Ben's 1.4G Pico reef

[Belette]

Greetings everybody !

 

I'm new here since 2017, but I've been in the hobby for years. I haven't posted that much because there is so much to read before ! Right now I'm running a since 11month 12g nano reef, 1.4g fresh water and my last one which I want to share today is one I like the most since I started reefing. I did few picos and nanos, but you have to find your way in aquarium shape, which I've found that I like long cuboid and tower style tanks, I sold almost every cube I got. Sorry for my poor English, I come from Quebec, and my first language is French. I'll try my best ! 

 

I started the 1.4g one many weeks ago by adding live sand, one well fit Fiji live rock, gluing few corals on it, bag of seachem matrix into the 12g and let it goes.

Last week I moved everything to the pico with the same water, and everything is going perfect, cycling is ok, no significant nitrate nor phosphate.

 

Here's the setup:

 

- Custom made aquarium tank 6x6x9'', 1.4 gallon.

- Aquaclear 20 - foam, floss, seachem matrix and YES I do run carbon. I always did and I will do until it give me issues. I have few semi agressive corals like mush and devil hands, also with zoas poison... Water is crytal clear, no bad smells and everything is going really good.

- Preset water heater Marina C17 (77 degree): Marina aren't powerfull and can't heat what they are advertised to. But take the one bigger and it's perfect. Stable, not breakable and affordable. I have 3 of these since many months, no issues.

- Zetlight 3W ZN1020, which is pretty sharp, well made for pico. I like t he spectrum: 2x12000k / 1x 450-465nm, enough for softies and look really great. The best i've found suitable for tiny tank, even it's not hi-tech and adjustable like current-usa or AI, it does the job well for 30$ and not too far of the 12g Current-USA Marine Orbit spectrum .

- 1.75lbs Fiji live rock (ONE BOULDER ONLY. It fits perfectly, it was a genuine challenge to find one), 1'' of aragonite live sand.

- Fritz RPM salt + both sodium carbonate and bicarbonate in small doses to raise a bit DKH to 8-9. No rocket science here, but salt alone is around 6.5-7DKH. PH tends to be around 7.9-8.0 just before water change. Rising KH solve this issue, and stay stable to 8.1.

- 50 to 75% weekly water changes. This is my receipe. I never ever had issues with stress and corals not opening. Even more, they like big WC. It replenish minerals from salt and keep nitrate low.

 

 

Live stock:

 

- 2x violet-blue mushrooms

- 3x different frags of zoathides

- 1x small ugly frag of pocillopora (Kind of a test with easy SPS under this lamp)

- 1x tiny leather devil's hand (it might be a toaddstool, too small yet)

 

- 1x Astrea snail

- 1x Cerith snail

- 1x Nazarius snail

- 1x small scarlet hermit crab.

- Few mussels

 

I plan to add within next weeks few sexy shrimp OR 1x blue CBS OR 1x peppermint shrimp, few frags from my other tank like pumping xenya which I really love, a small feather duster (not with CBS), maybe few snails again. I think a black background would be nice too.  I don't know yet exactly what I'll do.

 

I'll update later, if the journey continues to go well lol.

 

Thank you and have a nice day !

 

Ben

 

[Lula_Mae]

Salut, et bienvenue!  Sorry, that's about the extent of my high school French that I've mostly forgotten!  The tank is very nice looking, very clean.  I'm a fan of softies as well.  That mushroom is so lovely!  Very nice setup!

[Belette]

Merci beaucoup ! Once we do not practice a language by working, traveling or be immerge in it, we loose it really fast. Since I do not travel that much anymore, I forgot so many English words.

 

I like soft corals, waving in water current. They seem alive (I hope they are). But right now my tank looks a bit empty, I'll had some more colors and livestock soon. I really like it.

Thank you for your support !

 

I don't know if my thread is in the wrong section, but I'll show soon my 12 gallons. I also really like it, but it still a nano. Picos are tiny and by the same way I find them more cute and pretty if I can say that. We have to take care of them much more, all choices are limited, so we have to make the good ones, margin of error is very narrow and finally almost no flexibility. Much harder to keep, so when it succeeds in long term, we are proud.

 

Cheers !

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Belette said:

Merci beaucoup ! Once we do not practice a language by working, traveling or be immerge in it, we loose it really fast. Since I do not travel that much anymore, I forgot so many English words.

 

I like soft corals, waving in water current. They seem alive (I hope they are). But right now my tank looks a bit empty, I'll had some more colors and livestock soon. I really like it.

Thank you for your support !

 

I don't know if my thread is in the wrong section, but I'll show soon my 12 gallons. I also really like it, but it still a nano. Picos are tiny and by the same way I find them more cute and pretty if I can say that. We have to take care of them much more, all choices are limited, so we have to make the good ones, margin of error is very narrow and finally almost no flexibility. Much harder to keep, so when it succeeds in long term, we are proud.

 

Cheers !

You can post your 12 gallon in the Aquarium Journals forum, and this one is fine right where it is! And you're correct, you have to make careful choices in tiny tanks!

[Belette]

Too bad ! I put everything back in the bigger reef tank. I had to refill water each day, check salt parameter, shrimps and snails were starving because the line between well fed and polluting water is thin, too thin. In the same idea, nitrate level was always spiking, and I should have made WC each 2-3 days, sadly I had time for once a week. I liked the look, everything was growing, slowly but nothing died. I also tried to put a yellow clown goby two weeks ago, even with a glass lid, he jumped out two days later somewhere between the lid and aquaclear I don't know how. Nothing here to enjoy.

 

I don't have anymore time to put into glass of water like that, my hands barely fit in the tank. Much more easier to keep and enjoy a bit bigger tank like my 12g. I still have my picotope, but at least it's twice the size, and I can fit an aquaclear 50 or 70 with some more water volume to buffer the tank size.

 

Thank you everybody for you interest.