Evolve Pico Reef Take 1

[AForys]

Ok I got this lil tank for a frag of chalice, so basically free. Its a bit beat up but its my 1st pico and plan on trying some cool with this. I took a 6-8lb rock of ReefCleaners rock and went to town with a hammer and chisel, I superglued these smaller rocks together making half arch structures. I made 3 of the rock, drilled about a quarter inch holes and placed black acrylic rods as feet for these rock structures each weigh no more then 2-3 lbs. Once in tank i basically slide these 3 rocks together forming one structure making a abundance of caves as well as underneath the rocks. Glued a few peices on the rear wall, i looked through my rock and chisel off as much of old feather duster tubing and glued them throughout the rock in the tank, small tubes for small fish or shrimp? Was fun making these structures and plan on making a larger version! 

Ok, as for the tank its a Aqueon Evolve 8. Its a bit over 5 gallons maybe 6. I got about 8-9lbs of rocks, still debating on sand or bare and black or white, fine or course? 5lbs? as for filtration I think im going to drill holes on the bottom on chamber 1 then the entire chamber will be filtration. filter floss/purigen/filter floss(maybe chemi blue).Hydor Pico 300(300gph) as a return these come stock with a 92gph pump, i will have a 2nd pump circulating in chamber 2 right under chamber 1(hope this will help pull water in as well). Ill have a bunch of rock ruble in a mesh bag(easy to remove and rinse off) in chamber 2 and thats all i plan for filtration. Itll get weekly 2-3 gallon water changes when i do my other tank. The plan is to not use a power head in display. Not sure what light i will be using yet, im leaning towards a Par bulb but not sure yet another option was a Prime HD. 

 

Planned livestock:

5-10 sexy shrimp? (need to do a little research)

Anemone crab

1-2 clown gobies/or a small blenny

 

Coral:

Rock nem galore maybe 10?

depending where these nems settle in, im hoping near bottom then i will add a multitude of coral in higher places including:

 

Birdnest, digi, monti, and thinking a little gsp around the return on rock wall. and of course some zoas here and there, basically if im able to ill frag anything out of my other tank if itll live and have space besides acros, though i may try lol.

 

Any other good mods out there for these little evolves? what lighting are you using over your mixed reef pico? comments on filtration? Any criticism and help is appreciated 

[natalia_la_loca]

LOVE those feet. That scape will be super easy to keep free of detritus. The rocks on the back wall are nice too.

 

I'm partial to PAR bulbs just because they're a great value for very little $$$.  It really depends on how much money you want to spend.

[AForys]

3 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

LOVE those feet. That scape will be super easy to keep free of detritus. The rocks on the back wall are nice too.

 

I'm partial to PAR bulbs just because they're a great value for very little $$$.  It really depends on how much money you want to spend.

wow just looked at your reef bowl, that thing is amazing! I see why you like the par bulbs, im most definitely gunna give it a try for the price. Do you use a dimmable one? how high do you have it placed?

[natalia_la_loca]

Just now, AForys said:

wow just looked at your reef bowl, that thing is amazing! I see why you like the par bulbs, im most definitely gunna give it a try for the price. Do you use a dimmable one? how high do you have it placed?

 

Thanks   Nope, my PAR bulb isn't dimmable.  I'm using the ABI Tuna Blue 12W bulb. 

 

The light it gives off is pretty strong. I have it at 17.5" above the water line.  Pretty sure my acroporas would prefer that it be lower, but they still grow, and all the rest of the corals seem to like it best at the current height.

[AForys]

4 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

Thanks   Nope, my PAR bulb isn't dimmable.  I'm using the ABI Tuna Blue 12W bulb. 

 

The light it gives off is pretty strong. I have it at 17.5" above the water line.  Pretty sure my acroporas would prefer that it be lower, but they still grow, and all the rest of the corals seem to like it best at the current height.

been looking at these, would you recommend the 24w for my tank? or use the 12 and have it a bit lower? im completely new to picos gotta take in some of your knowledge! ??

[natalia_la_loca]

I think you could get away with the 12 at a lower height. Most of the corals you're talking about don't need tons of light.

[AForys]

just ordered one! thanks cant beat the 30$ price tag thats for sure. 

[AForys]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:40 AM, AForys said:

Ok I got this lil tank for a frag of chalice, so basically free. Its a bit beat up but its my 1st pico and plan on trying some cool with this. I took a 6-8lb rock of ReefCleaners rock and went to town with a hammer and chisel, I superglued these smaller rocks together making half arch structures. I made 3 of the rock, drilled about a quarter inch holes and placed black acrylic rods as feet for these rock structures each weigh no more then 2-3 lbs. Once in tank i basically slide these 3 rocks together forming one structure making a abundance of caves as well as underneath the rocks. Glued a few peices on the rear wall, i looked through my rock and chisel off as much of old feather duster tubing and glued them throughout the rock in the tank, small tubes for small fish or shrimp? Was fun making these structures and plan on making a larger version! 

Ok, as for the tank its a Aqueon Evolve 8. Its a bit over 5 gallons maybe 6. I got about 8-9lbs of rocks, still debating on sand or bare and black or white, fine or course? 5lbs? as for filtration I think im going to drill holes on the bottom on chamber 1 then the entire chamber will be filtration. filter floss/purigen/filter floss(maybe chemi blue).Hydor Pico 300(300gph) as a return these come stock with a 92gph pump, i will have a 2nd pump circulating in chamber 2 right under chamber 1(hope this will help pull water in as well). Ill have a bunch of rock ruble in a mesh bag(easy to remove and rinse off) in chamber 2 and thats all i plan for filtration. Itll get weekly 2-3 gallon water changes when i do my other tank. The plan is to not use a power head in display. Not sure what light i will be using yet, im leaning towards a Par bulb but not sure yet another option was a Prime HD. 

 

Planned livestock:

5-10 sexy shrimp? (need to do a little research)

Anemone crab

1-2 clown gobies/or a small blenny

 

Coral:

Rock nem galore maybe 10?

depending where these nems settle in, im hoping near bottom then i will add a multitude of coral in higher places including:

 

Birdnest, digi, monti, and thinking a little gsp around the return on rock wall. and of course some zoas here and there, basically if im able to ill frag anything out of my other tank if itll live and have space besides acros, though i may try lol.

 

Any other good mods out there for these little evolves? what lighting are you using over your mixed reef pico? comments on filtration? Any criticism and help is appreciated 

ok so i decided to cycle rock in a bucket instead so i can modify the compartments a bit.

 

i drilled about 15ish holes at the bottom on chamber 1. glued strips of a plastic two liter bottle to over stock notch from filter overflow so water passes through the bottom holes i made. glued another strip on the overflow teeth to raise the water level a bit in the DT. made a temporary filter design but i im going to use all egg crate in the next design like i did in compartment 2.

[AForys]

for chamber 2 im going to have a Hydor Pico 300 underneath chamber 1 so i dont get any settlement down there, also ill have a mesh bag of dead coral ruble ill keep it in bag so i can wash if the debris from time to time. i have another egg crate rack to prop up another hydor pico 300 as a return pump. i made a hole in egg crate for my aqueon pro 100w heater(i set it at 76 and keeps temp steady at 78). not sure if ill add a sheet of filter down here or not yet as a 2nd filter before returning.

[Lula_Mae]

Nice little tank!  Having recently dealt with a disastrous crash that I feel was partially caused by super-fine sand, I highly recommend something coarser if you choose to use it.

[AForys]

was almost set on no sand, i really like the look of sand though...if i did id probably go with agagonite special grade. thoughts? in all honesty i dont see this tank being up for more then 1-2 yrs. im pretty certain im gonna be buying two more tanks to go next to my main tank lol

[Rain24]

I think of myself as a sand kind of person, but this one looks so good without!

[AForys]

Well, I've decided to move everything to a Fluval Edge 6. New post soon.