3G Pico Bowl

[Kitkat67]

Hello, everyone! I have recently setup a three gallon bowl. It has live rock, Nature's Ocean, live sand, and a zoa frag. I was told by a petco employee that I could have coral already (I know, I can hear the groans) and it's been doing okay this past week. I had problems with the heater so while I am waiting for a better one, I am using one that only heats the tank to 70°F (more groans). I have an elite mini filter that seems to work great. I am getting a second one to increase flow more. I am a little worried because it's meant for freshwater but I was unable to find such a small filter meant for saltwater. My light is a LuminiGrow LED. I love the light. It has blue and white at different intensities. The remote is hard to figure out because the buttons don't match up with what they are labeled as. The light also came with a flat lens and a rounded lens to narrow the light to 60°. Here is the bowl when I set it up 2 weeks ago with white light:

 

I popped the zoa frag off of the plug because it was sticking out awkwardly and plan to glue it down. It's been ID'd on FB as "gorilla nipples" and I am still not 100% sure if they were being serious. Here it is slowly opening up after I turned on the lights.

 

I gave the rock a good cleaning in saltwater and have found little -pods in the bowl that survived the ordeal. Petco also gave me free live rock chips and I've arranged them so that future corals that need personal space can be placed there.

[brandon429]

that's the heater you want

 

https://oceanboxdesigns.com/product/ultra-slim-mini-50w-heater-wexternal-controller/?v=7516fd43adaa

 

I use the 50 watt neotherm in my vase but its too big, this one above better

nice looking bowl! hey if you do not want to ride out the cloudy phase, its ok to clean it all out with a 100% water change, rinse the sand, and be cloudless. either way you want is fine, if you leave it long enough it will settle too.

[Kitkat67]

Lol, that's clear water. The glass is super thick and combined with the light it only looks cloudy. I'll check out that heater, thanks!

[Kitkat67]

This pic was from the light that arrived broken but I tried out anyway. The buttons on the second light function differently. If anyone knows how to use it, please let me know!

[jack1978]

1 hour ago, Kitkat67 said:

This pic was from the light that arrived broken but I tried out anyway. The buttons on the second light function differently. If anyone knows how to use it, please let me know!

LOL.  

Good luck 

Bowl looks cool, btw. 

[Lula_Mae]

7 hours ago, brandon429 said:

that's the heater you want

 

https://oceanboxdesigns.com/product/ultra-slim-mini-50w-heater-wexternal-controller/?v=7516fd43adaa

 

 

nice looking bowl! hey if you do not want to ride out the cloudy phase, its ok to clean it all out with a 100% water change, rinse the sand, and be cloudless. either way you want is fine, if you leave it long enough it will settle too.

There's actually a 25w version of that heater which might be more appropriate for this size bowl, it's made by Aqua Forest Aquariums and is available here.  I have it in my 5.5 and love it.  External thermostat so that's great.  Alternately, get a small heater like the flat betta bowl ones and pair it with a temperature controller like Finnex or Inkbird.

 

The bowl is really neat!  Cool shape and it's nice that it's shallow and wide so there's more horizontal space for stuff.

 

And, hilarious as it may sound, there really is a type of zoa called gorilla nipples, and yours do look a lot like them.  I'm no expert so I won't say definitively lol.

[Kitkat67]

Happy little duncan in a high flow area waving its little coral tentacles around

[Kitkat67]

Will corals close up if they get too much light (time-wise). Are they like, "ay, human, waste your money on electricty; it's beddy-bye time, coral out!"

[Kitkat67]

Whenever I spot feed my corals they always close up immediately. I turn the filter off and gently baste food over them. Is it normal for them to close up?

[Kitkat67]

[Lula_Mae]

6 hours ago, Kitkat67 said:

Whenever I spot feed my corals they always close up immediately. I turn the filter off and gently baste food over them. Is it normal for them to close up?

Sometimes the sensation of the water squirting on them causes them to close up defensively.  I haven't figured out a workaround lol.

[gena]

Yay, another bowl to follow along with .  @Lula_Mae where is the 25w heater located?  Which site?  I'm just kinda thinking ahead.... just in case I need one for a bowl LOL.

[Lula_Mae]

1 minute ago, gena said:

Yay, another bowl to follow along with .  @Lula_Mae where is the 25w heater located?  Which site?  I'm just kinda thinking ahead.... just in case I need one for a bowl LOL.

Right here: https://aquaforestaquarium.com/collections/heaters/products/copy-of-archaea-mini-aquarium-heater-25w-ultra-slim

I've bookmarked it because I reference it so often lol.

[gena]

1 minute ago, Lula_Mae said:

Right here: https://aquaforestaquarium.com/collections/heaters/products/copy-of-archaea-mini-aquarium-heater-25w-ultra-slim

I've bookmarked it because I reference it so often lol.

Awesome...thank you!!!! I have bookmarked it .

[Kitkat67]

So ammonia test turned semi-solid and now it's just super cloudy. Is this yellow or green? I have a hard time with these tests

 

edit: it was still turning color, now it is definetly 0.50ppm, water change or ride it out? I still have the nitrite/nitrate tests but I have to tend to a duck in the oven and get the rest of dinner going.

And here is high range pH...8.1ish?

[gena]

Oh, I missed the bad advice your LFS gave you .  I would do a water change on it to bring down the ammonia.  Otherwise you risk losing those corals.  At least you don't have any fish yet!  Keep an eye on the parameters.

[Kitkat67]

I turned lights off a few hours ago and the duncan closed up. Is it normal for it to change color? Dying? I also fed them, could that affect ammonia so soon?

[gena]

That's a feeding response.  And how they look when they "deflate" which does happen when lights go out.  Putting food in teh tank will cause ammonia if the tank is not cycled yet.  I'm not sure how long a time frame it takes though.  I'm guess not that long.  Change half the water (easy on a pico) and recheck parameters.  Make sure you match the salinity and temperature.

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Wow, this picture is really cool!

 

-Paola

 

[Kitkat67]

1 hour ago, gena said:

That's a feeding response.  And how they look when they "deflate" which does happen when lights go out.  Putting food in teh tank will cause ammonia if the tank is not cycled yet.  I'm not sure how long a time frame it takes though.  I'm guess not that long.  Change half the water (easy on a pico) and recheck parameters.  Make sure you match the salinity and temperature.

The zoas are on top of the rock, can they be comfortabley out of water for, say, 15min maximum?

 

That duncan freaked me out with the color change. Is there anyway to tell species?

[gena]

Yep, they they will be fine out of the water.  Sometimes corals get exposed for hours during low tide, in nature.  They just close up and slime up for protection. 

 

Not sure about the duncan question,

[Lula_Mae]

Corals can change color under different lighting spectrum. Do you have your lights on a timer? Corals tend to close up after lights out. I'd do a water change with any possibility of ammonia showing. Shouldn't take fifteen minutes as long as your water is ready to go. Just scoop some out and pour new in!

[Kitkat67]

Nitrites and nitrates are 0. Lights are on during the night. I have the new water warming up rn.

 

I put a second filter in to help with the flow and hopefully it'll help with bacterial growth. They both have a mini wire sponge as filter media. I'm wondering if I should put a bitty bag of carbon in one

[Kitkat67]

What are these nublets on my paly frag?

[gena]

Looks like closed up zoas.