A Vase-Reef named Poquito

[MedievalITGuy]

I'm learning a lot about how to take care of my pico jar just by following this thread. Glad to see all of this documented. Hope you get your algae problems under control soon cessnabird.

 

Also, a belated thanks to everyone for their magnet recommendations. I will be putting in an order once I get paid. The rare earth magnets turned out to be too weak for the thickness of my glass, and are rusting wherever water gets past the glue coating, so I'd say that was a failed experiment.

[cessnabird]

It's great to help each other out via trial and error sometimes, we all learn together.

 

I just did another take down and reset this evening, to rid the Vase of a few Dinos popping up. I'll get it under control soon enough! So long as the corals are happy, I will put in the time and effort necessary to succeed, even if I need to make changes as I go.

 

Did you order from K&J magnets?

[MedievalITGuy]

I just put in the order from K&J for 10 of them now. I get paid monthly, so there's always a cash stretch in the last couple weeks of the month.

[cessnabird]

Awesome! They make a great product, these little magnets are super handy.

[HammerLover]

Just finished cycling my 2 gal jar, Im hoping I will succeed and wont have many algae problems... Btw, is your lid doing well? How much top off do you do? Im plannning to use a plastic jar as well in my tank

[cessnabird]

Great to hear about your 2 gallon jar, good luck in your new venture! There is nothing like an itty bitty reef.

 

Regarding algae, so long as you start with clean substrate, and good cured live rock, you should be just fine. The reason I had so many issues starting mine up, is because I used old sand from an established display tank from my LFS. The sand itself was okay, but I neglected to rinse it out well with tap water to begin with, resulting in an immediate nutrient spike over the first few weeks it was running. This caused the dinos and diatom outbreak, which has pretty much resolved for me after 2 resets, and adding a hermit to the vase.

 

The lid works very well actually. It needs to be cockeyed in the vase to seal well, but I only top off once every 3 or so days with a tiny amount of RO water.

[HammerLover]

Great to hear about your 2 gallon jar, good luck in your new venture! There is nothing like an itty bitty reef.

 

Regarding algae, so long as you start with clean substrate, and good cured live rock, you should be just fine. The reason I had so many issues starting mine up, is because I used old sand from an established display tank from my LFS. The sand itself was okay, but I neglected to rinse it out well with tap water to begin with, resulting in an immediate nutrient spike over the first few weeks it was running. This caused the dinos and diatom outbreak, which has pretty much resolved for me after 2 resets, and adding a hermit to the vase.

 

The lid works very well actually. It needs to be cockeyed in the vase to seal well, but I only top off once every 3 or so days with a tiny amount of RO water.

Thanks! Just added corals in my pico as well! As of now I killed a small patch of bryopsis that Ive found in my zoa frag. No other signs of algae at the moment

[ABC]

Sounds fun, I'm planning on starting one also.

[cessnabird]

MattL, definitely let us know when you get it rolling. Please share pics!

[ABC]

MattL, definitely let us know when you get it rolling. Please share pics!

Will do

[MedievalITGuy]

Awesome! They make a great product, these little magnets are super handy.

That they do. I've already used up all 10 that I ordered

[HammerLover]

Any updates on this cute pico