Jims temperate pico

[fullmonti]

No new photos ATT. The only thing that has changed is i just took one of the green nems out. It had not moved more than a 1/2" from day one. It suddenly moved a couple inches & was stinging the hell out of three strawberry nems. Not sure if they will survive or not yet.

I took one out a few weeks ago that had killed several strawberries. Now the other two are up at the top & strawberries at the bottom. Will try to keep it that way from now on. Is it possible to remove one of the larger nems from reef rock with out killing it?

 

Also Can any one help with the RKL feeding programing?

[fullmonti]

Not new photos of the tank, but how about these?

 

This is off topic for sure but I do wood sculpted vessels & just finished one I am quite proud of & thought I'd share.

 

 

 

 

 

It is made from the stump of a olive tree just as it started to spread out into the roots.

 

 

This is what it looked like before work began.

 

Hope no one minds this little side trip, like I said I am quite pleased with this one.

 

Thanks

Jim

[JoshColdWater]

wow.....all I can say!

[pj86]

Very very nice. Beautiful art.

[Whys]

WOW! Totally worth the "side trip".

 

 

That is truly stunning work. Just incredible!

 

You clearly have a special touch with these things.

 

Can't wait to see what comes next!

[AquaticEngineer]

That is hella cool!

[blennieluvr]

This may be a silly question. Do you have to cool your water change water? I imagine you do. How do you do that?

[BadCrab]

This may be a silly question. Do you have to cool your water change water? I imagine you do. How do you do that?

 

 

This is a question I've been a little embarrassed to ask :3 +1

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

When we did water changes, we used a discarded 2 gallon milk carton full of salt water in the refrigerator. This was always 55 F degrees standard...

 

MG

[blennieluvr]

AH. Thanks much. I am thoroughly enjoying this build thread and it's fueling my desire to have a temperate tank of my own.

[Speaker73]

Not new photos of the tank, but how about these?

 

This is off topic for sure but I do wood sculpted vessels & just finished one I am quite proud of & thought I'd share.

 

 

That is so cool! Would actually love to see more of your work.

[fullmonti]

I actually finish several about the same time as this one, will post some more little later.

 

Do have a new FTS though. Nothing new in the tank yet, about ready to add some new critters though.

 

 

 

Baby nems popping up everywhere.

 

The green jewel nems finally started growing. Will have to glue them to the central rock soon the porcelain crab has started bulldozing the gravel & any thing not glued down. The only way I know this is I caught him in the act one night when I came in with a little flashlight. He never comes out from under the rock while light are on. The weird looking thing in the upper right is a small decorator crab. He hang out on that bit of rubble. They just set in one place & wave their claws around slowly, I guess they want to be ready to grab anything that might be floating by.

 

Both the close ups are just cropped shots from the FTS, I forgot to bring home the macro lens.

 

[surgicalsense]

I GOT IT!

 

 

James did a fantastic job building this tank, much much better than I ever could have. I am so happy with it. Only thing I did was do the fishing work on the edges to save some money. I now know why that part cost so much.

 

Nice lids too

 

Inside the filter, return pump & ice probe chamber. 120gph Rio pump, seems to be a good flow rate. Will shorten the pipe from the return pump when I get the rock in place.

 

Doing a temp check with fresh water. Looks like about 58 degrees running ice probe 24/7. Looks like I'll need to run two ice probe at least in the summer. I'll make a filter chamber lid to mount the second ice probe on this next week.

 

The holding tank with rock & sand for new tank has been running at room temp for couple months now. When I put the rock & sand in the new tank & drop the temp slowly I'm hoping it wont be long before it will be ready for some start up critters.

 

I got the first of two prototype LED lights from a new company I have been talking/working with. I think they are going to be perfect for pico tanks. Very small, dimable & custom spectrums. when I get the other one I'll take & post a bunch of photos of them.

 

That's it for now

Jim

Wow .... that has a really clean look. I can totally see what you mean about using the thick acrylic. The boarder and edges glisten.

[surgicalsense]

Amazing and beautiful as well. As for the stand you made out of the olive tree, did you put a rounded glass top on it? What was the complete finished product?

[AquaticEngineer]

I am mesmerized with every tank shot you post Jim, that really is one of the most spectacular coldwater FTS I have seen.

 

SUPER STOKED that the Corynactis Viridis is starting to take off in your tank, that was literally the last few polyps we had that I happen to find and send to you Right now you have more of it than I do, lol..................but only for another week or so

[fullmonti]

Amazing and beautiful as well. As for the stand you made out of the olive tree, did you put a rounded glass top on it? What was the complete finished product?

 

No that's not a stand it's just a piece of sculpture. Or a dustable as my wife calls them.

 

I am mesmerized with every tank shot you post Jim, that really is one of the most spectacular coldwater FTS I have seen.

 

SUPER STOKED that the Corynactis Viridis is starting to take off in your tank, that was literally the last few polyps we had that I happen to find and send to you Right now you have more of it than I do, lol..................but only for another week or so

 

 

Thanks so much! I'm sure you've seen more cold water tanks than most anyone.

 

Yep everything growing good.

[AquaticEngineer]

I especially like the detail that you get out of your shots of the metridiums.

 

This is a photo I found online years ago and I just recently had blown up and wrapped on canvas as art for my livingroom

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Hey Jim, just wanted to give you the heads up that we got a bunch more european stuff in.

 

Including these that I know you had been waiting for

[fullmonti]

Good deal, I'll email you an order tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks

[fullmonti]

Not sure at all what is going on with my tank. The water has been getting cloudy. Almost all the photos I've seen of cold water tank are a little cloudy, but this is more than that. A snail died so I thought that was causing the cloudiness. I have done several 2gal WC (about 70% each) in the last week to ten days & it still clouds up after a couple days. I checked nitrates, zero as would be expected with that much WC. I had done a big cleaning of the filter area & put a brand new pump in so I could clean the old one good. I thought the cloudiness maybe could be micro bubbles but don't see how though. I'll put the old pump back in next WC to see if that makes any difference. Here's a pic so you can see what I'm talking about. This was 2-3 days after the last WC.

 

Any thoughts about this?????

 

I had been trying feeding less often to see if twice a day was going to be enough. I noticed the white plumose have gotten smaller so guess I'll go back to feeding 3-4 times a day & spot feeding more.

[Whys]

I have a thought...

 

Even on a cloudy day, it still looks awesome.

 

Also, I'm guessing it's the food.

[fullmonti]

Thanks

But I have been feeding less lately than in the past when it was clearer.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Not sure at all what is going on with my tank. The water has been getting cloudy. Almost all the photos I've seen of cold water tank are a little cloudy, but this is more than that. A snail died so I thought that was causing the cloudiness. I have done several 2gal WC (about 70% each) in the last week to ten days & it still clouds up after a couple days. I checked nitrates, zero as would be expected with that much WC. I had done a big cleaning of the filter area & put a brand new pump in so I could clean the old one good. I thought the cloudiness maybe could be micro bubbles but don't see how though. I'll put the old pump back in next WC to see if that makes any difference. Here's a pic so you can see what I'm talking about. This was 2-3 days after the last WC.

 

Any thoughts about this?????

 

I had been trying feeding less often to see if twice a day was going to be enough. I noticed the white plumose have gotten smaller so guess I'll go back to feeding 3-4 times a day & spot feeding more.

 

I know the issue, it's actually the same thing that puzzled us when we started our 6 gallon temperate AIO last year. One day my tank started to get this same color as yours.

 

I got spooked and did water changes, checked all parameters but on the 2 day it would do it again.

 

I pulled out our micron filter by Marineland and tried to clear it up, NOTHING! It would cloud up again. So, I called the boys at Cold Water Marine Aquatics and they solved the riddle.

 

One of our moon glow sand anemones was spawning like mad. It happened off/on for almost three weeks, before all was back again. Our tank was 6 gallons I can only imagine what you are going though.

 

Nice when a fellow cold water aquarist drops in for a chime...

[fullmonti]

Actually I got some new critters from them about the same time this started. One of the new critters was a very small moon glow nem. Hard to imagine something so small could be doing this. The little guy never has attached to anything. I dug a hole in the sand for him, but he just floated from place to place. He has been open & eating & seemed happy enough. I have not seen him for a day & a half now, don't know if he died or is in some little crevice out of sight. Some one on RC said it could be a bacteria bloom & his tank did the same thing once & it cleared up by it's self. Either way mine seems to be clearing up a bit now. Odd!

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Actually I got some new critters from them about the same time this started. One of the new critters was a very small moon glow nem. Hard to imagine something so small could be doing this. The little guy never has attached to anything. I dug a hole in the sand for him, but he just floated from place to place. He has been open & eating & seemed happy enough. I have not seen him for a day & a half now, don't know if he died or is in some little crevice out of sight. Some one on RC said it could be a bacteria bloom & his tank did the same thing once & it cleared up by it's self. Either way mine seems to be clearing up a bit now. Odd!

Moon glow anemone! LOL

 

My suspicions were dead on target! For us tropical reefers any changes like this in our tanks spooks us, we are not use to the will my cold water tank in less than 3 months of age really start to spawn?

 

Yes!

 

Go figure the parameters of extremes they endure in tide pools to not go nuts in paradise in our homes where we keep variables as super constant as we can!