Upside Down Pico Reef - A very Pico Christmas!

[MockandRoll]

Great idea! I have two suggestions. 1) Use a lot of silicon to secure the rock to a glass lid 2) using a piece of plexiglass between the light and jar bottom along with a fan in the cabinet should negate any heat issues. Going to be fun to watch. 

[TFish77]

 

 

 

 

 

[seabass]

The first thing I thought of was the Topsy Turvy tomato planter.  Then I thought it would be cool if you grew terrestrial plants above, like:

IDK, maybe if you invert the lid too?

 

 

Here's another idea.  Maybe you can drill through the top and use a nylon thread rod to hold the rock to the lid:  http://www.marcorocks.com/aquascape-supplies/3-8-16-nylon-thread-rod-24-includes-10-pk-nuts-10-pk-washers/

 

[TFish77]

On 10/19/2017 at 4:45 AM, seabass said:

The first thing I thought of was the Topsy Turvy tomato planter.  Then I thought it would be cool if you grew terrestrial plants above, like:

IDK, maybe if you invert the lid too?

 

 

Here's another idea.  Maybe you can drill through the top and use a nylon thread rod to hold the rock to the lid:  http://www.marcorocks.com/aquascape-supplies/3-8-16-nylon-thread-rod-24-includes-10-pk-nuts-10-pk-washers/

 

 

.......Don't give me ideas. 

 

I wonder if I could suspend a cup full of sand with small holes in it and attach the tonga branch to the bottom but grow mangroves out of the top. I know the idea is simplicity but damn would that be something cool. Would solve my biological filtration concerns too. 

[TFish77]

Finally got a day off so you know this bad boy is getting up and running today! 

 

[TFish77]

 

I'm really happy with the way things are coming along. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TFish77]

Done... mostly. I still need to get the Tonga situated the way I want it and glue it to the lid. I just wanted to get the tank up and running though and let it sit for a few weeks. All of the equipment is hidden in the drawers below. The only equipment besides the light currently is an airstone. The Caulerpa is just temporary as well and will be pulled out soon. I just wanted all those good bugs from my frag tank fuge. 

 

[TFish77]

It's pretty amazing how much life is already in there. I turned off all the flow to my frag tank fuge, stirred it up, and added 75% of that water and 25% fresh salt water mixed with red sea coral pro salt to start the pico. Also I had planned on adding a small powerhead but the flow generated from the air stone seems to be more than adequate. I am a little worried about salt creep since we cant drill the lids and the airline creates a small gap but we will see I guess. 

 

This is absolutely my new favorite tank . 

 

Got that sweet first coral in there as well 

 

 

 

 

 

[TFish77]

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[TFish77]

So I haven't really been able to find that perfect piece of tonga so I decided to try and make my own. I borrowed an aqua saw from my buddy and am going to try and create my own "upside down tree" look and get it attached to the lid. 

 

[TFish77]

Ok despite a few mishaps things are going relatively well . I was actually able to find a really nice piece I decided to use as my "base" rock and got that attached to the lid. I used a combination of silicone, super glue, and coral puddy to attach it. I will probably do another round of puddy and super glue just to make the rock kinda blend in more to the lid and make it super secure. 

 

With the distortion from the tank itself the rock in there looks really big. I still wanna attach a few other branches just to give me more room for coral but all in all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I am going to give it 24 hours upside right then put it upside down in the tank but with supports for the rock for another 24 hours since the silicone will still technically be dry. 

 

I'm having way too much fun with this....

 

 

 

 

 

Tanks got a few extra pieces of tonga in there with a temporary lid. All of the extra macro has been removed. 

 

[vlangel]

The tonga on the lid looked pretty good.  I was wondering how you were going to secure it.

 

I found that JB weld water weld works better than coral putty if you want a permanent fix.  Its water potable so I assume it is reef safe.  That is just fyi if you are not satisfied with the coral putty.

[TFish77]

17 hours ago, vlangel said:

The tonga on the lid looked pretty good.  I was wondering how you were going to secure it.

 

I found that JB weld water weld works better than coral putty if you want a permanent fix.  Its water potable so I assume it is reef safe.  That is just fyi if you are not satisfied with the coral putty.

 

Hmm I will have to look into the water weld as I have never used it before. The rock seems pretty secure now but I am worried down the road as coral colonies become larger and start to weigh it down. I guess we will see . Thank you for the suggestion though. 

[TFish77]

Ok so I think I got everything situated the way I want it. I ended up using a lot less tonga than I thought I would due to the distortion created from the curved glass. Larger pieces in the tank would be magnified and look as though they were hitting the glass. I also ended up cutting off a couple small branches from another piece and gluing them on the main stem. I went ahead and added my first little zoa frag (a scrambled eggs/ lazer lemon combo) just to see how they do. Didn't really get a chance to open up before the lights turned off. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had originally put a bubble diffuser on the end of the air pump but I think that was a bit much 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took the diffuser off the end and added a small hydor pico 180 pump to help keep the bottom stirred up. Not sure if I will keep it long term though. I think it looks a lot better this way lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also had a pumpkin carving contests at a friends tonight. I'm gonna go ahead and say I won 

 

 

 

 

 

[metrokat]

That is a dong. Yup.

[TFish77]

47 minutes ago, metrokat said:

That is a dong. Yup.

 

 

 

 

Because you ruin them.... 

 

At least it's a custom made dong 

[seabass]

I can see that cleaning the bottom, while easy, will be more necessary.  I like how it came out.  Good call on the amount of rock.

[MainelyReefer]

I think you nailed it on the scape, looks just like the envisionment.  Like mama bears porridge.. just right 

[TFish77]

On 10/26/2017 at 12:55 AM, seabass said:

I can see that cleaning the bottom, while easy, will be more necessary.  I like how it came out.  Good call on the amount of rock.

 

 

18 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

I think you nailed it on the scape, looks just like the envisionment.  Like mama bears porridge.. just right 

 

Thank you both. Yeah I plan on just giving it a good scrub with some white pad to keep it clean. It's pretty amazing how much distortion is created by the curved glass. It's actually less than I had originally planned but it looked like the rock was touching the glass and I didn't like it. 

 

My biggest concern is still biological filtration but I guess we shall see. The little practice coral I put in seems to be doing well. Still trying to nail down the color correction on the lights  for photos so it doesn't look so.... strange. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we play the waiting game. All I wanna do is add stuff to the tank but I will probably just let it sit for a few weeks and do its thing. I might even cover it with a box or something so I don't have to look at it an be tempted 

 

[Rene]

You really did pick the right piece of rock. As long as you add stuff slowly, hopefully your biological filtration will stabilize even though you don't have a ton of rock and what you do have isn't terribly porous.  I'd be really careful about adding food to this tank without testing at first, though. 

[TFish77]

Shower Thought: Crab(s) and Snail(s) wont be able to make it onto the rock unless I physically put them there . I guess the snail could technically crawl along the lid and get to the rock but not to sure about crabs. 

[Lula_Mae]

8 hours ago, Rene said:

You really did pick the right piece of rock. As long as you add stuff slowly, hopefully your biological filtration will stabilize even though you don't have a ton of rock and what you do have isn't terribly porous.  I'd be really careful about adding food to this tank without testing at first, though. 

If feeding is followed by a large water change within a day or so, it shouldn't be an issue.

[vlangel]

On 10/26/2017 at 12:19 AM, TFish77 said:

Also had a pumpkin carving contests at a friends tonight. I'm gonna go ahead and say I won 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree, hands down, you win!

[mitten_reef]

On 10/18/2017 at 10:26 PM, TFish77 said:

 

umm, Golden Mountain sauce! Now, that's a very fine and unique choice of condiment sir. 

[TFish77]

9 hours ago, vlangel said:

I agree, hands down, you win!

Well I didn't win the gold star but I won the orange star. Got beat out by some punk 8 year old girl .