Wingy Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 That looks really good. Quote Link to comment
reef r madness Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Really nice tank... I'm thinking of trying my luck at a 5 gallon setup..you have inspired me 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 1, 2019 Author Share Posted August 1, 2019 Thank you! 3 hours ago, reef r madness said: Really nice tank... I'm thinking of trying my luck at a 5 gallon setup..you have inspired me Do it😁 I love pico's, so much fun! 1 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Looks amazing! Great pics. And the tank seems so much bigger than a pico. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted September 5, 2019 Author Share Posted September 5, 2019 Thanks everyone for all the praise. I can't believe it's Sept already! 1 more month to go and its been a great time. It's been such a crazy month that I haven't updated much or even been able to catch up on everyone's tank. The pico is getting on well. I like the Asta20 but I wouldn't recommend it for larger tanks. Some corals are growing well while others are just the same. The pop and growth is nothing compared to what I was getting under the ABI Tuna blue I was using at the beginning. The jack o latern is starting to spread onto the main liverock which i am so happy about because this coral took a hit when I switched lights and also with the dino. My Monti attached to hank is starting to spread, gsp has grown(not a shocker), the setosa is growing alot and my blasto's are good. Unfortunately, I can't keep acans in this tank. It's the first time I have had issues with Acans. I lost 1 completely, 3/4 of another, a couple heads on another and my rainbow one was never open. So the remaining survivors were moved to my 25g. Params are good in this tank, I test alk and nitrate every week. I do weekly 50% water changes. its super easy tank so far. 9 2 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 Very colorful! Love the back lighting. That's seems to be the thing now - and I like it. Why do you think you're struggling with acans in this tank? Luckily the one I have in mine is doing well. It's my zoas that are pissy...but they are getting better now that I have my alk stable and higher. Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 I think the tank looks great. Are you considering changing the light back to the original? 1 Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted September 5, 2019 Share Posted September 5, 2019 How has the Damsel been for you in the Pico? Also what are your long term plans for the fish? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 On 9/5/2019 at 9:43 AM, Ratvan said: How has the Damsel been for you in the Pico? Also what are your long term plans for the fish? Damsel has been great. Eats like a little piggy but still very small. Long term, well I just happen to have a 10g Nuvo sitting aroung empty, I have a feeling that eventually it will be set up and the damsel will have a new home. My hubby would like to have an elegance only tank when our elegance grows too big, so I think the damsel would look great in that tank. For now, I plan on keeping the pico going. 3 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 October FTS and update I rearranged the pico, I centered the rock and cleaned up in there. It looked cluttered. I move my setosa, jack o latern, and blasto to my main tank since the contest is coming to an end and i always planned on these going into my lagoon. I left a small piece of jack o latern in the pico so it can grow on the rocks. The pico is mostly sps and softies now. I am not impressed with the Asta 20. Honestly on such a small tank there should have been more growth and there really wasn't with this light. Params are good on this tank so the only other thing I can think of is the light, even the coral colouration is not good. This light would be best used on a refugium. Maybe others have had success with it but I wouldn't recommend it myself, especially for the price. You can get the ABI tuna blue for cheaper or even the Hiperagero. I saw more growth in a few weeks with the ABI, so I am hoping that I can somehow get that light onto the pico but I gotta DIY something. I had a great time with this tank besides being disappointed with growth, I had high hopes for it and unfortunately the lack of growth in 6mnths is disappointing. The leather has grown, the jack o latern had some growth but slowed down when I went to the asta 20 (already more growth under the AI prime in a weeks time), the setosa started growing, same with the GSP. The Monti caps, birsdnest, stylo, and even mushrooms have not changed. The tank was really easy to care for, waterchanges take 10mins at most and besides the first hiccup with dino's, the tank has run smoothly. I truly enjoyed having this little addition and because its so easy to care for, I plan on keeping it going. If anything I may make more changes. 8 Quote Link to comment
reef r madness Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Ya..it looks great.. Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 When this old school pico contest started in my minds eye this is the tank I saw. 2 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Hi @Clown79 👋 Can you believe it has been 7 months already? This is a friendly reminder to post your final competition FTS and a 1 to 2 paragraph recap of your experience in the pico reef competition. Be sure to share your future plans for your pico reef as well, will it continue forward or get an upgrade? The competition ends on Sunday October 27th at midnight! Thank you for being a part of the Old School Pico Reef Competition! ❤️ 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 On 10/15/2019 at 8:32 AM, debbeach13 said: When this old school pico contest started in my minds eye this is the tank I saw. Thank you! On 10/23/2019 at 12:58 PM, Christopher Marks said: Hi @Clown79 👋 Can you believe it has been 7 months already? This is a friendly reminder to post your final competition FTS and a 1 to 2 paragraph recap of your experience in the pico reef competition. Be sure to share your future plans for your pico reef as well, will it continue forward or get an upgrade? The competition ends on Sunday October 27th at midnight! Thank you for being a part of the Old School Pico Reef Competition! ❤️ I can't believe how quickly the time has gone bye. Sad to see it come to an end and looking forward to seeing the next competition! Will be posting my FTS and write up soon as I just got my laptop running properly again. 3 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 10 minutes ago, Clown79 said: looking forward to seeing the next competition Me too. The 5 gallon bucket challenge is going to be epic! 2 2 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 54 minutes ago, seabass said: Me too. The 5 gallon bucket challenge is going to be epic! I'm already thinking of things we could do for the next contest....Old school pico upgrade contest? Movie themed pico/nano? 3 Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 30 minutes ago, Clown79 said: I'm already thinking of things we could do for the next contest....Old school pico upgrade contest? Movie themed pico/nano? I think a liverock/macro algae/gorgonian planted style tank competition would be kinda cool. We’ve obviously got some closet planted tank peeps on this website! 2 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 Here is my final FTS. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone bye and now the contest has come to an end. Thanks CM for all the hard work you put into the contest and nano! I decided to join the contest just for fun and it really was fun setting up and taking care of this little pico. I tried getting creative with the pico but also keeping it simple for ease of care. We made a black stand designed like a stage out of wood we had lying around and we purchased a white tile for the base to sit within the base design. The back wood wall not only offered a back ground but allowed us to clip on the light from the back rather than on the tank rim and it hides all the wires which was a bonus. We made an acrylic lid with holes drilled for gas exchange and it has worked really well. It gave a clean look and also helped with evaporation. I designed a lit back drop. I really like the look of the back glowing different colours, not only does it look cool, its very reminiscent of the good old retro days. It's really cool at night when the display light goes out. To add some dimension I decided to suspend my gsp frags to have a floating coral look There were ups and downs with this pico. I had dino's start in this tank because I added a coral from my lagoon which had just had dino's and with the pico being so new, it had the perfect conditions for the dino's to flourish in there. Luckily I applied the same method to the pico which worked in my Lagoon. I seeded pods and rotifers and started phyto dosing and within a few weeks the dino's were gone. I luckliy lost nothing from the dino's. My other trial was lighting. I started with the ABI Tuna blue and like always, I had great growth start pretty quickly with this light and everything looked great. I chose to put the pico on my kitchen counter because I wanted to be able to enjoy viewing this tank rather than have it hidden in a room. Unfortunately the par38 could not fit under my cupboards so I started running the Nemolight on it and things were not happy so I purchased the Asta 20. The change in light had very minimal positive effects on the tank. There was some growth with the Asta but it was minimal and very slow. I moved a few corals into my lagoon so that I wouldn't lose them and they have already had a decent amount of growth over a few weeks. There were a lot of positives to this tank. It was fun to set up and super easy to care for, I relied completely on waterchanges and rarely tested the tank. The damsel is super happy in his cove and has his home in a little hidden cave in the rockwork, the tank is full of baby brittles, I find them everywhere. The soft corals seem to be doing great and the encrusting monti on Hank has started to spread. My future plans are to keep the pico going but I would like to add some more soft corals. 6 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 28, 2019 Author Share Posted October 28, 2019 1 hour ago, SeaFurn said: I think a liverock/macro algae/gorgonian planted style tank competition would be kinda cool. We’ve obviously got some closet planted tank peeps on this website! It would be cool. I'd have to opt out of that because Macro is very limited here and I never see gorgs anymore either. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 Absolutely enjoyed this tank. You had a real advantage being able to grab so many nice corals from your existing tank. The changing, trying different lights was informative. Nice too know the tuna blue was so good for growth. That is a great back drop you built, love the back lighting and how it let you attach the light with out being on the tank. The par 38 bulbs are heavy! Not sure which category but I think you have a winner. 2 Quote Link to comment
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