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Pod Your Reef

A Pico Planted Reef Tank


Reefanatic24/7

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Reefanatic24/7

I've been lurking around the forum for a while now and have to decided to finally upload a journal of my own. I believe the tank is roughly 4 gallons. It's been running for about 2 months now.

Stocking:

Corals: 

Caulerpa prolifera

Caulerpa mexicana

Red dragons breath macro

red gracilaria (from reefcleaners)

hammer coral

unknown pink zoa

Rasta zoanthids

edit 1/18/2020

Blood Oath zoa (2 heads)

Orange Mandarin zoa (1 head)

Scrambled Eggs zoa (4 heads)

Double Trouble zoa (3 heads)

Miami Vice Zoa (1 head)

Orange Acans (2 heads)

Peppermint Schnapp's Acan (2 heads)

Candy Cane (2 heads) 

Orange Leptastrea

Red Monti Cap 

 

 

 

 

Animals+CUC:

1 blue-leg hermit

asterina stars (benign)

Purple-stripe dottyback (edit 1/10/20: removed and sold)

1 nerite snail

several small ceriths

 

 

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Oh, nice! IMO, pop a rock flower anemone in there somewhere. They're fun, and make a nice texture punctuation. 

 

How's the nutrient balance with multiple caulerpas in a pico? Any troubles there yet? 

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Reefanatic24/7
4 hours ago, billygoat said:

Hello and welcome to N-R! :welcome:

 

I like your little macro tank very much. 😊 Any other livestock that you've got your eye on?

Thank you! I'd love to add some kind of invert but I don't really know what. I'm also thinking of getting a different fish instead of the dotty. Do you have any suggestions?

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Reefanatic24/7
3 hours ago, Tired said:

Oh, nice! IMO, pop a rock flower anemone in there somewhere. They're fun, and make a nice texture punctuation. 

 

How's the nutrient balance with multiple caulerpas in a pico? Any troubles there yet? 

The caulerpas have been added only about a 2-3 weeks ago so it is a bit too early to tell but I like to feed heavy and I'm seeing lots of growth from them. There is one small patch of GHA but I'm not worried about it at all. The macros seem to keep the nuisance algae at bay.

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Reefanatic24/7

Does anyone now what this is? I've been told it is dinos and running UV has helped kill it but it just doesn't act like dinos. The long, wispy strands are brownish/orangeish and they grow from the white fuzzy substance. You can clearly see the fuzz surrounding the macroalgae. So far, I don't think it has bothered anything but it still worries me and looks disgusting.

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ChristopherDido

Following because I'm curious about what the brown stuff is that's on the red macros to. I put two cerith snails in my 2.5 with some macros in it and it cleared up for awhile but it's back again. Thought it was a flow issue so I put some directly in front of the power head inn my classroom tank and it's still doing it. So I'm honestly curious myself. BTW nice tank and for inverts have you thought about a pom pom crab? I've had one now for about a year and a half love it when he shows up in my little pico.

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Reefanatic24/7
25 minutes ago, ChristopherDido said:

Following because I'm curious about what the brown stuff is that's on the red macros to. I put two cerith snails in my 2.5 with some macros in it and it cleared up for awhile but it's back again. Thought it was a flow issue so I put some directly in front of the power head inn my classroom tank and it's still doing it. So I'm honestly curious myself. BTW nice tank and for inverts have you thought about a pom pom crab? I've had one now for about a year and a half love it when he shows up in my little pico.

Have you experienced any negative effects from the brown stuff? I hope its benign... I really like pom pom crabs! I'll add that to my stocking list lol.

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ChristopherDido
2 hours ago, Reefanatic24/7 said:

Have you experienced any negative effects from the brown stuff? I hope its benign... I really like pom pom crabs! I'll add that to my stocking list lol.

Other than it being a bit of an eyesore no, however I have noticed something that seems to keep it down a bit is making sure you keep the macro trimmed up. You'll see what I mean as it grows out. The "lower" growth of it doesn't seem to show the brown, the "upper"/newer growth is where I notice it usually coming from. It didn't bother my fish or corals though 🤷‍♂️

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4 hours ago, Reefanatic24/7 said:

Does anyone now what this is? I've been told it is dinos and running UV has helped kill it but it just doesn't act like dinos. The long, wispy strands are brownish/orangeish and they grow from the white fuzzy substance. You can clearly see the fuzz surrounding the macroalgae. So far, I don't think it has bothered anything but it still worries me and looks disgusting.

I believe this is a type of cyanobacteria, or possibly a mixture of cyano and diatoms. This sort of algae grows in my aquarium as well, and while it has never reached plague proportions it is certainly not very attractive. Unfortunately I have not been able to come up with a permanent solution for it, and have taken to simply blowing it off my macros with a turkey baster whenever it becomes too unsightly.

 

Honestly having a little bit of this stuff in your tank is probably not the worst thing in the world, since it will compete with more obnoxious pests for the same sort of nutrients. I've come to terms with having it around but still hold out hope that it might go away some day. 😅

 

22 hours ago, Reefanatic24/7 said:

Thank you! I'd love to add some kind of invert but I don't really know what. I'm also thinking of getting a different fish instead of the dotty. Do you have any suggestions?

If I were to add a fish to a tank this size, I would choose a yellow clown goby. They are very interesting and beautiful fish that are comfortable in small aquariums.

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Reefanatic24/7
1 hour ago, billygoat said:

I believe this is a type of cyanobacteria, or possibly a mixture of cyano and diatoms. This sort of algae grows in my aquarium as well, and while it has never reached plague proportions it is certainly not very attractive. Unfortunately I have not been able to come up with a permanent solution for it, and have taken to simply blowing it off my macros with a turkey baster whenever it becomes too unsightly.

 

Honestly having a little bit of this stuff in your tank is probably not the worst thing in the world, since it will compete with more obnoxious pests for the same sort of nutrients. I've come to terms with having it around but still hold out hope that it might go away some day. 😅

 

If I were to add a fish to a tank this size, I would choose a yellow clown goby. They are very interesting and beautiful fish that are comfortable in small aquariums.

Thank you for the suggestions. At least it's not dinos am I right?😅 clown gobies are very cute... I love fish too much I want em all 😂

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Reefanatic24/7

Hey, I'm looking to upgrade the light on this thing. Any suggestions under $50? Doesn't have to be too powerful because I won't be keeping any SPS in here.

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1 hour ago, Reefanatic24/7 said:

Hey, I'm looking to upgrade the light on this thing. Any suggestions under $50? Doesn't have to be too powerful because I won't be keeping any SPS in here.

The Aquaknight is around $62 and is perfect

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MainelyReefer
7 hours ago, Reefanatic24/7 said:

Hey, I'm looking to upgrade the light on this thing. Any suggestions under $50? Doesn't have to be too powerful because I won't be keeping any SPS in here.

HIPARGERO LED Aquarium Light - Aquarium LED Lights 30W Saltwater Lighting with Touch Control and 3W Cree Chips for Coral Reef Fish Nano Tank https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0727V8C5Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_V7YdEb7JDV2PH
I run this light on my 2.5, it grows corals and has adjustable spectrum so you could crank the whites for macros or blues for corals.  I hate the controls as anytime I am near the tank the touch controls get adjusted so I find myself resetting the intensity and it’s got no indicator other than counting how many times you pressed the damn button.  But for the price you can’t beat it, I also scored a brand new kessil a80 for $85 on eBay so if looking for a name brand that’s not too far off your budget just will take some searching and patience.

I second a Yellow Clown Goby as being appropriate for a tank this size and love their personality 

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ChristopherDido

I'm gonna go ahead and third the yellow clown goby. Got one in my 2.5 gal, love the little guy. I went with a Par38 bulb. Honestly not even sure of the wattage, I've changed around Par38s and have 3 of them and when moving they got mixed up in boxes 🤷‍♂️. I'm also running two over a 20L and it's been good. Thanks @billygoat for your response, clears up a bit what it is. 

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Reefanatic24/7

I moved my rastas from the evo to the pico. The dottyback dumped sand onto the zoa in the front and it managed to close around a grain of sand 🤦‍♂️

What do I do?? I wish it could spit it out or something...

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You could try to squirt the grain out with a pipette. If that doesn't work, let it alone. It'll probably realize it's okay and open eventually. Maybe tilt it so the sand will fall off when it does.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Reefanatic24/7

dosed chemiclean and did a waterchange today after 48 hours. Removed most of the cyano and stringy stuff but I don't think I eradicated it. Tank is doing well and the new additions are stunning. Can't stop staring at the tank, even though it's fishless lol

 

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