Peter's petite pair of picos

[lljdma06]

I picked up a flouro green morph for my tank, and I stole some of Ang's green zoas.

 

Ang's tank has the real news though - a complete rescape, gsp, a tiny peppermint shrimp and ... an orange lined cardinal. Photos tomorrow!

 

Oooooooooooooo, can't wait to see Ang's tank!

 

Yours... Whatever, same old, same old.

 

 

I tease you.

 

L

[castiel]

Haha. Her tank still needs some work ... but it's looking better.

[chippwalters]

I picked up a flouro green morph for my tank, and I stole some of Ang's green zoas.

 

Ang's tank has the real news though - a complete rescape, gsp, a tiny peppermint shrimp and ... an orange lined cardinal. Photos tomorrow!

Look forward to seeing the pics!

[castiel]

Ang's tank new FTS (still work in progress ...)

Has a channel between the main rocks ... which we are hoping the GSP will encrust.

 

Here's the cardinal

And his 'cave'

 

 

Here's another FTS for my tank

The hairy mushrooms are filling out nicely

New green mushie

Just because he hasnt been featured for a while ... Squirt:

 

And finally a shot of the lights I liked

[mini_matt]

nice, I love these little tanks! what bulbs are those?

[lljdma06]

nice, I love these little tanks! what bulbs are those?

 

Mini_matt! Is that you!!

 

[mini_matt]

Mini_matt! Is that you!!

 

 

yes it certainly is! this place seemed a bit more busy than other forums

nice to see you again! lol

[lljdma06]

yes it certainly is! this place seemed a bit more busy than other forums

nice to see you again! lol

 

Nice to see you too..

 

 

L

[castiel]

Those are BoostLED PAR30s, 2 Royal Blue, 1 Blue, 1 Cool White, 1 Neutral White. Pretty blue as you can see from the pics, but I really like them.

[jgpico]

Wow I haven't checked in for about a month and your tanks are looking awesome! I am really diggin the boost par bulbs, they make the tanks look amazing!

[mini_matt]

Those are BoostLED PAR30s, 2 Royal Blue, 1 Blue, 1 Cool White, 1 Neutral White. Pretty blue as you can see from the pics, but I really like them.

 

that is a pretty high blue:white ratio! wasn't sure if that was merely pictures makinng it a bit on the blue side, there is a bit of spotlighting from that one cool white by the looks of it, don't know anything about the boost lights what optics if any do they have and are they 3w chips? I'm just delving into LED land

[castiel]

Ah no, if you are referring to this shot:

 

That was me trying to shade the blueness with one hand while shooting with the other! haha. These are shot with a Sony NEX5 using RAW format, but still end up being way bluer than they look in real life.

 

I don't know masses about the BoostLEDs myself. I had a PAR38, but it was huge and heavy and I found it difficult to mount ... then one of hte drivers failed, so I had to replace and went for the smaller PAR30s. There are more colour options if you don't want such a blue look.

 

JG -thanks, I think my tank is coming along nicely ... still working out exactly what to do with Ang's tank though. She is too impulsive, haha. Bought the massive zoa rock and then the massive favia ... which mean they limit options for scaping. It will evolve I am sure.

[castiel]

I think I might have to transfer my picos. The crazing I posted about (pics below) is worrying me ... it is pretty extensive, across the whole base.

 

 

I am considering buying a larger cube and combining the contents of the two. Tough decision though, I am starting to really love my tank and want to keep it going as it is ...

[chippwalters]

Yep. Better sooner than later IMO. Once those stress cracks show up, it's just a matter of time. I sure like your two Pico setup. If you change, considered getting a pre-drilled reef ready tank(s)-- that way you can share the water volume between the two and/or add a sump when you are ready.

[castiel]

I'm actually thinking of a simple clean cube with AC70/110 on the back, with my two PAR30 lamps over the top.

 

Then again I might just end up buying two new picos ... though I think this experience has scarred me regarding acrylic, so will try to find glass options if possible.

[Jacob042426]

jbj picotopes!

[lljdma06]

You're kidding me!!!

 

That sucks!

 

 

OMG! I'm sorry, Peter.

 

L

[brandon429]

I will never use acrylic again. Its heartbreaking to see what they look like after 3 yrs, even more heartbreaking when you kept your reef in there the whole time and then its so scratched it looks terrible. There are care methods for acrylic, but I've never seen a not scratched up acrylic pico after three years.

[brandon429]

I had been discussing an led conversion of my own with pink damsel and the one you are showing is right for budget and blue color

 

Too bad I cant add a red one in place of one of the regular blues you mentioned that would be ultimate color pop for my zoanthids

[castiel]

Yeah my tank is scratched too, nice circular grooves across the front from picking up sand in the cleaner I guess.

 

I can't decide what to do ... if this is just crazing, then I don't mind because it isn't noticeable unless you get up close. But likewise I don't want to come home one day to find my tank contents all over the floor.

 

I think I am going to either:

a) Keep the picos as they are and monitor the crazing, just hope that is all it is

b.) Get an ADA 60F size tank (maybe not as shallow, will have to see what is available here in Aus), AC70/110, and just combine the contents of the picos into one. It will take up a similar amount of space, but still be a significantly different size to my new 17G (which will be sumped etc).

 

Brandon, the BoostLEDs are a good option for picos - nice price, colours, PAR etc, yet not as bulky and heavy as a PAR38 like the LEDTric or Rapid lamps. I imagine you could potentially switch out one led for red if you knew what you were doing ... then again I'd guess that BoostLED themselves would offer that if it was easy/possible!

[chippwalters]

I think I am going to either:

 

b.) Get an ADA 60F size tank (maybe not as shallow, will have to see what is available here in Aus), AC70/110, and just combine the contents of the picos into one. It will take up a similar amount of space, but still be a significantly different size to my new 17G (which will be sumped etc).

Dude, if you decide on a 60F then I predict you won't be disappointed. Mine is rocking. It's SO EASY to clean.

 

I have a 90 degree PVC elbow coming out of my overflow pointing straight up. I can adjust the height of the water in the tank by tilting the elbow (it's only press fit in the overflow) and I can turn it completely upside down for a full siphon cleaning. This is great-- especially when starting the tank and getting all the algae out. I just 'stir' things up, scrub and blow off the algae, turn up my MP10, and WHOOSH!! All the sediment, algae, detritus, etc which clouds the water column gets sucked out fast to my sump where it's caught in the filter sock. Really fast way to clean things.

 

Not to mention, because it is so shallow, you can easily GET EVERYWHERE you need to-- and quickly. Mine currently is setup with 2 Par38s for main lighting then an Actinic Par38 for night time. I just posted some PAR readings for my tank on my thread if you're interested..

[castiel]

Chip I haven't visited your ADA thread for a while, will go check it out!

[castiel]

Well I am pretty certain that this is getting worse fairly quickly.

 

 

Looks like I'll be looking for a new tank (or two, still open to the possibility) this weekend. Blah. So weird it is happening to both at once, all of a sudden.

[castiel]

Well, the crazing/cracking became too worrysome, and so these little tanks are no more. We bought a 12G glass tank and I did the transfer this afternoon - I'll start a thread in the members section at some point to describe the dramas*.

 

I am going to miss my pico, particularly as it really was getting to a point I was really happy with.

 

Thanks to all of you who frequent the pico section of this forum for advice and assistance - special shout to brandon, newman, jgpico, lljdma - you all helped massively in your own way.

 

 

 

 

 

*(first tank we bought had a huge leak, covered the carpet with water ... then spent 3 hours driving around trying to find another of the same size. All inhabitants are looking pretty good though, hoping the addition of new sand won't cause too much of a cycle.)

[metrokat]

look forward to you next build.