RDA's 4.1 Pico

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

5 hours ago, farkwar said:

Same

All dead lol

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

@I'm Batman yeah I've never been serious at testing my water (I've only watched salinity and temperature) so I couldn't tell you a before and after. I was almost there with balancing it out and then silly me dosing undid all of that lol.

[I'm Batman]

6 minutes ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

I couldn't tell you a before and after.

I scrolled back up and saw you mentioned that like 3 times lol. My apologies, I’ll use my eyes next time. 
 

It’s definitely exciting to get back on track and then start getting some more corals together. Curious to see how my Lifeguard 4.1 looks in a year. I’m in diatom bloom stage.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

2 hours ago, I'm Batman said:

I scrolled back up and saw you mentioned that like 3 times lol. My apologies, I’ll use my eyes next time. 
 

It’s definitely exciting to get back on track and then start getting some more corals together. Curious to see how my Lifeguard 4.1 looks in a year. I’m in diatom bloom stage.

Meh your good. It's sometimes a pain to read through everything anyways 😅. 

 

Yeah when you find your tank's groove then things get real fun! Hang in there with braving the uglies!👍 and I'm sure it will look fantastic in the coming year 😊

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Another small update with the happenings of this hot mess!🔥

 

The battle of algae and cyano continues, but we are making progress thankfully. Near the end of November seems to be the time of year where I pick up equimpent and some aquarium goodies; this year is no different and I can still see the smoke coming off of my credit card 😂

 

I ended up getting a few things for this struggling pico reef. Most of which is in anticipation for better days ahead, namely another light (with so much algae, more light is the last thing I need right now so this will be saved for later 😉). But other things I think will come in handy sooner such as a fuge light (more on this at a later date) a new DC650 return pump (the stock pump that I have is maxing out around 40% of what it once was, and that's after cleaning) and an ACTUAL wave maker (Jebao SOW-3) which I'm super excited for. No more wonky usb fountain pumps 🙃

 

I'll also be replacing the return nozzle with an RFG from VCA as well as generally tidying everything up like cables, power management, etc. 

 

As far as livestock in this aquarium goes. I don't have much of anything left. Wow this feels familiar🙃 I'm going to be rehoming my clownfish as they aren't in my plans anymore unfortunately 😔 I think the only coral I have left is my GSP? Haha at least I have that right? 😂 Anyways, being a dominantly SPS tank is still the plan. Hopefully things will get back on track sooner rather than later! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Okayyyyyyy 🙃 

 

Got all of my new fancy equipment set up, or should I say "plugged in" because that's the extent of it all right now😅

 

I have two new Asta 20 LEDs. I'm angling them inwards so there will be less shadowing of corals (and there really is so much less shadowing!) I believe these lights have gotten an update as there are noticable differences from the older Asta 20 that I have. These lights sport a new, remote with clearer controls, and even a timer function on them, howbeit this function only turns the light off, it doesn't turn it back on. It's more of just a countdown timer which seems kind of silly IMO? It would be nice if they would have a 24 hour cycle where they would turn back on, oh well, maybe in a later rendition. 😔 over all though I really like these lights, but I'll probably be getting a smart power strip to control them 😉

 

Next up is the Jebao SOW-3 wavemaker that I got. Even at it's lowest setting it still rips! so I might make a baffle to tame the flow a little more, but the controlability is still great and pretty on par with any other Jebao wavemaker. It is a little chunky in an aquarium like this, but it's not bad.

 

I also got a "MingDak" submersible LED bar from Amazon for making a mini refugium in the back of the tank. It's only 1.5 watts, but throws enough light to grow some macro algae. It also has a built in timer so that will come in handy to have the light turn on at night for 6 hours or so. 

 

The return pump is also getting replaced with a Jebao DC650, but the length of the pump is 2.5 inches, guess how wide the rear chamber is for the return? Roughly 2.5 inches haha. I don't know how I missed that 😅 Anyways I'll be setting the pump vertical (with the intake facing down) and will be 3D printing a stand/prefilter for it as well as some other bits so it will work. I'll probably post those 3D [.stl] files too so if anyone else wants to use this pump in this tank they can 😊 

 

As far as the tank itself goes....it has seen better days 😬 I took it through two doses of chemiclean to take care of the cyano that filled, literally filled, the aquarium. I was impressed in how quickly it cleaned things up haha. When cleaning out the tank today I was very much surprised to see the setosa still hanging in there (with polyp extenson no less!) as well as a teeny tiny patch of tissue and polyps still hanging by a thread on my green birdsnest (which I have little hope for, but hey, it came this far 😅) notice everything was covered in a think layer of cyano, so these findings make me happy. AS WELL AS my pink and green alveopora that is some how still alive under a massive tuff of cyano covered hair algae?! But other than that everything is very dead 😅😭

 

Also included in all of this mess; my heater died while I was doing maintenance 😓 It's working on about 3 years old now so I got some good use out of it, but it still bites haha. Luckily I have a spare 🙏 but now I need to go and find a new one here soon.

 

Moving forward is going to still be slow. No amount of new equipment can make a tank sparkling clean and amazing in one night. Heck the extra light might just add to my hair algae problem, although I have throttled them both back to compensate so I don't burn the heck out of my rag-tag corals and also to not make my tank look like the hadean version of @Tigahboy macro algae tanks with all of the non macro algae I could grow 😉 

 

So over all there are still a few kinks to work out (haha just a few?) but I like the direction we're headed in 😁

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing!

 

The lights kind of look like bug antennae 😆

 

The fuge light in the back when it's on at night. Kind of a cool look. Just need some macro algae now.

[Daniel92481]

New equipment is always fun...and necessary lol. I haven’t seen those lights in action, but have heard good things about them in other posts from different forums. I used to run a Jebao wave maker in my Lagoon with good results. Not sure about their return pumps, but the wave maker was definitely reliable for the time that I had it.
 

Your tank has been through a lot in the past, and with good husbandry, you were able to turn it around with great results! This hobby is so amazing and challenging at the same time. Especially harder with a pico. I’m glad to hear that you are not giving up, regardless of the heartache that’s inside. Keep us updated! 👍🏼

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Every now and then, getting new equipment is a boost for sure. I've really liked these lights so far. I was growing SPS with just one, but got the other to help with shading like I said. No complaints with them! I've liked the Jebao wave makers as well. I had two slw-10s on my 36 gallon bowfront and they worked wonderfully. I'm assuming this pump will live up to that expectation.

 

I like to think that I am taking "the grand tour of reefing and all of it's problems" when it comes to this tank particularly 😂

It's been just interesting to see such an amazing biology of "stuff" and I like to learn about everything that's going on, the good and the bad. I think that's what has kept this tank afloat all this time 😁

[joekidwell]

On 12/6/2020 at 12:05 AM, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Okayyyyyyy 🙃 

 

Got all of my new fancy equipment set up, or should I say "plugged in" because that's the extent of it all right now😅

 

I have two new Asta 20 LEDs. I'm angling them inwards so there will be less shadowing of corals (and there really is so much less shadowing!) I believe these lights have gotten an update as there are noticable differences from the older Asta 20 that I have. These lights sport a new, remote with clearer controls, and even a timer function on them, howbeit this function only turns the light off, it doesn't turn it back on. It's more of just a countdown timer which seems kind of silly IMO? It would be nice if they would have a 24 hour cycle where they would turn back on, oh well, maybe in a later rendition. 😔 over all though I really like these lights, but I'll probably be getting a smart power strip to control them 😉

 

Next up is the Jebao SOW-3 wavemaker that I got. Even at it's lowest setting it still rips! so I might make a baffle to tame the flow a little more, but the controlability is still great and pretty on par with any other Jebao wavemaker. It is a little chunky in an aquarium like this, but it's not bad.

 

I also got a "MingDak" submersible LED bar from Amazon for making a mini refugium in the back of the tank. It's only 1.5 watts, but throws enough light to grow some macro algae. It also has a built in timer so that will come in handy to have the light turn on at night for 6 hours or so. 

 

The return pump is also getting replaced with a Jebao DC650, but the length of the pump is 2.5 inches, guess how wide the rear chamber is for the return? Roughly 2.5 inches haha. I don't know how I missed that 😅 Anyways I'll be setting the pump vertical (with the intake facing down) and will be 3D printing a stand/prefilter for it as well as some other bits so it will work. I'll probably post those 3D [.stl] files too so if anyone else wants to use this pump in this tank they can 😊 

 

As far as the tank itself goes....it has seen better days 😬 I took it through two doses of chemiclean to take care of the cyano that filled, literally filled, the aquarium. I was impressed in how quickly it cleaned things up haha. When cleaning out the tank today I was very much surprised to see the setosa still hanging in there (with polyp extenson no less!) as well as a teeny tiny patch of tissue and polyps still hanging by a thread on my green birdsnest (which I have little hope for, but hey, it came this far 😅) notice everything was covered in a think layer of cyano, so these findings make me happy. AS WELL AS my pink and green alveopora that is some how still alive under a massive tuff of cyano covered hair algae?! But other than that everything is very dead 😅😭

 

Also included in all of this mess; my heater died while I was doing maintenance 😓 It's working on about 3 years old now so I got some good use out of it, but it still bites haha. Luckily I have a spare 🙏 but now I need to go and find a new one here soon.

 

Moving forward is going to still be slow. No amount of new equipment can make a tank sparkling clean and amazing in one night. Heck the extra light might just add to my hair algae problem, although I have throttled them both back to compensate so I don't burn the heck out of my rag-tag corals and also to not make my tank look like the hadean version of @Tigahboy macro algae tanks with all of the non macro algae I could grow 😉 

 

So over all there are still a few kinks to work out (haha just a few?) but I like the direction we're headed in 😁

 

Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing!

 

The lights kind of look like bug antennae 😆

 

The fuge light in the back when it's on at night. Kind of a cool look. Just need some macro algae now.

How would you rate the DC 650 return pump?  I'm looking for a replacement of my very noisy quiet one 400

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:30 PM, joekidwell said:

How would you rate the DC 650 return pump?  I'm looking for a replacement of my very noisy quiet one 400

Ha, I still haven't installed it yet. I've been having to work on 3D printing some parts to make it work with the 4.1 gallon and it really is like playing Tetris to the millimeter, so it's taking some time. I've also been crazy busy with life right now so my reef tanks are kind of taking a back seat for the time being. I'll be sure to let you know when I do finally get it installed and how it works out! 👍

[dwdenny]

Enjoyed reading through your thread. After being out for a while (16 years) looking at setting up one of these but with the Pixie 30 light. going to order the tank and light and ask for forgiveness from the boss lady rather than permission hahahahahaha. 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

6 hours ago, dwdenny said:

Enjoyed reading through your thread. After being out for a while (16 years) looking at setting up one of these but with the Pixie 30 light. going to order the tank and light and ask for forgiveness from the boss lady rather than permission hahahahahaha. 

Thank you!

A pixie 30 would go well with a tank like this I think! (But then again, I'm a little biased 😅) 

 

ALWAYS ASK THE BOSS LADY. You don't have to follow what she says 😉, but ALWAYS ASK THE BOSS LADY! 😅 my wife has a forgiveness.....it has a hilt and two very, very sharp edges, I think it still has some blood on it from the last aquarium I bought without telling her 😂😬

[dwdenny]

4 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Thank you!

A pixie 30 would go well with a tank like this I think! (But then again, I'm a little biased 😅) 

 

ALWAYS ASK THE BOSS LADY. You don't have to follow what she says 😉, but ALWAYS ASK THE BOSS LADY! 😅 my wife has a forgiveness.....it has a hilt and two very, very sharp edges, I think it still has some blood on it from the last aquarium I bought without telling her 😂😬

That is true, will ask her what she thinks. She knows I love aquariums and we were married when we setup the first and she did like it.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

@Daniel92481 I finally got that anemone for my tank! 😂😵

 

[Daniel92481]

26 minutes ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

@Daniel92481 I finally got that anemone for my tank! 😂😵

 

Nice RDA! Free nems are the best kind! Nice lawn too!☺️🤪

 

[dwdenny]

question for you RDA, i have about 40 pounds of cleaned sand (fine unfortunately) do you think the stock pump will blow it around to much? Thinking about only an inch thick layer is all I want. Just don't want to go by 16 pounds of special grade for about 3 pounds of sand if I can avoid that.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 2/10/2021 at 6:56 AM, dwdenny said:

question for you RDA, i have about 40 pounds of cleaned sand (fine unfortunately) do you think the stock pump will blow it around to much? Thinking about only an inch thick layer is all I want. Just don't want to go by 16 pounds of special grade for about 3 pounds of sand if I can avoid that.

Good question! Fine sand (like CaribSea Oolite) looks great imo, but gets a bad rap due to it being blown around and leaving bare spots/piling up in a corner of the tank or something. 

The pump for these tanks puts out a claimed 103 gph (and that's on a good day haha). Assuming you have the return pump set to max flow I think you could get away with using fine sand? 

One thing that I've done in the past with high flow tanks and using fine sand is to strategically place rockwork to act as a buffer so the sand doesn't move so much.

I'd try using what you have now to see if it will work! The worst case scenario is that you'd have to replace the sand with something else, or go bare bottom which would look cool too. 🙂

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Hello......

 

I actually have a moment to give an update on this here pico reef!

What I am going to say is in 99.99% cases of action a big "No No" and I really wouldn't recommend following in my shoes here, but in this case the pico reef gods have rolled their eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and decided to give my a break notwithstanding my intentional laziness. 

 

As has been well established, this poor little 4.1 gallon pico reef has seen better times. In fact for the majority of it being setup I don't think I have not been without problem(s). 

Lately those problems have been fighting GHA and Cyano. A few times I have gotten in the tank and have manually removed algae to keep my tank from getting too far, so to speak, out of hand. Along with this though, life has gotten incredibly busy for me and my RODI unit needs some new parts aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand welllllllllll look I got lazy and started using tap water to top off my tank. Oof that hurt to admit.

 

Now I can hear all of you saying, " Well it's no wonder you are having issues with algae and having problems out the wazoo!"

 

BUT

 

Their must be something in this 400+ Rocky Mountain water because the GHA has slowly been going away. (To be honest it's probably the algicide that the city puts in the water supply) but hey, it's working better than some things I've used. 

I haven't seen any adverse effects on the corals necessarily, but then again I only have a few zoas, a red setosa and a purple tip hammer in the tank right now, but I have some parts in the mail coming for my RODI unit so I'll be stopping my blasphemous tap water using and will be flushing out the tank with some clean water changes here in a few days. I will also be addressing the Aiptasia infestation at a later date. 

 

Here's a pic for attention,

 

 

 

(Also I am now selling my tap water for anyone who has an algae problem, let me know and I can send you some; I think I have a few empty water bottles laying around I can put it in)

[Daniel92481]

4 hours ago, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Hello......

 

I actually have a moment to give an update on this here pico reef!

What I am going to say is in 99.99% cases of action a big "No No" and I really wouldn't recommend following in my shoes here, but in this case the pico reef gods have rolled their eyes, let out a heavy sigh, and decided to give my a break notwithstanding my intentional laziness. 

 

As has been well established, this poor little 4.1 gallon pico reef has seen better times. In fact for the majority of it being setup I don't think I have not been without problem(s). 

Lately those problems have been fighting GHA and Cyano. A few times I have gotten in the tank and have manually removed algae to keep my tank from getting too far, so to speak, out of hand. Along with this though, life has gotten incredibly busy for me and my RODI unit needs some new parts aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand welllllllllll look I got lazy and started using tap water to top off my tank. Oof that hurt to admit.

 

Now I can hear all of you saying, " Well it's no wonder you are having issues with algae and having problems out the wazoo!"

 

BUT

 

Their must be something in this 400+ Rocky Mountain water because the GHA has slowly been going away. (To be honest it's probably the algicide that the city puts in the water supply) but hey, it's working better than some things I've used. 

I haven't seen any adverse effects on the corals necessarily, but then again I only have a few zoas, a red setosa and a purple tip hammer in the tank right now, but I have some parts in the mail coming for my RODI unit so I'll be stopping my blasphemous tap water using and will be flushing out the tank with some clean water changes here in a few days. I will also be addressing the Aiptasia infestation at a later date. 

 

Here's a pic for attention,

 

 

 

(Also I am now selling my tap water for anyone who has an algae problem, let me know and I can send you some; I think I have a few empty water bottles laying around I can put it in)

Your updates never fail to crack me up!😁Sounds like slinging that tap water could be the beginning of your new retirement plan. Your tank actually doesn’t look too bad! I was nervous to scroll down and see after that high dollar nem pic you showed me.🤪

[dwdenny]

Tank looks good RDA like Daniel I was hesitantly scrolling down with eye squinted nervous as to what I was going to see. HAHAHAHAHA  Going to be buying a new RO system for mine as well. Family drinks a lot of water and I already have the DI canister just need the resin refill for it.  For now just going to use distilled water until I can get the RO unit that my wife wants bought and set up.

[Daniel92481]

I haven’t had to change out my filters in my unit yet since I got it over a year ago. I’ve been looking into it though for when I actually feel like doing some preventative maintenance. My local water is actually pretty clean according to my TDS meter. It sits right at 2ppm before RODI.

[dwdenny]

1 hour ago, Daniel92481 said:

I haven’t had to change out my filters in my unit yet since I got it over a year ago. I’ve been looking into it though for when I actually feel like doing some preventative maintenance. My local water is actually pretty clean according to my TDS meter. It sits right at 2ppm before RODI.

if it's that low then your filters will last a long time. Mine is usually 40-50 depending on the time of year and my filters would last about 7 months. Wish I would have taken out the RO system before I moved.  

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

15 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

I was nervous to scroll down and see after that high dollar nem pic you showed me

 

8 hours ago, dwdenny said:

like Daniel I was hesitantly scrolling down with eye squinted nervous as to what I was going to see.

Ahhhhhhhh I made sure to reduce the resolution of the image before I uploaded it so it looked better. No need to look TOO closely 😏

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

15 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

Sounds like slinging that tap water could be the beginning of your new retirement plan.

I'll put you down for a few cases of it👍 Thanks for the support! 🙏 😂

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Goodness! Look at all of you with your low TDS water! Mine is at least 400. I burn through DI resin lol, but then again I just have an Aquatic Life RO Buddie and a total of like 6 gallons of aquariums to take care of so it works well enough for me.