1.5 ltr pico

[kurnn]

Hi all,

It is a latepost. I think i will start new journal about my almost 2 months old pico tank, since the first inhabitants introduced to the tank.

 

It has dimension 17 cm x 9.5 cm x 13 cm. Total volume 1.85 ltr, but with liverock and other equipment in there it holds about 1.3 ltr of water.

 

Here is a video:

 

Equipments, it has a thermostat to keep the temperature at 28°celcius, and the powerhead is located in the tank. It is a 5v dc powerhead. Concealed by the liverock and green star polyps.

 

It has a compartment for pens, pencil etc right next to it. I put it upside-down to house a diy peltier chiller and as a lamp holder.

 

Lighting, i use a diy submersible led where i put lens on them.

 

And to keep alkalinity at desired level, it has a diy auto dosing pump that built from a perfume dispenser.

 

Here are some pics of the equipments and plumbing:

[Ratvan]

Gorgeous little set up, so much going on in such a small space, congratulations. 

Is that a Stomatella Snail on the glass?

 

Have you any Photo's of how you've hidden the powerhead?

[kurnn]

Thank u ratvan,

Yes, it is a stomatella snail grazing on the glass. I have 4 of them. And they are amazing. Keep the glass, liverock even plumbings always stay clean. 

 

The last picture shows some piece of  black elbow connected to black pipe going up. That is the outlet from powerhead. Right next to it we can see its cable that is hidden in smaller pipe. The powerhead is laid below them.

We can also see some piece if black sponge at the corner. I use it to cover the water inlet from materials that may clogged the powerhead.

I ll take some pictures from different angle later.

I hope this can explain.

Thank u for stopping by,,

[kurnn]

Here are pics of the powerhead from different angles

[kurnn]

Monthly update,

 

The goniopora has extended their tentacles up to 4 cm and is also expanding their base. Now competing with zoas to claim some space.

 

Gsp suddenly has stop extended their polyps for 3 days. While i check kH, it was at 6.7 dkh, currently correct it to 8dkh and they begin to come up again. Or maybe it is lack for other trace elements?

 

Pics taken yesterday and 29/11:

[Ratvan]

Looking real nice, really like the Goniopora and Zoas together 

[kurnn]

Tank u, they are my favorite corals.

[kurnn]

The goniopora is overwhelming

 

One of its tentacles has reached alveopora's base, threatening the whole colony.

 

[kurnn]

Rearranged coral placement. Had to pull goniopora out of zoa colony.

[PicoSavvy]

Any updates ?

[kurnn]

On 5/21/2020 at 4:20 PM, PicoSavvy said:

Any updates ?

hi,,

its been a while and there are several changes and issues .

 

here goes the list (but i dont remember when exactly they occured):

1. i didnt satisfied with the colour temp of the light so i upgraded it into modified 3x1watt light fixture (2 blue, 1 6500k white) with120 degree lenses each

2. have problem with vermatid snail. they d been irritated the goniopora all the time

3. then i decided to 'nuke' the liverock. soaked it in fresh water for several days, wiped it up with porcelain cleaner acid solution. all the vermatid snails, a un-id clamp and mosty all zoas were lost.

4. did some engineering to the rock so that the goniopora now can sit firmly on it

5. fragged the goniopora twice

6. still didnt satisfied with the lamp color, i upgraded the light again so it had  2 bulbs of 3x1 watt light fixture (5 blue, 1 white)

7. have algae issue because of exessive light, so i downgraded to 1 bulb again, 1 white and 2 blue, but now the white led has no lens on it. i think i like it now. and the algae issue is minimalized.

 

addition that has been made:

1. red, blue, green mushrooms

2. green laker, bambam and unknown zoas 

3. a very tiny frag of green with purple tentacles goniopora

4. a baby sarcophyton

 

i ll search on my archieves, hope there are some pics to explain more

meanwhile, here are some i ve found, taken on early june:

[Christopher Marks]

Wow @kurnn, your pico reef has really made a lot of progress! This is a very clever system design, I love the way you've concealed the peltier chiller. Has all the equipment been reliable so far?

[kurnn]

Hi  @Christopher Marks,

Thank u.

Glad you asked about the chiller. I forgot to mention that i had replaced the peltier element too. It was broken.

The water was breaking in. I dont know whether it had permeated through the ceramic (because it has direct contact to the water) or simply breaking through the cable seal.

I replaced the tec1-12706 type with tec-1-12704. Still drive it @5v, the heatsink isnt hot as before. The cooling capacity is slightly increase.

I also added very very thin coating to the cool side--that has direct contact to water--with very very thin silicon (good conductivity silicon).

Had replaced the fan as well with an ordinary type fan.

And the 5v dc powerhead has been reliable so far.

 

[Christopher Marks]

I am very impressed with all your engineering! What a beautiful pico reef, keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing more as those new zoanthids grow out 🙂 

[kurnn]

On 7/24/2020 at 11:39 PM, Christopher Marks said:

I am very impressed with all your engineering! What a beautiful pico reef, keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing more as those new zoanthids grow out 🙂 

thank u, i really apreciate it Christ,😊

 

here is the pict when the chiller got problem on january

 

and these are when i blast the vermatid snail by soaking the lr into fresh water, cleaned the remained dead zoa with porcelain cleaner; did some change to the rock; and how was the tank look like without the rock:

 

 

 

 

 

and these are when i fragged the goniopora:

first cut:

 

 

 

 

and again:

 

and here is when i m back with one bulb, by this time the lens only applied to the blue leds. white no lens, like this:

 

 

the color temp is the same with when i used two bulb (to my eyes😊) 

i love it. and the red hair algae is under control

 

[kurnn]

some are left behind, the tank now:

(forgive me for the glass havent been cleaned)