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DevFishe's 2.5g itty bitty Pico Reef- New Updates


DevFishe

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1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Y'know, it almost looks like you might have slightly too much rock. 

I'd say look at aquascapes in other people's Pico tank threads, find one or two you like and try imitating them. 

Thanks! sometimes I need to remember less is more- same with corals I think I have too many that I don't particularly like :lol: 

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Sadly my kids cracked it before it was fully cycled :(  Anything under 1/4" is too thin to safely be drilled in my opinion.  I drilled it fine but it only took one bump to crack the overflow hole because the glass is just crazy thin.

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5 minutes ago, MGDMIRAGE said:

Sadly my kids cracked it before it was fully cycled :(  Anything under 1/4" is too thin to safely be drilled in my opinion.  I drilled it fine but it only took one bump to crack the overflow hole because the glass is just crazy thin.

That sucks :( I agree the glass is super thin, just yesterday I actually broke my spare 2.5 tank when I was trying to take off the top rim. I think if I had attached the A80 to the glass it would've cracked under the weight of the light (and lever action of the gooseneck haha) 

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Just now, DevFishe said:

That sucks :( I agree the glass is super thin, just yesterday I actually broke my spare 2.5 tank when I was trying to take off the top rim. I think if I had attached the A80 to the glass it would've cracked under the weight of the light (and lever action of the gooseneck haha) 

Yeah the glass on the 5.5 gallon and 2.5 gallon is just ridiculously thin!!

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So I've had the kessil A80 for about a week and thought I'd share a coral color update. I also got a new zoanthid colony! Here's most recent pic of the tank:

 

34217834904_2f464fa138_k.jpgDSC_2683 by Devon Fisher, on Flickr

 

Here are my new zoanthids:

 

34929826141_13fdcac0ec_k.jpgDSC_2669 by Devon Fisher, on Flickr

 

I hate frag plugs, but they will live there for a few days until I superglue them to the rock.

 

I know I *probably* should have spent the money on a test kit, but when I saw these gorgeous blue zoas I had to buy them. I really hope they don't lose their color in my tank. That brings me to my color update, so far the corals are not reacting to the new light like I hoped they would. Honestly there's only been a slight improvement in color, especially in the acan- which looks much more vibrant red and blue, and frogspawn- which is noticeably more fluorescent. I am seeing a massive improvement in polyp extension in all corals, and some new growth (even though it's only been a week). My beloved birdsnest is still orange, I'm really hoping it gets its blue color back but we will see. I have a bottle of reef plus that I plan on dosing once I get a test kit. 

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The birdsnest is sorta nestled in the back, just peaking out from behind the rock. I think once it fills that space a little (and hopefully gets it's color back) that area will really pop. The palythoas are super white looking in the picture but in real life they look more turquoise- it's really hard to photograph them since they reflect so much light. I hope once they fill in that area it will look a little better, right now it looks a little messy. 

 

I have a favia war coral hiding in the shadows at the bottom center, I'm not sure where I want to permanently put that coral- it's really tricky to have an encrusting coral like that in such a small tank. 

 

I also don't know what to do with the GSP, I want to use it somewhere to add more motion to the tank, but it really does spread like a weed and I'm afraid of it taking over.

 

I've noticed that all of my favorite tanks are filled with soft corals and have an overgrown flow-y look. So in the future I'm gonna be looking mostly for easy to keep, colorful corals that have a lot of movement. I'm thinking more zoas, possibly some more euphyllia, and maybe (just maybe) a dendro? I honestly can't wait for the corals in my tank to start growing some more, I think I have everything for a successful tank now, it will just take some time! 

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  • 3 months later...

Hello anyone who might read this...

 

Haven't updated this aquarium journal in a while, a lot of stuff has happened in my life. Over these last few months hobbies have taken a backseat. Luckily I still maintained my pico reef, it is my little sliver of peace in a chaotic world. 

 

Most recent FTS:

 

37042183736_c13b997295_k.jpgDSC_2709[1] by Devon Fisher, on Flickr

 

A lot has changed and the tank has matured considerably. I've added several new corals and rearranged the existing coral. My birdsnest, blue zoas, montipora cap, and palythoas are thriving and have grown considerably since my last update. New corals include a torch coral in the top left of the rock, a hammer coral in the center, and clove polyps which I hope will completely overrun the rock soon. My acan has not been doing so well and half of one of the heads has died. I'm not sure what the issue is and I'm curious if anyone has any pointers, I've started feeding it which has helped a little.

 

I've also made one big equipment change- I added an air-stone to breakup surface protein and hopefully stabilize pH. I've also started "dosing" seachem's reef plus... I just put a little in my top-off jug and call it good. I think these minor changes have vastly improved the reef- I barely get any algae growth and the corals have grown quite a bit. For about one month I had a neon goby in there as well, which threw off the tanks balance majorly and caused a mini-crash. Now that he's gone I haven't had any issues. 

 

In the future I simply want to add more coral, especially easy and semi fast growing coral. More zoanthids and maybe one more euphyllia of some sort. Hope you all are having a fantastic week! 

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12 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Sure does look good.  I can't imagine the work it must tank to run a pico tank with the evaporation and whatnot.  

Thanks! I think salinity swings are the biggest instability in my tank right now. I do manual top-offs twice a day but an auto top-off would be a huge improvement. 

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So I've been searching around NR and haven't really found any solid advice on how to adjust LED settings for optimal color and growth. It seems like it's a big guessing game, or you've gotta know some reef guru with your same light and same type of tank and copy their settings.

 

So here's my question to the reefing gurus- anyone know a good intensity/color for a kessil A80? 

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Tank looks great under the Kessil!  I know nothing about settings for LEDs as I'm using a PAR bulb but I have looked at the Kessil as a possible upgrade on my 5.5 at some point in the future.  If you're interested in adding some life to the tank without adding a lot of bioload, consider something like a porcelain crab (I LOVED mine but I believe she was killed by an accidentally introduced hermit crab :angry:) or pom pom crab, or a shrimp such as a Pederson's anemone shrimp or a blue or yellow coral banded shrimp (the blue and yellow kinds stay much smaller than the standard or gold and tend to be much more docile, from what I have read).  My Pederson's shrimp is a lot of fun to watch!

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New FTS:

 

26301095169_70fb93df47_k.jpgDSC_2728 by Devon Fisher, on Flickr

 

The pico tank is now just a few months over one year old and I am extremely happy with the progress it's made, honestly I didn't think I'd make it this far with this itty bitty reef. Especially since this is my first attempt at a saltwater tank! It was my birthday a couple weeks ago so I used most (jk all) of the money I made to upgrade the reef. First I upgraded the heater from an ancient "Elite" 25W glass heater to a new Cobalt 25W heater. This was the most critical change as the old rusty glass heater was starting to fail. One day it reached 87 degrees and killed my torch coral (RIP :(). Luckily everything else survived. I was able to completely hide the new heater behind the rock, so the tank appears almost entirely equipment-less.  Additionally I added a digital thermometer so I can quickly check the temperature just by looking at the tank. New coral additions include...

 

Ricordea Yuma (not sure where to put the bugger)

Dendro (love this guy)

Unidentified green Zoas (more prominent in real life than in the pictures) 

 

I also added a pom-pom crab, who actually kinda creeps me out and attacks food like a little purple-white spider devil from hell. He's a cutie. 

 

Each time I think I'm done with the tank, new ideas pop into my mind about how to make it better. Right now, in terms of equipment I want to switch out the tank itself with a aquamaxx 2.5 rimless tank. I also MUST get an auto top-off someday, as 2x daily manual top-offs are getting to be unrealistic (and when I'm out of town no one remembers to do it and my tank really suffers). I want to get the Smart ATO Micro. After that I think the tank will be complete in terms of equipment... anything more would make the tank way too complicated. In terms of livestock, I still want to get a penderson's shrimp. I also want to move the blue palythoas off the top of the rock and put 2-3 really high quality zoa colonies up there. I would disperse the palys all over the rock to hopefully achieve an over-grown look. 

 

Finally, my big ultimate plan is to convert the drawers that the tank is currently sitting on into an aquarium-dedicated table, with all my equipment, cleaning supplies, and power cables, air pumps, ect stored underneath the tank. After that... I'm not sure what else I could do besides let the tank grow. I'm sure once I get there though, I'll think of more to do. 

 

Now that my tank is over a year old, the threat of old tank syndrome is starting to worry me a little. These pico reefs don't seem to last long... el fab's pico (my main inspiration) lasted only 2 years (i believe) before it crashed... and this seems to be common amongst picos. I'm thinking about completely replacing the sand after a while... not sure yet.

 

On a final note, I also really want to get a red montipora digitata into this thing... I think they are so beautiful and what I think of as a classic looking coral. I'm just not sure where to put it... hmmm

 

Hope anyone who sees this enjoys, usually I'm the only one who sees my tank so it's nice to have some feedback!

 

Upon reading my last post, I would also like to note that my acans have totally recovered and are doing awesome. I think feeding them was a game-changer... I sorta consider them a non-photosynthetic coral now and feed them every other day. They've completely bounced back. I've also started dosing vinegar in my top-off water... we will see how this works without a skimmer (just started this yesterday). I'm hoping this will allow me to go two weeks without water changes... we will see. I might just get a huge bacteria bloom and kill everything. 

 

Happy halloween!

 

 

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1 hour ago, DevFishe said:

New FTS:

 

26301095169_70fb93df47_k.jpgDSC_2728 by Devon Fisher, on Flickr

 

The pico tank is now just a few months over one year old and I am extremely happy with the progress it's made, honestly I didn't think I'd make it this far with this itty bitty reef. Especially since this is my first attempt at a saltwater tank! It was my birthday a couple weeks ago so I used most (jk all) of the money I made to upgrade the reef. First I upgraded the heater from an ancient "Elite" 25W glass heater to a new Cobalt 25W heater. This was the most critical change as the old rusty glass heater was starting to fail. One day it reached 87 degrees and killed my torch coral (RIP :(). Luckily everything else survived. I was able to completely hide the new heater behind the rock, so the tank appears almost entirely equipment-less.  Additionally I added a digital thermometer so I can quickly check the temperature just by looking at the tank. New coral additions include...

 

Ricordea Yuma (not sure where to put the bugger)

Dendro (love this guy)

Unidentified green Zoas (more prominent in real life than in the pictures) 

 

I also added a pom-pom crab, who actually kinda creeps me out and attacks food like a little purple-white spider devil from hell. He's a cutie. 

 

Each time I think I'm done with the tank, new ideas pop into my mind about how to make it better. Right now, in terms of equipment I want to switch out the tank itself with a aquamaxx 2.5 rimless tank. I also MUST get an auto top-off someday, as 2x daily manual top-offs are getting to be unrealistic (and when I'm out of town no one remembers to do it and my tank really suffers). I want to get the Smart ATO Micro. After that I think the tank will be complete in terms of equipment... anything more would make the tank way too complicated. In terms of livestock, I still want to get a penderson's shrimp. I also want to move the blue palythoas off the top of the rock and put 2-3 really high quality zoa colonies up there. I would disperse the palys all over the rock to hopefully achieve an over-grown look. 

 

Finally, my big ultimate plan is to convert the drawers that the tank is currently sitting on into an aquarium-dedicated table, with all my equipment, cleaning supplies, and power cables, air pumps, ect stored underneath the tank. After that... I'm not sure what else I could do besides let the tank grow. I'm sure once I get there though, I'll think of more to do. 

 

Now that my tank is over a year old, the threat of old tank syndrome is starting to worry me a little. These pico reefs don't seem to last long... el fab's pico (my main inspiration) lasted only 2 years (i believe) before it crashed... and this seems to be common amongst picos. I'm thinking about completely replacing the sand after a while... not sure yet.

 

On a final note, I also really want to get a red montipora digitata into this thing... I think they are so beautiful and what I think of as a classic looking coral. I'm just not sure where to put it... hmmm

 

Hope anyone who sees this enjoys, usually I'm the only one who sees my tank so it's nice to have some feedback!

 

Upon reading my last post, I would also like to note that my acans have totally recovered and are doing awesome. I think feeding them was a game-changer... I sorta consider them a non-photosynthetic coral now and feed them every other day. They've completely bounced back. I've also started dosing vinegar in my top-off water... we will see how this works without a skimmer (just started this yesterday). I'm hoping this will allow me to go two weeks without water changes... we will see. I might just get a huge bacteria bloom and kill everything. 

 

Happy halloween!

 

 

Tank looks great!  Re: old tank syndrome, look up some of @brandon429's posts about cleaning and resetting pico reefs.  His vase reef has been going over a decade.  I think you could reuse the sand if you gave it a thorough cleaning and he talks about this in his posts. :) He also recommends 100% water changes, just matching temp and salinity.

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3 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Tank looks great!  Re: old tank syndrome, look up some of @brandon429's posts about cleaning and resetting pico reefs.  His vase reef has been going over a decade.  I think you could reuse the sand if you gave it a thorough cleaning and he talks about this in his posts. :) He also recommends 100% water changes, just matching temp and salinity.

Wow his pico is ancient! :lol: I'll definitely check him out, thats quite an accomplishment! Might switch to 100% water changes... found a local store that sells salt super cheap (I bought a years supply for only 50 bucks if I remember correctly)

 

 as a side note, it's kinda interesting how the view on water changes is shifting in the hobby. Seems like a lot of really serious big-tank people are phasing them out. Maybe if my tank lasts a decade I will have the first water-change-less pico reef hahaha

 

  • Haha 1
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them large tankers are relying on dilution, when that's not the case one of em w post up a 20 yr old pico heh

 

very nice build!!! very healthy corals and I like that wall scape its what I use too. old school but not regarding water changes. pico reefs have beaten old tank syndrome. we are immune. only nerf can kill us, hardware bad luck, or operator error. the pathway to indefinite biological lifespan has been found and demo'd

 

ps

 

Paul B has the longest running home tank we can source, its large

 

try to find out things he does which are directly what we do, and opposite of all his other large tank friends whose tanks are algae wrecks/not 40 yrs old

 

they are:

complete sandbed turnover vs stagnancy

 

Pauls sandbed pumps OUT detritus, not takes it in. That's different from every sandbed on the internet, tank is 40 +

 

Paul does diatom cleaning, massive filtration cleaning where all the detritus in his tank is sucked up (or as much as you can get out of +200 gallons)

 

he's hands on, not hands off, though his dilution allows him to run a while in between.

 

Its possible to find hidden gems in all these myriad posts online, and per 2017 it distills down to:

 

the force cleaned tanks live the longest, and, one can mini model the approach in a pico reef with 100% consistency.

 

What one cannot model with 100% consistency in either the large or small reef, is detritus accumulation. All the posts we read on the internet about someone with a 150 gallon tank who hasn't vaccumed a bed in 15 yrs hasn't really reached the lifespan/storage max for 150 gallons. THeir tank will die when they do. the second a rock stack falls one day, accidentally, in a system that sinked the mass crash is coming, they're running on luck and dilution.

 

 

we can take a 12 yr old pico reef full of sps and flip the sandbed like pancakes over and over, and nothing happens due to our opposite sandbed behavior. yours looks still clean above, we clean them all at once as needed Ive done hundreds of them. tank reset button.

 

Paul doesn't do hands off because he likes to be that way, to control the outcome by action though he can wait nice long intervals due to his dilution, algal uptake, balanced filtration etc. he has to so the tank can live to 40.

 

*im not saying we cant find large and small tanks that run wonderfully hands off, storing up detritus. Im saying they're all interim on the way to eutrophication/algal dominance, and its a function of volume and other factors. El Fab's tank was a finite lifespan setup being small, and hands off sandbed though it ran powerfully in the interim before advanced age related to storage and gallonage. Expect your tank to behave similarly along the 36 mo path if it was hands off....that middle portion where food webs are highest in the tank due to that "bad storage" is actually a strong coral growth phase, we can see for him.

 

its that tail end, waste outdoing the food web and coral uptake ability, that all goes out of what eventually relative to dilution, in the totally hands off setup (literally no other comps going on)

 

 

**Maritza the vase reef also uses an untouched bed, 5 yr old tank, BUT they are dosing digestion bacteria daily and they use aggressive full water changes, el fab was 50% and that stored up lots more detritus that MVR does by design. Technically MVR is a hands off bed but look at the total volume it takes in their tank (a tenth) vs El Fab's really deep one, prob 30% of the display. more storage/more accumulation holdings as time goes by.

 

The oldest tanks are simply more active than the interim ones, and even the hands off ones are still using subtle comps that reduce or degrade detritus quicker than norm. hands on picos are ideal...they're tougher and better trained to handle insults like active humans are as well and they have no bell curve lifespan.

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28 minutes ago, brandon429 said:

them large tankers are relying on dilution, when that's not the case one of em w post up a 20 yr old pico heh

 

very nice build!!! very healthy corals and I like that wall scape its what I use too. old school but not regarding water changes. pico reefs have beaten old tank syndrome. we are immune. only nerf can kill us, hardware bad luck, or operator error. the pathway to indefinite biological lifespan has been found and demo'd

 

ps

 

Paul B has the longest running home tank we can source, its large

 

try to find out things he does which are directly what we do, and opposite of all his other large tank friends whose tanks are algae wrecks/not 40 yrs old

 

they are:

complete sandbed turnover vs stagnancy

 

Pauls sandbed pumps OUT detritus, not takes it in. That's different from every sandbed on the internet, tank is 40 +

 

Paul does diatom cleaning, massive filtration cleaning where all the detritus in his tank is sucked up (or as much as you can get out of +200 gallons)

 

he's hands on, not hands off, though his dilution allows him to run a while in between.

 

Its possible to find hidden gems in all these myriad posts online, and per 2017 it distills down to:

 

the force cleaned tanks live the longest, and, one can mini model the approach in a pico reef with 100% consistency.

 

What one cannot model with 100% consistency in either the large or small reef, is detritus accumulation. All the posts we read on the internet about someone with a 150 gallon tank who hasn't vaccumed a bed in 15 yrs hasn't really reached the lifespan/storage max for 150 gallons. THeir tank will die when they do. the second a rock stack falls one day, accidentally, in a system that sinked the mass crash is coming, they're running on luck and dilution.

 

 

we can take a 12 yr old pico reef full of sps and flip the sandbed like pancakes over and over, and nothing happens due to our opposite sandbed behavior. yours looks still clean above, we clean them all at once as needed Ive done hundreds of them. tank reset button.

 

Paul doesn't do hands on because he likes to be that way, he has to so the tank can live to 40.

 

*im not saying we cant find large and small tanks that run wonderfully hands off, storing up detritus. Im saying they're all interim on the way to eutrophication/algal dominance, and its a function of volume and other factors. El Fab's tank was a finite lifespan setup being small, and hands off sandbed though it ran powerfully in the interim before advanced age related to storage and gallonage. Expect your tank to behave similarly along the 36 mo path if it was hands off....that middle portion where food webs are highest in the tank due to that "bad storage" is actually a strong coral growth phase, we can see for him.

 

its that tail end, waste outdoing the food web and coral uptake ability, that all goes out of what eventually relative to dilution, in the totally hands off setup (literally no other comps going on)

 

 

**Maritza the vase reef also uses an untouched bed, 5 yr old tank, BUT they are dosing digestion bacteria daily and they use aggressive full water changes, el fab was 50% and that stored up lots more detritus that MVR does by design. Technically MVR is a hands off bed but look at the total volume it takes in their tank (a tenth) vs El Fab's really deep one, prob 30% of the display. more storage/more accumulation holdings as time goes by.

 

The oldest tanks are simply more active than the interim ones, and even the hands off ones are still using subtle comps that reduce or degrade detritus quicker than norm. hands on picos are ideal...they're tougher and better trained to handle insults like active humans are as well and they have no bell curve lifespan.

I've seen Paul B's tank thread, possibly from a link you shared somewhere along the way. It's pretty incredible!

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its mind boggling how online all the fifty methods to an ends exists for most kind of aquaria we want, people never know what to choose. I really like to summarize our busier, cleaning-heavy pico reef model as not the best and just one of many ways. Where it is the best is in pure repeatability. Every pico reef ever setup and ran in this way works, none do not work biologically. a downside is, by overcleaning and covering 100% of picos, some with unique and better care variables may not need as much work/calories/effort

 

we're relying on small size/easy access to justify overdoing the heck out of things. people tend to want more hands off though, this is the yin yang that w evolve us.

 

The storage approaches comprise every single entrant into an algae challenge thread Ive ever seen. I have seen ten mil heh all logged so to me that's merely a lookback on years of tying together actions, inactions, and whose tanks are always showing up for help. I claim this method grows the most coral with the least statistical variance other than a dang stable reef.

 

Other changes to the method evolve our hobby and are required, no one way should prevail forever. dethrone this, advance us.

 

its handy for any new pico reefer to know there are two options

 

1. do what works 100%

2. innovate something and have a negative, neutral, or positive/hobby shaping outcome from the experiment.

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6 hours ago, brandon429 said:

its mind boggling how online all the fifty methods to an ends exists for most kind of aquaria we want, people never know what to choose. I really like to summarize our busier, cleaning-heavy pico reef model as not the best and just one of many ways. Where it is the best is in pure repeatability. Every pico reef ever setup and ran in this way works, none do not work biologically. a downside is, by overcleaning and covering 100% of picos, some with unique and better care variables may not need as much work/calories/effort

 

we're relying on small size/easy access to justify overdoing the heck out of things. people tend to want more hands off though, this is the yin yang that w evolve us.

Great points, I think it all boils down to the effort one is willing to put into their tanks. My goal has always been an hour of maintenance once a week... during that hour I do a 50% water change, stir up the sand (I blow it out with a turkey baster, which I started doing 6 mo ago), blow detritus out of the rock, change out the carbon/phosphate pads, change out the filter pad and give my HOB a good scrubbing. Like I said earlier, I plan on switching to 100% water changes. I am mostly worried about the sand underneath the rock, its probably a nightmare down there. 

 

Do you think that's enough maintenance for long-term success? I'm thinking I might start removing the rock every other month to really stir up the sand... or just completely replacing the sand every year.

 

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 My sandbed in my reefbowl is about 6 inches deep, its a true dsb and it does store up detritus a bit as I travel a bunch and neglect water change/export work. when I see algae start forming on the glass quicker than norm, and some shading/browns and colors in the sandbed its a signal for a deep cleaning/catchup and then it sparkles for months again as I neglect it further lol though it still gets the basic care. The rocks never develop any invasions bc its 100% coralline and coral flesh/biorejecting surfaces. only the glass is my indicator, and the color of the sandbed.

 

 

more diligent top level stirrers may not need rip cleaning as often, but a rip clean done in the right order is a refreshing event, not a harmful or stressful one. We either rip it clean occasionally or dedicated pre clean to lessen the rip cleans in my opinion. anything other than letting it all sit untouched and unexported, current models show that to be risky although much less work on the rampup

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