Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[RCReef]

I'm really interested to see where you go with this setup. It's a very cool design.

[teenyreef]

I love the waterfall pico idea! I saw that tank at the lfs about a year ago but thought, naahhh, the filtration probably won't be good enough. I'm glad you had the vision to go where I was too chicken to go 

[RCReef]

Which section is going to be all macro algae to act as a refugium?

[Weetabix7]

4 hours ago, gena said:

Ok..THIS is fascinating to me.  That is going to be the best pico setup ever!  I love that you can separate things, like you said....sexies, RFAs, etc.  Is there a drain in the last compartment? 

 

I love that I'm not the only one fascinated with this!!

The last compartment actually overflows down to the base, but it's really hard to see where, even when you know where to look. 

There's a little slot where it overflows on the left side of the compartment, but it's hard to see cause it's actually just beneath the lip of the overflow from the middle compartment into the last one. 

Hope I didn't confuse you more with that!!

Initially looking at it, I was a little concerned that that part of the design would cause low flow in the last compartment, but the opposite is true. 

That one has the highest flow. 

3 hours ago, RCReef said:

I'm really interested to see where you go with this setup. It's a very cool design.

 

Thanks!!!

It's definitely different, but I think it presents some pretty cool possibilities!!

2 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I love the waterfall pico idea! I saw that tank at the lfs about a year ago but thought, naahhh, the filtration probably won't be good enough. I'm glad you had the vision to go where I was too chicken to go 

 

Haha!!

It's funny, cause I have a few Reefing friends I told about this when I first got it, and they were kinda like, "are you SURE?", 

and I was like, "um, YEAH!!"

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, RCReef said:

Which section is going to be all macro algae to act as a refugium?

 

Ha!!

I may not even put Macro in here. 

There just isn't room for the overgrown jungle of Macro that I like. 

I may need to do that in a different tank. 

Time will tell. 

[Weetabix7]

Because of the way this is set up, I'm definitely gonna need to get some kind of forceps or tongues to manuever in those little sections!!

Otherwise there's a good chance of overflowing when I put my hand into it. 

I moved 3 more frags into it today, and I had to take water out in order to have room to work. 

I added a Maze Brain (which is already puffing up w/feeder tentacles out), a Favia and a super tiny 3 polyp mutant GSP. (a different type than you usually see, more delicate).

Everything has been looking really good. 

I will likely move the Anemones over last cause I'll have to detach them from the bare tank bottom to do it, and I want to make sure everything is perfect before doing that. 

I have an Orange Yuma I may move over tonight. 

This probably sounds silly, but I was excited to see a baby bristleworm and a pod in there when I was moving stuff around. 

It's a healthy sign!!

The PAR 38 Tuna Blue bulb is looking really good over it. 

I'm still messing around with how I have it over the tank, I currently am using a "borrowed" light fixture from my son's room. 

I tried taking pics but they look really blue. 

I gotta get better at the pics bit. 

[natalia_la_loca]

Long forceps are a must for a system that size. my favorites are the curved ones with rubber on the tips.

[Weetabix7]

6 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Long forceps are a must for a system that size. my favorites are the curved ones with rubber on the tips.

 

Where did you get them?

[Weetabix7]

Ready to see a couple of ridiculously blue pics, lol?

( I still need to get snapseed, natalia, I haven't forgotten!!)

I haven't done much arranging of corals, they're just kinda in there for now. 

It's early days. 

 

Last compartment with very happy generic GSP and some Palys. 

You can see the bare spot where the higher flow has pushed all the sand away. 

 

 

Bad pic of the Maze Brain and Favia frags I just added. 

They're actually eating right now. They already had tentacles out and looked all happy, so I thought it'd be a nice housewarming gift. 

 

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

7 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Where did you get them?

 

I got one pair at Dirks Drygoods, a vendor who goes to frag swaps across the country. I got the other at the LFS in their planted tank section.

 

Also, I just searched Amazon for "long forceps," and there are a lot more choices now than there used to be.

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

I got one pair at Dirks Drygoods, a vendor who goes to frag swaps across the country. I got the other at the LFS in their planted tank section.

 

Also, I just searched Amazon for "long forceps," and there are a lot more choices now than there used to be.

 

Thx!!!

 

[Militant Jurist]

Looking good! Maze brain is a really cool coral, and can stand out in a pico.

[Lula_Mae]

Love it!  This tank is gonna be awesome.

[teenyreef]

I almost always took out water in my old 4g tank when I wanted to work on it. Another advantage is that it's a lot easier to glue the corals when the rock is out of the water. 

 

And I've accumulated a nice collection of tongs and forceps too

 

It's looking great so far! 

[Weetabix7]

Hey Guys, check out my cool new repurposed Coral Recovery Condo!!!

It's this neat looking glass container that was originally made to house an air plant. 

I killed the air plant (don't ask, life was intense last year, lol), and I had a little Yuma recovering from an unfortunate run-in with my Frogspawn, so I decided to try using it like this. It's worked pretty good!!

 

 

This is one of my favorite tank inhabitants now, my newish Rock Flower Anemone. I plan on moving this over to the Waterfall Pico, into the first compartment, and making a Mini Anemone Habitat out of it. 

 

 

[teenyreef]

How is it possible to kill an air plant...never mind 

 

That's a great idea for the coral hospital chamber, I've always had a hard time balancing protection with stagnant water in the chamber.

[Rain24]

You have the best ideas for re-purposing things!

 

I'm not much for anemones, but that rock flower looks so pretty. So, have you decided if you're going to have 2 tanks or if you're just going to move everything over to the waterfall?

[Weetabix7]

I took some pics of the Waterfall this morning, lit by natural sunlight only. 

 

You can see the great coralline coverage on the small rocks I was able to get from Fishy Business in Columbia, SC. They were super helpful and great to work with. 

 

 

10 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

How is it possible to kill an air plant...never mind 

 

That's a great idea for the coral hospital chamber, I've always had a hard time balancing protection with stagnant water in the chamber.

 

Life was crazy!!! 

Wanna know something funny? I have actually had this Waterfall Pico tank for over a year before I started it, it was a gift from hubby for Christmas 2015. 

Took me a while to get back to this, just had too much going on. 

The air plant was actually a gift for Christmas 2015 too, lol. 

[Weetabix7]

3 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

You have the best ideas for re-purposing things!

 

I'm not much for anemones, but that rock flower looks so pretty. So, have you decided if you're going to have 2 tanks or if you're just going to move everything over to the waterfall?

 

Ummm.... don't really know what I'm doing yet, lol. 

Just taking it one step at a time. 

I knew that if I waited to have everything figured out ahead of time, I'd never get going, so I just started. 

See commentary in first post of thread, it explains the beginning of the journey pretty well. 

Don't have to have everything mapped out, just need to know what the next step is, and take it.

[Rain24]

I re-read the first page! I like your approach...just being in the moment and open to what comes next. This bus? Yup - totally zen.

 

Anything yet in the third compartment?

 

 

[Weetabix7]

Yup, that's a pretty good summation of the Aquatic Zen approach. 

 

The 3rd compartment currently has GSP and some basic Palys. There's a pic of it in the stuff I posted last night. 

I'm sure that'll get rearranged. 

Right now, everything is just in there, not arranged artistically or anything. 

Partly cause I'm still at the very beginning and partly cause every time I even think about moving something, it kicks up a murky sandstorm that lasts for hours. 

I'm hoping the sand gets coated enough by biofilm soon that it won't do that every time I just very slightly shift something. 

[Rain24]

I missed that post with the pics of the GSP! I'm going to blame it on this neck and shoulder pain that I've been having for the past 3 days. Pain makes me a poor reader apparently! LOL. I'm here to take my mind off of it.

 

I keep going back and forth about sand. I like the look of it and yet I'm still not sure if I want some in my jar. But I may want a plate coral, so we'll see what happens.

 

I do hope your sand settles soon.

[J-Ranko]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

Hey Guys, check out my cool new repurposed Coral Recovery Condo!!!

It's this neat looking glass container that was originally made to house an air plant. 

I killed the air plant (don't ask, life was intense last year, lol), and I had a little Yuma recovering from an unfortunate run-in with my Frogspawn, so I decided to try using it like this. It's worked pretty good!!

 

 

This is one of my favorite tank inhabitants now, my newish Rock Flower Anemone. I plan on moving this over to the Waterfall Pico, into the first compartment, and making a Mini Anemone Habitat out of it. 

 

 

 

Neat idea. Your RFA looks pretty well-behaved. I hope mine settles in one spot, too.  My worry is that it runs into a stinging LPS like your Yuma did.  I may have to get one of those air plant glass containers to protect it.  Where did you get one?

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

 

Neat idea. Your RFA looks pretty well-behaved. I hope mine settles in one spot, too.  My worry is that it runs into a stinging LPS like your Yuma did.  I may have to get one of those air plant glass containers to protect it.  Where did you get one?

 

Mine was a gift, but I found it here for you on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Terrarium-Glass-Terrariums-Home-Gardens/dp/B00ITRJG3S/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1489254724&sr=8-7&keywords=air+plant+holder

 

[J-Ranko]

7 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Mine was a gift, but I found it here for you on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Terrarium-Glass-Terrariums-Home-Gardens/dp/B00ITRJG3S/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1489254724&sr=8-7&keywords=air+plant+holder

 

 

Thanks! These definitely look better than a plastic cup in the tank.