.

[DonnieP]

I'm also amazed how much the morphs change over time - this morning they were really spread out and overlapping each other, now they are back to how they looked yesterday during the day.

 

You might want to drop those guys down to the bottom and in a shadier spot and slowly acclimate them back up. If they expanded real nice during the night and shrink during the day that usually means to much light at once. If your lights are pretty bright you will need to acclimate all your corals to it a little at a time. Its always better to start them in dimmer light and gradually move them up.

[jgpico]

You really had some cool/nasty hitch hikers in your tanks. I kind of wish I had hitch hikers but I used reef cleaners base rock. Congrats on finally being able to put stuff in the tank. I remember waiting for my cycle to end it was the worst time of my life lol. Keep up the good work man.

[castiel]

Thanks for the tip on the morphs, though our lights aren't super bright (the standard Dymax LEDs). But makes sense to move them down for now and move up gradually.

 

jg, yeah I was thrilled to have so many HHs ... but not so thrilled when they all died on me! And yes it is very nice to be able to add things, but we'll still be taking it very slowly and adding gradually.

[castiel]

By the way ... here's the bigger tank I have my eye on buying. 40G I think ... but nice AIO integration and rimless =0)

 

[castiel]

Okay, hoping someone here can help me choose because I'm going nuts going back and forth!

 

I know I need to add more flow. But obviously, space is limited in these tanks, so I want to add the smallest powerhead/pump that I can. My two choices:

 

I think this would go in the back left corner (opposite diagonal to the current pump inlet), and I think I could camouflage it somewhat, maybe even putty some rock to it.

 

Or there's the good old Koralia nano. I imagine the 425 (that is the smallest I think?). No camouflaging this, but would it be better than the pump?

[jgpico]

I have the koralias pico EVO in my tank and my gf has the smallest koralia evo in her tank and it works really well. Check out my thread for pics of the pump.

[castiel]

hmm looks good, it's the Hydor Pico Evo Mag right? The one on the right here:

[jgpico]

I actually think its a 180gph one. So smaller but that's pretty much it.

[castiel]

yeah that would be it, 650 litres = about 180 gallons =0)

[castiel]

I added some coral sand (just half an inch or so), plus a couple of seashells I found on the beach last week. Probably cheesy to have them in there, but I like them! (second is overexposed at the front)

[tylernt]

I think this would go in the back left corner (opposite diagonal to the current pump inlet), and I think I could camouflage it somewhat, maybe even putty some rock to it.

I'd drill a new hole in the partition wall and hide the pump in the rear chamber with only an outlet tube protruding. In fact, that's exactly what I did.

[castiel]

Yeah I looked into that, I just don't have the tools necessary to do it! Though I have been thinking about getting a dremel so maybe ...

 

Do you have media in that same chamber still?

[tylernt]

Do you have media in that same chamber still?

Not the stock media, I removed it to make room for the heater (I only have two chambers though, I think you have three?). However I still have room to put some chaeto, a little bag of carbon, and a bit of filter floss if I want to "polish" my water.

[castiel]

Yeah the IQ5 has three chambers. I think it will work okay if I get a media basket or some egg crate to keep the media away from the pump inlet.

 

Interestingly I just checked and the hole on the IQ5 is much lower than the IQ3 - about 3" from the bottom of the tank.

[tylernt]

Yeah the IQ5 has three chambers. I think it will work okay if I get a media basket or some egg crate to keep the media away from the pump inlet.

Yeah if you read the thread in my sig you'll see where I had to make a pump intake shield.

 

Interestingly I just checked and the hole on the IQ5 is much lower than the IQ3 - about 3" from the bottom of the tank.

You may not want to use that one then. Mine is near the top and it's still a real pain to install or remove the pump because my hands are so big and the chamber is so small. You'd need to have child's hands or surgical instruments to work way down deep in the chamber... still, I think it's worth the effort to hide the pump -- either in the chamber, or as you said, behind some rockwork. Just IMHO.

[castiel]

What's this? Bags 'O Stuff?!

 

I must admit the last one was an impulse purchase for the wife - remembered her commenting last time we saw one how cool it was. And it was cheap, so here it is ...

 

I know, I know.

 

But is it a red tree sponge?

[castiel]

Okay so here are the bits I just bought. The guy at teh LFS was 'there on holiday, helping out his brother' so didn't have the first clue what was what. Luckily that meant some of the prices he gave me were better than I think they should have been =0)

 

I'd appreciate any help IDing each of these!

 

First are some little polyps I think, they don't have much colour but were really cheap and I thought looked cool

 

Shortly after adding (my tank):

5 minuets later:

10 minutes:

 

 

Secondly are a couple of ricordeas, one for each tank. Again aren't the brightest in colour, but were nice and small.

 

In Ang's tank:

 

Mine: (it's spread out nicely now, doesn't look like this any more!)

I also got some 'bonus' algae by the look of it - is that a god thing, or should I try to get rid?

 

 

 

And finally the 'oh you shouldn't have bought something you know nothing about' purchase. A red tree sponge I think?

[Builder Anthony]

Most likely a red sea fan.Place it in high flow or place a airline RIGHT next to it.It white polyps appear thats what it is.Now if its a sponge thats the worst advice i could give you becuase sponges dont like air in them.But i think i see areas on there where polyps would appear on it.Take a look on the internet for sea fans and you should see polyps extended and compare that to what you have.A sponge should be somewhat transparenet.Which wont be the case for a sea fan.

[castiel]

Ah yes, that looks like it. Thanks! I am ordering new pumps today and it will be right in the flow jet of one, so should be a good position for it.

 

Here's a better pic of the ric in my tank:

[castiel]

On the topic of pumps, look what was literally just delivered!

 

 

I bought this just for my saltwater storage tub to agitate it, but now I've seen its size I am thinking about buying two more to put in the tank!

 

I tested the flow and it's way more powerful than the stock pump. And so cheap! Was $5 plus $6 shipping, compared to $60+ for a koralia powerhead (here in Australia things are expensive).

[Zoafreak]

that's a florida ricordea, they are nice and i believe tend to be slightly smaller than thier cousins the Yuma Ricordea. also your polys are palythoas, and they have a pretty cool pattern on them! and it's just a guess but the red thing looks like a gorgon, idk though.