New Tank Who Dis? The 3g Pico of College

[Ranjib]

1 hour ago, ZackToren said:

Thanks for the input! I generally don't trust preset heaters, and especially with the reviews of most of them, I don't want my tank cooking while I'm on a couple day trip for business because I travel a lot. Trying to make it as consistent and manageable as possible so I don't have to worry on my trips. 

 

I use my controller as fail safe, so if it does go out of whack, controller should shut it off from temperature feedback. I have not seen this happen yet, but just in case.

[A.Berry]

6 hours ago, Ranjib said:

I use my controller as fail safe, so if it does go out of whack, controller should shut it off from temperature feedback. I have not seen this happen yet, but just in case.

 

I grabbed that same aqueon 10w preset heater and was thinking I'd do the same thing. I keep my house at about 76 all the time so i don't think it should have to work too hard. The lady at the LFS I went to yesterday to get all my rock and stuff was telling me that even the adjustable heaters are just as likely to fail and cook a tank. Ultimately, I think the only way to avoid it would be to have a stand alone temp control that could cut power if the temp spiked like Ranjib said. I deal with way too many infinitely adjustable devices that fail on the regular to not have a back up. the aqueon 10w is insanely small too. Mine is only a 2 gallon jar and it's small in that too. You can see it in the picture.

 

 

 

[ZackToren]

40 minutes ago, A.Berry said:

Ultimately, I think the only way to avoid it would be to have a stand alone temp control that could cut power if the temp spiked like Ranjib said.

Yea, the stand alone would make me feel a lot better. I keep my apartment in the 60s in the summer and in the winter it gets into the high 50s inside temp... but I suppose in a 3g a 10W would probably do it just fine. And that would definitely fit in the filter to give that a shot. Which controller do you run Ranjib? 

[ZackToren]

Not sure there is anything more embarrassing than not checking measurements, and realizing the HOB filter you got is a bit too big to run with your current setup... Even worse being an engineering student 

[Lula_Mae]

Oops!  Put the little one on the side maybe? lol

[SeaFurn]

Oh geez....  Or the light on the side? 

I sure hope you don't go to Purdue!  

[ZackToren]

17 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Oops!  Put the little one on the side maybe? lol

This is what I'm thinking... I will probably switch to a different mount when I go to par38 anyways... Maybe I'll build something custom into my stand so the light comes from above then I can have both the filters on the back... And no Purdue for me... Baker College in Flint MI. I promise they teach me better than this bit of pre-reef oversight I suppose. Sand is in. Now again where the fuzzyness comes in. Do I need to do anything to start the cycling process or since the tank is so small, should it begin from just the sand? Speaking of which. I'm not sure why I've never used this before, my water isn't even cloudy 5 minutes after adding it... Just ordered my 10W Cobalt and a Pre-wired Inkbird temp controller!

 

Edit: Also picked up a Deep Six Hydrometer! Out of town for the weekend but this and the controller should be there today and the heater should come Monday! Thanks Amazon!

[ZackToren]

 

I know 1 fish is all I "should" have in a 3g... But what about one of these and one of the neon blue ones? With enough caves would they be pretty docile? Assuming I have adequately ridiculous filtration and water maintenance? Also, with the neon gobies, are they frequent fliers?

[Christopher Marks]

I would advise against it, you may find that they try to fight each other, especially in such a small tank. There's some good discussion on mixing gobies here:

A neon goby would be a great choice for your pico though, a very hardy fish. Keeping two small fish in a pico reef has been done, but it's not something you should rush into.

[ZackToren]

4 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

A neon goby would be a great choice for your pico though, a very hardy fish. Keeping two small fish in a pico reef has been done, but it's not something you should rush into.

Thanks for the link! Will definitely do some studying on there. Just figured maybe adding them at the same time would help. And this would be well down the road! Appreciate the input Christopher!

[Christopher Marks]

Happy to help! Have you considered keeping a symbiotic fish/invert pair instead? Something to look into  

[SeaFurn]

I don't believe the sand you got was "live" sand but no big deal.  What type of rock are you going to use - dry or live?

 

In general, you can seed the tank with bacteria and kick-start things by using bottled bacterial additives.  Check out Dr. Tim's One And Only Nitrifying Bacteria. There's a variety of other products that do the same thing.  

 

I used Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit - which included the bacteria, ammonia source, and a couple of other things to help with nitrate and phosphate control. My bowl cycled in about 21 days. 

 

 

[ZackToren]

5 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

 

I don't believe the sand you got was "live" sand but no big deal.

 

I took that with a grain of salt as well, don't worry (and excuse the pun) I will likely be picking up some small pieces of live rock sometime this week. 

Thanks for the suggestion on the Red Sea Reef Mature Pro Kit. 21 day cycle definitely sounds like a good deal to me! Haha. I suppose this is probably more effective than crushing up food and dumping the crumbs into the tank to decompose? I feel like that is the old school way to do it... I just want to get with the time!

 

[ZackToren]

Nothing confused me more than when mail carriers will leave behind my Inkbird controller, but not my 6 dollar hydrometer... I'll have to track that down over the next few days, but now I also have a refractometer on the way so I can use both to be precise, as well as my heater still to come! But long story short, I got my controller! first time using one so this is an exciting day in my fish keeping history.

[ZackToren]

More goodies waiting for me today! They delivered my hydrometer and my 10W Cobalt. Shipped my tiny RIO Plus pump and will hopefully hit up the pet store in the next few days to get something to start my cycle up! Or amazon refractometer still waiting to ship!

[Lula_Mae]

Amazon prime is a very useful thing!

[Christopher Marks]

While you're waiting for the rest of your gear, have you considered painting the back of your tank blue or black? This will hide all the filtration and wires on the back. It's small enough you could use one of the larger shipping boxes as your 'spray booth' to collect the overspray and not make a mess. Just mask of the tank with newspaper and masking tape before you paint it. Lots of light coats throughout the day. Rustoleum spray paint with primer works great.

 

Did you get a refractometer or hydrometer? Link us to the one you ordered.

[ZackToren]

13 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Did you get a refractometer or hydrometer? Link us to the one you ordered.

Both! I started with the hydro and before it even got here, I decided I'd like a bit more accuracy. So I can cross reference the two.

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4690+34943&pcatid=34943

http://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4690+4945&pcatid=4945

 

As far as painting the tank goes, I don't have the time for it now, but in the future, I may lay a vinyl wrap on the back.

 

[Christopher Marks]

Wow, refractometers have gotten affordable, $35! That's a good choice for your pico, much more precise. The swing arm hydrometer will make a good backup to have on hand.

[Lula_Mae]

9 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Wow, refractometers have gotten affordable, $35! That's a good choice for your pico, much more precise. The swing arm hydrometer will make a good backup to have on hand.

 

I've seen them for $25 or so on Amazon!  I was shocked since I remember paying around $45 for mine from DFS when I started lol.

[ZackToren]

So... I got my stand made. Got my powerhead, my Reef Mature Pro Kit came in, I got my life rock, and my timer, and my whisper 20 just died already... looks like I shouldve went for the AC20 right off the bat, but oh well, it's a learning experience right? Time to start the cycle up I suppose! Any tips on dosing in such a small tank?

[Lula_Mae]

5 minutes ago, ZackToren said:

So... I got my stand made. Got my powerhead, my Reef Mature Pro Kit came in, I got my life rock, and my timer, and my whisper 20 just died already... looks like I shouldve went for the AC20 right off the bat, but oh well, it's a learning experience right? Time to start the cycle up I suppose! Any tips on dosing in such a small tank?

Your Whisper quit already?  That's sad lol.  Guess it wanted no part of future epic-ness.   Yeah, I'd just see if you can get a refund and replace with the AC.

 

Brandon has written stuff about dosing picos, I believe he uses C-Balance.  See if you can look around and find any of his stuff, it's pretty interesting.

[SeaFurn]

Are you talking about dosing to get the cycle started?

I also used the Reef Mature kit on my 2.5 gallon bowl for this. 

Following the instructions you start dosing on Day 2.  

For my bowl on Day 2 I used 2ml Nitro Bac, 1ml Bacto Start, and 0.3ml NO3:PO4-x.

 

We're talking drops worth here but given the small size of our tanks it makes sense. 

[ZackToren]

6 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Are you talking about dosing to get the cycle started?

I also used the Reef Mature kit on my 2.5 gallon bowl for this. 

Following the instructions you start dosing on Day 2.  

For my bowl on Day 2 I used 2ml Nitro Bac, 1ml Bacto Start, and 0.3ml NO3:PO4-x.

 

We're talking drops worth here but given the small size of our tanks it makes sense. 

This is what I was looking for. I figured it would be around that area. Got started on the math but remembered my Statics test is due tonight so thanks for the save

[ZackToren]

THE THREAD LIVES. Admittedly though, not a lot has happened. Today is day 11 of my cycle with the Red Sea Reef Mature. I wasn't able to pick up my CUC yesterday for day 10 so hopefully taking care of that after work. Having issues keeping my salinity down though(not drastic or anything, just a couple points off), can anyone recommend an ATO that won't be too ugly in the display?