Pico Rock Flower Anemone tank

[jakes_tanks]

Hi, this is my journal of a 3-gallon pico reef I set up in December in of 2017. My goal for this tank was to have an easy to maintain, small tank specifically to focus on rock flower anemones and Sexy Shrimp. If anyone has questions on how this tank is set up equipment wise and livestock feel free to ask below, as well as post about any suggestions you have or pictures of your own Sexy Shrimp or Rock Flower Anemones. 

 

Stay tuned as I plan to add more RFA's to the tank soon

[1967type1]

Looks good! As for equipment, an oversized hang on back filter works great especially when you convert it to a mini refugium with chaeto or similar macro algae. For now the clowns might be fine, but you will run it to issues with nitrates and phosphates soon. And they will out grow the tank but I bet  you know that. Utilizing a ATO is almost a must when dealing with sensitive inverts like nems and keeping those salinity swings as minimal as possible is crucial. 

[West1]

SWEET! Im torn between a nem/rock flower tank and a LPS tank.

[Christopher Marks]

I love RFA tanks! Welcome to the community @jakes_tanks! Are you using the stock Picotope compact florescent light?

[jakes_tanks]

On 1/22/2018 at 12:28 AM, 1967type1 said:

Looks good! As for equipment, an oversized hang on back filter works great especially when you convert it to a mini refugium with chaeto or similar macro algae. For now the clowns might be fine, but you will run it to issues with nitrates and phosphates soon. And they will out grow the tank but I bet  you know that. Utilizing a ATO is almost a must when dealing with sensitive inverts like nems and keeping those salinity swings as minimal as possible is crucial. 

@1967type1 I have noticed an increase of nitrates and phosphates since the addition of the clowns and the development of slime algae. I have managed to counter these issues by frequent water changes, minimal feeding, and most recently the addition of a tiny bag of gfo in the HOB filter which seems to be making a huge difference on the slime algae.

As of right now I'm manually topping off but am looking for ato option that is suitable for the location and aesthetically pleasing as it is on a work desk. If you or anyone has suggestions for compact ato set up that would be incredibly helpful! 

 

The picture below is of the tiny gfo bag I put in the filter

[jakes_tanks]

On 1/25/2018 at 12:51 PM, Christopher Marks said:

I love RFA tanks! Welcome to the community @jakes_tanks! Are you using the stock Picotope compact florescent light?

@Christopher Marks Thanks! The light is actually a Wavepoint 6watt all actinic led light, and to compensate for that amount of actinic I superglued an Ecozotic led strip to each side of the Wavepoint light. Each Ecozotic strip has 2 white LEDs and 1 blue led. The light is pretty small and simple but seems to be working well and the best part is that it was pretty much free considering its made from stuff I had lying around in my garage the past couple years. 

[banshee]

This looks awesome. I love my RFA's! I kind of wish I had made them their own tank. Now you've got me thinking about adding another tank. 

[jakes_tanks]

18 hours ago, banshee said:

This looks awesome. I love my RFA's! I kind of wish I had made them their own tank. Now you've got me thinking about adding another tank. 

@banshee Yah I actually got the inspiration for setting up this tank from the reefbuilders episode on the pico RFA tank and happened to have enough stuff laying around to do it. I couldn't be more happy that I decided to set it up as it made me realize once again how amazing and diverse RFA's are and how great they look once together in a species-specific style tank. 

[jakes_tanks]

Heres some pictures I took yesterday after doing a water change and cleaning up the tank a bit. The RFA's seem to be doing well so I'm planning on picking up a couple more this next week to fill in the tank some more. 

[Subsea]

Looks great.

 

I question your choice of chemical filtration.    Instead of going after phosphate, I suggest you go after dissolved organic carbon.   For DOC removal, use GAC.

 

In nature, for anything to grow, it combines in the ratio of carbon/nitrogen/phosphate at 106/16/1 .  Go after the biggest portion which is carbon.

 

 

[Subsea]

@jakes_tanks

 

Carbon fixation supplies all of the carbon for algae to grow.  So flowers and corals have photosynthetic algae which produce carbon using alkalinity coupled with photosynthesis to produce glucose which is carbon.  The carbon coming in with your food feeds bacteria.  I suggest you target DOC and not phosphate unless you know that you have excess.  Phosphate is a major nutrient required for organic molecules to build complex compounds.  

 

If you were able to remove 100% of phosphate  from the water, then nothing would grow in your tank.

[jakes_tanks]

On 2/2/2018 at 2:45 AM, Subsea said:

Looks great.

 

I question your choice of chemical filtration.    Instead of going after phosphate, I suggest you go after dissolved organic carbon.   For DOC removal, use GAC.

 

In nature, for anything to grow, it combines in the ratio of carbon/nitrogen/phosphate at 106/16/1 .  Go after the biggest portion which is carbon.

 

 

Thanks for the great info. I was planning on trying out carbon after I have to change out the gfo to see if the carbon has a better effect on the cyano so ill keep you posted on the results once I change it. 

[Subsea]

Unless you are wanting to see which solves the problem independently, I would use both if you have room.  Once cyno goes away, drop the use of gfo.

 

Use modest amounts of GAC, 24/7,  changed on a regular schedule.

 

Though not as bad as BTA, Flower anemones will move around, make sure pump suction intakes are well protected.  I have four differrent color morphs.  After a month, they seem to have settled down.  

 

I had one that survived a fresh water dilution due to a stuck ATO on outside growout system.  Ten years later, it got as big as a small pie.

[jakes_tanks]

16 hours ago, Subsea said:

Unless you are wanting to see which solves the problem independently, I would use both if you have room.  Once cyno goes away, drop the use of gfo.

 

Use modest amounts of GAC, 24/7,  changed on a regular schedule.

 

Though not as bad as BTA, Flower anemones will move around, make sure pump suction intakes are well protected.  I have four differrent color morphs.  After a month, they seem to have settled down.  

 

I had one that survived a fresh water dilution due to a stuck ATO on outside growout system.  Ten years later, it got as big as a small pie.

Yah, I would love to be able to use both but because my HOB filter is incredibly small I only have enough room for a 2"x3" bag of media. So I'll plan to stick with the gfo a little longer until the cyno is pretty much all gone the switch over to the carbon. 

 

The HOB filter is the form of water movement in the tank and the intake for it has slots that are only about 2mm wide so I shouldn't have any issues with the anemones there. The one issue I have had is the first night got my white zebra RFA it moved to the back of the tank where the little heater is and attached to it and found it dead the next morning. So I'm planning on trying to find an even smaller heater that I can run horizontally about halfway up the glass on the back wall so it's not touching the sand to reduce the chance of the RFA's attaching to it. Yet still low enough to where it won't get exposed to air if the water level drops. 

[Reg]

So excited to have found this page.  Actually in the process of setting up my 7 gallon acrylic myself.  Just to be clear, exactly what media do you have in your HOB filter?  I was going to use my old HOB filter from my 5 gallon freshwater tank.  It has 2 compartments where the filters for that model are fitted, so wondering what I should put in those slots.  Also, what suitable tankmates can go in the tank?  Any fish at all?  Thanks in advance!