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

[Clown79]

On 01/03/2018 at 10:30 PM, ChristopherDido said:

Well everything was going great. Came home today to find my Pom-Pom Crab dead :-( did a quick water change and checked all params, everything was normal. Thinking there was just not enough food for him... He seemed fine, saw him out night before last... I'd been too afraid to feed more than once a week. Lesson learned on the small scale reef. Those of you with critters besides corals and snails, how often do you feed? 

Sorry to hear about the pom pom. It may not be your container or lack of feeding. Just possibly an unknown cause.

 

I have 2 pom poms and a hermit. I feed a few pellets 2 times a week

 

I love the container. It's really well done

[teenyreef]

I love this one and I can't wait to see the final pictures! 

[ChristopherDido]

17 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Sorry to hear about the pom pom. It may not be your container or lack of feeding. Just possibly an unknown cause.

 

I have 2 pom poms and a hermit. I feed a few pellets 2 times a week

 

I love the container. It's really well done

Thanks for that, makes me feel better about losing the Pom pom.

 

7 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I love this one and I can't wait to see the final pictures! 

Well now I hope I don't disappoint with my last post!   Not sure how I didn't see yours til today, it looks great!  Good Luck!

[ChristopherDido]

Here's a quick pic of the RFA that I got last week at the Frag Swap here, never seen an Orange one, thought it was awesome and unique so I bought it!  That puts me up to 5 RFAs in this little "Jar." Wanted to share this before I update my final post.

 

Oh and a quick gif to tide you over til then too!  

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, ChristopherDido said:

Thanks for that, makes me feel better about losing the Pom pom.

 

Well now I hope I don't disappoint with my last post!   Not sure how I didn't see yours til today, it looks great!  Good Luck!

Thanks, you too! 

 

That gif is so cool 

[ChristopherDido]

Alright, here goes end of Pico Contest Post.  Here are my final thoughts which will be turned in with these three photos.  Good luck to all others still in the Contest, it has been fun and I am very grateful for having been able to take part in this and interact with so many awesome people, thanks again for the fun!  Final Update is 249 words.

 

When we started this pico, we had a very specific idea in mind,  highlight two of our favorite corals; RFAs and Zoas. We succeeded in this venture.  I had seen someone doing a single specimen reef jar when I first got into the Hobby and I told myself I wanted to do that.  When this contest came around it was my chance to do just that. I was really hoping I would get some baby RFAs and hopefully learn how to take care of them, sadly that did not happen.  

 

The biggest struggle encountered with the Jar chosen was the opening being pretty small, it made it really hard when adding corals throughout the contest, as i was limited to only putting them where I could easily reach or I risked water everywhere.  This made maintenance tougher too as I could not reach everywhere. The next biggest struggle was temperature fluctuations, we live in a very old house and our house heater couldn’t keep up when it got really cold. Lesson that was learned here, buy a really good timer, ours was on a smart timer, connected to the internet.  I was out of town so this piece of equipment proved invaluable to being able to quickly make changes even while I was away and keep everything alive.

 

All in all as a relative newb to reefing, this contest and community has made me more comfortable with reefing and opened my eyes to the beauty of simplicity in reefing.  

 

Up first is my Full Jar Shot entry:

 

Second Photo Shows the Growth of my Zoas, none of them had more than 10 polyps when I bought them, really wish all were opened, but is what it is:

 

And final Shot is the one I think encompasses the whole "Midwest Industrial" theme of my build, yes that is a late 19th Century Sewing Machine we used as a "stand:"

[teenyreef]

Absolutely gorgeous! 

[fishfreak0114]

Incredible finish!

[ChristopherDido]

9 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Absolutely gorgeous! 

 

8 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Incredible finish!

Awww y'all... 

[vlangel]

Beautiful pics and well said!

[seabass]

Wow, another great entry!  Good luck in the contest.

[ChristopherDido]

After thinking on it for a while, we have decided we would not "upgrade" the Pico.  Instead we added to the little pico a new critter.  We got a Porcelain Anemone Crab!  Here's a pick of him, he already found his "home" he hasn't moved from this RFA in two days now.  I love that he is out and about all the time and the fanning is awesome!  I am very pleased with him, was debating between a few things to put in here.  Without further ado here is our newest addition!

 

[debbeach13]

He looks great in there. Glad to hear you are keeping the pico.

[ChristopherDido]

On 4/1/2018 at 7:33 PM, vlangel said:

Beautiful pics and well said!

 

On 4/2/2018 at 5:32 PM, seabass said:

Wow, another great entry!  Good luck in the contest.

Thanks to both of you! Doesn't look like I'll win anything, but it was loads of fun and I've learned a lot.

[vlangel]

8 hours ago, ChristopherDido said:

 

Thanks to both of you! Doesn't look like I'll win anything, but it was loads of fun and I've learned a lot.

It was a lot of fun and I also learned a lot!

I love your new addition.  The porcelain looks great.

[JBM]

9 hours ago, ChristopherDido said:

 

Thanks to both of you! Doesn't look like I'll win anything, but it was loads of fun and I've learned a lot.

 

Hog wash. You won devote followers. You do plan on keeping this tank running right? Sometimes, and especially in this case. The journey is more important than the end or the start

[ChristopherDido]

11 minutes ago, JBM said:

 

Hog wash. You won devote followers. You do plan on keeping this tank running right? Sometimes, and especially in this case. The journey is more important than the end or the start

I didn't mean it in a negative sense, I meant it in the sense of looking at this, as I got into it to have fun.  That's what I should have stayed at!  I got excited at the end that I might win something and really and truly I am just happy to have had a successful pico and I do plan on keeping it going!  I want to grow out those Zoas :-)   The Journey has definitely been worth it!

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

It was a lot of fun and I also learned a lot!

I love your new addition.  The porcelain looks great.

He's insanely cute!  My Wife loves him too!

[vlangel]

Your pico is so nice that I never would have guessed that you are new to reefing.  It really is a beautiful little ecosystem.

[Christopher Marks]

23 hours ago, ChristopherDido said:

After thinking on it for a while, we have decided we would not "upgrade" the Pico.  Instead we added to the little pico a new critter.  We got a Porcelain Anemone Crab!

I'm glad you'll be keeping it around with the new anemone crab! You built such an awesome and unique pico reef, you should be very proud of all you accomplished in such a short amount of time  

[Lula_Mae]

I have a porcelain anemone crab in my 15L who loves my St. Thomas mushroom.  I am not sure the mushroom loves him back as much but it tolerates him lol.

[ChristopherDido]

Hey all, Pico is still up and chugging along. Sadly a frag of Zoas I bought at the frag swap, did not fair will in my tank. I believe after something the guy said when I bought them,  they were literally fragged the night before the swap and did not have a chance to heal up and the stress from different water sources just did them in.  So I have been battling some algae since then. And apparently I can no longer keep macro in the Pico, not sure if the porcelain Anemone Crab or the new turbo snail I got to replace the black foot turbo that crawled out of my jar is the culprit, but it all got eaten except what I moved to my larger tank. 

 

Anyway, reason for this post, besides a minor update. Can someone help me ID this, it's growing from the bottom of the LR with my RFAs. They glow bright green.  It popped up right at the end of the contest and was just able to finally get a good pic of it. Thanks! 

[MainelyReefer]

That jelly fish type thing you saw swimming during the competition was the baby hydroid form of these adult hydroids I bet.  I think it was you who also had baby jelly fish type HH anyways

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, GraniteReefer said:

That jelly fish type thing you saw swimming during the competition was the baby hydroid form of these adult hydroids I bet.  I think it was you who also had baby jelly fish type HH anyways

GREAT! 😞 ok so this is a first for me. So based on quick research, I've seen people say take rock out and set them on fire lol... I'm a little concerned about doing that as it is my rock with the RFAs... Any advice?

[seabass]

Are you concerned about taking the RFAs out of the water?  They should be fine out of the water for awhile (like up to 10 or 15 minutes).  Just don't let them dry up.