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Coral Vue Hydros

Cephalopico - ajmckay's Creative container Final FTS


ajmckay

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  • 5 weeks later...

Sooooo...  I've been mostly unable to dedicate time to this little pico unfortunately.  The good news is I have been spending more time on my primary tank though.

 

I've been looking for the right things to add to this tank.  While I haven't yet I'm confident I will at some point.  In the meantime thought it's got a ton of pods and digitate hydroids lol...

 

Here's a pic!

39116749995_d1aa15fc48_c.jpg2018-01-31_10-51-57 by aaron M, on Flickr

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  • 4 weeks later...

So not much has been done...  The little pump I got is somehow too small...  I'm thinking of switching to an air stone? 

 

Here's the pic: 

25714948617_42ef4b16cf_z.jpg2018-03-03_12-00-17 by aaron M, on Flickr 

 

The tank does have some direction now though...  I've decided that I'm going to bring it to work!  They're technically not allowed but I'm going to try and keep it simple enough that it doesn't attract much attention. 

 

Also, the tank has it's first inhabitant!  It's in my display tank temporarily until I figure out a heater.  It's a decorator crab!  I figured it would be a really unique thing to put into the tank.  Joining the crab will be a hermit and a snail.

 

26714022378_e0c93cd837_c.jpg2018-03-03_12-00-04 by aaron M, on Flickr

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  • 2 weeks later...

The contest is coming to a close!  March 31st will be the official end of the competition and then the voting will begin.  In order to help the community decide what tanks to vote for, each remaining contestant will need to do the following:

  1. PM me three (3) final photos that you think summarize your container reef.  The composition for two of these is up to you, but one of them should be a final FTS taken sometime during the month of March.
  2. PM me a written summary of your container reef build and experiences throughout the competition.  This should be no more than 250 words.
  3. These items must be private messaged to me by midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on March 31st.
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21 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

He's so cool looking!

 How big is he?

I would say about 2.5" in diameter?   Doesn't move a whole ton - that's why I'm thinking it would do okay in a small tank.

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  • 2 weeks later...

And just like that, the contest is over!! 

 

The next part of this pico's life will be at my desk at work.  I'm going to swap out the lights to a dimmable DIY because I think having a dimmer light will help the decorator crab be out more during the day.  Other than that though it's pretty much staying as it is.  Note that this is the same rock I had in earlier FTS, just re-oriented because I added sand.  I am going to add some random single polyps though so it has more stuff to attach to itself.

 

The DIY overflow is a small section of 1 1/2" PVC that I cut a line through and flattened out some in the oven.  Then drilled some holes in it.  It's actually not a true overflow because the holes are along the left side there.  The idea being that it pulls water in through the chaeto and also the heater. 

 

Final FTS:

 

39340917400_8a5b5feb0d_c.jpgIMG_20180331_235828 by aaron M, on Flickr

 

41106936342_ab880472c3_c.jpgIMG_20180331_235916 by aaron M, on Flickr

 

41106935702_b464809e73_c.jpgIMG_

20180401_000828 by aaron M, on Flickr

 

Final writeup:

The “Cephalopico” is a 6qt. food storage container that was originally going to have an octopus theme (decals on the outside) but instead decided to make a DIY overflow (because I can’t have a tank without DIY). I used a piece of PVC pipe flattened out a bit in the oven, with some holes drilled in it.  It hides a small pump (45gph) and a 10w heater. Due to equipment shipping time it got wet in December and added the inhabitants in early March.  During this time though I observed the fauna, including pods, worms, and a bunch of digitate hydroids which are interesting! For final stocking, I used this CCPico as an opportunity to house a decorator crab. An opportunistic feeder I likely would not consider for my main tank.  The crab isn’t always out and about but it’s also not typically hard to spot (due to size). I can coax it out with a pellet or two pretty much anytime – the thing is like a bloodhound!

 

During this multi-month competition I’ll admit that I wasn’t really putting my all into this tank. My total cost for this build was about $40 (Heater-10, light-8, pump-5, container-$7,pipe-free,rock/sand/chaeto-stolen from DT, Decorator $7, Hermit-3).  What I did do though – was enhance my enjoyment of the hobby by experimenting and finding a way to keep a very low maintenance pico tank that will be suitable for having on my desk at work now that the contest is over!  Thanks for organizing the contest!   

 

 

 

Additional thoughts beyond the 250 words:  I like the look of super fancy tanks with lots of nice corals etc...  but honestly that wasn't the goal for this tank.  I need a tank that I can leave alone for a weekend at work.  I need something that I can ask a colleague to take care of while I'm on vacation for a week!  So I suppose I should have worded it a little differently than "I wasn't putting my all into the tank" because that wasn't the goal - the opposite in fact.  I also think I achieved this setup quite cheaply...  $40 all in.

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6 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

The false wall isn't allowable in the competition so funny it's part of the write up.  

Well that's that then  :lol: 

 

Wonder if a pipe counts...  It's also not technically an overflow as it has holes down to the bottom - but it does hide the pump/heater.

 

Either way the tank is going to work and contest or no contest it has to have something to hide the pump and heater...

  • Haha 1
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