Dawn's shrimp chalet & 5.5 AIO !

[metrokat]

Just catching up on your jar, love the mural painting, that's unique. And the little fuge is a great idea. 

[vlangel]

3 minutes ago, metrokat said:

Just catching up on your jar, love the mural painting, that's unique. And the little fuge is a great idea. 

Thanks kat!  I don't know if the cheato has enough room to grow in such a confined area.  It is trapping detritus and acting like filter floss so as long as it doesn't die I am happy.  I will just shake it out with every WC.  I am also hoping the dragon's breath grows large enough so that the wire and air tubing do not show giving the reef jar a clean look.

[vlangel]

During this morning's WC I came to a decision.  I never wanted to spend a lot of $ on the reef jar so I decided that most of the rest of my frags are coming from the seahorse display.  For me this contest has never been about winning but about the comraderie of so many of us that love reefing all doing the same thing but in our own unique way.  Since that is the case then I figured I might as well frag and mount most everything so it can settle and begin to grow out. 

 

So my jar is pretty much complete with the exception of gsp which I am letting get a bit bigger before I frag it again.  Some of the coral I am hoping to be giving it a new lease on life because they were not doing well in the seahorse display.  So now, let the growing begin.

 

I will take some pics when everything is less mad about being man handled.

[seabass]

57 minutes ago, vlangel said:

I never wanted to spend a lot of $ on the reef jar

I'm in the same camp.  I think a lot of us are.  But that doesn't take away any of the fun.

[pj86]

35 minutes ago, seabass said:

I'm in the same camp.  I think a lot of us are.  But that doesn't take away any of the fun.

 

@vlangel I like how you are approaching your reef jar. I think many will note that the less you spend the easier it is. Can't wait to see your reef jar grow in, it is going to be a mini replica of your larger tank. 

[fishfreak0114]

2 hours ago, vlangel said:

During this morning's WC I came to a decision.  I never wanted to spend a lot of $ on the reef jar so I decided that most of the rest of my frags are coming from the seahorse display.  For me this contest has never been about winning but about the comraderie of so many of us that love reefing all doing the same thing but in our own unique way.  Since that is the case then I figured I might as well frag and mount most everything so it can settle and begin to grow out. 

I don't want to spend much either.  Pretty much everything I want will come from my other tank.  I joined this contest to try something new and share in this fun experience with everyone, not spend every last penny I have.  That's what my other tank is for

[Farmboyreef]

This is such a great idea @vlangel. I didn’t read everything but caught the highlights and I appreciate the utility part of this 

[vlangel]

5 hours ago, seabass said:

I'm in the same camp.  I think a lot of us are.  But that doesn't take away any of the fun.

Actually I think it kind of adds to the fun.  We all can be examples to young 'would be' reefers that it does not have to be insanely expensive!

4 hours ago, pj86 said:

 

@vlangel I like how you are approaching your reef jar. I think many will note that the less you spend the easier it is. Can't wait to see your reef jar grow in, it is going to be a mini replica of your larger tank. 

Thanks pj.  You are right, it will be kind of like a mini replica of the bigger reef but only a lot easier, LOL!  And it wont have ponies, which is sad.

3 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

I don't want to spend much either.  Pretty much everything I want will come from my other tank.  I joined this contest to try something new and share in this fun experience with everyone, not spend every last penny I have.  That's what my other tank is for

Ha ha, yes 1 money pit is certainly enough, isn't it?  I hope to learn from this pico experience too.  I had a 5.5 gallon once but not much in the way of coral.

2 hours ago, Farmboyreef said:

This is such a great idea @vlangel. I didn’t read everything but caught the highlights and I appreciate the utility part of this 

Thanks Farmboy.  I have been following your build closely.  Great job so far and the videos are terrific.

[vlangel]

Well, the shrimp chalet had more than a little set back this weekend.  It just was not stable enough, especially being on the bb.  Multiple times the rocks fell down and the poor coral were getting so beat up.  I made the tough decision to go back to the drawing board, (or more accurately back to the rock pile).

 

Being unstable was only part of the problem.  Another problem was not enough good places for coral placement.  So to remedy that I am seeking to make my rockwork higher and with more flat spots.  I have epoxied this rockwork together with a potable epoxy.  If it is not solid I will then superglue the epoxy to the rock.  I also used a piece of rubble rock to imprint the epoxy so its not unnaturally smooth.

 

A third problem was my airstone did not want to stay put.  I am going to thread airline tubing in a cocoworm tube and epoxy that to the rockwork.

 

I am not sure at this time what is going to happen with my mini fuge.  It was just too big.  I know I am still using the rio pump however.

 

New rockwork.

[vlangel]

 

A closer look.

 

Holding things together until it sets.

[seabass]

Looking good.  I really like the worm tube air hose.  Looks big, is it going to fit?

[vlangel]

3 hours ago, seabass said:

Looking good.  I really like the worm tube air hose.  Looks big, is it going to fit?

 

Yes sir, the rockwork fits along with the rio pump on the lefy and a tiny fuge on the right.

[vlangel]

 

A top down view.  This rockwork is really stable since it is now all 1 piece.  It has lots of placement for coral.  I am really excited about the new scape.  Now to cycle it again.

[vlangel]

I used JB water weld and it really is much stronger than coral epoxy and is water potable so it should be safe for livestock.  It set in 25 minutes and cures in an hour.  I don't recommend it for something that you might change later as it holds very strong.  It was great for the rock however.

[SaltyBuddha]

Nice! I always cringe so bad when I drop any corals. The other day I was moving my IM10 stuff around and tipped over my rack with 8+ corals on it. New scape looks good. Let's hope it cycles up quick. So many people already have full picos!

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, SaltyBuddha said:

Nice! I always cringe so bad when I drop any corals. The other day I was moving my IM10 stuff around and tipped over my rack with 8+ corals on it. New scape looks good. Let's hope it cycles up quick. So many people already have full picos!

Thanks SaltyBuddha.  I added water and seachem stability to start the cycle.  I am travelling to watch grandkids from Thursday to next Wednesday, so I am hoping that it cycled when I get home.

 

Here is a pic of it wet.

 

 

[vlangel]

 

Here are my coral on the same end table as the pico was on and under the same light.  They are temporarily in a 5 gallon salt bucket.  They are looking decent.

 

[Rene]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

 

A top down view.  This rockwork is really stable since it is now all 1 piece.  It has lots of placement for coral.  I am really excited about the new scape.  Now to cycle it again.

Rough to have a setback, but the contest hasn't even officially started so you have plenty of time!  I think you won't regret the rockwork. I did this in my most recent pico and it makes life so much easier. No more knocking the rocks over every time you work in the tank, no more frags falling off the rocks, no more critters dragging frags under the rocks where you can't reach...

 

I love the coco worm airline tube solution. Very crafty!

[vlangel]

3 minutes ago, Rene said:

Rough to have a setback, but the contest hasn't even officially started so you have plenty of time!  I think you won't regret the rockwork. I did this in my most recent pico and it makes life so much easier. No more knocking the rocks over every time you work in the tank, no more frags falling off the rocks, no more critters dragging frags under the rocks where you can't reach...

 

I love the coco worm airline tube solution. Very crafty!

Thanks Rene.  It was really discouraging at first but now I am so glad that I did it.  I can move the entire rockwork and it is solid.  I really like the coco worm airline tube too.

[Lula_Mae]

Stuff still looks pretty happy even if it is in a mobile home!

[Orangutran]

Love the new Scape! Great idea with the tube too!

 

btw, why do you need the airline when you have pump already? Do your shrimps need extra oxygen?

[vlangel]

5 hours ago, Orangutran said:

Love the new Scape! Great idea with the tube too!

 

btw, why do you need the airline when you have pump already? Do your shrimps need extra oxygen?

Yes, I plan to put 50 -100 shrimp in the pico at a time.  With a smaller surface area than my 5.5 gallon tank, they use up a lot of the oxygen in the water column.  Once I did not have enough surface agitation for off gassing and they all died overnight.

I have kept 250 shrimp in a 5.5 gallon only half full so its not so much the water volume that is important.

 

Thanks for the kind input on the scape.

[Lisa166]

It looks great! I was just thinking about gluing my rocks together as well. They keep falling over when i get my hand in there.

[vlangel]

1 minute ago, Lisa166 said:

It looks great! I was just thinking about gluing my rocks together as well. They keep falling over when i get my hand in there.

Thats why I did.  My coral were getting really beat up from falling down and having rocks fall on them.  I felt my scape wasn't as good as it could be either and it lacked places to put coral.  My new scape is solid like a rock (ha ha!) and has lots of places for coral.  Since I started over with cycling new rock, I have lost some time but thats ok.

[vlangel]

My 2nd cycle is acting just like the 1st did.  I set it up and got it wet last night.  I added seachem stability and went to bed.  This morning the pico is cloudy, just like the first time.  I hope it cycles as fast.