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🏆 Old School 2.5g Pico Reef Competition Final Results


Christopher Marks

Old School 2.5g Pico Reef Competition Ballot  

170 members have voted

  1. 1. Which Pico Reef Had The Best Use Of Color?

    • allesluge
      1
    • caas1496
      11
    • ChristopherDido
      1
    • Clown79
      1
    • Eclipse522
      0
    • Joevember
      19
    • kimberbee
      1
    • kimdawg
      1
    • Lingwendil
      0
    • MetaTank
      0
    • Noah C Peterson
      1
    • Ratvan
      1
    • RudyEnt
      5
    • seabass
      0
    • SeaFurn
      0
    • This guy is extra salty
      1
    • Tigahboy
      78
    • William
      48
    • Wingy
      1
  2. 2. Which Pico Reef Had The Most Diverse Livestock?

    • allesluge
      0
    • caas1496
      2
    • ChristopherDido
      0
    • Clown79
      4
    • Eclipse522
      2
    • Joevember
      22
    • kimberbee
      3
    • kimdawg
      1
    • Lingwendil
      4
    • MetaTank
      1
    • Noah C Peterson
      1
    • Ratvan
      3
    • RudyEnt
      7
    • seabass
      0
    • SeaFurn
      13
    • This guy is extra salty
      2
    • Tigahboy
      15
    • William
      88
    • Wingy
      2
  3. 3. Which Pico Reef Had The Best Aquascape?

    • allesluge
      0
    • caas1496
      9
    • ChristopherDido
      1
    • Clown79
      3
    • Eclipse522
      0
    • Joevember
      70
    • kimberbee
      1
    • kimdawg
      0
    • Lingwendil
      2
    • MetaTank
      0
    • Noah C Peterson
      20
    • Ratvan
      1
    • RudyEnt
      5
    • seabass
      6
    • SeaFurn
      2
    • This guy is extra salty
      1
    • Tigahboy
      39
    • William
      10
    • Wingy
      0

This poll is closed to new votes

  • Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.
  • Poll closed on 11/18/2019 at 06:59 AM

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Christopher Marks

The Kickin' It Old School 2.5g Pico Reef Competition has officially come to an end!

 

🗳 WE NEED YOUR VOTES! 🗳

 

marinedepot.gif Cultivated Reef

❤️ Competition sponsored by Marine Depot and Cultivated Reef ❤️ 

 

Hey everybody! 👋 How was your summer? Can you believe 7 months have gone by since we first kicked off our 18th birthday celebration with our very first Old School 2.5gal Pico Reef Competition?! This fun competition got started back in March 2019 and is centered around the one of the earliest popular pico reef tanks around, a classic 2.5 gallon all glass aquarium. Competitors were asked to constrain themselves to these classic tank dimensions, 12" x 6" x 8" or near-equivalent dimension tank, along with a simple list of limited equipment choices similar to what was available to pico reef pioneers nearly 18 years ago.

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After 7 months of fierce competition, an impressive 19 pico reef tanks have made it to the end to compete for one of three amazing prizes! Now we need you, the Nano-Reef Community, the help decide the winners! Each contestant has been asked to share a final FTS and a brief summary of their experiences in the competition, which are listed below in alphabetical order. Please review each competitor's 2.5gal Old School Pico Reef before casting your vote in each of the categories below. Click on any contestant's pico reef to be taken to their competition aquarium journal to learn more about their journey in old school pico reefing.

 

Voting Ends November 17th at Midnight PST!

🏆 Contest Prizes

There will be 3 winning pico reefs chosen by community vote. In the event of a tie, I, Christopher Marks Community Founder, will cast the tie-breaking vote. The winners will be chosen for the following categories, while taking into consideration the pico reef's overall heath, growth, and progression throughout the contest period:

Best Use Of Color

Not Necessarily The Most Colors...

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Cultivated Reef $150 Gift Certificate (shipping not included)

 

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Dr. Tim's Aquatics Prize Pack ($50 Value)

Small Bottles of ammonium chloride (1), One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria (1), First Defense (1), 1 pack of Waste-Away Gels

 

Most Diverse Livestock

Fill Your Pico Reef Wisely...

 

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Aquatic Life Twist-In 100 GPD 4-Stage RO/DI System ($140 Value)

 

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Dr. Tim's Aquatics Prize Pack ($75 Value)

Large Bottles of ammonium chloride (1), One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria (1), First Defense (1), (1) Waste-Away, 1 pack of Waste-Away Gels, and 2 Bene-FISH-al Fish Food Grinders (one veggie one protein).

 

Best Aquascape

Creativity, Use Of Space, Visual Appeal...

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Innovative Marine 10 Gallon NUVO Fusion Nano Aquarium ($100 Value)
Note: This specific aquarium has since been discontinued, substitute prize TBA soon.

 

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Dr. Tims Aquatics Large Prize Pack ($100 Value)
Large Bottles of ammonium chloride (1), One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria (1), First Defense (1), (1) Waste-Away, 1 pack of Waste-Away Gels, and 2 Bene-FISH-al Fish Food Grinders, and a Marine Fish Food Starter Kit.

 

Potential category prize winners may only claim a prize package from 1 of 3 prize categories. In the event a pico reef tank is voted as a winner for 2 or more categories, the winner must choose only 1 of the available winning prize categories and forfeit the remaining category prizes to the pico reef tank(s) with the next highest vote count(s) in the remaining category (or categories).

 

🎁 Bonus Awards from CM - A Nano-Reef T-Shirt & Sticker pack!

We had a lot of great pico reefs that entered the competition and gave their best. Some didn't quite follow the rules all the way, but tagged along in spirit, while others fell victim to pest infestations, or just a lack of available time this summer. We had some really dedicated journaling as well, with lots of fun updates to follow along, and also some pico reefs dedicated to housing unusual specimens. I appreciate everyone who gave it a try, stuck it out to the end, and those who didn't make it but still gave it their best.


At the close of voting I will be announcing my personal selections for the following bonus award categories, who will receive a Nano-Reef.com T-Shirt and sticker pack from me. 🙂 

 

  • Most Janky Tank - Award for the best humble budget build with classic glass tank with plastic rim.
  • Worst Infestation - Award for the poor pico reef contest tank that suffers the worst pest outbreak.
  • Best Rule Breaker - Award for the coolest 2.5g tank that doesn't follow the contest rules, or qualify for other prizes, but still tags along for fun!
  • Best Documentation - Award for the pico reef contest tank with the best aquarium journal documenting the process.
  • Most Unique Creature - Award for the pico reef contest tank that successfully houses an unusual specimen.

 

📜 Final Competitors List (Alphabetical Order)

 

@allesluge Long time lurker, first janky Pico Reef

On 10/24/2019 at 8:12 PM, allesluge said:

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October FTS

Finally could make a water change and take a decent photo, it has been a joy to be part of this contest. It has been a great learning experience specially failures, losing my first fish, and some sps frags make want  to quit, but the remaining life in the tank helped me to decide to keep it going.

 

I love the concept of "old school" reefing  a 2.5 gal tank with a HOB filter. However I found difficult to have an aquascape pleasant to my eyes, and easy to clean. This tank will be replaced with 7.5 gal cube with a bigger filter in a short period of time. I will try to keep KISS principle. And add more LPS specially  euphilias  and acans, which I found amazing and not so difficult to take care of, and maybe 2 gobies. Or a bleny.

 

@caas1496 Paly Peninsula: 2.5G Pico Contest - Final Post

On 10/24/2019 at 9:11 PM, caas1496 said:

Its hard to believe the 7 months has already flown by! It has been awesome watching everyone's tank progress and interacting with this great community. I'm so glad this contest gave me a "reason" to set up another tank. It has been a great opportunity to experiment and has changed my outlook on a couple aspects of reefing. I want to share my takeaways and thank everyone who has taken the time to follow along and share advice.

 

But first... FTS time! All three views of the Paly Peninsula. Read More >>

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@ChristopherDido Dr. Seuss's Truffula Tank - Final Post

On 10/28/2019 at 7:37 PM, ChristopherDido said:

Sorry wasn't able to keep up real well with this. We ended up moving in the middle of September. All of my corals and tank inhabitants of both of my tanks survived. Never got a chance to add much more. But here's a pic of it I just took before turning off the lights for the night. It's been fun and stressful doing a tank during a move lol. I assume I'm out of the contest, so good luck to everyone. If that's not the case let me know. Thanks for the fun! If I'm still really in I'll post a cleaned up photo and 2 paragraph update on Friday or Saturday.

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@Clown79 PICOING IT OLD SCHOOL - Final Post

On 10/28/2019 at 2:36 PM, Clown79 said:

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone bye and now the contest has come to an end. Thanks CM for all the hard work you put into the contest and nano! I decided to join the contest just for fun and it really was fun setting up and taking care of this little pico. I tried getting creative with the pico but also keeping it simple for ease of care.

 

We made a black stand designed like a stage out of wood we had lying around and we purchased a white tile for the base to sit within the base design. The back wood wall not only offered a back ground but allowed us to clip on the light from the back rather than on the tank rim and it hides all the wires which was a bonus. We made an acrylic lid with holes drilled for gas exchange and it has worked really well. It gave a clean look and also helped with evaporation.

 

I designed a lit back drop. I really like the look of the back glowing different colours, not only does it look cool, its very reminiscent of the good old retro days. It's really cool at night when the display light goes out. To add some dimension I decided to suspend my gsp frags to have a  floating coral look. There were ups and downs with this pico. Read More >>

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@Eclipse522 Eclipse's secret lagoon old school pico - Final Post

On 10/26/2019 at 3:57 PM, Eclipse522 said:

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The two hermit crabs, two snails, and two feather dusters appear to be doing well. I had no loss of coral seen the last report. I have not seen any flatworms for a little bit. I have dipped the one hairy mushroom that had them on it. I have also added flatworm exit a couple of times. Probably going to do another treatment soon. I have notice that the isopod muunid are doing extremely well. They are all over the glass. The tree and the cheato are also doing extremely well. The cheatro has over flowed out of the filter were I put it. I need to trim that back soon.

 

The future plans include removing the tree or moving the whole tank. The tree is getting too big for its current location. I need ideas for the tree because I want to keep it. I need to check care requirment to see alternatives ways to keep it. I do not think I can put it in the main tank. The snails and hermit crabs will be move to the main tank. The corals will stay in the little tank for a little longer. I am thinking about starting up my 40 gal tank to get a black frogfish.  The coral in the tink tank can go there. That is a maybe thing.  The feather duster will stay with the coral for a bit longer. That is it. Thanks for reading. 

 

@Joevember Joe's Boneless Pico Reef - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 9:26 PM, Joevember said:

Thanks CM, been pretty cool to set up a pico tank for the first time. Really different experience in a different volume of water. Outbreaks are a lot more aggressive when they only have to spread through 2 gallons over.  The day I found out there was a pico competition I knew I'd join in with a tank for my school; I was just looking for a reason to get a tank in there for my club. Obviously the first few weeks in the competiton were sad for me... lost some cool pieces... and some cooler tech. After I finally got a good start to the tank it really started to pick up and fill in. One of my favorite parts of a pico is how you get to see everything in more detail. Everything that changes is immediately noticed, and you really see the personality of all the little members of your community. 

 

My future plans are to keep the tank with the school and have the students keep taking care of it, and hand it off to me during the summer. I'll be cleaning it up then and putting some nice pieces in it that I hope they don't kill (I know you're trying your best 😁). I also might get a larger tank for them since picos are pretty hard to keep stable (as I've found out) and make the UNS 3N a planted that I can keep in college. Read More >>

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@kimberbee Kimber's Contest Pico - Turning up the HEAT - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 10:34 AM, kimberbee said:

What a rough start this poor tank had! While I'm glad I'm here to finish the contest out, I can say it'll be a LONG time before I attempt another pico tank! I really should have considered timing much earlier, as being away on vacation for 10 days isn't a very good idea with a pico that evaporates water so quickly. Those salinity swings were the biggest contributing factor to the slow pace and half-demise of the tank. 

 

I'm glad I found Bad Crab, and am happy to give him a home, but when he meets his end, the tank will probably come down. Congrats to everyone who stuck with the contest and good luck in the voting!!

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@kimdawg Tybee Janky Tank - Final Post

On 10/25/2019 at 3:07 PM, kimdawg said:

I would like to begin by saying thank you to Christopher Marks, Nano-Reef, and all of the forum members that encouraged and gave helpful advice during the contest.  We started this journey with a photo shoot at Tybee Island Lighthouse and it has become my favorite and most successful tank.  I plan to keep it running in the future.

 

GOALS: I joined this contest because the old school "janky tank" reminded me of the joy of my first fish tank.  My goals were to create and maintain a tank by myself, not spend a lot of money, become more active on the forum, and have my husband learn to take better photos of my tank.  The new challenges I faced were running a bare bottom tank, using a HOB filter, working with a tiny cheap LED, and aquascaping in such a small space.

 

RESULTS: I was amazed at the growth and colors that I got  out of these small cheap frags.  After fighting flatworms and several types of algae. I learned weekly 1 gallon water changes, careful feeding, dipping all frags, and keeping my hands out of the tank was the key to success!  My livestock includes hermits, snails, peppermint shrimp, pom pom crab, porcelain crab, and a clownfish that eventual moved to a larger tank and was replaced by Mr. Blue Fish a damsel.  The biggest difficulty I had was aquascaping in the six inch width of this tank, but I am so excited that I got enough growth out of the tank that I have been able to move several frags to my larger tank. See More >>

 

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@Lingwendil 2.5G Pico Contest! Team Jank! - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 6:43 PM, Lingwendil said:

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My goal for this tank was to have a simple, affordable, and low maintenance miniature reef tank that would share a light fixture with my 2.5 planted tank. I have very little disposable income and wanted something that would look full much sooner. I have a usual trend to go with very simple equipment, and went for something different than I usually do with this build. I used a cheaper, smaller filter (Azoo mignon 150) shoved a betta heater in it, and cut my own media to fit. I eventually added a koralia nano showerhead to supplement the Azoo filter, as I didn't want to replace the well established filter to get more flow. I built a light fixture out of leftovers from other projects, and hooked it up over both tanks.

 

I traded some rock from another tank to an LFS, and added a few frags. I scavenged a cleanup crew from my other tank, and ordered some red macro. Then all that was left was leaving it to grow. I found that it was a very easy to maintain setup, and it quickly became my favorite tank that I had kept in quite a while. For the future I think I may replace the koralia with a canister filter, and I may upgrade to a larger HOB filter, but I'm in no hurry. The tank is doing well, and I would primarily wish to start working in it more to get better growth. I think a miniature ATO with some calcium dosing may be in order as well. Thanks for all the kind words, and good luck on everyone else's tank!

 

@MetaTank MetaJANKs Old School Polished Turd - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 7:05 PM, MetaTank said:

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The competition has been fun. I only wish life hadn’t thrown me a couple curveballs halfway through. It was incredibly fun to watch everyone’s picos come to life, and I’m proud of everyone in the competition. 

 

As we continue forward, I will maintain this pico. It will be my primary tank for a while, and I hope to get my final issues takes care of (little algae outbreak). Everything has grown, and I look forward to watching this pico develop over the next year or so. Read More >>

 

@Noah C Peterson Noah's Hidden Cavern - A Old School Pico Adventure - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 4:58 PM, Noah C Peterson said:

Well it sure has been a wild ride. First of all thank you so much to this awesome community for hosting this event, it has been an absolute blast and certainly an amazing way to get back into the hobby. Though the tank has seen it's fair share of ups and downs, (recently more downs than ups check out that cyano 😭) I feel at the end of the day I accomplished what I set out to achieve, a fun, engaging display with a K.I.S.S attitude. 

 

Since this is currently my only tank I'm ganna keep it set up as is and see how far I can take it. The monti caps are coloring back up and one of my sexy shrimp trio has finally located the maxi minis so I believe this tank has a bright future. While it seems the reef bug has bitten me pretty hard and while there may be upgrades in the future, for now I'm happy with my tiny slice of the ocean tucked away in it's little cave.

 

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@Ratvan Old School Zoa/Paly Garden - Final Post

On 10/24/2019 at 12:41 AM, Ratvan said:

Thought about tidying up for the final Pico Picture but why not go for the current cloudy morning look?

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Pico Contest Tank - Recap

Firstly a Thank You to anybody and everybody that has helped and encouraged me throughout this contest, this is a wonderful forum that I am proud to be a member of. I have received so much help and support from this group of people it is unreal.

 

So an insight into me and why I decided that I would partake in this contest. A lot of things have happened in the last couple of years, I lost my Family to Cancer, Alzheimer’s and Cardio Vascular Dementia the Christmas of 2017. In December 2018 I tried to commit suicide as I couldn’t see any other way out of my slump. Since then I have started to receive support (most of it enforced by others). It has got to the point where I no longer keep my “suicide kit” in my car. Apart from writing this I don’t think that I have considered harming myself since. So what the f*ck am I telling you this for?

 

Well, in January 2019 I purchased a Tank complete with Clownfish, I have been fish keeping a long time, however always Brackish or Freshwater. I really loved the fish and the tank but unfortunately I couldn’t keep up with the maintenance and gave up. Despite my Mrs and Mother in Law I felt so alone and isolated but I stuck around on this forum asking questions and reading, oh my word, not since I got my Masters Degree have I read so much material.

 

Then the Pico contest came along. This tank has given me the motivation to keep going, as someone once said “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure, without losing hope” with a quote like that they’d have to be famous. I actually enjoy coming to work again now, mainly because I know that I have a lot of creatures relying on my abilities to keep them alive and looking beautiful.

 

This Hobby has helped me so much, not only in improving my mood but I have become more active as a result (I could barely lift the 2.5g of water to fill the Pico originally), due to this I once again got involved in other hobbies. The biggest thing that I am taking away from this contest is far more important to me is that I feel I can speak to people again, outside a work setting. For that I am truly grateful and forever thankful to all of your kind words and encouragement throughout. Ok enough emotional drivel! TALK ABOUT THE TANK! Read More >>

 

@RudyEnt Rudy's New Pico Reef - Old School Pico Reef - Final Post

On 10/25/2019 at 8:16 AM, RudyEnt said:

Wow, seven months, that seems fast.  When I started the pico tank I had not done it in over 20 years.  I have to say it was fun.  So different than my two large reef tanks.  I learned a lot.  For one I found out that less is more.  Keep my hands out of the tank other than for the cleaning.  I also learned that my rock flowers did not like black sand.  I so really like the look of it.  But I ended up removing it and everyone was happy.  I learned that one-gallon weekly water change was key to stability in my tank.  Just keep in mind to adjust for salinity.  I also learned that, don’t hit the light when cleaning.  Attempting to electrocute my fish and myself is not a good idea.  Not to mention it messes with the life of your led light (hint, I had to get a new one).

 

Overall, I had good growth on my corals and other than having to move one of my fish and replacing him with another they where happy.  I will be changing corals moving forward and adding sand.  I think it will do better as a softy tank.  I am not sure, but I may move everyone to a 12-gallon tank that I have so I can add a refugium for more pod production.  I want to make this tank into a seahorse and dragonet tank.  I am in love with the personality of my two red ones.  I can’t believe I never had dragonets before.  Although they do change colors more than my crested geckos.  As for seahorse, I think it would be a good challenge that I have never done before.  Another first for me was hatching brine shrimp.  That was fun, time consuming but fun.  My success with that would serve well for seahorse.  Overall, I really enjoyed going back to a small tank and low flow.  It is so different.  Good luck to everyone but I hope I win.  I have plans for that tank and a space picked out for it.

 

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@seabass Montipora Fields of Bikini Bottom 🗿 Old School Mullet - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 7:57 PM, seabass said:

Montipora Fields of Bikini Bottom 🗿 Business Up Front... Party in the Back

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This tribute to my avatar has been a success as well as a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed the initial excitement which everyone exhibited in this "little" contest.  And following these unique pico tanks to completion has been a real pleasure.  I set up this tank specifically to participate in this contest.  My intention was to keep costs low and then repurpose the light and move the corals to another tank after the contest.


I built the Bikini Bottom diorama and added SpongeBob decor.  I also cut a custom glass top to fit my HOB filter.  I even purchased some new LEDs for my black box light, but never got to switch them out.  I started with live rock from my LFS.  However, all the montipora frags came from Unique Corals, which I fragged into even smaller pieces for this tank.  During the contest I fragged and moved my setosa again, due to territorial infringement from the Superman. Read More >>

 

@SeaFurn Seafurn's NOTORIOUS P-I-C-O - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 6:26 PM, SeaFurn said:

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Can't believe we are at the finish line for this contest.  For me it's been quite an experience.  First, I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to @Got Corals - Sandy and Ramiro - and JW - for their support, guidance, a catchy title for the thread, and some awesome coral selections!  I couldn't have done it without them. I'd encourage you to check them out and support their business.  I was so glad to have met them in person at MACNA this year - which I might not have had the chance to had it not been for this contest. As far as the NOTORIOS P-I-C-O goes, I love it - despite the challenges I've had!   

 

Plans for the future - I plan to keep this tank going!  I want to add more zoas, some acans, ricordia, and another acro.  I've thought about upgrading to a UNS rimless but the janky tank has grown on me. I bought a Kessil A80 from @William  thinking I was going to swap the PAR 38 for it but I ended up using that on my 45 for moonlights instead.  I may upgrade the PAR 38 at some point to ensure there's enough light for an acro or two but we'll see.   So the plan for now is just to keep the parameters stable and keep adding corals where ever there is space! Thank you to everyone who followed along, commented, and given me advice along the way.  It's why I love this site so much.   Now on to the photos...

Read More >>

 

@This guy is extra salty DIY acrylic old school V3 - Final Post

On 10/25/2019 at 8:33 PM, This guy is extra salty said:

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well this contest was fun and this little pico was interesting to see it develop into a successful softy tank. 🧐

 

😭 But I have been loving this dragons burp algae.  It has been the workhorse for Filtration in this ULM system. This little pico would’ve crashed or failed from the start if I didn’t have the Smart ATO/AWC. And in all honesty the way I have it setup with the drain and fresh water feed lines going to/from my larger tank, made maintenance 1000% care free. Especially when I have it do a30% weekly water change. I’ll dose about 1.5ml of skimmate weekly which helped with the colors and growth of the soft corals. (I did start off with 1 polyp for each of the colonies of zoanthinds) 

ok the real champions are the pests in this tank, Bristle worms, aiptasia and majano anemones. Are thriving well along with bubble algae and GHA. I tried to contact the aiptasia in the tank and I stopped at 50. To knock back the population I grabbed 2 berghia nudi, from a local guy www.saltyunderground.com hopefully I can get them to breed. 😃

 

overall i would love to see this contest go longer but all great things must end. But Im going to keep this pico running!! until I get my 750 moved which will be around December hopefully 🤷‍♂️

 

 

@Tigahboy Tigahboy's 🌋 Pico - Final Post

On 10/26/2019 at 6:22 PM, Tigahboy said:

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This pico contest was a great project for my son and me to work on together (though he's since lost all interest in this tank.  LOL).  It was also my way back into the reefing hobby after a long time away.  I really wanted to do something unique for this pico in terms of scape and use of color.  I decided to go with a Hawaiian theme and was fortunate to find a very cool Tiki Hut/Palm Tree combo and a wicked cool decorative volcano.  I made the scape entirely out of rock rubble pieces and tried my best to complement and not detract from these two elements.  Thanks to seabass I was also able to add some awesome hula performers.  I also tried to add various livestock and elements that would fit with the theme, such as clove polyps to look like palm trees, green zoas along the base of the volcano to look like lush landscape, blue ricordea to represent the ocean waves surrounding a portion of the volcano, a CUC from Hawaii, a torch to serve as a volcanic plume over the volcano (though I've used various macroalgae for that purpose as well), red macroalgae (Gracilaria hayi) to look like flames behind the torch, decorative clam shell from Hawaii on the HOB, and Hawaiian fish hooks (handmade by my father-in-law) above the tank.

 

Finally, I added backlighting to integrate some unique colors and enhance the overall look of the tank.  I was hoping to create something that had a dramatic visual impact.  To accomplish this, I added frosted vinyl film and then an LED backlight with multiple color options.  I liked this effect so much that I ended up using the same backlighting for my 20g project.  It will be very hard to take this tank down after the contest, though practically speaking that would probably be the best.  So TBD on what comes next!  In any event, this tank has been one of the most fun projects I've worked on, so thank you to Nano-Reef.com for putting on another awesome contest!  And thanks to all the reefers who have been following along and providing invaluable input!  I hope y'all enjoyed this pico as much as I have.  

 

@William William’s “why am I doing this” ... old school pico - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 2:19 PM, William said:

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I want to start off by saying that I have really enjoyed this competition. Seeing all of the different ways in which a 2.5 gallon pico aquarium can be set up and maintained has been both informative and entertaining. When I decided to join the competition in April, I did not have a specific plan or idea. I already had an Ultum Nature Systems 3N freshwater planted pico aquarium on my desk at the time and I thought that a saltwater version would look great next to it. I designed the aquascape to somewhat mimic the scape in my planted aquarium. The addition of red dragon's breath macroalgae also assisted in this.  

 

The tank had some ups and downs in the beginning, with a dinoflagellate outbreak ranking among the worst. I moved apartments in June, and despite a large amount of anxiety on my part, the aquariums did wonderfully. I have really been surprised by how easy this tank is to care for with only a 1 gallon water changes every other week. I believe that one reason for this is due to the macroalgae acting as a source for nutrient export. I have really fallen in love with this tank and I currently have no plans to take it down. I have contemplated upgrading it to a larger UNS tank, but at this time I plan to leave it as it is.

 

@Wingy Wingy's "Old School Pico Reef" - Final Post

On 10/27/2019 at 2:35 PM, Wingy said:

It's hard to believe that this contest is ending.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by to take a look, those that offered advice, and answered questions. 

 

I started on this journey to create something that my parrot would enjoy watching during the day when I am at work.  It has become that and more.  We all love watching the sexy shrimp go about their shrimpy business of wreaking havoc as they jump, climb rocks and swing from everything they can reach.  Each piece in there was chosen with care and most have a memory associated  with it from my first purchase to the pom pom crab named for a friend who passed unexpectedly to another given to me for a milestone birthday.  

 

I haven't yet made a decision on keeping this tank up or upgrading to something larger.  For now it is going to stay.

 

Here is my final contest fts taken 10/26.  

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Shoutouts to our Rule Breakers who made it all the way to the very end @Wonderboy (Wonderboy's 2.5G - Old School Pico's Got Tricks), @GraniteReefer (Granite’s Dropoff Poopico), and @Tempestas (Seaview Pico – An Old School Cheerleader)!

 

Thanks to everyone who participated in the competition and gave it a try, and everyone who followed along to cheerlead! I hope everyone had a fun time! ❤️ 

 

A very special Thank You to community sponsors @Cultivated Reef and @Marine Depot for supporting our Nano-Reef Community! We wouldn't here here without your amazing support all these years! 😍

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MainelyReefer

Can I change my vote? I forgot I wanted to vote for only janky tanks as that was the point.... I voted for all rimless by accident but that’s why they shouldn’t have been allowed

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People worked hard on their entries.  And all the categories are still pretty close; so make sure to get your vote in before the deadline.

 

Voting ends Sunday night!

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Christopher Marks

🎉 Congratulations to our Old School 2.5g Pico Reef Competition Winners 🎈

The votes are in and the community has spoken! Thank you to everyone who joined in the competition this year to try their hand at classic pico reef keeping. I hope everyone had fun along the way, I know I sure had fun following along! Shoutouts to everyone who followed along with the competition and cheered our competitors on in their aquarium journals. Without further ado, here are the final results!

 

🏆 Which Pico Reef Had The Best Use Of Color?

@Tigahboy Tigahboy's 🌋 Pico - Final Journal Post

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You win a Cultivated Reef $150 Gift Certificate and a Dr. Tim's Aquatics Prize Pack!

 

🏆 Which Pico Reef Had The Most Diverse Livestock?

@William William’s “why am I doing this” ... old school pico - Final Journal Post

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You win an Aquatic Life Twist-In 100 GPD 4-Stage RO/DI System and a Dr. Tim's Aquatics Prize Pack!

 

🏆 Which Pico Reef Had The Best Aquascape?

@Joevember Joe's Boneless Pico Reef - Final Journal Post

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You win an Innovative Marine 10 Gallon NUVO Fusion Nano Aquarium and a Dr. Tims Aquatics Large Prize Pack!

 

❤️ All of these amazing prizes were made possible with the support of our wonderful community sponsors @Marine Depot and @Cultivated Reef! ❤️ 

 

marinedepot.gif Cultivated Reef

❤️🙌 Please join me in thanking Marine Depot and Cultivated Reef for their dedicated support of the Nano-Reef Community and for helping to make these fun competitions possible! 🙌❤️ 

 

🥁 Stay tuned for my Bonus Award winners announcement later tonight! 🥁

  • Most Janky Tank - Award for the best humble budget build with classic glass tank with plastic rim.
  • Worst Infestation - Award for the poor pico reef contest tank that suffers the worst pest outbreak.
  • Best Rule Breaker - Award for the coolest 2.5g tank that doesn't follow the contest rules, or qualify for other prizes, but still tags along for fun!
  • Best Documentation - Award for the pico reef contest tank with the best aquarium journal documenting the process.
  • Most Unique Creature - Award for the pico reef contest tank that successfully houses an unusual specimen.
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Christopher Marks

🎁 Bonus Awards from CM - Win A Nano-Reef T-Shirt & Sticker pack!

We had a bunch of great pico reefs that entered the competition and gave their best. Some didn't quite follow the rules all the way, but tagged along in spirit, while others fell victim to pest infestations, power outages, or just a lack of available time this summer. We saw some really great journaling as well, with lots of fun updates to follow along, and also some pico reefs dedicated to housing unusual specimens. I appreciate everyone who gave this old school pico reef competition a try!


It was really difficult to narrow down my final selections for these bonus award categories, but here they are:

 

Congratulations to all our prize winners! 🎉 I'll be messaging all the winners soon with more details on how to claim your prizes, stay tuned!

 

Thank you to everyone who joined in and followed along with our fun competition! ❤️ If you enjoyed this experience, be on the look out for discussion on future competition concepts and ideas!

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  • Christopher Marks changed the title to 🏆 Old School 2.5g Pico Reef Competition Final Results
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