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Midwest Industrial CC Pico Reef - Upsized Pico Now w/Sexy Shrimp


ChristopherDido

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ChristopherDido

Alright All, we live in a Pretty Historic Industrial City so we have decided to go an industrial/reused idea for this time setup, as much as can be accomplished anyway.

 

Display: 1 gallon handblown glass bowl slumped onto Driftwood ($30 find on sale) - Deep Blue 2 Gallon Cube ("upgraded" 5/17/18)

Lighting: ABI 23W Tuna Blue PAR38 Bulb (had it from the original setup for the classroom tank - So no $$$ Spent)

Heater: Aqueon Mini Heater 10W ($17)

Air Pump: Marina 75 Airpump ($11, i think this may be overkill and will probably downgrade, it's splashing water out of the tank.) - Eheim 300 Compact Pump $5 buy (Upraded 5/17/18)

Rock: About 2 pounds of LR from an LFS ($3.50, only charged me a pound)

Sand: 1 Lb of Dry sand from LFS ($3.50, I think its aragonite not really sure)

Salt Mix: Reef Crystals (buying 2 gal at a time from LFS $1/gallon)

Thermometer: Zoo Med Digital Thermometer ($10)  

Light Stand:  Will update this when it's built, probably ~ $30 

 

Am I missing anything I am supposed to Add to my build thread?

 

Gonna experiment potentially with Rock Flower Anemones and grow a "Garden of Flowers" in here, hoping the flow will be ok, still need to get a regulator to lower it a bit.

 

Here's our Entrance to Contest tank shot with my wife's favorite Pizza Condiment 🙂

IMG_20171016_184024_1920x1080.thumb.jpg.60928c6da5c38879a752144c626cf3b5.jpg

 

Here it is performing a Water Test -  I'll add Pictures of the rock, sand and display stand when I get it all together tomorrow 🙂

 

IMG_20171016_173243_1920x1080.thumb.jpg.4e1ec54f76eae81ec4070d51a676a0ac.jpg

 

 

  • Like 11
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ChristopherDido
3 minutes ago, el fabuloso said:

Nice! I've seen those tanks before and have always been curious to make a pico out of one. Great choice. :happy:

Thanks!  We Thought so too obviously!  Very Excited to be doing this contest, I know someone else is already using a similar container was a little bummed by that at first but not anymore!  :-)

1 minute ago, Rene said:

I love this style of bowl. So pretty. Hope it works out well for you as a pico!

Us too! On Both Marks :-)

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ChristopherDido
19 hours ago, duderubble said:

I like it. I'm right down the road from you near Lebanon, MO. 

That's awesome! Cool to know others in to area! Any LFS I'm missing out on? 

19 hours ago, schgr.cube said:

I like this one! That light is going to be so overkill though lol

It's gonna be about 10-11 inches from the surface, so hopefully it will be ok... Guess I'll find out ha

7 hours ago, Orangutran said:

Beautiful bowl! If you don't have a timer/controller on the heater, 10w may be too much. My 5w cobalt is perfect for 1 gallon with no timer or controller.

Hmm... I was thinking 10w wouldn't be too bad... Find out soon enough. My house is old and has crazy temp fluctuations. We'll see if I have to donate a bit.

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19 minutes ago, ChristopherDido said:

That's awesome! Cool to know others in to area! Any LFS I'm missing out on? 

That's a good question. I'd love to know what you know too. I like Gateway Aquatics. The place in Collinsville, Aquatic Treasures, has some nice stuff but is a little pricey. Unfortunately I seldom get up that way and we're down to one store in Springfield and since competition went away quality has plummeted. 

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burtbollinger

Re STL stores...

LFS....I hit up Corals and More (St Charles) as my main store....and do occasional online shopping with local pickup at Salty Underground.

 

Quality at other LFS has suffered to the point where I don't even bother.

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I wondered of salty underground had a location. I'll have to try that.  St. Charles is pretty out of the way for me but I might make a trip someday. 

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ChristopherDido
1 hour ago, vlangel said:

It looks like you stayed with a traditional look which looks quite nice with your decor.

Thanks! I tried! :-) Had to keep my significant other happy! She likes it btw :-)

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ChristopherDido

Alright Quick update on the tank.  I added sand because I was afraid of the rocks sliding all over the tank, well because of that needed to hold off a few days before adding anything.  It should be ready to go today and fully cycled.  However, I will not be adding anything til at least tomorrow being I have some Baseball to watch tonight :-)

 

Here's a quick couple shots of new aquascape and the sand in the tank.  Very Excited to get it going, still trying to figure out my heating situation.  The 10 watt heater is putting the tank at a constant 82.3 (without the light shining on it for 6-8hrs.)  Thinking I'm gonna buy the 5 watt Cobalt and rig something up til it gets here.  So yea, thats another issue, but will be solved very quickly.

 

IMG_20171029_180614_1920x1080.thumb.jpg.9c85f97a6fea39e0aaac98d828c565f9.jpgIMG_20171029_175808-01_1920x1080.thumb.jpeg.6e1987ab22a7c5b264957078b781b2b5.jpeg

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ChristopherDido
12 minutes ago, duderubble said:

Have you considered using a timer to cycle the hear on and off every half hour?. 

I am gonna try that when I get home this afternoon, picked up another timer so I'll let you know what I find out :-)

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ChristopherDido

Just a Quick Update... Tank is cycled, took longer than i thought.  Bad news the 5w Cobalt heater was not enough, Temp was sitting between 72 and 76, way too low for me to feel comfortable.  So Back to rigging it up, putting the 10w on a timer and hoping the timer doesn't crap out on me, seems to be working so far, I will check it again to make sure that the temp is good when I wake up and if it is I will be adding my first coral tomorrow!  :-)  I'll update with some pics when I get that going.

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  • ChristopherDido changed the title to Midwest Industrial CC Pico Reef - Upsized Pico Now w/Sexy Shrimp

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