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365 Day Challenge: 1G Office Ocean


SaltyGallon

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One last photo dump... *sobs quietly lol*

 

It's been an absolute blast guys. Win/lose/whatever it doesn't really matter, this small box of water was a little piece of happiness (and much needed sanity) throughout 2020 and I hope it will continue to be for a few months/years to come. The rastas were grumpy for the final shoot (they hate it when there's vibrations in the tank and close up straight away) and the sexy shrimp were elusive as usual, but ahh well... You all know what the tank looks like by now anyway haha. Really pushed the 50mm lens to it's limit on these pics, so apologies I couldn't get any real super close ups!

 

Thanks so much for tagging along and being such a friendly bunch, it's been a genuine pleasure. Good luck to all others in the contest and wishing you all health and prosperity for 2021 - the only way from here is up! 🙂 

 

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6 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

don't make it sound like you won't be sticking around after this....😢

 

also what's happening with the bigger tank?  

Haha no of course I'm sticking around mitten! There's always a plan for another tank isn't there... 🤣

 

The bigger (30G) tank is actually doing really well (well remembered haha!) bar some nuisance algae - the parameters are super steady and I'm getting some really nice SPS growth. I need to hit it with some fluconazole or vibrant or something but I just haven't had the motivation to do it yet! The other crap thing with the tank is it's giving our living room a moisture/mould problem... It evaporates about 1L a day and it's all accumulating on our window sill haha. I love the clownfish but sadly I don't think the big tank will make it to the end of the year (we just don't have the space in a one bed apartment!).

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p.s. check out the progress pics updated in the first post gang. I remember thinking it looked really cool at the start when the first few frags went in but looking back it was so bare! 😅

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Made a little video edit that seems to have gone down well - its the first video of the tank I think. At the risk of sounding an old fart, its amazing what you can do on your phone these days! 🤣

 

 

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Final synopsis (FTS in post above) 🙂 

 

It's been an absolute blast guys! Win/lose/whatever it doesn't really matter, this box of water was a much needed piece of happiness (and sanity!) throughout 2020, so thank you NR for the great contest.

 

There's been a few triumphs and trials, but thankfully not too many of the latter! 

 

I'm proud of a few things, particularly the build and the scape and the concept itself. I love the planning aspect of a new tank and the small scale requirements made everything that little bit trickier - measuring the overflow area to the nearest mm etc just to make sure the pump would fit haha. Likewise I'm also pleased with the simplicity of the tank. I've stuck to the mantra of "keep it simple stupid" and the only testing this tank has ever has ever had (outside the original cycle) is for temperature and salinity, no nitrate/phosphates or any of that gumph! The joy of a small tank with easy corals is if anything looks off you can just hit it with a big water change...!

 

That said it hasn't been without it's trials. Sure there's been the odd bit of bubble and turf algae, but nothing hideous on that front. The biggie was the hot weather in mid-summer - I quickly learned that this is the pico kicker! The acrylic lid is a godsend day to day as it keeps the salinity steady but mid-summer it has to come off so the tank can get blasted by a fan. Very much catch 22! Next summer I think I'll move the tank to a nice cool cupboard when it's hot rather than faffing with a fan and multiple daily top offs.

 

I think for any future similar builds I'd probably switch up the light too, the 3w is aesthetically really nice but I think for a future build I'd go bigger and dial it down. The corals have grown, but perhaps not as much as they could have. There's still a real gap in the market for serious and good looking pico tank parts - pumps, lights, and dare I say wavemakers! I guess it's still a niche in the grand scheme of things, but I think they'd sell like hot cakes.

 

Thanks so much for tagging along and being such a friendly bunch, it's been a genuine pleasure. Good luck to all others in the contest and wishing you all health and prosperity for 2021!

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Congratulations for making to the end of the contest. You already know I am a big fan of this little tank. Your tank and a couple other pico's show people that you can have a great little tank even if you do not have much space. Good luck.   

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  • 4 weeks later...

... Still kicking!

 

Now the contest is over I've switched the shroom on the left out in favour of a bit of gorg, some utter chaos zoas and some sunny Ds - the sunny Ds yet to go in. 

 

Still plenty of fun times ahead for this tank! Excuse the crappy phone pic 🙂

 

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On 2/23/2021 at 7:44 PM, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

Always a fan of utter chaos zoas! Sunny Ds are going to look wicked in this tank too! 👌

Thank you sir! They've settled nicely today, I'll try and get a few photos of them in situ tomorrow 😊

 

I really dig the ultra yellow colour, you don't get it from many zoas, or corals more generally?

 

Edit: Just been googling yellow zoas and found 'sun drops', 'king midas' and 'scrambled eggs'... Cooor! 

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8 minutes ago, SaltyGallon said:

Thank you sir! They've settled nicely today, I'll try and get a few photos of them in situ tomorrow 😊

 

I really dig the ultra yellow colour, you don't get it from many zoas, or corals more generally?

 

Edit: Just been googling yellow zoas and found 'sun drops', 'king midas' and 'scrambled eggs'... Cooor! 

I got your back on yellow zoas; Queen Strats, Lemon Drop, Chiquitas, Acid reflux, Mohican Sun, Rainbow Sakura kinda normal sakura and sakura sunrise too, afro circus, bachellorette party, blue eyed blondie.

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9 hours ago, A.m.P said:

I got your back on yellow zoas; Queen Strats, Lemon Drop, Chiquitas, Acid reflux, Mohican Sun, Rainbow Sakura kinda normal sakura and sakura sunrise too, afro circus, bachellorette party, blue eyed blondie.

Super nice!! I don't think I've seen many of those here in the UK. Blue eyed blondies and rainbow sakura definite favourites 😛

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Took this last night after lights off. By no means the most flattering of photos but the CUC go wild after dark... Check out all the small white snails on the glass! Not a clue what they are, where they came from, or where they hide during the day!!

 

 

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SaltyGallon

6 months of my prized tie dye... A UK import of the original KM Associates Intl lineage. A very uncommon shroom here in the dreary UK! 😊

 

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Nathans_Reef
On 3/2/2021 at 12:22 PM, SaltyGallon said:

Cheers Nathan. How's your pico? 😊

Doing good thanks, its going through a bit of an ugly phase at the moment. Lots of cyanobacteria and diatoms everywhere at the moment. 

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SaltyGallon
On 3/4/2021 at 9:19 AM, Nathans_Reef said:

Doing good thanks, its going through a bit of an ugly phase at the moment. Lots of cyanobacteria and diatoms everywhere at the moment. 

Happy times haha. It'll burn out... 🤞🏼

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SaltyGallon

Going to rattle off a few more updated shots this weekend now the new zoas are settled. Likewise I gave the red gracillaria a hard prune this week, to perhaps make room for one more shroom!

 

For now, a shameless recap of my DIY credentials, should you be so inclined to make a few clicks (*cough cast a few votes*) elsewhere on this forum haha... 🤐

 

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SaltyGallon
2 hours ago, Proxo said:

Some tensol glue would be better but......... where u find these tank sizes, i think i wanna try 😄

Haha that's true. I only had gorilla glue to hand! Still rock solid just over a year later. There are a few tank builders who do tanks in the sub 30x30cm range. I think people tend to use them for freshwater shrimp and bettas etc 😊

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  • 2 weeks later...
SaltyGallon

Water change Sundays! Plenty of detritus kicking around the tank these days now it's established and teeming with little inverts... I do think the pair of sexy shrimp are largely to blame though, they are genuine sh*t machines! Very grateful for the bare bottom - easy siphoning 😊

 

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