RedCrow's AIO 4.5 Gallon

[RedCrow]

Full tank shot as of 01/01/2020

 

Current stock list:

 

 Fish

 - pair of antenna gobies Stonogobiops nematodes

 

Invertebretes

 - randall's pistol shrimp Alpheus randalli

 - blue legged hermit crab (one) 

 - nassarius snail (one)

 

Coral

 SPS

 - green birdsnest

 - red monti cap

 - tricolor pocillopora 

 - encrusting pavona

 - red monti digi

LPS

 - white tip torch

 - purple tip hammer

 - yellow goniopora

Polyps

 - radioactive dragon eye zoas

 - incredible hulk zoas

 - ring of fire zoas

 - green star polyps

 - pulsing xenia

 

 

 

 

--------

 

 

 

 

I've been out of the reef game for a bit of time (which was killing me), so I finally decided to set up a pico to satisfy the urge. My goal with this tank is to keep it as low maintenance as possible while still being able to keep some more demanding corals.

 

I've always liked the appearance of peninsula style tanks, and I really wanted an AIO so I could grow chaeto. I ended up buying a Lifegard Aquatics 3.8 gallon rimless with built in side filter.

I wasn't happy with the lack of space behind the false wall (there was only about 2.5"), and the glass was fogged rather than being opaque.

I liked the quality of the tank itself, so I bought a regular rimless tank from them.

Marine Depot lists this tank at 5.4 gallons; it's right around 4.5 gallons with nothing in it.

I bought some black acrylic and built a rear chamber.

The rear chamber is split in two; the left side is for chaeto, and the right side has a Finnex titanium heater and an MJ mini.

I wanted the get an A80 for lighting, but wasn't quite ready to spend that much. I found this Chinese light on amazon for 50 bucks

Here is the tank set up with no water

And here it is after getting wet. I also cut some black acrylic to make a cover around the rear chamber.

Live rock added

And here is a full tank shot after the water had cleared. I added a couple zoas, and accidentally got a half a dozen blue leg hermits with the live rock. Now i just have to wait out the cycle.

[WV Reefer]

35 minutes ago, RedCrow said:

I've been out of the reef game for a bit of time (which was killing me), so I finally decided to set up a pico to satisfy the urge. My goal with this tank is to keep it as low maintenance as possible while still being able to keep some more demanding corals.

 

I've always liked the appearance of peninsula style tanks, and I really wanted an AIO so I could grow chaeto. I ended up buying a Lifegard Aquatics 3.8 gallon rimless with built in side filter.

I wasn't happy with the lack of space behind the false wall (there was only about 2.5"), and the glass was fogged rather than being opaque.

I liked the quality of the tank itself, so I bought a regular rimless tank from them.

Marine Depot lists this tank at 5.4 gallons; it's right around 4.5 gallons with nothing in it.

I bought some black acrylic and built a rear chamber.

The rear chamber is split in two; the left side is for chaeto, and the right side has a Finnex titanium heater and an MJ mini.

I wanted the get an A80 for lighting, but wasn't quite ready to spend that much. I found this Chinese light on amazon for 50 bucks

Here is the tank set up with no water

And here it is after getting wet. I also cut some black acrylic to make a cover around the rear chamber.

Live rock added

And here is a full tank shot after the water had cleared. I added a couple zoas, and accidentally got a half a dozen blue leg hermits with the live rock. Now i just have to wait out the cycle.

 

Welcome to NR! 😊

 

that tank is adorable!  I have that light also and have been quite happy with it over my pico. 

[MetaTank]

I have the same light as well, been doing a good job growing my LPS and even some easy SPS

[RedCrow]

Glad to hear good thing about the light. 

 

For the fuge I had originally bought this light https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X84LMHK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1, but it was quickly apparent that it wasn't going to cut it for chaeto. I had found this light digging through some old threads here on NR and other forums, but sadly it was discontinued. https://reefbuilders.com/2011/08/31/submersible-refugium-light/. After some digging through, I was able to find virtually the same thing on amazon https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ZCCJ1E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Here's the whole thing with the new fuge light in place. There a huge difference in light output

 

And here's the display doing well

[RedCrow]

The pico cycled quite quickly. Diatom bloom lasted for only a couple days and is now completely gone. The combination of high quality live rock and an over sized fuge has made the process quite painless. The copepod population has exploded over the last week; I scrape them off the glass every morning but there are thousands gathered again by the time I get home in the evening. 

I've added added a few more frags so the current coral stock list is 

Zoanthids:

 Incredible Hulk

 Radioactive Dragon Eye

 Fire and Ice

SPS:

 Encrusting Pavona

 Monti Cap

 Birdsnest (possibly sour apple, too small to tell)

 Tricolor Pocillapora

 

 

[WV Reefer]

Just now, RedCrow said:

The pico cycled quite quickly. Diatom bloom lasted for only a couple days and is now completely gone. The combination of high quality live rock and an over sized fuge has made the process quite painless. The copepod population has exploded over the last week; I scrape them off the glass every morning but there are thousands gathered again by the time I get home in the evening. 

I've added added a few more frags so the current coral stock list is 

Zoanthids:

 Incredible Hulk

 Radioactive Dragon Eye

 Fire and Ice

SPS:

 Encrusting Pavona

 Monti Cap

 Birdsnest (possibly sour apple, too small to tell)

 Tricolor Pocillapora

 

 

I like the top down view. 

[RedCrow]

So I've done a really piss poor job  keeping this thread updated..

The pico is two months old today! Since my last update I added a smart micro ATO and have been letting biology do its thing. So far this tank has been incredibly low maintenance: scrape glass twice a week, 1 gallon water change once a week, fill ATO reservoir once a month. Thats about it. 

I filled the fuge about two thirds with live rock rubble, and this has done a lot for stability as well as increasing the amphipod and isopod population.

I was out of the country for a few weeks, and while I was gone the chaeto (that has been slow growing up until now) went absolutely buck wild. This sucked all the nitrates out of the water, and when I came home I had some pretty pale corals. I trimmed the chaeto back about 90%, and the color is slowly returning to my SPS. the zoas have been a little slower to come back but they're getting there. 

Sometime this weekend I'm going to ask my LFS if they can order me some trimma gobies. I'm confident they'll be able to find some trimma rubromaculatus, but I've really got my fingers crossed for some trimma tevegae. 

 

I'm really enjoying watching this tank develop and grow. Picos are fun because you notice so many things you never would in a larger system. 

[RedCrow]

I made a slight impulse buy today...

The two paired immediately and got right to work on a burrow in the front of the display 🤩

[Wonderboy]

Cool! Looks like the goby was getting beat up - I'm sure he'll really appreciate his new home!

[RedCrow]

26 minutes ago, Wonderboy said:

Cool! Looks like the goby was getting beat up - I'm sure he'll really appreciate his new home!

Yeah he was in a tank with a bunch of anthias and fire shrimp, but he was actually holding his own pretty well. I can’t wait to see his personality come out 

[Matteo]

39 minutes ago, RedCrow said:

I made a slight impulse buy today...

The two paired immediately and got right to work on a burrow in the front of the display 🤩

That's a good impulse buy and a perfect duo for that tank. I have a yellow watchman and tiger shrimp who's Fat (seriously he's bigger than the goby check him out) and they built they're main cave right in the front of my display so I always get to see them. If you place crushed coral bits and rubble by the caves the shrimp will use them to fortify his home. Super fun! 

[zamboni200000]

Nice looking tank!  Thanks for sharing.  I especially am happy to see you have a large thriving copepod population in such a new tank.  I am starting up a 6 gallon shortly and am hoping to have similar results.  Are you running any carbon or purigen or anything in the back or just chaeto and live rock rubble?  Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing😁

[RedCrow]

8 minutes ago, zamboni200000 said:

Nice looking tank!  Thanks for sharing.  I especially am happy to see you have a large thriving copepod population in such a new tank.  I am starting up a 6 gallon shortly and am hoping to have similar results.  Are you running any carbon or purigen or anything in the back or just chaeto and live rock rubble?  Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing😁

Thanks! Nothing besides LR and chaeto back there right now. I’ve really only got SPS and zoas right now, if I ever add some softies then I’ll add some carbon 

[RedCrow]

Another new addition: a single torch polyp

 

The shrimp and goby are settling in and are spending a bit of time outside their burrow already

[RedCrow]

I picked up some New Life Spectrum Thera A to see if I could coax these guys to eat pellets. Both came out and gorged themselves on the very first round of pellets! It’s nice that I won’t have to rely on frozen food exclusively. 

 I always get a kick out of the lone nassarius snail popping out of the sand every time there’s food. 

[RedCrow]

Something strange I’ve noticed: the goby spends all day in or right in front of the burrow, but at night he sleeps out on the sand bed in the corner of the tank. Has anyone else’s goby refused to spend the night with his shrimp companion? 

[mystersyster]

Great build! Following. Did you cut the acrylic and where did you get it? Been looking at doing something similar. 

[RedCrow]

34 minutes ago, mystersyster said:

Did you cut the acrylic and where did you get it? 

I just got it off amazon. 3/16” is a bit more expensive than 1/8” but IMO it’s worth the extra mi way as the thicker acrylic is much more rigid. I cut it using a high tooth count blade for my table saw, and used black silicone and regular loctite to put it all together 

[RedCrow]

Went to a new lfs today and picked up a couple frags. Among them was this yellow goniopora 

It’s so bright that it’s all I see when I look in the Pico. Hopefully it doesn’t cause me to grow contempt for the other corals lol

[RedCrow]

Yesterday I found my goby had gone carpet surfing 😔 The glass lid I have on the tank has gaps no larger than 1/8th of an inch, but apparently he found a spot to squeeze through. In memoriam:

[JBM]

Fish do the darndest things. 

 

Sweet little pico

[RedCrow]

I went to my lfs today to search for a replacement for my poor antenna goby. As luck would have it, the had a bonded pair of antenna gobies. Several of the employees were talking about how in all their years working at the shop (over 10 years in the case of one of them) that was the only time they've ever received a true pair. They're being acclimated to my pico as we speak.

[RedCrow]

January first full tank shot

 

The new goby pair is slowly settling in to their new home, though they're extremely finicky. They eat pellets, but will only only come out for food if I step back at least five feet and don't move a muscle. They are slowly spending a little more time outside the burrow when its not feeding time, and their color is returning slowly after the move.

 

I had the LEDs turned up almost 100% since I have SPS, but i turned it down to around 60% after I noticed the birds nest was starting to grow branches downward away from the light. Since I did this the color has become much deeper across all of the corals. 

 

Happy new year everybody! I hope 2020 is a successful year for you all in reefing and all other endeavors. 

[RedCrow]

Short story: 

One evening I found one of the two gobies lying on the carpet 😞(Mind you, I’ve modified the lid to have even smaller gaps since I lost the last one). He was still slightly moist, not completely shriveled to nothing, so I put him back in the tank just in case. About 5 minutes later he resumed breathing, and about ten minutes after that he started to wiggle back and forth. The next morning he was nowhere to be seen, so I wasn’t sure if he had survived and returned to the burrow, or if he had died and the shrimp took advantage of the free buffet. 

 I hadn’t seen him in several days, so I had assumed the later was probably the more realistic of the two outcomes. Last night while I was feeding the one goby and his shrimp companion, a second goby head popped out of the entrance to the burrow! He looked terrible, very beat up and thin, but he ate some food and then sat at the entrance for a couple minutes, so I think he’s going to be okay. 

[RedCrow]

Time for a long overdue update

 

The gobies are escape artists. They always are searching for their next hole to jump through. I fashioned a goby-proof cover that has absolutely zero even remotely goby-sized holes and slots. Its made of 3/16" acrylic, and it wraps around the sides of the tank, extending down about 3/4". Find a way through that you little demons.

 

The lighting has been upgraded to a Kessil A80 I picked up from a fellow NR user. 

 

I have been struggling with bryopsis in this pico. Gonna give fluconazole a try and see what happens.

 

Thanks for following along!