new to picos, maintenance and feeding 2G (no fish)

[neyes_ice]

just setup this yesterday, got the rocks and water from my 16G system

 

tank: UNS 2G

filter: seachem tidal 35

light: kessil A80

 

plan is zoa, ricordea tank, no fish. maybe shirmps and snails

 

my questions is maintenance and feeding.

 

1) will weekly 50% WC suffice?

2)what and how often should i feed the tank since i don't have fish?

[Break]

Welcome, fellow zoanthid/ricordea enthusiast!

 

50% water change each week should be more than enough. 

 

If you want to feed the corals, I would suggest Reef Roids or Benereef 2-3 times per week. You can broadcast feed it or use a bit of water and syringe to direct feed. And while these corals actually like dirtier water with a bit more nitrates, I would go easy on the feeding at first. Since you are going barebottom and have minimal rock structure, the system won't have much of an established biofilter for a while (pretty standard for the first year of bare bottom tanks). The mature rock and weekly 50% water changes should help offset that a bit though.

[neyes_ice]

11 minutes ago, Break said:

Welcome, fellow zoanthid/ricordea enthusiast!

 

50% water change each week should be more than enough. 

 

If you want to feed the corals, I would suggest Reef Roids or Benereef 2-3 times per week. You can broadcast feed it or use a bit of water and syringe to direct feed. And while these corals actually like dirtier water with a bit more nitrates, I would go easy on the feeding at first. Since you are going barebottom and have minimal rock structure, the system won't have much of an established biofilter for a while (pretty standard for the first year of bare bottom tanks). Weekly 50% water changes should help offset that a bit though.

thanks! when i added the zoas i thought i might add a few more rocks  so i can fill it up upto the top 😀 there’s 5 marine pure spheres in the hob filter also from my 16g. 

 

i wonder how much reef roids would i use for this 2G

[Break]

3 minutes ago, neyes_ice said:

thanks! when i added the zoas i thought i might add a few more rocks  so i can fill it up upto the top 😀 there’s 5 marine pure spheres in the hob filter also from my 16g. 

 

i wonder how much reef roids would i use for this 2G

Nice, sounds like you're on top of it! I was going to suggest something like the Marine Pure Spheres or Microbacter7 - I've been using both in my pico for the same reason (replaced the sand when I upgraded to a new tank and sand is a huge source of surface area for biofilter).

 

For the reef roids and benereef, I used one of those little red reagent scoopers like you would find in a Salifert test kit. For broadcast feeding, I mix it with a little bit of tank water and dump into a high flow area before shutting the flow off for 15 minutes. For direct feeding, the trick is to use very little water to create a paste that you can suck up with a feeding syringe. Then turn the flow off, wait for it settle, and you can just squirt it out like toothpaste onto the corals.

 

One of the nice things about barebottom is you don't have to worry about how you're going to clean the sand around the rock structure, so adding more rock is a bit easier. Plus, sometimes when you purchase zoas and rics they are attached to rocks rather than plug, so might open up your purchase options.

 

I dig the floating rock - how'd you attach it?

[neyes_ice]

22 minutes ago, Break said:

Nice, sounds like you're on top of it! I was going to suggest something like the Marine Pure Spheres or Microbacter7 - I've been using both in my pico for the same reason (replaced the sand when I upgraded to a new tank and sand is a huge source of surface area for biofilter).

 

For the reef roids and benereef, I used one of those little red reagent scoopers like you would find in a Salifert test kit. For broadcast feeding, I mix it with a little bit of tank water and dump into a high flow area before shutting the flow off for 15 minutes. For direct feeding, the trick is to use very little water to create a paste that you can suck up with a feeding syringe. Then turn the flow off, wait for it settle, and you can just squirt it out like toothpaste onto the corals.

 

One of the nice things about barebottom is you don't have to worry about how you're going to clean the sand around the rock structure, so adding more rock is a bit easier. Plus, sometimes when you purchase zoas and rics they are attached to rocks rather than plug, so might open up your purchase options.

 

I dig the floating rock - how'd you attach it?

same sentiment re bare bottom, i wanted the water changes to be done very quick. 

 

i thought the same using those reagent scoops.

 

floating rock is from reef rax, its magnetic they are nice and natural looking

[Break]

4 minutes ago, neyes_ice said:

same sentiment re bare bottom, i wanted the water changes to be done very quick. 

 

i thought the same using those reagent scoops.

 

floating rock is from reef rax, its magnetic they are nice and natural looking

I personally, I love barebottom tanks for the same reason.

 

Just be sure to clean them really well if they're previously used reagant scoops.

 

They definitely look natural - didn't even cross my mind it was a essentially a frag rack!

[debbeach13]

Looks good. Is this your first pico?

[cheesesteak]

Great setup so far. UNS tanks are really something. Looking forward to seeing this one progress! 

[neyes_ice]

5 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Looks good. Is this your first pico?

thanks, it is my first pico