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Dimensions: 11.8" x 7.0" x 8.3"
Volume: 1.76G(overall) 2.5G(empty)

Lighting: 3 x 12" TrueLumen Pro Strips
Equipment: AquaClear 20

Heater: none yet (usually maintained at 78–80º F)

Circulation: Might add a small powerhead later on

Photoperiod: Planning on running it at full power for 8 hrs or so 

Filtration: 250mL of SeaChem Matrix and stock sponge 

Livestock: My plan for this tank is to turn it into a small zoa garden with a few encrusting Montipora on either the back wall on  

Background: Over the past 2.5 years that I’ve been in the Marine side of hobby I’ve set up 3 reef tanks so far a CoralLife Biocube 29, Nuvo 8G and a 20G Long all of which are still up and running. So as many of you know after being in the even a couple of years can lead the collection of old lighting systems, extra rock, and a constant urge for more. That’s where this Pico comes into the scene.I hope that this build will come close to being as awesome as @el fabuloso , @pj86 and @.Newman.epic 3g picos. 

 

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Looks neat. Can't wait to see some updates!

 

I was thinking of starting a Pico too... but didn't want to deal with having to top it off daily.

 

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3 hours ago, Nart said:

Looks neat. Can't wait to see some updates!

 

I was thinking of starting a Pico too... but didn't want to deal with having to top it off daily.

 

Yea this tank will by far be the smallest reef tank I've ever set up coming in at a whooping 221 oz something like 1.76g.The evaporation rate isn't too high, 24hr between topping off there it increased from 1.026 to 1.0265ish I don't know what the future holds for this pico, but man this is so exciting.

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Tested the pico yesterday and today the NH4 has gone from 0.5ppm ->0.25ish NO2 0.25ppm->1.0ppm guess I'll have to wait a couple more days till I test again.Right now I'm using @brightwellaquatics MicroBacter7 at the recommend using to seed a tank. 4drops per gallon for two weeks.Other than that I'm using some @carribsea livesand that I had in a bag for 8ish months, do you guys think the bacteria was in a dormant state and will take off now?

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On 6/22/2017 at 11:05 PM, Narzyzz_12 said:

Tested the pico yesterday and today the NH4 has gone from 0.5ppm ->0.25ish NO2 0.25ppm->1.0ppm guess I'll have to wait a couple more days till I test again.Right now I'm using @brightwellaquatics MicroBacter7 at the recommend using to seed a tank. 4drops per gallon for two weeks.Other than that I'm using some @carribsea livesand that I had in a bag for 8ish months, do you guys think the bacteria was in a dormant state and will take off now?

Dunno, the bacteria might be dead and give a nice kick-start to the cycle lol.  I've never been convinced of the "alive-ness" of bagged, store-bought live sand, personally.  But it might be.  Personally I'd think it's more the Microbacter that is going to seed the tank. :)

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I too was a bit skeptical about using the year old resealed bag of sand to seed the pico, it does seem unlikely that it would still be bioactive so I took a trip the LFS.As mot know when ever you visit the LFS you end up buying more than you planned,I left with a cool zoa rock, 5 of the tiniest Pacific Blue legged crab ever(possibly the cutest too) and a whooping 1.6lbs of LR.When I got home and unwrapped the LR the what I though was a tiny piece didn't even fit into the pico, so I ran outside grabbed a pair of scatter proof glasses and left the rest to gravity.Turns out LR it dense asf and it left its signature creator on the driveway,but it's a small price to pay if it means the perfect aquascape.lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since my last update I've been only running a single Actinic LED strip and it seems that even one strip is more than sufficient. All the frags that have been added are showing great PE and even some growth already.However for the purpose of getting a decent photo I turned the 12K lights on instead.

 

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@Jholm007check it out bro

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Yea, it's all part of the newly step up reef process.After a couple weeks it should go through the ugly phase as silicates are used up and diatoms fade away.You should closely monitor your ammonia/nitrites levels since your tank is fairly new and you added a fish right away.

Plus there will be some die off the LR even if it was fully cured.

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So far everything is still zeroing out.  Not sure if it is because there is not enough waste in the tank yet, or because I keep a really close eye on the tank.  I had a crazy idea last night of building a sump/refugium in another larger tank, right beside this one.  I want to build a stand for this tank, so maybe if will do it and put it in the bottom. 

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The pico is starting to fill these past couple of week I've added some GSP,Xenia,Ice &Fire Zoas, and a Golden Psammocora frags.As for the livestock all that has been added are hermits and a couple snails that were jumped within minutes of going into the tank.You can see one of the killer crabs in the snail shell.

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So in the past week I've made a couple changes I switched out the AC20 to a AC 70 not only because I wanted a bit more volume but because it was better option than plain old powerhead to add water flow,plus it saved space.I also made an attempt to build an acrylic lid which turned into a disaster since I completely scattered half the panel while trying to snap it.However I was a able to make a rectangular top with space for the AC70,so hopefully the evaporation rate will decrease.

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If anyone is more proficient in the art of acrylic work please give me some tips.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I was at the LFS last week just to look around and maybe buy some snails since my last ones were murdered by the killer hermits,but instead I ended up taking this little beauties.I believe they're called Captain America zoas or something along those lines.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...

Last year after Hurricane Irma the pico didn't make it past the first few days. But shortly after life returned to normal I restarted it and here what it looks like now.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Christopher Marks

Somehow I missed this update @Narzyzz_12, sorry to hear about the hurricane ruining your pico reef. It was a handsome little system you had created. I'm glad to see you got it back up and running though, did you use all new liverock in the restart?

 

How long has this version been going now? It must be getting close to it's 1st anniversary! 🎉

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On September 11, 2018 at 3:08 PM, Christopher Marks said:

Somehow I missed this update @Narzyzz_12, sorry to hear about the hurricane ruining your pico reef. It was a handsome little system you had created. I'm glad to see you got it back up and running though, did you use all new liverock in the restart?

 

How long has this version been going now? It must be getting close to it's 1st anniversary! 🎉

Hi Chris, thanks for checking the pico out. It was indeed a tragedy:tears:.After the reset I only kept the SeaChem Matrix and the sand.The 1st year anniversary is coming up within two weeks :happydance:.

 

Day #1 09/28/17

 

 

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