chaostactics Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Starting a build thread. The goal is to build/run this tank with bare minimal mods/add-ons to keep the price low, keep the warranty, and allow for easy duplication of build by others who might want to. I'll save the DIY for my bigger tank. The tank sits tucked away in a bookshelf next to desk at work be cause I may or may not have been told they'repermissible at work... Equipment: (price breakdown) JBJ Cubey Deluxe (90$ on Black Friday) Submersible Fuge light (11$) Dogfish Head 120 min IPA (?$) Cobalt mini-therm 10 watt (14$) Generic digital thermometer (3$) Two Little Fishes NanoMag (9$) Purigen 100 mL bag (8$) 30 x 36 micron filter pad (7$) Which will probably last 3 years haha I'm not going to include livestock prices. Stock List: 3 x blue leg hermits 3 x Nassarius snails (non-burrowing?) Stock Plan: Maxi-minis anems Rock Flower anems Misc CUC Porcelain Crab Sexy shrimp Pistol Shrimp maybe Maintenance plan: Liter water-change weekly Manual top-off PICS For scale White light/Blue light Hidey Hole 4 Quote Link to comment
ABC Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I'm jealous beer and a pico tank at work I want your job 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 Ah no unfortunately no beer work, I'm an infection preventionist in a very large hospital. The beer was for scale while unboxing at home. Quote Link to comment
ABC Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Ah no unfortunately no beer work, I'm an infection preventionist in a very large hospital. The beer was for scale while unboxing at home.That sucks I'll keep my own job then,The tank looks good though. Quote Link to comment
rmhuntley Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Following along on this. I'm about to pull the trigger on a cubey 3 as well. 1 Quote Link to comment
Sharbuckle Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Following along. Cute little tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 Getting off to a slow start. Sand and heater is on order. Leak testing started. Looks like I'm gonna have a low evap rate. Which is great because I have no idea how I'd set up an auto for this. (Yes I'll ditch the tap water before setting up the tank for livestock) Quote Link to comment
HammerLover Posted December 3, 2016 Share Posted December 3, 2016 This is so cute!!! Im so excited on this build 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 12, 2016 Author Share Posted December 12, 2016 Picked up some sand, cobalt mini-therm, Purigen "The Bag", and a generic thermometer. Will hopefully start cycling this week.now that I've got a timer set up, five light, and heater I'll try and start tracking the evap rate. I'd like to just be able to add a consistent amount of water a couple of times a week. Even with the volume to evap rate I don't think I'm overly worried about salinity swings. I am worried about vacation time though... (7 days or over) Running total $143 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 13, 2016 Author Share Posted December 13, 2016 Not sure why the resolution is so low, I shot in 1080. Oh well. Here's the flow pattern in the Cubey with the stock pump. 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 13, 2016 Author Share Posted December 13, 2016 Added some sand and detritus from my current tank to activate a cycle. Quote Link to comment
Sea_Of_Treachery Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Is the tank going to stay in this odd hidden spot? JW 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 15, 2016 Author Share Posted December 15, 2016 Yea unfortunately so. I don't want to have to take it home for violating some asinine rule that may or may not exist. Here's an upgraded video of the flow pattern. Not bad for a stock pump and a spray bar. 1 Quote Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Nice little tank! I'm actually in the process of doing almost the same thing. I picked up a Fluval Spec III a few weeks ago and I'm planning on setting it up at work. There's no guidance as to whether they're allowed or not so I figure I'll just go for it and hope they don't make me take it down. Similar to you I'll be putting it in a spot where it's not going to be particularly obvious and I may even make a canopy of sorts to prevent light spill onto the ceiling. My initial plan was to make a reef jar - but the Spec III was on sale and I liked the rear chambers. I used some rock from my DT so it's already running with a pom pom crab, 2 sexy shrimp, a hermit, and a stomatella snail. The snail died - I'm suspecting the hermit. I also have a few various zoa frags and some rics. Since your tank will be at work it will be important to keep the equipment you'll need to a minimum. I got a cheap dish tub from the $1 store and I've made a "maintenance kit" with the following: - Some sham-wow absorbent towels of various sizes - A pair of 15" stainless steel tweezers ($7 at Amazon Lily's Pets) so I don't have to stick my hand in the tank - A 2 cup measuring pitcher - Spare filter pads - 2x cool whip/butter containers for transporting wet/dirty items from my desk to a sink - Some extra tubing - A small net - A bottle of Seachem Prime - An extra thermometer - A 25ml syringe - A turkey baster - Some vinegar/water cleaner in a small spray bottle - A toothbrush and a pipe cleaner - A few fish bags - 2x 1 gallon jugs, one with saltwater and one with fresh for top off Anything I forgot that you keep with you? Finally - you should take a look at this little pico tank cleaner I made, and then make one yourself. It's awesome because you can clean your tank very quickly and with minimal equipment/mess. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/378561-picosmall-aquarium-spot-cleaning-device-thats-cheap-and-easy/ 2 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 That's pretty cool. My "kit" is smaller than yours. I pretty much just have curved hemostats, extra filter pad, and some carbon. I'm trying to figure out how to be nonchalant about having two gallon bottles one with RoDi and one with SW. Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 Sand, Hermits, and Rock in place. The rock is a single piece zip tied to egg crate that's under the sand. Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 Bought a friend the same tank for Xmas. The reaction was everything I'd hoped for. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 27, 2016 Author Share Posted December 27, 2016 By using sand out of my established tank at home, dry rock, and seeding it with le from my home tank I was hoping to avoid a "hard cycle" which I think I will. I do have a bit of cycle action after the long weekend. Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 I now have 3 Nassarius snails but none of them will submerge in sand... I can't figure out what gives? Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 Had to replace the Colbalt Aquatics 10 watt heater with a 5 watt one. The tank was getting to 82 pretty often. All 3 Nassarius snails died? The hermits are fine though. Added some pods last time too, no sign of those. Though to be fair I'm never here when the lights are off. It's also darn near impossible to see into the rear chambers. Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hard to tell when a tank this small has cycled. I'm thinking about kidnapping one of my super aggressive peppermint shrimp from home next Monday and bringing it in for the Pico.aybe a couple more hermits as well. Also update, one of the three Nassarius snails is still kicking. Anyone have suggestions for sand sifters in a Pico? Quote Link to comment
cms90740 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 this is awesome. looking into the cubey for a pico setup as well. any updates on this tank? Quote Link to comment
tam Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I'm interested in updates as well! Quote Link to comment
StillCycling Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 How's this tank going. I'm setting one up soon and was curious about how much evaporation your experiencing. Quote Link to comment
chaostactics Posted December 9, 2017 Author Share Posted December 9, 2017 Required On 3/24/2017 at 10:05 PM, StillCycling said: How's this tank going. I'm setting one up soon and was curious about how much evaporation your experiencing. Required about 2-3oz 3-4 days a week 1 Quote Link to comment
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