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Cultivated Reef

Tigahboy

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I want to take all the non-black grains out of the Caribsea Hawaiian Black sand before putting it in the pico.  So I asked my son to take out all non-black grains.  When I asked him if he's up for the challenge, he said "it's going to be hard, but whatever." 😂

 

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Added sand, but waiting for water to clear up before I take a photo.

 

Added the Sera Siporax mini bio media to the HOB as well.  They looked like pills when I opened the box. 

 

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I don't know why I'm geeking out over this filter media, but I'm kinda excited to try it.  It's a well known German brand that was supposedly being used decades ago (totally old school), but only recently became readily available again.  It's also hard to figure out how much to use since everything is written in German.  Just started off with 1.2 oz for now which leaves a little room in the tiny HOB to add carbon or whatever down the road.  🤷‍♂️

 

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@yoshii yup!  The original version of the Sera Siporax bio media was the standard ceramic rings, but this is a mini version for nano tanks.  I was pretty excited to find this.  

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Did a quick day trip to SD to go to the zoo today.  A lot of driving, so had a lot of time to have some quality pico pondering time.  Here are some random thoughts I had as I was driving up the 5 freeway:

 

1. A lot of input I received about the scape leans towards rock rubble vs. whole LR pieces (with varying opinions on how to implement the rock rubble).  I'm on board with the rock rubble route, especially the idea of just having rubble around the volcano and hut as secondary support because I think the real star of the tank is the volcano.  When I tried to make larger LR pieces work, the volcano had to compete with the LR for your gaze.  Tomorrow I'm going to have some quality smashy smashy time with some LR and see if I can get some nice rock rubble pieces.

 

2. I thought about drilling a hole in the volcano and adding a powerhead inside for circulation.  But I think that may make the volcano effectively an internal wall or maybe an inside filter which is probably prohibited by the rules.  The inside filter police will be all over that so that's out.  

 

3. The volcano is going to create a lot of salt creep with the bubbler on (i.e., water splashing).  I think I'm going to replace the air stone with one that creates super fine bubbles and also add a valve to the airline to control how much air is being pushed thru the volcano (i.e., to dial down if necessary).  Can't believe I'm spending so much time on this volcano, but it's all for the corals!  I mean the red light shining thru the volcano must help with coral growth somehow, right? 😂 Having the bubbler on a timer for "random" eruptions and adding sound effects probably won't help the corals at all, but will be cool for me.

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Found these cool shells at the LFS.  Might add these to the pico.

 

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(LOL.  I'm really trying to kill time here until the tank clears up for a photo)

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seems like you came up with a lot of ideas while driving.  you could gsp on rubble around the hut for a grass look. Are you going to put any coral on the volcano?  It could look cool covered in the right color of zoas.  Inquiring minds want to know what coral you are going to use.

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1 minute ago, kimdawg said:

seems like you came up with a lot of ideas while driving.  you could gsp on rubble around the hut for a grass look. Are you going to put any coral on the volcano?  It could look cool covered in the right color of zoas.  Inquiring minds want to know what coral you are going to use.

Still TBD on exact corals, but I would like to grow some coral on the volcano.  I was originally thinking about GSP on the volcano, but zoas would be nice too and more colorful (but maybe not as fast growing within the limited time frame we have).  I do like your idea of GSP as grass around the hut though. 

 

I do want to try to limit the number of corals and colors though to make it look more natural.  More of a cross section of a portion of a reef rather than a miniature version of a reef if that makes sense.  But that's all very preliminary and I may change course.  🙂

 

 

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10 minutes ago, DaVinciClown said:

Which HOB filter is that? I like that it’s really clear instead of smoke colored. 

Me too!  Love the clear HOB.  I originally was planning to get an Aquaclear and then replace the intake with DIY clear tubing, but when I found this my life got a whole lot easier.  LOL.

 

Here's a link to the filter.  FYI, it's tiny tho so can't fit much in it.  It's basically same size as an Azoo Mignon 60 (but gph is better -- 65 gph vs. 15 gph). 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hang-on-Back-HOB-Power-Filter-65-GPH-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Waterfall-/262876982166

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Here's an FTS for today.  Still a little cloudy.  Has approximately 3lb of sand and 3 oz. of LR rubble so far.  Will be adding more LR rubble tomorrow.  Good night, reefers!

 

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46 minutes ago, Tigahboy said:

Here's an FTS for today.  Still a little cloudy.  Has approximately 3lb of sand and 3 oz. of LR rubble so far.  Will be adding more LR rubble tomorrow.  Good night, reefers!

 

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Looking good bro,  wao!!! That black tahitian sand is truly amazing. Kudos to ur jr. Reefer for the great work on sand bed. I never knew how much fun a pico could be. 

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Oo the black sand looks great! I also like kimdawg's idea to use GSP as grass.

 

I think the volcano would still look cool even without corals growing on it

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5 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

I thought about drilling a hole in the volcano and adding a powerhead inside for circulation.  But I think that may make the volcano effectively an internal wall or maybe an inside filter which is probably prohibited by the rules.  The inside filter police will be all over that so that's out.  

IDK, you might just need clarification ahead of time.  It would be allowed to put a pump behind a rock (maybe even to the point of piling rocks around a pump).  To hide a heater, probe, or pump (without plumbing) in your aquascape (rocks, sand, or aquarium decor) might possibly be allowed.

 

I think most of the controversy has come with surface skimming boxes attached to the tank walls.  I feel for CM, with having to be the enforcer.  It's hard to say no, especially because I can tell that he really likes the innovative aspects (but it's just not part of this particular contest).

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6 hours ago, 748S911 said:

Looking good bro,  wao!!! That black tahitian sand is truly amazing. Kudos to ur jr. Reefer for the great work on sand bed. I never knew how much fun a pico could be. 

Thanks!  My son worked on the special project for like 1 minute before he said it's too hard.  Lol.  I tried to take out a bunch of colored grains but gave up after awhile myself. 

 

6 hours ago, yoshii said:

Oo the black sand looks great! I also like kimdawg's idea to use GSP as grass.

 

I think the volcano would still look cool even without corals growing on it

I was nervous about how it would look, but so far I'm digging it!  If I grew coral on the volcano I'd also lose the red light that shines thru the volcano as well.  Still thinking that one over. Volcano does look good as is.

 

3 hours ago, seabass said:

IDK, you might just need clarification ahead of time.  It would be allowed to put a pump behind a rock (maybe even to the point of piling rocks around a pump).  To hide a heater, probe, or pump (without plumbing) in your aquascape (rocks, sand, or aquarium decor) might possibly be allowed.

 

I think most of the controversy has come with surface skimming boxes attached to the tank walls.  I feel for CM, with having to be the enforcer.  It's hard to say no, especially because I can tell that he really likes the innovative aspects (but it's just not part of this particular contest).

Heater in the volcano would be so ideal.  Didn't even think about that.  And yes, CM definitely has a hard job in this contest. 

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Did a lot today for the pico.  

 

First, I was at the LFS unloading like 20 Endler guppy fry from my #kiddieplanted tank and they had an Aquatop 25w heater.  It looked SUPER small and sleek, so I got it.  The Tetra 50w was just too bulky for me and it constantly fluctuated in temp (though all within only 1 degree so not too bad).  I want to see how this Aquatop does.  So far I like how low profile it is and it's been pretty stable in temp so far (at around 81 degrees tho vs. 79 degrees for the Tetra).

 

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Then I pimped my volcano.  Bought a much better and quieter air pump, then tried out a bunch of different air stones.  Settled on one that didn't create too mush splashing on the surface (but all of the air stones I used did create a decent amount of splashing which means salt creep city).  I may have to give up on the idea of keeping the bubbler on all the time for circulation and try to find a powerhead/wavemaker.  Also added a valve to the airline tubing to control the amount of bubbles. 

 

My son asked me what I was doing, so I explained it to him in a way that I hoped a 3 year old could understand.  When my wife asked him what I was doing, he responded: "it's complicated." LOL.  

 

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Clobbered some LR as well.  My son still calls it "alive rock", so I've been calling it that too.  I held the chisel and my son actually did all the hammering.  He had decent aim but he did clobber my fingers a few times.  No pain no gain, right?

 

Ended up getting some nice shapes and sizes.  One of the rubble pieces even looked like a mini cave which I added first to the pico.  In total, I ended up adding approximately 2 lb 2 oz  (I weigh everything) of alive rock rubble pieces to the pico.  Will post an FTS in a little bit when it's less cloudy.

 

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1 minute ago, asting said:

I use the same chisels for splitting rock! my hammer is a few decades grungier though 🙂

They get the job done!  

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Also, it's time to cycle this baby!  I have to do a legit cycle because I do not have an established tank from which to pull stuff.  

 
The true old school way to cycle this tank would be to pop in a damsel fish with the intent of re-homing it once the cycle is done.  Only to learn later that it's nearly impossible to catch a damsel once inside your tank, then be resigned to the fact that you'll have to live with the damsel as a squatter forever.
 
I'm doing the Dr. Tim's method of fishless cycle.  I've never used Dr. Tim's products before or his method of fishless cycling but I see a lot of good review here on N-R, so I'm down to try.
 
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May the reef gods give me a short cycle time.  fingerscrossed  Otherwise, see you guys in few months when the tank is finally mature enough to add some real coral.     
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  • Christopher Marks changed the title to Tigahboy's 🌋 Pico

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