mitchels6 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 About a week ago I went to the petsmart to get a glo betta since they just came out with them this month. When I got there they were all sold out, but had the 3g aio glo betta tanks on sale for $34, regular $60. I grabbed one thinking I'll pick up the fish in a week or 2 after I give the tank some time to cycle anyway. Surprised at the quality of the tank. The glass is pretty thick and came with and equally thick glass lid as well. But after a day I realized I no longer wanted a glow betta and the novelty had worn off. I considered making it into another planted tank, but I already have 10 of those. So then the gears started turning and I thought to myself that it would make a good pico reef. It's been about 10yrs since I've had a nano reef and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get back in the hobby. Luckily I found the 365 day challenge thread at the perfect time. So here I am! Back in the days of my various nano and pico reefs mushrooms were my favorite corals. So I'm dedicating this tank to be atleast 75% shrooms as my theme. Also this tank will be a simple budget build as I have no plans for modification and will run the aio chamber the way it is, but maybe upgrade the carbon in the filter pouch. I will rely on water changes and a bare bottom as my main form of nutrient export. Tank has been up and running since late last night. equipment 3g aio glofish aquarium Aqueon 50w heater Asta 20 led light planned livestock 5.8lbs of cured real reef rock(already added last night) Lots of shrooms Gsp Toadstool Sexy shrimp 6 Quote Link to comment
SliceGolfer Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 That bag of gravel looks like Nerds candies. Nice scape for Shrooms, Zoas, and the like 🙂 2 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Oh wow, I hadn’t heard about the glo bettas yet, interesting. Cool how everything fell into place for you to do the challenge... the tank looks nice, looking forward to following along. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 1 hour ago, SliceGolfer said: That bag of gravel looks like Nerds candies. Nice scape for Shrooms, Zoas, and the like 🙂 Thanks! Yea that gravel is horrible. I need to return it still. 1 hour ago, banasophia said: Oh wow, I hadn’t heard about the glo bettas yet, interesting. Cool how everything fell into place for you to do the challenge... the tank looks nice, looking forward to following along. Yea, crazy to think that if they had them in stock that day i may not have gotten back into reefs again. 2 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 A 15 year member with 25 posts. Looks like this contest will bump up your count big time. 5 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 1 hour ago, seabass said: A 15 year member with 25 posts. Looks like this contest will bump up your count big time. Did not realize my account was that old. Time really does fly. 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 WOW that is a great little tank for $34 bucks why not eh? welcome back to the saly side of life. not sure if you have noticed but the price of shrooms is pretty crazy these days compared to what it was 15 years ago...but the good news is there are a lot of colorful ones out there. 2 Quote Link to comment
Adwyth Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Great looking tank! I’ll be following along as I have the same tank. I haven’t ordered a light yet and the Asta 20 is on my short list. I really like the way the fixture looks on the tank and it seems to light it up really well. Welcome back to reef keeping! I just jumped back in myself and was amazed at all the changes in the hobby. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Welcome back to NR and reefing. I went to Petco Saturday for a couple snails. I did not even look at tanks. If I saw an AIO for $34.00 I would probably be joining the contest. Then again I have no idea how to link any thing and often struggle to post pictures. I also joined NR in 2005. I am trying to follow every contest tank. Good luck with your tank and the contest. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
danistarr Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Lurking! 🙂 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 On 2/23/2020 at 10:21 PM, devaji108 said: WOW that is a great little tank for $34 bucks why not eh? welcome back to the saly side of life. not sure if you have noticed but the price of shrooms is pretty crazy these days compared to what it was 15 years ago...but the good news is there are a lot of colorful ones out there. Yea, why the sharp increase? Even solid color discosoma are expensive. Most common corals are still the same price as I remember 10 to 15yrs ago, but mushrooms are 5x the price now. On 2/23/2020 at 10:39 PM, Adwyth said: Great looking tank! I’ll be following along as I have the same tank. I haven’t ordered a light yet and the Asta 20 is on my short list. I really like the way the fixture looks on the tank and it seems to light it up really well. Welcome back to reef keeping! I just jumped back in myself and was amazed at all the changes in the hobby. I'm definitely following you as well! I saw your journal 2 days ago and I pulled off my back elbow too. It does seem pointless. I'm really liking the asta 20. Just still fiddling around with the channel settings to find a color I like. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 Just tested my water and I'm pretty sure ammonia is reading zero(will compare it to fresh mixed water tomorrow), nitrites definitely reading zero, and nitrates are reading 20. To soon to do a water change? Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Did the rock you’re using come seeded with nitrifying bacteria spores or was it already wet and cycled? Dry rock (and I’d guess even dry rock seeded with bacteria) usually takes a little longer to cycle than 4-5 days. Does the tank process ammonia down to 0 in 24 hours? Most just do a big water change once the cycle is complete and they are ready to add livestock. 2 Quote Link to comment
devaji108 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 12 hours ago, mitchels6 said: Yea, why the sharp increase? Even solid color discosoma are expensive. Most common corals are still the same price as I remember 10 to 15yrs ago, but mushrooms are 5x the price now. ever since the name game of corals the prices have jumped up quite a bit. that and a lot of imports have been shut down. the good news is there are more color morphs nowadays... 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 4 hours ago, SeaFurn said: Did the rock you’re using come seeded with nitrifying bacteria spores or was it already wet and cycled? Dry rock (and I’d guess even dry rock seeded with bacteria) usually takes a little longer to cycle than 4-5 days. Does the tank process ammonia down to 0 in 24 hours? Most just do a big water change once the cycle is complete and they are ready to add livestock. It was wet and marketed as cured rock. There were tiny fish living in the vat my lfs keeps it in. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 mitchels6 you may have mentioned it but if you did I forget. If you are near Orlando I will give you a few mushrooms to get you started. Blue Kenya if you want some of that also. The blue grows slower than the pink/tan variety. Quote Link to comment
SeaFurn Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Oh good. You must have just had a mini cycle since you brought the rocks home...unless you dosed an ammonia source. You should be good to go after a big water change. Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 9 minutes ago, debbeach13 said: mitchels6 you may have mentioned it but if you did I forget. If you are near Orlando I will give you a few mushrooms to get you started. Blue Kenya if you want some of that also. The blue grows slower than the pink/tan variety. Dang, I'm all the way in ohio over 1000 miles away. Thanks for the offer. I remember I had tan Kenya tree yrs ago. It grew faster than my xenia. 5 minutes ago, SeaFurn said: Oh good. You must have just had a mini cycle since you brought the rocks home...unless you dosed an ammonia source. You should be good to go after a big water change. I didn't add an ammonia source. I'm thinking about taking a sample of water to the lfs tomorrow and letting them test it. Then I may pick up a scarlet hermit crab and spot feed it. Down the road I think I may end up getting a yellow clown goby. 2 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 So I guess I have a fish now. Went to lfs yesterday and they tested my water and got the same results I did. I told them i may want to get a clown goby in the future but just a hermit crab for today. He gave me a saltwater molly instead and told me it would help cycle and prepare the bacterial load better for when i do get a clown goby as they can be pretty sensitive. He told me when i was ready for the goby to bring the molly back. I did a 75% water change before putting him in. 8 Quote Link to comment
Gourami Swami Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 nice tank for the price! Might have to grab one to use for ATO container haha. Yours is looking good already 2 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 Had some biomax laying around so I decided to throw it in a bag and set it in the back chamber. Hopefully that makes up for no sandbed. Officially no more room back there now. 4 Quote Link to comment
MaineReefkeeper Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Tank looks awesome! Rock is amazing. Gonna look sweet full of mushrooms! Great tank choice and idea. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Found some embarrassing old pics of my nano from 2010-2011. It was running for a good while and I had alot more corals in there, but I have since lost most of my pics. The tank eventually crashed and everything pretty much died overnight. That hurt so bad I swore off saltwater till I set this tank up. Never did find out why it crashed. 1 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 What a shame that it crashed. I bet you learned a lot with that tank before the crash. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitchels6 Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 Added my first corals yesterday! I got 2 shroom frags, Gsp on a mini skull, and the guy helping me threw in the pavona for free. Really wasn't planning on any sps in this tank, but he told me it's the pest of the sps world, not picky about water or light, and grows super fast. 2 Quote Link to comment
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