5.5g Reef Islands

[1.0reef]

/TOTM

[tibbsy07]

I use CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef (1.0-2mm) 10lb bag.

Did you use the whole bag???

[Sandeep]

Very little gravel. Just enough to cover the glass bottom. The less gravel in a pico, the less trapped waste matter.

[tibbsy07]

Very little gravel. Just enough to cover the glass bottom. The less gravel in a pico, the less trapped waste matter.

Yeah, that makes sense. I have like 1/4" deep maybe? Maybe 1/2". Used maybe 3 lbs.

 

Your tank is fantastic. Just. Wow.

[Sandeep]

Ice storm here in Toronto with no power expected to be restored for a few days!

 

Oh well, thank God it's a pico tank allowing for easy emergency evacuation. I wrapped the tank in a blanket with a pillow on top to keep the temp for dropping and stirred the water every hour when the power went out at night. 12 hrs later in the morning drained 80% of the water into a old salt bucket, transferred the three coral islands to the bucket and made the emergency evacuation to a relatives house with power about 1/2 hour away.

 

Set everything up back in the tank, started the heater and pump up and everything seems to be good. Corals can typically go a few days without light, I might set up the light over the tank tomorrow if it looks like power is not being restored anytime soon.

 

My 50g tank was also evacuated into a couple of buckets. A ton more hassles as I had to dismantle all of my coral work to catch all the fish. Lost one yellow tang so far but the other fish and coral which are now in old salt buckets with a power head and heaters seem to be doing OK. Good thing I kept a couple of old heaters and power heads lying around. Just worried about the water quality in the buckets going downhill over time. Hopefully we get power soon. And it will be a chance to thoroughly clean the sandbed of the 50g and rearrange a new setup of the corals.

 

Really need to start saving my pennies for a Honda generator as these types of outages seem to be becoming more frequent over the past few years.

[Rehype]

Hope everything works out sandeep.

 

Tanks looks awesome BTW

[got2envy]

Hope everything goes well SD...keeping my fingers crossed

[Sandeep]

Power finally back on and tank moved back home. No casualties and I did a 50% water change as all the gravel had been quite stirred up during the evacuation.

[owk688]

Love you tank. Hope everything are back to normal now.

[ALNN]

Oo sandeep. Where are you in Toronto? Im located in Markham and there are tree branchs all over the place. Hope everything if working out for u! Cant wait to see the tank up with pictures

[JayPagi]

Some parts of the GTA were hit harder than others, I was down for about 8 hours here in Whitby. My brother in Ajax is still without power. Happy to hear you got power back and with minimum casualties. Those Honda genis are amazing, so quiet.

[rawlins06]

Hope everything makes it.

[Sandeep]

Following the power failure, the tank is doing good, just fed cyclopeeze and all the corals and fish look happy.

 

During the emergency move, I had noticed yellow water, especially since the gravel had been stirred up. Remember I have quite a heavy bioload with two fishes. So I've made the decision to now run some Marineland Black Diamond Premium Activated Carbon in the AC30 in addition to the sponge.

 

I feed the corals once a week with Kent Marine Micro-Vert. I am concerned that the carbon may suck out the proteins of this food from the water column. I think that I might run without carbon for one day when I add the Micro-Vert food to the water and then add the carbon to the AC30 for the other 6 days.

 

Some photos of the tank now, hard to believe it has just been through a hectic evacuation in sub-zero weather in a bucket and return to the house yesterday after the power came back on.

 

 

 

[ALNN]

Glad to see everything is back and safe! love your Acan tower! i just got my first Acan on monday! and i love them already. i can see why you have so many. any tips on keeping them? im starting with 1 head

[JoshuA c]

Still looks great!

[Sandeep]

For those of you concerned about running activated carbon in a reef tank, this article by Joe Jaworski is a must read. it clears up a lot of misconceptions.

 

http://joejaworski.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/does-a-reef-tank-need-carbon/

[1.0reef]

/TOTM

[evanski]

Nice save, and gorgeous tank!

[Mike Savage]

Great article. Thanks!

[Nano sapiens]

Glad to see that the tank made it through the ordeal.

 

I haven't experienced any yellowing with my 5+ year old 12g (no chemical filtration), but you have less than 1/2 the water volume with the same number of fish, so I can see this happening over time

[dsim]

how much of seachem reef plus is added every week? is it mixed with coral food during spot feed, or just mixed into the water column?

 

the label recommended...

1 capful (5 mL) for each 80 L (20 gallons*) twice a week or as required to maintain coral growth. May also be used in food by mixing 1 mL in about 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of food.

[kevinicus]

Wow what a fantastic tank, I love it! +following

[Sandeep]

I use the Kent Marine Micro-Vert, but it has the same dosage instructions as the Seachem Reef Plus, I belive. I add 1.2ml using a small syringe once a week directly to the water after my weekly water change.

 

General rule of thumb with pico tanks is usually to use half the recommended dosage of anything to be safe.

 

how much of seachem reef plus is added every week? is it mixed with coral food during spot feed, or just mixed into the water column?

the label recommended...

1 capful (5 mL) for each 80 L (20 gallons*) twice a week or as required to maintain coral growth. May also be used in food by mixing 1 mL in about 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of food.

[Mustang Boy]

Are you pulling the rocks out of the tank when you are gluing the corals to the rocks?

[dsim]

you no longer use seachem reef plus?