3 Gallon Picotope!- Clean Slate

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, JoeR said:

I appreciate it! I’ve been thinking about a toadstool and in general more softies actually, but this tank will probably have to recycle for a few weeks after all the dead stuff 🙄 not sure how long that will take. I suppose it depends on whether the bacteria in the rock and sand made it or not. If so, it shouldn’t take too long, if not, it might take a few weeks.

I'd think the bacteria probably survived, but may take a bit to process all the ammonia from the dieoff. On the bright side, at least you don't have to do a ton of water changes to save stuff? Can you get ahold of something like Biospira or Microbacter7 to help speed it along?

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'd think the bacteria probably survived, but may take a bit to process all the ammonia from the dieoff. On the bright side, at least you don't have to do a ton of water changes to save stuff? Can you get ahold of something like Biospira or Microbacter7 to help speed it along?

I can check if my LFS carry it or a similar product, I might go tomorrow. I’ve always been cautious of products like that because they may be snake oil type thing but when I initially set the tank up I used some sort of culture but I would have to check what it was

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, JoeR said:

I can check if my LFS carry it or a similar product, I might go tomorrow. I’ve always been cautious of products like that because they may be snake oil type thing but when I initially set the tank up I used some sort of culture but I would have to check what it was

I've used both in cycling and to help get my tanks out of a funky imbalance. Like them both. 

[vegasgundog]

Hope it wasn't a friend you paid.... I'd seriously consider a throat punch.....

 

But seriously, feel your pain. You can get it back up in no time. Hang in there. 

[JoeR]

3 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I've used both in cycling and to help get my tanks out of a funky imbalance. Like them both. 

I’ll take your work for it, definitely gonna check them out and see if someone around here has it

 

2 hours ago, vegasgundog said:

Hope it wasn't a friend you paid.... I'd seriously consider a throat punch.....

 

But seriously, feel your pain. You can get it back up in no time. Hang in there. 

Haha no it was a professional, someone from one of the local LFS around here. I believe they did a good job otherwise but I don’t know how they forgot to plug it in. They’re not to blame, the chances of anything making it were slim anyway. I’m just trying to be positive and think of it as a clean slate. This time around I will certainly be more selective of what coral/inverts/fish I put in, considering that real estate is limited in a small tank and I want to LOVE every coral that goes in. And darn it I will finally get my teal/turquoise clam now!

 

Somehow I just KNOW that some of the aiptasia are going to come back alive out of nowhere though lol.

[vegasgundog]

Buy a blue laser off ebay and have fun burning aptaisia

[JoeR]

19 hours ago, vegasgundog said:

Buy a blue laser off ebay and have fun burning aptaisia

I have never heard of that before but that sounds SUPER legit lol

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, JoeR said:

I have never heard of that before but that sounds SUPER legit lol

 Brandon used to recommend a small butane lighter for that purpose. I can attest it is very satisfying. 

[vegasgundog]

4 hours ago, JoeR said:

I have never heard of that before but that sounds SUPER legit lol

 

 

I bought a more powerful one for vermetid snails.....you can hear them boil.

[MrObscura]

Sometimes it seems a coral just won't be happy no master what. I have a bunch of zoas in my tank and all are looking good, but 2 polyps of my demon eyes just decided to close up and melt away. Yet the rest are fine. I only noticed because it was a tiny 5 polyp frag. 

 

Good rule of thumb imo is that if everything is looking good but a coral or two give you trouble now and then without any obvious reason just chalk it up to a health issue with that specific coral and move on. 

[JoeR]

Per @Lula_Mae‘s recommendation, I bought MicrōBacter7 in order to reboot this tank, today is day three of use. We shall see! The guy at the LFS seemed to think it works, he uses it in both fresh and marine tanks. While there I also picked up two blue legs to see if they can put a dent in the cleanup.

 

Honestly the tank doesn’t look too bad at all, bar the very interesting filamentous algae that’s growing. It’s not like hair algae I’ve seen, as you can see it’s not singular strands but strands with branches. Odd IMO but maybe I’m only now starting to find these things interesting because of the Bio classes I’m taking. 

 

Side note; the chaeto algae is the sole surviving organism from the tank crash. But now my fuge light is failing me! Argh!

 

Anyway, I’ll update this thread as there’s something TO update 😉

[thecoralbeauty]

Came here because I noticed the clam in the title and I have a thing for clams. 🙂 

Read a few pages back to find it, and then read through the disaster. Even though I'm brand new to this build, I'm still so so sorry to read/see this. It was such a beautiful tank to be proud of!  That zoa garden you had.... 😍

Following because I'm sure you'll have it looking lovely again in no time! Picos are always so fascinating. (90% water changes. wow.)

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, mwhitelock said:

Came here because I noticed the clam in the title and I have a thing for clams. 🙂 

Read a few pages back to find it, and then read through the disaster. Even though I'm brand new to this build, I'm still so so sorry to read/see this. It was such a beautiful tank to be proud of!  That zoa garden you had.... 😍

Following because I'm sure you'll have it looking lovely again in no time! Picos are always so fascinating. (90% water changes. wow.)

Thank you!!

 

After my first one, I too am in LOVE with clams. There will certainly be another in this tank ASAP, even more brilliant than the last one- I’m dying to get my hands on a bright turquoise one. That’s the one positive thing I can say about the tank crash, is that I can have fun rebuilding and this time around I will be MUCH more selective on what I buy. Only the best for the tanks limited real estate. The other thing I’m trying to figure out is how to keep a torch or frogspawn happy in it, while also having clean enough water for acros? I want the movement of softies and LPS yet the colors and shapes of SPS. Much planning to do...

[JoeR]

Hmm. The algae is still having a hayday, so I tested the water and what do you know, parameters seem to be on point. Not sure what is causing the algae, or what to do to aid in speeding the algae bloom cycle up so I can get this bad boy running again. No water change in a while, yet the water itself is also really clear, if that means anything.