The Devils Roar -- old school contest pico

[Lostandfound]

First off would like to Express my gratitude to the community for the plethora of information and support available here on Nano reef. I have always been an authusiast of aquaria keeping but never had the passion for the hobby until I joined here and started my first pico reef. So thank you all.

 

If this cannot be entered for the 2.5 oldschool challenge tell me. 

 

 Last month I started a new tank in spirit of the 2.5 gallon old school challenge. My wife has fallen in love with the hobby and has become the primary care giver to our current pico, she wants another for our counterop. I must admit it didn't start well, and I nearly gave up..... feeling I was cursed. I went to petsmart planning on going as simple as possible.

 

Picked out a 2.5gal. $14.99 special, and a HOB 30 aquaclear $21.00 for a refugium 

liverock sump/filter. Got a media bag, and a small hunk of live rock from the LFS. Ran by Micheals craft store for yarn design mesh board (filter), and picked out a small piece of scrap plexiglas from Ace hardware.

 

Got it all home and began working on the filter first. Gutted it,  and added my own filter walls using a; scribe, dremel, and drill. Applied safe silicone (dap) to hold the walls in place. Trying to replicate refugium flow as best as possible. Placed the media bag full of live rock in the sump then made a filter floss hopper out of the mesh purchased from Michaels. Got it done, tested it and it worked quite well. WIN!

 

Next on the agenda was the easy part, stripping the unsightly top rim off of the tank. As a master mechanic by trade I thought "PIECE OF CAKE" I brought home a hand full of blades and scrapers to quickly dispatch that plastic rim. Nope... I was very patient and watched a few videos even. It was nearly off and one side slipped up before the majority. CRACK! 

So my wife picked up another tetra branded 2.5g. tank. As this is to be her tank after all.  It was LOADED with silicone. I was even more patient the second time using silicone spray to lubricate the 1/8" glass while I released it. CRACK! Same thing. I walked away in defeat. After trying to repair with bandaids and super glue I water tested it for the first time. Yeah, it failed.... And nearly gave up on the project. 

 

The next day I had a friend offer me a JBJ picotope tank and I gladly accepted. And I came home motivated again. Began to fill it with live sand and molded a scape with Caribsea life rock rubble. Think I created a monster with the complexity of it all, but only time will tell at this point.

 

The coral the wife has been looking at are zenias, polyps, gsp. Really anything that sways and is low light  high nitrate  tolerant. So please share suggestions. Will be running a wave point 8w. With plans to upgrade in the future.

 

Thanks again nano reef!

 

[Lostandfound]

For shame....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[WV Reefer]

Looks good so far.....

 

....minus the bandaids of course. 😃

[This guy is extra salty]

1 hour ago, Lostandfound said:

For shame....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It seems everyone has had their issues with removing the rim and breaking the tank.. 

 

mine is having DQ issues and being forgetful lol 

 

but seems like a great build and looking forward to progress 

[748S911]

I felt like I was gonna break my tank the whole way thru.

[748S911]

1 hour ago, Lostandfound said:

For shame....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I used a hot knife and broke the trim down in sections.  

[Lostandfound]

Just now, 748S911 said:

I used a hot knife and broke the trim down in sections.  

That'd be the trick. I was very nervous about cracking the rim to remove in sections. I have previously done it on larger tanks.

[748S911]

Still dicey!

[This guy is extra salty]

3 hours ago, Lostandfound said:

That'd be the trick. I was very nervous about cracking the rim to remove in sections. I have previously done it on larger tanks.

So what did you use/do to remove it?

[Lostandfound]

7 hours ago, This guy is extra salty said:

So what did you use/do to remove it?

I didn't. I failed twice, then picked up a rimless bow front tank that measures 11.8" x 8.9" x 8"

I was going to try again, but the 7 pet supply/LFS stores in my area were SOLD OUT with no eta on restocking. I took it as a sign, and bowed out for a few days giving up. Til I shared my glass shattering frustrations with a buddy that gifted me my current tank. 

[Lostandfound]

           First corals added. Went to pick up a media bag as my prior bag did not flow well, and a CUC. Wife had other plans, and began gawking the frag tanks (15% off) Firework clove polyps (left), purple pulsing xenia (center), hitchhiker single head zoanthid either rasta, or green bay (right). I personally had my eyes on a 5 head snow white Duncan. Not their permanent homes but hey, it's a start. Glad we got the coral however because there was a woman next in line had the same corals picked out. SORRY.... IF YOUR A MEMBER.

[748S911]

14 minutes ago, Lostandfound said:

           First corals added. Went to pick up a media bag as my prior bag did not flow well, and a CUC. Wife had other plans, and began gawking the frag tanks (15% off) Firework clove polyps (left), purple pulsing xenia (center), hitchhiker single head zoanthid either rasta, or green bay (right). I personally had my eyes on a 5 head snow white Duncan. Not their permanent homes but hey, it's a start. Glad we got the coral however because there was a woman next in line had the same corals picked out. SORRY.... IF YOUR A MEMBER.

Sweet looking firework cloves

[Lostandfound]

QUESTION: Should I be concerned about in tank proximity of the Xenia, and the Clove polyps? Read up a bit on a few stories, and have to get conclusive answer

 

Came home to much healthier looking coral as compared to this morning. Survived my dip, and continuous turkey baster blastings. The Cloves had quite a bit of detritus built-up on the frag base and stems.

[minimal]

I'm not sure on the question! Sorry 

 

This looks like a nice little build so far. How do you like the wave point? I almost bought one for a tank a while back, curious how yours is treating you so far!

 

 

[748S911]

11 minutes ago, Lostandfound said:

QUESTION: Should I be concerned about in tank proximity of the Xenia, and the Clove polyps? Read up a bit on a few stories, and have to get conclusive answer

 

Came home to much healthier looking coral as compared to this morning. Survived my dip, and continuous turkey baster blastings. The Cloves had quite a bit of detritus built-up on the frag base and stems.

Should be fine on them running into each other, never heard of them having issues both grow fast too. Im worried about mounting gsp on my rock cause that stuff gets outta hand quick.   

[Lostandfound]

The light was cheap and found it in the discount bin at my LFS. This wavepoint was from my first pico tank which has now been upgraded with an AI prime HD. No comparison obviously. 

 

Few gripes of the wavepoint light:

-It is very blue and have a real hard time getting good photos even with Androids "nightsight" picture feature.

-Has no adjustment, and no power switch (I spliced an inline switch) or a light timer could be used.

-The mount is a bit janky... I have experienced no light dives due to mounting. However it's a pita to adjust because of how tight you have to screw the mount knobs combined with salt buildup.

HOWEVER, the wavepoint light did make my gsp, zoas, and blastomussa VERY HAPPY in comparison to the AI prime. Could be used error on my behalf. 

 

Current light settings. 

[minimal]

Just now, Lostandfound said:

The light was cheap and found it in the discount bin at my LFS. This wavepoint was from my first pico tank which has now been upgraded with an AI prime HD. No comparison obviously. 

 

Few gripes of the wavepoint light:

-It is very blue and have a real hard time getting good photos even with Androids "nightsight" picture feature.

-Has no adjustment, and no power switch (I spliced an inline switch) or a light timer could be used.

-The mount is a bit janky... I have experienced no light dives due to mounting. However it's a pita to adjust because of how tight you have to screw the mount knobs combined with salt buildup.

HOWEVER, the light did make my gsp, zoas, and blastomussa VERY HAPPY in comparison to the AI prime. Could be used error on my behalf. 

For sure.The AI is what I'm getting for my new tank! I guess I'll also ask about it, how do you like that one?

 

That's interesting that those corals liked it over the AI prime- I would never have guessed that. Unlike most people, GSP has always been super finicky in my tanks though.  

[Lostandfound]

2 hours ago, minimal said:

For sure.The AI is what I'm getting for my new tank! I guess I'll also ask about it, how do you like that one?  

It has been great so far! And has improved growth greatly to the point where I'm beginning to worry for room. Lol. Silent fan operation. Make sure you set up your settings on the cloud vs local 

[Wendy]

Yikes, sorry about the cracks!

I could totally see that happening if I tried to de-rim, so I just straight up bought a rimless.

 

Nice looking corals! Hope they grow well for you without completely invading all the rock. 

[Lostandfound]

New addition

[Lingwendil]

Like the yellow polyps! They used to be pretty popular in nano setups, and have sadly been outclassed by all the designer stuff nowadays. I love mine, old school choice for sure.

[Jeff Hood]

Just for point of reference, I’ve got healthy GSP on the bottom of an 18” deep tank under a single AI prime HD

 

 

 

PAR readings

[Lostandfound]

Used some leftover limo window tint on the back of my tank to create a bit more contrast. I trimmed it with the waterline, not sure how I feel about it but I have enough scrap to do it 4 times over again.

 

The coral seem to enjoy the placement and lighting. I'll give them another week or so before I tidy up the frags 

[Lostandfound]

Arranged the rock and frags a bit. Added a block of gsp, and frogspawn head from my other tank. All is going well so far.

[Wingy]

Very nice.  I love the clove polyps.