💟 Pico Project (3 gallon JBJ Cubey)(blues wuth orange filters fts and update.)

[LazyFish]

I cant stand the frags in my 20g any more they are driving me nuts and I just dont have room right now for the other aios I have in storage. I had thought about setting up my 2.5g with a canister again but I realy wanted the equipment contained in an aio system so I ended up ordering this tank. I have a few pumps laying around one may fit this to upgrade the 40g pump it comes with. I'll have to see what one fits it. The lights are not that strong but my frags are all softies and these will support softies and some lps corals from what I understand they should be fine if not I can upgrade later. I plan to plug the bottom intake if this verson has it some of the newer ones have gone to a single overflow. I'll run filter floss and chemipure with some extra carbon In the mix.

 

Once the frags are gone I plan to turn this into a pico reef/ rfa grow out tank for a few of my nicer rfa babies that I want to pay special atention too with a few other corals probly zoa and shroom and probly a shrimp or something and/or possibly an evota or clown goby.

[LazyFish]

The tank should be here on the 23rd. I'll use a bit of filter media sand and some pieces of live rock I alredy have in my tank to kick start the tank. I'm not expecting much of any cycle. Not putting together a permanent scape untill after the frags are gone. I'll probly throw in some brittle stars stomatella and coloninista snails with a hermit out of my other tanks. To start with.

[LazyFish]

Got the frag tank in came early...may take a bit longer to get running than I thought. I'll have to source a diffrent light and atach it somehow in or mounted too the hood. The original lights I planed to purchase ecopico strips and the alternatives by trulumin are no longer manufactured. Also this is not the original cubey with a 12wt light that would have been fine for softies/ lps...its a "delux" has a media rack, spray bar and single overflow but only 5w of lights...gurrr...they could have atleast upgraded the pump it's still 40gph...gona dig around tomorrow and see if I have one that fits.
Alredy been working on it I removed all the hood screws I can reach doubt they are stainless. And striped out the lights and bord. I think I may still have my old skyye light with broken bracket it would work I beleive it's a bit more blue than I ususly run things but maby I can get it to work.

[LazyFish]

In messing with this today I found the overflow wier is too small for anything larger than what it comes with and it hardly handles that seems like this "delux" should have been called " downgrade" . Makes me question the people if there are any who test/run these things before marketing. Only pump I have that fits is an off brand 60gph. The chambers are very small but itd still an upgrade and I'm actualy getting decent water movement for softies and lps. I've cut out every other tine in the wier comb and it significantly increased flow but the holes may be a bit large for some of the inverts I want. I have some thin black material I plan to make a cross piece to go across the center to make a strainer to keep out fish/ inverts from wier and atach with black silicone when it arrives. Looking into an inline dimmer 18w could be a bit overkill I think that's what the original version skyye ran at.

My lfs has a trimea goby that's still on the 1.5g invert holding tank after 3 months...its tempting... if it's still there when my tank.is done I may get it. A tiny crynoid squat lobster also very tempting.

Going to see if I still have that skyye light with the broken mount or if I tossed it...cant remember. If I have it I'll cut off the bracket and cut a hole in the top of the tank then mount with black silicone.

Im gona smooth down the wier edges after I get rid of this headache.

[LazyFish]

Hum I'm gona take a guess here but I think the display is actualy the full 3g. I was expecting close to 2.5 but this thing definatly has a larger display area than the 2.5g standard tank I have colecting dust. So total volume may actualy be closer 3.5 if the filter areas included. it looks much closer in overall size to an old 3.5g tank I had years ago.

Specs are a bit sketchy on this thing. No Included lighting type, temp or par. No chamber dimentions and water volume it dosnt say total and display volume anywhere just says 3g on the box..

Running wide open the lights it came with had a par of under 48 at the very top and about 30 at the bottom. According to my phones par ap anyway it's not super acurate but it dose give a general idea.

It says it's a 5wt led that it comes with and the color is terrible probly wont even grow plants very well. 

I even tested the par meter app last night on an old nicrew planted tank light and it was in the ball park of what the manufacture clames on the site. These readings were obviously done dry I'm sure the water would also affect the readings

[schgr.cube]

Following along for this one!

[LazyFish]

Found the light I still had it. Yay!

It works still. Yay!

It had some kind of sticky grimy film on it. Ew gross!

Cleaned it with vinegar and lemon juice. Looks good. Yay!

Some paint popped off while cleaning and cutting. Darn it!

 

That aluminum was alot tougher than I anticipated. I brought to my dad to have a look at to see if there was something better to use than the hack saw. My dad says he thinks its simmilar to aircraft grade aluminum or something is why it's so tough.

My 76 year old father then insisted and did the cutting for me when my 36 year old butt was making rather pathetic progress. I ended up holding it down while he sawed on it. He totaly kicked my butt. Hahaha. XD I smoothed it out after. Dosnt look half bad.

This ridiculous Louisiana heat+ humidity combo whiped both our butts in the end.

Neither of us wanted to use a power tool and risk damaging the cord. 

Taking a break. Later when its cooler I'll try to locate the correct sized hole saw for the lid.

 

Cant atach it untill the black silicone arrives. Probly touch up that paint while I'm at it. High heat enamel paint would probly stay on it. Looking into an inline dimmer switch could be useful need to see what size those connectors are.

Windex...lol..its not that bad in person looks less blue in person. Just running fresh water at the moment leak testing and washing the still cloudy sand.

[LazyFish]

Hole saws not gona work for this would leave gaps if I used the proper width so I have to do something diffrent. Got a few things in mind.

Just helped my dad take off then put right back on the the lawn mower deck because there was something stuck in it binding the blades. It tore the blades up so he replaced those while I did most of the rest. I'm wiped out now and hes cutting grass...probly gona hang out here see if he needs more help. Probly wont work on this anymore today. This heat is horrible. Its 4:30pm and still 90 degrees with the curent humidity it feels like 97 and its soooo humid.

[LazyFish]

Ooook...  so I cant seem to get the top off cant get at the two last screws. Cant find any info on how to remove without breaking the hinge..may have to improvise this. 

Anyone have any info on how to remove it? 

If not I'll think of something I plan to drill x4 holes with a power drill then cut out a hole for the light. I hope the plastic is the same as the back wall it was fairly soft and easy to cut.

[LazyFish]

Ok so the top is not the same plastic as the inner deviders that stuff was very hard and kind of thick. I have the blisters on my hands to prove it took me forever with a drill and small hand saw to cut this out. Messed up the first starting hole a bit but it cane out ok.

I fitted the light and am testing it now for heat issues. I think it looks prety good the silicone and paint will be here friday I am going to make the back wall higher to prevent things from crawling into the back chambers atach the light, touch up a few things and smooth the edges out more when it gets here. I think cutting this hole was probly the most difficult part of this by far. I was able to put the cord for the light inside and run it through one of the holes. Pretty happy about that looks better that way. Hot too hot going to take a break.

[LazyFish]

Got the inline dimmer switch and other stuff today.  It works perfectly this will be great for coral acclimation.

Going to start the rest when I get back to the house running errands today.

[LazyFish]

The light was painted it's a bit glossier and matches the lid well now. The back piece I put in raised the back wall about 1.5 inches. The wier openings have been filed smooth and a cross piece has been added to keep critters out. If it blocks the flow too much I can easily remove it again. I also made a cosmetic change. the original silicone was clear I put black over it simply for cosmetics. It turned out quite well theres a couple of spots I need to clean up tomorrow but otherwise looks ok. The silicone on the back section is a bit messy but its not as noticable with the black. I never worked with the black before I found it much harder to squeeze out the tube. Must be thicker.
I was planning on doing the touch ups and some fine sanding on some stuff this evening but the horse flies are dive bombing me and the mosquitos are about to carry me off so that's going to be for another day.
I know theres a gap at each corner of the light where its stuck on. I left spaces there to help vent the heat from the light.

Um for some reason this keeps posting backwards as well as upside down...the cross piece is actualy straight I guess it's a shadow. 

light kinda looks like it belongs on this tank to me.

I hope to have this think finished by next Thursday. 🤞After it's set up I'll put together some frag racks to fit in here.

I have had a bunch of frag plugs some rock cooking in my other tank over a month now and when the tank came I added the ceramic rings too. I should have some nice bacterial colonies started by now. If everything goes well I can start transfering my frags over in a few weeks.

[LazyFish]

The light spill is still more than I want I'm going to redo that back piece and make it taller. I have not encountered any heat issues while running the light so far. I will fill this in a few days and let it run for a while with just fresh water and see if any heat issues happen.

[LazyFish]

Havent had a chance to do anything more on this yet. I was planning on getting this thing wet by Thursday but I ended up picking up shifts at work probly will be Tuesday next week. 😶.

Maybe the rain will drive off the horse files and I can work on the final bits outside...er....nope they will probly be worse....

[LazyFish]

The modifications have been completed today. I'm just waiting for it to dry enough outside to bring in and I will take a few pics. 
After 48 hrs to set the fresh silicone. I'll fill it and run it with fresh water a few days before I put salt water in it this will make sure it's well rinsed out and help me make sure theres no heat or filtration issues with the mods I did. 

Maby this should be in the pico section? I guess the aio section is fine.

[schgr.cube]

28 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

The modifications have been completed today. I'm just waiting for it to dry enough outside to bring in and I will take a few pics. 
After 48 hrs to set the fresh silicone. I'll fill it and run it with fresh water a few days before I put salt water in it this will make sure it's well rinsed out and help me make sure theres no heat or filtration issues with the mods I did. 

Maby this should be in the pico section? I guess the aio section is fine.

I think either section works fine. Its looking great so far!

[LazyFish]

Final pics before getting it wet. Two 16.9 oz bottles for size

Lowest light setting with the dimmer. The feeding door still works.

About half way turned up on the dimmer.

light all the way up.

lid came out very nice on happy with the overall look even with the light stuck on there.

[LazyFish]

[LazyFish]

This may take longer to get wet than I thought. I have a major covid outbreak where I work. Im working on the covid unit also... so work + rampant covid + extra shifts. If I end up with this mess Im not gona feel like doing anything for a while wont be able to keep up a new and not yet stable pico tank if I'm sick so I may have to leave this alone for a few weeks untill the covid outbreak chills out over here.

[LazyFish]

Minor change I colored this just because and poked out the other 3 because they were bright. Now it looks like it's got an indicator light. It's just a clear plastic thing but it picks up the light and it looks like a red led but isnt...sneaky.

[LazyFish]

All the frag racks are in. I have rock pieces, ceramic bio media and frag plugs cooking in the other tanks. It will go in the empty space on the right. It  will not look pretty but will get the job done untill the frags are mostly gone. Then I can remove the egg crate rack and make a real scape. I am so never making 20+ frags at once again lol.

[LazyFish]

I may get some rock and start building the rock scape for this tank while I'm waiting for covid stuff to settle at work. I can shove it in the standard 20 and let it start cooking for a few weeks untill after the tank is running and the frags are gone. Then I can just plop it in later.

[debbeach13]

You stay safe. This is a cool project, such a cute tank, and I look forward to watching some frags grow. Do what you can, and the rest can wait.

[LazyFish]

Got it wet! Not expecting much of a cycle if any rock frag plugs sand all came from the other tank. I threw in a few frags I have duplicates of I will continue monitoring the water quality. I will slowly add frags from the 20 until they are all out of there!

[LazyFish]

Been slowly adding frags about 90% of them are in. Corals are doing well the rack on the top right are corals that I am keeping and will eventualy use in this tank once I get rid of the frags and complete the live rock structure. So far i have zoas speckled fire and ice, pink diamond. Fruitloop, brown button, camo grandis pally, mary jane and true blue. Also a small micromussa frag. Will add rastas to that and a frag of john deere leptastrea when it grows out. Now I got to get rid of these other frags.