AM Radio Pico

[cincyJames]

18 hours ago, yoshii said:

How much do you need to top off daily? (or weekly?)

I mean, we are talking tablespoons worth of water...LOL! I definitely could do it manually without any issues. My only thing is that if I forget for two days... That will be a decent shift in salinity for 0.5 gallons of water. Right now the tank is so new and I am adding stuff to it every couple days, so I likely won't forget to add water, but once I decide to leave it and let things grow, I may forget. Also we will likely have to run the AC in the house in a minute then or so, so that will lead to more evaporation than current. Ultimately we will see how it goes.

18 hours ago, Kriswendorf said:

Looks really cool!!!! What about a doser to keep up on top off???

I contemplated that. I think I can get mine working more reliably but will probably have to do a couple slight modifications to it is all. 

[cincyJames]

Wow, so it looks like I haven't updated photos of the tank in a while. I have been posting a lot more on Instagram it seems though so I have plenty of pictures. Haha

 

Nothing too exciting going on. Everything seems to be pretty stable. I took the ATO out and have been doing manual topoffs.  I've done a couple water changes, added a purple gorgonian and a couple multicolored zoas from the LFS. My LPS looked rough for most of the past week but seems to be doing better tonight. I took the Halloween hermit out and put him in my 5 gallon tank. He was basically rearranging the tank daily and I felt it necessary to keep moving stuff back... So by taking him out it has kept me from putting my ogre hands in. Lol.  

 

[Wingy]

That is beautiful.

[Tigahboy]

Everything looking 👌!

[This guy is extra salty]

That is a cool little tank!

 

on thing that bothers me is when you look inside and you see the back slots maybe a piece of black fabric or window tint on the inside?

[dling]

Any fish? If no, will there ?

[Tempestas]

Such amazing variety in such a tiny space.

[cincyJames]

4 hours ago, This guy is extra salty said:

That is a cool little tank!

 

on thing that bothers me is when you look inside and you see the back slots maybe a piece of black fabric or window tint on the inside?

I had some black plastic back there for a little bit, but it couldn't fit inside of the radio shell. LOL

 

I have thought about doing a frosted plastic cling to the back glass actually.  After seeing @Tigahboy's 2.5 gallon tank, I really like the frosted glass look.  The inside of the radio shell is dark brown, so it should be completely dark too.  I have some laying around, so I will update once completed

 

3 hours ago, dling said:

Any fish? If no, will there ?

Kind of to be determined.  I had a goby in my gumball tank and with feeding it, it made the parameters a little more unstable.  I will probably add more inverts though.

3 hours ago, Tempestas said:

Such amazing variety in such a tiny space.

Thanks!  I really would like to put some higher end stuff in here... but there is so much likelihood for disaster, it is just easier to keep cheaper corals. Ha!  There still is probably $125 in coral in it though so the coral cost is more than the tank value at this point anyways. LOL

 

I am always open to recommendations/suggestions if anyone has any corals they think would be great in the tank. 

[Tigahboy]

I think the slots in the background fit well with the unique character of this pico, but frosted back will look great too!  

[This guy is extra salty]

22 hours ago, cincyJames said:

I had some black plastic back there for a little bit, but it couldn't fit inside of the radio shell. LOL

 

I have thought about doing a frosted plastic cling to the back glass actually.  After seeing @Tigahboy's 2.5 gallon tank, I really like the frosted glass look.  The inside of the radio shell is dark brown, so it should be completely dark too.  I have some laying around, so I will update once completed

 

I use car window tint on the back of my frag tank. Wasn’t too bad looking for 10$ and some scotch tape 😂 

 

but the frosted glass would be interesting to see

[cincyJames]

Brief Tank update. 2 months old today. Tank seems to be stable. I have been trying to balance lighting needs for LPS and trying not to get algae growth.  Luckily I haven't had any algae issues but the hammer just seems sad all the time. The candy cane that I have in the middle of the tank seems to be doing fine. I think I may take the hammer out and replace it with some zoas or something. Really just looking for some more color and a little more movement. I added a green mushroom to the left corner and it seems to be pretty happy.

 

I added a sexy shrimp and a baby hermit a few weeks ago, but the hermit appears to be MIA. The sexy shrimp and snails are all doing great though. I continue to do manual water top offs every few days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fishfreak0114]

This is such a cool tank!!  You should make a business of retrofitting odd things into aquariums, you're clearly really good at it!

[yoshii]

Awesome! You don't need high end corals to have a beautiful tank

[cincyJames]

4 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

This is such a cool tank!!  You should make a business of retrofitting odd things into aquariums, you're clearly really good at it!

You may be on to something! Lol. I had someone reach out to me after the first time I posted it on Instagram wanting to buy it.  I told then that I would let them know when I was done with it.

4 hours ago, yoshii said:

Awesome! You don't need high end corals to have a beautiful tank

Thanks! I agree 100%. I have never really been into high end corals because I would be devastated to lose that much money if the tank failed. In a pico, the odds are just too high. Haha