5G Pico Stocking Options

[vqreefer]

58 minutes ago, dasrkrain said:

That's awesome, thanks! 

 

My tank is two months old, and I was finally starting to add my cleanup crew. Then the worst happened... My buddy got into this at the same time I did, and he completely jumped the gun, added fish before his tank was ready. Of course he lost a bunch. He decided this hobby was to much for him so he handed the remaining fish to me, so I have livestock introduced way earlier than I am comfortable with. And it's not stuff I'd ever want in a five gallon setup, so after I gain a little control I'll be immediately upgrading to a larger tank! Having friends is fun isn't it? 🙂

 

Here is break down of my tank as it sits:

 

CUC:

2 red leg hermit crabs

2 blue leg hermit crabs

several bristle worms that hitchhiked over from live rock

 

Inherited livestock and reason for needing a bigger tank so urgently:

2 Ocellaris clownfish

1 Condy anemone

1 bleached to all heck Acro SPS

 

The clowns are both younger and only just over an inch in size, so the tank seems to be fine for now, as they play and dance in the waves and run around the rocks, but I spoke to LFS / did some research here, and I won't be able to keep them in this tank for much longer as they will most likely more than double in size.

 

The Condy must be a strong breed. He survived that other tank of dred, the trip over to my place, and now my young tank and he seems to be taking it like a champ. Right now he's mad because my power head failed and I just ordered a new one rush shipping! Not enough flow in the tank with that stock pump.

 

The Acro SPS is all but gone. It was green when it was purchased, but by the time I got it there is just the tiniest little bit of green at the base and the rest is almost bone white... I'm not sure if anything is even left. I am right in the middle/end of my Diatom bloom (those little crabs really went to town on it) and the diatom algae has started growing on the poor acro. I'm not sure I have the ability to bring this thing back if it's even possible. Some advice would be appreciated. 

 

As for hardware I have a weird mix of stuff from my tank and the few things I dared to take from my buddy's abandoned project. I replaced my stock tank light with his 21 watt Hygger Blue White LED. I have a NICREW Submersible Aquarium Heater I got in anticipation of the larger tank, so it looks really awkward int his tank. I just ordered a Hydor Koralia Nano which will be here tomorrow. I'm using activated carbon and zeolite crystals as well.

 

I did a seven day round of Seachem Stability when I first put those inherited fish int he tank, and use Seachem Prime to help keep levels stable until my tank can mature a bit more as adding these little guys and gals has definitely thrown off my plans.

 

Also ignore the cheesy background. I put it up because one of the clown fish kept seeing his reflection in the back of the tank and wouldn't stop chasing it and hitting the glass... those guys are very strange. 

 

 

That situation is far from ideal but the tank looks good. What are your plans for the upgrade? Hopefully the nem makes it. They usually need to be added to 6+ months matured tanks.

[randofishguy]

4 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

That situation is far from ideal but the tank looks good. What are your plans for the upgrade? Hopefully the nem makes it. They usually need to be added to 6+ months matured tanks.

Yes much less than ideal, especially for a noob. Maybe someone with more experience could make this work, but I’m still figuring this all out.

 

Nem usually looks a lot happier than that, but he’s been all small and sulky since my powerhead died earlier today. Funny thing is that thing loves the substrate! It buries it’s feet in it and will reach out those arms as happy as a... well as a nem! Lol 

 

He’s brown which I thought was a bad sign, but I read somewhere that brown is actually a healthy color for them to turn. Not sure how much truth there is in that.

 

its the SPS that I’m worried about. Not sure how much you can make out in that pic, but it’s gotta be close if not gone, and I don’t have a clue on what I can do to help it. 

[vqreefer]

Just now, dasrkrain said:

Yes much less than ideal, especially for a noob. Maybe someone with more experience could make this work, but I’m still figuring this all out.

 

Nem usually looks a lot happier than that, but he’s been all small and sulky since my powerhead died earlier today. Funny thing is that thing loves the substrate! It buries it’s feet in it and will reach out those arms as happy as a... well as a nem! Lol 

 

He’s brown which I thought was a bad sign, but I read somewhere that brown is actually a healthy color for them to turn. Not sure how much truth there is in that.

 

its the SPS that I’m worried about. Not sure how much you can make out in that pic, but it’s gotta be close if not gone, and I don’t have a clue on what I can do to help it. 

Hopefully you have the light and flow to bring it back.  I also read that the condy nems do not host clowns and may eat them so keep an eye on it.

[vqreefer]

5 minutes ago, dasrkrain said:

Yes much less than ideal, especially for a noob. Maybe someone with more experience could make this work, but I’m still figuring this all out.

 

Nem usually looks a lot happier than that, but he’s been all small and sulky since my powerhead died earlier today. Funny thing is that thing loves the substrate! It buries it’s feet in it and will reach out those arms as happy as a... well as a nem! Lol 

 

He’s brown which I thought was a bad sign, but I read somewhere that brown is actually a healthy color for them to turn. Not sure how much truth there is in that.

 

its the SPS that I’m worried about. Not sure how much you can make out in that pic, but it’s gotta be close if not gone, and I don’t have a clue on what I can do to help it. 

Now I'm seeing pictures of clowns in them.  There seems to be conflicting info.  Also look into what it's temp range is.

[randofishguy]

2 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

Hopefully you have the light and flow to bring it back.  I also read that the condy nems do not host clowns and may eat them so keep an eye on it.

Thanks for the advice, I read that as well! Oddly enough it is hosting one of the clowns, though I’m not sure if this is good. The last thing I’d want is to wake up one morning to a fat nem and one less clown than I had the night before.

[748S911]

9 minutes ago, dasrkrain said:

 

its the SPS that I’m worried about. Not sure how much you can make out in that pic, but it’s gotta be close if not gone, and I don’t have a clue on what I can do to help it

its gone unfortunately

[randofishguy]

1 minute ago, 748S911 said:

its gone unfortunately

Yikes! No hope at all huh? I’ll have to pull it in the morning then. Thanks for letting me know.

[748S911]

1 minute ago, dasrkrain said:

Yikes! No hope at all huh? I’ll have to pull it in the morning then. Thanks for letting me know.

Yeah all the flesh is completely gone, unfortunately 💀. 

[vqreefer]

Magicians opening up but the red people eaters are being stubborn. They looked like they were starting to open before I fed earlier so I’m hoping they settle in this week.

A new LFS I went to had a small sixline and a few possum wrasses that I’m also considering. He said I could do a bangai cardinal because they’re not active, would that be realistic? I probably won’t do it but I’m curious. Tomorrow I’ll grab a fire and ice frag and some other frags and look at the possum wrasses. I’m still all over the place on fish options so any input is appreciated!

[CD_Scapes]

1 hour ago, vqreefer said:

Magicians opening up but the red people eaters are being stubborn. They looked like they were starting to open before I fed earlier so I’m hoping they settle in this week.

A new LFS I went to had a small sixline and a few possum wrasses that I’m also considering. He said I could do a bangai cardinal because they’re not active, would that be realistic? I probably won’t do it but I’m curious. Tomorrow I’ll grab a fire and ice frag and some other frags and look at the possum wrasses. I’m still all over the place on fish options so any input is appreciated!

Tank looks nice! I just ordered an ORA Jaguar goby for my 5 gallon

[vqreefer]

3 minutes ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

Tank looks nice! I just ordered an ORA Jaguar goby for my 5 gallon

Thank you! Very neat fish. Take some pics when you get it

[CD_Scapes]

5 minutes ago, vqreefer said:

Thank you! Very neat fish. Take some pics when you get it

Will do, I might revive my build thread too

 

[vqreefer]

Update: added possum wrasses and two mystery zoas. The store just set up a new frag tank but it doesn’t have lights yet so I couldn’t tell what the frags were. I’m pretty sure one is fire and ice and the other is some sort of blue and orange. 

[vqreefer]

Acclimation was sort of rough. The possum wrasse was swimming in the tank then started laying on its side in the bag. I got it home and started drip acclimation for it and the frags but had to take my brother to the doctor so they ended up being slowly dripped for about an hour or maybe a little over. The wrasse was still on its side pretty much the whole time and the water was cold so I pulled the heater out of the bucket I was mixing in and dropped it in for a little with and without power and sped up to get temps closer. I then bagged all three and floated for another 10-15 minutes before adding to the tank. The wrasse did better in the bag then swam out of my hand very fast when I got it out. It hid on the side of the rocks but was upright and seemed alright. I had to go to work early so I hope all is well with the tank. My brother should be checking on it so hopefully it doesn’t die on me like the Pygmy hawk did. 

 

Also, sorry for pic quality. The iPhone X usually takes pretty good pics but without the light on it sucks. I’ll have some more tomorrow or whenever I can see the possum and corals are open. 

[vqreefer]

Mystery zoas already opening up. The fire and ice type frag has 18+ polyps. Working on ID for the other. Possum is alive and seems to be doing well. Very shy so far and my rock work has lots of nooks for it to hide. I’ll get pics if it comes out. 

I moved all of the zoas into the rock work still on the plugs. Most seem to be happy but I’ll keep an eye on them for the next few days. 

[CD_Scapes]

3 hours ago, vqreefer said:

Mystery zoas already opening up. The fire and ice type frag has 18+ polyps. Working on ID for the other. Possum is alive and seems to be doing well. Very shy so far and my rock work has lots of nooks for it to hide. I’ll get pics if it comes out. 

I moved all of the zoas into the rock work still on the plugs. Most seem to be happy but I’ll keep an eye on them for the next few days. 

I juts picked up some zoas too! Mine are aqua green and the other is green/yellow blends

[vqreefer]

1 hour ago, 9darlingcalvi said:

I juts picked up some zoas too! Mine are aqua green and the other is green/yellow blends

I’ll probably just do zoas on rocks, acans on sandbed, and some euphylia in the back or on top. I was curious about trying acro or birds nest but I don’t think it would look good.

[vqreefer]

Got 3 new frags yesterday. I’ll take pics when I get home if they’re opened up. My possum is coming out more and even came up to the front of the tank with me looking at it but it quickly went and hid again. Diatoms are coming back and there’s a little green algae but nothing too crazy. 

Livestock will probably be left alone for a bit but I might add some inverts like a porcelain crab and maybe some shrimp. I’m thinking about cutting out the internal filter and adding an AC 50 or 70 for my bio media and Chemipure Blue. I already have a Koralia Nano, so with an impeller from a 20 or 30 would this be too much flow?

I’ll also make a new thread at some point for progress and information instead of asking questions. I also plan on making a version about my experience with a pico/nano as my first venture as a complete newb into saltwater. 

[randofishguy]

6 hours ago, vqreefer said:

Got 3 new frags yesterday. I’ll take pics when I get home if they’re opened up. My possum is coming out more and even came up to the front of the tank with me looking at it but it quickly went and hid again. Diatoms are coming back and there’s a little green algae but nothing too crazy. 

Livestock will probably be left alone for a bit but I might add some inverts like a porcelain crab and maybe some shrimp. I’m thinking about cutting out the internal filter and adding an AC 50 or 70 for my bio media and Chemipure Blue. I already have a Koralia Nano, so with an impeller from a 20 or 30 would this be too much flow?

I’ll also make a new thread at some point for progress and information instead of asking questions. I also plan on making a version about my experience with a pico/nano as my first venture as a complete newb into saltwater. 

Looking good. I'm actually thinking about doing the same. Are you thinking of pulling the whole grey plastic insert? I think it might come out, but I haven't tried yet. 

[vqreefer]

14 hours ago, dasrkrain said:

Looking good. I'm actually thinking about doing the same. Are you thinking of pulling the whole grey plastic insert? I think it might come out, but I haven't tried yet. 

I’ve seen few people do it and it does come out. Someone on here I think did it after tank was setup and said it was a pain but doable. I just like the idea of additional volume and filtration capacity. The filter adds around .5g and without the insert the tank is closer to 6g I believe. I might not be able to get away with calling it a pico though 😅