My first pico reef - 3g

[lifin]

hey guys..

i'm new to this forum. reason.. i want to know how you guys are doing with your pico reefs and get inputs, and share my progress at the same time.

there was a 3g Marineland Silhoutte tank lying around which i have been thinking about setting up as a pico reef for some time now. finally set it up. have been cycling for 3 weeks. this is how it looks now.

i bought the live rock from the LFS. initially thought of breaking it and arranging a rockscape. but i think i found a decent layout without breaking it. i'll have to add another small piece though.

 

[lifin]

well here's the coral placement plan. 😁

[lifin]

First frags added. I haven't attached them yet. What do y'all think?

[AlmightyJoshaeus]

Nice start.

[RedTxn]

Hi and welcome.

Can you share some of the set-up details...

Tank size, mechanical filtration, chemical filtration, Lighting, water flow, heater, water parameters, etc.

Would like to know your starting point as we follow the build.

[Martin Riggs]

Agreed. Just bought the same tank. Having set up yet. 

[ffoott]

+1 on additional info! 

[sadie]

looks good and welcome

 

[lifin]

Thanks so much for the responses.

I haven't added anything special in terms of equipment. There's a back compartment for the tank which houses the filter media and pump. I have a coarse filter, and a polishing filter for media. Have also thrown in a Seachem Purigem to take care of nitrates till the tank stabilizes. There's also a small heater in there. I did not add a circulation pump as I think the flow generated by the filter pump is enough for what I plan to keep. There's also a digital thermometer. 

 

For lighting, I'm using a TrueLumen 10in LED strip 50/50. I'm still debating whether to add a second strip or a small LED module with all Actinic to make it more bluish.

I have re-purposed the stock light (a small led module) to the back compartment. I'm planning to add Chaeto in there.

 

Attaching a picture of the tank after I attached the corals to the rock. (I need to learn to take photos under LED. It looks very bluish in the photos.)

The frags in the picture are from TSM Corals. Since then I have added a couple more frags and have ordered some more from coralust. The plan is to let the frags grow together. 😄

[lifin]

Found the sexy shrimp out and about yesterday evening since i added him/her last week. 

[RedTxn]

coming along nicely, any problems or outbreaks?

[lifin]

Outbreaks: No. So far I have kept up with weekly or at most 1.5 weekly water changes. That could be what's helping with the water quality right now. 

 

Problems: Yes.

See that Sexy shrimp I proudly displayed in my previous post. He's taking down the new Birdsnest I added! Maybe the birdsnest was stressed from shipping. But he's making sure it will be dead!

Here's a photo of the tank right now with new frags I added. The cyphastrea frag and birdsnest frag were bigger than I expected them to be when I ordered online. So they are affecting the overall look of the scape. 

I will post the complete frags list later. Right now I am looking for some help with two of the frags I got from Coralust.

Golden Lepto - I received this frag totally browned out. Even after 2 days, it hasn't recovered much. Any advice? It's there in the front in the photo (square plug).

Cyphastrea - seems to be doing good. but any advice on placement-flow-feeding welcome from hobbyists who have this coral.

 

I've started feeding with Phyto.

[lifin]

Latest pic.

[Tamberav]

Great little tank! Is the lepto coloring up at all yet? 

[lifin]

@Tamberav sorry it took so long to reply. was too busy to even login.

No the lepto is still looking the same. its doing good, but not coloring up. 

I have replaced its position with a gold leptastrea, and moved the lepto to the back of the tank. I'll post a pic soon.