Supermarvin's PicO III

[TristanC]

Looks really really good! That frog is going to look great in there.

[supermarvin76]

Finally got me some coral! That huge frogspawn I was eyeing didn't work out, but that's ok. I found a new LFS about 5 minutes from my house. It's only been there about 6 months and the guy who owns it is insanely helpful and friendly. He's also spent time in the Marines which is good thing in my book.

 

Any how, he had a frogspawn about the size of two footballs, and a bunch of tiny frags. I asked him if he had any slighly larger pieces (than the frags, not the gigantic one) and he said, "no but give me a minute and I'll make you one. He fragged that huge one right there for me. 4 heads. I also picked up a branching Duncan. It has two main branches with another branch coming out of one of the main branches for a total of 3 branches and total of 8-9 heads.

 

So for under $74 from a LFS, I had a 4 head frogspawn, a 8-9 head Duncan, and a bottle of super glue.

 

Pics later gator...

[supermarvin76]

Close up of frogspawn:

 

 

 

 

 

Duncan all closed up:

 

 

 

Frogspawn, Duncan, and a photobomber:

 

 

 

 

 

 

FTS:

 

 

 

 

FTS II:

[TristanC]

I know I say it every time but I can't get over how much I love the scape... New additions look great.

[supermarvin76]

I know I say it every time but I can't get over how much I love the scape... New additions look great.

 

Thanks. I like the rock work too! I really really like it now I took the rock on the left out and made more room in the sand.

 

The frogspawn has been fully extended since about 5 minutes after putting it in the tank. I think that's good.

 

The Duncan was shriveled so tight it looked like there were no heads. However, when I got up this morning, the tank lights were and are still off (it's 9:25 AM right now) the heads were out and open. Now one of the heads is shriveled up again though. I think the Duncan is by far my favorite coral- even though I just learned about it about 1 month ago. Again- this one has 3 branches with a total of 8-9 heads. My goal I am hoping for is to have about 20 heads by Christmas. No reason, just thats what I want!

[Drift Monkey]

Nice additions! I'm sure the new guys will get accustomed to their new home eventually.

[supermarvin76]

Woke up this morning and the Duncan looked like this with only ambient room light the tank lights off:

 

 

Now the lights are on (Ai Sol Nano 35 35 35) and all heads are open, but not all the way full.

 

Also, you can see a I scratched it some while trying to find a place for it in my tank. I hope that doesn't hurt it.

 

 

And another pic just cause:

[TristanC]

Haha I have a picture of me when I was a little boy doing the exact same thing with my dads old reef tank.

[Curry02]

Looking good... That things gonna look great once its full!

[supermarvin76]

When I woke up this morning, the Duncan was as full as I could have dreamed. It was dark, and only the blue light was on with a setting of only 1.

 

Now I just got home and it's not fully open. I am thinking about dialing the lights down. Right now they are on 35 35 35.

 

I dunno. What do you think?

[Drift Monkey]

Wouldn't hurt to try dialing it down.

[supermarvin76]

It was running 35 35 35, and now I have it on 25 25 25. I'll try to crank it up more in a week.

 

How do people cope with dialing down the lights for new coral? It's driving me nuts already.

[supermarvin76]

Thinking about taking the Chemi Pure Elite out and replacing it with PhosGuard.

 

Then I would be running Purigen and PhosGuard.

 

Thoughts?

[BadCrab]

I'd run Purigen and Seagel instead (just my opinion, limited hands-on experience)

[Mstefa1]

It was running 35 35 35, and now I have it on 25 25 25. I'll try to crank it up more in a week.

 

How do people cope with dialing down the lights for new coral? It's driving me nuts already.

 

acclimation mode on the ai nano. With my MH in my other tank you have no control so you either start at the bottom and work your way up or try for the best placement from the beginning.

[supermarvin76]

acclimation mode on the ai nano. With my MH in my other tank you have no control so you either start at the bottom and work your way up or try for the best placement from the beginning.

 

Do you know if the old AI controller has acclimation mode? I've been searching and everything I find talks about the new controller.

[Mstefa1]

Do you know if the old AI controller has acclimation mode? I've been searching and everything I find talks about the new controller.

 

Sorry I don't.

[TristanC]

 

Do you know if the old AI controller has acclimation mode? I've been searching and everything I find talks about the new controller.

It doesn't acclimation mode is only on the new one. You should be fine at 25% bump up 5% weekly.

[supermarvin76]

Two months later.... I must admit I am getting tired of my weekly 4-5 gallon water changes. So much so I see it as a chore I hate as opposed to the first few weeks to a month where I actually enjoyed it.

 

Duncan has grown a bit, Frogspawn has grown a bit, and I know everyone will call me a liar, but I am 95% sure the firefish contributed to the demise of the six line- either way, the six line is dead.

 

And hair algae has begun to grow.

 

So, I am thinking about making this a macro algae tank. But the I didn't have much luck with the Red Gracilaria. I think the CUC took a liking to it and it quickly fell apart.

 

Or- I am thinking about removing the Tunze skimmer making a rack out of egg crate and putting chateo in there with the 1w LED from PicO.

 

Thoughts please....

[Passaggper]

Sorry about your fish loss. That sucks. Do you think the water changes are necessary? Why do you want to change your setup already? How are the other fish doing?

[supermarvin76]

No sweat on the loss.

 

Maybe not making it a full blown macro tank, but maybe adding some macro to the display. Or taking the skimmer out and somehow putting a light in the far left filtration section.

 

I am thinking about that just because I am getting tired of this skimmer. Sometimes it doesn't pull anything, then I fiddle with it and it does. So I figure if the tank is ok with out it skimming sometimes, how about just removing it all together and make a larger fuge section.

 

I need ideas as to how to make that section into a fuge.

[Passaggper]

Have you been able to keep nitrates low? Maybe you won't need a fuge if water changes alone keep things in check.

[Passaggper]

I just checked out your pictures. I got a mismatch pair of clowns too! I couldn't make up my mind.

[supermarvin76]

I just checked out your pictures. I got a mismatch pair of clowns too! I couldn't make up my mind.

 

 

The black one is now a lot larger than the orange one.

[jcusmarine]

Two months later.... I must admit I am getting tired of my weekly 4-5 gallon water changes. So much so I see it as a chore I hate as opposed to the first few weeks to a month where I actually enjoyed it.

 

Duncan has grown a bit, Frogspawn has grown a bit, and I know everyone will call me a liar, but I am 95% sure the firefish contributed to the demise of the six line- either way, the six line is dead.

 

And hair algae has begun to grow.

 

So, I am thinking about making this a macro algae tank. But the I didn't have much luck with the Red Gracilaria. I think the CUC took a liking to it and it quickly fell apart.

 

Or- I am thinking about removing the Tunze skimmer making a rack out of egg crate and putting chateo in there with the 1w LED from PicO.

 

Thoughts please....

 

Man. I hate to hear that you are getting frustrated with WC's. I also do not like to hear a little hair algae is popping up so soon, however if you keep up with husbandry and stick with it the tank is still new enough that it will take time to balance out on competing algae and over time, everything should become pretty stable and nothing invasive should flourish. I hope you don't say #### it and go for the macro option, unless you WANT to of course.

 

My advise is make the WC as easy as you can and make sure you have good RODI water. Maybe switch to a consistent bi-weekly plan. However, you have to keep up with WC's. You know stability is key and your params will be super tight if you do a weekly WC.

 

Are you dosing anything? Amino's, etc? Don't.

 

How often are you feeding?

 

I would pull back on feeding at the first sign of hair algae, just for a couple days. I would not dose anything. I would do a normal WC. Nothing more, nothing less. Rinse and repeat.....watch for improvement and dial that bad boy in. No drastic re-action, just light feeding, frequent WC's and solid stable params and sit and watch everything come together.

 

For what it is worth, here is my summary on my albeit smaller PicO Shallow although that's just me and there are plenty alternatives:

 

1 - Weekly 10% WC's with Red Sea Coral Pro

2 - Auto Top Off with good Spectrapure RODI water

3 - Use AquaMaxx 100 micron filter pad on the top of the media tray (http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_Filter_Pad_Filter_Pad_Mechanical_Filter_Media-AquaMaxx-UJ00123-FIFMMEPM-vi.html) and change every 3-4 days. I pre-cut and rinse and it takes 2 seconds.

4 - In the media tray under the 100 micron pad, I have Seachem PhosGuard in a Boyd Media bag, followed by Chemi-Pure Elite 6.5oz, then on the bottom Purigen in another Boyd Media Bag.

5 - Not essential, but I use Prodibio Nano Kit. Dose per instructions. Have had plenty good tanks without it, but I am liking this stuff.

6 - Skimmer, on such a small tank not needed, but I have a small Air driven I don't sweat if it pulls anything out or not, which is does mostly, but I run the tank like it is not required (1-4 above, without fail, especially WC's and ATO).

 

Let us know how it goes! Your tank has a ton of potential and I am liking it! FWIW I don't think you need to run the fuge section with Chaeto. Just my .02