NanoTopia's Micro-Reefs Temperate Pico []

[NanoTopia]

This is the crushed shell I plan to add, I've got it cleaned up pretty good and is now soaking in RO water for a while. Boiled 6 times, Vinegar bath, rinsed 20 times, and still working on it.

 

 

If you have ever been to the coast up here you will know this is legit

Oh, and you may notice the porosity of this substrate, it will be necessary to help provide filtration to the system as there will only be a filter pad and carbon running with this tank, and some 50% water changes weekly. I dawned on me thatI will have to refrigerate my water changes before adding them to the tank, not a problem as that will be about 500mL only.

[Sunar357]

I demand a sea otter or this tank is useless!

[NanoTopia]

I demand a sea otter or this tank is useless!

 

I couldn't even get the embryo of one of those in this tank!

[Sunar357]

LOL My wife wants to run a river otter rescue. She loves them so much. I had to find otters on our honeymoon for her to enjoy. They were at the top of a mountain in TN at a park.

[zeke2020]

I got my spine, i got my orange crush! [spine]d sea urchin & [crush]ed coral. I think REM might have been inspired by the reef!!

[sangheili]

If you ever get the chance, find a juvenile Dungeness Crab. They are the coolest inverts i've ever seen.

[Giga]

I may have to set something u like this-it's really cool and I could put it in my kitchen!

[NanoTopia]

LOL My wife wants to run a river otter rescue. She loves them so much. I had to find otters on our honeymoon for her to enjoy. They were at the top of a mountain in TN at a park.

LOL, Otter rescue is easier than a Stellar Sea Lion rescue.

 

I got my spine, i got my orange crush! [spine]d sea urchin & [crush]ed coral. I think REM might have been inspired by the reef!!

 

If you ever get the chance, find a juvenile Dungeness Crab. They are the coolest inverts i've ever seen.

Yes, I agree, and when it gets too big for the tank, back to the ocean it goes.

 

I may have to set something u like this-it's really cool and I could put it in my kitchen!

Call Mike at Micro-Reefs, I am sure he will take care of your needs, he is awesome!

[Leatherneck3755]

Following. Thanks for sharing

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

My dimensions are a bit larger...ID is 6 3/8"W x 7 1/8"D x 9"H. I believe it was a demo attempting to find that perfect size to maintain the optimum 55 degree temps. Looks like mine would have some problem keeping up. I've ordered parts for my LED build...somewhat on the lines of what you built previously... incorporating a shield to focus the light downward. I also am going to control the temps with a RKE...and, am planning a wood stand...I was thinking Ebony to kind of simulate black coral once out of the ocean and polished. Who knows, if the light spill over doesn't please me I may make a hood also. Rock will be here tomorrow and I plan on scaping up, similar to what Jim did with his temperate pico. I do like your overflow with the teeth much better than mine, but think I'll also steal from Jim's pico and install a black mesh. I'll post some pics as things develop. Unfortunately I don't have the graphics skills you obviously have to produce the superb illustrations of whats to come. Needless to say, I'm following!

Yes,

 

You are right, your tank was looking at the possibility of expansion on a single probe and it couldn't hold 55 F degrees during the summer months we had here so that project was scratched.

 

It then turned into a nice tropical design that would comfortably hold some really nice SPS with good lighting and the chiller, super cool way to keep that precious SPS happy!

 

Remember that my company was started to cater to very small tanks never to exceed 12 gallons.

 

 

This size is a challenge and I know I'm going to learn a lot from you Christine. Looking forward.

 

 

 

You are right, these 2 gallon temperate picos are a challenge, let us see what Christine can do, I am sure it will strike attention to all that are watching....

[1.0reef]

I recently went snorkeling in San Diego, and watched a lot of West coast cold water reefs, kelp forests, and sea grass beds. I must say this build is going to be AWESOME! I would totally do tiny "schooling" minnows or similar or a few rock dwelling blennies or gobies. Surprisingly there are a lot of plants, like seagrass, macro algae, etc. I'd definitely get some cool ones, and to top off some BA inverts including nems

JMO

[NanoTopia]

 

Following. Thanks for sharing

Thanks for following

 

 

I recently went snorkeling in San Diego, and watched a lot of West coast cold water reefs, kelp forests, and sea grass beds. I must say this build is going to be AWESOME! I would totally do tiny "schooling" minnows or similar or a few rock dwelling blennies or gobies. Surprisingly there are a lot of plants, like seagrass, macro algae, etc. I'd definitely get some cool ones, and to top off some BA inverts including nems

JMO

I have dived off Catalina Island a couple of times, in the kelp forests. Things are a little different up here, the water is 10^o colder and the life differs quite a bit. I did some diving near Ketchikan Alaska and I didn't see much of a change in life from the coasts off Vancouver Island. I think once you get up into Washington State, Puget Sound and North, you loose some of the colourful fish you have more to the south.

 

Off Catalina Island (Kelp Forest)

 

Copyright2013NanoTopia

Off the coast of Vancouver Island (HMCS MACKENZIE)

Copyright2013NanoTopia

 

My dives in Mexico on the Pacific side, and all the way up the coast, California, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, have really been unique. Life changes dramatically in some cases. My biotope is centred around to East coast of Vancouver Island called the Georgia Straight. Some life from that region can be found elsewhere of course, but this is my focus, right down to the substrate. I would love to have a kelp forest tank full of Garibaldi but I'm looking at about a gallon of water here, limits what can go in it

 

Typical Substrate found off the coast of British Columbia (closer to shore) and a Nudi.

 

Copyright2013NanoTopia

[AquaticEngineer]

This is gonna be sweet! I wish I could come up there and help you collect for your tank! We are going out tomorrow night to snorkel some pools and drift the jetty.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

This is gonna be sweet! I wish I could come up there and help you collect for your tank! We are going out tomorrow night to snorkel some pools and drift the jetty.

I need to collect some live rock pieces for display on my vertical series tank.

 

The stones I have are not the biotope of our area, Monterrey.

 

Christine is doing it right.

[NanoTopia]

This is gonna be sweet! I wish I could come up there and help you collect for your tank! We are going out tomorrow night to snorkel some pools and drift the jetty.

Yes it would be nice, I have been eying your website and I see many things I would like to have but as far as brining it up here, we might as well be living on different planets. If I had a 50+ gallon Temperate I would be ordering from you big time, just wouldn't make sense for what I can fit in this pico.

 

Have you have any luck with any particular strains of bacteria for temperate water? I was going to mix KZ ZeoBak and Microbactor7, hopefully that will cover it for the initial cycle. I'm sure I will be introducing some bacteria as I add animals also. Perhaps just let things play out.

 

I should be cycling in a week from now.

 

I need to collect some live rock pieces for display on my vertical series tank.

 

The stones I have are not the biotope of our area, Monterrey.

 

Christine is doing it right.

 

I live an hour and a half from the ocean, easy to collect substrates but they are not clean here. I have had to do a number trying to get this stuff clean. I spent a lot of time behind the scenes at the Vancouver Aquarium, I was always impressed at how they duplicated their biotopes pertaining to the Pacific coast, I paid attention. You can copy from pictures but much better if you have kicked up the silt for yourself to get a real image of the aquascape.

 

I am really into this project, excited, and anxious for this pico to be running. I do hope people can gain a little more confidence from what I am doing here, maybe encourage others to give it a try. It's not that hard, especially if you live in the USA, you have Micro-Reefs and Coldwater Marine Aquatics just a click away, easy as pie!

 

Stay tuned, I have poured and sculpted the back wall this morning, more on that process later. I want to see if it dries well first before showcasing it, I will know in a day. Fingers crossed it turns out as planned.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Christine,

 

CWMA needs to designate a package just for this size pico. They know the size and I bet it would help so much for my tank.

 

There site might initimidate what to purchase since it dioes cater to larger systems and not picos.

 

Stu/Josh make us a small package deal.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

I also live about 1 hour 45 mins from Monterey CA. It is there that I got certified and am also a BAUE member, GUE Fundies. My love for diving in cold water made me think, what if I can take a small piece of this beauty and I mean small, 2 gallons and bring it home to non-divers to hehold the beauty of our ocean.

 

Well two years later, I am trying to perfect this little system and Christine is a good example of what you might be able to do with such a tiny system.

 

As I write this post, I am in the making of a bookshelf cold water pico and perfecting the one Christine has in her home.

 

Stay tunned as I announce more about the newer systems, now back to Christine's thread!

 

MG

[NanoTopia]

UPDATE

 

 

Bit of a setback today, I was working on the light fixture and I damaged the heatsink (I know, how do you damage a heatsink, LOL). I have ordered two more but it will probably take a couple of weeks to get them. I have other lighting to use in the mean time so not a big deal. I plan to start the cycle a week.

[slidinstar]

UPDATE

 

 

Bit of a setback today, I was working on the light fixture and I damaged the heatsink (I know, how do you damage a heatsink, LOL). I have ordered two more but it will probably take a couple of weeks to get them. I have other lighting to use in the mean time so not a big deal. I plan to start the cycle a week.

 

So sorry to hear...but, can't wait to see your back scape! Just received all my parts for my light....slooooow progress.

[NanoTopia]

Christine,

 

CWMA needs to designate a package just for this size pico. They know the size and I bet it would help so much for my tank.

 

There site might initimidate what to purchase since it dioes cater to larger systems and not picos.

 

Stu/Josh make us a small package deal.

 

 

I also live about 1 hour 45 mins from Monterey CA. It is there that I got certified and am also a BAUE member, GUE Fundies. My love for diving in cold water made me think, what if I can take a small piece of this beauty and I mean small, 2 gallons and bring it home to non-divers to hehold the beauty of our ocean.

 

Well two years later, I am trying to perfect this little system and Christine is a good example of what you might be able to do with such a tiny system.

 

As I write this post, I am in the making of a bookshelf cold water pico and perfecting the one Christine has in her home.

 

Stay tunned as I announce more about the newer systems, now back to Christine's thread!

 

MG

Sounds like you have the same love for the ocean as I do Mike. There is not a lot of specific information on running a temperate pico out there, I hope this thread helps others through my experimentation along the way. I will document specifically what I am doing and how well it worked out. I can see how intimidating it would be for someone from the central parts of north america to do this without clear guidance and knowing the temperate waters firsthand, I have this advantage.

 

I share with you and all, a picture of me in the PacCan exhibit doing a Saturday show at the Vancouver Aquarium. With all this gear on and the sea star it's hard to see me, LOL.

 

[NanoTopia]

Some Progress:

 

One of the challenges with such a small display area is adding rock, one rock can look fine but as soon as you start adding multiple rocks your display area decreases fast. One way I came up with was to not add rock at all, rather a rock wall. This would provide suitable area for life to attach, look aesthetically appealing, and take up minimal space in the display while actually making the tank look bigger.

 

So the option I came up with was a custom concrete wall, made to fit, here's how I did it.

 

 

 

I made a mould the exact size of the back wall of the tank, taking into consideration the overflow and return.

 

 

I then placed some plastic wrap to coat the area, I used a 3M spray adhesive to keep the wrap tight against the wood walls. I did this so the dried cement would come away from the mould easier. It worked but I still had to break the mould away to get the wall out after. I just didn't want to have fragments of wood in the cement that would later decompose.

 

 

 

 

So after adding the cement I had to work quickly, creating the wall texture, as the cement was setting up on me fast. Doesn't look like much at this stage.

 

 

So after removing the wall from the mould and a little clean up, this is what I got!

Okay, so now the true test, fitting it in the tank. Fit like a glove!

First I will soak it on RO water for a week, then I will be siliconing it into place later, I want to prevent detritus from accumulating around the edges. The crushed shell substrate will be added later, you can see it a few posts back. (The light is just for the photo, I will be completing the light fixture at a later date).

Once the rock wall cures and it has some life on it it will look real!

 

 

Thanks for following everyone

[TheKleinReef]

I N S A N E

 

that is all.

[slidinstar]

LOVE IT!!!! Great Job!!!!!!

[SushiYum]

Wowwwwwwwwwwwww........

[1.0reef]

I've never had my jaw drop because of some cement